Last year when Chicagoist spoke with the ladies from Girls Rock! Chicago, the camp was in its first year and had been mildly successful, even though they were finding the camp difficult to publicize. This year they are in full force months ahead of the week-long workshop in August, and they'll be holding their second fundraiser of the year at The Empty Bottle on Saturday. The bill is full of bands that include strong female... more ›

We have no beef with The Chicago Tribune’s primary rock critic, Greg Kot. We’ve never accused him of exactly being cutting edge, but we do believe he writes insightful and honest critiques for the most part. Unfortunately, since Matt Lurie left the paper, the Trib had been pretty devoid of anything approaching decent music coverage. They’re consistently behind the trends and most of their freelancers would be better used to compose press releases instead of... more ›

Tonight begins Reeling 2004: The 23rd Annual Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival. Presented by Chicago Filmmakers and running through November 11th, Reeling is the 2nd oldest GLBT film fest in the U.S. and prides (pardon the pun) itself on showing a wide variety of films. It even claims that “many consider the festival to be the highlight of their cinematic year.” Oh the modesty! Check their website for ticket info and the full schedule. The opening night film is D.E.B.S., the feature-length version of a short film by Angela Robinson that makes the rounds on Sundance Channel from time to time. more ›