March Madness used to be the one time during the year when betting at work was ok. Everyone got their brackets, whether they understood the NCAA college basketball tournament or not and the smack talk at the water-cooler continued for a month. (three weeks plus one week to speculate about your favorite NCAA college basketball teams)

President Obama Fills out NCAA Brackets on ESPN Sportcenter

Now with Fantasy Basball, Fantasy Football, Fantasy NASCAR and reality Television I am not sure how people have time at all to work since there are so many sports to consume. Somehow March Madness hasn’t dominated the work conversations yet this year, but I know the college basketball smack talk is coming. Soon.

An entire month of college basketball on CBS Channel 2 in Chicago and nothing else used to be a huge let down for me, but now as a girl who lives with a fiance, it is a welcome time of peace and quiet. Tech Guy watches as much NCAA college basketball in 2009 as he would like, and I get to go blog as much as I would like.

We call it having interests on our own and I think March Madness 2009 was invented for exactly this purpose. All the NCAA college basketball teams are hoping for their best shot at winning it all this year and I am hoping to get some laundry done.

On a more collegiate note. If you are a recent transplant to Chicago and want to find a bar or pub to watch the NCAA basketball tournament and all of its commercials, Chicago has many options.

The Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville northside neighborhoods of Chicago are filled with bars that still fly college team flags for those who can’t move on and want to pretend they’re still at the fraternity while getting completely wasted. Other bars and pubs across the city offer a more low key approach to experiencing the excitement of March Madness and the Final Four in 2009 with food and drink specials.

Some of these bars are:
Jake Melnick’s Corner Tap – from March 19 to April 6 Entire duration of the tournament Jake’s will be serving the Madness Burger, a 9-oz. burger topped with pepper jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and a fried egg served between two grilled cheese sandwiches, paired with a Miller Lite pint for $9.99.

The Full Shilling Bar in Wrigleyville - March 19-20 The Wrigleyville bar will be throwing an NCAA Tournament kick-off party for the first two days of the big dance. Withover one hundred Miller Lite scratch & win tickets, this lottery-style party will give everyone a chance to win. Prizes include mp3 player speaker coolers, aluminum bottle wraps, hats, t-shirts, bottle openers and more. Pitchers of Miller Lite will be on special for $7 both days. Food specials include the two-buck burger on Thursday and the $7.99 fish fry on Friday.

Rockit Bar & Grill On March 26, 6-8 pm Red Hot March Madness. A $40 all inclusive ticket includes drinks and snacks during the NCAA basketball Games, and the proceeds benefit charity.

O’Donovan’s - After the St Pats crowd clears, this friendly North Center bar’s 20 plasma TVs to watch NCAA Tournament Games throughout the bar, party room and patio. The bar will open at 10 am on March 19-22 and offer daily lunch and dinner specials all day.

Smoke Daddy – Celebrate Purdue: Smoke Daddy owner Josh Rutherford is a Boilermaker Alum, so you know the place will be decked out in black-and-gold. And a Purdue-themed menu will be available throughout the tournament, including the Boiler Burger, Mackey’s Mac and Cheese and Purdue Pete’s Pulled Pork Sandwich. (say that three times fast)

Harry Caray’s – Harry Caray’sTavern has the first round action from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (weekday games working lunch?) with a food buffet and domestic drafts included for just $20. Harry Caray’s(in Lombard) will offer $2 Bud and Bud Light drafts with commemorative March Madness pint glasses on all game days. Visit harrycarays.com before the tournament starts to enter your picks and you could win a private flight for four to St. Louis for a Cubs-Cardinals game by picking the most games right.

Kroll’s SouthLoop – Lots of Drink Specials and the “Madness Burger” and “Sweet Sixteen Wings are all on tap with their TV screens for watching all the games at one sitting.

Merkle’sBar and Grill – $4 22-ounce drafts and $5 bombs, along with 25 cents wings during all tournament games. And on March 28, try your hand at Merkle’s Sweet 16 flip cup tournament (everyone’sfavorite college pastime) with cash prizes.

Timothy O’Toole’s – has 45 TV screens, more than any other Bar I have seen. The bar specials include Wingfest famous wings and $2 draft beers on Saturdays and $16 Miller/Coors buckets on Sundays.

The Spread – March 20 Junior Board’s 7th Annual March Mania Party. $30 all-you-can-drink package from 9 p.m. to midnight and enter a raffle to win prizes like Final Four tickets and a flat-screen TV.

Moretti’s (West Loop) – April 6 Watch the championship game on over 25 big screen TVs, including 4 super bright HD plasmas.

Social Twenty-Five is new and offers spacious booths, loungey leather banquettes and 24 TVs on two floors. No specials listed though this late-night spot will open as early as 11 am for daytime games.

Cagney’s Bar has oversized booths, wooden chairs and 25 TVs on two floors. They offer specials like $15 select domestic beer buckets and $5 burgers and fries. Luckilly it’s a new bar and without an allegiance to any one college team yet, so this spot’s clientele consists of mostly low-key locals and is a best bet to avoid frat behavor.

Bull & Bear Bar has all the NCAA March Madness games on 26 TVs (the most I’ve seen) and one wall projector. No specials for the NCAA College Basketball Games and in addition to that you need a reservation for a booth! The regular Monday-Friday deal of half-price apps (3-7 pm) is still in effect.

Theory has 20 TVs on one floor, including some semi-private booth sets. There are specials like $3 Miller Lite in March, plus regular deals such as $6 Belvedere cocktails Thursdays, Effen cocktails on Fridays. There is no official team loyalty here but reverence to Illinois teams across all sports so less crazed frat behavior is to be found.

Hi-Tops has 20 (yes 20) TVs to watch all the NCAA March Madness at once plus a bunch of reality shows and cable TV nobody needs to see. Hi-Tops has Domestic draft beer and appetizer buffet packages March 21 and 22 ($25 from 11 am to 5 pm) and April 4 and 6 ($15 for game start to end). A spirited Lincoln Park crowd has a Michigan State University fandom inherited from the Gin Mill and is known for it’s rowdy.

Sully’s House has 12 TVs plus 3 wall projectors for full coverage of all games. They have $12 select domestic beer buckets, and half-price appetzers on Fridays. There is a loyalty to Gonzaga University and University of Florida here plus an unofficial gathering of Creighton fans from who knows where.

Grand River Bar has 5 TVs and $4 well drinks and $10 Miller Lite pitchers deals like $1.50 mini-burgers on Thursdays and $5 sandwiches on Fridays. The bar is owned by Michigan State University alums, this is the spot for Spartan fans to congregate and celebrate in Lakeview. If MSU is out, then Big 10 games get priority over the others.

It is that time of year again, Tax Preparation Season in Chicago. (it can ruin many weekends before April 15th) You get through Christmas and the Super Bowl and very quietly your 1099’s sneak up on you when you aren’t looking. Tax Preparation in Chicago can be just as challenging as any other location in the US and it is a lot harder to make the trek out to an accountant when it is below zero here.

The tax season is a different process for everyone. Whether you use a paper form 1040 EZ, an online form, TurboTax, H&R Block TaxCut, go to a tax preparing service like Jackson Hewitt or H&R Block or have your own personal accountant, there are deductions your should know about.

Personally I got to use the energy credit for new energy star windows last year which was thrilling considering how much they cost up front. I also started using TurboTax a few years ago and have enjoyed doing my taxes online with their Q & A format. I actually don’t dread doing my taxes anymore thanks to TurboTax.

I actually think the ads that say an accountant will find you thousands of dollars in refunds is a bit misleading. The people who own businesses and have complicated situations may find more deductions with H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt, but someone single and uncomplicated like me does just fine with an online tax preparation program.

Here are some tips and resources to help you through the tax season in Chicago for 2008 in 2009. I do need to state that I am not a tax professional by any means, but through some research I was able to find these tips that I wanted to share.

This is a helpful list of green tax credits you can claim in 2009.

$150 for some Energy Star furnaces/boilers
$200 for all Energy Star windows
$300 for some Energy Star heat pumps and central AC
$500 for insulation and sealing that meets model building code
$3,150 for the purchase of a hybrid car or SUV

Also, the federal limit in tax credits for home improvements is $500. More information on state tax credits can be found at the Database of State Incentives for Renewable and Efficiency.

This is also a list of common income tax deductions that are often missed:

1. State sales taxes as a deductions.This only applies if you live in a state without income tax like Oregon but work in a state that does have it like Washington. Keep track of these expenses during the year by saving receipts or logging them in Excel.
2. Reinvested dividends. This is more of a tax break since those dividends never got taxed. Bonus!
3. Out-of-pocket deductible charitable contributions. This includes mileage driven for charity and cash donations.
4. Deductible Student loan interest paid by parents. Since the IRS treats student loan repayments by parents as a gift to their child, students that aren’t claimed as dependents can actually deduct up to $2,500 of the loan interest paid by their parents.
5. Moving expense to take your first job. As long as you move more than 50 miles, you can deduct the cost of getting yourself and your stuff to the new locale. You can even deduct mileage.
6. Military reservists travel expenses. Members of the National Guard or military reserve can deduct travel expenses related to drills or meetings as long as they travel over 100 miles and are away overnight. The deduction covers the cost of lodging plus half the cost of your meals. You can also deduct mileage, parking fees, and tolls.
7. Child-care credits. If you pay someone to take care of your kids such that you can work, you might qualify for a tax credit. Note that this is true even if you claim your childcare-related expenses through a tax-favored reimbursement account at work because such accounts are capped at $5,000 while expenses up to $6,000 can qualify for the credit.
8. Estate tax on income in respect of a decedent. You can get an income-tax deduction for the amount of estate tax paid on an IRA the you inherit from someone else.
9. Any State tax you paid last spring. If you owed state taxes when you filed your 2007 return, you can deduct that amount along with the state income taxes that were withheld during 2008.
10. Deductible Mortgage Refinancing points. Any points that you pay when you refinance can be deducted (on a monthly basis) over the life of the new loan. Moreover, all unamortized mortgage points left over from prior years are deducted all at once if you end up refinancing your mortgage in any particular year.
11. Jury pay paid to employer. Some employers continue to pay their employees’ full salary when they’re on jury duty, but require that the employees turn over their jury pay. Since the IRS views this as taxable income, you need to be sure to deduct it. If you don’t, you’ll end up paying double taxes on a portion of your income.
     

Everyone may be loathing the recession we are in right now, but that is no reason to not have a Happy New Year. There are plenty of New Years Parties happening in Chicago to ring in 2009. Or, if you really don’t want to spend a lot of money you can always to the frugal thing and host a party at your place. I still think it is important to celebrate. Plus I like non-denominational holidays like this where everyone can participate. It is good to balance things out after all that Christmas stuff.

If we are going to really have hope for 2009 to get better we are all going to have to pitch in and help. And that is a lot easier if we get to relax once in a while and have some fun, especially on New Years Eve. I know there are endless Chicago New Years Eve parties planned but these are the ones that I have heard about and think might be the better ones to recommend.

1. First off the major New Year’s Eve party in Chicago is always at Navy Pier. This year Kiss 103.5is hosting/sponsoring it so the music should be more up to date than it was when it was with 101.9. Some people think it is too crowded, but it really does give you a great view of the city, fireworks, bands and convenient parking inside the building. It isn’t as hip as some parties up north in the city at posh restaurants or clubs but for the most people this is a fun night and a great party. Tickets are still available at thenyegala.com from $154.80 per person to a $2,000.00 VIP Package. I am not sure what the point is of the VIP Package, but if you have the money to burn, have fun. The rest of us are ok with the regular admission. The Music is being provided by 7 local DJs. (what no live bands?) The tickets include a 5 hour Premium Top-Shelf Liquor Package, 3-Course Hors d’Oeuvres, 2 Ballrooms of Entertainment, Midnight Firework Celebration, Confetti Countdown, Champagne Toast, Giveaways, Party Favors, Raffles, and the Balloon Drop at midnight.

2. NYE at the Hard Rock Hotel is also an option if you like a modern rock style to your New Years Eve. This is also a great place to book a very stylish suite that has a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline and stay there without having to drive home. The party starts at 9 pm in the Fender Ballroom and tickets are $125.00. Attire is FORMAL. It is sponsored by the Lincoln Park Young professionals so be on the lookout for yuppies. The Hard Rock Hotel’s Address is 230 North Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL. ChicagoNYEInfo.com is the address to go to for tickets.

3. The Chicago Hilton is also having a large New Years Party in Chicago for 2009. It includes a 4 hour open br starting at 9 pm, a buffet, champagne toast at midnight and all kinds of music and video stuff going on. Tickets are $155.00 for the event, get them at newyears09.com. Or if you really want to live it up there is a $2,000 VIP package for 8 people that includes reserved seating and more goodies. But who really needs to spend 2K on NYE this year?

4. The Chicago House of Blues is also known for it’s New Year’s Eve Parties because of the performers they bring in and the venue itself. This year I can’t find anything listed there even though I have been to NYE parties there in the past. Why no party HOB?

So if none of those New Year’s Eve parties seem to sound like a place you would like to go for the evening, try Checking Going.com or there is always the house party for cheap. Nothing wrong with staying in on NYE, it is more recession proof for your wallet that way. 

Every winter the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago has a Zoolights festival to celebrate the season. The Lincoln Park Zoo is a free admission zoo in the center of Chicago located on the north side of the city. When you get all those zoo lights up for the holiday and a free admission Zoo to see the animals, why not take the family to the zoo for the day? (parking us usually not free though)

The Lincoln park Zoo’s Zoo lights winter festival runs from December 5th 2008 through January 4th 2009 from 5-9 pm. (closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) The sun goes down at about 4:30  pm in Chicago in the winter so there is more time to view all the beautiful tiny colored lights and decorations. I hope the animals enjoy the festivities too. Every evening there is a musical lights show extravaganza on the south lawn.

The Lincoln Park Zoo is located at 2001 North Clark Street in Lincoln park in Chicago, IL 60614. Phone number 312-742-2000.

The Zoo Lights festival at Lincoln Park Zoo also has a number of activities and food available at the park. Crafts, gifts and holiday foods will all be for sale at the event. On December 5th and 6th visit the starbucks there for a free hot cocoa drink to celebrate the season. And as always the Lincoln Park Zoo has a large collection of animals living there from all around the globe.

The different animal sections of the zoo that you can visit are: Reptiles & Amphibians, Birds and Mammals. The Regenstein African Journey, McCormick Bear Habitat, McCormick Bird House, Regenstein Birds of Prey Exhibit, Kovler Penguin and Seabird House, Helen Brach Primate House, Kovler Lion House, Kovler Sea Lion Pool, Pritzker Family Children’s Zoo, Regenstein Small Mammal-Reptile House, Hope B. McCormick Swan Pond, Flamingo Habitat, Regenstein Center for African Apes, Antelope & Zebra Area, Farm-in-the-Zoo Presented by John Deere and The Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo. 

