Results tagged “festival”

Admit it, it can be pretty hard to wrap your head around all the bands playing Lollapalooza, and the daily schedule can be labyrinthine to navigate. Lollapalooza rolled out a free iPhone app that makes mapping out your three days at the festival easier than ever.

Lollapalooza isn't the only fest on the schedule-release bandwagon this week. Our friends at the 'Fork have just released their schedule for the '09 fest and it looks solid. Also, if you were waiting to pick up Sunday tickets, you're S.O.L. as Pitchfork reports they're all sold out. Single-day tickets for Friday and Saturday are still available, though.

Very few are able to make the transition from internet sensation to star of stage or screen, but funnyman Jon Lajoie might be on his way. The regular Everyday Normal Guy has been touring the country with a new comedy act, Live as F*ck, his most recent stop being the Just For Laughs festival here in Chicago. How exactly do five minute YouTube clips translate into a live performance? Lajoie primarily sticks to what has made him popular, splicing tongue-in-cheek songs with short video clips and bits of loosely structured material. Part concert, part comedy show, Lajoie’s act takes a cue from the oh-so successful Flight of the Conchords, albeit not nearly as polished in its execution. But that lack of shine is a major component of Lajoie’s charm, who readily admits that he doesn’t exactly know what he’s doing on stage. His very good singing voice combined with his unique wit and a popular catalog of songs seem certain to keep a familiar audience entertained. Lajoie will be performing at the Lakeshore Theater again this evening, so if you’re a big fan of his internet offerings, it will probably be worth the price of admission. [Tickets]

If you've not yet heard, today marks the beginning of TBS Presents a “Very Funny” Festival: Just for Laughs. The six-day comedic takeover lays seige to several of Chicago's finest venues and boasts 68 shows, ranging from movie screenings to local standup acts. The list of talent is ridiculous, so somewhere in between Ellen Degeneres and Patrice O'Neal you're bound to find an act that tickles your fancy. And to the delight of our sanity, the 68 shows are not all unique; many of the events will repeat over the course of the festival. In addition to alleviating personal schedule conflicts (thank you, organizers, for not forcing us to choose between Louis CK and David Cross), the repetition will allow us to review the first show of a run, giving you, the reader, an idea of whether or not you'd be interested in catching the encore performance.

                                 

There may only be three chords in a typical blues song - but that was no limit to musical variety this weekend. More than 600,000 people were expected to attended the annual free festival in Grant Park. And no matter what stage (or what club) the house was rocked. The best concert we saw (of the more than 60 acts who performed) was blues icon Bettye LaVette. Now 63, LaVette has been in the music business for more than 45 years, a fact she spent several minutes discussing as she transitioned through her set. Age has not proved a barrier though - LaVette even dropped the mic to sing unaided at some points Saturday night.

A: To get to TBS Presents A “Very Funny” Festival: Just For Laughs in Chicago, IL!

As of 4:23 a.m., the golden tickets for this year's DarkLord Day (April 25) at Three Floyds Brewery are now on sale. The brewery implemented the ticket system as a means to get as much DarkLord to the people who actually want to drink it, instead of buying scalped bottles in the parking lot.

       

Wanting to enjoy the thaw a bit, we attended Sheffield's "Beer School" festival Saturday afternoon. It was the second time in a year we braved the cold to visit Sheffield's; for the second time in a year it was also worth it. Under the direction of Phil Kuhl, the Lakeview tavern's special beer events have begun to rival Map Room's beer school for breadth and scope. When we briefly spoke with Sheffield's owner Ric Hess, he seemed to agree.

Schubas' Tomorrow Never Knows Festival let loose with an initial flurry of bands playing the shows this January 14 18, 2009. There are more to come but the initial burst includes: Bishop Allen, Cursive, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, Thunderheist, The Donkeys, Tulsa, Colourmusic, Bear Hands, The Disappears, Pretty Good Dance Moves, The Wonderful World of Bald Eagle, Allá, and Vacations. There are no super huge surprises so far since all those bands are already pretty Schubas friendly, but we think it's a solid start hinting that there are probably some doozies still to come. This thing always sells out, so make sure to snag single show and / or five-day passes when they go on sale tomorrow, November 26, at noon.

          

Staff at Delilah's, take note. We love that you put together an annual barrel-aged beer festival, but the size of the bar just doesn't make it enjoyable. Let's take a look the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild's 6th Annual Festival of Wood and Barrel-aged beer, held Saturday at the Journeyman Plumber's Union Hall (1340 W. Washington).

