The foreclosure crisis continues to morph. Even as new data show that foreclosures on condos are multiplying faster than those on single-family homes, real-estate experts suggest that foreclosures, boosted by pervasive job cuts in the sagging economy, may soon aggressively climb the socioeconomic…
What’s better than slaving over a pot of chili for five hours? Stuffing your
face for 60 seconds. On Sunday evening, we headed down to Reggies, where a few determined superfans gorged on
wings, hot dogs, and sloppy joes in competitive-eating contests while the
Super Bowl played on 20 TVs and three projection screens in the background…
In a high-rise condo, it’s out with the mauve-and-teal ’80s vibe, in with creamy modern elegance
“To the east were the moving waters as far as eye could follow,” Nelson Algren wrote in 1951. Fifty years later, the abstract painter William Conger reinterpreted that famous first line from Chicago: City on the Make in his painting To the East Were Moving Waters. For Conger, who has lived most of his 71 years in Chicago, the relationship of the city to the lake is a central theme. “There’s the marvelous clutter of the city with its wild aspirations and energy, and the lake with its order and timelessness,” Conger says. “People go to the lake to see what forever is like, while the city is right now.” In advance of two shows opening in January—a retrospective at the Cultural Center and new works at Roy Boyd—we asked Conger to reminisce on a few of his most Chicago-centric paintings.
In one of the most stunning developments in the history of rock, longtime fans of the heavy-metal stalwart Metallica are complaining that the group’s recently released album, Death Magnetic, is too loud (read the angry posts at metallicabb.com). To put the noise level in perspective, we ranked the band’s SPL—or sound pressure level, measured in decibels—against other noisemakers.
The Xanadu aesthetic? That’s easy. “Think Casey Kasem–meets–Greek mythology–meets–drug-addled hallucinatory fluorescent roller derby,” says Christopher Ashley, director of the musical production—performed in part on roller skates—that hits Chicago in January. To help visualize the exceedingly campy universe, we grilled Ashley for specifics on the musical’s most crucial element: its props.
Kiss Errands Goodbye
Busy Chicagoans can now actually spend their weekends relaxing and their lunch breaks eating with the help of Endeavor Concierge (1732 N. Mohawk St., Suite C and 3200 N. Lake Shore Dr., Suite 2504; 312-268-0008, endeavorconcierge.com), a new—and relatively cheap—personal assistance business that tackles clients’ time-consuming or stress-filled errands. “We give the gift of time,” says Carolyn Schnuck, co-creator of Endeavor. Her partner, Emily Lytle, adds, “People would prefer to…
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Harrington College of Design student Jahaila Sing has won the New Life Student Furniture Design Competition with her design, the sexy Chloe Sofa. Sponsors of t he competition were furniture stores Chicago’s Mig and Tig and Mortise and Tenon of L.A.
-JAN PARR
Bright spots on the month’s cultural radar
We found four readers whose official fitness conditions could be labeled “burnout” and asked them to keep a workout diary for a week. Then we called in a major-league expert—the director of conditioning for the Chicago White Sox—to help our readers reinvigorate their fitness routines for the start of the new year.
