The Last Man on Earth returns! Hooray! Will Forte is a national treasure!
Also, tell all your friends to subscribe to the Chicago mailing list. We gave away tickets to Riot Fest and Lollapalooza to Chicago mailing list subscribers.
We write stuff. Here’s some of that stuff from the last week that may be applicable to your preferences!
- Bentzen Ball is a comedy festival we produce in D.C. October 1-4. Tig Notaro curates. We have shows with The Daily Show’s Jessica Williams and Bridesmaids Tim Heidecker.
- Josh Androsky told about doing comedy in the midst of a SWAT team situation that ended in murder.
- Sudi Green is our Funny Human of the Week.
- We interviewed Phil Cook. He’s released one of the best albums of the year.
- Our YOUR BEST SEPTEMBER piece will help you have a better September. It’s still September.
- Though it’s a few hours away, a trip down South to Champaign-Urbana to the Pygmalion Festival is well worth your time! Music and new media converge in a conference/festival that seems sort of like if SXSW was less of an unwieldy nightmare. Catch acts like Owen, Ryley Walker, Whitey Morgan, and Bully tonight!
- Americana legend Lucinda Williams plays a sold out show tonight at City Winery. If you weren’t able to snag tickets and were excited about this show, I am sincerely sorry.
- Under One Sky is a public gathering with the mission to unite several objectively positive causes: the fights against poverty, inequality, and climate change. Special guests include the Jesse White Tumblers, Funkadesi, and WBEZ’s Jerome McDonnell
- Wierdo indie pop group On An On play Lincoln Hall with Dosh and Eliot Sumner.
- Funny person/beloved weirdo John Hodgman brings his latest “one human” show, Vacationland, to Thalia Hall!
- The Toronto and Chicago hip hop scenes converge tonight for a Tale of Two Cities showcase presented by Fake Shore Drive and XVThree, with sets from Chicagoans Saba and Leather Corduroys and Toronto’s Jessie Reyez and Sean Leon.
- It’s the Whistler’s 7th birthday! Celebrate with them, they’ve got all sorts of surprises in store!
- Montreal’s Braids (plural not singular like the OG Chicago-based emo band), are at SubT.
- Head over to the Museum of Contemporary Photography to catch a lecture from Penelope Umbrico, who manipulates found images from catalogs, brochures, and eBay to create large scale abstractions that are visually overwhelming.
- The Burlington’s got a big night of trashy garage rock planned for you, folks. Don’t miss this heavy duty triple feature featuring Timmy’s Organism, The Sueves, and the Mac Blackout Band.
- You might have heard Holly Miranda’s music on TV, while watching shows like Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, CSI: Miami, or The L Word, or you might have heard her old band, The Jealous Girlfriends, OR you might know her solo material. However you know her, make a point to see her tonight at Schubas!
- Tonight’s the closing night of the Reeling Film Festival, celebrate another successful year at the closing night screening of the acclaimed Argentinian film Death in Buenos Aires.
- High quality local rock group Oshwa plays the Uncommon Ground in Edgewater with guests Lucas Oswald and Rae Fitzgerald.
- Main dude from The Unicorns and Islands, Nick Diamonds, has a new solo album out and will be playing songs from that album and his vast back catalog tonight at the Empty Bottle!
- A trio of exciting local acts, The Funs, Negative Scanner, and Melkbelly, play The Hideout.
- Arty industrial metal godfathers Godflesh headline night one of Cold Waves IV, a two day music festival/benefit show for Hope For The Day, a local suicide prevention charity.
- It’s day two of the Pygmalion Fest down in Champaign-Urbana, catch sets from Braids, Zola Jesus, Tune-Yards, Beach Slang, and more!
- Local activist hub Lady Parts Justice presents V To Shining V, a very cool looking standup comedy show featuring some of the Chicago comedy scene’s finest performers, gathering together to raise money for Planned Parenthood Illinois.
- Award winning dance crew The Flying Steps are soundtracked by an interpretation of JS Bach’s “The Well Tempered Clavier” for a very special classical music/urban dance mashup. Fun!
- Modern music wouldn’t sound like what it does without Wanda Jackson. She’s a living legend and you can see her tonight at Evanston Space if you want to. You should go!
