Features

How Healthy Is Your Town?
Chicago gathered data on 195 suburbs in 15 key categories-from water quality to street crime to cancer rates-to find the healthiest and unhealthiest towns around. Plus: Updates on Super-fund sites, medical waste incinerators, and the battle over smoking bans

Can It Last?
by Dennis Rodkin
As Chicago takes its annual look at house prices in 277 city neighborhoods and suburbs-things are (still) booming!-real-estate experts weigh in on the local market’s long-term strength.

The Lost Don
by Steve Rhodes
When FBI agents showed up to arrest Joey “The Clown” Lombardo, the Chicago mob boss had already given them the slip. More than just a wanted killer, he is a last link to the Outfit’s blood-soaked heyday.

About a Boy
by Kevin McKeough
Chicago’s North Shore couldn’t contain Fall Out Boy. Now, with a hit CD and jam-packed concert crowds, the witty punk-pop band has reached nationwide stardom-and discovered that it’s crowded at the top.

Hiding Between the Lines
by John Cook
Over two decades, J. J. Jameson became a fixture on the city’s spoken word scene. Congenial, loyal, and talented, he revealed intimate details of his life through his work-which is why his friends were so shocked when Massachusetts police came and hauled him back east so he could finish serving his prison sentence. For murder.

At Home: Tombstone, Indiana
by Christine Newman
On 300 acres amid the woods and hills of northern Indiana, two collectors devote themselves to the cowboy mystique. A Chicago interior designer tries to rein them in.

Departments

Letters

Contributors

Arena
Three local salvage artists host a new show on how to spruce up Chicago homes; the publishing dreams of a U. of C. anthropologist; Wizard of Oz fanatics speak; the unusual history of a Hyde Park colonial revival house; author Charlene Ann Baumbich finds a new niche; a comparison of local children’s museums; a weekend getaway to Mineral Point, Wisconsin; Victoria Lautman chats with novelist Louise Erdrich; more. Plus: The Shopper, Style Sheet, and Sales Check

How We Spend
by Clare La Plante
Goblin it up-the lowdown on Halloween spending; Chicago’s interest rate bargains; and crunching the numbers on the vegetarians among us

Business | Hedge Fun
by Robert Reed
Ken Griffin has quietly built one of the world’s largest and most successful hedge funds. Secretive and reclusive in business, Griffin, owner of a $60-million Cézanne, is also an emerging player on the city’s culture and charity scenes.

Sports | Money Player
by Jeff Ruby
For almost five years, with sometimes mixed results, White Sox GM Kenny Williams has been wheeling and dealing. Could this be the year it all pays off?

Deal Estate
by Dennis Rodkin
Location makes the difference as an expanded Cotswold cottage on Lake Michigan goes for $13.25 million and tops Chicago’s yearly roundup of the area’s most expensive house sales. Plus: Condo news from the city and suburbs

Nightspotting
by Sarah Preston
The new hot spot Enclave offers 15,000 square feet for ogling and dancing. Just don’t call it a club. Plus: Celebs and swag at Chicago fashion events

Classifieds

The Closer | Recipes for Disaster
by Jeff Ruby
From an enormous gathering of molasses to a giant ice pop, tasty recipes to create your own large-scale food disasters

Events

Chicago Guide
During October: It’s now 50 years and counting for the Joffrey Ballet, which has thrilled audiences since its inception with memorable performances, superb dancing, and spotless reconstructions of important ballets. True to form, the current engagement begins with an impeccable revival of Sir Frederick Ashton’s ballet A Mid-summer Night’s Dream.
Marquee: A preview of coming attractions

Food & Drink

Dining Out | Bravo Rio
by Dennis Ray Wheaton
All-you-can-eat meat is the rule at three River North Brazilian steak houses where roaming gaúchos deliver skewers of heart-stabbingly good food to dedicated carnivores.

Restaurants
The definitive guide to Chicago’s top restaurants
This month: Four new and updated listings, including Alinea and Platiyo
Dish: Ten hottest restaurants right now; gossip; Q & A with Dean Carson-after 30 years, he knows a thing or two about the rib biz.