--The Midwest Independent Film Festival starts a new season on Tuesday with the world premiere of Osso Bucco, which was produced in Chicago. The comedy revolves around disparate types stuck in an Italian restaurant during a massive snowstorm. Doesn't sound like such a terrible situation. The movie stars Illeana Douglas, who we've had a sort of crush on ever since Grace of My Heart. Several other cast members as well as the filmmakers will be at the show: 7:30 at the Landmark Century. more ›

Within the first 30 seconds of last night's Meat Puppets show, we were asked, "You a weed smoker? Because I got this whole joint no one is smoking!" And, sadly, Chicagoist was not smoking up. But ... maybe we should have been! Whilst we were enamored of Los Bros., Kirkwood, we couldn't help but notice the prodigal bros.were worse for the wear physically. However they won us over totally. It makes sense, though. Seriously, they... more ›

Ryan Adams just announced that Chicago is included in a brief string of dates next month to promote his latest, Easy Tiger. This is not so surprising in itself, although we doubt Jim DeRogatis will be in attendance, but we admit we're a bit taken aback by his choosing to play at The Black Orchid. The Black Orchid is easily the smallest room he's played in Chicago in years, and it's lush environs should prove the perfect counterpart for the introspective songs that seem to be Adams' recent fare. more ›

It’s no secret July is going to be a huge month for live music in Chicago with Intonation Fest next weekend and Lollapalooza the week after that. Yet the whole idea of fests like these is to get exposed to music you’ve never heard before. So anyone who’s REALLY into music would be a fool to miss this weekend’s Eight Annual Folk and Roots Festival sponsored by the Old Town School of Folk Music. If... more ›

Chicagoist was out at Martyrs’ last night for the launch of the Chicago Music Commission, which kept the focus not so much on the “commission” but on the “music.” The soft-sell approach was probably best considering the crowd of “extras from High Fidelity” (in the word of one Chicagoist writer), ex-hippies and others with nothing better to do on a Tuesday night. It was a night to “solidify the base” as political consultants like to... more ›