When COVID-19 closed taprooms and cancelled festivals, I looked for ways to still engage with Chicago’s craft beer scene. I therefore decided to finally work my way through The Complete Beer […]

As a musician and performer, Andra Day deserves far more attention than she’s yet to receive. Her 2015 debut album, Cheers to the Fall, introduced her as a force to […]

“What evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows….” “The Shadow” was a midcentury radio mystery that sometimes kept a little girl from sleeping. My mother finally tried […]

  The cliche “the best thing since canned soup” has been around for decades. Canned soup was one of the first convenience foods, as manufacturers persuaded millions of people to […]

There are a dozen no name voxel indies on Steam today and it can be hard to parse the wheat from the chaff, so I’m here to tell you about […]

Hand Dryers By Samuel Ryde Unicorn Publishing Group Distributed by the University of Chicago Press Books In the appropriately senseless year of 2020, Hand Dryers, by Samuel Ryde, was published. […]

As part of their WorldStage series, Chicago Shakespeare is offering a visit with illusionist and mentalist Scott Silven from his childhood home in rural Scotland—or as he says, “in the […]

Times are strange. At least, that’s the case in Shakes on a Plane, where aliens obsessed with culinary competition reality shows have been “chopped” and, not to be beaten, decided […]

Much like everything else in 2020, music was a little weird. Amazing albums came out bereft of the typical touring cycle and songs got lost under the weight of COVID […]

There’s no need to say how devastating 2020 has been for live theater and all forms of live entertainment. Millions of careers, lives and families have been turned upside down […]

So long 2020—you were a terrible year for a lot of reasons, but a surprisingly good year for video games. Sure, there was the big letdown that was Cyberpunk 2077. […]

Call me old fashioned, but I’m a firm believer in not posting a Best of the Year list until the year is actually over. I’m often able to squeeze in […]