02/14/08
This past Sunday, I attended the 50th annual Grammy Awards in L.A., where it was a balmy 80 degrees—but who's keeping track? This was my fourth time out (it's a pleasure trip, and I pay my own way), and it never gets old. I'll leave the debate over the Grammys' relevance to other folks. I'm a sucker for awards shows—writers' strike and all—but give me the Grammys over the Oscars any day; my concerts-to-movies ratio is around ten to one. Not to mention the fact that Chicago made an especially strong showing this year...
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02/13/08
Last Girl Standing spent last weekend in sunny L.A. (lucky Last Girl!), where she attended Sunday's 50th annual Grammy Awards. Look for a full report later this week; in the meantime, ooh and ah (or get smug and snarky) over the photos in her Grammy gallery...
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02/07/08
Last Girl Standing is L.A.-bound, en route to the 50th annual Grammy Awards. Our intrepid party girl has her notepad and digital camera in tow, so check back Tuesday for full coverage of the ceremony, the parties, and all the silly celebrity action.
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02/04/08
Bright Pink founder Lindsay Avner was all smiles at a fundraiser for her year-old organization Friday night at Le Passage. "It's amazing to be 25 and know what your purpose is—why you were put on this planet," Avner told me in between hugging guests and doling out thanks for helping spread Bright Pink's mission (the group provides resources for young women at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer). "This is definitely our biggest event yet," she said. "But more than that, we had more than 50 high-risk young women reach out and...
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01/31/08
I've often fantasized about starting my own concierge business. I know that sort of thing flies in cities like Vegas—maybe not so much in Chicago—so instead it's a service I offer free to friends, friends of friends, and, of course, friends of Last Girl Standing. Want to know what's going on today, tomorrow, and this weekend, dear nightlife enthusiasts? Keep reading and post your comments below. This is your forum, too.
Last week a loyal LGS reader and newly single friend who's been out of the nightlife loop for a while charged me with planning a night out for her and another friend, both in their 30s. She sent me this e-mail...
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01/28/08
Burlesque is nothing new to Chicago; the peekaboo-performance revival has been working its way through local venues for the last several years. What is new to town, though, is Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce, a troupe with home bases in Hollywood and Vegas that claims boldface names such as George Clooney among its patrons.
This past weekend marked the troupe's début Chicago run, Thursday through Saturday at the recently reopened Le Passage—an ideal venue, since the subterranean club boasts its own speakeasy vibe...
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01/24/08
Fall Out Boy bassist and Wilmette native Pete Wentz hosted a fundraiser for presidential hopeful Barack Obama Tuesday night at Lakeview Broadcasting Company. "I've been an Obama supporter since he announced he was campaigning," Wentz told me. "I was aware of him as a senator, but I wasn't as engaged as I probably should've been."
The crowd of about 125 friends of Pete and Obama supporters included tattooed urban hipsters and members of the local rock outfits Kill Hannah and Gym Class Heroes, plus Lovehammers' Marty Casey, the Rock Star: INXS runner-up and former Chicago magazine single. Also on the guest list: Wentz's mom and dad. "My parents support Obama... but they met while working for Biden...
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01/21/08
I consider myself to be something of an early adopter, but there’s one party I’ve come to late: Facebook. The social networking site launched in 2004, but I only caved to friends’ endless urging and joined about two weeks ago (another latecomer: Chicago senior editor Jeff Ruby; see his hilarious attempt at a Facebook profile). And now, here I am: a true convert, posting messages to The Boyfriend to ask when he’s bringing dinner over. It helped that I read in the February issue of Entrepreneur magazine that more than half of Facebook’s 60 million uses are over the age of 25. That’s my demographic, whether I like it or not. Some folks use the site mostly to connect with old friends—and I did hear from my long-lost eighth-grade boyfriend, who recently relocated to Israel—but I’m an even bigger fan of the “groups” and “events” functions. Users can alert friends and friends of friends about parties they’re hosting, making Evite a thing of...
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01/17/08
"I'm impressed when a bar has something I've never had before," says Phil Kuhl, one half of the Beer Dudes—an entrepreneurial friendship founded on suds. Kuhl and the other Dude, Brian Moreland, met last April while bartending at Sheffield's (Kuhl also tends bar at Goose Island in Wrigleyville). Since then, they've begun hosting beer tastings around town, including a weekly Monday night event at Rockit Bar and Grill called Taste It, in which the guys pair three beers from a particular state with a three-course meal. "We're trying to ease people into appreciating beer," Kuhl says. "Beer isn't as intimidating as wine," Moreland adds. I caught up with the guys this past Monday to chat about spreading the gospel of brew...
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01/14/08
"I've been traveling around the world; there ain't no ladies like [in] Chi-Town," Common told the sold-out crowd of 1,400 at his House of Blues concert Saturday night. Be still my heart.
I managed to catch up with the rapper, actor, fashion designer, book author, and native Chicagoan before the show, which benefited his own Common Ground Foundation. "[I] stay in tune with the people from where I'm from," he said. "The more you get, the more you give back." ...
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