The closest I ever got to staying at the Waldorf was I liked the "Old Fashioned Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes" at their coffee shop, Oscar's, where I think I once saw Kurt Vonnegut dining alone. A lot of great pics with this story. www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

Dominic A. Pacyga's latest "Clout City", a history of the Chicago Democratic Machine, reviewed in the WSJ, "admirably detailed" but "digs somewhat deeper than a reader may want to go." Not for a Chicagoan! www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

"Circularity" And the wheel goes round and round, where it stops - do we really want to know? www.wsj.com/tech/ai/how-...

"Essentially, the big tech companies became The Phone Company." How the scrappy kid entrepreneurs who built the American tech empire have transformed into the greed-obsessed, power-mad, obesequious Krupps of our time. bit.ly/4gxdE9C

"He is arguably America's greatest living painter . . ." The Guardian's Eddy Frankel interviews Kerry James Marshall in conjunction with his major retrospective at the Royal Academy. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Henge Fund

Who needs artists (they actually expect to be paid!) when we can just have AI spit out something on the cheap to wallpaper our world in characterless mediocrity? blockclubchicago.org/2025/09/22/o...

Rachel Freundt has a fascinating piece on her Substack - with a lot of great photos - of the past and future of the Roger Brown Home and Studio. chicagolandarchitecture.substack.com/p/the-future...

And speaking of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, New City's Vasia Rigou has an extensive Biennial leaders Jennifer Armetta, Nora Daley and Sarah Herda. design.newcity.com/2025/09/19/m...

Traces, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Museum of Science and Industry Balsa Crosetto Pizzi and Gigots Ortiz chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/program/shif...

Mike Davis of the WBEZ takes a look at the just opened 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial, with photos from Candace Dane Chambers. chicago.suntimes.com/architecture...

I got eight out of ten. (I messed up on prominent local architects.). How many Philadelphia landmarks can you match up to their architects? share.inquirer.com/7ozv7E

Castlebridge

Control of the Press? Disappearing people to fill quotas. The Military policing cities? Funny how this dove-tails with how Trump's best-buddy Putin making Moscow wonderful again by making horror disappear -everything's normal, war doesn't exist. www.thetimes.com/world/russia...

A lovely tribute to the late Starling Lawrence of W.W. Norton and an appreciation of what a great editor does, as in the editors I was lucky to have had at the Chicago Reader, working tirelessly to save me from myself and make my pieces into something readable. wapo.st/4mr0xrQ

News of this morning's Chicago River Swim makes its way to the British press. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Shall We Gather at the River? See all the images from this morning's Chicago River Swim, at the link. cchicago.blogspot.com/2025/09/shall-we-gather-at-river-chicagos-first.html

Chicago River Swim: Procession of the White Robes.

Chicago River Swim, first time in nearly a century

Protecting their own: An administration of gangsters, criminals and thugs, indemnifying their felonious colleagues from prosecution or punishment. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

If we can put a man on the moon (or at least on a Disney soundstage) how can it be that we still can't open our gelato jars???? I'll bet the Chinese can open their gelato jars. wapo.st/4nJBl15

First we kill all the reporting. Because a black box allows no light to escape, and you can't hold us accountable for what we don't allow you to see. www.wsj.com/economy/trum...

Some men suffer most when you take their lives. Life is what is sweetest to them. To Filargi, money is sweetest. We'll leave him with his life and without money or any way to get it - Don Corrado Prizzi -and every extortionist of our Don and Gangster-in-Chief chicago.suntimes.com/transportati...

Preservation Futures' Elizabeth Blasius and co-SAIC grad Susannah Ribstein make the case for saving the house of Chicago artist Roger Brown, which the School of the Art Institute has put up for sale. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/19/o...

They have the right to swindle, the right to commit fraud, the right to enjoy their ill-gotten riches without fear of penalty, thanks to a gangster President transforming the rule of law to rule of the connected criminals doing whatever the hell they want. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/u...

Lines outside Michigan Avenue Apple Store as new iPhones go on sale today.

Chicago Architecture Biennial now open, Chicago Cultural Center and other locations. chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

Chicago Architecture Biennial now open, Chicago Cultural Center and other locations. chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

Chicago Architecture Biennial now open, Chicago Cultural Center and other locations. chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

Chicago Architecture Biennial now open, Chicago Cultural Center and other locations. chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

Five stars from the Guardian for The Histories, at the Royal Academy, the largest retrospective of Kerry James Marshall's work to be seen in Europe to date. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Up the Down Staircase

ICE shooting tear gas and rubber bullets on protestors blocking access to the facility in Broadview. How long until some hothead from Trump's Gestapo fires live rounds? www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

A warm end-of-summer September evening on the Chicago River, with Second Hand News playing at Tiny Tapp on the Riverwalk. Life is good.

Work in progress: Cheri Charlton Lincoln Park Nature mural, LaSalle underpass, just east of DuSable Lake Shore Drive. cherileecharlton.com/home.html

This is how freedom dies: After its merger, Nexstar, and the virulently right-wing Sinclair -will control about a third of all network affiliates. Having got a taste of their own power in getting Kimmel canned, that genie is never going back in the bottle. And Trump defacto controls the media..

It's here! Over 200 sites announced for the 2025 edition of Open House Chicago, October 18 and 19. www.architecture.org/open-house-c...

Dear Chicago Tribune: What is this slop? How cheap is it? Is AI involved? Reading a pdf of a newspapers daily edition used to be pretty simple. It give readers a decent replica of the print edition. Then, I first noticed the change with the Miami Herald...

A reminder that Sinclair, which is demanding Kimmel contribute to Turning Point before being allowed back on the air, is the same company that forced anchors at all 170 of its stations to read, word-for-word the exact same Trumpaganda script as if it were their own. www.huffpost.com/entry/sincla...

With Trump buddy Larry Ellison deploying his AI mad money billions, in tandem with his nepo baby kid, to control TikTok, Paramount, CBS, Warner Brothers, CNN, TCM, HBO, TNT, BET, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1, Showtime and more, Trump suing ... variety.com/2025/tv/news...

The Orbanization of America gains stream. Trump and minions blatantly lie, slander opponents and talk about violent reprisal on a daily basis, and it's accepted as normal. Jimmy Kimmel makes one questionable remark and he's not reprimanded, but shut down. www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/a...

A fascinating look on how Chicago transit ridership is recovering from the pandemic compared to other cities worldwide. Spoiler alert: not well. Off-peak levels seem to be recovering fastest, which depends on reliable, frequent service 24/7 we still lack. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Rivian Mountain

Rivian negotiating its way down Mt. Tribune Tower Parking Lot. You can make the trip (with an expert driver) and/or do a test drive on Michigan Avenue, Friday through Sunday.

To the relief of wedding photographers everywhere, the Trump Riverwalk is open again. Were his local minions terrified of Mexican Independence Day?

TechBro billionaires blaspheme the actual teachings of Jesus with almost their every act while hijacking scripture as sword, shield and cover to their insatiable lust for violence and power. newrepublic.com/article/2004...

Nighthawks

Pure nihilism: How the Trump administration is eviscerating the fight against human trafficking, cause they only care if it helps meet Stephan Miller's deportation quotas. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Chicago’s Mexican Independence Day answer to a gangster President once again musing aloud, with the casualness of choosing condiments for his burger, of invading a great American city.