Sure, you may be hungry like the wolf for the Duran Duran show tonight (get it? Hungry like the wolf? Duran Duran? No? Nothing?), but the big show we're excited about this weekend is taking place at The Metro Saturday night. Hip-hop legends The Wu-Tang Clan hit the stage in support of their new record, The 8 Diagrams, their first record since 2001's Iron Flag and since the 2004 death of ubiquitous member Ol' Dirty Bastard (RIP). more ›

In a situation only slightly less disgusting and tragically hilarious than the time Dave Matthews Band's waste landed on that tour boat, mysterious "splotches" over a three block radius in Lisle may be human poop and pee. Police in the western suburb are investigating a substance that landed on and often stained roofs, lawns, streets, cars, etc. The yellow and brown stains were described as "the size of the palm of [a] hand." While there's... more ›

In his new memoir/cookbook Tastes Like Cuba: An Exile's Hunger for Home, author and playwright Eduardo Machado spins a nostalgic account of the Cuban exile experience, framed by meals he remembered as a child in Cuba, as an exile entering the States during the Peter Pan airlifts, as a young actor and writer and, later, on return visits to Cuba as an adult. "All my life I've been trying to get food to taste like I remembered it as a kid", Machado told Chicagoist in an interview last week. "To me, the smell of food like roast pork and tamales is my childhood." more ›

Tired of self help books always letting you down? Telling you that actually, the problem is you, and you need to change? Want to just let it all go and experience real change? 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 ›

One of our favorite seasonal beers at Chicagoist was Goose Island Oktoberfest lager. Our major issue with the beer was that the brewery always ran out of it by early September, right before Oktoberfest celebrations were just starting to kick into high gear. Besides, Goose Island's forte isn't lagers, anyway. With the exception of 312, they're all about brewing bold ales and bitters. We were caught slightly by surprise when Goose Island retired their Oktoberfest... more ›

Where drivers in Oak Lawn once ignored octagonal red signs demanding they halt, they will now encounter little addendums to make them take notice and, well, stop. At least, that’s what mayor Dave Heilmann is hoping since he went balls-out with ironic nerdery by implementing a new plan to install signs with wacky messages underneath official stop signs. more ›

Violent crime is up 1.9 percent nationally, but locally, it's down 3 percent. The city owes all of us noncriminals a pizza party. Crime dropped statewide as well. Uh, do we smell two pizza parties? The FBI released its yearly roundup of crime in the United States, and it's a real gold mine for info nerds like us. But the first thing we noticed was most of the tables say Illinois has "limited data... more ›

We've been spending an inordinate amount of time at Skylark lately. We think it's the combination of the background music the bartenders play and the tater tots with the three different dipping sauces. Their draft selection also ranks high on the list, but we've already had all twelve selections. So we've decided to highlight one that we've found ourselves returning to again and again. more ›

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The cast of Family Guy will hit Chicago next month to present, live and uncensored, a “classic episode” of the animated series. Perhaps you love the show but would rather see it delivered by actors on book accompanied, Rocky Horror-style, by hundreds of Stewie groupies reciting their favorite punchlines. If so, get your butt down to the Chicago Theatre box office tomorrow morning in time to nab the close-enough-to-smell-Seth-Green’s-mousse seats. more ›

When we were kids, we used to visit many of the neighborhoods around Chicago as part of our parents endless quest to eat food from as many cultures as possible. Pierogi in Avondale, tortas in Pilsen, souvlaki on Halsted, dhal on Devon, and the biggest polish-with-kraut you ever saw on Maxwell are just a taste of what we've had the good fortune to eat over time. It isn't the food that sticks in our minds... more ›

Pop quiz! Which is better: a Chicken McNugget or a small morsel of chicken meat that has been battered and fried to look like, smell like and taste like a Chicken McNugget, a piece of chicken lacking only the telltale McDonalds' wrapping? If you answered the McNugget, you aren't alone; A recent study of preschoolers in which the children sampled identical McDonald's foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers found that the unmarked food always lost. Even when it was apples, carrots or milk they still picked the McDonald's wrapped snack. more ›

This month we asked you ladies and gents to judge a book by its cover. We chose Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Gross. Actually, although reading in the heat about the "gamy" and "slightly sweet" smell of rotting human flesh did make us feel faint at times, we found Stiff to be thoroughly engrossing (no pun intended). Mary Roach's forays into cadaver research and the body farm were all precise and detailed without... more ›

When one thinks of Japanese beer, the first to come to mind are Sapporo or Asahi. A Japanese brewery that we think deserves mention is the Kiuchi Brewery, which started out in 1823 brewing sake. They still do make fine sakes, but in recent years they've branched out into spirits distillation, beer, and have plans for making wines. Kiuchi started the beer aspect of their business, Hitachino Nest, in 1996. The beers are notable for... more ›

Back in February, the Chicago Park District imposed a ban on bringing your pup to piddle in south Grant Park near Magdalena Abakanowicz's $3 million "Agora" art installation. Not only was this a popular spot for dogs to do their business (purportedly due to the bark-like color and texture of the sculptures) but has also become the subject of quite a bit of amateur photography, one such photo even appearing in Chicagoist's Top Ten Photos of 2006. more ›

