It had been a too long four years since The Futureheads last played Chicago when they popped on the stage at Lincoln Hall last Saturday, but the group immediately began to make up for lost time. It was the final date of the band's North American tour, and the crowd was lighter than we expected, but the quartet from Sunderland played as if a sold-out crowd at Wembley was cheering them on. One of the band's hallmarks is their ability to wend incredibly intricate multi-part vocal harmonies through a minefield of buzz saw fast riffs and hooks so sharp they'll make your ears bleed, the sort of aural acrobatics that could easily trip up a band in the live setting, but The Futureheads made such dizzying tactics look easy. more ›

It’s cold. And you need something hot to spice up your weekend, don’t you? If so then make your way to the Funky Buddha Lounge, where this Saturday night the club will play host to the Sex Workers' Art Show, a traveling sextravaganza that features a variety of visual and performing arts produced entirely by sex workers. more ›

As you all know, we here at Chicagoist are avid Wentz watchers. We’re also big fans of looking svelte in our dungarees, but can these two passions ever meet as one? Fear not, fellow drama and denim lovers – DKNY has the answer to all of your prayers. The New York-based icon of the jean has joined forces with Pete’s Clandestine Industries to (creatively) offer Clandestine Industries for DKNY, a snazzy line of tops, dresses,... more ›

There's no love lost here between Chicagoist and Cook County government. In fact, not only has Todd Stroger (as well as the other comedians that pass for "Commissioners" on the county board) been a target for our anger, frustration, and disappointment, they've been fodder for our ridicule and a symbol of what's wrong with local government here. Looking back at the news from last week, we've been following the story of Sally Lemke, the nurse... more ›

We aren't naive. We know the police protect and serve, that it's a largely thankless task, and recognize their achievements when we can. Overall, though, this hasn't been a good year for the Chicago Police Department, public relations-wise. So if there were a list of the bad seeds in existence, wouldn't you want to know the names? Wouldn't you know who's out there perverting their oath to protect and serve? Judge Joan Lefkow thinks so.... more ›

Chicagoist prides itself on knowing how to get meals, drinks, tickets and the like for free. We tend to laugh in the face of people who shell out cover fees for clubs and drop a 50 on top-shelf drinks when you don't have to have your ear too close to the ground to learn about ways to RSVP to get in for free and drink for free for at least part of the night. This is why we felt slightly ignorant, yet excited about something we learned this week while reading Time Out Chicago. more ›

Kids tend to have a bad rep when it comes to premarital sex, teen pregnancy and the like. That's why Chicagoist believes in a firm, informative sex education class (huh huh, we said firm). It's the whole "The More You Know" thing, right? more ›

Being as nerdy as we are, we tend to buy a lot of tech stuff, usually online. But sometimes, we want something now. Maybe we figure out we could reconfigure our comp to churn homemade ice cream right at our desk if we only had that one cord, so we just pick it up on the way home. No fuss, no muss, no waiting, no shipping charges. Kind of like how even though we use Netflix, we still skip out to Blockbuster sometimes when “Sylvia” sitting in our mailboxes feels like too much of a pick-me-up. more ›

With the Bears' season over, Chicagoist has focused our attention to basketball, specifically the Bulls. With their home arena invaded by Princesses on Ice, the Bulls spent the past two weeks wandering out West in their second extended road trip of the season. Sunday, the Bulls concluded their seven-game road trip by knocking off the Phoenix Suns, handing the NBA's second-best team their first double-digit loss of the season. With that win, the Bulls finished... more ›

For this month’s Convince Us we asked you to recommend a classic. We decided on The Quiet American by Graham Greene and — oh my — are we happy we did. more ›

Women haven't exactly taken over Capitol Hill, but there are now more women in Congress than ever. And at the risk of stating the obvious, Hillary is basically the first-ever serious contender for the White House. But things in the film industry couldn't be more different. more ›

While we felt nationally the year was a little flabby when it came to music to get us excited, we found succor in Chicago’s constantly expanding scene that continues to grow in its influence. We had a hard time winnowing down our list to just a few stand-outs since so many great albums came out locally, but the following acts kept finding their way into our iPods and our DJ sets. And for those of... more ›

In today's Getting Around column, the Tribune's Jon Hilkevitch says that this spring, the city of Chicago will start sending officials posing as pedestrians to bust drivers who endanger walkers at intersections. The Department of Transportation and Office of Emergency Management will work with the police to conduct stings on reckless drivers, particularly those making right turns through crosswalks. On average, more than one pedestrian is killed in a traffic accident each week in the city. Mayor Daley has also created a Pedestrian Advisory Council and a Safe Streets for Chicago plan that will look to build more pedestrian-friendly intersections, coupled with a marketing campaign to promote pedestrian safety. more ›

It’s the holidays, and nothing says Happy Holidays to us like some raw oysters and a gin martini. And while us landlocked Midwesterners won’t pretend to have any expertise on the subject of mollusks or the like, we have heard that Fulton’s chef Mark Mavrantonis is an oyster dynamo. Rumor has it that he was on a team that set an oyster-shucking record by opening up more than 16,000 of the little guys in something like 11 hours. Having nearly lost a few fingers trying to shuck in the past, Mavrantonis’ oyster reputation was enough to get us through Fulton’s door last night for a quick dozen and some juniper berry goodness. more ›