If you haven’t been to a Renegade Craft fair holiday sale, this weekend if your chance to get some great affordable Christmas gifts for family and friends (and yourself) that are hand made in the USA by very talented artists and crafters. I have become a fan of the Renegade Craft Fairs (when they aren’t rained out) over the years and I look for the sellers I find at the show on Etsy also.

The Renegade Craft Fair is at the Pulaski Park Field House (1419 W. Blackhawk St in Chicago) on December 6 & 7 from 11 am to 7 pm. They also have after-parties with bands. Check out renegadecraft.com for more info.

 I have become a fan of hand made gifts also because it is a more down to earth trend with gift giving. Giving something handmade (a quilt, jewelry, kids toys) shows that you like to find unique gifts, you like to buy eco friendly gifts and you support local artisans and crafters and you local economy. It is all kinds of holiday goodness.

The last renegade craft fair this fall was in the middle of a monsoon so it was less fun, but now they have rented a field house with a roof and heating. So, this should be better. Some of the great handmade gifts I have seen at renegade craft fairs are scarves, hats, sweaters and other knitted items. Kids clothing, kids shows, baby clothes, accessories and children’s toys. Lots of screen printed T-Shirts, messenger bags, purses and jewelry. Women’s accessories of all kinds. Soaps, lots of home made soap and candles. Printed items like letterpress cards, stationery and photo prints. Some sculpture and original artwork. Some glassware, pottery, plates, bowls, vases and glass artwork. Home decorating items and some custom made clothing. Pretty much something for everyone. (although probably more women’s gifts than guys)

The Chicago Holiday Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony has been moved to December 2nd in Daley Plaza downtown. The street address is 50 West Washington Street & Dearborn Street and the tree lighting will be at 12pm noon central time. This is the 95th annual Holiday Tree lighting ceremony and that long history is what makes it a tradition each year. Mayor Daley will be on hand to see the official city tree that is 90 ft high lit with thousands of tiny lights and begin the offical Christmas Holiday Season in Chicago.

Then afterwards the Christkindlemarkt opens with a variety of home made gifts and sweets in a German themed outdoor market. You can shop for authentic European Christmas Ornaments, decorations, textiles and yummy German Food. Most of the gifts are small type gifts that usually cost less than $25. If you are downtown for work or shopping on State Street or Michigan Avenue it is also fun to stop by and see the Christkindlemarket and the big Chicago Christmas Tree lit for the holidays. Make it part of your family tradition every holiday season.

There are so many great photos of the Barack Obama election night celebration on Flickr it is near impossible to process and see them all. I have linked to some here that show how amazingly the event went and how excited all the people were all over the country. I have never seen people out in the streets celebrating all over the world like this before. I have seen pictures of people outside on the streets cheering and celebrating Barack Obama’s election win in Las Vegas, LA, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. It is amazing to see people so excited and electrified by this election and so many people voting for a candidate that they believe in.

I have also never seen people watch the news and process this information in so many ways. People were online, watching TV, watching the internet on their mobile phones and mashing their own creations together with photos, screen shots, videos and their own t-shirt designs to cover the event themselves. It really is a user generated world in combination with the established media now. I sincerely hope that the change and hope we feel can be maintained and that we all do our part to pitch in and help this country rebuild and fix it’s problems. See the Obama celebration pictures below:

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The Barack Obama Celebration Party in Grant Park downtown in Chicago will be massive. Millions of people want to attend and assuming Barack Wins, (which a lot of media outlet polls are predicting) the celebrating will be unbelievable. I wish Chicago had more genuine achievements to celebrate like this more often. Anyway, I can’t predict the outcome so no one really will know until tomorrow night. What we do know for sure is that in lieu of the Barack Obama Election Night Celebration spilling over the limit of those who have tickets there will be people everywhere downtown in the Chicago loop near Grant Park. This means a lot of street closures and parking bans in order to mange this massive event. I have been trying to find out the best info on where the streets are going to be closed and the times and days affected.

These Notify Chicago  Alerts that the city set up (and annoyingly requires you to change your password for every 60 days – grrr) have been sending me emails about the street closures and parking bans on Tuesday downtown for the last few days. Apparently the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications has a plan that they email out and it links me back to their home page without a link to the actual street closures list. (Grrr again – come on guys, get it right at least some of the time.) After hunting around for a while I found out that the security looks like it will be tight and I am glad to see that there will be additional CTA service and a lot of police presence to maintain order downtown. Here is the actual list from the City here it is in it’s entirety:  (click map to view full size)

From the City of Chicago Website:

“ The following are some of the parking restrictions, street closures and event guidelines that will be in place starting as early as Monday, November 3rd.

PARKING BANS:
Parking bans will be in effect from Lake Michigan to the Kennedy/Dan Ryan Expressway, and from the River on the North to 22nd Street on the South Tuesday, November 4th after the PM rush hour.  Residents should pay special attention to new posted signs.

STREET CLOSURES:
On Saturday, November 1, 2008, Balbo will be closed between Columbus and Lake Shore Drive.  After the November 3rd AM rush hour, Columbus will be closed between Congress and Roosevelt. After the PM rush hour, the closure will extend as far north as Randolph.  Residents may see additional rolling closures throughout the Central Business District from Tuesday afternoon thru Wednesday morning.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:
The Chicago Transit Authority will provide additional service and extend the hours of select bus and rail routes serving the Loop until 2 a.m. for individuals attending election night events downtown (yes!)- including the Obama Grant Park rally – on Tuesday, November 4. CTA will operate longer trains; provide additional bus service and later service to accommodate attendees. Temporary street closures in the vicinity of Grant Park may necessitate reroutes so customers should allow extra travel time.  In addition, due to potentially crowded conditions, bicycles will not be allowed on the rail system after 4:00 p.m. Tuesday until 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. (bummer)

MEDIA PARKING:
Event organizers are coordinating media parking inside Hutchinson Field. For security reasons, media parking outside of Hutchinson Field around Grant Park will also be heavily restricted.  Media can stage satellite trucks on Michigan Avenue between Roosevelt to Cermak. Maintaining compliance with all other parking regulations.  Additionally, media staging is available in front of the Hyatt Hotel, 151 East Wacker on the south curb lane.

HUTCHINSON FIELD:
The November 4th event in Hutchinson Field is a ticketed event hosted by the Obama Campaign.  The site opens at 8:30 p.m. and ticketed residents have been asked to enter through either East Congress Parkway or East Jackson.  Everyone coming into Hutchinson Field will be screened by event organizers and they have asked that residents refrain from bringing any bags, coolers, bottles, chairs, signs, banners or strollers into the park.  For more information on the event in Hutchinson Field, contact the Obama Campaign 

For details about all CTA service call 836-7000 (all local area codes) or visit the CTA web site at transitchicago.com to use the travel planner feature. “

I got the same pamphlet in the mail about a month ago asking about a Constitutional Convention in Illinois that everyone got. I put it aside thinking, I should read that, and never got back to it. Now it is November 3rd, the day before the 2008 presidential election and there is all this Buzz about voting in Illinois on the idea of holding a Constitutional Convention. I thought that was something we did back in the 1800’s or something? I had no idea that there were provisions in the Illinois Constitution that allowed people to call a convention to make changes to it.  Or as Wikipedia states is possible, to call in the old constitution and write a whole new one.

What I was not sure about was what is on the table for change?  What were some people so upset about in the Illinois Constitution that they have done all this work to get it on the ballot and are now rallying people to vote for it? Well I listened to NPR this morning and they had no details whatsoever on what was up for change. The coverage by other media outlets seems just as vauge and confusing. I am not sure what the real reasons are for this proposed convention and rewriting of the Illinois Constitution but here is a rumor I heard about yesterday.

Apparently, while I have been busy working (like every other average American) and building this non-political blog, Governor Blagojevich has been indicted like 20 times for a range of things from illiegal hiring practices to who knows what. Someone said that his biggest achievement as Governor has been not being arrested yet. (and seeing that our last Governor, Ryan is in jail right now I suppose that is an improvement) What I didn’t know was that some people who are opposing him (and potentially just as corrupt) are trying to impeach him and making his life hell by following him around and trying to write him up for every move he makes. So, I heard that this constitutional convention initiative is related. I heard that the big initiative driving this convention thing is that these opposing people want to add provisions for removing a Governor from Office while they are still in Office.

Basically it wouldn’t have killed Blagojevich to have made some friends and not been so sleazy in his Governorship and choice of friends and colleagues. He is making Illinois Politics look as bad as it really is. So, how does this relate to Barack Obama? I wouldn’t have guessed this, but another rumor states that to avoid being Impeached or removed from office after this Constitutional Convention he is going to pull a fast one. Apparently if Barack Obama wins the presidential election, the Governor of Illinois gets to appoint the Senator from Illinois to complete Obama’s term. The rumor states that Governor Blagojevich is going to appoint himself as the Illinois Senator to complete Obama’s term to escape this onslaught of protesters chasing him and give himself a big promotion at the same time. Then this convention thing won’t really matter to him and he will be gone to be corrupt with others of his kind in Washington. 

So, in light of all that gossip that may or may not be true, would you vote for a constitutional convention in Illinois and Chicago? I am not sure it matters anymore since it seems that the machines are just working the system either way it goes so the regular average people like us have no say in what really goes on anyway.

Macy’s State Street Store in Chicago has continued the traditions of Marshall Fields with the lighting of the great Christmas tree in the Walnut Room (on the 7th floor) each holiday season. This year will be no different. I just heard that Tommy Hilfiger will be the special designated guest of honor for lighting the Macy’s Walnut Room tree this year and hopefully Tommy will design some cool unique ornaments to decorate the tree with. Last year in 2007 Martha Stewart lit the Walnut Room Christmas tree in person and her ornaments were featured on what I called the gradient tree. In 2006 the tree was covered in Wedgewood China ornaments and the year before in 2005 it was all about Swarofski Crystal Christmas ornaments. The Christmas Tree Lighting in Macy’s Walnut Room usually happens the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This year the event is scheduled for November 8, 2008 at 1 pm. The tree this year is supposed to be a vintage decorated one with tinsel and antique ornaments.

The Walnut Room at Macy’s is a great day out with the family regardless of who designs or decorates the Christmas tree. I have been going there with my parents for the last few years and it is a very enjoyable experience and a tradition we plan on keeping up as long as we can. The food at the Walnut Room is not super fancy but it is very good and they revamped the menu with some more modern dishes last year in addition to the comfort food favorites you have always enjoyed. (chicken pot pie anyone?)  Expect to pay between $10 and $15 per person for dinner plus drinks, tax, tip and desert. Last year we had the best little mini-bunt spice cakes with ice cream on top that were a Martha Stewart recipe. I have included that picture here at left. We also usually stop to shop a bit and get some Frango mint chocolates since they are very good also. If you go during peak times (afternoons) the line to get into the Walnut Room is long and it is a first come first served type seating order. So, either go around lunchtime or go later in the evening to miss the crowds. The Walnut Room is kid friendly and they have lots of room for stroller parking.

If you don’t know him alreay, Tommy Hilfiger got popular in the 90’s for the preppy look that urban youth ended up taking, changing and owning later on. (think boyz 2 men) In the years since then he has tried to open his own line of stores (one was in Oak Brook Mall) that did not last very long. I know Macy’s is really is loyal to this brand and celebrity marketing plan they have going but I am not sure this one will work. Tommy Hilfiger may be a big deal to Macy’s but the rest of us aren’t really into his designs anymore. The line hasn’t evolved and it is too similar to a bunch of other brands we get cheaper at Target and Old Navy. (and probably manufactured in the same factory in China) So, he isn’t my favorite guy but he is a celebrity so I am sure that there will be a crowd.

If you do plan on visiting Macy’s department store in Chicago on State Street this winter for the holiday displays or the Walnut Room Christmas Tree Macy’s is reachable by Metra trains to Union Station and then by taking a cab from there to the store on State Street. Or if you live near the el train, take the brown, green, pink, orange or red lines to the State Street and Lake Street stop in the loop and just walk one block south of there to get to Macy’s department store.  Enjoy the shopping at Macy’s, the Walnut Room Tree and the great food this holiday season.

The International Exposition of Sculpture Objects and Fine Art (SOFA) is planned for Festival Hall in Navy Pier in Chicago on November 6-9. This is an amazing contemporary art show and well worth the admission to attend. The work on display at SOFA ranges from glass to ceramics to textiles and sculpture. Even if you are not an art expert this show is eye opening and entertaining at the same time.

Art innovates constantly and SOFA Chicago is one of the few places to see what is new and evolving before it hits mainstream. If you are smart you can integrate these style details into your life before everyone else (haha) and become more of a style innovator yourself. That said the purchase prices of these art objects and sculptures are steep. These artwork pieces on display are not quite intended for the general public to buy and are usually purchased for private collections or in museums for the rest of us to enjoy. SOFA Chicago isn’t somewhere to go if you need to furnish your living room unless you are a millionaire. There is also a SOFA VIP Program and a free Lecture series for anyone who would like to attend. There is more info with the dates and times on their website listed below.

Over 35,000 people attended SOFA Chicago in 2007 and there are more than 100 galleries and dealers all in the same location together at Navy Pier. If you buy serious art this is the event to see everything all at once. Tickets to SOFA Chicago are available online for $15 for one day or $25 for a 3 day weekend pass. There is also an opening night Gala event that is $50.00 and you get to see all the art and sculpture objects before anyone else. Personally I was thinking of going since I have never been to SOFA and I hear people raving about it every year. It isn’t that expensive to attend although you will pay another $25.00 on top of your ticket prices for parking at Navy Pier. I think $35.00 is a small price for all that great inspiration.  Check out sofaexpo.com to buy tickets online or you can buy them at the door also.

