Results tagged “navypier”

File this under No Surprise to Anyone: Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, otherwise known as McPier, is deep in debt. Crain's is reporting that according to the new chairman of McPier,

The story goes that when Talking Heads were planning the concert that would be captured on film as Stop Making Sense, frontman David Byrne asked a stage designer friend for pointers. She told him that on stage, everything needs to be bigger. He took her advice literally. Thus was born the Big Suit.

Those tethered hot-air balloon rides at Navy Pier have been approved by the Chicago Plan Commission in spite of protests from Erma Tranter, executive director of Friends of the Parks. The ride could be open by next week and will stay open through October. [CBN]

Round and round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows...

Navy Pier wants to give people the chance to see Chicago from a new angle: a hot air balloon. Perhaps a little friendly competition with the Sears Willis Tower Ledges? The balloon would be tied to the ground and the attraction would be run by New York-based AeroBalloon. According to the Sun-Times:

Ah, the shopping mall: food courts, chain stores, erstwhile home to zombie uprisings and Tiffany concerts (specifically "The Beautiful You: Celebrating The Good Life Shopping Mall Tour '87"). The first enclosed shopping center, Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota (shown above), opened in 1956. Since then they've spread to practically every corner of the globe. In fact the world's largest malls are now in Asia, dwarfing their North American ancestors. Aside from McDonald's perhaps no other American innovation has been so equally reviled and embraced.

Mayor Daley loves cameras. Be it red light cameras, street sweeping cameras, or surveillance cameras, he can't seem to get enough of them. So he must be thrilled after last night's "unveiling" of 200 new security cameras placed around Navy Pier. The new $4.2 million monitoring system comes from IBM and, in a way, makes sense as Navy Pier is one of the city's top tourist attractions; Crain's says 8.3 million people visited in 2008. Or maybe Mayor Daley just wants to keep an eye on all those commies over at WBEZ (we kid!). The system, which was installed in February, has already proved useful.

If you've noticed an abundance of men and women in uniform around town, it's because it is the first ever Marine Week here in Chicago. It kicked off Monday morning and continues through Sunday night. The Marines will be showcasing their talents around town all week. You can see the full list of events here, but here is a list of events that are free and open to the public.

Comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know, NYC's purveyor of the crass and offensive, will make a one-night-only appearance at the Lakeshore Theater this Thursday. Known for their delightful vulgarity, the Kids will tackle everything from celebrity worship to potty humor, and will no doubt throw some beastiality somewhere in the mix. Prepare to giggle nervously.

As we speculated a month ago, it's now been confirmed that this summer's Chicago-filmed Batman blockbuster, The Dark Knight, is returning to IMAX screens. But it's coming sooner than you think. The film hits the big-big screen starting this Friday, January 23rd. But there's an extra special something for those of you who score tickets to the 9 p.m. show on (re)opening night: a special IMAX screening of Batman Begins follows. Swing by the Navy Pier IMAX Theatre site for more details and the chance to buy tickets for the film as well as the special doubleheader. Tickets for all shows are $15 for adults and $13 for children.

Every day in August, we said to ourselves, "Gotta go see The Dark Knight in IMAX." Guess what we never got around to? Seeing The Dark Knight in IMAX. So when we stumbled across this press release from Warner Brothers, we counted our lucky stars that we'd be able to catch it in all its IMAX'ed glory (despite the cynic in us mumbling "They just want to cross the billion-dollar threshold").

We know what you're thinking: "Uh, there's already a giant Ferris wheel at Navy Pier, what is this, Best of Chicagoist 1995?" Yes, there is one there now, but forget that dinky piece of shit, McPier wants to go BIGGER. As in twice the current size, putting the finished product at over 300 feet tall.

There are two circus shows in town for the summer: Cirque du Soleil’s new show Kooza premiered last week, and that other Cirque circus show opened at Navy Pier earlier in June. So that got us to thinking, what if we're moved to join the circus? Where can we go to learn a skill like, say, the trapeze? Admit it, you've thought the same thing. Here are a few local options for expanding your trapeze skills.

If you're looking for some breezy fun on a big-ass screen, you could do a lot worse than Kung Fu Panda, which opens tomorrow at Navy Pier's IMAX.

Re-imagining any children’s story by author Roald Dahl is a shoo-in for a fun and lucrative undertaking, as Dahl’s stories are both beloved and well known. Adaptations of Dahl’s work have been fairly consistent in the Chicago theater scene, with the BFG running at DePaul University’s Theater School last year, the multi-media show done by The Annoyance in March, and the Emerald City Theater’s puppet production of James and the Giant Peach closing last month.

