As I write in our July events listings, Carl Sandburg may have described Chicago as the City of the Big Shoulders, but in July I think of it more as ... Read More

Expecting? Curious to know if new parents are choosing your name for their babies? Explore this list of the most popular Illinois baby names for girls and boys last ... Read More

There's something especially charming about this video where Michael Jackson hangs out with Michael Jordan. First Jackson plays one-on-one against Jordan. Then, Jordan takes dance lessons from Jackson. Jackson does ... Read More

I found myself Googling "moonwalk" last night. I wanted to show my kids a video of Michael Jackson so they could understand why the news of his death was exploding ... Read More

2110 N. Milwaukee, Chicago, IL More Photos of Chicago Signs © Jennifer Roche

Baseball. Hotdogs. Apple Pie. Fireworks. It's all here and ready for you to plan your Fourth of July celebration. Chicago July Events | Chicago August Events Follow me on Twitter | Connect ... Read More

You ought to have a fest if you're going to have a parade, no? Pride Fest ramps up this weekend with club singer Ultra Naté (right) headlining on Saturday night. ... Read More

The Chicago Bears have set their free-and-open-to-the-public training schedule for later this summer. It's tempting to suggest you plan to go see them as a budget-busting way of enjoying the ... Read More

Road Trip? National Geographic's "The Ten Best of Everything: Families" named the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, located in Bloomington, Illinois, as one of the ten best theater festivals in the nation. The ... Read More

Photographed Two Weeks Ago Reader Katie Self recently took Ursula Bielski's Chicago Haunting Tours and captured these photos of possible ghosts at the Hull-House Museum in Chicago. The Hull-House, which is ... Read More

Taste of Randolph returns next weekend, June 19 to 21, to the popular eatery corridor on the city's near west side. Dr. Dog (pictured here) headlines their Friday night ... Read More

"Sometimes I rock and cry softly, other times I shiver on the couch." - M. reporting at the Chicago Weather Complaint Center. What's your complaint?

Chicago's summer fireworks extravaganza launched on Memorial Day weekend and continues on Wednesdays and Saturdays through Labor Day. They've even listed a November show for "Santa's Arrival," which they'll all ... Read More

Memo to George Clinton: Next year, can I have a Mother's Day Funk Fest, please? Find our list of 15 Father's Day Events and Ideas, including Clinton's Father's Day gig ... Read More

Begins this Friday, June 12 - Interview with Ramsey Lewis by Tom Mullaney The Ravinia Festival will showcase a multi-media bicentennial tribute to Abraham Lincoln throughout the 2009 season under the banner ... Read More

Find out who our hard-core blues expert, Reverend Keith A. Gordon, About.com Guide to the Blues, would beeline to if he could make it to town for the Chicago ... Read More

If you're craving holding a club in your hands followed by holding a teeny wooden pencil, you might want to browse our list of Top 5 Public Courses in ... Read More

Buy some eggplant. See a submarine. A new Friday farmers market sprouts at the Museum of Science and Industry today. Learn more about which days and other south side farmers markets ... Read More

"Lord, I want some of what this 76-year-old woman has got," I wrote after seeing Koko Taylor almost five years ago at a street festival in Old Town when ... Read More

Are you an undiscovered Susan Boyle or Jennifer Hudson? Can you bear the Simon heat? If so, you need to get your act together soon. Auditions are in just over ... Read More

Chicago's Gay Pride Parade turns 40 this year, but, really, she doesn't look a day over 29 39, don't you think? Find your pride and enjoy this month's line-up of ... Read More

Long time readers know that I rarely discuss the weather in this space. Like parking meters and the preposterous hording of quarters, I just can't bring myself to talk about ... Read More

Oooo. This is a tempting offer. Ten hours of free parking on Tuesdays in June at Water Tower Place if you spend $100 or more in their stores. Here's the ... Read More