The alphabetical list of Galleries exhibiting at SOFA Chicago 2008 is:

Aaron Faber Gallery
Adamar Fine Arts
Andora Gallery
Ann Nathan Gallery
Barry Friedman
Beaver Galleries
Berengo Studio
Blue Rain Gallery
browngrotta arts
Bullseye Gallery
Cervini Haas Gallery
Chappell Gallery
Charon Kransen Arts
Collection – Ateliers d’Art de France
COVET – collectable objects & fine art
CREA Gallery
D&M Fine Arts
Dai Ichi Arts
The Dancing Hands Gallery
David Collection
del Mano Gallery
Donna Schneier Fine Arts
Duane Reed Gallery
Eden Gallery
Elliott Brown Gallery
Ferrin Gallery
FLATFILE Galleries
Function + Art
Galerie Besson
Galerie Elca London
Galerie Elena Lee
Galerie Pokorná
Galleri Grønlund
Galleri Udengaard
Galleria Norsu
Gallery Sklo
Garson Baker Fine Art
Glass Artists Gallery
Habatat Galleries, Chicago
Habatat Galleries, Florida-Virgina
HABATAT Galleries, Michigan
Hawk Galleries
Heller Gallery
Holsten Galleries
Jane Sauer Gallery
Jean Albano Gallery
John Natsoulas Gallery
Judy Youens Gallery
Katie Gingrass Gallery
KEIKO Gallery
Kirra Galleries
Lacoste Gallery
Lafrenière & Pai Gallery
Lee Weitzman Furniture
Leo Kaplan Modern
Litvak Gallery
Maria Elena Kravetz Gallery
Marx-Saunders Gallery
Mattson’s Fine Art
Maurine Littleton Gallery
Micaëla Gallery
Modus Gallery
Mostly Glass Gallery
Mowen Solinsky Gallery
National Craft Gallery of Ireland
Next Step Studio and Gallery
Niemi Sculpture Gallery & Garden
Oliver & Espig
Option Art
Orley & Shabahang
Ornamentum
Palette Contemporary Art & Craft
Patina Gallery
Perimeter Gallery
Pistachios
Portals
PRISM Contemporary Glass
rakovaBRECKERgallery
Ruth Lawrence Fine Art
SABBIA
Santa Fe Clay
Sherrie Gallerie
Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art
Signature Gallery
Silica Galleries
Sim JaeCheon Gallery
Snyderman-Works Galleries
ten472 Contemporary Art
Thomas R. Riley Galleries
Turkish Cultural Foundation
Twiga
UrbanGlass
Wexler Gallery
William Zimmer
Yaw Gallery
Zygman Voss Gallery

The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival is a yearly event not to miss on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

If you are looking for the 2009 details you can find that post here.

Everyone comes downtown to Michigan Avenue at Christmas time. Not because there isn’t shopping in all the shopping malls across Chicagoland, but because of the lights and the festivities that happen there. Michigan Avenue got the name the Magnificent Mile because of the shopping spectacle and uniqueness of what happens there. Christmas season will be here soon (and some people are getting a jump on their Christmas shopping lists now in advance) and the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival is one way to experience all that is glorious about this Midwestern shopping mecca and have fun with the kids in the Christmas season downtown.

The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival is on Saturday, November 22, 2008. The festivities start at 11 am and go until 10 pm. Take the train (Metra or EL) in from the suburbs with the family for a fun day in the city. A cab is the quickest way from Union Station to Michigan Avenue when it is cold outside.

11:00 am-5:00 pm The Harris Stage will have performances by Justin Roberts & the Not Ready for Naptime Players, Ralph’s World, and of course Jason Mraz. This musical event is sponsored by the radio station Mix 101.9FM. The Cheetah Girls will also be there courtesy of Radio Disney at the Harris Stage, Pioneer Court at 401 North Michigan Avenue.

5:00 pm Live bands and lots of local entertainment will be performing all along Michigan Avenue before the lighting procession begins. This will be at North Michigan Avenue on Oak Street all the way to Wacker Dr.

5:30 pm The largest Holiday Carol will be the next challenge for the WLS 890 AM Radio station team. They want to break the world record on this. It will be lots of fun and at Pioneer Court at 401 North Michigan Avenue.

6:00 pm–7:00 pm The lighting Procession begins. (like a parade) Disney’s Mickey Mouse will be the master of ceremonies this year and he leads the lighting of more than one million lights on Michigan avenue and in The Magnificent Mile district to officially start the holiday (shopping) season in Chicago! You can see the lighting procession happen at North Michigan Avenue all the way from Oak Street to Wacker Dr.

6:52 pm ABC 7 Chicago will be sponsoring a fireworks display over the Chicago River as the finalé to this weekend holiday event! View the fireworks at North Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River.

7:00 pm–10:00 pm You can get a jump start on your Christmas shopping with extended shopping hours at participating Magnificent Mile stores! Also, many restaurants downtown and hotels may have extended hours or special deals that weekend for the festival. The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival presented will also be televised on Channel 7 in Chicago.

Barack Obama is not only a Senator from Illoinois he is a wildly popular candidate for President of the United States. On Tuesday November 4th, 2008 when the voters go to the polls and we see this long time election come to a conclusion, Chicagoans will want to celebrate. There is a huge Barack Obama Celebration planned for the public in Grant Park downtown on Hutchinson field starting at 8pm CST. Click here to sign up for free tickets on a waiting list to the Obama Biden celebration in grant park with the democratic national party. OR Click here for the new ticket raffle available to those who are new donors to the campaign. See below for the details. A donation is not required for the free tickets on a waiting list but it is on the thank you page for the ticket process and is probably recommended for the tickets since this shindig probably costs a lot. The donation to the political party goes with your contact info so they can add you to their mailing lists and call you next time there is an election. Over 1 million people are expected in Grant Park for this celebration on election night in Chicago.

Barack Obama & Joe Biden Election Night Party Celebration Party Details from their site:

Location: Grant Park in Hutchinson Field
You can enter on on East Congress Parkway and East Jackson Boulevard
235 South Columbus Drive in Chicago, IL 60603
Date: Tuesday, November 4th
Time: Gates open at 8:30 pm

An official printed ticket is required for entrance. Each official printed ticket is valid for the ticket holder and one guest. You must sign up using the online form for a printable ticket. The official printable ticket will be emailed to you prior to the event. Only one request is allowed per person. Duplicate requests from the same name will be rejected. For security reasons, do not bring any bags or purses. Your Photo ID is required to enter. Please limit your personal items. No signs, banners, chairs, or strollers will be allowed at the event.

Chicago is a mostly democratic-party city with some outliers in the Richey-Rich areas of the suburbs still clinging to their Republicanism for tax reasons. The mainstream public in the entire Chicagoland area is all for Barack Obama all the time. Many people are even early-voting to get their votes in before the huge rush happens in Chicago on Election day.

The Obama election night celebration in Chicago will be a huge sight for all the TV and news reporters for sure. The thing is that MediaBistro is reporting that news outlets are a bit pissed that it will cost them up to $2,000 to get a press pass to cover the event because of the costs of running electric lines, phone lines, lights and setup materials in the middle of a public grassy park. Oh well, someone has to pay for it and I guess they decided that all the voter donated $20s and $50s should go toward the campaign itself rather than the coverage for media companies. 

There is no doubt it will be cold in Grant Park for Barack Obama’s election night celebration but people will be so excited especially if he wins, that they won’t notice. Plus it is great that Barack Obama and his staff decided to allow the public to take part in the event rather than just the people in his inner circle and big time donors. It is really true that the public has funded this campaign and brought Barack Obama to the center of the election from a relative unknown status 2 years ago. It is fitting that the Chicago citizens would be able to celebrate in the event that he wins.

Details are posted above. Registration may also be available online through Barack Obama’s website. And wear your winter coats, it is going to be cold outside.

Update: I have seen the reports that all the tickets are sold out for this event. The site linked above has a form for wait listed tickets so I am not sure if they will offer additional tickets to another outdoor park location near by to watch on a jumboscreen or if that was it. Plus they have to mail them to you and that could take 2-3 days depending on where you live. I do know that a lot of people are just planning on going anyway even if they don’t have a ticket and can’t get in. They just want to be near by or hear all the pandemonium and celebration. Anyway that the Obama camp could accomodate more people near by would be greatly appreciated by the citizens of Chicago.

Update 2: I have added a 2nd link above to the tickets that have been released for people who donate at least $5 to the campaign. $5 is not much money to go see this event. Check them out and see how long they last. I hope everyone who wants to go gets a ticket and that even those who don’t get tickets can still come celebrate with the world on Tuesday night. I know it will be crowded but now I want to go to cover the event for my blog…

We need free things to do in Chicago now more than ever. Who can afford a $8 beer and a $12 movie in this financial and economic uncertain time. I have heard more people say they are staying in to save money than I have in years. I still like to go enjoy Chicago though and sometimes you can do that for free if you know where and when the events are happening. Here are some free things to do in Chicago that are scheduled over October and November. I am guessing this is going to be a lean Christmas too.

1. A Kevin Coval reading free admission from The author, educator, HBO Def Poet and founder of Louder than a Bomb at The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival. He reads from his newly released book “Everyday People.”

2. Sixth Annual Pumpkin-Carving Party at the Avenue Tavern at 2916 North Broadway in Lakeview Call 773-975-7000. Free at 8pm-12am midnight on October 16th. Carve your own pumpkin creation and win prizes (pumpkin carving tools are provided). Afterward, the weird and wacky jack-o-lanterns are displayed outside the bar sidewalk through Nov. 1 or until the rot, or are carried away by squirrels whichever happens first.

5. Free Bingo/Tango 312-397-4010 at the Museum of Contemporary Art at 220 East Chicago Ave. Play some bingo and Learn Tango in the same night. What could be better? Between games, Somer Surgit and Agape Pappas teach quick Tango lessons. Every 2nd Tuesday of the Month at 6pm.

6. Yay for Free Stitch ‘n’ Bitch! 312-280-2660 Don’t you know knitting is cool now? Meet more young hip urbanites with creative focus at the Stich and Bitch. Yarn and crafts not provided, but bring whatever you are working on. Evey 1st Tuesday at the Museum of Contemporary Art. 5:30 pm.

7. Dia de los Muertos: La Vida Sin Fin 312-738-1503 The nation’s largest Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead exhibit, this 22nd annual collection highlights local and international artists.

8. The 12th Annual North Halsted St Halloween Parade 773-868-3010 Expect crazy costumes and over the top behavior in Boystown. The parade travels north on Halsted Street, from Belmont Avenue to Cornelia Street. Post-paradefestivities include a costume contest for your pets and your humans as well as live performers and entertainment by Halsted and Roscoe Streets. 

9. Green City Market at 1750 North Clark Street 773-435-0280 Hey, window shopping and browsing is free right? This great organics fest of food is still going in harvest season through October 29th.

10. The Weekly fireworks show at Navy Pier 312-595-7437 This is still going too, the fireworks have not stopped even though summer is over. They still set off a 10-minute fireworks display over Lake Michigan set to music every Saturday night at dusk.

11. Free admission for the Museum of Science and Industry 773-684-1414  This is for General admission only and only on Tuesdays. It still costs to park, see the Omnimax and 3-D movies or go on the ”U-505″ submarine tour.

12.Freeeee Comedy Shows – Battle-Prov ComedySportz improv students face off against other funny local improv teams. For Discount/free days call 312-922-9410. There is free general admission in Feb and the 2ndMonday of each month. It’s usually wicked cheap funny anyway at $4-$7 per show at Comedy Sportz which is at 929 West Belmont Avenue.

13. Wicker Park Critical Mass Bike Ride 312-551-7300 ext. 11 This monthly bike ride through the Wicker Park neighborhood is a fun way to enjoy the fall leaves and colors and get exercise at the same time. Plus you meet cool hip urban eco friendly bike riding people.

14. Sunday Salutations Free yoga class 773-883-8860 Stretch and strengthen your muscles for free at this weekly class in the park, which is always weather permitting. Hosted by lululemon’s Halsted store anda different new yoga studio each month.

15. Free Literary Open Mic 773-489-2353 Bring your best poetry or prose and read it aloud at this weekly event.

16. Free Fall Cooking Demonstrations 773-241-5200 Get tips on picking seasonal produce and learn how to prepare turkey burgers with coleslaw and cranberry mayonnaise. Hyde Park Farmer’s Market at 5200 S. Harper Avenue at 9am on Thursday October 16.

17. The Free Grasshopper Show 773-880-0199 A rotating roster of eight current I.O. training center students pair up with I.O. instructors in a very funny longform harold improvised show. IO Theater is at 3541 N. Clark Street in Chicago.

18. The Free Improv Jam 773-880-0199 Be careful, the volunteer audience members perform improvscenes with veteran I.O. comics. Local improv guys Brett Lyons and Nathan Jensen host and drag you up on stage too if you let them. Same address as above.

19. Chelsea Handler book signing 773- 935-3909 The comedy writer and performer signs her new book of funny personal stories, “Are You There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea.” 

20. Daniel Vosovic book signing 312-573-0564 The exciting “Pro ject Runway” finalist discusses his new book, “Fashion Inside Out: Daniel V’s Guide to How Style Happens from Inspiration to Runway and Beyond.” OMG!

21. The Free Daley Plaza 12th annual Halloween celebration, formerly called “Pumpkin Plaza,” features a haunted village, pumpkin decorating (weekends only), storytelling, live performances and more. Afternoons in late October.

22. The Great Walnut Room Tree Lighting at Macy’s in November 312-781-5454 Designer Tommy Hilfiger lights the 45-foot-tall tree in the Walnut Room. The tree, trimmed with nearly 15,000 lights and 4,000 ornaments, is on display through Jan. 11.

23. 13th Annual Christkindlmarket Chicago 312-494-2175 An open-air, German-style market showcases handmade ornaments, accessories, clothing and gifts from more than 50 vendors. Also features German food and drink such as beer, hot spiced wine, potato pancakes, bratwurst, schnitzel, strudel and more.

24. Howl-o-ween 312-595-7437 Bring your pooch for a cute dog costume parade in Gateway Park, or browse pet merchandise, information and animals are up for adoption inside the Festival Hall.

25. Isaac Mizrahi signing is new book at Barnes and Noble. 312-573-0564 The fashion designer discusses his new book, “How to Have Style.” Did you ever want to see the guy in person that brought high style to Target?

26. State Street Halloween Happening Parade 312-744-3315 Costumed participants march to Daley Plaza, where Halloween Pumpkin Plaza festivities include a costume contest, candy giveaways, performances, appearances by “Wicked” cast members and more.

The Art Institute of Chicago is hosting a new free exhibit called 360 Degrees: Art Beyond Borders for the next 10 months: September 27, 2008 through June 16, 2009. 360 Degrees Art Beyond Borders is unlike most exhibits at the Art Institute of Chicago because it combines efforts and exhibits with the other major cultural institutions in Chicago. The institutions participating are Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Poetry Foundation, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. It is really a 360 degree view of the arts in Chicago. And what is even more amazing about this artistic creative smorgasborg is that it is FREE to the public. How amazing is that?

The schedule consists of lectures, performances, readings, talks, discussions and exhibits full of all forms of artwork and commenting on a wide variety of creative subjects.