The Green Festival, the nation’s largest green living event, continues again tomorrow at Navy Pier. Healthy and green, you won’t find any elephant ears to snack on, or have to rub elbows with fat folks in this crowd. Instead, you’ll find organic snacks made with fair trade practices and vegan lasagna. There are all sorts of fashion accessories hand-crafted from hemp, or elephant dung paper, and stuff for your home like thermal shades or rooftop garden containers. It’s like a county fair, only there is no barn yard smell.

The 44th annual Chicago International Film Festival, Cinema/Chicago, and Warner Brothers have teamed up to treat Chicagoans to an advance screening of the newest Batman installment, The Dark Knight. Well, more specifically, you will have to treat yourself, since tickets to the gala event are $150 apiece.

Last March, Wheel of Fortune came into town to tape three weeks of shows, and Navy Pier’s Festival Hall was gussied up to serve a dual purpose – half of the hall was transformed into a shiny Wheel of Fortune set, while the other half was roped off into a holding corral for the thousands that came to catch a free taping. The episodes filmed in Chicago have been airing since Monday, and since the episode we attended is scheduled to run this evening, let’s go ahead and revisit the memory, shall we?

where she will not only take on the role of executive producer but will also star as legendary singer Etta James. No word yet on when she will actually arrive, but we’re certain well know as soon as her private jet lands, as Beyonce buzz travels fast. The film will mainly be shot in New Jersey and Mississippi, but may shoot in Chicago for a few exteriors.

Oh man, we almost forgot about the Children's Museum debate! Luckily, Alderman Brendan Reilly wants to keep it front and center, which is why he sent the Museum a list of 24 possible places it could relocate that aren't Grant Park:

Wheel of Fortune is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and the gang is heading to Pat Sajak’s hometown, Chicago, to tape three weeks of shows. Shows will be taped afternoons and evenings at Navy Pier during March 7, 8, and 9. Request your tickets now.

If you’re lucky, your toddler will be asleep, blissfully unaware when the last minutes of 2007 tick by. An earlier bed time doesn’t mean that he or she has to miss out on the festivities, though; a handful of places in and around Chicago are hosting New Year’s Eve parties for the little ones, with dancing, snacks and party favors at an earlier countdown.

We love us some Xmas movies; but frankly there are plenty of swell, non-Holiday movie events coming up as well:

Mike Madigan made it seem like he was ready to deal this week, with a letter to state legislators saying that he'd endorse a bill to expand gaming in the state in order to fund roads and schools. In announcing his "compromise", he said he is "willing to embrace compromise and offer a sincere, serious proposal that will receive my full support and backing." That expansion may not happen, though, as some lawmakers have enough...

Listen up all you single residents of Chicago: Andy Eliason, of The Canadian, "Canada's new socially progressive and cross-cultural national newspaper," has some dating advice for you in his piece, "Things to do when you are single in Chicago." He says if you are single in Chicago, the first thing you need to do is "find someone else who happens to be single in Chicago, and you have to be willing to take the steps...

Even before we moved to Chicago we were aware of Poi Dog Pondering, thanks to a splashy ad in Rolling Stone for their album Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea. Their song "Thanksgiving," from the aforementioned album, always pops into our playlist this time of year; and it was really cool to see them open for David Byrne a few years back at Navy Pier. However, their newest foray comes as something...

We mentioned last week that Pinot Days hits Navy Pier this weekend. There are some auxiliary events in conjunction with the grand festival, running from 1 - 4 p.m. tomorrow. 312 Chicago is hosting a winemakers dinner this evening from 7 - 11 p.m. The $120 price tag allows diners access to sample 18 different award winning pinots, including a four-course meal (each course paired with two different pinots) and the chance to ask burning...

A few minutes walk from Bubba Gump, Shakespeare Theater and the IMAX is this weekend’s Exposition of Sculpture Objects and Functional Art (SOFA) Chicago, bringing around 100 similarly eclectic galleries to Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. Considering the show’s artistic star power and the stacks of bills changing hands, Friday afternoon seemed positively mellow. Visitors seemed more intent on finding that perfect trinket for their living room or personal adornment than investing in the next Picasso....

That last hour on Fridays always seems to take forever. At least there's plenty of cool stuff cooking this weekend:

The November 10 dinner at Bonsoiree sponsored by the International Wine and Food Society's Northern Illinois Chapter we listed a few weeks back is now sold out. Shaw's Crab House will be serving Nantucket Cape Scallops beginning this month. The highly regarded scallops are only available for a limited time. Cyrano's Bistrot has just added a early bird/pre-theatre fixed price special for autumn. enjoy an appetizer and entree or entree and dessert for only...