Whether with The Bad Seeds, The Birthday Party or Grinderman, Nick Cave has spent plenty of time meditating on themes of death, sex, darkness and redemption (of the Biblical kind); 2008’s Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! with The Bad Seeds had more of the latter, where Birthday Party (Cave’s early ‘80s band) explored Gothic, murderesque post-punk. Since forming Grinderman in the second half of the decade with several members of his core band, Cave's side project retains the requisite grinding guitars and chunky, stripped-down sound but has yet to approach the level of polish or tightness kicked out by The Bad Seeds. Though what Grinderman lacks in perfect polish, it more than makes up for in daring and brilliant raunchiness. more ›

• A construction worker died today after falling through a manhole in the 700 block of N. Michigan Ave.
• The long school day for some CPS students is about to get even longer.
• A male stripper's performance at a private party in a South Side park has cost a 25-year Park District employee his job.

School of the Art Institute prof and performance artist Nick Cave - not to be confused with the other Nick Cave - is making some headlines 'round the multi-mediasphere lately with his Soundsuits: brilliantly colored sculpture-costumes that are like wearable instruments, in that they make music when the wearer moves. The suits themselves are not news: Cave has been making them for several years, mainly out of second-hand objects, and showing them in exhibitions. But Cave's show at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -- running through July 5, and featuring 40 soundsuits -- is news, especially as this is the largest-ever showing of his work. On Sunday, Cave and his creations were profiled by the New York Times, which highlighted the suits' double function as both art pieces and dance costumes. The Times includes some demonstration video footage on its website so you can see just how these soundsuits work. more ›

It figures, as the number of shows each week ramps up, the mercury in the thermometer drops down causing us to risk frostbite whilst waiting for the bus, or drop way too much dough on cabs. Here are a few things that makes either of the above options palatable. more ›

Chicagoist loves us some comics. So we were particularly pleased to see one of Chicago’s most famous practitioners of the art form, Chris Ware, receive a $50,000 grant for his work along with local artist Nick Cave (not that one) and 11 other visual artists. more ›

The tryptophan seems to have worn off by now but we’re still gorging ourselves on Thanksgiving leftovers here at the Chicagoist offices. And it’s hard for some of us to do any real work while we’re all bloaty so we’ve been catching up on some online reading. more ›