The full schedule of Art Institue of Chicago 360 Degrees: Art Beyond Borders Exhibit Events:

• Lecture: Season Preview—The Promise of Encyclopedic Museums
  9/25, 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall. James Cuno, president and director.
• 360 Degrees: Art beyond Borders Opening Day 9/27, 10am -3:30 pm the Art Institute of Chicago
  Free admission Preview the globe-spanning scope of our new season!
• Lecture: Chicago and Globalization—Caught in the Middle on September 27, 2008 at 10:30-11:30 am in Fullerton Hall Free Admission Richard Longworth, Senior Fellow, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and author.
• Reading: Reading and Commentary—Art and Literature September 27, 2008 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall. Free. C. K. Williams, poet.
• Reading: Poetry—Always a Home September 27, 2008 2-3 pm in Fullerton Hall Free admission. Marilyn Nelson, poet
• Conversation: Bizet’s Pearl Fishers October 2, 2008 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall Free to the public
• Performance: Henri Duparc—Composer Crossing into Modernism October 7, 2008 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall Free with admission to the Art Institute of Chicago. Jean-Baptiste de Boissiere, voice; George Lepauw, piano
• Reading: Adam Zagajewski October 9, 2008 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall Free
• Lecture: Religion, Ethics, and Globalization—New Dilemmas Local and Global October 16, 2008 at 6-7 pm Fullerton Hall Free to the public. Diana Eck, Harvard University.
• Symposium: From the Natural to the Fantastic—Italian Drawings, 1500–1650 (Print and Drawing Club)
  October 17, 2008 at 10:30am-5 pm in Fullerton Hall Space is limited; to reserve a seat, call (312) 443-3756.
• Performance: Italian Masterworks—Schubert and Vivaldi October 19, 2008, 2-3 pm Fullerton Hall For ticket information, call (312) 294-3000
• Lecture: Genius of Sport—Baron Pierre de Couberin and the Enduring Values of the Olympic Ideal
  October 23, 2008 6-7 pm Fullerton Hall Free. George Hirthler from the Chicago 2016 Olympic Campaign.
• Performance: Joel Spears, Lute Virtuoso October 30, 2008, 6-6:45 pm Fullerton Hall Free.
• Symposium: The Divine Art—Four Centuries of European Tapestries October 31, 2008, 10:30am – 5 pm
  Fullerton Hall Space is limited; to reserve a seat, call (312) 857-7138. Free.
• Lecture: God’s Crucible—Islam and the Making of Europe, 570–1215 (Leadership Advisory Committee)
  November 1, 2008, 6-7 pm in the Rubloff Auditorium For tickets, call (312) 494-9509. David Levering Lewis, New York University.
• Performance: Enescu, Bartok, and Brancusi November 4, 2008, 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall Free with admission to the Art Institute of Chicago.
• 360 Annual President’s Lecture: A World Connected—Why Do We Leave Home? November 7, 2008 7:30 -8:30 pm in Fullerton Hall. For tickets, call (312) 494-9509. Nayan Chanda, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.
• Lecture: Global Debates on Islam in the 21st Century November 13, 2008 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall. Free. Muhammed Sani Umar, Director of Northwestern University’s Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa.
• Lecture: Encyclopedic Museums—Cabinets of Curiosity November 15, 2008 at 11am – 12 pm in Fullerton Hall. Bruce Boucher, Curator of Sculpture
• Performance: Sound Weavers—A Concert of Music Pictured in Tapestry November 16, 2008 at 2-3 pm in Fullerton Hall Cost: $20; $15 for members
• Reading: Paul Muldoon November 20, 2008 at 6-7 pm Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Lecture: Encyclopedic Museums—Medieval Treasuries on November 22, 2008 at 11am-12 pm Fullerton Hall. Free with admission to the Art Institute of Chicago. Christina Nielsen, Assistant Curator for Medieval Art.
• Performance: Messiaen at 100—Takemitsu Remembers 12/2/08, 12-1 pm Fullerton Hall, Free with admission to the Art Institute of Chicago.
• Lecture: Challenging the Encyclopedic Museum—Berlin’s Museum Island December 4, 2008 at 6-7 pm in
  Fullerton Hall $10; Free for members (ticket required) Dr. Thomas Gaehtgens, Getty Research Institute.
• Lecture: Crossing the Ocean—Foreign Visitors and Foreign Influence in Japanese Art on December 6, 2008 at 11am -12 pm in Fullerton Hall. Free with admission to the art institute. Janice Katz, Associate Curator of Japanese Art.
• Performance: German Masterworks on December 7, 2008 at 2-3 pm in Fullerton Hall. For ticket information, call (312) 294-3000.
• Lecture: Mediterranean Crossings—The Quest of ‘Leo Africanus’ on December 11, 2008 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall Free. Natalie Zemon Davis, University of Toronto
• Performance: All in a Garden Green December 18, 2008 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall. Cost: $20; $15 for members.
• Performance: Honorable Pledge Fulfilled January 10, 2009 1-2 pm in Fullerton Hall. Cost: $15; $10 for members. Damine Kabuki Troupe.
• Reading: Eamon Grennan on January 15, 2009 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall. Free.
• Performance: French Masterworks—Roussel and Mozart January 18, 2009 at 2-3 pm in Fullerton Hall
  For ticket information, call (312) 294-3000.
• Performance: Debussy and Impressions of the Sea January 22, 2009 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall $15; $10 for members; Free for CSO subscribers.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Austria February 2, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall
  Free.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Korea February 3, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—France on February 4, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall and is Free.
• Reading: Robert Pinsky on February 5, 2009 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Poland February 9, 2009 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Reflections of the Chinese Poets with Yang Wei on Pipa February 10, 2009 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall.
• Reading: For Czeslaw Milosz February 11, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall.
• Reading: For Octavio Paz February 12, 2009 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall.
• Lecture: The Mysteries of Munch’s Working Methods—Recent Research on The Scream and Madonna
  February 12, 2009 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall. $10; Free for members. Ingebjørg Ydstie, Director, Munch Museum.
• Reading: Tomaz Salamun on February 13, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall.
• Lecture: The Lincoln Image on February 15, 2009 1-2 pm in Fullerton Hall.
• Performance: John Work Chorale on February 15, 2009 at 2-3 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Switzerland on February 16, 2009 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Thailand on February 17, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—China on February 19, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Lecture: Sibling Rivalries and Global Monotheisms—Judaism, Christianity, Islam February 19, 2009 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free. David Nirenberg, University of Chicago.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Spain February 20, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Lecture: Mapping the Globe on February 21, 2009 at 11am -12 pm in Fullerton Hall – Free. Ruth Watson, artist.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Germany on February 23, 2009 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Croatia February 24, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Mexico on February 25, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Consuls General Concert Series—Japan on February 26, 2009 at 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Ives and the New England Landscape on February 26, 2009 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall. $15; $10 for members; Free for CSO subscribers.
• Performance: Masterworks by Dvorak March 1, 2009 2-3 pm in Fullerton Hall. For ticket information, call (312) 294-3000.
• Performance: Stravinsky, Picasso, and the Ballets Russes on March 5, 2009 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall. $15; $10 for members; Free for CSO subscribers
• Lecture: Between the Covers—The Art Institute as Publisher on March 14, 2009 at 11am -12 pm in
  Fullerton Hall. Free with admission Susan Rossen, Director of Publications.
• Performance: Across Seasons March 15, 2009 at 1-2 pm in Fullerton Hall, $25; $20 for members
• Performance: Across Seasons on March 15, 2009 3-4 pm in Fullerton Hall. $25; $20 for members
• Lecture: The Encyclopedic Museum—Enlightened or Entitled? on March 19, 2009 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall $10; Free for members (ticket required) Philippe de Montebello, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Reading: Insights into Ibsen March 26, 2009 at 6-7 pm Fullerton Hall Free.
• Performance: Essence of Japan March 29, 2009 at 2-3 pm in Fullerton Hall $20; $15 for members.
• Lecture: Global Collections for Global Cities April 2, 2009, 6-7 pm Fullerton Hall, $10; Free for members (ticket required) Neil MacGregor, The British Museum.
• Lecture: Technicolor in the Ancient World April 4, 2009 11a.m.-12 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free with admission. Mary Greuel, assistant curator of Ancient Art.
• Performance: Respighi’s Inspiration—Painter Botticelli April 9, 2009 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall, $15; $10 for members; Free for CSO subscribers.
• Lecture: The Roman Triumph on April 16, 2009 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free. Mary Beard, University of Cambridge.
• Performance: World Tour with the Kronos Quartet April 22, 2009 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall, $40; $35 for members.
• Lecture: Edvard Munch’s Anxiety of Influence on April 23, 2009 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free. Jay A. Clarke, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings.
• Reading: Philip Levine April 30, 2009 at 6-7 pm Fullerton Hall, Free
• Conversation: Reading from Art May 7, 2008 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Conversation: Listening to the Message…Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave on May 21, 2009 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free
• Reading: Ilya Kaminsky May 28, 2009 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free.
• Performance: Dvorak and Painter Hassam June 4, 2009 at 6-7 pm in Fullerton Hall $15; $10 for members; Free for CSO subscribers.
• Performance: Illuminating Dvorak June 16, 2009 12-1 pm in Fullerton Hall, Free (ticket required)

Robin Williams is one of the funniest comedians and actors of the last 25 years. His creative work has an incredible range but I was first captivated by his stand-up comedy years ago and I still am today. I was surprised and excited to hear that Robin Williams would be doing a stand-up show tour called Weapons of Self Destruction across the United States and stopping in Chicago. I didn’t think stand-up comedy was something movie actors went back to very often, but I am glad to be wrong about that. Robin Williams has a gift for free form fast moving tangential thinking that is perfect for stand-up comedy. It is a great opportunity to see him perform at the Chicago Theater on September 27th.

We all love Robin Williams’ high energy fast paced stand-up comedy style. I am sure that this show at the Chicago Theater will not disappoint. The tickets went on sale in August and are sold out now for the Chicago shows. Tickets ranged from $46.00 and $100.00 at the Chicago Theater.There was a special package too where for $400.00 you could meet and chat with Robin Williams himself earlier on the day of the show. That seems like an awesome opportunity but yet somehow too expensive and yet not really that interesting. No one wants to bother a celebrity no matter how much you idolize their work and meeting them for a few minutes is nice but it’s not like they will “be your bff” so it seems kinda weird? Unless you are the autograph type. I suppose it could work if you were into that.

This standup tour is called Weapons of Self Destruction (a pun on what you think it is) and they say that the material he is working with this time is more personal in nature. We all know that Robin Williams (like many actors and performers) is not happy with the current government and administration and political jokes will most likely be part of the show. Many people also may have heard that Robin Williams recently went through a divorce and has been through rehab as well. Not easy things to process. I am sure that comedy and seeing the irony of life can help make sense of a lot of things. I am sure that all these topics are pretty relevant and relatable for most of us mainstream Americans. Plus Robin is fantastic at impressions, voices and all the gifts of comedy. I am sure this will be an awesome show.

I will be at Robin Williams’ Weapons of Self Destruction show on Saturday September 27 and will write my review of the show here afterwards. If you are going to the Weapons of Self Destruction tour in another city and want to hear about my reactions and review, bookmark this page and I will update it within a few days after the show. Feel free to leave me comments about what you thought of Robin Williams’ show in Chicago or any of the cities in the comments below.

Update: 9/27/08

 We saw the show tonight and it was amazing. Robin covers an amazing array of topics from politics to marriage to drinking to technology to just about everything. He does a fair amount of blue comedy but it isn’t so raunchy that you are grossed out. There is also a very funny bit about the devil really just being one of these corporate sales people on the phone wheeling and dealing with everyone they meet. Overall Robin Williams still has the fastest working mind on stage and the funniest stand-up comedy. I do have to admit that I did laugh more at this show than I did at the Eddie Izzard show we saw this spring. I love Eddie’s comedy and there are some parallels there but Robin was able to move faster and surprise me more which created more laughs. So, if Robin Williams is coming to your town go see this show because it is a great one.

Oktoberfest is a rite of passage every October in the German Neighborhoods of Chicago. The locals get together at St. Alphonsus and enjoy the beers, music and comraderie before it gets cold for the winter and we all hibernate until spring. If we lived in Bavaria Oktoberfest would be a 16 day long festival of 6 local beers but here in Chicago we settle for one weekend and all kinds of beer. Oktoberfest will be held on September 26, 27 and 28th this year at the Beer Garden Tent outside St. Alphonsus Church at 3000 North Lincoln Ave in Chicago, IL 60657. (in South Lakeview Neighborhood)

The Oktoberfest beer garden tents will be open from 5-11 pm on Friday September 26. From 11 am to 10 pm n Saturday September 27 and from Noon to 9 pm on Sunday September 28th.  

This year’s Oktoberfest will feature live German bands, lots of fantastic German food (Brats!) and a cornhole/bags competition. (When I was a kid we called this game Bozo Buckets, but hey whatever keeps you entertained.) The cornhole competition sounds somewhat serious as it requires pre-registration before Oktoberfest at Illinoiscornhole.org.  It is the 8th annual Oktoberfest held in Chicago by St Als and they are celebrating with a larger event, more hours and even more fun. Come enjoy the great German food and plentiful Beer at this year’s Oktoberfest.

I should note that because this is a event specifically planned around beer consumption it is not kid friendly nor is it a family event. I would not bring kids anywhere near this tent or all the beer. I think mostly young single yuppies end up going to the oktoberfest at St. Als and drinking with their buddies, coworkers and neighbors. If you aren’t looking for that type of atmosphere (being drunk is common at Oktoberfests and sometimes the sole purpose) it is not for you. That said there are a lot of other October activities that would be fun instead.

The bands and scheduled to perform at Oktoberfest this year are:
Friday, September 26
5:00pm – 10:00pm
5:30 pm – BrauHaus Band
8:00 pm – Mike and Joe

Saturday, September 27
11:00am – 10:00pm
11:00 am – Kinderfest
3:00 pm – Die Lustigen Musikanten
6:00 pm – Rock Candy
8:00 pm – 16 Candles

Sunday, September 28
12:00pm – 9:00pm
Noon – Paloma
4:00 pm – Hooked on Sonics
6:00 pm – Maggie Speaks

Oktoberfest Bags (cornhole) Tournament
Saturday, September 27, 2008
3000 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, IL 60657

Halloween is a lot of fun if you have kids who trick or treat in costume but what if you are like me and you don’t yet? 

What if your “kid” is your dog or cat? Can you dress them up in Cat Costumes or Dog Costumes for trick or treating too?

