Well, summer is here, the livin’ is easy, people are showing skin and getting each other all revved up. We asked some of our fellow writers: if you could plan a date for this week (up through the weekend) what would you plan, and wherefore? Jacy: I'd check out a film at the GenArt film festival (which starts tonight) but skip the after party for dinner. Dinner being, Avec. And why? My date loves dates.......

Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park is one of our favorite places in the entire city, but others seem to like it just as much, or at least, take full advantage of all the great free events that are available there each summer. As a result, free events at the pavilion can be crowded and a little bit hellish. Happily, this was not the case at last Friday’s performance of Don Giovanni, Chicago’s first-ever, live simulcast......

Behold "The Popsicle." The massive ice sculpture that's being billed as "Paintings Below Zero," which is part of the "Museum of Modern Ice", was officially unveiled in Millenium Park Friday. Canadian artist Gordon Halloran, who started as an abstract painter, created the work out of large pieces of colorful ice, and according to the Sun-Times, "he and a team of six have been working 12 to 14 hours a day since mid-December to ensure the......

Chicagoist had a debate with a friend a few months back about the deficiency of really influential musicians coming out of Chicago in the past several years. We argued about the semantics of “coming out of Chicago” – does that mean born and raised here? Still living here? Commonly associated with the Second City? We never came to a clear consensus, but the conversation opened up Chicagoist’s eyes to some artists who cut their teeth......

And speaking of cool widgets, Chicagoist reader Liz B. emailled us with this cool widget that lists free events in Chicago. We're not sure why VW is offering it, but it's great. The widget is available as a Mac Dashboard Widget or as a Yahoo! Widget, so whatever your platform, you can get it. Liz says, "If I'd have known about it earlier (and if it were warmer outside) I might have attended the......

There’s a time for sedentary behavior and there’s a time for you to grab a cup of coffee, take a shower and leave the house for the betterment of your own self. Now’s the time for the latter. We heard this from a friend yesterday and it made the Red Eye this morning. In response to the city’s refusal to let Radiohead play a pair of dates in Millenium Park, Q101 is giving a new......

So let’s get this straight. Last year the city finally ditched its rockaphobe tendencies and opened the way for two stellar outdoor music festivals that finally thrust us back in the national spotlight. The Park District makes mucho dollars off these events and is mighty eager to host further musical extravaganzas that will culturally enrich the city (and fatten the coffers.) Then Radiohead – Radiohead! – says they want to do play a two-day stand......

Though the summer’s not quite over yet, yesterday’s Chicago Tribune took a look at what’s next for Chicago’s newest music venues. The occasion is this week’s Tori Amos concert in Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion. Despite the city’s previous reluctance to work with anyone resembling a rock musician, Amos is seen as a good compromise between those who wish to keep the space safe for jazz and classical music and those who are looking to get......

Saturday night’s your last chance to experience the free “high culture” of the Grant Park Music Festival and your best chance to wish WTTW a Happy 50th. When it comes to birthday bashes, these folks aren’t messing around. The emcess for the night are Joe “Fat Tony” Mantegna and Irma P. Hall who, for all their work supporting Hollywood’s biggest stars, have never actually worked together until now. The rest of the evening reads like......

Why, oh why, did we just spend $40 last night on two (two!) books? Okay, so we're suckers for the shiny covers and undented corners, but books are for reading. So we're planning to repent, and buy even more books this weekend when two (two!) book fairs hit the area. First off is the 35th Annual Book Fair put on by the Friends of the Oak Park Library. We hear it's one of the......

It’s supposed to be 100 degrees this weekend. Yes, really. So in addition to all the usual stay cool tips from the city, Chicagoist recommends dressing in as little clothing as possible so long as you don’t end up looking like this guy. For us, this usually means slipping into whatever clever, yet comfortable, t-shirts we can find. We figured since most other states have their own t-shirts, Illinois does too, right? Well sort of.......

If you noticed the bunting along O'Hare Airport's arrival area, or see a bunch of goofy political-types gawking at Millenium Park, that would be a bunch of mayors and their aides in town for the U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Conference. Mayor Richard M. Daley is a big supporter of the organization, and this year Chicago is playing host, giving mayors from around the country an opportunity to see our fair city and talk about......

The Cloud Gate sculpture has finally started her striptease. As you probably know, she put some clothes on in January so that workers could polish and grind her sexy bod. News reports said she'd planned on exposing about 20 percent of herself on Friday for Memorial Day revelers and then discarding clothing bit by bit as she felt comfortable—while wearing a see-through bustier so we can watch the workers finish off the rest of her.......

Crain's Chicago Business released their annual list of Chicago's Largest Tourism Attractions, and to nobody's surprise, Navy Pier whupped some tourism butt by topping the list of favorite attractions in the city. Stomping the next largest attraction, the Taste of Chicago, by 3.2 million people, the Pier had 8.75 million visitors last year, and raked in $43 million in revenues. Coming in number two was the Chicago Cubs, with 3.1 visitors in 2004, and Six......

Tired of waiting for a table at all the hippest restaurants? Or of snooty hostesses confirming your deepest fears that you are, in fact, nobody? A new book from a Chicago author may solve your problem and guarantee you the hottest tables, freshest food, and most obsequious service. Make Mine Medium Rare: A Diner’s Survival Guide, by Robert Scarola, is designed to help you and your fellow diners get all that you deserve on your......

It’s a well-established fact that Chicagoist is a big nerd. And it’s also well established that nerds like books. So by the transitive property, Chicagoist likes books. Especially when said books are written by (or associated with) the fine folks at McSweeney’s. Having enjoyed Dave Eggers’s work as well as the various collections released under the McSweeney’s banner, we’re pretty stoked about his upcoming book tour with his younger brother Toph (immortalized in Eggers’s quasi-memoir......

The Sun-Times reports today on a tour company that plans to offer Segway-based tours around Chicago. The tabloid's breathless coverage mentions that tours on the "revolutionary personal transporter" will be operated by City Segway Tours and will feature $65, three-hour, seven-mile tours of the usual stuff tourists love to see in Chicago. Buckingham Fountain, Millenium Park, etc. Chicagoist isn't really sure this new tour vehicle falls into the "cool category", but City Segway Tours Chicago......

At least one more thing is complete in Millennium Park.. In a closed ceremony on Saturday, Master Architect Frank Gehry and Mayor Richard Daley cut the ribbon and opened the new Gehry-designed, 935-foot-long footbridge. The bridge begins in Grant Park, goes over Columbus Drive and winds down into the gardens of Millenium Park. Passing pedestrians described the bridge as "snakelike" or looking like a space ship. Gehry, himself, said he think it looks like a......