If you have a lot of cash and a lot of faith, you may be able to skip the process of getting tickets to Next as they announced the sale of season tickets. more ›

The Tribune cited gas prices as the reason for cutting the Saturday edition, which was distributed solely through home delivery. more ›

With all the hype and hoopla surrounding "flash mobs" (or not) attacking and robbing people, it somehow doesn't come as a shock to hear that Monday, June 6th was the deadliest day of 2011, at least so far as homicides are concerned. The Redeye reports that 6 people were murdered on Monday, in incidents scattered throughout the city. However, none of the killings took place anywhere near Streeterville, the Gold Coast or any of the sites of the better-publicized assaults. more ›

Redeye's Scott Kleinberg reminds all that today is the silver anniversary of "Back to the Future Travel Day." October 26, 1985 is the date Marty McFly went back in time in a tricked out DeLorean to ensure his parents meet and marry in the film Back to the Future. more ›

We were happy to see that story slamming got some good press last week. The RedEye published a feature about the growing popularity of public storytelling events here in Chicago. Most of the time, these events put strangers on stage in front of strangers, where they then share their very personal and intimate stories. Writer Kyra Kyles also explored the idea that all this live telling and listening of people’s stories is helping us take a step back to authentic in-person communication, even as we become increasingly connected to our phone apps and tweets. One person she interviewed was Nicolette Kittinger, a regular contributor and two-time finalist in the Windy City Story Slam all-city championship. more ›

Back on April fools, we joked that because some of the art scene is such a joke, it can be hard to tell when an art prank is real. One of TOC's gag stories that day, actually, turned out to be prescient. They jokingly described an art show at a hipster apartment gallery, and now, it seems, everyone's talking about apartment galleries again. more ›

Scott Kleinberg with the Red Eye posted about the 10 dirtiest hotels in the nation as ranked by TripAdvisor this afternoon, with a call out requesting your filthiest Chicago hotel experiences. Thankfully, most of the Chicagoist afternoon tryst hotel stays have been on the up and up. But since we've also recently seen reporters busting out the Dave Savini Patented Blacklight story on morning TV, it seems that hotel filth is in the air. (Hopefully , not literally.) more ›

Keep those extra quarters handy if you're a fan of the Tribune. The newsstand price of the Monday through Saturday edition of the paper will increase from $0.75 to $1 starting January 18th, the paper announced yesterday. The Sunday edition will remain $1.99 and the price increase won't affect home subscribers. The Chicago Tribune Media Group's president, publisher and chief executive, Tony Hunter, said via a statement, "While this pricing action will improve our financial results, the increase is consistent with pricing trends across the industry." more ›

Tribune Co, just weeks away from having to submit its reorganization plan, continues to reshape itself. Sam Zell announced today that he is resigning from CEO of the company, a position he held for just two years. Zell, who engineered the $8.2 billion buyout in 2007, will remain as chairman of the company, while Randy Michaels will take the reigns as new CEO. Michaels takes on the new position previously serving as COO of the company since May 2008, as well as executive vice president and CEO of Tribune's interactive and broadcast divisions before that. more ›

This morning, citing police statistics, the Tribune's RedEye reports that the most dangerous time for violent crime - classified as "homicide, criminal sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and aggravated battery" - in Chicago is between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. The lowest point for those crimes is 7 a.m. The midnight to 4 a.m. time period sees the highest rate of murders. The statistics come with the caveat that there are a host of different factors that contribute to them and - of course - violent crime can happen at any time of the day or night, anywhere. more ›

Tickets to Stephanie Izard's Wandering Goat dinners are the most coveted in town, with the first two dinners selling out almost as fast as they went on sale. For the next dinner, Izard and Red Eye are giving three lucky people a chance to cook with Izard. more ›

A while back, we pointed out how ESPN's Bill Simmons laid out a challenge to recreate Ferris Bueller's day of hooky. Chicago Magazine's Jeff Ruby tried it a year ago but couldn't quite do it all. So now the Red Eye's social media intern Ernest Wilkin has taken up the mantle and even has an itinerary to boot with all the fun happening this Saturay. It's an ambitious undertaking and - sorry, Ernest - we're a bit skeptical he can pull the whole thing off. That's not to say we're rooting against him. On the contrary, it would be a feat worthy of a round of beers on us to Ernest and his cohort. So good luck to you, Ernest; we're looking forward to how it goes. more ›

At first glance, this morning's Red Eye cover looks less like goofy-faced eggs and a lot more like...well, you be the judge. Then before we got to read the article, we started wondering when we were going to get to Toshi Station to pick up those power converters, and never really got around to it. After that, we couldn't stop imagining Chicago as a wretched hive of scum and villainy. We could keep making Star Wars/Chicago related quotes, but if you need us we'll be over here quietly photoshopping Mayor Daley's face onto screenshots of Emperor Palpatine. more ›

On the heels of the announcement last week that crime in Chicago was down in the first half of 2009 over the first half of 2008, Chicago experienced one of its most violent weekends so far this year. Weekend violence accounted for 63 shootings, one stabbing, and a total of 10 deaths. Of course, looking back at last summer's violence, the bloody start to this July is pretty pedestrian, all the more reason to be skeptical about that recent decrease claim: last year's murder tally was the highest in five years, undermining the claim that violent crime is decreasing rather than just returning to normal levels. more ›

