Top story: There were a handful of posts and Tweets yesterday reporting that Mayor Elect Rahm Emanuel was spotted at Double Door for the Black Joe Lewis show Saturday night. I received a few texts the night of with the same information. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a guy enjoying music in Chicago. Some complained that the show became about snapping cell phone pictures of Rahm in the audience, taking away from the show on stage. Some wonder if there were political motives. May I suggest another? Bender.

That’s right, Rahm Emanuel is going it alone in Chicago right now. His family is still in DC. So if you had already done your work and were waiting for your new job to start and you had access to box seats at Wrigley and your favorite artist was coming to Wicker Park, wouldn’t you throw down? Let’s be honest here: Every guy in the world would love to have a few days off from the family. We love em, sure and we miss them terribly, but when in Rome, do what the Romans do. In this case, that involves Opening Day at Wrigley, pizza at Piece Pizza, Black Joe Lewis at Double Door and probably a bunch of bar food carry out on a lazy Sunday afternoon trying to shake that headache from the Honkers Ale.

(We’re also assuming here that he’s not being influenced by Hall Pass. He has better taste than that, right?)

Possible Emanuel sightings to come: Punk Rock Monday’s at Delilahs, Rockabilly night at Martyrs, 2am at Round the Clock liquors with a bunch of college girls, sleeping on the Red Line, standing in line at Joe’s for Mr. Blotto and fighting a cab driver who didn’t drop him off at the right corner. Also, maybe a little Whirly Ball?

B story: Richard Babcock is the focus of Robert Feder’s column today. Feder breaks down some of the best covers from Chicago Magazine’s past. Babcock is stepping down as editor of the magazine. I’m sure there were a great number of inspiring covers under Babcock’s direction, but it’s the ones in between that I would like to focus on. We used to play a game when the new Chicago Magazine would be delivered. Co-workers would all gather around and guess the cover before we ripped open the envelope. I had three go-to guesses: Best Lawyers, Best Doctors, Best Getaways. I usually won.  I was also stunned that Feder missed this photo, which also ran in Chicago Magazine during Babcock’s tenure. That’s right, I’m a dirty bear:

C story: DeRogatis had the scoop last night: Dave Matthews is bringing a festival to the Far South Side, near or at the former US Steel South Works plant. WOW. Now, that is technically still Chicago, right? Not Indiana? So I can make the tasteless joke: DMB is back with this cheesy festival, ready to sh*t on Chicago once again? ZING. 

D story: Oh yeah, today’s the runoff election. We will see a whole new City Council after tonight. Or at least, one with aldermen who don’t fall asleep while at work.

Weather: My weather tracker said 36 degrees this morning, but it felt more like 45.

Sports: Dennis Rodman makes the NBA Hall of Fame! I put together some choice clips yesterday of Rodman’s on and off court antics. I had a whole angle that Dennis should go into the Hall of Fame as a Bull, instead of a Piston. But then I realized that the NBA Hall of Fame doesn’t work like the MLB Hall of Fame. So I just embedded some YouTube clips instead. I couldn’t find my favorite Rodman clip where he gets tangled up with Antonio Davis (Pacers) and then grabs his arm and starts dancing with him at mid-court. I think this was a playoff game. Davis thought it was funny at first but then his machismo took over and he pushed Dennis away. That’s what Dennis did better than any other player in the history of the game: be effeminate. And it worked. It was almost like he was the first out of the closet basketball player in NBA history. Even though I don’t think he was gay. 

In this clip (check at 3:00-on), Rodman gets into it with a young Stacey King when Rodman was on San Antonio. The video is from German TV. Will someone please ask Stacey what he thinks of Rodman getting into the Hall of Fame?

Kicker: More Rodman. Rodman crushes Bob Costas during a game. Poor thing. Too bad Dennis missed Isiah…