[Ed. Note: Today, we're honored here at Chicagoist to introduce what we hope will be the beginning of a fruitful relationship with the legendary photographer, Art Shay. more ›

We hope you enjoyed this morning's dance party, so let's keep it going, o.k.? We have reader E to thank for this one, since it we somehow missed it in our RSS feed last week, but Chicago's Matt Roan provided Discobelle* with a stellar new Mixin’ It Up compilation. For a while all we've had to go on, outside of fighting the crowds of beautiful people packing the room to the rafters at his... more ›

George Ryan starts his prison sentence today, and the Sun-Times and Trib have helpfully chronicled every move the former governor has made since last night. You know what that means: time for a Ryan Round Up! Olé! Yesterday, the 73-year-old released this statement to the public, again claiming innocence and thanking his family and legal team. At 5:50 this morning, Ryan left his home in Kankakee in a van driven by his son, George Ryan... more ›

Ugh, finally: 28 aldermen are filing a petition to U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow demanding the City release the names of the most-complained-about police officers. The Sun-Times's spot-on editorial is completely degraded by heinous illustration that accompanies it, from the same "artist" who also did yesterday's ricockulously bad Stroger drawing. The Book Cellar is hosting "Chicago’s Wittiest Women Writers" tonight. We deeply resent not being invited to participate, but cannot deny the wit of Stacey... more ›

Carol Marin is "a little worried about Chicago being a world-class city," given that that status tends to equal corruption and bullshit. No joke. You know what we're worried about? The phrase "world-class city." The term — which means what exactly? — has been all over the place recently. RTA boss Stephen Schlickman's saying it. A "Chicago Reader driver." An Olypmic committee guy. Edward Keegan. The Sun-Times can't get enough. Mayor Daley says it, that... more ›

Aw, Mayor Daley's mad at the press for blasting his new tax plan in editorials and offering pretty negative coverage in articles. (And cartoons.) Addressing reporters at a news conference, he said "...all of the sudden, you decided that everything is bad. Everything is wrong. That I don't understand struggling families. That's an insult to me...You've done a lot to me over the years. You try to put me in different images. And you have... more ›

Good news, women of Illinois: We're in good company! Four of the top ten most powerful women in business are based here (or run companies that are). Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods, comes in at number 5, thanks to acquiring a $7.2 billion "global biscuit business." Pat Woertz, chairman, CEO, and president of Decatur–based agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland, follows her at 6 because she brought in $44 billion in revenue. Number... more ›

Recently we’ve told you a little bit about the Chicago Cinema Forum, a new group that’s trying to bring rare and underseen movies to Chicago. To honor Ingmar Bergman after his passing, they quickly put together a mini-retrospective that touched all the bases; and last weekend they presented Roberto Rossellini’s all-but-unseen masterpiece India, Motherland. What was to have been the final screening of the latter, in fact, was sold out (!) so a third show... more ›

Everyone knows the Internet can be a nasty place. From bloggers who bore their readers and wage war on grammar to commenters who spend their entire day viciously tearing others to shreds under pseudonyms, most of the opinions being touted aren’t always taken seriously. But how will this lovably effed up relationship evolve if the legal stakes are raised? We’re interested to see what will happen with the suit brought against an anonymous blogger in... more ›

It's been inspiring to see Roger Ebert slowly working his way back to writing movie reviews after his long illness. He's even gone so far as to give readers reviews of movies he missed while he was convalescing. Just don't expect to see the "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" signs in upcoming episodes "Ebert & Roeper at the Movies." Disney-ABC Domestic Television, which produces the show, said that the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic has withdrawn... more ›

Boy, you know it must be bad when Mayor Daley is calling you out on your legislative tactics. In remarks to the press yesterday, Daley called Blagojevich's plans to cut $500 million from the recently passed budget and impose a universal health care plan of his choosing legally questionable and "dangerous." "In short, I'm cutting pork and special-interest spending and, in its place, I'm using the legal authority that I have to expand health care... more ›

About 17,000 union members, along with their friends and their families, filled the south end of Soldier Field for a debate, hosted by the AFL-CIO, among the Democratic contenders. A sweaty sea of union members in colored T-shirts, representing everyone from the Service Employees International Union to the United Steelworkers, from the AFSCME to the IUPAT, drank cold bottles of water and listened to Democrats talk about how their administration would work for working families,... more ›

One of the reasons I love to go to Lollapalooza is the fact that I can see bands that I love or know I'm going to love (e.g., The Fratellis; Rodrigo y Gabriela*, Peter, Bjorn and John; Paolo Nutini -- just to name a few), but another huge component is going to hear bands I've heard of but don't really know anything about. Last year, I was rewarded greatly by going to check out... more ›

There is nothing more that we want to get done than this installment of Empty Out Your Wallet, so we can get outside and enjoy this day. Leave it to the Ticketmaster gods to curse us once again with numerous great shows making our job harder. The show that our readers were looking forward to last week, The Flaming Lips at the Aragon, goes on sale at 11 a.m. on Saturday. This should be a... more ›

Something’s buzzing in Millennium Park this summer, and it isn’t the type of bug you’re thinking of. The Old Town School of Folk Music’s Wiggleworms program heads outside this summer for free daily morning concerts; it’s the hippest place to see and be seen for the toddler set. The concerts follow same format as traditional Wiggleworms classes: interactive folksy kids’ songs, a chance to play along with simple instruments passed out to the crowd, and... more ›

