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Some background. Grant Achatz, Chicago celebrity chef/darling/villain/prettyboy, will open two new restaurants in the West Loop very soon: Next and Aviary.  Though he rose to fame with Alinea, now ranked among the greatest restaurants in the world, he is trying … Continue reading →

It’s easy to have good conversations with Toronto-based poet/musician/composer/performer Rob Bolton.  But this particular conversation was having a tough time getting off the ground.  When we finally got vchat to work on two finicky wireless networks, important business interrupted: “Hold … Continue reading →

I picked up Emma Stein underneath the El tracks at Robert Bills Contemporary–where she spends her days working as Gallery Director–on a sloppy, gray afternoon last week.  It’s the time of year when even optimistic Chicagoans start to wonder if … Continue reading →

[I’m going to categorize most of my future posts on film as: “Analysis of Movies My Cinephile Girlfriend Recommends” (AMMCGR), mainly because I can never say exactly what I think about them until way after.  I’m not used to analyzing … Continue reading →

“Somebody called me the Bruce Springsteen of painting,” said Gwen Zabicki.  We were eating homemade steak and ale pie, sitting in Ikea recliners in her UIC studio.  Gwen is one of only three painters in the most recent crop of … Continue reading →

I love Valentine’s Day.  I really do.  It’s some sort of weird disorder, or maybe just a testament to the successful rhetoric of greeting card companies.  But in any case, it’s nice to think that once a year you can … Continue reading →