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 ›

Family and close friends of Michael Jackson are honoring him with a four-day “Fanvention” planned to coincide with what would have been the King of Pop's 52nd birthday. The Fanvention will be August 26th through 29th at the Radisson Hotel at Star Plaza in Merrillville, just south of the singer's hometown of Gary, Indiana. Ticket packages went on sale Monday and include a four-night stay at the Radisson and range from $1,013 for a single person to $2,767 for a group of four. Event organizers expect 15,000 fans from all over the world to attend. more ›

Take a look at the photo on the left -- a recent photo of former Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa we first came across on Deadspin the other day. It was shot at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas when the slugger attended the Latin Grammys 2009 Person Of The Year Event Honoring singer Juan Gabriel. In addition to the ghostly skin, it also looks like Sosa's had some eye work done, too. The nose still looks to be stock, but we guess each starts their rebuilding process differently. Nobody can deny he looks very, very different from how he did even a couple years ago, as seen in photo on the right, taken when he testified to Congress about performance enhancing drugs. Some speculate that Sosa may be suffering from vitiligo like Michael Jackson but, in this case, caused by years of alleged steroid use. more ›

Get ready, Michael Jackson fans. Even as the movie This is It hits screens, Gary, Indiana mayor Rudy Clay may announce plans today for a Michael Jackson museum to be built in the singer's hometown. Problem is, no one else knows much about it. Mayor Clay is currently in Las Vegas with the singer's father, Joe Jackson, and expected to make the announcement there. With Jackson's former home already a tourist destination, especially since his death in June, plans may also include a performing arts center and hotel. While members of Gary's City Council hasn't had plans, Chuck Hughes, executive director of the Gary Chamber of Commerce, told the Tribune that Clay had shown him some sketches of the proposed developments. more ›

The Reader's Jake Austen went looking for the first Jackson 5 single, recorded right here in Chicago over 30 years ago. What he found, instead, was the earliest known recording of the band. It's a fascinating story and you can read it all here. more ›

• The threat of the city closing multiple mental health clinics is once again rearing its ugly head.
• Chris Kennedy may not be running for public office next year, but he has been to the University of Illinois board of trustees by Gov. Quinn.
• There's been a shuffle in the plans to build a museum in Gary in honor of Michael Jackson.

• Michael Jackson's death has been ruled a homicide.
• It was a clout-y first day of the Fall 2009 term at the University of Illinois today.
• Bensenville's village president has conceded the fight against O'Hare expansion but is still expressing concern for effects on the city's maintenance.

It all started in November 2007 with this picture on Flickr. Then it popped up here a year ago. Now, suddenly, in the wake of the pop singer's death, it's becoming a phenomenon. Does a Field Museum mummy really look like latter day Michael Jackson? Well...yes. Yes it does. The Sun-Times' Michael Sneed has more on the bust - carved sometime between 1550 BC and 1050 BC. One correction, though, in regards to perhaps the biggest conversation piece of this striking similarity: the nose. Everyone knows of Michael's shape-shifting nose as a result of multiple plastic surgeries. But what about the bust's nose? Sneed says: more ›

UPDATE: Alright, we admit it, we were fooled. Seems this whole story is bunk. Apologies all around and now we can go back to loving Kanye unabashedly. Thanks to commenter John R who pointed this out to us. more ›

The trailer for Tron 2 leaked over the weekend. It didn't take long for someone to figure out how well it mashed up with the Michael Jackson hit, "Beat It." This, folks, is why the Internet was made. more ›

Controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has finally begun to open about his relationship to Michael Jackson in the wake of the pop star's recent death. At a service at Mosque Maryam yesterday morning, Farrakhan said, "I told Michael, don't be angry with your father, because even though you didn't have pillow fights and sleepovers, those who had pillow fights and had sleepovers - they're the ones buying your records and they're the ones coming to see you. You had a purpose for your life." Jackson had a few ties to the Nation of Islam, including his brother Jermaine, who was a member, and his use of Nation of Islam guards at his child molestation trial a few years back. [CBS 2] more ›

Alliance Bakery on Division St. has created a wonderful way to capitalize on commemorate Michael Jackson. Face cookies. That you eat. Get there quickly to get one with a good nose (really, they're all different and some are hideous.) While we found something tragic about eating Michael Jackson's face, these cookies got us thinking, are there any celebrities we would actually like to see be displayed on food items upon their death? Would you want to stretch out and chew on pink Spencer Pratt face taffy or slice and devour a Kim Jong Il face cake? Or would you feel better eating a beloved Katherine Heigl face scone? Ok. We're creeped out. No more face dessert. more ›

The crowd turned out to the Steel Yard, a minor league baseball stadium, in Gary, Indiana last night to pay tribute to the town's most famous native son, Michael Jackson. Check out the pictures above and read recaps of the evening here and here. more ›

Fox 32 is reporting Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson, as well as other unnamed family members, will be at tomorrow's memorial for the dead pop singer at Gary, Indiana's baseball stadium. Meanwhile, that House resolution for Michael Jackson? Nope, not gonna happen. more ›

Don't worry about that mysterious disappearance of White Sox pitcher Bartolo Colon. While his exact whereabouts still aren't public knowledge but according to the team, he will make his scheduled rehab start in Charlotte tonight. But perhaps the best part of this is not the "where" or the "when" but rather the "why" he was hard to locate. Ozzie Guillen has his own theory [per the Tribune]: more ›

• Our thoughts and prayers to the family of local National Guard soldier Derwin Williams who was killed by a road-side bomb in Afghanistan.
• With Madigan's exit from both the governor's and senate race, it looks like Republican state senator Mark Kirk is taking his aim at U.S. Sen. Burris' seat.
• Meanwhile, the Republican side of the governor's race keeps growing.

