Chicago Weekend Fun!

This is some very disturbing news. The state of Illinois will be deploying radar and speed cameras all across the state in July to record photos and track speeds of cars going over the speed limit in construction zones and work zones on the highways and tollways. The first ticket will be for $300.00 fine [...]

Chicago Festival season has begun this year and I wanted to post a comprehensive list of all the major Chicagoland festivals and block parties and neighborhood events that I found. If there are summer events not listed here post a comment to add yours to the list. I hope this helps you plan your summer calendar and [...]

The Ellen DeGeneres Show will be filming live outside in Chicago on Saturday May 3rd. I can see the covered stage and lighting structures from our building that is kiddie corner across the street. It has been a huge project taking 3 days just to get the roof on the stage. I don’t think I will [...]

The weather has gone from cold and frigid to balmy and a little humid in Chicago. Everyone is outside enjoying the sun (and rain) thankful that the snow has finally ended. There are lots of things happening this weekend but here are my recommendations and picks. Personally it’s time to change the brakes on my [...]

Last week I wrote about the yellow Chicago River Taxi that I see every day on the Chicago River because one of my coworkers uses it to commute to work every day and raves about the convenience of traveling by river and not by bus or auto taxi. Then I got an email from a second [...]

It is being reported by major news agencies this morning that a 5.2 magnitude earthquake originated from near Salem, IL last night at 4:37 am. Many people here in my office said they woke up last night about that time and felt the small ripples of earthquake shake here in the Chicago area. This is odd for the Midwest. We don’t [...]

WGN Channel 9 in Chicago is a local TV station that is owned by the Tribune company. I grew up here and it has always been a part of Chicago’s news and entertainment on television for my family. I heard on their newscast that WGN is celebrating 60 years of Broadcasting this year and while [...]

This is exciting news for Tracy Letts, the cast of August: Osage County and for Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. Tracy Letts just was named as the Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize site describes this award as:  “For a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with [...]

Every year Lollapalooza is the concert event of the summer in Chicago. It looks to me like it draws more people to Grant Part than even the Taste of Chicago does in 3 days. Everyone who is a fan of the Lollapalooza concert series and festival has been waiting for the lineup to be announced [...]

On April 1, 2008 the sales tax increased 0.25% (1/4%) in Cook County and Chicago, IL. It also increased 0.50% (1/2%) in DuPage County and the other collar counties in Illinois. The retail sales tax in Cook County and Chicago is now 9.25% (although qualifying food and drugs are only taxed at 2.5%) and DuPage County is at 7.25% [...]

Chicago Earth Hour 2008 is a new event where Chicagoans turn off their lights on Saturday March 29th at 8pm for an hour (local CST time) to see if we can save energy and electricity as well as think about how to lessen our energy use long term. It is part of a larger event called US [...]

Lollapalooza 2008, here we come! I just got the email announcement that 3 day passes are available in advance at a discount now on the Lollapalooza site. Plan ahead to come to Chicago for Lollapalooza August 1-3, 2008 and get your 3 day pass now for only $175 bucks. When these first ones get sold out it goes [...]

Times are tough for the Tribune company, so tough that 19% profit margin on everything they sell isn’t enough anymore. So, the latest plan hatched by the new quirky Tribune owner Sam Zell is to sell the naming rights to Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field to the highest bidder. Will we see Ebay Field? Amazon Wrigley Field? Google Field? Kraft [...]

Looptopia is a Chicago festival that celebrates the Loop area (inside the L tracks loop) downtown. Looptopia is a night time festival with arts performances, exhibitions, music, food comedy and many other cool entertainment to take in that evening. It is meant to help celebrate the rebirth and renewal of the Loop area of Chicago in [...]

World famous UK standup comedian and actor Eddie Izzard is coming to do shows in Chicago for the first time since 2003. Eddie is playing 3 shows in May (15, 16, 17) at the 3,000 seat Chicago Theater on State & Lake Street in the loop.  These 3 shows will all sell out fast. Expect about an hour and a half of [...]