Entertainment in Great Lakes
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Green Mill
You can sit in Al Capone’s favorite spot at the timeless Green Mill, a true cocktail lounge that comes complete with curved leather booths and colorful tales about mob henchmen who owned shares in the place (a trap door behind the bar leads to tunnels where they hid their bootlegged booze). Little has changed in over 70 years – the club still books top local and national jazz acts. On Sunday night it hosts a nationally known poetry slam, where would-be poets try out their best work on the openly skeptical crowd.
reviewed
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Neo-Futurists
The theater is best known for its long-running Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, in which the hyper troupe makes a manic attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes. It runs Friday and Saturday at 11:30pm and Sunday at 7pm. Admission cost is based on a dice roll. The group puts on plenty of other original works that’ll make you ponder and laugh simultaneously. Well worth the northward trek.
reviewed
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C
Beat Kitchen
Everything you need to know is in the name – entertaining beats traverse a spectrum of sounds, and the kitchen turns out better-than-average dinners. Dine early in the front of the house, since service is unhurried. Music in the homely back room can be funky or jammy, but a crop of Chicago’s smart, broadly appealing songwriters dominates the calendar.
reviewed
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D
Empty Bottle
Chicago’s music insiders fawn over the Empty Bottle, the city’s scruffy, go-to club for edgy indie rock, jazz and other beats. Monday’s show is always free, and is usually by a couple of up-and-coming bands. You won’t even have to spend much on booze – cans of Pabst are $1.50. Plus there’s a cool photo booth in back.
reviewed
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E
Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap
Some of the geniuses of our age have killed plenty of brain cells right here in one of Hyde Park’s few worthwhile bars. The place is dark and beery, and a little seedy. But for thousands of University of Chicago students deprived of a thriving bar scene, it’s home. Hungry? The Swissburgers are legendary.
reviewed
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F
B.L.U.E.S.
Long, narrow and high volume, this veteran blues club draws a slightly older crowd that soaks up every crackling, electrified moment. As one local musician put it, ‘The audience here comes out to understand the blues.’ Big local names like L’il Ed and the Blues Imperials grace the small stage.
reviewed
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Kingston Mines
Popular enough to draw big names on the blues circuit, Kingston Mines is so hot and sweaty that blues neophytes will feel as though they’re having a genuine experience – sort of like a gritty theme park. Two stages, seven nights a week, ensure somebody’s always on.
reviewed
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Intelligentsia Coffee
This local chain roasts its own beans and percolates good strong stuff. Its baristas frequently win the national latte-making championship, and one went on to win the international version. They know their joe. It makes a good pre- or post–Millennium Park fuel up.
reviewed
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Hungry Brain
The kind bartenders, roving tamale vendors and well-worn, thrift-store charm are inviting at this Roscoe Village staple, which hosts sets of free live jazz from some of the city’s best young players on Sunday nights. Cash only.
reviewed
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Nye's Polonaise Room
The World's Most Dangerous Polka Band lets loose Thursday through Saturday. It's smashing fun, and enhanced if you find yourself an old-timer to twirl you around the room.
reviewed
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First Avenue & 7th St Entry
This is the bedrock of Minneapolis' music scene, and it still pulls in top bands and big crowds.
reviewed
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Guthrie Theater
Minneapolis' top-gun theater troupe, with the jumbo facility to prove it.
reviewed
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Chicago White Sox
The White Sox play at US Cellular Field (aka The Cell, though often referred to by its pre-corporate-sponsorship name, Comiskey Park). Less loved than the Cubs despite their 2005 World Series win, the Sox resort to more promotions and cheaper tickets to lure fans to their southerly location. Thus, you might be treated to a pre-game ’80s hair band or a free hot dog with admission. Tickets are available through the team’s website, at the ballpark box office or at any Ticketmaster outlet. Sell-outs aren’t usually an issue. The Cell sports a couple of cool features, such as the Bullpen Bar, where you sip your beer practically right freakin’ on the field; and the pet-check, wh…
reviewed
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Chicago Fire
Thanks to Chicago's large Latino and European communities, the city's soccer team, the Fire, attracts a decent-sized fan base. The team plays in their brand-spankin' new stadium – Toyota Park – way southwest of downtown and the season runs from April to September; the finals are in October. Fire tickets are available through Ticketmaster, and are fairly easy to come by. Less easy is getting to the stadium in suburban Bridgeview. If you get to Midway Airport via the Orange Line, you can catch the suburban Pace Bus No 386 Toyota Park Express, which runs on game days only. The full trip from the Loop will likely take an hour or so.
reviewed
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Steppenwolf Theater
This legendary name in Chicago theater was founded by Terry Kinney, Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry in a church basement. It quickly outgrew one space after another, won a Tony award for regional theater excellence, and is now a leading international destination for dramatic arts. Among the many famous alums who have gone on to illustrious careers are John Malkovich, Gary Cole and John Mahoney. Productions are of the highest quality. A tip to save dough: the box office releases 20 tickets for $20 for each day’s shows. They go on sale at 11am Monday to Saturday and at 1pm Sunday, and are available by phone. They go fast.
