We had the good fortune recently to speak with Barry Gifford, one of our favorite contemporary authors. His newest book is Memories from a Sinking Ship, a "fictional memoir" about growing up in mid-fifties Chicago (and Key West and New Orleans). Roy is a youngster shuttled from place to place, alternating between his beautiful, vivacious mother and his estranged, gangster father. For a sizeable chunk of the book he lives at 6312 N. Rockwell,......

Crossing California Stage Adapter Alan Donahue...

Boy oh boy, the shit is starting to fly! Now that the Aldermen and their challengers have taken the gloves off, you better believe it's game on in your neighborhood! This week, we dedicate this edition of the Hump Day Political News Roundup to kickin' ass and talkin' shit. Yee Haw! 32nd Ward Candidate Sues Incumbent. That's right, Scott Waguespack has had it with Steady Teddy's bullshit. So he's filed a $5 million lawsuit against......

Happy President's Day weekend! Take a load off and enjoy our usual madness: Three women were murdered in West Rogers Park following a domestic dispute. Karmin and Karolin Khooshabeh, stepsisters, were found bludgeoned to death with a hammer Saturday morning at 6459 N. Washtenaw. Karolin's 60-year-old mother also fell to the killer when she opened the door of her apartment at 2635 W. Arthur. The suspect in custody is Karmin's 56-year-old husband, who was found......

Here at the Chicagoist offices, we're keeping an eye on some of the bigger ward races in town, as well as a few that we just find interesting. The weirdness and anger in the 46th Ward, for example, occupies a lot of our time, as do the accusations and oddball press releases that come out of 49. The 7th Ward is always a fun distraction, and anytime we see Beavers and Jackson in the news,......

The next time someone comes to your house or apartment to do a repair or fix a broken lock, you may want to be a little extra cautious about letting him or her inside your home. CBS 2 reports that seven robberies occurred in North Side homes between Oct. 15 and Nov. 3 by robbers posing as employees of utility companies, tree cutters or construction contractors. The robberies took place in neighborhoods across the......

Isn't church supposed to be a sanctuary? No doubt, when you go to your chosen house of worship, you don't expect to be ripped off by a band of gun-toting robbers, or your priest for that matter. But two Chicago congregations found themselves on the wrong end of the collection plate yesterday. Parishioners at the Israel of God's Church in the Lawndale neighborhood were held up at gunpoint by three armed men Wednesday night. At......

We here at Chicagoist like to think we’re always learning, moving forward, and expanding who we are. For example, we’re getting pretty good at building a viable city on Sim City 4, we’re learning to actually run on the treadmill instead of falling, and we seem to have this internets thing pretty well figured out. And we felt alright about that until we checked out the website of Chicago-native, Adam Langer. As far as we......