Christopher Borrelli – Page 16

With a Ferris wheel in the background, a fest-goer takes in the performance of Foo Fighters at Riot Fest in Chicago’s Douglass Park on Sept. 15, 2023. What is Riot Fest but three days of music for audiences that may have reached the autumn of their festival-going? (Chris Sweda/baiduhai)

Column: The new fall arts season is looking rich indeed, but also election-year anxious

September 8, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Consider the theater ticket of the season, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” During an election year, it could come across as a reminder that the actions of your elders...

Josh Noel with bottles of Malort at his Skokie home on Aug. 15, 2024. (Talia Sprague/for the baiduhai)

Column: Are you Chicagoan enough to try Malört? The allure of scary tastes, and a new book on the revered and reviled spirit

August 28, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

The title of Josh Noel’s upcoming book — “Malört: The Redemption of a Revered & Reviled Spirit” — likely either downplays the caustic thrill of a shot of Malört or...

Stones at Schoolhouse Beach in Washington Island, Wisconsin in 2018. (David Underwood/Education Images/Universal Images Group)

I know what you stole last summer: Beg that national park for forgiveness and send it back. Better yet, write a letter.

August 26, 2024 at 12:12 p.m.

An art professor has made it his passion to collect what he calls “conscience letters," the packages that park rangers sometimes receive with natural artifacts that had been swiped as...

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood is interviewed on the Creator blue carpet at the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on Aug. 21, 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/baiduhai)

Lounges, yacht parties, free prime rib — what it’s like to be a social media influencer at the DNC

August 22, 2024 at 3:55 p.m.

For the first time, the DNC invited influencers to be credentialed alongside those from traditional media, such as newspapers, TV and other media.

Sabrina Collins, left, hands out free posters of Vice President Kamala Harris made by artist Shepard Fairey in the DemPalooza exhibition at the Democratic National Convention at McCormick Place on Aug. 20. 2024. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

The DNC action is at the United Center. But the randomness and behind-the-scenes stuff is at McCormick Place.

August 21, 2024 at 11:14 a.m.

Meetings are held in corners and on patio furniture at McCormick Place. Want to hold a panel discussion? Get in line.

Stephen Colbert opens the Aug. 19 episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which is broadcasting live from the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS)

Stephen Colbert broadcasts from Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre for DNC, a late ‘Late Show’ of very local love

August 21, 2024 at 6:09 a.m.

Colbert kicked off a week of live DNC episodes of “Late Show,” starting Monday with guests Hillary Rodham Clinton and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Legendary Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy sits at his club, Buddy Guy's Legends, on June 10, 2024. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

Let us now praise famous bluesmen: Buddy Guy is retiring at age 88

August 15, 2024 at 11:33 a.m.

Buddy Guy, who just turned 88, will be officially retired from the road by early fall. Only, before that happens, before the Chicago legend slows, a few facts demand context.

Marcella Arguello, right, dances to DJ music during the "Don't Drink the Water" dance party at The Hideout, on Aug. 8, 2024, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/baiduhai)

How does one mark the infamous Dave Matthews Band potty mess? With a Hideout dance party

August 9, 2024 at 5:06 p.m.

When they first dreamed up the party to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Dave Matthews Band tour bus incident, they worried no one would show up. They sold out...

Styx performs the song "Lady" during a concert at then-Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park on June 4, 2022. (Chris Sweda/baiduhai)

Styx has few original members. Lynyrd Skynyrd has … none? When is a band still a band?

July 22, 2024 at 5:45 a.m.

Of all the questions posed by pop music over the years — Will you love me tomorrow? Should I stay or should I go? — among the toughest is this:...

A scene from “Stand Up Solutions,” Conner O’Malley's hour-long YouTube comedy special. (Provided by Conner O’Malley)

Column: The best comedy of the year so far is on YouTube, the breath-stealing brilliance of Chicago’s Conner O’Malley

July 3, 2024 at 5:45 a.m.

Straying from high-energy exhortations to flop sweat, he's cheerleading for a future everyone knows will not benefit him. It is a TEDTalk in hell.

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