WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

The following three items are completely unrelated.

1.) I will be on the radio today on The Afternoon Shift to talk about my King Spa and alone time experiences at around 2 p.m., if you'd like to hear me.

2.) The Cubs' owners threatening to move the team if they don't get their way is the kind of bratty empty gesture that I hope they follow through on, just because it would be the most interesting thing to happen to the team in 100 years. However, I have a feeling the Cubs are like the girlfriend and the city/fans are like the boyfriend in this sketch (NSFW):

3.) And finally, pease don't forget Funny Ha-Ha is Friday. It'll be a delightful show and a wonderful way for you to kick off your weekend.

Follow Claire Zulkey @Zulkey

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

The Archdiocese has delayed demolition of St. James Church. That calls to mind a historic church that wasn't saved: the old Old St. Mary’s.

St. Mary of the Assumption was the city’s first Catholic church, built in 1833 on Lake Street west of State Street. Three years later the building was moved to Michigan Avenue and Madison Street. In 1843, when Chicago was established as a diocese, a new St. Mary’s Cathedral was constructed at the southwest corner of Madison Street and Wabash Avenue.

The Great Fire of 1871 destroyed St. Mary’s Cathedral. Afterward the Catholic bishop decided to rebuild his cathedral in Holy Name parish. He also purchased the five-year-old Plymouth Congregational Church at 9th and Wabash, rededicating it as St. Mary’s Catholic Church. The parish was placed under the direction of the Paulist Fathers order of priests.

The decades passed, and the South Loop went into a long decline. Anyone with money moved out. By the 1930s the area was mostly commercial—and what wasn’t commercial was slum. Aging gracefully while the neighborhood deteriorated, the church remained one rock of stability.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

Last week, Gwyneth Paltrow pulled one hell of a pop culture hat trick. In addition to breaking international box office records with her newest film, a little movie called Iron Man 3, People named her as the world’s “Most Beautiful Person.” The world, however, proved itself not so fond of the multi-hyphenate actress.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

The recent White House Correspondence Dinner was referred to as a "nerd prom" which, from my vantage point, is a bit of an insult to both nerds AND proms.  No Daliks, no lightsabers, no taped glasses or dweebs sitting in the corner sniffing Sharpies.  Not in Washington.

In Chicago, however, there are events that fit far more comfortably in the "nerd prom" category and I'm here to clue you in on a few.

Chicago poets, Robbie Q. Telfer and Shanny Jean Maney, founded The Encyclopedia Show in 2008. In five short years, these two co-hosts (along with a plethora of collaborators) have peeled back the veneer of polite research and exposed their audience to detailed (and often funny) live encyclopedia entries about Fungi, Cheerleading, Skyscrapers, Puberty and Punctuation among many, many other topics you were dying to know about without ever asking the question.

Tomorrow night (Thursday, May 2) The Encylopedia Show (with the help of Nina Coombs, George Decelles, and others) presents everything you could possibly want to know about The Origins of Life.  Cheap tickets, a great time and you might be a tad smarter when you leave.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

Stereotypes and stigma surrounding the art community are not entirely unfounded. Claire Molek, director of the relatively new River North space Hauser Gallery recounted her own experiences and education about the art world.

"The more I learned about the art world, the more I got disheartened about what I had to do," she said.

Molek, formerly of Wicker Park’s This is Not the Studio, recounted the differences between that space and the larger art world.

"That was all about community and hospitality and being able to contribute to an elevated contemporary discourse," Molek said. The space was a chance to create a structured platform for positive growth for community.

However, she noted that it was difficult to run a gallery while not selling art or 21 existing in a commercial space. The larger forces and "rules" within the art world left her disillusioned and she eventually left it for eight months.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet

Exactly how “hazardous and dangerous” are the many code violations at the 87-year-old Congress Theater in Logan Square, and do shows there pose an immediate risk to concertgoers?

The city took one position in its lawsuit seeking immediate closure of the venue last month, and another at court hearings that are allowing the theater to remain open while repairs are made.

Judy Frydland, the deputy corporation counsel who is the city’s top building code enforcement official, shed more light on the prosecution of controversial Congress Theater owner Erineo “Eddie” Carranza in an interview on Tuesday.

…Read Full Entry

• Comments
• Send
• Print
• Share
• Recommend
• Tweet