[via CBN]: more ›

Lots of media outlets will be live-streaming the Michael Jackson memorial, which starts in about 20 minutes, but we're going to pimp our sister site LAist who will be streaming it. Also, be sure to check out the main LAist site for all the latest on the Michael Jackson memorial and news. more ›

At the risk of going overboard on the whole Michael Jackson thing, we had to share one more video from the vaults: the video for "Jam" which paired Jackson with Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan. Below is a behind-the-scenes featurette which includes the awkward "casually shooting hoops" scene. After the jump, check out the video in its entirety. more ›

• R.I.P. acting legend (and Chicago native) Karl Malden.
• Bail was denied for Harold Turner, the blogger from New Jersey currently in jail for threatening several Chicago-area judges over their upholding of Chicago's handgun ban.
• Layoffs began today at the Chicago Public Schools.

Title says it all. more ›

Gary, Indiana mayor Rudy Clay has announced that Michael Jackson's hometown will hold a memorial service for the dead pop star on July 10. The service will be held at the baseball stadium Jackson visited on his last visit home in 2003, The Steel Yard; the stadium holds around 6,000 people. Never one to turn down a chance to talk in front of cameras, Clay has also called for Jackson to be buried in Gary and seems to have designs on turning Gary into something of a "mecca" for Jackson fans. We don't think the Jackson family home has quite the same appeal as Graceland, though. [WBBM] more ›

• To absolutely no one's surprise, when Mayor Daley addressed that controversial Olympic guarantee agreement at a press conference today, he only confused everyone more than they were before.
• A 17-year-old was arrested this afternoon in connection with the shooting death of nine-year-old Chastity Turner.
• For the third time, Juan Rivera has been sentenced to life in jail for the 1992 murder of Holly Staker.

As we mentioned earlier today, the citizens of Gary, Indiana are mourning their most popular native son, the King of Pop Michael Jackson. What happened when Jackson came back in June 2003 for a visit? One word: chaos. And then check out a performance of "Human Nature" during the Chicago stop of 1984's Victory Tour. The Chicago stops consisted of three shows from October 12 through 14 at Comiskey Park. After the jump is one more Michael Jackson-related video featuring a song written but not sung by Jackson, just for the hell of it. more ›

As the world reels from the unexpected death of pop star Michael Jackson, fans in his hometown of Gary are flocking to his childhood home to pay homage to the fallen singer. Jackson was born in Gary in 1958 and first started performing with his brothers at nightclub Mr. Lucky's in 1964. Jackson left Gary in 1969. According to the Tribune: more ›

This year’s Hideout Block Party had it all: blues, world music, stoner rock, deep country blues, puppet shows, political dissidents, robo-rock, the return of Neko Case in two guises, and a punk rock marching band. In-between all of this the organizers managed to mix in voter registration, political discussion, and a drunken spelling bee. The amazing thing about this whole package? Its whole purpose was to raise money for various community centers, primarily in the interest in improving the lives of area children, proving The Hideout truly is striving to create a sense of community through the arts. more ›

This weekend's Hideout Block Party had quite a few arresting images -- Monotonix anyone? -- but the unholy meeting of Michael Jackson songs, Robbie Fulks, Rhymefest, and a whole mess o' zombies threatens to be one of the weirdest and most enduring mixture of sound and images of the whole weekend. The choreographed dancing to "Thriller" was pretty durn impressive, and the make-up and costuming was absolutely terrific. Where DO they come up with these ideas? We'll have a full photo set spanning the weekend up here soon, but for now, bring on the zombies! more ›

A Jackson 5 museum is in the preliminary planning stages in Gary, but it got a visibility boost after patriarch Joe Jackson announced his support for the project yesteray. So far, there's no groundbreaking date and no timeline for completion. In other words, people are sort of talking about maybe doing a museum or something. The proposed museum would be built near I-80 on city-owned property, and might include the Jackson family's old house. more ›

Chicago's own Rhymefest just dropped a pretty awesome mixtape, Mark Ronson presents Rhymefest: MAN IN THE MIRROR, wherein he takes on Michael Jackson and does the impossible. more ›

Rather than go out to participate in last Sunday's national toast to Michael Jackson, we decided to stay at home and raise a glass in honor of the "Beer Hunter." Earlier that afternoon we finished the remaining bottles of Goose Island Harvest Ale during that debacle of a Bears game and were left with a varied selection in the fridge — a couple brews from Three Floyds, a bottle of Unibroue 16, two cans of... more ›