THIS WEDNESDAY the City Council will be voting on a proposed ordinance that would ruin small clubs, small theater companies, and basically anything put on at a small venue (less than 500 people) in the city.

The ordinance would require anyone putting on small shows (even garage bands just promoting their own gigs) to be licensed as a “promoter” subject to a $2000 license fee and requirements for $300,000 liability insurance for any event. Contact your alderman now and let them know you don’t want to see the arts strangled this way — Do you really want the only live art in Chicago to be comprised of performances of “Wicked” and farewell concert tours by 80s hair bands? Not that there’s anything wrong with either –but don’t you want choices, variety, and a city where artists are free to perform, struggle, succeed, and even fail? Whether you’re a fan of open mike nights, spoken word, small theater groups, whatever … You need to speak up now, because all of these will bite the dust if this becomes the law in the city.

Tell your alderman that an ordinance like this would have guaranteed that Chicago could never have been the home of Second City or the Lookingglass Theater, or the launching ground for countless musicians, actors, and playwrights and poets, and that audiences and artists alike will suffer, and our city will become poorer in spirit, if this proposed ordinance becomes law.

To find your Alderman, follow the following link:
http://www.chicityclerk.com/citycouncil/alderman/find.html

And do it before Wednesday’s vote!

After years of Redistricting in the State of Texas some polling places have been moved to incredibly distant locations in order to encourage voter apathy and lower turnout (if you are not real sure on how Redistricting works and why it happens then check out this Sim City inspired educational game ) .

Well the students of the Prairie View A&M University (The second oldest public institution of higher education in Texas, a historically black university ranked as one of the top producers of engineers & nurses) decided to go to their polling place (even though it is 7 miles away) by foot. Essentially shutting down the highway that feeds the town and making sure their voice was heard. Video was taken of the march and can be seen below.

Bad at Sports brings an opportunity to get a nice stray kitty from nice people.

If this darling cat appeals to you and you live in the Chicago area please contact mfairb@gmail.com and let them know that you are interested.

The hope is to find it a good long term home asap. That and get the catnip away from Duncan. It’s the cats plaything, let him have it back Duncan…. [Read more]

Mark your calenders cause Anti-Racism day is almost upon us. Well, kind of almost it is on March 21st…. Either way, to mark this UN sanctioned holiday the students of Oak Park High School in Winnipeg, Canada made the following PSA. You can read more here

I don’t think I can sleep after seeing this, and the scorpion is scarry too.