- Howard Kremer is the co-host of the Who Charted podcast on Earwolf and performs stand-up comedy at Schubas.
- Moon Duo headlines the latest iteration of the Empty Bottle’s Beyond The Gates live music in a graveyard series! They’re joined by Cleared and a J.R. Robinson DJ set for a full evening of spooky rockin’ vibes.
- Monsters of Shoegaze Ride are at the Riviera with special guests The Besnard Lakes.
- Hit up the 15th annual Oktoberfest Chicago festival at St. Alphonsus in Lakeview! Tonight they’re doing a craft beer tasting night!
- Speaking of Oktoberfest, The Shoreline Sightseeing Company has an Oktoberfest-themed boat cruise for you to enjoy if you’d like to eat and drink German style while floating on Lake Michigan.
- Garage rock buzzboy turned crossover youth rock hitmaker Wavves plays The Vic with local fresh faces Twin Peaks.
- DIY alt comedy mainstay The Lincoln Lodge is back after taking the Summer off. Check out this week’s showcase in the downstairs room at Subterranean!
- If you’re feeling some civic pride and have a bit of scratch to spare, check out the CLAF Gala, benefiting the Chicago Loop Alliance Foundation at the Palmer House Hilton. VERY FANCY
- Noah Gunderson is a singer-songwriter and he is playing a concert at Thalia Hall with Ivan & Alyosha.
- “I Need To Know” if you’re going to see Marc Anthony tonight at the Allstate Arena 😉
- Do some daytime stuff:
- The always wild Mad Decent Block Party returns to Chicago with a packed bill of EDM and dance favorites like Major Lazer, Towkio, and Thomas Jack.
- The Pygmalion Fest in Champaign-Urbana soldiers on today, with a book fair, a maker’s fest, science and literary lectures, and sets from Run The Jewels, Purity Ring, NE-HI, and more!
- Thalia Hall’s got an indie rock matinee show, with four local bands for five bucks, with the promise of a whole bunch of ridiculous shenanigans to go along with it!
- Innovative jazz drummer Mikel Patrick Avery handpicked a group of musicians to improvise a performance at the MCA this afternoon. Very dang cool.
- Chicago Gourmet 2015 celebrates everything fine dining in Chicago today and tomorrow at Millennium Park. Tickets are expensive but probably worthwhile if you’ve got the scratch/taste for fancy food!
- Head to Berwyn for an afternoon cocktail class at FitzGerald’s, learn how to navigate a bar setup and make some classic drinks!
- Wicker Park and West Town celebrate Lit Day with special events at various bookstores, libraries, and tutoring centers. What a nice way to spend the day!
- I keep telling you, your 2015 street festival going days are numbered! The Edgewater Fall Art Fair is surely one of the final street fairs you’ll be lucky enough to hit up before the weather changes and we all lose interest in hanging out in beer gardens and listening to cover bands until next year.
- Midnight Circus In The Park does not happen at midnight but does indeed happen at the park. Margate Park specifically.
- Soldier Field’s got the 18th Annual Chicago Football Classic, featuring two of the top football teams and marching bands from Historically Black Colleges & Universities from around the country, with the Morehouse College Tigers taking on the Central State University Marauders.
- Saki records in Logan Square’s got a nice instore with buzzed-about local rock bands Meat Wave and Vamos!
- Fiesta Familiar at the Lincoln Park Zoo happens as a part of Hispanic Heritage month, offering up a variety of family-friendly activities throughout the zoo, like crafts, health and nutrition classes, and interactive science experiments.
- Then, night stuff:
- Bell Hop, a standup comedy show hosted by wild boy comedian Ian Abramson, happens at the Virgin Hotel in the Loop. Word on the street is that a very exciting special guest will be dropping by!
- The Bears are a lost cause, right? Well you’re in luck, sports fans, the NHL preseason started this week. Catch the Hawks square off against the St. Louis Blues tonight at the United Center.
- Head over to Northerly Island for the 2nd Annual Great Chicago Fire Festival, this should be a good and interesting time, for sure.
- It’s night two of industrial music festival Cold Waves IV at the Metro, with headliners Pop Will Eat Itself, Severed Heads, and Cocksure bringing the aggro electronics all night long.
- Heavy French shoegazers Alcest is at Subterranean. They’re probably really good live, I bet this will be good.
