Between the Pitchfork Music Fest of a few weeks back and the approaching Lollapalooza marathon next weekend, it's sometimes easy to overlook the lesser known local music stars of our city. One such auteur? Jan Terri. We've posted Jan's videos before and she's actually well known about town and on the interwebs, but Friend of Chicagoist Griff sent us a collection of her videos which included a feature on her from the Daily Show from nine years ago (my God, Jon Stewart has been there that long?). Check out the interview below and after the jump, check out a few more of Jan's videos. more ›

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The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival kicked off last night and continues through January 13, a smörgåsbord of comedy stylings from 99 troupes from across the U.S. and Canada. Intrepid performers leave the comfort of California and Texas, brave delays at O’Hare, and risk negative comments on their MySpace pages—all to entertain you. Organizers estimate 10,000 of you attended last year’s event and, with fest favorites like Elephant Larry, Canadian Content, Cool Table, and Big News returning, this year’s crowds will likely be just as huge. more ›

As it gets closer to Halloween for LAist, a contributer recollects her tale of staring down the serial killer, Richard Ramirez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker. Must think happy thoughts -- okay, free organic chocolate chip cookies for Los Angeles -- now that's a happy thought. Other happy Los Angeles thoughts include an interview with Jack Kehler of The Big Lebowski (he was the Dude's landlord), a beautiful and magical photographic moment in... more ›

After eight long weeks, we’ll all get the chance to see who will be taking home the big prize (a staggering $250!) in the final performance of this season of the talent/variety show, Impress These Apes. Each week of the show is dedicated to a different talent challenge, ranging from puppet skits to songwriting; from creating a music video to coming up with a sideshow character. Judged weekly by a panel of three Apes —... more ›

With A Night at the Ritz, their first album on Scratchie/New Line Records, due out Sept. 25, everyone's favorite up-and-coming Chicago band OFFICE has got themselves a brand new music video for the single "Oh My." We know it looks like an (awesome) '80s porno, but we promise it's SFW. OFFICE hits the road right after the album's release, making a brief pit stop at Schubas on Oct. 3. Get your tickets now, because we... more ›

From the tallest skyscraper in the City of Brotherly Love to Canadian tourism copywriting brilliance, here's what you should know from our -ist cities: This week, Phillyist took a gleeful listen to the White Stripes' exciting new release, watched in awe as their new tallest skyscraper was finally completed, found a cheaper way to get to Gothamist, invented a tasty new dessert, and brought back their Craigslist Round-Up feature with a bang. Bostonist watches... more ›

There were three and a half long hours of the Grammys last night where the performances took top billing to the actual awards. Did anyone actually watch past The Police? Well, we did. Until a little after 10:00 when our eyes just wouldn’t stay open anymore. As we watch the Grammys we try to guess who might win based on which band just performed or if there is some sort of trend with the presenters... more ›

We know there’ll be a resounding chorus of “Who cares?” in the comments on this post, but we’d be remiss in our music coverage if we didn’t acknowledge those Chicagoans who pulled down Grammy award nominations this week. Continuing to build hope for the future of hip-hop, West Side hip-hopper Lupe Fiasco picked up three nominations (best rap solo performance, album and song). Lupe celebrated the nomination by signing 256 new endorsement deals, including one... more ›

It's easy to watch a lot of crappy comedy on TV. "The Daily Show" is always reliable for some laughs, and "30 Rock" and SNL have their moments. But by and large contemporary TV comedy is a wasteland of retreads, anemia and laughless vulgarity. We're becoming increasingly convinced that the future of television isn't television at all. It's the internet. Because there's plenty of really funny stuff online, and most of it is even free. more ›

It's time to get creative, Chicago unsigned bands. Cingular, ABC and YouTube have teamed up to find the most creative, unsigned bands to catapult to web stardom via their YouTube Underground contest. They are asking bands to submit original videos to be voted on by YouTube's visitors in four categories: Best Song, Best Music Video, Best Live Performance, and Best Creative Work. more ›

Last Tuesday, Chicagoist went down to the Landmark Century Theater to check out the 2005 awards for the Midwest Independent Film Festival. (See our earlier interview with the founders.) The evening kicked off with a social that included a rock band made up of cats, free drinks, and a drawing for screenwriting software. Around seven thirty, everyone piled into the theater to watch the ceremony. Half the awards show was spent announcing the winners... more ›

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