Results tagged “nightlife”

Dave Burge over at Iowahawk uncovered quite a gem of a magazine: the April 3, 1959 edition of a little rag called Night Life in Chicago. It's quite a sight and worth looking through for a peek into yesteryear, including gossip, columns, and ads for show girl lounges. [via]

Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Ghostly International has long been an independent label to watch. Label head, Sam Valenti, has a knack for culling a roster of some of the most interesting, off-kilter music out there. Though Ghostly has a decidedly electronic focus, Valenti is never one to adhere strictly to a single genre, and this open-mindedness is reflected in his artist roster which runs the gamut from DJ/Producer Matthew Dear to shoegaze band School of Seven Bells. Equally as strong as Ghostly's musical offerings is their carefully curated art pairings. Ghostly merges art and music flawlessly, teaming up artists, designers and musicians to form a label that is a sensory feast.

Even if you don't plan to attend Lollapalooza this weekend, the city is overflowing with opportunities to catch festival talent without the crowds and ticket price. We've kept you in the know about the rock-centric happenings and afterparties, and here's our rundown of the weekend's offerings for those of you who just want to dance.

                                 

There may only be three chords in a typical blues song - but that was no limit to musical variety this weekend. More than 600,000 people were expected to attended the annual free festival in Grant Park. And no matter what stage (or what club) the house was rocked. The best concert we saw (of the more than 60 acts who performed) was blues icon Bettye LaVette. Now 63, LaVette has been in the music business for more than 45 years, a fact she spent several minutes discussing as she transitioned through her set. Age has not proved a barrier though - LaVette even dropped the mic to sing unaided at some points Saturday night.

Electronic music is a medium ripe for resurrecting the sounds of the past, and every year one or two sub-genres reappear with a new twist. This year is widely becoming known as the year dubstep finally stepped out of its own dark shadow and into a position of public popularity.

While we were excited to see the Bears upgrade from Kyle Orton to Jay Cutler on the field, we feared an end to crazy QB antics to entertain us during the off season. Never fear, Bears fans.

If you've ever looked for info on the bar you're going to on any given Friday night, you've most likely run into Sean Parnell's site, the Chicago Bar Project. Started in 2000 and now listing hundreds of bars (including dozens that are no longer in existence), the Bar Project has changed from a simple list of nightspots into a comprehensive guide to almost all alcoholic destinations throughout the city.

If you were around the Belmont and Clark epicenter yesterday with a hankering for sticky buns that couldn't be sated because Ann Sather was closed, fear not. 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney and his crew are in the process of moving the long-standing restaurant a few storefronts east. In an article in today's Sun-Times, Alderman Tunney expressed confidence that Ann Sather's flagship restaurant will be open for business in its new location at 909 W....

It's easy to forget that, with all the hype recently bestowed to the Violet Hour since it opened months ago (much of it warranted, we'll preface), that this city was already teeming with master mixologists before Toby Maloney blew back into town. Case in point, at the recent "Chicago Iron Bartender" competition, Sepia's Peter Vestinos beat out a packed field including Nacional 27's Adam Seger, Tim Lacey of Spring Restaurant Group, and Otom's James Macknyk...

We're guessing most of you are hungover from St. Patrick's Day. We are too. But still, we're going to muddle on through our green haze and give you (drum roll please...) this Week In -ists. We start with SFist which broke the -ist record for comments with nearly 500 comments on a post about our Mayor's girlfriend. She responded back on charges that she's not a "girl's girl" and, whoo boy-- the floodgates? They...

We're gonna keep it real. We are not young or thin or rich enough to go to all of those clubs on Lake Street or anywhere else they are — we don't know where they are 'cause we just don't do that sort of thing. Our days of the potential for crazy sex and good blow in the bathroom are LOONNG over, and we never were cool enough to swing bottle service, anyway. So, the...

Debonair could have easily outlined all that’s gone wrong with Wicker Park, but instead it neatly reminds us of when clubbing used to be fun. We stopped in last night to check out Felix Da Housecat’s return to Chicago, check in with superstar bartendeder Matt Murray, and get checked by The Prairie Cartel. Breezing past the outlandish line outside Liz Armstong-style, we were greeted by an upstairs crowd going off its collective head to big...

Alright, it's time to us to get all Rod Serling on you, for a moment.