Chicagoist loves stories of mischief and mayhem, bizarre crimes and the like, but they tend to follow a script. For instance, when a 32-year-old man punches a 63-year-old man walking with a cane, it's usually the younger fellow who gets in trouble. But most of the time the older gentleman hasn't just slashed 18 sets of tires with a pocketknife. more ›

Over the weekend, the city announced that it has a solution to one of your many, many problems. Rather than turning all your old TVs and computer monitors into plant holders and cluttering drawers with old batteries because you have no idea what to do with them, you can now take them somewhere: a recycling center. more ›

If you are anything like Chicagoist, you have a frightening dependency issue with cheese. We love the damn thing. Don’t even make us choose between groceries for a week and four really great wedges of cheese. The tricky part, however, is finding the good stuff that’s out there. Upscale grocers like Whole Foods, Fox & Obel and the like tend to carry a pretty decent selection, overpriced as it may be. But if you... more ›

Chicagoist's dad is sort of weird. Well, lots of weird. He refuses to use his turn signal in nearly every occasion unless someone is right up on him because he doesn't see the need to "waste blinks" and burn out the fuse. Whaa? Better yet, he likes to shift his automatic and put his car in neutral at stop lights. We have NO clue what this is accomplishing, but he claims that this "saves gas." OOO-kay. more ›

It's true -- a lot of us have a soft spot in our heart for old-fashioned Halloween scares. We know there are a lot of people out there who like sneaking around haunted houses, putting flashlights up to our faces, sticking our hands in bowls of spaghetti and peeled grapes -- the whole bit. more ›

A question that brings to mind both the pirates of yore (and more importantly how they talk) and how millions of people steal money from the pockets of others using nothing but an internet connection. There are other ways to conceptualize what people are doing when they click ‘download,’ the Pirate Political Party does just that. The Pirate Party has aims to reform copyright, intellectual property, and civil rights around the world. Since its beginnings in Sweden in January of 2006, it has gained a sizeable following there, enough to nominate a candidate for Swedish parliament in the recent election. more ›

Man, Charna Halpern cannot get a break. First, she has to change the name of her whole enterprise from Improv Olympic to IO, which would be crappy enough in its own right, if it didn't always make us think of the classic 'Captain EO,' featuring the ever-lovable Michael Jackson. Then, the much hyped IO 25th anniversary show rolls around a little over a year ago, promising fanfare and excitement with famous alums coming home to... more ›

The Like Young announced its breakup Sunday in a post on its website and in a press release from its label Polyvinyl Records yesterday. The band was four years old. more ›

We’re not going to waste your time telling you just how terrific Dressy Bessy is. In our book a cute girl plus sunny melodies plus tight-as-an-L.A.-forehead songs equal aural bliss divided by an ear to ear smile. The fact Dressy Bessy is simply playing would be enough for us to urge you to get yer butts on over to The Abbey this Sunday. No, instead we want to tell you about an undiscovered gem currently touring with Ms. Bessy (yes, we know “no one is Pink” in the band, we’re doing it because we’re feeling frisky today). more ›

Man, what a crazy night at Madison Square Garden for the NBA Draft. As we predicted, there were a flurry of trades -- although mostly just draft picks moving around, along with throw-in future 2nd round picks and the like. The Bulls were among the early traders, drafting Texas' LaMarcus Aldridge, then shipping him to the Portland Trailblazers in return for Tyrus Thomas (picked 4th) and third year player Viktor Khryapa. Later in the... more ›

When Chicagoist started its "South Side Cheap Eats" series, we did so in order to shine a light on the untold culinary landscape of our side of the city. The stories we tell should be treated as cautionary tales, like the "war wound" stories of your flighty uncle. This is one of those times. more ›

In a last move of a will they/won't they worthy of your favorite TV drama, Federated Department Stores, Inc. has finally made it clear they are cutting ties with the Marshall Field's name.
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There aren’t too many big names in town this weekend. Mike (nee M.) Doughty will be at Park West after a free in-store at Borders on Michigan and Son Volt will prevent several people from accidentally seeing the atrocity known as The Fantastic Four by performing at The Vic on Saturday night. (Chicagoist thanks them for this gift to humanity). Anyway, we’re giving full vent to our indie leanings this weekend. Thanks, in part, to... more ›

This week Chicagoist will be making a couple appearances on panels on blogging. If you're interested in hearing more about the blogging process and a bunch of nerdy mumbo jumbo (not to mention watching us try to be serious and not make fools of ourselves), you should check it out. First off, tonight, we'll be participating on a discussion about Writing for Blogs. This is a showcase of the Independent Writers of Chicago (IWOC) meeting.... more ›

This week’s New City cover story “Music 45: Who Rocks Chicago” features 45 artists, talent bookers, and executives who rock Chicago. Though the awkward punctuation had us scratching our heads for a while, that was nothing compared with how we got our dander up over the list itself. Trust us: things get ugly when our dander is in the up position. more ›

On your mark, get set, go: starting Saturday, you’ve got exactly eight days to pretend it’s Spring with the 2005 Chicago Flower & Garden Show at Navy Pier. Yeah, it may not be the Spring you’ve been waiting for, but now’s not the time to get all fussy with the particulars—and if you’re anything like us, you’re total whores for a sure thing. more ›