In Chicago, summer brings an avalanche of stuff to do—all around the city there are neighborhood street fests, music fests, concerts, food fairs. This year downtown rocked with Lollapalooza (an annual event), Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, and a NASCAR race. it’s like drinking from a fire hose. But it doesn’t shut off on Labor […]

As our friend and neighbor Al Hippensteel puts it, I’ve been on a kind of blog sabbatical. Hope to get back in the rhythm starting today. Three years ago this past April, after six days in the hospital and three days in a City-run covid isolation hotel, I got a cab home from Chicago’s Streeterville […]

I really don’t much like it when Chicago takes a major public space like part or all of Grant Park out of public commission for events like Lollapalooza or, this past weekend, NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race. And I never trust the numbers that the organizers or the city provides in terms of economic gain—they’re notoriously […]

Happy New Year from our friends’ place in Urbana, Illinois! Beth and I have been bathroom refugees since December 26. That is, we’re having our bathroom redone, and since we only have the one, we got outta Dodge while the work is being done. Our adventure started with a staycation of sorts—I used credit card […]

The good news is Lollapalooza, the mega-music festival that brings hundreds of thousands of fans to Chicago over four days, is over. The bad news is that the City just signed a deal to hold Lolla for the next 10 years. (And, next year, we’ll also have a NASCAR race downtown that will shut down […]