This month is National Novel Writing Month — Nanowrimo for short. A time for cranking (crunking?) out 50,000 words of elegant prose — or crap, depending. A time (30 days, to be precise) within a time (that lacks a foreseeable end, to be depressing) of widespread unemployment among writers, many of whom used to get paid to wordsmith. Damn, man. Those were the days. more ›

Yeah, we know what you're planning to do tonight: Stay at home and listen to Philip Glass records while you work on that Majesty of the Seas modeling kit you just got in the mails. Maybe you should save that activity for when it gets really cold, eh? If you agree that you should postpone gluing your fingers together to get out and explore life some, then consider the following activities: more ›

So are the fruit flies buzzing around the basket of tangelos and peaches on your kitchen counter, and your Aunt Kathy, and your Cousin Melvin, and your landlord. Even the Amalgamated Union of Lolcat-Artists, Local 12 — one of Chicago's most cutting-edge arts organizations — is throwing a group show (theme: "Kittehs H8 Scaree Glenn Beck"). Chicago Gallery News' comprehensive list of openings should help you find what's what and where, as should Newcity's list. but here are some highlights (i.e., emailing us about your upcoming events works!) to help you along: more ›

Perhaps you couldn't afford to Lolla this year -- sux. Or maybe you are disenchanted with the whole music festival scene: the $6 hot pretzel dinners, and the foul-smelling porta-potties, and the crappy bands you have to sit through to get to the good bands. Well, we are here to remind you that you have entertainment options -- and they don't involve wristbands, or Perry Farrell, or the onset of tinnitus, or even hot pretzels. Instead, they involve mingling, and pine-scented bathrooms, and possibly some bowls of Sun Chips. Oh -- and visual art! more ›

It's not the weekend yet, but let's pretend! Tonight's highlights: more ›

Hoo boy. We've got a lot of art openings going down in the West Loop on Friday, some calls for entries, and fun with cubes. more ›

Someone told us that they once ran into the late musician Jeff Buckley carrying around a stack of phone books around and around the same block in Memphis, TN. We're pretty certain that if he were alive today, Buckley would prefer to tote copies of PHONEBOOK, the essential travel guide to artist-run centers, small/nonprofit/fringe galleries, and other exhibition and presentation projects. threewalls and Green Lantern Press will release Compadres Amores, the latest PHONEBOOK edition, at a reception Thursday, October 23 from 6-9 p.m. A special threewallsSALON, "Enablers and Platformists: turning the content over to participation," will feature a discussion about artists working as presenters and enablers of other creative and intellectual projects. 119 N Peoria #2D. more ›