Often local events featuring unknown local authors are a snooze unless you actually know the authors personally and enjoy picking out the bits of your shared history out of their pieces. However the folks behind the first installment of The Sunday Night Sex Show handily solves that problem by insisting that their readers only deliver "creative non-fiction" about sex. Who doesn't enjoy reveling in the sexy? More importantly, writers being the self-deprecating lot they are,......

Lauri Apple of Gapers Block asked me a while ago if I'd be interested in representing Chicagoist in a DJ battle against her / Gapers Block at The Burlington tonight. Naturally I accepted the challenge without a second thought. I believe we'll be splitting the evening into five musical themes* with each of us allotted 30 minutes to outdo the other, or something like that. I'll have free stuff from Chicagoist and she'll have Gapers......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. International Pop Overthrow Since this mini-festival takes it's name from Material Issue, the seminal power-pop group from Chicago, it makes sense that tonight's show is headlined by current Chicago power-pop maestros Frisbie. Double Door, 1572 N Milwaukee, 7:30 p.m., $10, 21+ Clubs Samantha Ronson spins at Crimson Lounge tonight. Her brother is Mark Ronson --......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Mythical Creatures The "Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids" exhibit opening at the Field Museum today has got us wanting to saddle up our griffins to get there as quickly as possible. It mixes actual historical pieces, like that famous "mermaid" skeleton, with realistic sculptures of fantastical beasties.The whole thing is anchored by the exploration......

The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Music Spazz-poppers Hidden Mitten play Double Door tonight. The band specializes in turbo-charged melodies and, from what we can tell, super-short mini-skirts. How can that not rock? If you miss them tonight we also hear they're playing The Mutiny tomorrow, mini-pitchers in hand. 1572 N. Milwaukee, 9 p.m., $8, 21+ Wine We used to do......

North Center looks like a miniature village through nickd's lens. There are "Adult Fans Of Lego" out there? Really? Actually, we find that kind of awesome. Happy Birthday Lego! Obama's nightmare is still in jail. Helen's Two Way is the first bar to be busted for violating the smoking ban in Chicago. We knew there was a reason we liked that place. It has pluck! Hillary is TOTALLY doing Dave. If you're done protesting......

Clayton Hauck, Chicago's everywhere-at-once nightlife photographer, has released the results of a reader's poll he ran to discern which clubs, DJs, promoters, and bands are at the top of The People's list. It's hardly a scientific poll, and Hauck even admits that when it came to the promoter results there was probably more than a little ballot box stuffing, but we find it interesting as it functions as a good peek into the indie-rock......

The video below should infuriate you. And it should bug the hell out of any female DJ trying to be taken seriously today. DJ Colette -- whom we remember stinking up the joint back when she got her start at Liquid Kitty (at least we THINK that was the first bar stupid enough to let her behind the decks) -- is one of those vain, semi-talented knob-twiddlers that wouldn't garner any attention if she wasn't......

This week looks to finally mark the beginning of winter around here, and while we're not huge fans of bulky sweaters, digging our out cars from under three feet of snow, and the unshakable common cold, we do love the feeling of coming out of the freeze and into our favorite cozy Chicago music venues. Ushering in wool sock weather this week are three very special rock shows: Oucho Sparks doesn't sleep, it waits. Three......

Yup, it's Halloween night. And, assuming you're not completely incapacitated from celebrating this holiday for the last week, you're probably blinded by the flurry of options on how to spend tonight. Allow us to make a few suggestions. We talked to Jesse Thorn a couple days ago about his The Sound Of Young America show. Well tonight is the live 8 p.m. taping at Second City's e.t.c. stage. Thorn will be interviewing engineer and Shellac-man......