On Robert Zimmerman's 70th birthday, an attempt to trace the origins of his singular voice. Plus: my favorite deep cuts, two of which never appeared on an album proper. Read more
In the past decade or so, Oprah Winfrey went from being a business to a businesswoman, which may have brought her private and privacy, but also cost her the most influential part of her brand. Read more
In the time of stormchasers, we're pretty familiar with watching tornadoes from a distance. Less often do we get a sense of what a tornado is like from the inside. Here's a recording from inside a convenience store walk-in refrigerator as the tornado passed overhead. Read more
Randy "Macho Man" Savage, who died today, was born Randy Mario Poffo, a Downers Grove native who found fame in the WWE. But he wasn't the first wrestler in the family: that would be his dad, Angelo Poffo, a DePaul grad who wrestled in Chicago during the sport's infancy. Read more
In 1954, a suburban housewife in Oak Park caused a small stir by announcing that aliens from the planet Clarion had told her the world was coming to an end. It didn't, but the little stir she caused on Cuyler Avenue led to one of the most important breakthroughs in psychology and social science in the 20th century. Read more
The Emanuel administration pulls TIF data out of its inflexible PDF jail, making it sortable and downloadable; meanwhile, the Illinois Senate Redistricting Committee puts the process on Google Earth. Read more
The first-shift creative/design lecture series Creative Mornings, which has branches in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Zurich, arrives in Chicago next month. Read more
