Results tagged “chicagoreader”

Ex-Tribune folks are everywhere these days. The latest example is over at The Reader, where a former Tribune managing editor, Jim Warren, has been appointed publisher. Warren said in a statement, "I believe the Reader can be an even greater success if it is provocative, makes those in power squirm and yet is willing to entertain and have fun. I hope I can be of help in renewing and reinventing the print version and finding new audiences on the Web.” The Reader's Michael Miner has more on the hire.

Mayor Daley's budget for 2010 has been presented and, as expected, there were no new taxes but lots of cuts. There will also be much taken from the parking meter lease fund. In fact, by this time next year, don't expect much to be left from the $1.15 billion/75-year deal, the deal we may have gotten hosed on. Having already spent $400 million of that money this year, according to the Tribune, Daley is looking to spend an additional $600 million of that money in 2010. We're no math geniuses and even we know that doesn't leave a whole heck of a lot left in the pot for the remaining 70+ years of the lease, something that concerned Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) earlier this week. All told, Daley claims that there will still be around $700 million left in reserve funds - the combination of the Skyway and parking meter leases - next year. A cut in the city's tourism budget also raised eyebrows. And besides the cuts to entertainment and furlough days for non-union employees and elimination of vacant jobs, there are smaller cuts, too, such as the scaling back of the city's recycling program.

• According to the Trib, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is accompanying President Obama on the quick trip to Copenhagen. We're guessing they sneaked out before Sen. Burris knew they were gone.
• Speaking of Obama, once tomorrow's Olympic announcement is out of the way, he'll send Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Chicago to follow up on the Derrion Albert attack.
• We're not the only ones going all-in on the 2016 announcement; our pals at The Reader have a lot of great coverage of their own.

Our pals at the Chicago Reader are now under new management. New York-based hedge fund Atalaya Capital Management bought the Reader's parent company Creative Loafing for $5 million. Atalaya managing partner Michael Bogdan told the Reader's Michael Miner, "It's absolutely our intention to run it. The Reader's a great publication and we want to make it even better." Whet Moser has more and Miner also spoke to former Tribune managing editor Jim O'Shea who will likely play a role under the new management.

• North Shore Distillery's Sonja Kassebaum writes a loving profile of graham elliot beverage manager/head mixologist Lynn House (pictured). [Thinking of Drinking]
• Baconfest news: the Publican is hosting the VIP Pro cookoff the day before the fest. [Baconfestchicago.com]
• Mike Sula cheers the return of kaiseki master Seijero Matsumoto. [Food Chain]

We hope by now you've seen it, but in case you haven't, here's the cover of this week's Chicago Reader, which features another of their fantastic stories exploring the parking meter debacle. Kudos, Reader kids. Kudos. You've easily topped the NY Post and the Sun-Times.

Last week, the Reader followed up on its original investigation into the Parking Meter Privatization mess. Then, lo and behold, yesterday the City Council expressed outrage, dammit, at the deal, claiming that the city was "gypped" and "short-changed." Ohbytheway - the Council passed the original deal by a vote of 40-5. While those like License Committee Chairman Eugene Schulter (47th) lashed out - "I have never, ever seen such a rushed deal go through the City Council and ... hurt the taxpayers. ... Not to have a plan of action that was well thought-out was absolutely disgusting," - it should be kept int mind that the five who originally opposed the deal were: Alds. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Leslie Hairston (5th), Billy Ocasio (26th), Scott Waguespack (32nd) and Rey Colon (35th).

If you didn't attend any of Hideout's "Soup and Bread" events this winter, you're getting a mulligan today with an encore presentation featuring soups from Hideout bartender Anastasia Davies Hinschsliff Martha Bayne, Celestial Kitchens' Celeste Dolan, and Karen Gerod and the wonderful staff at Swim Caf&3233, which was a regular participant in the series.

Crain's Chicago Business reports that Playboy is getting deeper into trouble: they might be delisted on the New York Stock Exchange if they don't turn things around pretty quickly. Despite huge budget cuts, CEO Christie Hefner stepping down and other cost-cutting measures, times are still tough for the Chicago-based heritage men's magazine.

The smoke rising from Honey 1 BBQ Friday was no joke. TOC broke the news and Mike Sula went to report from the scene. A spiral fire broke out in the venerable Bucktown barbecue joint's chimney and worked it's way down. Owner Robert Adams, Sr. told Sula that it's uncertain when Honey 1 will reopen, depending on the damage to the pit and whether insurance puts up a fight. Adams remains optimistic. "People ain't gonna be able to do without my barbecue for that long, so I'll be back open in a hurry."

Reading personal ads may be considered desperate, but Bruised Orange Theater Company isn’t looking for a one-night stand. “The depth of loneliness is getting larger and larger, and when you wrestle with that you either become very very depressed or you laugh at it,” said Mark Spence, director of I Saw You a show taken entirely from the Chicago Reader’s personal ads. “We choose to laugh at it.”

Our friends at The Chicago Reader have officially released their Best of '09 list for your perusal. Covering Art & Architecture, Bars & Clubs, Fashion, Food & Drink, GLBTQ, Literature, Movies, Music, and Performing Arts, the guide breaks down the Reader's picks for each category as well as gives the Reader's readers' picks. Well worth a perusal.

Interested in sharing with your fellow Chicagoans your favorite art galleries, bars, etc.? Our pals at the Reader have opened up their polls for their annual Best Of voting, so head on over and let them know what your favorites are.

