Did you know Madonna's halftime show was the most watched EVER with 114 million viewers tuning in? And despite the obvious lip synching we found it to be one of the more entertaining mid-game outings in years. There was no wardrobe malfunction, no crotch slides into the camera, no huge phallic silhouettes; there was plenty of glitz and glam but it was all topped off by a singer in her 50s with more energy (and a younger glow) than most pop singers a third her age. Not bad, huh? more ›

Remember: There's no crying in baseball. more ›

It kind of sucks outside, but in this video it's ALWAYS summer. Let's give it up for VHS tape, green screens and awesome dancing circa 1991. more ›

Holy shiznit. There are mash-up and video remixes and then there is THIS. more ›

Proving that quirky complexity and popular success don't have to be mutually exclusive, Kate Bush's theatrical and intense brand of rock has been influential to a range of artists, from Fever Ray to Andre 3000. more ›

Sorry, guys. I hate to be the one to tell you this, now-middle-aged men of Chicago, but you don't do anything for Madonna. At least, the version of her that was shooting "A League Of Their Own" back in the early '90s doesn't think much of y'all. Letters of Note brings us this handwritten letter from Madge, signed "Dita" as was her alter-ego at the time. ("Dita" went on to mastermind the Madonna "Sex" book.) more ›

Local comedy troupe Feast of Fools gives us this ukulele-based cover of Madonna's song "Four Minutes." Sure, it's silly, but that's why we dig it; it gave us a good laugh when we needed it. more ›

JBTV Host Jerry Bryant more ›

Happy Holidays! Chances are, you're reading this the day after Christmas, back at your day job after all-too-short a holiday, and the last thing you want from us is stuff about the holidays. But that's just too bad. Because, see, here in the Ist-a-verse, we do things ahead of time. It might be December 26 for you, but that's what you get for not checking your Favorite Local Blog on Christmas Eve. Austinist is... more ›

Quick, check your music collection. Is there any Toto in it? No? Don't be so sure about that. According to the band's website, late drummer Jeff Porcaro alone has played on hundreds of famous albums throughout the decades. Got any Madonna or Celine Dion? How about Chicagoist favorites, Richard Marx and Michael McDonald? Phew, right? You've escaped ... except the hand of Toto has also touched the likes of Pink Floyd's The Wall and even... more ›

We like the wacky antics of Jeremy Piven. And, we also like the comfy basics of the Gap. Together? We like them not so much. Piven, along with Common, is one of the new faces of the Gap’s T-shirt campaign. The ads also feature Mia Farrow, Natasha Bedingfield, Pete Wentz and other semi-famed types. Common gets smoldering down pretty well. No complaints there. But, Piven looks like he’s about to molest us. We’re sorry, but... more ›

As a result of connections we made through our day of schmoozing and taking bribes like we were George Ryan, Chicagoist was invited to attend yet another exclusive Lexus event last night at Reserve.
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Clear Channel Communications in a move to have more Chicago street cred has renamed their music operations here to Elevated Concerts. Apparently sick and tired of defending their strong arm tactics and monopolistic-like buyouts during the '90s, Clear Channel is trying to get in our good graces by changing their name, not by changing their practices. Chicagoist finds this akin to a murderer changing his name in order to continue killing while on the lam, but that's just us. more ›

This is usually the place where we’re supposed to tell you what excellent bands or movies are playing on New Year’s Eve. But you probably already have your plans sketched out, right? You don’t? Dear God! Don’t you know you HAVE to have major plans on New Year’s? It’s the end of the year! Therefore, you have to be at some huge party with lots of people, find someone to kiss at midnight, and have... more ›

When it comes to vintage Broadway musicals (well, vintage in the “Andrew Lloyd Webber late-’70s imported pop-opera crapfest” sense), Evita rocks the top of our chart. Subtle it ain’t, nor is it the smartest show in the world, but it’s chock full of catchy kitschy tunes, and sometimes that’s all we can handle at the end of a dreary workweek. And where else can you see three honest-to-God historical figurines—post-World War II Argentine president Juan Peron, his actress/social climber wife Eva, and communist revolutionary Che Guevara—singing at each other in faux-Latin accents to quasi-disco rhythms onstage? more ›

Fresh off her recent children's books/Kaballah propaganda, Madonna (or, as she's now called, Esther � way to desexualize her, religion!) is performing two more shows in Chicago tonight and tomorrow at that most intimate of venues, the United Center. Reports from Ms. Ciccone's first shows here have been decidedly mixed, but the overwhelming opinion seems to be that she's (gasp!) favoring style over substance. The show features, in some capacity, all of the following: bagpipes, explosions, a skateboarding ramp, video screens, and an electric chair. Yowza! Now that's entertainment! more ›