Earlier this week, Forbes published a study where they ranked America's drunkest cities. After narrowing the list to thirty-five cities and using a template more suited to determining economic indicators, Forbes ranked the cities listed based on five factors:

After a two week hiatus, which probably lowered our cholesterol levels by at least eighty points, Chicagoist’s “South Side Cheap Eats” series returns with a visit to one hidden gem of a diner in Brighton Park, on the city’s Southwest Side. We stumbled upon the Golden Heart Snack Shop and Restaurant some weeks back, while taking photographs along Archer Avenue. With its malfunctioning neon marquee, it looked like the kind of place where ward business...

It seems like yesterday that preservationists and historians protested in vain about the relocation of the old Maxwell Street Market. Indeed, ten years does pass like a fleeting memory. It was a contentious debate that was eventually wasted breath. Most of us have lived in Chicago long enough to know that when Mayor Daley lobbies for something, he gets it. And this was a project both he and the University of Illinois at Chicago put...

The Orange Line is quite possibly our favorite train line in the “L” system. Towering high above the southwest side it cuts a swath across several working-class neighborhoods before reaching its final destination at Midway Airport. Furthermore, with the right conductor you can get from downtown to Midway in twenty minutes- sometimes a ride on the Orange Line is more thrilling than a roller coaster at Great America. With dining and nightlife so focused on...

Has anyone been watching Rock Star: INXS? Has anyone noticed that Martin Casey, frontman for the Chicago group Lovehammers, is a contestant? Does anyone else besides Chicagoist find this absolutely hilarious? Maybe it’s because we’ve been known to joke about Lovehammers as the Chicago band most likely to go on a tour titled “The Nineties Never Happened” and the fact that Marty is trying out for a slot fronting INXS is just too rich for...

There’s a reason you’ve spotted more adorably clueless, map-toting hordes than usual lately: tourist numbers for the city were up for 2004 and the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau expects more of an increase this year. So look not upon our fair visitors as obstacles but as big, fat walking sales tax revenues.

For all the talk about how Version Two of The Ballpark Formerly Known As Comiskey completely changed the landscape of the Bridgeport neighborhood, the truth is that outside of the late, lamented McCuddy’s (the bar most long-suffering Sox fans bring up as Exhibit A of the old Bridgeport nightlife: “Babe Ruth drank beers between innings there when the Yankees came to town!”) Comiskey Park/The Cell has always been a victim of its surroundings. Where...

If you're interested in contributing to Chicagoist in the Culture, Books, Nightlife, Interview, for Food beats, make sure to send an email to chicagoistapply(at)gmail(dot)com and indicate the position you're applying for in the subject line. Full descriptions of the positions available are here. Don't forget.. everyone at Chicagoist contributes for the love of it, not for money!

It's been a while since since our last call for contributors and Chicagoist is getting antsy to ramp up staff and improve the site even more. Areas that we really want to concentrate on are Interviews, Food and Drink, and Arts and Entertainment. Specific positions are listed below. If you're interested in any of them, meet the qualifications, and would like to join the Chicagoist team, email chicagoistapply(at)gmail(dot)com with the position in the subject line. In the email let us know a bit about yourself and why you'd like to join us.

Illinois wants it some gay money. Hoping to show the world that Chicago is gay friendly and to grab a slice of the $54 billion gays and lesbians spend on travel yearly, the Illinois Bureau of Tourism will step up efforts to target gay and lesbian travelers.

With an upscale, small-plate menu designed by Executive Chef Bob Zrenner (North Pond, Tru) complimented with a wine list complied by sommelier Amy Lewis (MK, Zealous) and a lush decor designed by Jeremiah Johnson and Francois Frossard, X/O Chicago is a new restaurant neatly tucked into the strip of nightlife that makes up Halsted Avenue in the heart of Boystown. Upon arrival, X/O Chicago feels purposely part-restaurant, part -lounge. While the dining rooms take up...

Today is Festivus and we've been reading a lot lately about how all the cool kids are celebrating. It's easy. All you need is an aluminum pole to display unadorned. Local customs sometimes allow decorations, but they must be non-threatening plain decorations, and tinsel is absolutely banned. What? It's distracting! At Chicagoist's Festivus party we would ask everyone invited (all of you!) to contribute to The Human Fund and the money would really go to...