On Friday night at the 5400 block of S. Kilbourn police seized 992 pounds of marijuana. The street value of the weed clocks in at around $2.7 million and according to the authorities the marijuana looked as if it had been recently shipped. As a point of reference for the mass amount of marijuana seized, the following weigh approximately the same; the hog shot by an 11-year old in Alabama, this totally real video of... more ›

Every kid wants to run away and join the circus. The elephants! The striped tents! The cotton candy! We wanted to be the strong man or the graceful trapeze artist or for some of us, the bearded lady. Most of all, we wanted to experience that magic was real and unbelievable things could happen everyday. more ›

This is not a fun time to be a baseball fan in Chicago. Whether a White Sox or Cubs fan, you no doubt have that sinking feeling about your team's prospects for the postseason after they were swept this week. The Cubs lost 9-0 to the Florida Marlins on Wednesday, following a day full of meetings. The players held one. So did management. Didn't help, at least on Wednesday. The players felt they needed to... more ›

A: A free movie every week. To us summer is about more than music festivals, street fairs and outdoor dining. It's also about enjoying wonderful cinema, either indoors in a wonderfully air-conditioned theater, or outside on a big freakin' lawn. And we'll be getting plenty of chances for both over the next several months thanks to Cinema/Chicago and the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival. Better known as the organization behind the annual Chicago International Film Festival,... more ›

What happens when you remove all the cars from Lake Shore Drive? It gets filled with bikes. Thousands of bikes. Even with a little drizzle enveloping the skyline. And what fills the absence of auto noise and noxious emissions? The sweet smell of the lake, clicking of gears, the squeaks of bicycle chains, the voices of toddlers being pulled along by their fathers and mothers as they ask, “How much longer until the pancakes?” But... more ›

Yes, we know, we too may scratch our eyes out if we hear one more thing about the damn cicadas. But, we're here to inform, so here we go. As we (and everyone else) have mentioned before: The cicadas are coming! But, not as predicted. The original predicted date for the cicada Billion Bug Breakout was May 22, and if you have a calendar, you know that this day has come and gone (with... more ›

Chicago native Jason Kanakis is one of those rare dudes who can honestly call himself a "career musician." He's has toured the world playing with the likes of KT Tunstall, Butch Walker, Rachael Yamagata, Aqualung, and an impressive heap of others. Now based in Los Angeles, Jason has an interesting perspective on how the Chicago music scene shapes up in comparison to the rest of the country, not to mention some pretty weird stories about life on the road. Fresh off a tour with Brett Dennen, Chicagoist caught up with Jason for a quick chat about touring, Chicago's music community, and Singapore's transvestite prostitutes. more ›

Now that City Council has banned smoking tobacco on Chicago stages, city actors and audiences will have to get used to that cool herbal cigarette smell. If you're Jonesing for the real thing, you’ll have to head out to suburban Next, Circle, and Northlight theaters. Architect David Fisher, of “Leonardo da Vinci Smart Bathroom” fame, is hoping city leaders will go to bat for his next idea: a skyscraper whose floors spin slowly and independently,... more ›

Jojo Baby, the doll-maker, drag queen and owner of Jo-Jo's Closet made a gruesome discovery Tuesday night as he was picking up mannequins he had bought off eBay from Bucktown resident Brian Sloan. According to Jojo, there were human skulls being boiled in Brian's apartment. Brian says he bought them legally to sell on eBay, and though the police have confiscated the skulls, no charges have yet been filed. more ›

State lawmakers passed a law yesterday that will ban smoking in bars, restaurants and other public workplaces across Illinois. The law passed fairly easily with a vote of 73-42, and Governor Blagojevich has said that he will likely sign the law. The ban will go into effect on January 1, 2008, making Illinois the 19th state to ban smoking. The law's intent was to clear up the random patchwork of no-smoking laws throughout Illinois (resulting... more ›

Walking past the newly remodeled Dunkin' Donuts at Jackson and Dearborn, Chicagoist was accosted by two things. Firstly, our senses, expecting the sweet combination of donuts and coffee wafting through the air, were attacked by the smell of melting cheese and pepperoni. However, before we could consider this anomaly, we were accosted by a man dressed as a chocolate donut asking for a high five. more ›

Despite the snow (!!!) this morning, we're still trying to remain optimistic and we will continue to maintain that spring is here. Flowers are starting to bloom along Michigan Avenue, and our apartment is finally home to more flora than our typical Whole Foods tulips. Currently, we have two large pots of hyacinths blooming on the windowsill and table, the smell of which remind us of the springs of our childhood. While we didn't... more ›

We are in the midst of Lent right now. Though Chicagoist isn't entirely Catholic, we do know that part of Lent involves not eating meat. Which means, if you believe a part of your meal should be accessible via the drive-thru window, you may be feeling a little bit peckish these days. Chicagoist decided to take the proverbial bull by its horns and determine once and for all, which fast food fish sandwich is the... more ›

In what we will now rashly generalize as "The Wisecracking Kids' Reign of Terror," a second student has used his bodily functions in school to affect students and teachers in school. more ›