Well as of last year yes, cat and dog pet costumes are the biggest thing for Halloween now. Candy and Kids treats are fun, but why not dress up your pug as princess Liehola or Yoda from Star Wars?

They have so many cute costumes for cats and dogs now it is unbelievable. I think there are many great costumes available online but you can also find them at local Halloween costume stores too. I found cute “king” and “Spider” cat and dog costumes at Old Navylast year. They also had bandannas and pumpkin costumes for variety. They cost about $15.00 each last year.

A place to look for hand made pet cat or dog costumes online is Etsy.com. Many crafters make these cute adorable costumes by hand sewing them as they are ordered online. Some costumes are as simple as a pumpkin sweater and others are as elaborate as a fairy costume complete with wings and antenna.

Spirit Halloween storesand the web site also has the star wars dog costumes and many more. They have pirate dog, super dog, Dorothy from the Wizzard of oz and many more adorable dog and cat costumes. You can find the entire list of available costumes for your pet at spirithalloween.com/petcostumes. They are also about $15.00 each online. 

Costume Crazealso has some cute pet costumes for Halloween online. Theirs are a little more money, mostly in the $15-$25.00 range, but they are super-cute. Who wouldn’t want to dress their cat up as the cat in the hat?

I do have to give a word of caution on dressing up your cat. I know dogs are always laid back and let you put all kinds of silly clothes on them, but cats generally don’t like it at all. Sure, there are cute pictures of cats in bunny costumes on LOL cat, but that cat is one in a million. If you want to dress up your cat for Halloween be careful and please don’t force the cat to do anything they don’t want to do. If they hiss, game over, let them go. I am not advocating animal abuse in the name of Halloween. That said, if you have a laid back cat that does not care and is cool with wearing a cape or costume, send in the picture or link to it in my comments. I would love to see it!

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I have been to the Chicago Inaternational Film Festival every year for the past 3 years and it has been an event not to miss in Chicago. The Chicago International Film Festival runs for two weeks from October 16th to 29th showing scheduled independent movies from all over the world at three theater locations in the city. The locations of the theaters selected for showing the scheduled ”movie buffet” at the festival this year are the AMC River East 21 theater (322 East Illinois Street Chicago, IL) and the AMC 600 North Michigan 9 (600 North Michigan Avenue) as well as the Harris Theater (205 East Randolph Drive) for the opening and closing night ”Gala” events. I always like that it is like an advance screening to several films that you get to see months before they come out to the general public.

Right now theChicago International Film Festival early bird advance passes are available at a 40% discount through the chicagofilmfestival.org website (which has mostly 2007 information on it) before September 30. They have the 10 movie ticket pass for $110, the 20 movie ticket pass for $210 and the 40 movies ticket pass for $385. (non member prices, membership is $60 for the year but knocks off $30, $55 or $100 off the price passes) I do not have a membership but I attend the Chicago International Film Festival yearly anyway.

This year looks like it won’t disappoint in the range of independent films and themes that will be presented at the Chicago International Film Festival. There are simultaneous showings on most nights so download the entire schedule here (when it becomes available) and mark off which films you want to see ahead of time. With a 10 movie pass ticket it makes it easy to plan your 2 weeks of movies and just show up wherever they are playing ready to go.

I usually always go to the Chicago International Film Festival’s opening night gala and closing night gala. These events will be held at the uber modern Harris theater in Millennium Park in Downtown Chicago. They aren’t saying which films will be scheduled or featured on which nights but these are the 3 gala feature films:

A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël  from France and Director Arnaud Desplechin. A Christmas Tale stars Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, and Mathieu Amalric who play members of a family who conceive a third child in the hopes of using its bone marrow to save the dying firstborn child. 

Happy-Go-Lucky  from the UK and  Director Mike Leigh. The perennial optimist Poppy is played by Sally Hawkins and charges through life with breathless enthusiasm and a sincere desire to help others, struggling as she encounters fellow Londoners who do not always share her sunny outlook.

Pride and Glory  from the USA and Director Gavin O’Connor. Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, and Jon Voight star in a gritty and emotional portrait of a multigenerational New York City police family forced to choose between loyalties to each other and loyalties to the department.

Check back to this post in a few weeks. I will post more information about the films and Chicago International Film Festival schedule as it becomes available.

I went to the WIRED Nextfest the last time it was in Chicago on Navy Pier and I was very impressed. The exhibits and technology on display were engaging and the people representing the work were great to talk to and ask questions. This year’s Wired Next Fest is happening in Chicago again but scheduled to be at at Millennium Park this time and for a few more days, from Saturday September 27th to Sunday October 21th. There are two whole weeks and weekends of technology and exploration happening at the 2008 WIRED NextFest on the calendar.

A bonus is that the admission is FREE for the event, so bring your friends and family because it really is a lot of fun and you do learn some cool new things when you go to the WIRED Nextfest. The schedule of events includes:

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• Wednesday, September 23 – Musician Andrew Bird kicks things off with his violin in a FREE concert in Millennium Park at 6:30 pm at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion
• Thursday, September 25 Opening Event at 6:30 PM in Millennium Park Invitation Only (boo)
• Friday, September 26 Chris Anderson the WIRED Magazine Editor in Chief, Author of The Long Tail, Breakfast Presentation at WIRED NextFest at 8:30 am in Millennium Park – invitations required (boo)
• Innovate Now presents: Creating a Culture of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Creativity 3:00 PM – 6:30 PM at Millennium Park (pre-registration required $200.00 quite pricey)
• Saturday, September 27 through Sunday, October 12 WIRED NextFest is Open to the general public in Millennium Park Chicago (yay)
• Wednesday, October 1 Alinea Event 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM in Millennium Park – Invitation Only (boo)
• Tuesday, October 8WIRED Nextfest Brain Bowl Competition 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM at Millennium Park this event is FREE and Open to the Public. (yay)

Here are some of the exhibits and displays on the schedule you can see, touch and interact with at the WIRED Nextfest this year.

Bio Fuel Micro Algae – how does it work?
BrainBall from the Interactive Institute – play the game
The C-Leg system – how prosthetics are advancing in technology and use
Cell Phone Disco – have a blast
ckBot – the toughest small robot you have ever seen
Climate Time Machine – from NASA
d3o- A supersuit with super powers
Dynamic Arm and Elbow – 12K100 More advancing use of joints in prosthetics
Eraseable paper – what if we didn’t need to recycle it? and could just re-use it?
Everyblock – a local app
Flower- a game from the gamecompany
GigaPan – helps you take awesome panoramic shots without being a pro
GuiaBot – your personal butler robot style
Hoops Kiosk featuring Dwayne Wade – play some hoops show em who’s horse
Hoverit Lounger – not sure what this is yet…
Imagine ps – the human car made from all recycled plastics and uses no fossil fuels
Immersadome – Virtual reality is still being innovated
iPoint Presenter – the no-touch touch-screen, just point
Keepon- beatbots love to dance, but do they beatbox also?
MARCbot – like an RC Car but a robot for space…from NASA
Modular snake robots- aaaaaaaaaahhhh! [runs away]
MOWER – a sheep looking robot to slowly mow (moo) your lawn. Lawn ornament properties are a bonus

PIER – the network to watch your carbon footprint on
Plainilum Light- even better than compact flourescents and LEDs! Bulbs last 20 years!
Watch plastic appear from CO2- amazing caatlysts
PM – from Toyota – your personal mobility vehicle
PRIUS plug in vehicle from Toyota – more green for your mean
Robokind – robot kids?
Security Printing – XEROX makes ink that can’t be photocopied
Solid Ink from Xerox – looks like crayons really
Spiral water filtration – filter water efficiently in smaller spaces
Suitcase Pavillion – something big built from a suitcase of parts
The Toyota 1/x – the future of green vehicles and recycled parts
Toyota iReal and iSwing – they ripped off Apple’s naming conventions for more of their personal mobility vehicles
Extreme Photovoltaics- honk if you {heart} photovoltaics and want some super powered efficient energy generating ones like I do
X-48B Blended Wing from Boeing – the flying wing is no new concept but they have updated the technology so it is safer to fly

 See you at the WIRED NextFest!

The word Staycation has gotten popular latley since gas, food and utilities have gotten so expensive and no one is really interested in traveling far away and generating a lot of costs in the process. So, Chicago Weekend Fun suggests a mini Chicago Vacation or staycation this weekend to make up for the lost vacation. (you may or may not need a hotel downtown for this) There is a lot happening this weekend and in the coming weeks in Chicago. The events and activities range from free admission to the Museum of Science and Industry to planning for Wired NextFest to attending the Chicago Redbull Flutag Event you have probably seen advertised on TV and the Internet latley. (who could miss it?) But beware, the CTA will have 1/2 the loop closed off for renovations so the EL will only be running north and south along the west and south sides of the loop track square. The CTA Loop EL tracks get shut down at 10 pm on Friday night. 

So first off, be careful of the loop shut down of the el trackson the east and north sides of the loop square downtown. If you need to connect with west or southbound trains you can always take the bus direct from just about anywhere in the city to one of the first stops on that arm of the CTA El line. Most just charge a connection fee of $.25 rather than another full fare. The full CTA bus and train schedule is available at transitchicago.com.

Next, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry has a lot of construction going on and as a result they have made admission free for visitors for the month of September. This is great because you can take the kids and go see all the parts of the museum that have been renovated already at no cost and you just pay for gas and parking. Unless you go to the old fashioned ice cream parlor, then you get the cost of ice cream too. I recommend the u-boat instead of the antiquated car display. And if your kids are under the age of 5 check out the farm exhibit. Mom and Dad may like the living green exhibit which is new and just opened. That is always a big hit with skyrocketing energy prices. Check out their site msichicago.com before you go for the hours and address.  

Also the RedBull Flutag Event happens on Saturday at 11 am at North Avenue Beach in Chicago. The flying machines start plunging at 1pm and the awards will be given out at 3pm. One can only hope that there is an award for best team name since there are some dooseys listed on the site. (Mustache ride anyone?) Admission is free but my guess is that parking will be near impossible and set you back about $30.00. Aside from that it should be fun to watch improvised flying machines crash ala 1910 in an experiment of physics, ridiculousness and caffeine.

The Wired Next Fest is a great free event to take the kids to also later in September. (just planning ahead because they emailed me about it) This show features all different kinds of new technology and innovation that companies are experimenting with and will be bringing to market soon. Last time I went in Chicago in 2005 there was some emphasis on green technology and other new developments in robotics and space sattelites featured. But you never know what they will come up with because there are so many companies in all different industries looking to innovate right now to get the edge in the market. This is always an inspiring show. The Wired Next Fest will run from September 27 through October 12, 2008 in the south promenade in Millennium Park, Chicago. My assumption is that they will have some kind of temporary building built for this since having it outdoors is not smart in Chicago. Mark it on your calendars now!

Remember; It’s your weekend, have fun with it!

This year the Chicago Windy City Wine Festival is being held on September 5th and 6th at Daley Plaza downtown in Chicago. The Wine Festival starts on Friday evening at 4pm and goes until 10 pm. It continues on Saturday afternoon at 3 pm and is open until 10 pm again. Tickets are available to purchase for the Windy City Wine Festival Online at windycitywinefestival.com/buy.html or call 847-382-1480 to purchase them by phone.

Tickets are $25.00 for the wine tasting in advance and $30.00 each at the door. Additional tasting coupons can be purchased for more tasting at the festival for $5.00. There is even a designated driver ticket available for $10.00 which gets you 2 non-alcoholic drinks and food as well as access to cooking demonstrations and a copy of the festival program.  

They have also included live bands performing at the event to add to the relaxed atmosphere and they have brought in several local wine experts and Sommeliers to present information about choosing, buying and pairing wines with food as well as information about the wine making process.

It is interesting that even though the economy has slowed down people have certainly not stopped drinking wine. People have decided that buying cheaper food and clothing as well as saving energy were all bearable changes but the Chicagoans are not giving up their wine drinking. Wine sales have increased an enormous amount in the last decade thanks to movies like Sideways that made it a cool, independent, social and cultural hobby to have.

Chicago may not have any vineyards or be written about much in Wine Spectator but we have a lot of wine drinkers and buyers in the Chicagoland area. They have been a fan of the Chicago Wine Festival and the Naperville Wine festival the last few years. Also a few stores like Armanetti’s, Sam’s Wines and Spirits and Binny’s have made buying from huge selections of wine from all over the world possible under one roof for very affordable prices. Also, hundreds of small wind boutiques have popped up like Wine Expressions and Wine Styles in all the small shopping centers in the suburbs.

Yuppies and baby boomers liked taking a bottle of wine to dinner at a friend’s house or serving a new wine guests had never tried before at parties. This novelty as well as great taste has kept wine popular while other luxury items have trailed off in popularity since the economy has slowed down. Click here for a map of the wine festival grounds and plan your trip today.

The entertainment and educational presentation schedule for the fest:

Friday, September 5 – 4-10pm

5:00-5:25pm – Tim Laird, Mixology, The Art of the Wine Cocktail.
5:30-6:00 pm – “Cutting Edge White Wines” Serafin Alvarado, Master Sommelier Director of Wine Education, Southern Wine and Spirits of Illinois
6:05-6:35 pm – Sheri Sauter Moran, Wines of France
6:40-7:10 pm – Colleen Stewart, The Bonterra Vineyards Organic Road Show
7:15-7:45 pm – THE HEARTY BOYS
8:00-9:45 pm – KIM MASSIE

Saturday, September 6 – 3-10pm

3:30-4:05 pm – Sheri Sauter Moran, Wines of France
4:10-4:40 pm – Steve Ciappette Viand
4:45- 5:15pm – Fetzer Eco Tour “Growing Green”
5:30-6:40 pm – DAYNA MALOW
6:50-7:20 pm – Tim Laird, Mixology, The Art of the Wine Cocktail.
7:25-7:55 pm – THE HEARTY BOYS
8:15-9:45 pm – MICHAEL HEATON BAND

I watch the 2008 Chicago Red Bull Flutag event commercials and I can’t help see the resemblance between that 1980’s movie called “Magnificent men in their Flying Machines“. The theme song sings that title then says “they go updidy up up then they go downdidy down down”. The Chicago Red bull Flutag event couldn’t be more like the 1910’s in aviation if they tried. The Redbull Chicago Flutag event has been happening for at least the last 5 years because I see ads for it and unbelievable youtube videos. The ridiculousness of the flying machines is unbelievably laughable. None of the entrants are usually engineers, so it proves for lots of hilarity.

