Chicago Best Weekend Bets

In a world full of Waynes, be a Garth.

Tell all your friends to subscribe to the Chicago mailing list. We give away stuff. Party on.

We write stuff. Here’s some of that stuff from the last week that may be applicable to your preferences!

• It’s September. Have Your Best September.
• The next entry in our Gender Bender of the Week series is Christeene.
• The next entry in our Dream Jukebox series is V.V. Lightbody.
• Carmen Lagala is our Funny Human of the Week.

ACTIVE: The folks at Joriki have a yoga/meditative mental health event that features an hour long Vinyasa class, featuring live music, and more!

CULTURE: The Public Newsroom community conversation series meets at Build Coffee for a discussion entitled Reframing Conversations on Racism, featuring Executive Director of the Chicago United for Equity outreach program, Niketa Brar.

FILM: The Workers Center for Racial Justice hosts a free screening of the documentary The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution at the Jackson Park Fieldhouse.

FOOD + DRINK: Hit the high seas of Lake Michigan while sipping on Half Acre beer and eating BBQ treats from Blackwood BBQ. It’s the Wendella Beer & BBQ Cruise!

FREE: GMan Tavern hosts another edition of their music/storytelling series Liner Notes, featuring readings from folks like Showyousuck, Jessi Roti, and longtime Metro/Smart Bar owner Joe Shanahan.

MUSIC: 50 Cent makes his Ravinia Debut tonight. What a strange combination of artist + venue!

OUTSIDE: Chicago Hauntings Tours has a very spooky tour of Lincoln Park planned for you, where you can take in various (allegedly) haunted sites around the popular northside neighborhood.

STAGE: Longrunning interview show The Interview Show is throwing a mini two-day festival at the Hideout, starting tonight. Guests include Renato Mariotti, Erling Wu-Bower, Sam Trump, and more!

STAY IN: Season two of Sarah Silverman’s current events themed Hulu show I Love You America premieres today. You love her!

ACTIVE: Meet up at Ping Tom Memorial Park for a Social Evening Paddle, a nice kayaking meetup, where you can cruise the waters of Chicago on a rented kayak.

CULTURE: The Laugh Factory has a highbrow Battle of the Letters, featuring various literacy organizations like Chicago Youth Shakespeare and Open Books, squaring off in a tournament of old school, formal letter writing!

FILM: Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Waynes World 2 by taking in a sweet midnight screening at the Music Box tonight!

FOOD + DRINK: The Windy City Wine Festival gives you the chance to sample over 300 wines from around the world in the area of Grant Park immediately surrounding Buckingham Fountain. What a nice spot!

FREE: Free jazz music in at the Courtyard Shops at the Hyde Park Shopping Center.

MUSIC: The World Music Festival kicks off a monthlong celebration with an all night long program of Indian Classical Music entitled Ragamala, featuring performances of various subgenres of Indian Classical at the Chicago Cultural Center.

OUTSIDE: Check out a free performance from the Stars of the Lyric Opera at Millennium Park! This is one of the last music in the park type events for the Summer, so it’d be a good idea to get down there!

STAGE: Author Maeve Higgins discusses her new memoir Maeve In America with Chicago-based comedian Alex Kumin at Women & Children First bookstore.

STAY IN: The second season of the hit Marvel show Iron Fist hits Netflix today. Watch that and maybe season one beforehand, if you haven’t seen that one yet.

ACTIVE: The Chicago Athletic Association’s Skate Night gives you a chance to get all in your feelings care of everyone’s favorite sad millionaire Drake. It’s a Drake themed rollerskating session, where else can you do that?

CULTURE: Check out the September edition of the Renegade Craft Fair on Division for a bunch of real nice handmade goods from vendors from Chicago and beyond!

FILM: The excellent McHenry Outdoor Theatre’s got a killer double feature this weekend: Top Gun and Caddyshack. Best drive-in in the Chicagoland area, hands down.

FOOD + DRINK: Donut Fest at the Lincoln Park Zoo has a bunch of round cakes for you to enjoy, plus booze, coffee, and more!

FREE: Man is there a weirder way to spend one of the last few warm Summer weekends than at a Revolutionary War Reenactment? I don’t think so! Get thee to Wheaton!

MUSIC: Support a supremely good cause at Beer & Bands for Comfort Station in Logan Square, a fundraiser to help programming stay excellent at this neighborhood treasure. Featuring tunes from folks like Dos Santos, Phoelix, and Campdogzz, plus a bunch of beer, this is gonna be a rad one.

OUTSIDE: The Northern Illinois Airshow is like the Air & Water Show but with less water and in Waukeegan. Go watch some big screaming death machines if that’s your thing!

STAGE: Alcohol-fueled storytelling show The Blackout Diaries is back at Under The Gun Theater tonight featuring more true tales of regrettably boozy adventures from comedians, writers, and civilians!

STAY IN: Grab a copy of Lake Success, the latest novel from acclaimed writer Gary Shteyngart, and don’t leave the house until it’s finished!

ACTIVE: The Brookfield ZooRunRun is a 5k race contained entirely within the sprawling bounds of the Brookfield Zoo. What a way to see the zoo!

CULTURE: The iconic 26th Street Mexican Independence Day Parade kicks off at noon today. This is a must-see!

FILM: The Music Box welcomes the return of the Cat Video Film Festival, featuring two screenings of an expertly curated selection of viral cat videos. Hell yes.

FOOD + DRINK: The Chicago German-American Oktoberfest takes over Lincoln Square all this weekend. Grab some bier and throw on your lederhosen and all that jazz!

FREE: The Museum of Science and Industry is free to all Illinois Residents. That’s probably you!

MUSIC: Damn: Counting Crows and Live are coheadlining a show at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park. Wild stuff!

OUTSIDE: Head to the Ukrainian Village for the Ukrainian Village Festival, celebrating this historic neighborhood’s roots.

STAGE: Two breakout true crime series defense attorneys, David Rudolf from The Staircase and Jerry Buting from Making A Murderer, are hitting the road together for a live show that looks that these two hugely popular series. They go in-depth on both cases, discussing things that were omitted from their respective Netflix shows, and provide updates on the cases now that the cameras aren’t around!

STAY IN: Showtime’s new Michel Gondry-helmed, Jim Carrey-starring series Kidding looks like it’s at LEAST worth watching the pilot, which premieres tonight. I hope it’s good!