CBS2 reports that the city is testing a new system where they are going to put red and green lights on street poles to help residents avoid street cleaning tickets. On street cleaning day, the light would be red, and when crews finished the light would go green, indicating the street was once again safe for parking. "Once the sweeper comes by then the light goes green and everybody can park there. Takes 5 minutes to clean it and save an enormous amount of money," said Mayor Richard Daley. CBS2 says, "The pilot program still has a few kinks to work out, but he [Daley] loves the idea." more ›

Although the week is shorter, that doesn't mean that there hasn't been political news out there to round up! This week, we're making a special dedication to Chicagoist's favorite bad guy, the man that makes us the national butt of every political joke in town, the guy that represents everything that is wrong with our local political system, Todd "The Toddler" Stroger. Without further ado, let's take a gander at his follies and foibles, and... more ›

All across the land this weekend there'll be grills firing up; hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie patties will be duly seared, oversmeared with condiments and consumed. But at Facets, another kind of feast is on display. The ingredients? A desert island. Reality TV. And hungry contestants. more ›

With all the commentary from Elizabeth's Uncle Julio's post still fresh in mind, we gleaned this little tidbit from today's Sun-Times. Zagat released the results of its first-ever fast food survey. Using the same three criteria that they use for every other restaurant they rate (food, service, and atmosphere) Panera Bread came out on top as the best overall fast food chain. Raters praised the quality of Panera's "fresh-baked breads" and "top-notch sandwiches." Wendy's was... more ›

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At least since Warhol began displaying boxes of soup cans and Brillo pads in gallery settings, the concept of the “found” object as art has been a primary component of our culture. In other words, there’s a very good reason why “America’s Funniest Home Videos” has been on the air since 1989 (hint: it’s not Bob Saget). We’ve become a voyeuristic culture, with an appetite for spying-as-entertainment as an antidote to the increasingly formulamatic output... more ›

One thing we've learned in our time as a font of synopsis, synthesis and snark of local news and events, is that when Da Mare gets in the press, it's all at once. And yesterday was no exception. After being gone for two weeks, Daley had a little bit to say about the Cline resignation, the recent settlement of patronage hiring, and the indictment of Al "Dirty" Sanchez. Daley indicated that after "the mistakes of... more ›

In this day and age of the media destroying politicians, it's become par for the course for the press to dig up something embarrassing about a candidate to try and discredit them. In some cases, it's worked (like with Jack Ryan). In others, it hasn't been so effective (remember the breathless media reports that Dubya had a DUI? We didn't think so.) Barack Obama isn't immune to this either. First it was the erroneous and now discredited charges that he had studied in a foreign-sounding and America-hating radical Muslim madrassa in Indonesia. Even when they aren't making this shit up, nothing seems that damning: Tony Rezko owns a vacant lot next to the Obamas, and they make him build a fence between the two parcels of land. How about the intern that Obama's office hired for the summer that was connected to Rezko? And then yesterday, we get word that an investor helped Obama raise a bunch of money when he was running for the Senate. Even the right-wing media has tried to stir up discontent with op-ed pieces that stretch really hard to connect dots that are tenuous at best. To the right wing of this country, Barack Hussein Obama must seem like some kind of fantastical leftist wet-dream. No matter how you try to pick the guy apart, he remains popular, and nothing seems to stick to him. more ›

After a brief jaunt out west, Chicagoist is back at the homestead, making camp here on the prairie that is sweet home Chicago. But just because we took a long weekend doesn't mean that our elected officials did. Here's a look back at what's been newsworthy so far this week: Illinois junior senator Barack Obama has a huge lead — in MySpace friends! Outpacing Hillary Clinton's "friends" by some 20,000, he's clearly in the lead,... more ›

What's With the Highway Names? more ›

We have reviewed every Bobby Conn release, and with the exception of his debut and that one EP, we have hailed each as the work of modern genius. His early work had a tendency to test the listener, teasing with snippets of joyous funk or mammoth stadium choruses delivered via basement recording studio. Each subsequent album has built up a more dependable mix of accessible tunes within which Conn delivers scathing commentary on the society, and political worldviews of those in power, that dominates our daily lives and provide an ever deepening concern for our collective future. more ›

Bears fans will be allowed to tailgate at Soldier Field, but the NFL shut down plans to air the game inside the stadium. Making sure to jinx the Bears, City Hall is going ahead and making plans to throw a party to celebrate. The NYT on Robbie Gould. A 16-year-old boy accidentally shot himself on a CTA bus. After acquiring 60 stand-alone Osco stores, CVS is cutting 100 jobs. Residents of the 19th Ward,... more ›

The race in the 25th Ward has been making the news a lot lately, with both Danny Solis and Ambrosio Medrano taking shots at one another, and each camp doing the backstage maneuvering that goes on in Chicago politics. This is what happens when two experienced politicians take each other on for an important seat in the city council. Although largely associated with Pilsen, the 25th Ward encompasses parts of Chinatown, Tri-Taylor, and Heart of Chicago, and the six challengers to Danny Solis reflect more on the power struggle going on in the Mexican community in that ward (and to a lesser extent in the 22nd Ward) than any specific discontent by residents. more ›

If you're like us, you've already got a ton of friends coming over to watch the State of the Union Address tonight. And if you're like us, it takes you at least three drinks just to listen to Bush for more than 10 minutes. So if you're going to get shitfaced, why not make it fun? We here at Chicagoist are pleased to present you with a few ideas for liquefied entertainment this evening. more ›