You voted! Good for you! Truthfully, democracy should be its own reward, but we all love freebies. So here’s a list of free stuff you can get for voting. Happy Election Day!

(photo by kalandrakas)

I never had a Sadie Hawkins Day dance at my school. I did not really know of the concept till I moved up north so the whole thing seems exotic to me. I’m too old for dances now, but not to old to smoke some chumps on my bike. That’s why I’ll be smoking chumps at the Sadie Hawkins Day Bike Race on November 8th at 5pm. It’s $5 for women, $10 for men racing with a female partner, and $20 for everyone else. I like raising money for good causes as much as I like biking, and this money goes to the Chicago Women’s Health Center. If that does not lure you, then come for the beer: $1 for the first, $0.25 for every one after that. I’ll put a blinky light on the back of my bike so you know which champion to buy a quarter beer for later.

Here in Cook County we get to vote whether our judges get to keep their jobs. And since it’s a retention election, the judges have all already been doing the work of being judges, and so we can evaluate what kind of job they’ve been doing. And by “we” I mean 10 different bar associations* who have independently evaluated all of the judges that you’ll be encountering on this year’s ballot and posted their recommendations at Vote for Judges.

It’s a nice long list with lots of different detailed reports, and I encourage you to be an educated voter, but I will highlight the only three judges to get less than 70% or less retention recommendations:

Casandra Lewis - 7 of 10 bar associations recommend that she not be retained. The Chicago Council of Lawyers says says “Judge Lewis has adequate legal ability for her current assignment and is praised for her temperament. She receives mixed reviews, however, for her work ethic – many lawyers complain that she is not well prepared and is often not punctual in taking the bench. The Council has received reports that some lawyers will take a substitution of judge rather than appear before her.”

Edward N. Pietrucha - 5 of 10 bar associations recommend that he not be retained. The Chicago Bar Association says “While Judge Pietrucha knows the law, serious concerns were raised about his temperament, which reflects a disregard and disrespect for the litigants and lawyers who appear before him.”

Shelli D. Williams-Hayes - 4 of 10 bar associations recommend that she not be retained. The Chicago Council of Lawyers says “While many lawyers say she is a good jurist, many others complain about the length of time it takes to get to trial in her courtroom. Some lawyers report that she can get frustrated during court and make grossly inappropriate remarks to lawyers and litigants. Some lawyers also complain about her punctuality.”

* Asian American Bar Association, Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Chicago Council of Lawyers, Cook County Bar Association, Decalogue Society of Lawyers, Hellenic Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois, and Women’s Bar Association of Illinois

The tag line of Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer is “Beer so good it deserves… a wine glass!” I’d suggest a shot glass, because that’s as much of this beer as you’re going to want to drink.

“I like pizza and I like beer. So why wouldn’t I want to combine the two?” you might think. And that, I guess, is the question the Seefurth family of Campton, IL asked themselves. The answer, unfortunately, is that you wouldn’t want to combine the two because it tastes terrible.

And it’s not that it doesn’t taste like pizza — this ale “brewed with oregano, basil, tomato, and garlic” certainly has the aftertaste of a big bite of pizza. The problem is that it’s the wrong order. You’d take a big bite of pizza and then a swig of beer to cleanse your palate for the next bite. WIth this beer, all you’ve got is the lingering taste of pizza. Drinking it on its own is unsettling — all the aftertaste of a greasy slice without the actual pizza. And the only food I could imagine pairing it with would be… pizza, in which case it would be overkill.

I have three projects going on that I’d like to tell the world about. First, come see me in Lifeline Theatre’s remount of The Mark of Zorro, currently running at the Theatre Building at 1225 W. Belmont. The show runs Thursday through Sunday, with two shows on Saturday. Tickets are $30, and the show runs through November 23rd.

Second, Shakesploitation! opens at Gorilla Tango Theatre (1919 N. Milwaukee Ave.) this Friday. The show features three one-act parodies of plays by William Shakespeare, with fight choreography provided by Yours Truly.

And third, next Saturday, October 18th, you should come by the Playground Theater (3209 N. Halsted St.) at midnight for Atomic Nerdery, a celebration of all things geeky hosted by Chicago Metblogs’ very own Dan Telfer. Aside from some great stand-up, sketch comedy, live music, puppets and film, this evening will also feature the debut of The Gentleman Rogues, a new stage combat/comedy duo featuring myself and Ryan Zarecki.