I am not going to be joining in on the Flutag event this year but I may go watch it safely from shore. From the pictures I have seen the viewing is good from just about anywhere on North Street Beach in downtown Chicago.  The event starts at 11 am (you may need red bull if you were out late the night before) and it is free and open to the public. the first flight (crash) is scheduled for 1pm and the awards are given out at 3:30pm.  

If you drive in you will want to take the highway and exit at North Avenue and take that east as far as you can until you hit lake Michigan. Then don’t drive into it. You will have a hard time finding parking near the lake, so try a parking garage if you can find one within a few blocks of the beach. Then enjoy the festivities and be sure to bring your camera to capture the hilarity. The red bull drinks will be flowing the entire time. You can not bring your dog to the event though. Sorry, no digs allowed. If you can bike to the event from Lincoln Park or Lakeview you will have a much easier time finding parking and getting home quickly.

If you want to see the videos of the past years competitions online you can at their web site at redbullflutagusa.com. There are 29 teams trying to fly something over or into the water at the Flutag event in Chicago this year. Some of the names are: BTFU, Pie in the Sky!, The Humans are Dead!, Cactus Smurfs, Stir Fly, The Lead Sled, Chicago Flight Hawks, Suck on this Darwin!, The Nintendudes, gReGo’s Red Hot Flyer II, Team Iowa: Go Shuck Yourself, The Perfect Getaway, Heavy Metal Santa & the Evil Elves, Team OZ, The Pirates of North Beach, HouseFly, The Crustacean Avengers, The USHE, I NEED GAS, The Flying Bartenders, Wheeled Wingers, Michigan J. Frogleap, The Flying Briefs, Who Wants a Mustache Ride?, New Style Flyers, The Flying Ditkas, X-Gnar, Operation Border Recon, and last but not least, The Flying EL.

Oprah Winfrey (and the Chicago Oprah Show Harpo Productions Team) are taping the 23rsd season premier episode Wednesday September 3rd in Millennium Park in the Pritzker Pavilion with all the gold medal winning Olympic athletes. (150 Olympians!!) This is a huge deal in Chicago because the admission to see the show is free because it is in Millennium Park.

So, anyone who wants to see all their favorite Olympians can get tickets there in advance on Monday or Tuesday at Millennium Park so that you can still get in line on Wednesday morning at 6am for first come first served seats in the Pritzker Pavillion. These tickets may be gone by this time but if you are downtown and can look and see at Millennium Park let me know. The show will air on TV one week later on Monday September 8th at 9 am CST. (channel 7 ABC Chicago) They also say this is the first Oprah Winfrey Show to be recorded and broadcast in HD.

Big Name Gold Medalists like Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin, Dara Torres, Kobe Bryant, Lisa Leslie, Kerri Walsh, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Misty May-Treanor will all be in attendance at the event. Also, some Illinois athletes will be there too: Christine Magnuson from Swimming, Matt Grevers from Swimming, Candance Parker from Basketball, Tom Hoff from Men’s Volleyball, Sylvia Fowles from Basketball and Deron Williams from team USA Basketball.

That said if you don’t have to be at work on September 3rd or can get the day off it might be a fun time to see your favorite Olympic athletes in person. The Pritzker Pavilion is a huge stadium like amphitheater in Millennium Park that can seat thousands of people. So if you want to see the Olympic Athletes and Gold Medal Winners you will have to be up front in the seats and not in the back in the grass seating. The stage is also set really high off the ground so if you do get a seat you will still need a pretty good zoom camera lens to get any good pictures. Also if you come in from the suburbs, take the Metra since parking is way expensive under Millennium park.

As much as I enjoy watching the Olympics on TV I will not be in that early morning line for seats because I have to go to work that day and even though I am a Chicagoan I am not really the biggest fan of Oprah Winfrey. She is cool and all, I just dislike the constant selling of stuff all on her shows. It’s not really fair to the people who are home from work all day to get pitched to buy stuff so heavily when they don’t have the income from work in the first place.

I am also not wild about the idea that this rally will be to support the idea of the Olympics coming to Chicago in 2016. While that may have been my dream as a kid, as an adult I am much wiser about who really benefits from these Olympic Games and who pays for them. As a resident here in Chicago I am not behind the idea at all. Some people are also crying foul because Oprah has not invited the para-Olympians too.

That said I think the athletes are awesome and I hope they enjoy their time in Chicago and I hope that all the people who go out to see the Oprah Show live in Millennium Park enjoy the show. The pictures here are of the taping in Millennium Park yesterday and they are from Flickr courtesy of Dane Brian and T-Shirt Auza. Bookmark this page and check back to the Chicago Weekend Fun Blog for more pictures and video as it becomes available.

The Labor Day Weekend and Holiday Monday are so jam packed with events you won’t be able to stay home for long. Both in the City of Chicago and in the suburbs there are large events and parades happening in addition to all the shopping sales all over Chicagoland. The Chicago Jazz Festival is this weekend, the JayCees Naperville Last Fling and the Labor Day Parades are all day Monday. I know the weather will also be good this Labor Day Weekend, it should be in the upper 80’s and no rain is in the forecast.

First, on Friday at 5pm there is the monthly Critical Mass Bike ride through downtown and the streets of Chicago. Join up wiht them at Daley Plaza at 5pm if you want to ride along. There is a police escort at the front of the pack and bike riding helmets may be required….

The Chicago Jazz Festival is also this weekend in Grant Park. The 30th Annual Jazz Festival runs Thursday through Sunday.  In the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park they will be celebrating 30 years of jazz with two time Grammy Award winner Sonny Rollins. The admission to the Chicago Jazz Festival in Grant Park is Free! The Jazz Festival will run August 29-31 for three days of free music on three stages from 10:00 am-9:30 pm per day. No Dogs or Alcoholic beverages will be allowed in the festival. The Grant Park Petrillo Band shell Schedule is as follows:

Friday, August 29, 2008
5:00-5:50 T.S. Galloway’s Tribute to Capt. Walter Dyett featuring Julian Priester, Ken Chaney, Mwata Bowden, Edwin Daugherty, Ari Brown and Von Freeman
6:00-6:55 AACM Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Amina Claudine Myers, Michael Logan and Thurman Barker
7:10-8:10 Dee Dee Bridgewater’s Tribute to Betty Carter
8:30-9:30 Eddie Palmieri’s Latin Jazz Band

Saturday, August 30, 2008
4:30-4:45 – Remembering Franz Jackson
5:00-5:50 – Pharez Whitted Sextet
6:00-6:55 – Vijay Iyer Quintet
7:10-8:10 – Dave Douglas Brass Ecstasy
8:30-9:30 – Gerald Wilson Orchestra with a special guest Kenny Burrell

Sunday, August 31, 2008
5:00-5:50 – Ron Dewar Quintet
6:00-6:55 – From the Netherlands: The Instant Composers Pool
7:10-8:10 – 8 Bold Souls with a Special Guest Dee Alexander
8:30-9:30 – Ornette Coleman

Naperville is also hosting it’s Jaycee’s Last Fling Concert Event in the downtown area. This is the traditional last event of the summer to celebrate and socialize before the official fall season and back to school craziness takes off and fills the calendar. Click here to see the full last fling booklet with the map, directions, schedule and more info you may need.

The Naperville JayCee’s Last Fling 2008 features a Carnival, Main Stage Performances featuring Nationally known Artists, Free performances on the Entertainment Stage daily, a Beer Garden and Dozens of Great Food Vendors and Business Expo Booths From local Naperville Businesses. It is a great place to take the family for a fun night out. Tickets are $10.00 per person on Friday night and $12.00 per person on Saturday and Sunday night. Tickets can be purchased at Oswald’s Pharmacy at 88 Gartner Road in Naperville, 60540 (in the Naperville Plaza Shopping Center) or at Dean’s Clothing at 226 South Main Street in Naperville, 60540 (in Downtown Naperville). The actual location of the Last Fling is: The Naperville Riverwalk, 100 West Jackson Avenue Naperville, IL 60540 phone: 630-961-4143

Naperville Last Fling Dates and Times:

• Friday August 29 @ 5 pm – 11 pm
• Saturday  August 30 @ 10 am – 11 pm
• Sunday  August 31 @ 10 am – 11 pm
• Monday September 1 @ 10 am – 6 pm

Music Concert Schedule
Friday August 29th
8:00 pm to 10:00 pm Dennis DeYoung
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm The Music of Styx – Hi Infidelity

Saturday August 30th
8:00 pm to 10:00 pm The Doobie Brothers
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Painkiller Hotel
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Josh Holmes

Sunday August 31st
8:00 pm to 10:00 pm Gavin DeGraw
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Absentstar
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Kimi Hayes

Monday September 1st
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm The Hat Guys
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm Stellar Road 

Enjoy the Labor Day Holiday and have a great weekend!

Chicago got it’s very own version of the Huffington Post blog-news-internet-phenom site today August 13th, 2008. I am not a journalism major or a professional writer, but I still wanted to review what this new entry into the news fray in Chicago had going for and against it in the beginning. I have no doubt that the Huffington Post Chicago site will be successful and draw some online readers away from the Chicago Tribune, Sun Times and maybe even the Chicago Reader. But there is only so much time in the day, so how do people choose to stick to the Huffington Post sites when they don’t stick to newspaper sites? How are they profitable when so many newspapers are not? All good questions, and here is what I have been finding out. 

First off, the Huffington Post sites have never been in print so the layout of the site doesn’t have to try and mimic or emulate the print news experience at all. They are not constrained to traditional sections, structure or layout options so they have invented the site in a way that makes sense for their content. First off the home page uses a lot of pictures to promote current linked articles. This lends itself to how people surf the web, scanning and skimming information to see where to click next. The images draw people in and are very important to the story. Even more so when they are more prominent than the headline. The pictures have to tell a story or elude to one. This is a more modern format than a lot of sites use today.

The second major advantage for Huff-Po is that the writers are not paid. This isn’t something I agree with (I am at least paid something minimal for the time I spend on this site) but I see how they use it to compete and win on the profitability front. The PR you get from contributing an article can be a benefit of blogging there but it is no way to make a living. In fact most of the stories listed on the front page are not written or hosted by the Huff Po site at all. They link to sites all over the web, which does not seem to be the way I experienced the original Huffington site. Therefore, I assume the setup, management, editing and tech costs are much lower for the Huffington post site than a major news site. They have less to host and when they do publish content, they are much smaller and only go after hot topics online and not everything that a newspaper reports. And there is no article re-formatting process from print to web or vice versa. Overall, my guess is that the model is to sell ads that pay for the editing, tech development and daily site maintenance and ad sales staff and ad setup. Only in a blog filled world though could a site make money on free content.

The third reason the have a profitability advantage is really just a bunch of foggy reasons. I don’t work with or know anyone who works with Huffington Post, I have only read some articles about them and observed the site myself. I think the usability of the site is designed to convert and SEO is strong to pull in people from search engines. I also think there is a strong link between their content business model for ”news” and one for ”publicity” like in the celebrity world. They know what is trendy and what is hot and that is all they write about or link to. They don’t use AP feeds or generic news content ever, it’s all articles from a very personal analysis perspective. (even though some is linked from other sites, basically working as a news aggregator for now) I would also guess that they use Google analytics well and probably know exactly what is hot and go those directions with new content. Other new media news sites like The Examiner and The Reader bookend the Huffington Post site by being too bland and too weird/obscure. Huff-Po is just right. It is part activist, part gossip site and part social networking phenom. Basically a yuppie-magnet.

Huffington Post has few negatives working against it at this point. The main disadvantage is that if people haven’t been hip to the emerging media space in California they have no idea what Huffington Post is. (Maybe the celeb articles will help there.) They also have no way of getting the word out to build traffic quickly without advertising, which seems like something they don’t do. (the social linking strategy helps, but that isn’t fast growth) They have tried to reduce the “lack of credibility” factor (when no one has heard of you) by linking to all the official news sources in Chicago at the bottom of the home page, which is a nice gift of SEO but not sure if it indicates links those are partners or just other sites you can go read. Plus it is hard to know what is important and hot in Chicago when you have one employee here and everyone else is in California. Making an assumption that the same superficial stuff that usually works in CA works here would be fatal.

I am sure the Huffington Post site will bring an interesting perspective to the Chicago News Scene online in the coming months and I will be curiously watching. If you want to see Huffington Post Chicago for yourself you cat at this address: huffingtonpost.com/Chicago/

There is a lot going now that it is mid-summer in Chicago. The weather is great, there are new restaurants opening all the time and there are festivals and concerts every weekend.  If you are in Madison,  Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis or Milwaukee, why not hop on the train and spend the weekend in Chicago? (or you could drive too) Its an affordable vacation that has all the fun of a trip to the coast or overseas. (even with downtown Chicago Hotel Prices) The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus and Restaurants here in Chicago rival those all the world. Here are some of my picks for this weekend in Chicago.

1. The Art Institute of Chicago has a new exhibition on The Arranged Flower: Ikebana and Flora in Japanese Prints that is ending on August 3rd. Catch it before it leaves. Also there is a new exhibit called “Graphic Thought Facility: Resourceful Design” that is in Gallery 24 through August 17th. That exhibit at the Art Institute is devoted to graphic design. It’s fun to go and play name that Font. The Art Institute is located at: 111 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois 60603-6404

2. Lollapalooza Is happening soon in Chicago. (August 3-6) It’s a last minute grab for tickets on Craigslist and the Lollapalooza site.

3. Wicker Park Fest is also happening this weekend on the west side of the city. They say to come party like a Hipster. Do any hipsters still live in Wicker Park? I thought it was all Yuppies now…Anyway the fest is still fun on Saturday July 27th and Sunday July 28th from 11:30 am to 11:30 pm Wicker Park Avenue and Damen in Chicago, IL 60622. The cover charge is $5.00 and it looks like there will be a lot of bands playing all weekend. Expect underground obscure stuff if you like to discover new bands before they make it big.

4. Critical Mass Bike Ride – on the third Friday night of the month at 5pm the bike riders meet in Daley Plaza downtown and ride throughout the city in a different path every time. It is always fun and somehow tied to activism in Chicago. It also happens to be very good use of a bicycle for exercise.

5. The Randolph Street Market Festival is also happening this weekend at 1350 Block W. Randolph Street in Chicago. Come to browse or buy the antiques from all over the country. Some unique stuff is here you won’t find anywhere else. But don’t expect flea market prices. It’s pricey quality antiques and the cover charge is $10 to enter.

6. WICKER PARK and BUCKTOWN Sidewalk Sale is happening on Saturday and Sunday, July 26 and 27th. The hours are Saturday, July 26 from 11am-6pm and Sunday, July 27 from 12pm-5pm. get your hipster clothes and accessories at 1/2 price at the end of summer sidewalk sales.