reviewed
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Cubby Bear
To enter the eye of the hurricane in Wrigleyville, elbow into the famous Cubby Bear, where the can beer is expensive and the whooping fraternity boys can get downright unruly. This is a good place to try some cornhole, as in small corn-filled bags (aka beanbags) that participants toss into a sloped box with a hole in it. It started as a bar game but vaulted into the big time in 2007, when the First Annual Windy City Cornhole Classic took over Soldier Field (yes, the football stadium). Cubby Bear has leagues and tournaments. Check www.chicagocornhole.com for other locations.
reviewed
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Second City
A Chicago must-see, this club is best symbolized by John Belushi, who emerged from the suburbs in 1970 and earned a place in the Second City improv troupe with his creative, manic, no-holds-barred style. Belushi soon moved to the main stage, and then to Saturday Night Live, and then on to fame and fortune. A who’s who of funny people have followed a similar path: Billy Murray, Steve Carell, Amy Poehler and many more. Second City’s shows are sharp and biting commentaries on life, politics, love and anything else that falls in the crosshairs of the comedians’ rapid-fire, hard-hitting wit.
reviewed
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Biograph Theater
In 1934, the ‘lady in red’ betrayed gangster John Dillinger at this theater, which used to show movies. It started out as a date – Dillinger took new girlfriend Polly Hamilton to the show, and Polly’s roommate Anna Sage tagged along, wearing a red dress. Alas, Dillinger was a notorious bank robber and the FBI’s very first ‘Public Enemy Number One.’ Sage also had troubles with the law, and was about to be deported. To avoid it, she agreed to set Dillinger up. FBI agents shot him in the alley beside the theater. The venue now hosts plays by the Victory Gardens Theater.
reviewed
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Chicago Blackhawks
The poor Blackhawks. Besides their small core of admittedly rabid fans, no one pays them much attention. The fervor does pick up when rivals like the Detroit Red Wings skate into the United Center (which the Blackhawks share with the Bulls). Tickets shouldn’t be too difficult to get – the box office and Ticketmaster do the honors – but if you run into trouble, brokers and concierges can usually obtain them for a minimal markup. The season runs October to April. Transportation information is the same as the Bulls.
reviewed
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UIC Pavilion
The bang-’em-up sport of roller derby was born in Chicago in 1935, and it’s made a comeback in recent years thanks to the battlin’ beauties of the Windy City Rollers (www.windycityrollers.com) league. Players boast names like Sassy Squatch and Juanna Rumbel, and there is a fair amount of campy theater surrounding the bouts. But the action and the hits are real, and the players are dedicated to the derby cause. Matches take place once a month at the UIC Pavilion from late January to mid June; tickets cost $20.
reviewed
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Goose Island Brewery
Goose Island’s popular beers are served in bars and restaurants around Chicago, but it tastes best here at the source. The pub pours the flagship Honker’s Ale and 14 or so other potent brews. If you’re lucky, the 10% Extra Naughty Goose or Maple Bacon Stout, served with a meaty slice, will be on tap. A four-beer flight (5oz per glass) costs $8. Tours ($7) take place on Sundays at 1:30pm, 3pm and 4:30pm and must be reserved in advance. Fine grub complements the brews; special kudos to the Stilton burger and chips.
reviewed
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Lyric Opera of Chicago
By taking on a premiere of William Bolcom’s A Wedding (an adaptation of a Robert Altman movie) for its 50th anniversary, the Lyric Opera showed its stripes. The seasons of this truly great modern opera company are popular with subscribers, who fill the ornate Civic Opera House for a shrewd mix of common classics and daring premieres from September to March. If your Italian isn’t up to snuff, don’t be put off; much to the horror of purists, the company projects English ‘supertitles’ above the proscenium.
reviewed
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iO (ImprovOlympic)
The Olympic Committee forced this comic veteran to change the name to its initials in 2005, a suitably laughable development in a long career of chuckles. iO launched the careers of Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert, along with a host of other well-known comics. Shows hinge entirely on audience suggestions, and each turn can run 40 minutes or longer. If you’re thoroughly motivated by what you see, iO offers a range of courses to suit every budget. Shows on Wednesday and Sunday are usually just $5.
reviewed
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Chicago Bears
Football's Da Bears can be found, sleet, snow or dark of night, at Soldier Field. Since the inauguration of the new stadium in 2003, tickets have been hard to come by, and are available only through Ticketmaster. Arrive early on game days and wander through the parking lots – you won’t believe the elaborate tailgate feasts people cook up from the back of their cars. And for crissake, dress warmly. The season runs from August to December, when you can get snowed in.
reviewed
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Hideout
Maybe it’s all the Pabst, the strangely industrial surroundings, or the room of sweaty thrift-store bedecked hipsters grinding to soul records at the postshow dance party, but an evening in this two-room lodge of indie rock and alt-country can be downright transcendent. The owners have nursed an outsider, underground vibe, and the place feels like the downstairs of your grandma’s rumpus room. Music and other events (bingo, literary readings etc) take place nightly.
reviewed
