Did you know Madonna's halftime show was the most watched EVER with 114 million viewers tuning in? And despite the obvious lip synching we found it to be one of the more entertaining mid-game outings in years. There was no wardrobe malfunction, no crotch slides into the camera, no huge phallic silhouettes; there was plenty of glitz and glam but it was all topped off by a singer in her 50s with more energy (and a younger glow) than most pop singers a third her age. Not bad, huh? more ›

The one time we saw Guns N' Roses was the opening night in Alpine Valley of their Use Your Illusion world tour. It was a huge, bombastic show; one of those hugely over the top rock concert spectacles. The band was at the height of their powers. Man, a lot can change in 21 years, huh? The current touring version of the band is missing almost all the original members of the band but the replacements are all seasoned pros and are more than capable of helping W. Axl Rose maintain the stadium spectacle. Despite the incredibly disappointing Chinese Democracy the band has continued to successfully tour and have a huge back catalog that immediately triggers the smell of hairspray and sweaty leather. Despite the passage of years the band's fan-base still allows them to fill stadiums. more ›

Stop in for pre-and-post Thanksgiving drinks, and enjoy discounts on North Shore products and cocktails. more ›

Walking around Brew & Grow's sparks ideas. You'll find yourself motivated to take on a roster of new homegrown projects, from growing your own greens hydroponically to brewing your own beer. more ›

The 2011 season of food-focused bike tours curated and guided by Dimitra Tasiouras and Sharon Bautista of Fork and the Road is shaping up to be epic. Now in its fourth year, Fork and the Road connects the dots between some of Chicago's most exciting and delicious dishes by creating themed bike tours that touch far-flung neighborhoods and tap into rich culinary veins. more ›

We got a first look at North Shore Distillery's brand new tasting room, which opened to the public on Friday. more ›

Patrick Stump, former Fall Out Boy and a future Soul Punk, covers Kanye West at Schubas. Rolling Stone is there to document the whole thing. more ›

Every time you bite into a Wrigley Field hot dog, you're biting into two Chicago classics at the same time. You are, of course, eating the Chicago Hot Dog, a culinary institution being served at the second-oldest park in major league baseball. But you are also biting into a Gonnella bun, made right here in Chicago. Not out in a suburb - on West Chicago avenue, four miles from Wrigley. Gonnella has been making bread in Chicago for over a hundred years, and baking at the Chicago Avenue plant since 1956. Join us on a tour of the entire factory including the baguette line, the hot dog buns and just about everything else. more ›

If you're a Top Chef fan (or, more specifically, a fan of Mike Isabella or Antonia Lofaso) hold onto your hats - Top Chef: The Tour is coming to Chicago next week. Two events next week will showcase competitions between two of our favorite all-stars. Isabella, from Season 6 and Lofaso, from Season 4, will face off on Tuesday and Wednesday - and it's free. more ›

Are you a Chicago history nerd? A food lover? An architecture geek? A fan of the Palmer House Hotel? If you're any of these things, we have just the event for you. The Palmer House and Lockwood Restaurant are running a series of lunch-time tours of the hotel, hosted by resident "historian extraordinaire" (and PR director) Ken Price. more ›

Like beer? Like trying new beers? Like learning about the history of beer? Consider signing up for CitySwarm's Chicago Beer Experience Tour on April 16th. For $47 ($41 if you buy before tomorrow night) you get a three-hour walking tour of north-side Chicago bars. During the tour, you will learn about beer history and taste 16 different beers. The tour starts at Vaughan's Pub with a history lesson and moves on to Paddy Long's for a combination beer tasting and bacon tasting. After, the tour heads to Bodega Ramos and ends at Delilah's. Plus, you can feel good about all the calories from the beer and bacon - you're walking so much! Alright, enough of our attempts to justify boozing - just go. There are only 20 tickets, so if you're interested, buy early. more ›

We can't blame FOX entirely for the sad state of the music industry but they deserve some of the credit. First they chipped away at the lower levels of taste through endless seasons of American Idol with steadily decreasing returns on actual displays of talent. Then they went and launched their paean to mediocrity and a new low in the quest of industry to strip what little soul is left grasping onto art in the hit series Glee. more ›

While we actually have some nice things to say about Weezer's latest album Hurley, it can't be a great sign when the first massive tour Weezer is mounting after its release is a sentimental revisiting of the band's first two albums. Of course that should have been obvious when it was announced a few weeks ago that the band was going to be releasing a deluxe re-issue of Pinkerton, huh? more ›

2011 is only negative 3 months old, but it’s already going to be a stellar year for live music. How can we be so sure? According to our crystal ball -- by which we mean a press release and AV Club Chicago , of course -- reunited post-punk revivalists The Dismemberment Plan have announced a Chicago show for Saturday, February 19, 2011. more ›

