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March 2010
Eighth Blackbird Presents Genre-Defying Head Scratcher at Harris
By Nora O'Donnell
I'm a big fan of classical music's great and powerful dead guys (e.g., Mozart, Beethoven); but that's just it: they're dead. Giving feedback is kind of a challenge. So when eighth blackbird, the decorated contemporary-classical sextet, brings a freshly composed piece to Chicago... Read more
Sina Pearson
 

Outdoor fabrics just keep getting better. We like this modern interpretation of Mexican folk textiles. Colores de Mexico is a new line from Sina Pearson Textiles woven from Sunbrella acrylic fibers. That means it will stand up to sun, rain, mildew, chlorine, spilled margaritas, or whatever else the great outdoors throws at it. Available soon through Rearrange. For more outdoor fabrics, see our new issue, on newsstands now.

—JAN PARR

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Lake Forest's Norman Conquest
By Dennis Rodkin
List Price: $7.95 million
The Property: When I first visited this Lake Forest house (in 2002, when it was only a year old), I could hardly take my eyes off the living room ceiling, a soaring masterpiece of beams, arches, and planking, all crafted from trees from the same Wisconsin grove. Recently I made a... Read more
You Never Sausage a Menu
By Penny Pollack & Graham meyer
To Be Perfectly Frank
Alexander Brunacci kept the opening of Lincoln Park’s new Franks ’N’ Dawgs (1863 N. Clybourn Ave.; 312-281-5187) quiet, despite having some serious coattails to ride—his brother, Frank, is the chef at Sixteen, the Trump tower restaurant. Read more
Bang-Up Job, The New Jesse, Peach of a Sale
By Bradley Lincoln
Bang & Olufsen has always epitomized well-designed, highly functional, jaw-droppingly impressive (and wallet-stretching) audio and visual equipment, pretty much right from its Danish starting gate in 1925... Read more
More Housewares to Love!
 

These adorable appliances by the Swiss company Stadler Form, distributed in the U.S. under the name Swizz Style make us smile and serve the most practical of purposes. Clockwise from top left: The Oskar humidifier ($149.99); the Otto fan ($199.99); the Fred humidifier ($99.99); and the Max space heater ($99.99). Certain styles are available at Bed Bath & Beyond, online only or you can order them directly through Swizz Style.

—GINA BAZER

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The Moral Dilemma of "Strategic Defaults"
By Dennis Rodkin
Last Wednesday on WGN Radio, John Williams and I were talking about “strategic defaults.” That’s the current term for the situation where people walk away from their mortgaged home, figuring that its value has dropped so far that they will never make anything on it. Williams and I both opposed the practice. Here is how some other people feel. Read more