The Making of a First Lady

She’s confident and levelheaded, and she carries the nurturing legacy of a close-knit South Shore family, an experience she wanted to re-create in her own home. After years of resenting her...

Carol Felsenthal

Knight Moves

With imagination, verve, and a hefty package of financial incentives, the makers of the latest Batman epic turned Chicago into Gotham City, giving our town a starring role in razzle-dazzle chases...

Shane Tritsch

Action Heroes

26 people who make films happen in Chicago—plus three newcomers making their mark

Robert Loerzel & Jeff Ruby
Illustrations by Michael Camarra

05.03.09 - A Chicagomag.com exclusive

This story appears exclusively on Chicagomag.com and not in the print magazine.

THE SCENARIO: It’s been a little more than 100 days since President Barack Obama moved into the White...

February 2009 Table of Contents

Contributors

February 2009: Carol Felsenthal, Robert Loerzel, Jeff Ruby, Shane Tritsch, Michael Camarra, Mara Tapp

Graham Meyer

Feedback

In February’s letters: dad’s view, swords, missing a job, O-verexposure, breakfast, and a would-be nonissue

Ticket to Ride

CTA fares went up again. Once you figure in inflation, though, are we really paying more than we used to?

Emily L. Hauser

Gastro Tourism

During my recent travels abroad, I was obsessed with the otherness of products in foreign supermarkets. While freely opening myself to new cultures everywhere else, I couldn’t shake my...

Jeff Ruby

From Russia with Light

How we turn arms into energy

Josh Schollmeyer

Obama’s spending spree

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign collected more cash than any other candidate in U.S. history—an eye-popping $742 million. It spent all but $30 million of it. But where did it all go?...

Kelsey Peters

5 Spots To Pamper Your Valentine or Heal Your Lonely Heart

Sarah Preston

Rock On

Talk about a bar that feels like it’s been around a while: The guys behind West Town’s High Dive, Georg Simos and Alex Tsolakides, are at it again with Rocking Horse in Logan...

Sarah Preston

De Ville’s Advocate

A cleaned-up dive scores points for keeping things casual

Sarah Preston

The Young Lit

This winter, three debut novelists help Chicago's literary fire burn a little brighter

Joe Meno

Stone’s Throw

Five local jewelers whose work makes a statement

Rebecca Little and Bridget Maiellaro

Signs of the Times

Go ahead: Wear your heart on your sleeve. Or, better yet, around your neck. Right now, it’s all about bling you believe in.

Barri Leiner

The New Dating Game

We put to the test new research that reveals how people couple up. PLUS: Vote—whom should Milly have picked?

Samantha Cleaver

The Blip

Bright spots on this month’s cultural radar

The Insider

Five recommendations from the Chicago-based classical composer Seth Boustead, whose group, Accessible Contemporary Music, puts on a free concert at Sherwood Conservatory on February 20th. For info,...

Venus Rising

An Illinois company’s race to obtain governmental approval for a female version of Viagra raises questions about what really turns women on

Karin Horgan Sullivan

Off Beat

A dance group that plugs local fashion designers? That’s not all that’s unusual about The Seldoms

Cassie Walker

Sales Check

February 2009: A roundup of this month's sales, store openings, and shopping news.

Katherine Lee

Don’t Fence Me In

Rules regarding renovations may inhibit the sale of an eccentric house built by a real Texas Maverick

Dennis Rodkin

Sounding Off

Developer subdues noise at former railroad site

Dennis Rodkin

A Bigger Backyard

Condo dwellers offered all the pleasures of home

Dennis Rodkin

Talk of Our Town

Two Chicago theatres have liberated Thornton Wilder's warhorse of a play from its nostalgic conventions to deliver productions both radical and real. Why now?

Mara Tapp

Dining Out: Hog Wild

The Publican, The Bristol, and Province: three smart, approachable newcomers with the skills—and the pork—to satisfy the hungry masses during lean times

Dennis Ray Wheaton

Dining Tidbits

Smak-Tak!, Chickpea, Trader Vic's, Main Street Smokehouse

From Naples, With Love

Neapolitan pizza is to the ’00s what martinis were to the ’90s...

Jeff Ruby

Pour: 2007 Italian Saracco Moscato d’Asti

It's a way to spruce up Valentine’s Day for your sweetie this year

Dennis Ray Wheaton

Singled Out: Burger

In a town with no shortage of burgers, Duchamp’s is the best we’ve had in ages

Penny Pollack

Behind the Patch

The new Field Museum exhibition, Real Pirates, gives us the lowdown on the golden years of the 1700s.

Kelsey Peters

Battle of the Bands

We pit three large-ensemble jazz bands in a Chicago versus Chicago versus New York face-off

Mark Loehrke

Three Things to Contemplate

while idiling on the Kennedy

Catey Sullivan

Bird by Bird

On the eve of a major release (Noble Beast, out January 20th on Fat Possum), musician-on-the-verge Andrew Bird, 35, opens up about pseudo fame, bipolar lifestyles, and what it takes to write the...