As Chicago transitions into a new era with the upcoming Runoff Election and subsequent ousting of Mayor Lightfoot, Brian & Justin sat down and looked at the state of our state. According to the Urban Institute, this is how Illinois spends its money,
The bulk of our money serves public education, a worthwhile investment given that Illinois remains a top 10 state when it comes to K-12 education.
Elsewhere, welfare, roads, and health take up the most of the state’s budget.
What does your community need help with? The conversation lives on Facebook!
Nearly a year removed from being slapped by Will Smith in what has become one of the most infamous pop culture moments in history, comedian Chris Rock is taking the stage on Saturday night in a historic broadcast. On Saturday, Rock will host the first ever live standup special on Netflix. “Selective Outrage” will mark an important step in Netflix’s evolution.
A 30-minute tribute will precede the performance with a post-show hosted by David Spade and Dana Carvey.
Rock has promised to speak on the Will Smith incident in this special.
We’re continuously blown away by Kelly Clarkson’s “Kellyoke” performances. It shouldn’t entertain us the way that it does, but it does. Look, we really like Kelly Clarkson.
Her cover of ‘1979’ is yet another killer cover from Clarkson.
Metal’s greatest band released a new track in front of their new album “72 Seasons”, which is scheduled to come out on April 14. The new release, “If Darkness Had a Son”, clocks in at 7:00 minutes and is incredibly intense.
Monster Jam is coming to Allstate Arena this weekend for five separate shows. The field is stacked with trucks like Grave Digger, Zombie, El Toro Loco, and more! Tickets are still available here.
Blue October at The Vic
Blue October heads to The Vic this Friday for an intimate performance in one of Chicago’s best venues. Tickets are still available here.
Drug Church at Bottom Lounge
Hardcore standouts Drug Church come to the Bottom Lounge for a sold out show featuring Prince Daddy & the Hyena, Anxious, and Webbed Wing. Tickets are gone for this raucous night at the Bottom Lounge, but each band on this bill gets the full Brian & Justin seal of approval.
Bulls vs. the Suns
The Chicago Bulls host Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns on Friday. The Bulls lost the prior matchup vs. the Suns this year.
McCormick Ice Rink Tribute (Friday-Sunday)
This is the last weekend to ice skate at McCormick Tribune Plaza. More information can be found here.
Jurassic Quest (Friday-Sunday)
See towering animatronic dinosaurs, baby dino puppets and guys in scaly suits at this three-day exhibition at Navy Pier, which brings prehistoric creatures to hyperrealistic life. Kids can ride atop a T. Rex, go digging for fossils or play in a not-entirely-historically-accurate dinosaur bouncy house. There’s also face painting, science activities and crafts, but let’s be realistic: You’re gonna be too busy taking photos of the Velociraptors. More info can be found here.
Saturday:
Blackhawks vs. the Nashville Predators
Blackhawks host the Nashville Predators on Saturday. The Blackhawks sit at 21-35-5, while the Predators are 30-23-6.
Ja Rule & Ashanti at The Chicago Theater
Live it up! Ja Rule & Ashanti are coming to The Chicago Theater on Saturday night for an evening of their greatest hits. Tickets are still available for this epic concert.
Elle King at The Salt Shed
If you didn’t get enough of The Salt Shed last week at AHOY!, Elle King is at The Salt Shed this weekend! Limited tickets are still available here.
International Anime Music Festival
The 2023 International Anime Music Festival is an immersive live concert experience starring the world’s leading anime pop stars, together on stage for the first time at The Riv. A live DJ-led multimedia concert rave, featuring state-of-the-art LED and high-definition digital projections, combined with lighting, lasers, and other visual effects to create a spectacular visual environment in which the anime pop stars will perform their biggest hit songs.
Brewsology Beer Fest
Hopheads grab tickets to Brewsology Beer Fest at the Museum of Science and Industry, where dozens of breweries and cideries (Two Brothers, Dovetail, Three Floyds and Right Bee among them) will offer samples of their brews. Wander around with a beer in hand, chat with brewery reps and feel free to check out the museum’s exhibits. More info can be found here.
Sunday:
Chicago Polar Plunge
Brave the cold and head to North Avenue Beach this March for the Chicago Polar Plunge, which sends thousands of shivering participants into the icy waters of Lake Michigan to raise money for the Special Olympics Chicago. Can’t make it to North Aveunue this year? The fundraiser is also offering a virtual edition, giving you some creative freedom to jump into a snow bank, a cold shower or pour a bucket of water over your head as you support Chicago’s Special Olympians.
Bulls vs. the Indiana Pacers
The Bulls host the struggling Indiana Pacers in a Sunday matinee. Tip-off is at 2:30
Mod Sun at Bottom Lounge
Mod Sun, hot off the heels of his new album, “God Save the Teen”, is playing a sold out show at the Bottom Lounge. You can watch Mod Sun’s sit-down interview with Brian & Justin here.
Badflower at House of Blues
Badflower, veterans of Q101’s annual Christmas shows, comes to the House of Blues on March 5. They tore the roof off of the Aragon Ballroom in 2021, and we cannot wait to see them in this intimate setting.
“Last Comiskey” is a new 3-part documentary on the last season (1990) played at Comiskey Park, featuring interviews with players, media, vendors, security and more. The doc includes home video of the old ballpark and its many nooks, crannies and characters.
Help spread the word and mark your calendar.
"Last Comiskey" is a new 3-part documentary on the last season played at Comiskey Park, featuring interviews with players, media, vendors, security, and more, and features home video of the old ballpark and its many nooks, crannies… https://t.co/uTrQ81734Gpic.twitter.com/Cvb4AzNUyB
TikTok, an app that does not permit nudity, is starting to see a lot of it, but only if you look close enough. A flashing trend, dubbed “TitTok” by horny wordsmiths, is starting to infiltrate algorithms and take over feeds.