Polite, unassuming fans of polite, unassuming and prodigiously talented indie-rock dudes, take note! Two offshoots of your favorite acts, Wilco and The Sea and Cake, are set to release new material this fall. more ›

States like California and New York get plenty of songs dedicated to their greatness, but the Land of Lincoln seems to slip the minds of many artists. For that reason, we have nothing but love for Sufjan Stevens and his instant-classic, Illinois, the second installment in his ambitious (and now defunct) “50 States Project.” more ›

Hey, remember Eyjafjallajoekull? The volcano in Iceland that erupted, causing an ash cloud that put a severe damper on European fly-zones? Well, now that all the dust has quite literally settled, underrated English shoegazers Chapterhouse have rescheduled their postponed North American tour, including their Chicago stop at Lincoln Hall originally planned for May, according to an update on their MySpace blog. more ›

Two of the '90s most heralded and mumble-y rock groups are coming to the Windy City. While it’s certainly no secret that the sardonic, anthemic and recently reunited Pavement are headlining the Pitchfork Music Festival on Sunday (and likely the reason why that date is sold out), the band has announced a new, standalone show at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on September 13, according to Time Out Chicago. more ›

Irish rock mega-ultra-super-star band U2 won't be making it to Chicago this summer, after all. The North American leg of their 2010 tour, including the July 6 show at Soldier Field, has been postponed until 2011 as front-man Bono continues to recover from emergency back surgery, required after he injured his back last week while preparing for the tour. No word yet on any make-up appearances in the US or if the injury will affect the band's European leg of the tour, kicking off in August. more ›

(Last month we arranged to have our "Properly Sauced" tag team of Anthony and Rob tour North Shore Distillery. North Shore's Sonja Kassebaum told us that today is the distillery's fifth year anniversary. We hope you enjoy this recap of Anthony and Rob's tour.) more ›

A few years back, we mentioned how the National Park Service and the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana partnered with some dedicated individuals to save the "Homes of Tomorrow" designed and built for the 1933 Century of progress World Fair. These homes were part of an exhibit showcasing futuristic conveniences like central air conditioning and new building technologies and materials. At the fair's conclusion, the homes were floated by barge to Beverly Shores, Indiana where a developer planned to use the houses to start a community. That plan failed and the homes languished in disrepair. The partnership planned to save these houses and make them livable, by renting the homes for free -- in return for the residents renovating the houses. more ›

A 1,600-gallon fish tank. Looney Toons murals. An underground log cabin. It can only be the former Lakeview mansion of R. Kelly and The Decider's Davie Wolinsky got a chance to tour it. If you have a spare couple of million dollars, look for the renovated mansion to go on sale sometime next year. more ›

[via CBN]: more ›

It's been said before around here: if you can't find anything good to eat in Pilsen, you aren't looking hard enough. On April 18, Adobo Grill Executive Chef Freddy Sanchez will lead a tour of some of the neighborhood's best and most popular places to nosh. more ›

OK Go is hitting the road to preview songs from their new album, due this summer. Sadly they are only visiting the coasts and have obviously forgotten the city that gave them their start, allowed them to plaster their posters on ever available surface in Wicker Park, and attended their sweatbox Empty Bottle shows during the band's (relative) adolescence. Hmpf! more ›

History buffs, Devil In The White City fans, and those in search of an atypical Sunday date, you can now take a virtual tour of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition at the only remaining pavilion, The Museum of Science and Industry. The 90-minute tour, called "Blueprints to Our Past" is offered on select Sundays throughout the rest of the year, but you must order tickets in advance and groups are limited to twenty. Museum heads put the tour together in part due to the increased public interest thanks to Devil In The White City and worked with Lisa Snyder of the UCLA School of Architecture to recreate the fair based on old maps, blueprints, and photographs. The tour consists of walking in and outside of the museum as well as taking a virtual ride on an "electric-powered" gondola throughout the fair's canals. more ›

There have been a lot of things said on this site about Taste of Chicago over the years. There are over 750,000 people who head downtown every year to sun, frolic and get their fill of giant turkey legs and corn on sticks. 'Course, that isn't all Taste of Chicago has to offer; even with Chicago Gourmet set to launch in September, Taste is still the food event for the everyman. more ›

The biker who was hit by a car and killed over the weekend was Matthew Manger-Lynch, 29. He was racing in the Tour Da Chicago, an alleycat street race. more ›

href="http://torontoist.com/2008/02/phototo_snowbal.php">photographing a big, organized snowball fight.

When Chicagoist was in high school, we knew that "Drug Free and Proud" banner hanging above the main entrance was a joke when we could smell the weed classmates had smoked at lunch. more ›