- The Flying Bach show returns for a second night at the Chicago Theater. Hip hop dance and classical music, together at last!
- The cover of Scorpion’s second album, Fly to the Rainbow is just the coolest thing, man. You should try to grab backstage passes and let the band know that tonight at the Allstate Arena, where they’re celebrating their 50th anniversary together as a band with special guests Queensryche.
- Low Cut Connie, a boozy rock band with ties to NYC, Philly, AND the UK, plays the Empty Bottle tonight with Turbo Fruits.
- It’s time for the fourth installment of Simmer Brown, a standup comedy/variety show at the Bughouse Theater in North Square.
- Oooh baby if you like weird rap, this is the show for you: Kool Keith, Sharkula, and Show You Suck play the Pomontory. What a cool as hell show.
- If you’ve never seen Neil Hamburger live before, you’ve gotta go. Don’t do any research about him in advance, just take my word for it: go see him at Schubas.
- Local experimental rock outfits Hums + Haws, She Speaks In Tongues, and Orb play Lincoln Hall tonight, should be pretty interesting I think!
- Breaking Benjamin is playing the Aragon. If you’re going, number one have fun, and number two be safe, your mother and I know how much you like to drink at these big rock concerts.
- Loftapalooza is a benefit show at Music Dealers that requires a food donation for entry to a show with free booze plus jams provided by The Ivorys, Saba, and Mike Golden & Friends.
- Godfrey is a very funny and likeable comic with ties to Chicago! He’s taping his latest special tonight at Up Comedy Club, which is very exciting.
- Destroyer’s new album, Poison Season, is one of the best of his career and one of my favorite albums of the year. Check him out live at Thalia Hall!
- Why don’t you swing down to Pilsen early, before the Destroyer show, and spend the day in and around Thalia Hall/Dusek’s/Punch House? They’re celebrating the space’s 2nd anniversary with a German-inspired block party, with DJs, family-friendly activities, and more.
- Holy shit, this is an insane lineup: A$AP Rocky, Tyler, The Creator, Danny Brown, and Vince Staples are all on the same show and it’s happening tonight at the Aragon. What an absolute blowout of a show.
- Tonight’s the final night of Pygmalion down in Champaign-Urbana. Check out Ride, Strand of Oaks, Sylvan Esso, Pujol, and many more before thing wrap up for another year!
- The Bears are playing and let’s face it probably losing to the Seattle Seahawks. Watch the game if you want, it might be a real drag though.
- Wicker Park BBQ joint Smoke Daddy is hosting a pig roast during this afternoon’s Bears game! At least you’ll have smoked meats with which to dry your Bears-induced tears!
- The Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Hall hosts the Randolph Street Market Festival, a European-style antique market with 200 antique vendors with all sorts of vintage treasures waiting to be discovered.
- Acid House titans The Orb play the Metro, bringing the weirdest, headiest, most tripped out vibes you can imagine.
- The Edgewater Fall Art Fair wraps up today in Edgewater!
- Lisle, IL is throwing their 22nd Annual Barkapalooza Dog Walkathon and Expo, which benefits the West Suburban Humane Society. Pet owners and admirers come together to raise funds for a good cause and have a nice time petting dogs along the way!
- The latest installment of Maria’s Community Bar’s Thrift Score record and movie night happens tonight! It’s supposed to be a very cool event and Maria’s is a great bar!
- Freak Folk weirdo Diane Cluck comes to the Hideout with support from local art-popper Andrew Sa.
- Mammothly influential improv troupe 3033 performs two final shows tonight at their homebase, iO. Check these things out if you’ve never gotten the chance to see these guys, it’ll be good for you.
- Avant Garde jazz icon Roscoe Mitchell will be performing as a part of FOUR different Trios at two concerts, one in the afternoon, one in the evening, at the MCA. What a feat of strength this will be!
- 1st Ward is hosting the Revolution Craft Show, which promises a carefully curated selection of art, live music, beer, and food for you to enjoy!
- There are two people on Twitter who accidentally misspelled Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s name “Big Bang Voodoo Daddy.” This is a link to one Tweet. This is the link to the other. Anyways, go see Big Dang Poopoo Baby tonight at City Winery if you’d like.
