Lou Rawls dies You'll never find... A "velvety baritone" like Lou Rawls, who died Friday of lung cancer at Cedars-Sinai in LA. He moved with his mother from Chicago in the 1950s, was a friend of Sam Cooke, and sang the National Anthem at Game 2 of the 2005 World Series in Chicago. Rawls sang with Sam Cooke, was awarded three Grammys, sold one platinum and five gold albums. He said: There are no limits to music, so why should I limit myself?"
posted by SeeAych4 on Jan 6, 2006 - 31 comments

"Precious Lord" sung by Mahalia Jackson (mp3)
No artist brought more acclaim to gospel music than Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972). Beginning in 1950, her divine (.wav) talents were featured weekly on Studs Turkel's radio program, and through her music and gentle personality she became so beloved worldwide that her funeral rivaled that of royalty. Mahalia sang "Precious Lord" at Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral -- at Mahalia's funeral, Aretha Franklin did the honors. Mahalia was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame posthumously in 1997. Word has it she also made a mean okra gumbo.
posted by miss lynnster on Jan 27, 2005 - 6 comments

His ability to create a home in a city drawbridge was instinctual. "You've got to be kind of agile," he said. "You can't be a idiot.... It doesn't take long to figure out what you need to do. How long has mankind lived in caves? The first time it was scary. After that, it was almost like riding a Ferris wheel.''
posted by naomi on Dec 14, 2004 - 33 comments

Republican Congressman Jerry Weller of Illinois just got married-- to Zury Rios Sosa, a current member of congress in Guatemala. "The U.S. Congressional Historian in the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives confirmed this would be the first ever inter-parliamentary marriage between a sitting U.S. Representative and someone currently serving in national legislative body abroad. "

What Rep. Weller's own site omits is that his new wife is the daughter of former Guatemalan dictator Efraim Rios Montt, friend of Ronald Reagan, born-again Christian, and, according to many, genocidal thug.

The unholy union was reported in the local press, but one reporter who had been following the congressman's connections turned up brutally beaten outside his apartment under mysterious circumstances.
posted by gimonca on Nov 20, 2004 - 24 comments

The Chicago River was essentially the city of Chicago's cesspool until the construction of the Chicago Ship & Sanitary Canal, which connected the Chicago River to the Mississippi Basin in 1900. Now there's serious talk of intentionally returning a section of the river to a cesspool-like state, by dumping untreated sewage and (possibly) toxic chemicals into the river. The purpose: to prevent invasive species such as the Asian Carp and the Round Goby from using this connection to cross between the Great Lakes and Mississippi basins. Is it ever possible to avoid unintended consequences in environmental engineering? And is it necessary to "go nuclear", so to speak, to try to correct them?
[Second link RealAudio; transcript here.]
posted by Johnny Assay on Mar 4, 2003 - 9 comments

Reality catches up a bit with scifi through a new Chicago startup called Arryx, who is developing the first commercial tractor beam. Tractor beams are nothing new at mefi, but this is a major step up from last year's story. One, it's graduated the technology from the nanoscopic application to cellular-level microscopic levels. Two, this is destined to be an actual commercial product. The technology is licensed to the company from the university where it was developed, my very own alma-mater, The University of Chicago :) [link via ArsTechnica]
posted by LuxFX on Sep 1, 2002 - 3 comments

What do a 17th-century Swedish warship, an opulent Chicago theater and a Kansas City hotel "skyway" have in common? All met catastrophic ends—and they have important lessons to teach today's innovators.
posted by Irontom on Jun 4, 2002 - 24 comments

Speaking of Veterans Day, here in Chicago we have the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum. Art by Vets about the War. Most pieces are on-line with a short essay. The Above and Beyond memorial is impressive to say the least.
posted by skallas on Nov 11, 2001 - 2 comments

Stories like this one always seems to bring a smile to my face. For the record, this is the second time in the last few years that some stupid (or very desperate) criminal has tried to rob a doughnut shop in the Chicago land area. You'd think that the concept alone would stop a would-be assailant, but I guess truth is stranger than fiction.
posted by Bag Man on Jul 31, 2001 - 15 comments

And I thought Florida only had this problem. The Chicago Tribune reports that nearly 8% of votes in Illinois' 1st Congressional District went uncounted in the 2000 presidential election. It also adds: voters in low-income, high-minority districts nationwide were more likely to have undercounted ballots than were those in affluent, predominantly white districts, the study showed. Is there a nation-wide epidemic of undercounting? Or is it a problem limited to few localized areas? Or is it an underhanded way to deny the underprivileged of their vote? From the looks of it, at least additional investigation needs to be done.
posted by Bag Man on Jul 9, 2001 - 15 comments

The Maltesos. Well, there's no Webistics, and Big Pussy hasn't turned up floating down the Fox River, but here's your modern American mob family, suburban style. Betty Loren-Maltese, longtime mayor of the Town of Cicero, which abuts Chicago's West Side, has been indicted for looting the town's health insurance system to the tune of at least $10 million. The US Attorney says it is the largest dollar amount in any single organized crime investigation. [more inside]
posted by dhartung on Jun 16, 2001 - 8 comments

Chicago invaded by Bunim-Murray Productions. Well, we can either take this opportunity to culture jam, or spend the next several months griping about camera crews taking up too much space on the El during rush hour. Any bets on what neighborhood they'll be in?
posted by gsh on May 9, 2001 - 34 comments

Bozo to hang up his nose. After 40 years on the air in Chicago, the final episode of The Bozo Show will air in August. One of the personalities ingrained into the head of every Chicago kid is going away.
posted by hijinx on Mar 25, 2001 - 14 comments

Chicago's Cardinal Francis George blessed a Porsche dealership yesterday. What do you think? Conflict of interest, or way to give back to a helpful business?
posted by hijinx on Jan 24, 2001 - 6 comments

Chicago to enlist graphic designers for friendlier ballots. [free reg may be req'd] There's been a bunch of discussion about the usability problems with various voting systems, notably punch-card ballots. Chicago didn't have anything as dramatic as a "butterfly" prexy ballot or two pages' worth of candidates, but we still had close to 120,000 discards from 2.1 million votes -- and when compared with jurisdictions using other systems, there's little evidence to suggest that voters are skipping the presidential ballot. That's just how bad manual punch card technology is. Even if we can't get rid of them just yet, at least we can make sure they aren't confusing. Did I just post the twenty-sixth link on Metafilter today? GO AWAY. METAFILTER IS FULL. :)
posted by dhartung on Nov 29, 2000 - 24 comments

Rabbi shot at in Chicago. Could you keep your war on your side of the world please?
posted by owillis on Oct 13, 2000 - 6 comments

scheming she-devils, alive and well. the lincoln park trixie society (based in chicago) sounds like a joke: how to bed a rich man, where to find the best puppy-groomer, where to live, ad nauseum. but unfortunately...it's not. good for a laugh (or a cringe).
posted by patricking on Sep 25, 2000 - 32 comments