Evanston's Eddie Vedder -- a hometown boy who has since made good in a little band named Pearl Jam -- performed the first of two sold-out solo shows at The Auditorium Theatre last Thursday. We admit we went into the show with low expectations since we honestly do enjoy Vedder but were less than impressed with his first solo outing, the Into The Wild soundtrack. We figured selections from that album would feature prominently and we weren't too excited about that prospect. more ›

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers. Bostonist sees Boston and Somerville each whip out their art and face off. A plagiarized novel is the... more ›

There's a whole wide world out there, and here's the proof: DCist revels in The University of Maryland's basketball triumphs, marvels at Metro's security strategy, and applauds DC local Katie Couric's new gig. Phillyist is all about the Philadelphia Film Festival. OK, not about -- they still have time for loitering, underage sex, and random wacky news. LAist would have to send a camera around the world to get shots as bizarre as Katie's big 'ol bump and Kenny Rogers bad plastic surgery (in LAist Carolyn's words: "Kenny Rogers doesn't know when to fold 'em!" Ha!). Despite such bizarre sightings in LA, LAist interviewee Vanessa Grigoriadis chose to move there (to be with her fiancee, awww). Somebody ask Vanessa if they have record release parties as fun as the ones for LA based bands Languis and Spaceland in New York! Bostonist has the best local papers! While The Globe reports on a baby shower gone bad, the 'Herald coins a gruesome new term. They put down the paper long enough to comment on an election that has gone to the dogs, and, speaking of dogs -- check out this personal ad. Of course, it wouldn't be Boston without baseball, and, speaking of balls, here's why same-sex marriage can be outlawed for out-of-state couples. This chick we read about on Houstonist should talk to Phillyist's sexually active teen -- we think that they could find some interesting common ground. Or maybe not. A million dollars worth of pot would have us finding common ground with a lot of folks (and, hey, since we might get arrested for being drunk in a bar, weed's looking better and better to us), but maybe not Tom DeLay. Speaking of common ground, they also debated the need for a "record labels", and followed that up with an interview with the founder of Pandora Miamist reminds us not to wear a thong to our Dolphins cheerleader tryouts, but we're more worried about getting busted for driving with a suspended licence. Other crimes we won't be committing: bird theft, misspelled hate speech, and...well, if it's not a crime to do the "Gator Chomp" on the lawn of the White House, it should be. Torontoist warns us that downtown Toronto isn't that safe. First falling billboards, then self-immolations in donut shops and now falling bricks! Maybe you'd better escape to the safety of Montreal. We'd really be psyched if that train served dandelion salad, but we'll settle for Coke Blak. (We've had some and we LOVE IT.) SFist is one step closer to getting free citywide wireless, but until we get the internet ported straight into our brains we'll still have time for sex. Foodies seem to dig food-reality show Top Chef, and Barry Bonds probably wishes people had thrown food at him in San Diego instead of syringes. SFist also spoke to the producer of , a movie that's so good that our glibness escapes us. And it's back! You know what brought it back? Gothamist telling us about balls of heroin! Thank you Gothamist, for restoring us to our jerky glory. You know what else makes us feel jerky? The Times redesign. We'll say nothing jerky or glib about the reaction the trailer for is getting. Finally, Gothamist does their damndest to top DCist's rioting over women's basketball with a Hasidim protest. Is it riot week and no one told us? Chicagoist readers had a lot of time on their hands and thoughts in their heads about Wal-Mart, bicyclists, and dumb criminals. Chicagoist writers previewed Chicago's upcoming baseball season, made a tasty bowl of clam chowder and scratched their heads in wonder at the wrestler/public speaker/caveman known as The Warrior. Austinist gets all smug because they're third safest big city in America. Yeah, from crime, maybe, but what about the endorsed spread of disease or outbreaks of pillow fighting? But if you're a guy, thank goodness that now there's a place to deal with those outbreaks of the dermal variety. Fresh from an evening of fashion fun Shanghaiist rips Kristie Lu Stout a new one. Maybe someone needs to send her a copy of Dave Liang's "Shanghai Restoration Project"? For the more mainstream tastes, the Rolling Stones are coming to town, but it seems too too coincidental that they're also reporting on body parts that keep turning up in Gansu. The two news items are unrdelated, we're sure. more ›

With all the attention surrounding Fahrenheit 9/11 and Spiderman 2 (released today and yes, we really want to see it, too) a sure-to-be-great small movie may get lost in the fold. That movie is Before Sunset, the aptly titled sequel to Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, one of the best romantic films (or films period, really) of the last ten years. So simple and so beautiful, the original follows two people (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, neither of them better before or since) as they stroll around nighttime Vienna until having to depart the next morning. Like an American Eric Rohmer movie, it's full of smart, witty dialogue and, like a Richard Linklater movie (see: Waking Life), it's full of rambling, confused and confusing post-graduate monologues. But unlike the director's Slacker – which will be released on an incredible Criterion DVD this August – the movie isn't one big conversation spread amongst a hundred people, but one focused discussion centered around two complete characters. We watch them first get to know each other, then slowly fall in love – all just through the magic of talking. more ›