They are designed to be hidden and almost an optical illusion, like so,
A DoorDash driver has picked up attention on TikTok for how she treats the orders of people who do not tip. Per this driver, she’ll scour the app for people who aren’t tipping anything during the order, and after she picks up the food, she’ll turn her car into an icebox, making what should be hot & ready food, ice cold.
Remember when it was warm earlier this week? Forget that. “Spring snow” is on the way as Friday morning, a wintery mix is headed for the Windy City. Per FOX 32, the GFS model squeezes out a wide range of snow from as little as a dusting well northwest of Chicago to around 3-4 inches in the city. The heaviest snow is south and east of Chicago where up to a half foot to a foot could come down.
Hopefully this is the last big snowfall we see this year, with baseball and summer fun on the horizon.
Gallagher Way, the entertainment plaza attached to Wrigley Field, announced that a Small Cheval is coming to Wrigleyville this spring. While no date has been announced, enthusiastic eaters are already ecstatic about this announcement. This will be located on the corner of Clark Street and Waveland Avenue where the Maddon’s Post restaurant was located.
There are also Small Cheval locations in the West Loop, Old Town, Wicker Park, Riverside, and Hyde Park.
Two-thirds of American teens use TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center, and now those kids are going to have a strict time limit on the app. Cormac Keenan, head of trust and safety at TikTok said in a blog post Wednesday that when the 60-minute limit is reached, minors will be prompted to enter a passcode and make an “active decision” to keep watching.
We’re going to go out on a limb and say that every kid that is faced with that decision will make an “active decision” to go ahead and keep scrolling.
"Dummy", the first single from our new album "Chris Black Changed My Life" coming June 23rd. We are doing very few special headline shows with a career spanning set list, get early access tickets by pre-saving the new album https://t.co/kC1tz9emKlpic.twitter.com/XsSbWH7Bcf
Dave Grohl spent over 24 hours volunteering at a Los Angeles shelter to prepare barbecue for hundreds of people experiencing homelessness. The Foo Fighters frontman cooked up everything from brisket to pork butt to ribs and more. Grohl and his companions smoked the meat well past midnight, unpreterbed by a rare winter storm that rolled through Southern California. Grace Ancheta, the director of the shelter that Grohl served at, said, “He actually served to our guests, he came out and was very gracious and took pictures with the people that recognized him…He wanted no glory for it, he was like, ‘I just want to do this for you guys and give back in that way.”
Yesterday, Foo Fighters announced three stand-alone dates in New Hampshire, Arkansas, and Alabama to go along with their busy, festival-heavy summer. Information on all Foo Fighters touring dates can be found here.
One Chicago woman has 2029 circled on her calendar, as it will mark her final time she’ll have to pay for a recent investment. While we would love to applaud a single mother for working hard and having enough money to put a downpayment on a car, her payment structure is horrid. For the next 84 months, she’ll be paying $289 for a car that will be over 30 years by the time she’s doing paying it off. This is one of the most ill-advised tax return purchases we’ve ever seen.
Source: MSN
What have you purchased with your tax return? The conversation lives on Facebook!
313 new words have been added to the Dictionary, including a bunch of words that you’ve never heard of and a bunch of words that you’ll never use again. Words include:
Cakeage: A fee charged by a restaurant for bringing your own cake. So like a “corkage” fee for wine, but with cake instead.
Cakeism: It comes from the term “have your cake and eat it too.” It’s “the false belief that one can enjoy the benefits of two choices that are in fact mutually exclusive, or have it both ways.”
Digital nomad: A person who works remotely while traveling for leisure, especially when having no fixed, permanent address.
Nearlywed: A person who lives with someone in a life partnership, sometimes engaged with no planned wedding date.
Hellscape: A place or time that is hopeless, unbearable, or irredeemable.
Northpaw: An athlete who is right-handed, like a pitcher or boxer.
Rage farming: Provoking people by posting inflammatory political stuff on social media, hoping to get angry responses and go viral.
Cyberflashing: Sending pictures of your junk to strangers online, or by Airdropping them.
Cli-fi: Short for “climate fiction.” It’s any sort of sci-fi where climate change is a major part of the story.
Petfluencer: A person who gains a large following on social media by posting entertaining images or videos of their pet.
We’ll give bonus points to anyone who can use “cakeage” in a proper sentence.
For the first time since Jane Byrne’s reign as Chicago mayor from 1979-1983, Lori Lightfoot will be a one-term mayor. Lightfoot, who has been atop Chicago’s food train since 2019, finished with 17% of the vote in Tuesday’s election. She conceded on Tuesday evening, giving way to a runoff between Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson.
A runoff between former head of CPS, Paul Vallas, and Cook County commissioner and former teacher Brandon Johnson, is slated for April 4.
Major delays are coming to the Kennedy Expressway. The Illinois Department of Transportation announced plans to rehab 36 bridge structures between the Edens and Ohio St. The $150 million project is expected to start the week of March 20.
More than 275,000 driveways will face delays as IDOT plans on demolishing bridge decks and then replacing and repairing joints.
Patrick Kane is headed to the New York Rangers. A four time All -Star and 3 time Stanley Cup Champion, Kane spent his entire 15-year career here with the Blackhawks, recording 1,225 points (446 goals, 779 assists) in 1,161 games here in Chicago.
◽️ 3x Stanley Cup champion ◽️ 4x All-Star ◽️ 2007-08 Calder Trophy winner ◽️ 2012-13 Conn Smythe winner ◽️ 2015-16 Art Ross Trophy winner ◽️ 2015-16 Hart Trophy winner ◽️ 2015-16 Ted Lindsay Trophy winner
