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November 2007
Week 27: The Forgotten

Well, I blew it again. When I saw the date on my work calendar, today, I froze. It looked familiar. Slowly, my body was overtaken by that sinking feeling when you know there's something important about the day, but you can't remember what, and you hope you figure it out, but you also hope you don't, because that would mean you're about to get your ass kicked for forgetting it.

Then it hit me: my wedding anniversary...

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Celebrity Beat: Kanye West, Kid Rock, John Legend, More

Condolences to Kanye West for the untimely passing of his mom, the intelligent and outspoken Dr. Donda West, 58, whom I had the distinct pleasure of meeting this past summer. Dr. West, a former Chicago State English professor whose book, Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar, came out last May, died of complications relating to a cosmetic surgery procedure Saturday in Los Angeles, according to people.com...

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Sale of the Week—Georgian Grandeur on the Gold Coast
By Dennis Rodkin

List Price: $1,395,000
Sale Price: $1,307,500

The Property: In the shadow of the John Hancock Center, this 1916 edifice by William Fugard, who also designed the Allerton Hotel and some of the buildings on East Lake Shore Drive, has a ground-level backyard, a rarity in the neighborhood. While most of the units in the seven-story brick and limestone building have three bedrooms, this one was reconfigured to have only two: a master bedroom and a guest suite, which is “completely isolated from...

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Le Passage Lives! Plus, a New York Invasion

Thursday night marked the reopening of Le Passage, which changed hands a few months ago when it parted from the Billy Dec brood and joined Three Headed Productions, a.k.a. the masterminds behind Cans, Salud, Junior's Sports Lounge, and EvilOlive. Under Dec and Brad Young, Le Passage served as River North's go-to late-night spot for the last seven years, but the business partners sold their share earlier this year to focus on their other haunts, including Rockit, The Underground, and an Asian-influenced restaurant slated to open next year...

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Name Game
By Jeff Fleischer
Next year, the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon will become the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Read more
Guest Blog: First Clinton, now Redford…
By Nora O'Donnell

More boost for the local green scene: In town on Thursday was the granddaddy of eco-celebrity, Robert Redford. After Clinton and Greenbuild, who's going to stop here next? George Clooney in his Tango? DiCaprio? Knut?

To Redford's credit, he made sure his appearance was not about his new movie, Lions for Lambs, but the Natural Resources Defense Council, of which he's been a trustee for the past 30 years. The NRDC recently opened its Midwest office in Chicago...

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Week 27: Supercramp

Think of the worst charley horse you ever had. The mind-bendingly excruciating pain probably twisted you senseless for about 30 seconds, then it disappeared, leaving nothing but the ghost of the pain. Sarah says that her Pregnant Leg Cramps are like a six-hour charley horse—times a thousand.

This is a woman who once tore up her knee on the slopes at Steamboat, and insisted on skiing down to First Aid on one her good leg. She's got an insane threshold for pain. I know she wouldn't be whining if these cramps weren't absolutely brutal...

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Fame for Sale
By Rebecca Little

15 Minutes . . . for a Fee
And you thought the Do It Yourself Hallelujah chorus was cool. Indulge long-suppressed aspirations for the stage at Victory Gardens’ Casting Auction Benefit. (Hey, your mother always said you stole the show as “townsperson number two.”) Amateur actors—meaning absolutely no experience required—can bid on more than 50 starring, supporting, and children’s roles in The Pajama Game, to be performed February 15th and 16th with a cast composed entirely of auction winners. The party starts 6 p.m. Friday the 9th at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater (2433 N. Lincoln Ave.; 773-549-5788, ext. 2140) with a buffet and open bar. Bidding for supporting roles via silent auction begins at $150; starring roles go on the block for $500 and up in a live auction; prospective actors are encouraged to shout, dance, and generally strut their stuff while bidding. Admission is...

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Bill Clinton: The Next Gore?

The Clintons were in town yesterday, and I caught Bill speaking at GreenBuild, the monstrous "green" construction convention taking place right now in Chicago. I had never associated the ex-Prez with green stuff—in my mind, that was always Gore's terrain—so I was curious what he had to say.

Turns out, a lot. Some of it was funny; some of it was boring. He's an incredible speaker, but no one—not even Bill Clinton—sounds great when they have to introduce a ton of important people crammed onto a stage. At times, Clinton sounded like Bubba from Forrest Gump...

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