We're leading off today's awesome round-up by reminding everyone that, as Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier says, it's alright to cry. People seem very stressed out today — Holiday stuff? Lack of daylight? Weird diet? — but don't keep it bottled up. Let it out, and recover with some things that should cheer you up and quick: Ah, real-time graphs, how we love you. Like this one, which displays the real-time gage height of the Chicago......

Before we go to the listings, we want to bid farewell to the Tribune's Kevin Pang, who's heading over to the Tempo section. But he leaves the food beat with a profile of Peter Engler, the city's foremost expert on mother-in-law sandwiches, street food and other south side cheap eats. Shaw's Crab House concludes this year's edition of their "Royster with the Oyster" festival with their annual tent party at their Hubbard Street location tonight.......

Award-winning food and drink writer Fiona Beckett will sign copies of her new book Food, Wine & Friends at the House of Glunz in Old Town this evening. The event runs from 5-7 p.m., and there will be a reception with wine and hors d'ouevres. Cost is $20 for the reception, $40 for the reception and a copy of the book. All you amateur sommeliers should be making a beeline to Sam's Wine & Spirits......

Though Sara Mair may not have won the whole kit(chen) and cab(f)oodle, it seems that her stint as a contestant on Bravo's incredibly addictive Top Chef has not been a complete waste of her time; now she has speaking engagements and a wider audience interested in her take on jerk chicken, Top Chef judges and, most importantly, cheese. Perhaps you're a member of that potential audience? If so, then you should be making plans to......

Now that we’ve recovered from the sugar crash, we can tell you about some of the things we found during our visit yesterday to the National Confectioners Association’s All Candy Expo at McCormick Place, which ends tomorrow. The industry-only event draws 20,000 visitors to town to sample over 2,000 gums, candies, and snack foods. New products and trends within the industry are also unveiled with all the accompanying sizzle to prospective retailers and wholesalers. The......

Chicagoist is a big cheerleader for the city, but there are some things that even we have a hard time getting excited about. Swimming in Lake Michigan or jumping into the Chicago River are two of them. Maybe it is the dumping. Or maybe it is (jump in the way-back machine, for a second with us) Dave Matthews Band. Or maybe it is the knowledge that every summer, the beaches are closed several times......

Cyrano's Bistrot is open again, after a week and four inspections to combat a roach infestation caused by condo renovations above the restaurant. Congratulations, Chef Didier. Just don't expect us to visit anytime soon. Gabriel Magliaro of Half Acre Beer Company has been busy. Half Acre and Bloodshot Records have a promotion where Bloodshot is offering a sampler album as a free download to Half Acre fans. Magliaro will also be at Whole Foods......

The major stories this week are the opening of Crust, the continuing saga of David Hammond, bug eater, and how — if Hammond decides to head to Beverly in the near future — he might have a Tippi Hedren moment fighting with the seagulls who've been dining al fresco on cicadas. There are still plenty of events happening in the next seven days. Here are a few of note. - This weekend would be a......

Apparently, Simon Cowell is a big supporter of the fight against hunger. Shocking, we know. But it just goes to show that just one day of working alongside volunteers of America’s Second Harvest, as shown on the "American Idol" show a couple weeks ago, can soften even the hardest of hearts (sorry, Simon, you can be kind of a toughie). The organization serves as a network for more than 200 food banks and food-rescue organizations......

The Red Cross is asking, who is that someone in your life who can kiss away the pain? Who will stand by the community forever? And who will take our breath away? Ok. Cheese. We know. But seriously, the Red Cross of Greater Chicago is calling on all of us to nominate heroes for the 2007 Heroes Breakfast to be held in the spring. They — and don't we all? — want to recognize outstanding......

All you've got to do is help feed the hungry. Tomorrow, bring a non-perishable food item to Potbelly at the Merchandise Mart (south entrance), and you'll get a ticket redeemable for a free Potbelly sandwich. All the food you bring will go to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and you'll get a free sammich.......

Famed Chicago chefs Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto and Rick Bayless are among those cooking sample dishes for the 13th annual Bag Hunger Auction. Held on Nov. 15 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, the silent auction benefits the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Gand and Tramonto co-chair the event, which features more than 25 chefs from notable Chicago restaurants including Tru, Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, West Town Tavern, TIMO, 160 Blue, Ina's and Heaven on Seven. Food and......

