Now that this year's (excellent) Pitchfork Fest is behind us, it's time to turn our attention to that fest's bigger brother, Lollapalooza. A week or so back, when the schedules and map of the festival grounds were released, something caught our eye: gone from the South end was the AT&T stage and in its place is the Chicago 2016 stage. That gave us a big "hmmmmmm" moment, but then we rolled our eyes and moved along. After all, the bid had a large set-up at last year's fest, too. Other media outlets have jumped on the sponsorship, including Jim DeRogatis at the Sun-Times and NBC 5. Of course, Chicago 2016 is not a corporate sponsor of the event so it seems like a "goodwill gesture" on promoter C3's part as Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky told DeRo. Ah! But wait, there's more. Sandusky himself also said: more ›

Worried that financial guarantees don't match those of rival 2016 Olympic candidates Tokyo, Madrid, and Rio, Chicago 2016 is asking the state to increase its financial guarantee of taxpayer money from $150 million to $250 million. The $150 million was originally set by former governor Rod Blagojevich, but current gov Pat Quinn supports giving the extra money. Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky said, "We've always anticipated working with the state on a guarantee and that's the start of that process." [Trib, ABC 7] more ›

In the wake of "The Bong Hit Heard 'Round The World," Olympic swimming champion/badass Michael Phelps faced a brutal falling-out with various sponsors and parents. Kellogg's recently dumped Phelps as a spokesman because getting high on grass at a college party is "not consistent with the image of Kellogg," according to the company. Speedo, on the other hand, has kept Phelps on. So, too, it seems, will the Chicago 2016 committee. more ›