Features

Touring Chicago

There’s a whole city out there beyond your block – ethnic enclaves, jazz and blues haunts, literary landmarks. Here are 12 plans of action for urban discovery  to take you there.

The King of Stony Island
by James Ylisela, Jr. and Tom Brune
Everybody knew David Ray McCoy, the man in the wheelchair. Everybody turned to him for financial help. And somebody killed him.

April Fools for Love
by Chris Vartanian
It’s spring, and our fancy is turning to thoughts of you-know-what. As always, there’s the question of what to wear, and as always, the answer is to be ready for anything. Flirtation, anyone?

Baby, Baby
by Penelope Mesic
The Beethoven Project intends to prepare children in the Robert Taylor Homes to enter school ready to learn. The work begins even before a child is born.

Chicago Story: That Was Entertainment
by Toni Schlesinger
People used to line up at the Blackhawk to hear Al Trace, the Mairzy Doats man – who knew what to do with a happy tune.

Adding Zeroes
by Lisa Kartus with Lynn W. Adkins
For the past dozen years, Bill Farley has played the leveraged buy-out game. He’s created a multibillion-dollar corporation, a breathtaking mountain of debt – and concern about where he’s going from here.

Departments

Letters

Journal
by Hillel Levin, editor
The promise of preschool education

Metro
by David Jackson
Settling for brutality; George Dunne’s open door

Artworks
by Henry Hanson
Barenboim meets the press; eccentrics eat out; satire strikes Arts Club.

The Late Show
by Dan Santow
Going Home; all bupped up; Nightcrawlers

Chicago Woman
by Marcia Froelke Coburn
Once a week at the Allerton, adults get together to fight the battle of the buldge.

Execs
by Mark Jannot
Breaking the toilet paper habit with Hygene-X

Books
Saul Bellow sends a woman in pursuit of the man who got away.

Theatre
by Anthony Adler
What’s black and white and ambivalent gray?

Movies
by Penelope Mesic
A hot-dog attorney for the defense

Dining
by Carla and Allen Kelson
Dinner with Holy Cow Harry and Iron Mike

Back Talk
by Henry Hanson
Jackie Shen, Maggie Daley, Hope McCormick, Mark Heister, those Byrne women

Chicago Guides
Events

Dining

On WFMT