See you at the theatre! A good time shall be had by all!

Christopher talked about the Cubs meltdown last night. He’s not the only one shocked by the Cubs ill fated history. The New York Times wrote a playoff analysis titled “Breaking Down the Cub’s Breakdown” by Tyler Kepner. As a matter of honesty, I hate the Yankees, and I have a habit of forgetting about the Mets. However, it was as solid analysis with this quote from Alfonso Soriano for the fans, “Be patient.”

*sigh* Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

Fine. I’ll be patient. It’s a good thing that The New York Times gave me a nice interactive feature to play with while being patient. The feature goes over every post season appearance by the Cubs. I like it because it has vintage baseball photos and archival sports articles. Check it out and dream of next season.

(photo from swanksalot)

I love comedy, I love music, I love odd ball stuff. Tonight I’m hosting a show that combines ALL of my loves. It’s a show called Blewtenanny! It’s from Blewt! productions who brought you the hit comedy game show Don’t Spit the Water and the current hit talent compitition at the Lakeshore Theater called Impress These Apes.

The show is at 11pm tonight at the Strawdog Theater (3829 N. Broadway) and is only $5. Tonight’s show will have two amazing Chicago stand-up comics: Chad Briggs, and Robert Buscemi. The night’s music comes from the amazing Samantha Cathcart, and the odd ball stuff will come from professional prankster Ken Barnard (the guy who protested the filling of the Montrose sink hole).

If that line-up does not sell you then perhaps some philanthropy might sway you. The Strawdog Theater has a bar with inexpensive beers. By buying the inexpensive beers at the Strawdog’s bar, you help support the non-profit artistic endeavors of the Strawdog Theater. Yup, by drinking beer, you support the arts. Never been easier to do good.

Blewtenanny!
Strawdog Theater
3829 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL
11pm
$5

Here’s some stand-up highlights from a Blewtenanny! back in July (NSFW because of language):

(picture of Ken Barnard performing at Blewtenanny! from Erica Reid)

The Cubs and White Sox are still looking great as baseball fans start peering into the possible postseason. Both teams are looking so good that even an article in The New York Times had to mention the possibility of a Chicago vs. Chicago World Series. If you’re a Cubs fan, you might want to stay away from the Times article since its focus is on the White Sox and their manager Ozzie Guillen at his quippiest.

I agree with the White Sox players quoted that a Cubs versus White Sox World Series would be awesome. My anticipation for this cross town face off is such that I’ve started reading the book When Chicago Ruled Baseball by Bernard A. Weisberger. It’s a nonfiction retelling of the last time the Chicago Cubs played the Chicago White Sox in 1906. Besides stoking my dreams of a Chicago World Series, it is also great to read some of the old time sports reporting, and descriptions of Chicago neighborhoods as they were one hundred and two years ago. My hope is that I can get enough people to read this book that the mental will of Chicago will create the World Series of my dreams. Or, more realistically, folks can get exposed to a great book about Chicago sports history.

Your guess is as good as mine. All the usual weather sources say this last 24 hours of rain we’ve had are going to stretch out into a couple of days. Let’s just be thankful we’re not getting what the storm is giving people in Galveston, Texas right now.

Take a peek at this one minute video I made just for Chicago Metblogs that proves Chicagoans are still out enjoying the day, even when it’s gray and puddly out there. (Watch for the bit at the end where it gets all meta and stuff.)

If you’ve been keeping up with the conventions, I’m sure you know all about the protests and scary police tactics used against journalists and protesters at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Amy Goodman, reporter for Democracy Now!, was one of the more famous journalists arrested last week, partly due to the whole incident being captured on camera and put on youtube:

She gives an entire account of the incident in a press release here.

Anyone who has interest in the freedom of press and/or this election, would do themselves good by heading over to hear Ms. Goodman’s talk at the University of Illinois at Chicago Student Center (828 S. Wolcott Ave). Her talk is entitled “The Politics of Race, Gender, and Economics in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Race”. The talk is free and will go from 5-6:30pm.