The 4th of July is almost here and everyone is heading out to their favorite restaurants with outdoor patios and putting on the sunblock to go to the beach in Chicago. It is that rare time of year when we forget that Chicago is really a cold and desolate place the rest of the year and we enjoy the outdoors. But we also like our air conditioning because Chicago is humid in the summer, so you have to balance your activities between indoors and outside. This weekend there is a bevy of new restaurant openings, events and concerts to go to. So enjoy your weekend and plan for next week on July 4th also.

1. The Grant Park Music Festival is going on all Summer long from June 11 through August 16th. They have found sponsors to cover the costs of the musicians and facilities so that the city can offer free classical music concerts to the public all summer. This weekend they have 2 concerts scheduled, one on Friday at 6:30 pm and one on Saturday at 7:30 pm both at Harris Theater. (which may not be free, but there is no note about ticket costs on the booklet they sent me in the mail) The classical music concert is featuring 20th Century Masters played by the Grant Park Orchestra. The Harris Theater is a very box-like uber-modern concrete structure at the northern most edge of Millennium Park.

2. C-House Restaurant opens at the Affinia Chicago 166 East Superior Street Downtown. (312.523.0923) Expect a high class experience with a nautical theme. I wonder what the draw is for bringing high quality seafood to Chicago when transportation and fuel costs are so high. Anyway, I am sure the food is divine.

3. The (BAM) Belmont Arts and Music Fest  is on this weekend with plenty of indie bands to delight the senses. As they say it is “2 days of Beats, Art & Eats” (and drinks) The Belmont Arts and Music Fest is open from 12pm noon until 10pm on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Check it out on Belmont Avenue between Damen and Leavitt in Roscoe Village. The music lineup includes (in reverse order):

Saturday: Cursive @ 9:00 pm, The Redwalls @8:30 pm, Maritime @ 7:55 pm, Waco Brothers @7:00 pm,
Sybris @ 6:45 pm, Dot Dot Dot @5:30 pm, Unwed Sailor @ 5:40 pm, Steepwater@4:00 pm; Parlor Mob @ 4:35 pm Rockit @2:30 pm, Mark Rose @ 3:50 pm, Hey Champ @1:00 pm, Everthus The Deadbeats @ 3:00 pm,

Sunday: American Music Club @ 9:00 pm, Smoking Popes @ 8:30 pm, Johnathan Rice @ 7:55 pm, Justin Townes Earle @7:00 pm, Maria Taylor @ 6:45 pm, Air This Side Of Caution @5:30 pm, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone @ 5:40 pm, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons @4:OO pm, Nik Freitas @ 4:35 pm, Anne Harris Band @2:30 pm, Yourself and The Air @ 3:30 pm Cavashawn @1:00 pm 

4. Cirque du Soleil has a new show in the parking lot around the United Center called KOOZA. The concept of highly trained acrobats with lighting and special effects and clowns is getting a little old, they have been pushing it since the Albertville Olympic Games in 1992. I am really tired of it and most of us realize it’s still just a bunch of circus performers. Yes it can be awe inspiring to see once in a while, but not anything new, exciting or ground breaking. Hence all the advertising they had to do in order to sell tickets. If you love the circus, this is for you, if not, skip it.

5. The Joffrey Ballet  is selling tickets to their new home location opening coming up this September, so if you really miss having a local Ballet Company downtown, book these dates. 

• Thursday, September 11th, 2008 – 6:00pm Joffrey Ballet Performance at Millennium Park
• Friday, September 12, 2008 – 7:00 pm The Opening Night at the Joffrey Tower. A Black Tie Dinner and Performance Limited Seating is available.
• Saturday, September 13, 2008 – 3:00pm Joffrey Tower: Community Open House
• Monday, September 15, 2008 – 6:30pm Couture and Cocktails Fashion Show by Maria Pinto

6. Of course on Sunday the Gay Pride Parade in Chicago is going on from noon until around 2 in Boystown and Wrigleyville. It is always a light hearted fun time with lots of flamboyant costumes, rainbows and skin. I have to say that it can be an eye opening experience if you have never been there before but everyone is really nice and very cool so it is always a fun time. It is really a chance to celebrate openness in society and realize that while we aren’t all the same we are pretty similar (we all like beer!) and can all get along.

7. The Randolph Street Market Festival has all you can possibly imagine in the way of decorative furnishings and vintage antiques. (over 200 vendors from all over the country selling all eras of “vintage”) It is kind of like a cross between those fancy shmantsy antique shows at the merchandise mart and the flea market on the Kane County Fair Grounds. But on Randolph Street instead. The Randolph Street Market festival is open on Saturday from 10am to 5pm and on Sunday from 11am to 5pm. 

8. If that isn’t enough to do just wait, The Taste of Chicago Starts Friday June 27th at 11 AM!

Have a great weekend!!

I am so excited to see that August Osage County has won 4 Tony Awards this year since it is an amazing play that had it’s start right here in Chicago at the Steppenwolf Theater. I saw this shocking and yet riveting play last summer in 2007 in it’s run at Steppenwolf Theater on the north side of Chicago.  What is interesting is that there are so few new plays being written and performed these days and this one competes with the classics and really is a gripping quality piece of theater.

When I saw August: Osage County was transfixed for 3+ hours as the lives of this extended family unraveled right in front of our very eyes. It is somehow relate-able in the beginning of the play but by mid-play you know something very different is going on here and you buckle your seat-belt for a bumpy ride.

Anyway, I know it’s not regular for me to post 3 times in a day, but I wanted to post this since it is from a local great writer Tracy Letts who has another play running right now at Steppenwolf Theater. Check out Steppenwolftheater.org for more info and to buy tickets to the new play.  The Tony Awards that they won are listed below. Congratulations to the entire cast and crew as well as Steppenwolf Theater and Tracy Letts!

• August:Osage County won Best Play Tony Award the Author is Tracy Letts. The play has already won a Pulitzer this year as well.
• August:Osage County with Deanna Dunagan won a Tony award for the Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
• August:Osage County with Rondi Reed won a Tony award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
• August:Osage County with Anna D. Shapiro won a Tony award for the Best Direction of a Play
• August:Osage County and Todd Rosenthal won a Tony for the Best Scenic Design of a Play

Also a Regional Theatre Tony Award was given to the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

It seems like Chicago is back on the map for great original works and great quality theater again.

I have lived in Chicago all my life and during that time not only has the Taste of Chicago been a huge event known for great food, music and entertainment, it has gotten larger every year and keeps on growing. Taste of Chicago features some of the best food in the city as well as some of the fastest to make and serve. Most all of the food is specific to Chicago and you won’t find anywhere else in the country. Whether your favorite foods are ribs, chicken, burgers, Chicago style hot dogs, PIZZA, pasta, beef, sushi, Thai, Italian, BBQ, vegetarian, giant turkey legs, desserts, chocolate, ice cream, or cheesecake, you will find something tasty to eat this year at the Taste of Chicago. Many people make it a meal (or two!) at dinner after work downtown. It does get crowded and you should read some of the reviews and advice from others before tackling this huge event.

Some basic information you need to know if you are coming downtown for the Taste.

Taste of Chicago Map (712 KB PDF File)

Event Dates:June 27th through July 6th

Event Hours: The Taste of Chicago opens every day at 11 am for lunch and is open until 9:00 pm. Ticket sales stop at 8:30 pm. On the Final day July 6th the event closes early at 6pm.

Event Location: The Taste of Chicago is located in Grant Park downtown in Chicago between the streets of

Tickets and Costs: Admission is free to the event, but the food costs a bit more than you would expect. The vendors also don’t take cash, so you have to buy tickets and each item on the menu at each restaurant booth is listed with a price in a number of tickets. A strip of 12 tickets costs $8.00. No item should be more than 10 tickets and some places offer a sample taste for 2 or 4 tickets so you can get a real taste of a lot of foods. The thing that always surprises me is how much drinks cost. Expect them to be 6 or 8 tickets each. You can purchase advance food tickets for the Taste of Chicago at Dominick’s food stores for $6.00 a strip beforehand if you don’t plan to buy them downtown or want to save money.

Parking:A lot of people come in from the suburbs and across the Midwest to experience the Taste of Chicago, so expect big crowds and no street parking. There are parking garages located under Michigan Avenue and Millennium Park that are popular because they are walking distance to Grant Park. The Metra is always also an option but Union Station is not anywhere near Grant Park. Expect to take a bus or cab down to the event from there it is a very long walk in the hot sun otherwise. The CTA has plenty of buses and EL stations also near by if you plan on commuting from city locations. It is always better to CTA or Cab it rather than to drive to a huge crowded event like the Taste of Chicago.

Taste of Chicago Concerts: There are several concerts and they are all free! But because they are free, the seating and space fills up quickly and you should arrive a 1/2 hour or hour early to get a good spot. It is also frequently sunny and hot during these free concerts so bring a hat, sunscreen and buy a water if you plan to be in the heat for a few hours.

Safety: As always keep a close eye on kids and all the people in your group. There are frequently so many people trying to walk between the food vendors and restaurant stations that everyone is elbow to elbow and if you loose someone it is very hard to find them again. Use cell phones to locate people in a crowd. Also keep an eye for pickpockets, in a crowd it is easy to mistake a pickpocket for a bump and then your wallet is gone. I have never had this happen, but it can, so keep your money in a safe place.

Taste of Chicago Map (712 KB PDF File)

This year the restaurants exhibiting at the Taste of Chicago are:

  A Natural Harvest
  Abbey Pub
  Adobo Grill (New!)
  Arya Bhavan
  Aunt Diana’s Candy Makers (sweet!)
  B.J.’s Market & Bakery
  Bacino’s Pizza of Lincoln Park
  Bella Luna Café
  Billy Goat Inn (cheeseburgers!)
  Bobtail Ice Cream Company (awesome Ice Cream)
  Bolat African Cuisine
  Buona Beef (aways a favorite)
  C’est Si Bon
  Canady Le Chocolatier (New!)
  Celebration Creamery
  Chicago Chocolate Company
  Chicago Joe’s
  Connie’s Pizza
  Costa’s
  Dominick’s
  Eli’s Cheesecake (a tradition in Chicago)
  Father & Son Pizzeria
  Fireplace Inn
  Franco’s Ristorante
  Grazie! Ristorante
  Guey Lon
  Harold’s Chicken #71
  Harry Caray’s
  Hashbrowns (New!)
  Helen’s
  Home Run Inn Pizza (my personal favorite pizza)
  JR Dessert Bakery
  Kasia’s Deli
  La Justicia
  Lagniappe-Creole Cajun Joynt
  Las Tablas (New!)
  Los Dos Laredos
  Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria (a taste of Chicago favorite!)
  Mazzone’s Italian Ice
  Now We’re Poppin’ (New!) Popcorn
  O’Brien’s Cafe
  Oak Street Beach Café
  Original Rainbow Cone
  Polka Sausage & Deli
  Polo Cafe & Catering
  Reggio’s Pizza
  Ricobene’s (another traditional Taste of Chicago Favorite)
  Robinson’s #1 Ribs (awesome ribs)
  Sabor Latino
  Soul Vegetarian East (New!)
  Star of Siam (great Thai Food)
  Suparossa Pizza
  Sweet Baby Ray’s (I love their BBQ sauce)
  Tamarind (New!)
  Taqueria Los Comales
  The Breakfast Club (New!)
  The Grill On The Alley
  The Noodle Vietnamese Cuisine
  Tiparos Thai Cuisine
  Tuscany Italian Restaurant
  Tutto Italiano
  Vee-Vee’s African Cuisine
  Vermilion Latin-American Cuisine
  Vienna Beef/Gold Coast Dogs (You can’t miss getting a real Chicago Hot Dog At the Taste of Chicago)
  Wow Bao (New!) (fresh hot buns they say!)

Also The Chef’s table Special Featured Restaurants at the Taste of Chicago schedule are:

Friday, June 27, 2008 – Heaven on Seven

Saturday, June 28, 2008 – Morton’s

Sunday, June 29, 2008 – Berghoff

Monday, June 30, 2008 – Tavern On Rush

Tuesday, July 1, 2008 – Chant

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 – Cafè Spiaggia

Thursday, July 3, 2008 – Les Nomades

Friday, July 4, 2008 – Art Smith Company

Saturday, July 5, 2008 – The Parrot Cage

Sunday, July 6, 2008 – The Parrot Cage

The Chicago Improv Festival is always a great collection of shows and improvised comedy for one week every year. This year it snuck up on me because I have been focusing on other things (like this blog) and not doing Improv classes anymore. That said, I hope to still get tickets and attend some of the Improv and sketch shows this week in Chicago. The Chicago Improv Festival is one of several comedy festivals that hits the city for a week and brings in talented performers with a Chicago tie-in or just comedy groups who are very good at what they do and want to travel to perform in front of new audiences. They usually try and bring back one or two people who have made it from the Chicago Improv scene to NY or LA on Saturday Night Live or any one of a few other comedy shows on TV.

They also feature some of the best improv troupes in the city of Chicago at CIF. This is always a great opportunity for the rest of the city to enjoy their talents. Usually only a certain number of people venture into the basement of IO or the Skybox theater of Second City to see new emerging artists in Improv. The Chicago Improv Festival gets a much wider attendance and hopefully helps jump start their careers.

Monday night the Chicago Improv Festival kicks off with the superpower comedy duo of Jack McBrayer  (from 30 Rock) and Paul Scheer (also of 30 Rock) at the Lakeshore theater in Lakeview. The first few nights of the festival are at the Lakeshore Theater which is an ok venue except there is no parking. So, if you go to this it will be a hilariously funny show that ends with the hilarious towing of your car. (sirusly still go to it anyway)

Tuesday Scott Adsit (also of 30 Rock, the major employer of Chicago Improv Alum) hits the stage at the Lakeshore Theater with 3 local Improv Gods (read: they make a living at this in Chicago): Susan Messing, Mick Napier and TJ Jagodowski.  I have to go to this one too now. (shit! when am I going to sleep this week?)

Wednesday  there are no CIF shows at the Lakeshore Theater. Thank god, I can finally get some sleep. Or not? There is a show at the ETC stage at Second City with Franken Matt, Frank Caeti  and Matt Craig opened by Brian Gallivan’s one man show. Zexy.

Thursday night the Chicago Improv Festival recovers with Miller and Middleditch, two veteran IO performers that should surely deliver the goods at the Lakeshore Theater. All these shows btw are at 8pm.

Friday night the Improv fest features a group of familiar faces at the Lakeshore theater with DITKA featuring some of the best Second City Mainstage cast to go to LA in the past few years: Frank Caeti, Maribeth Monroe, Brian Gallivan  and Marc Warzecha. It is always interesting to see new groups of people play together and this is a new pairing that shouldn’t disappoint. 