John Murray, chief of bid operations for Chicago 2016, said earlier this week that funding for Chicago's Olympic bid will come from a trust fund that is 100 percent privately funded. He said that public funds will not go directly toward the Olympics, and the CTA's expansion would occur without the Olympics and Bronzeville residents need not be worried about being displaced. Murray is also trying to downplay the role of the Blagojevich controversy in all this

Liz Armstrong, formerly of Ye Olde Chicago Reader (we jest guys, we still have a soft spot in our heart for you) has been hired as associate online editor for Vice Magazine. Armstrong used to drive us INSANE with her party girl too-inside-the-scene hipster Chicago Antisocial column during her tenure at The Reader, but we must admit we're pleased to see she's landed somewhere were she may actually be one of the more normal kids of the bunch.

Former police commander Jon Burge, whose name has become synonymous in this city with police torture, was arrested this morning at his home in Tampa, Florida. He's been charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, charges which carry decades of jail time if Burge is convicted.

        

Last night we attended the sold out mulefoot pig dinner at Blackbird sponsored by the Chicago Reader. Reader food critic Mike Sula has been chronicling the progress Dee Dee since he persuaded the paper to buy her last year, bringing attention to this rare endangered breed of swine in the process.

How weird, after reading a particularly sharp and on-point criticism [via Gapers Block] of The Reader's consistent decline in quality in the recent past we came across earlier today, we now learn that the company that bought the paper in 2007 -- Creative Loafing -- has just filed for bankruptcy. They claim this move will alow them to reduce the cuts to editorial staff the company had planned, but given how the weekly's changed since being bought we're not exactly sure that's good news.

After nearly two years, the Reader is ready to serve up some of that mulefoot pig it adopted to some hungry folks. And they're doing it in style, with a six-course dinner starting 6 p.m. October 19 at Blackbird to benefit Slow Food Chicago.

The Reader just released it's "Best Of Chicago" poll, and the paper's readers picked Chicagoist as their favorite local blog! Thanks to all of you who voted, we'll continue to do our best to deserve that top spot!

The Chicago Reader's at it again with it's strangely placed but well intentioned Book Swap. The swqap will be held tomorrow at Cobra Lounge, you can bring all your winter books to trade in for some summer reads. The Janes, who tout themselves as "Chicago's Premiere 60's Go Go Troupe," will perform. The first 300 participants get free tote bags.

We don't usually toot our own horn, but sometimes the opportunity is just too good to pass up. Last weekend we participated in Schadenfreude's 2nd Annual Alt-Media Slam contest along with Gapers Block, Time Out Chicago, and the Red Eye. The event had a wide-open feel as last year's champs, The Chicago Reader (and their trophy), failed to make an appearance. Tempers flared, slams were thrown, and only one team was left standing as champions: Us (holla!). We took home a nice fake plasma TV and a shiny red bow for our efforts. We'd go into a blow-by-blow account, but our friends over at Schadenfreude have been kind enough to provide a video of the event. For those of you already looking forward to next year's contest (cough-Scott Smith-cough), take note: after taking the upcoming holiday weekend off to celebrate, the Chicagoist team will reconvene next week to begin plotting our title defense.

Courtesy of the TOC blog, we've learned that on February 27 (his 65th birthday) Jonathan Rosenbaum will retire as senior film reviewer at the Reader. Blogger Hank Sartin swears that it's not "one more sign of new Reader owners Creative Loafing trimming the budget. In fact, Rosenbaum tells us that his new bosses at Creative Loafing will be setting him up with a website of his own so that even in 'retirement' his writings on film will continue to be part of their franchise."

A classic's a classic (above). But just in case you were thinking about sitting through the latest CGI remake, here's a bad review review from local critics:

Bad news out of the Reader offices: Harold Henderson, John Conroy, Tori Marlan and Steve Bogira were fired yesterday. Henderson and Conroy were two marquee names for the paper: Conroy has written the definitive chronicle of police torture in the City since 1990, and Henderson has written one jillion crotchety stories over the years. Sleep with one eye open, Ben Joravsky! According to editor Allison True's memo, Unfortunately the financial pressures of our industry continue...

Hearts all across Chicago were broken last January when Zephyr closed its doors. We walked past its former space a few days ago and wouldn't you know, construction workers were busy building what looked to be another restaurant. Alas, it won't be Zephyr 2.0 but rather an Irish-style bar and restaurant (pictured), opening in March 2008 (to their best estimate). The workers didn't know what it was going to be called. New York Times writer...

The Reader's Guide to Late Night Dining is now online, and there's the expected eclectic mix of diners, hot dog stands, taco joints, upscale pub grub, and places where only the fearless dare enter. Even better is that the range of offerings encompasses a wide stretch of the city and connecting suburbs (big love for Gene & Jude's Red Hots in River Grove!). If you're at the stage in life where "I'll sleep when...

Carol Marin is "a little worried about Chicago being a world-class city," given that that status tends to equal corruption and bullshit. No joke. You know what we're worried about? The phrase "world-class city." The term — which means what exactly? — has been all over the place recently. RTA boss Stephen Schlickman's saying it. A "Chicago Reader driver." An Olypmic committee guy. Edward Keegan. The Sun-Times can't get enough. Mayor Daley says it, that...

Thinking about going to the movies tonight? Looks like everyone in town is warning you against Good Luck Chuck, the Dane Cook/Jessica Alba rom-com whose plot keywords on IMDb are ... wow. Inspired by Matthew Baldwin's genius Bad Review Reviews, we present highlights from Chicago media's terrible reviews of GLC. Scott Tobias, AV Club: "Proof that a million MySpace users can be wrong." Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "The film is some sort of humor-deprivation...

Schadenfreude put media professionals and bloggers on stage at their near-monthly Rent Party Friday night for an Alternative Media Slam/ Free For All / Put Down Insult Tournament. The Schad organized this inaugural competition out of respect for our work and because they wanted to see four local institutions sling muck at each other. And sling we did. Before we get into who called who what and who’s momma was being disrespected, let's be...