Chicago's journalism elite gathered together Thursday afternoon for yet another group therapy session, this time bringing Carl Bernstein and our beloved editor-in-chief, Marcus Gilmer, into the mix. Covering a sweeping range of topics, the central theme was the future of the news industry. Conclusion? Doom. Oh, and there's no agreeing on life-saving measures. It wasn't that we didn't have the most brilliant minds of the old guard in the conference room at the Newberry Library for the IFC's Make Media Matter series - Bernstein was joined by editors Gerould Kern (Chicago Tribune), Donald Hayner (Chicago Sun-Times), Tran Ha (RedEye) WBBM-TV news director Jeff Kiernan, columnist/editor/host Carol Marin and WVON's Cliff Kelley - it's just that the old guard doesn't know what's going to happen and the new guard, represented only by Marcus and Ha, can't predict the future of their industry. more ›

We're not quite sure what to make of the news that the Sun-Times has started putting out a short version you can download and print. Called the "P.M. Edition," you can download it here (it's in PDF format) and print it out and staple it together for the train ride home, we suppose. Each day goes live around 4 p.m. and the 10 page report features things like capsule news, stock updates, pop culture articles, and crossword and sudoku puzzles. Yep, sounds like a poor man's RedEye to us. more ›

We don't usually toot our own horn, but sometimes the opportunity is just too good to pass up. Last weekend we participated in Schadenfreude's 2nd Annual Alt-Media Slam contest along with Gapers Block, Time Out Chicago, and the Red Eye. The event had a wide-open feel as last year's champs, The Chicago Reader (and their trophy), failed to make an appearance. Tempers flared, slams were thrown, and only one team was left standing as champions: Us (holla!). We took home a nice fake plasma TV and a shiny red bow for our efforts. We'd go into a blow-by-blow account, but our friends over at Schadenfreude have been kind enough to provide a video of the event. For those of you already looking forward to next year's contest (cough-Scott Smith-cough), take note: after taking the upcoming holiday weekend off to celebrate, the Chicagoist team will reconvene next week to begin plotting our title defense. more ›

Tomorrow night at the Hideout, Chicagoist will be going up against Time Out Chicago, Gapers Block, and the Red Eye in Schadenfreude's second annual Alternative Media Slam. We're not sure how a Tribune company paper counts as "alternative," but last year's winner (cough bullshit cough) the Reader wouldn't participate this year. We'll be trading yo-mama–style rap-battle insults with the other esteemed publications...and the Red Eye. Hey-o! We're practicing already. more ›

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It's time to stop the madness of the Red Eye. The Trib is getting more expensive while its circulation shrinks, the Reader has fired its best writers, the Sun-Times is laying off a quarter of its workforce...so guess what? It's time to hold a widely circulated, widely read daily newspaper to a higher standard. more ›

The cover story of the Red Eye today is the age-old topic of public smooching. The article itself is nothing special, but some of the quote are too good to pass up: "Licking each other's fingers and making out on a packed train is too much." "No one wants to see that...Everyone likes to get their groove on, but come on." "Back where I'm from, in nightclubs you can basically do what you want. I... more ›

Another day, another quote from the CTA that has us shakin' in our boots. Ron Huberman, whom the Red Eye dubbed "Mr. CTA" yesterday, announced today that the CTA's budget won't be out until Friday--later than planned--because the State hasn't made any progress on funding reform. Plus we've had enough bad news for one day...right? Today's CTA board meeting was cut short so Huberman et al could go work on last-minute budget stuff, but the meeting will resume Monday morning. Do we smell a live blog? Oh boy, do we. more ›

This clip from The Simpsons is as good a place to jump off this week, as we're leaving to see the film after we file this, and the beginning setting is at a fair. Which makes a nice segue for us. Last week, we went to the South Side Arts & Music Fest we profiled in last week's installment and were confronted with the sticker shock of seeing a funnel cake sell for nine... more ›

We are fully aware that this weekend feature might as well be called "Chicagoist Likes Cool Old Buildings." We're fine with that. A couple weeks ago we focused on the changes - or a lack thereof - on Michigan Avenue at Wacker. Today we're taking a quick trip across the river - to the Tribune Building. more ›

When we placed the call for new food and drink writers last month, we had an idea of what we were looking for. Then real life interceded. Some candidates dropped out of the running. Those that remained made their case, the quality of writing so good we felt bad having to cut someone. Then we envisioned some candidates in roles we didn't expect, and someone wrote us with an offer we couldn't refuse. When the... more ›

We know that no one reads the Red Eye, so we’re not sure how this little bit of information caught our eye on the way to work this morning on the El. I-GO Car Sharing wants local musicians to submit songs for inclusion on a compilation that will be in every I-GO car. We see ourselves toodling down the expressway jamming to some of Chicago’s best. Don’t let us down! more ›

It's official: The Red Eye is the Wave of the Future (TM)! For all the yada yadas about selling the Trib, reporters having to beg for food on street corners, and the inarguable lack of print news readers, the Red Eye seems to be doing OK — the paper will soon have a Saturday edition. more ›

Since the re-election of George W. Bush, Fox News has seen its ratings fall. While they still have a large base of viewers, it seems they have been introducing new programs in the hopes of wrangling some of the conservatives that may have been lost in cableland for the past 2.5 years. more ›

Chicagoist knows where we'll be on Sunday — parked in front of our new 46" LCD TV that we bought in order to better watch our Bears. We have a feeling you'll also be similarly positioned on Sunday, too. That's because the Bears will host the Seattle Seahawks in their first playoff game, following a first-round bye. Seattle made it past the first round because of a botched field goal by the Dallas Cowboys last... more ›

Standing on the bus this morning, we glanced at another rider’s Red Eye, where a Golden Globes article was visible. The images featured Borat and Chicago native Jennifer Hudson, with a headline to something of the effect of “surprise nominations.” While the movie about a crass Kazakh is a bit perplexing, Hudson’s nod is anything but a surprise. While we are waiting like everyone else to see the much-lauded film version of the hit 1981... more ›