If you’re like Chicagoist, and we know that you are, you’re anxiously awaiting this weekend’s Clusterfest kickoff. Why wouldn’t you be? But if you can drag your ass out of bed early enough on Saturday, you can do a good deed and still have plenty of time to get yourself pretty for the big party. Just how pretty is up to you. On Saturday morning, the Greater Chicago Food Depository will hold its 21st Annual......

If there’s anything Chicagoist loves, it’s giving the nod to girls with talent. And, we also love good causes. So imagine our delight with an event that does both. Enter: the 10th Annual Girl Food Dinner. Held last Sunday at West Town Tavern (1329 W. Chicago), the Girl Food Dinner raised funds for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The full price of the $125 ticket went to the cause, and we’re happy to report, the......

River Reversal?...

Over a hundred people who ate at the Drake last weekend got sick from food contaminated with a norovirus that caused both technicolor yawning and Hershey squirting. Double whammy! The Shubert Theater is getting redone and then it will become the LaSalle Bank Theater. Wonder who's footing the bill for that makeover. Did you know that the firefighter sliding pole was invented in Chicago? And also that the snorkel was invented here? A group......

The American Racing Pigeon Union says that Chicago is the only city that bans pet pigeons and that it's not fair. On Thursday, a US Circuit Courts of Appeals judge upheld a lower ruling on the ban against some claims by enthusiasts that the ordinance is unconstitutional. Karl Wollenhaupt, who is a member of the Chicago racing pigeon club, says "This sport has been in existence for hundreds of years, but the city says these......

Didja know that today is National Hunger Awareness Day? And that June is National Hunger Awareness Month? Want to know an easy way you can help fight hunger? The Greater Chicago Food Depository is launching a month-long drive with FedEx and you'll be able stop by any FedEx Kinko's location to drop off canned food donations. The summer months are a super important time to remember those less fortunate. It seems that we all think......

There's a new site in town and it's aim is to round up listings from local online classifieds. The site is called Oodle and it launched its Chicago beta yesterday at chicago.oodle.com. It's a free service that accesses all of the classified listings in the Greater Chicago area - so cars, jobs, housing from Chicago to Elgin to Joliet to Aurora. The way that Oodle differs from other sites with classifieds is that instead of......

Eight to 10 members of the infamous Hyde Park monk parakeets gang were kicked out of three nests they'd constructed on power-line poles in the 5000 block of South Dorchester on Tuesday. ComEd said the parakeets' early-morning screeching parties and attempts to pay rent with holly berries and bird seed were just a couple of many reasons for the eviction. Screechy McTweet, leader of the South Dorchester Parakeet Neighborhood Association and pictured at right, defecated......

Tomorrow during every newscast between 5AM and 11PM, every radio and television station in Chicago will be encouraging their audiences to call 1-866-278-8354 to pledge money to the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago. Every half hour or hour anchors and DJs will be providing updates and reminders to call. (But don't call now because the number's not active til tomorrow morning.) If this weren't for such a good cause it might seem annoying but......

Every year Chicago Magazine chooses a handful of people who they believe have made our city a better place. This year they've chosen 6 people to honor as Chicagoans of the Year: John H. Bryanis the former chairman of Sara Lee and current board director of General Motors, Goldman Sachs, and BP who helped get the funds to build Millennium Park. He also rescued Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House when it was about to......

Normally we totally would not say this, but if someone from the Greater Chicago Food Depository calls you asking for a donation, do not give them any money. The Depo has contacted the Attorney General (pdf link) to let them know that some poser(s) have been calling people up pretending to be them and asking people for money. The Depository says that they do not solicit donations by telephone and that if you want to......

So how’d that voting thing go for you? Felt pretty good didn’t it? Even if your candidate didn't win you gotta love taking part in democracy, steering the direction of the country, all that good stuff. Why not keep that good feeling going for the rest of the week and see some good music too? Tomorrow night at Gunther Murphy’s is a benefit for America’s 2nd Harvest. Who are they? They work towards a hunger-free......

» The Greater Chicago Food Depository opened a new facility on the southwest side » The 50 year anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education » Chicago's Lakeshore Marathon is debuting a new real-time runner-tracking technology » The Brown Line tests new trains (with straps!) » Possible cab fare increases » Three train crashes in one day » The Great Lakes Interagency Task Force was established » FBI busts more Chicago gang members »......

Over the weekend the Greater Chicago Food Depository opened a new facility on Chicago's southwest side, near Pulaski Road and 42nd place. The $28.6 million, 216,000 sqaure foot food bank and training center will double the Food Depository's capacity to feed those in need, allowing it to distribute up to 80 million pounds of food each year. The new food bank is among the largest in the United States. It houses an array of programs......