On Friday night The Playground Theater gets in on the action also with 2 shows, The Irish Mutts and Ay Diego with Zabeth Russell  and Will Luera.

Saturday has many shows:  7:30 starts off with 313 from LA, which has a cast of very talented alley jumpers Keegan-Michael Key, Larry Joe Campbell, Nyima Funk, Josh Funk, Marc Evan Jackson and Andy Cobb.  8 pm features the cast of Sports Action Team of which you might have seen on at midnight after SNL here on NBC Channel 5 in Chicago. It actually has a great cast of very funny people in it ,but the show has never really been a good use of their talents. I hope they are paid well. This show will most likely feature a screeching hawk at some point.

And Sunday we all fall over and die from all this comedy and partying and no sleep. Seriously though this is a huge week for comedy in Chicago and if you can make it to any of the shows from the Chicago Improv Festival it will be well worth the time, money and towing fees. Check out chicagoimprovfestival.org for the full bios and for more information on tickets and addresses of the theaters.

It finally feels like spring in Chicago and we should get out and enjoy it before the oppressive heat starts! Here are some suggestions for activities and events this weekend in Chicago.

1. Chicago Green City Market opens on May 14th and they have a special event with Mayor Daley on Saturday May 17th. The Market will be open weekends now until fall at 1799 N. Clark, and Stockton Drive. This is very close to Lakeview and Lincoln Avenue. Green City Market’s 10th Anniversary Rally for Local Sustainable Farming  Saturday, May 17, 9:00-10:00 am, South Lincoln Park *RAIN OR SHINE*. Come see what fruits, vegetables and foods have been locally grown and delivered fresh. I assume though that because of the location and the premium to raise produce locally these prices will be higher than your grocery store. I think that if you can afford it, locally grown food is a better choice for ecological sustainability.  Check out the Green City farmer’s market for what food is fresh and local this weekend.  (Many of the suburbs have local farmer’s markets also starting soon)

2. Lollapalooza Tickets  are still on Sale and if you want to make it to this fantastic festival this summer get them now before they are sold out. They have also set up a contest called Last Band Standing that you can find out more about on their site.

3. Eddie Izzard  is playing at the Chicago Theater on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm. Tickets are about 95% sold. See Ticketmaster for those last few nosebleed seats if you can get them. Eddie is fantastically funny and not to be missed since it may be another 5 years before he comes to Chicago again.

4. Chocolate Grape Restaurant opened last weekend and now that the crazy rush has passed it might be a good time to stop in and give them a try. Expect wine and chocolate themed food. It sounds luscious. Chocolate Grape Restaurant is located at 2113 West Division Street, between Damen and Hoyne Ave. call 773-772-3990 for reservations. 

5. The Field Museum  has  several new exhibits opening in May 2008. Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters opens next weekend May 23rd and advance tickets can be purchased online. This may not seem like regular Field Museum Fare (maybe more Science and Industry?) but it will be interesting in our current climate crisis. They also have a new permanent exhibit the “DNA Discovery Center” open now and “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids” is open at The Field Museum through September 1, 2008.

6. Before you blow your $600.00 government economic stimulus rebate check at Home Depot on a giant grill consider these options. Jewel food stores are offering a 10% bonus if you give them the entire check amount. This may seem like a lot of money for groceries, but with no time limit for the card usage, who wouldn’t really get good use out of a 10% bonus on your money?  Also, consider the tax implications of this money. I think you still have to pay taxes on it like income. If you have most everything you need right now, why not stash it away in an interest bearing savings account like the ones online at ING? This will provide a safety net for when you need it later. You never know how much worse the economy is going to get or how global economic conditions will affect your job in the long term.

7. Register to start training for the Chicago Marathon.  I know this is a huge bragging right of passage in Chicago every year, to say you ran and finished the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. (they were bought by Bank of America so the name may change?) What most people don’t know is that you have to train for 6 months to get in shape enough to run 26 miles of Chicago city streets. It is about 6 months from now, so if you are interested the Chicago marathon site has training program guides available and Nike.com has some great running training tools and groups they coordinate for running locally. Check them out to get into better shape and stay away from the malls this summer.

8.  Chicago Mayfest  is this weekend and this opens the summer event festival season officially. Expect streets to be blocked off and traffic to be backed up for social-networking yuppies to be drinking al fresco all summer. The Chicago Mayfest includes the ambiguous staples such as beer, live music and dogs. It is located in Lakeview at 3100 N. Ashland Ave. It will be open from noon to midnight Friday Saturday and Sunday and is $5 to enter.

9. Try the ginormous Iron Maiden Burger  on a yummy pretzel bun at Kuma’s Corner.  (seen in the picture above) They are located at 2900 W. Belmont Ave in Chicago, IL 60618. Phone 773.604.8769 for more info.

Chicago Earth Hour 2008 [and 2009] is an 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. [along with the rest of the world] It is part of a larger event called US Earth Hour which aims to raise awarness of things people like you can do to combat climate change.

I got a note/flyer in my comEd electric bill about the Chicago Earth Hour this month and thought it was interesting that they would promote this event since they are the electric company and they make a lot of money from the use of electricity. (and constantly raise our rates) 

Some people are excited about the Chicago Earth Hour providing a possibility of being able to see stars and the sky better as the light pollution will be less than normal if everyone participates. I don’t think everyone will participate though. There are some people in Chicago that aren’t really interested in saving energy or living simply. We have a lot of energy hogs living here.

I hope that some people participate in this event and turn off the lights, computer, TV and radio in an attempt to chill out and chat with the family, light some candles and maybe play a board game or read a book. If you can’t turn it all off, at least turn the vast majority of it off. Make it a game for the kids to see if they can think of any more ways to save energy. If you are a couple without kids in Chicago, ahem…an hour of dark never sounded boring before?

The Earth Hour is also a time to look at your home-condo-appartment’s energy use and see if you can minimize it. Do you have compact fluorescents (squiggley bulbs) in all your lamps, closets, ceiling fixtures and outside in the lights? if not now is the time to buy them (they are cheap now if you buy in a bulk pack) and put them in.

Do you have your fridge and freezer cranked to the max cold and your water heater cranked to the max hot? Both can be turned down to mid level and reduce the amount of energy they use. Do you use the plate warmer setting on the dish washer and leave the room for hours with the TV on? Turn the dish washer off when plate warmer goes on and just crack the door open with a spoon and they will dry by morning. If you pick up the phone when watching TV and have to walk away, shut it off or at least the screen if you were watching a DVD/DVR.

Do you leave your computer and all the peripherals on all day? Turn those off too when you are done using them, especially if you aren’t home. It’s safer for net security reasons too. I am sure there are even more ways to save energy, post more ideas below if you have them.

Its not practical to always have the lights out all the time at night like in the 2008 Earth Hour (ouch, ran into a wall there) but minimizing the use of electricity (and all energy) in inefficient ways and for unnecessary uses could save people a lot of money and the earth a lot of resources in the long run. And maybe even help save our planet from some serious climate change.

Every February despite the cold weather, Chicago’s Chinatown comes alive with decorations, lions and lots of food in celebration of the Chinese New Year. This year it falls on Thursday February 7, 2008. Last year in 2007 was the year of the Pig and in 2008 it is the year of the Rat. Each Zodiac animal has different characteristics that lend a different mood and personality to the year and the celebrations. The year of the rat is known for wealth and prosperity as well as particular luck.

People born in the year of the rat are said to be smart, crafty, good with other people, social, empathetic, a little shrewd sometimes, hard working, ambitious, very entertaining and into parties. You are a rat if you were born in these years: 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984 and 1996. Some famous people who were born in the Year Of The Rat include Prince Charles, ice skater Sasha Cohen, and Scarlett Johansson.

The number 7 is also considered lucky in western cultures (via gambling) and the number 8 (in 2008) is lucky in Chinese culture. (and is also coincidentally the main number of the date and year of the China hosted Beijing Olympics 8-8-08, triple lucky) It is also said that if you get married in 2008 you will have good financial situations and if you buy real estate you will have good returns on your investment. The lowering of real estate prices nation wide will also make property purchases attractive to Chinese people with cash on hand looking to make a good return investment. 

January 26, 2009 will start the year of the Ox (or Buffalo) which is also very important to Chinese Americans and anyone who follows the Asian Zodiac as well.

Chinatown in Chicago traditionally has a parade and festival during the Spring New Year Festival and on the Chinese New Year itself. Be sure to stop by to see dragons dance in the streets under the pagoda arch, the lantern festival and try some moon cakes. The parade will be on February 10th at 1pm on 2400 South Wentworth Ave in Chicago. It usually goes down the main street of Chinatown if you don’t have a map to Wentworth Ave specifically. Or just follow the crowds. featuring a 100-foot-long dragon float and the traditional Chinese Lion dance. The parade starts at Wentworth Avenue and 24th Street, then heads north on Wentworth to Cermak Road.

If you don’t believe in the Asian Zodiac or won’t be able to make it to Chinatown this Chinese New Year there is  a great dance and musical show you can enjoy at the Arie Crown theater that is very popular and well received. Plus there are 15 days of the Spring New Year festival to celebrate beyond just the New Year date Feb 7th itself. For more info about the Chinese New Year Spectacular Show:

Show website: chicagosoh.net
Online Purchase: ticket.ntdtv.com or at ticketmaster.com
Show theater: Arie Crown Theater
Information hotline: 312-225-5120
Ticket price range: $28 – $128
Show schedules: 2008-01-25 20:00, 2008-01-26 14:00, 2008-01-26 19:00
Performance Group: Divine Performing Arts on Tour from China

And Happy Chinese New Year!!

New Year’s Eve 2008 in Chicago will be a huge event. We have a lot of holidays around religious beliefs and history but New Year’s Eve is just about fun and nothing else. You can go to any one of a number of NYE parties happening around Chicago and have a great time. Many of these parties have been going for years and have a great lineup of live bands, singers, champaigne toasts and balloons at midnight as well as drink specials all night long.  If you can find a baby sitter and get out, enjoy the night and the celebrations around Chicago. It’s the one night that you can stay up until dawn and not care about the hangover and after effects the next day. It’s also a day to celebrate the year in review and look forward at new and great opportunities. After the ball drop you can take a minute to ponder where you want to be next year and see if you can make it happen in 2008.

Weather Note: It is usually freezing on NYE every year. So, if you are a girl going to a party that you don’t want to have a coat or a purse because it might get stolen, try a black cardigan sweater or blazer over the sparkly top. It looks accomplished and professional but still sparkly. And has pockets for ID, Keys, Lipstick and Credit Cards. 

Here are the 3 biggest parties happening in Chicago on New Years Eve in 2008.

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Navy Pier Grand Ballroom - The Kiss 1035.5 Radio Station has a huge bash in the ballroom of Navy Pier this year. They get great current bands to play and the whole place is a huge concert. It also has a great view of the skyline of Chicago from outside on the pier, and Fireworks out there at Midnight. (but I wouldn’t stay out there more than a few minutes in the 10 degree weather) It is always packed so if you are looking to meet girls and guys on this party day, this would be a great place to go. Thousands of people (singles and attached) go every year and make this a well known hot spot. There is a Navy Pier Parking Garage attached to the complex so you can even drive in from the suburbs and park close by and not walk outside in the cold. Expect parking to be around $25.00 though it’s not cheap when it’s in demand. Tickets are $150.00but they include open bar, appetizers and of course the live concert from the Lollapalooza favorite band The Shock Stars.  Tickets are available at Ticketmaster or TrystNightLife.com which sells them through going.com. Navy Pier is located at 600 East Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL  60611.

At the House of Blues in Chicago Radio Station, 93 XRT is also hosting a New Year’s Eve bash with CBS and Collective Soul. This isn’t as huge as the Navy Pier Party but also guarantees a great night of entertainment and partying. This event is 21 and over event and remember the house of blues is a general admission standing room only venue. So wear comfortable shoes.  The tickets are $145.00(without fireworks like Navy Pier) and if you are looking for a dinner package with the restaurant, call 312.923.2000 for more information. The live band starts at 9pm. I would guess that this ticket price includes an open bar, but the site didn’t really specify. Tickets are only available at Ticketmaster. House of Blues is located at 329 N Dearborn St, Chicago, IL  60610.

Excalibur’s New Year’s Eve Bash is always a huge clubbing party. It’s been happening for years and you can party on all the different levels in the turn of the century limestone castle building that has a weird goth vibe if you ask me. They say they have 25 bars and 100 bartenders to serve you and are open from 5pm to 7 am. There are 3 levels of tickets here. $125 Platinum Reservedtickets with guaranteed admission before midnight and premium open bar from 8p to midnight. It also includes a supreme dinner buffet from 8pm-11pm, access to vip rooms and the entire building. A $75 Gold Reserved ticket which gets you guaranteed admission before 11pm, a Deluxe Dinner Buffet 7p-9:30p and an Open Bar from 7pm-11pm. There is also a budget special $50 General Reserved ticketwith guaranteed admission before 9pm and a Cash bar if you’re not a big drinker. It is important to note that there are no returns and no re-entry if you leave the party. It is also a 21+ only event. Excalibur is located at 632 N Dearborn Chicago, IL.  

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has a special Star Wars exhibit (Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination) running right now through the end of January with all kinds of fun stuff to see. This is a must see for dedicated lifetime Star Wars fans that have all the collectibles and have dressed up as Star Wars characters at the midnight openings of all the movies at theaters. It is so popular it is sold out until mid December right now. I tried to get tickets today and the next 3 weeks are sold out for the weekends. So, this is a lesson in get your Christmas Holiday Vacation planned a month in advance with the kids. 

The cost is $21.00 for 1 adult ticket (before tax) and it only runs through January 6, 2008.  (ticket includes admission into the general museum for the day as well) Chicago residents get a cost break and 1 adult ticket is only $18.75. Children from age 3-11 are $16.00 per ticket. So it is a little expensive, but it’s a special event. Plus a day with the kids exploring the entire museum is worth that much since they will be home from school and need activities to do anyway.

The exhibits include over 80 artifacts (props models and costumes) from the actual movies, engineering design labs where you can play around and discover all kinds of new things about the technology used to make the movie and a full size millennium falcon cockpit that you can sit in and see what it would really be like to travel at light speed.  The millennium falcon area is a first come first serve area and there is usually a long line and wait. The earlier you go to this the better. All in all the exhibit combines movie making knowledge with the science of human robot interaction and it is a cool learning experience. Check it out before it leaves Chicago on January 6th 2008.