You know you got it coming, so why not go out and get it going? Your weekend picks for Thursday, May 15 to Sunday, May 18, 2008 are here.

Gimp at Victory Gardens Theater on Thursday at 7:30pm

Manifest Urban Arts Festival at Columbia College on Friday from 11am to 10pm

Monsters of the Midway Flat Track Bike Race on Saturday from 7am to 5pm

Sugar Blue at Rosa's Lounge on Friday and Saturday at 10pm

Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse Plant Sale on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 2pm

Second Annual Chicago Green Festival at Navy Pier on Saturday from 10am to 8pm and Sunday from 11am to 6pm

Chicago Places and Spaces Festival on Saturday and Sunday

Jersualem Chamber Music Festival at Symphony Center on Sunday at 3pm

The City Council repealed the ban on foie gras yesterday and tabled the ordinance that had the potential to put the kabash on the local music scene.

Now that these incredibly pressing city issues are off their docket, do you think they could work on getting the buses to run on time?

Chicago Sun-Times music critic Jim DeRogatis has alerted Chicagoans to a potential City Council ordinance that appears to be so excessive that it could cripple or close mainstay Chicago music outlets such as the Hideout, Buddy Guy's Legends, and Schuba's.

It is scheduled for a vote in City Council this Wednesday.

In a nutshell, the city seems poised to muck up the local music scene in a what appears to be a misguided response to the E2 nightclub tragedy that took 21 lives more than five years ago. Jim DeRogatis is all over this story (in a good way), but I think his interview with Alderman Eugene Schulter of the 47th ward and chair of the licensing committee is among the best for outlining the debate and what is at stake.

Learn more:

• Background Reading on the Ordinance by Jim DeRogatis
• Jim DeRogatis's Blog tracking the ordinance (and other music topics).
• Chicago Music Commission, a community group fighting the ordinance.

Make your opinion heard:

• Save Chicago Culture, an online petition and site set up to fight the ordinance.
• Find/contact your alderman.

Earlier this month, Crain's Chicago Business announced its annual list of the largest privately-held firms in the Chicagoland area. I tracked down the top ten firms' employment sites and linked to their available Illinois job opportunities. I hope it will be helpful to those of you hunting for work right now.