Last week, we mentioned Flight of the Conchords' upcoming show at the Arie Crown. It now seems demand was so high for New Zealand's "fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo" that they've added an additional date for April 29. Presale tickets are available now and general onsale begins this Saturday. [via] more ›

A couple weeks back we had the opportunity to sit down for a few beers with Jon Cadoux, founder of Peak Organic Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, at the Streeterville Elephant & Castle. Like many craft breweries, Peak evolved from both Cadoux's home-brewing hobby and commitment to organic and sustainable agriculture. He was in town making the rounds, help his distributor place his beers into some new accounts. He was pretty successful: in addition... more ›

Aside from small-scale studies linking sexual-minority youth with high suicide attempt rates, there isn't a ton of concrete information about the higher risk of suicide among GLBT youth — U.S. data does not track sexual orientation as a factor in suicides. Still, there was a study in New Zealand that showed that they were six times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers, and it seems generally agreed upon that the risk is... more ›

It all first started when she started seeing apples from New Zealand in her local supermarket. “It didn’t make sense. We live in an apple-growing region,” said Alisa Smith (pictured above), half of the writing team of “Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally” at a lecture/book signing Monday night at Fox & Obel. Add to that a spur-of-the-moment meal they had to whip up for friends at their wilderness cabin in British Columbia with only the food they could forage, and the light bulb started flashing for Smith and her partner James MacKinnon. “It was the most delicious meal and was the first time we knew everything about the food on our plate,” she recalled. more ›

The U.S. Women's National Team for soccer is in town this weekend for a World Cup tune-up match with New Zealand on Sunday at Soldier Field. The United States comes in to Sunday's match on a 45-game unbeaten streak; this will be their second to last friendly before they travel to China for the 2007 World Cup. Chicagoist sat down with former national team representative and two-time World Cup Champion Brandi Chastain to talk soccer... more ›

The United States Women's National Soccer Team has scheduled a series of international friendlies this year to help them prepare for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup that will be held in China this fall. At noon on August 12, the U.S. Women's team will take on New Zealand at Soldier Field, a game that will also be broadcast live on ESPN2. Soccer fans can start buying tickets as of today. The U.S. squad is... more ›

We at Chicagoist are intrigued by the Field Museum. So much stuff representing the whole of the planet. Do you ever go there and wonder, "Where do they get these exhibits? How did it end up here instead of London or New York? And what do the native countrymen feel about us having their antiquities here?" We found that answer concerning a small slice of Pacific heritage. The Field Museum has in its collection 14 Māori heads that were purchased from a New York scientific supply sometime in the past. But now the heads are going back to their native New Zealand, after three years of talks with museum curators and foreign nationals. more ›

We buy a lot of wine. It isn't as much in volume and dollar amount as we spend on beer, but it's still an impressive (or shocking) sum. Whenever we have company over, we're always amazed by the odd person who inspects our wine rack like we're being interviewed for acceptance to some Ivy League university. They'll look at the bottles, read the labels with the most serious of intents, then ask us why we're buying wines with screw caps. Their assumption being that if the wine doesn't require the removal of a corkscrew, it can't be good. Typically, we resist the urge to cuff them upside the head. Unless they crinkle their noses, then we go ahead and swing for the fences. more ›

That new TV show, "Armed & Famous," where they train Z-list celebs to be cops ... it's in Indiana. Figures! Some racist assholes with a pro-Chief Illiniwek page on Facebook made threats against a Native American University of Illinois student. Suggested one person, "I say we throw a tomahawk into her face." A lady from Florida is suing Kraft because Capri Sun says "All Natural" on the label. When did she figure out that... more ›

Frequent viewers of "Check Please" will know what we're about to describe. One of the guests will describe the wine he may have paired with his meal, and the camera will do a quick cut to Alpana Singh, who has her head turned to the guest, listening intently. That look turns to an enthusiastic, knowing gleam if the guest chose an Alsatian riesling. It's one of those rare occasions where Singh lets her guard... more ›

Alaska? Iceland? Actually, this is The Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentine Patagonia. And Lisa Lubin used to be there, but not any more. Let us back up to the beginning, though.. Lisa Lubin is a former TV producer at ABC7 who helped start the show "190 North." In her 9 years in Chicago she completely immersed herself in the city. She played in a summer tennis program, owned real estate, taught a TV production... more ›

It’s the first week in January so most news organizations are combating the winter doldrums by gangbanging any news story that looks at them sideways. (This notion might be the only explanation why the story of the West Virginia miners—a legitimately newsworthy and tragic event—showed up on CNN’s Showbiz Today last night just before a story on Lindsey Lohan’s publicity st…er, bulimia and drug use). more ›

Sam's Wines & Spirits -- quite possibly Chicagoist's favorite store with its 35,000-square-feet of intoxicating goodness -- is expanding into the suburbs with a new store in west suburban Downers Grove. more ›