            

The weather couldn't have been any better yesterday as Chicago Gourmet officially kicked off at Millennium Park. A press release sent to us shortly after 9 p.m. last night announced that over 3,000 visitors attended the event, with last night's Grand Cru wine tasting selling out completely.

Nearly 2,000 runners took off this morning at O’Hare for the Athens Sister City Shuffle 5K run on O’Hare’s newest runway: 9L/27R. It was a bit warm, but most were there for the highlight of being able to run or walk on a runway.

Rock and roll is coming to Ravenswood, and the children of the neighborhood will be the beneficiaries of this sleepy area’s wake up call. The Raven, an indie rock-heavy weekend festival, invades Chase Park August 16 and 17 with all proceeds going to the renovation and expansion of the park’s playground.

Lollapalooza, the biggest festival to overtake Chicago each year is about to land this weekend, and as usual we want to share some of the fest's highlights to help folks make decisions on which stage to hit when. We know most folks probably have already made their own decisions about the headliners, but throughout the weekend there is so much good music going on we reckon there's no way all of you are familiar with every band, so we're going to do our best to fill in the cracks.

Lollapalooza, the biggest festival to overtake Chicago each year is about to land this weekend, and as usual we want to share some of the fest's highlights to help folks make decisions on which stage to hit when. We know most folks probably have already made their own decisions about the headliners so it seems kind of silly to say something like, "You MUST see Radiohead," doesn't it? But throughout the three days of Lollapalooza there is so much good music going on we reckon there's no way all of you are familiar with every band, so we're going to do our best to fill in the cracks.

Lollapalooza, the biggest festival to overtake Chicago each year is about to land this weekend, and as usual we want to share some of the fest's highlights to help folks make decisions on which stage to hit when. We know most folks probably have already made their own decisions about the headliners so it seems kind of silly to say something like, "You MUST see Radiohead," doesn't it? But throughout the three days of Lollapalooza there is so much good music going on we reckon there's no way all of you are familiar with every band, so we're going to do our best to fill in the cracks.

Sex writer Amy Andre and the adult toy store Early to Bed are presenting a film festival of sorts, Queer Porn-ucopia. A compilation of red-hot queer lust scenes -- the hottest, supposedly, ever caught on film. Tickets are available at the door with a suggested donation of $8 to $10 going to benefit the Leather Archives and Museum.

Until Bottom Lounge (re-)opened, in order to find a good tiki lounge one had to travel to the suburbs. Within the city limits Trader Vic's closed last year, paving the way for the overpriced and subpar Lockwood restaurant. Trader Vic's was the lone standout for years after Ciral's House of Tiki in Hyde Park put up the shutters in 2000.

The Green Festival, the nation’s largest green living event, continues again tomorrow at Navy Pier. Healthy and green, you won’t find any elephant ears to snack on, or have to rub elbows with fat folks in this crowd. Instead, you’ll find organic snacks made with fair trade practices and vegan lasagna. There are all sorts of fashion accessories hand-crafted from hemp, or elephant dung paper, and stuff for your home like thermal shades or rooftop garden containers. It’s like a county fair, only there is no barn yard smell.

For Three Floyds fanatics, it's the equivalent of a high holy day. DarkLord Day is the one day of the year where the venerable Munster, Indiana brewery releases their highly anticipated Russian Imperial Stout. Craft beer fans from around the world travel to either buy or barter from their personal collections for a bottle of the prized beer. Fans of good ales get to meet each other, sample each others wares, and get to put actual faces to online avatars.

It’s days like today -- when the forecast temperature of 66 degrees is twelve degrees higher than today’s normal -- that get us thinking about summer. And what do we love most about summer in the city? Street festivals! Mark your calendar know for the city’s biggest and best festivals.

Delilah's held their annual vintage strong ale fest Saturday afternoon. As a beer lover, we could ask for nothing more. We had the opportunity to sample vintage barrel-aged selections from over 20 breweries. Many of the breweries represented brought different vintages of the same ales, which made for some interesting vertical tastings. Sierra Nevada came correct, with selections of their Bigfoot Barley Wine ranging from 1998 to present-day.

It wasn't so terribly long ago that in order to watch any sort of semi-obscure Japanese cinema you'd have to be prepared to invest in a region-free DVD player and sit through discs with dubious subtitles (when they were subtitled at all). Even a filmmaker like Kurosawa wasn't immune. Luckily for cinephiles the situation has really changed, and access to Asian cinema in general is better than ever.