Tagged chicago

Letters/X is a performance pieced together by real letters, emails, text messages, Facebook posts and other publicly written submissions that are presented as monologues and original songs. The cabaret was produced in 2004 with Groundup Theatre and has been going strong for nine years.

What does a local Chicago legendary rock venue and a thriving Texas arts festival have in common? After the Reggies SXSW Throwdown, quite a bit! Started in Austin in 1987 South By Southwest has grown into a week long music, film, and culture festival attended by nearly 20,000 people every year. Their lineup, consisting of musical acts, films, speakers, and others, features a great collection of current hot names but also tons of great up and coming artists.

I really just want a Ducati Monster…like, I’ll give you a vital organ for that bike kind of desire. And I don’t even really ride,  actually… I’ve only ridden once.  But that one time was all it took, and in the grand scheme of things that bike is so cool it doesn’t even matter if you ride it. It would instantly increase my street cred, don’t ya think? So, I don’t ride, and I’m not the biggest Son’s of Anarchy fan,  but I was still pretty intrigued when I heard about this event this weekend. Chicago is hosting the World's Largest Indoor Motorcycle Show, Parts Expo, and Motorcycle Swap Meet at the Tinley Park Convention Center.

The Beatles were an astounding British group that brought fans to their knees as soon as they came on stage. John, Paul, George and Ringo made the front page several times for their outrageous following and funky tunes. This Saturday and Sunday Jan. 21 & 22 the Old Town School of Folk Music will give you the chance to sing along to your entire collection of Beatles tunes from 1963-1970. Every album being sung will have a different set of teachers and students, and will be under the supervision of resident guitar guru Steve Levitt. Saturday at 7pm will cover all of Beatles for Sale, and Sunday at 5pm will cover Magical Mystery Tour. It’s guaranteed to be a great two days, and you’ll even get to hang out with tons of Beatles ensemble members from the past few decades! The event will be a grand scale sing-a-long inside of the beautiful Myron R. Szold Music & Dance Hall located at 4545 North Lincoln Ave from 3pm to 11pm both nights. There’s a suggested donation of $10 at the door, and you’re encouraged to bring your own instruments, voice and love.

I found the perfect lunchtime getaway! Most of us have less than an hour to chow down on whatever Chicago grub we set our eyes on but with this good find you can literally “Eat to the Beat”. On...

It’s January 26th, 1967 in Chicago and snow has been falling for five hours. Four inches of snow had been predicted, but it’s clearly risen above that calculation. You’re caught in a carpool in the middle of the blizzard with three work rivals. The good news is if they freeze to death before you do then that sweet promotion you’ve been waiting for is right at your fingertips! This is the melodrama that follows created by Chicago veteran Jon Steinhagen and directed by Russ Tutterow the Artistic Director of the Chicago Dramatists. Blizzard ’67 is sure to keep you warm and cozy as you enjoy the mind games played by four businessmen inside of a car during the blinding Windy City blizzard of 1967. Watch these strong men crumble under the pressure of the devastating blizzard and enjoy the psychological changes they go through during the storm.

I heard the news on the radio.  Taste of Chicago is going to be revamped (again) for 2012.  The Taste will be chopped from 10 days to 5, and moved from the 4^th of July week to mid-July (July 11-15 to be exact).  I had always thought that the excitement from the Taste came from its grand proportions – of food, music and crowds. Yes, I said it, the crowds.  The immense, hungry crowds walking their way into Grant Park, bibs tied on to catch the drool, in anticipation of sampling the flavors that make Chicago the dining capital of the world!  The Taste was the thing to do leading up to the 4^th of July.

As children, sisters, Kathryn and Laura Pekarik, shared a passion for baking.  Always thinking they would eventually start some kind of business their idea was put on hold when Kathryn was diagnosed with T-Cell Lymphoma cancer in May 2010.

I moved to Illinois from New Jersey a month ago with big plans of starting my young life in Chicago. Almost every day a Chi-town veteran asks me one question, why Chi? You would think that having been so close to New York City I would get sucked into its gravitational pull, but no, I found asweet escape from those filthy streets. Coming from the NYC area few peoplerealize how delightfully overrated NYC truly is. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking my tri-state, but I certainly had a few clear reasons to leave the city that never sleeps for its Midwestern equivalent. Here are my top ten reasons to move to Chicago!

Celebrate “The King” and what would have been his 77^th birthday on Sunday, January 8^th with Elvis Fest 2012! Elvis Presley was the top hunk back then and he still is to many today. Girls wanted him and guys wanted to be him! Honor who he was, what he did, and how he made people feel with his music by partaking in this event at The Original Mother’s.