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The Transportation Security Administration is reanalyzing the radiation levels of X-ray body scanners installed in airports nationwide, after testing produced dramatically higher-than-expected results. The TSA, which has deployed at least 500 body scanners to at least 78 airports, said Tuesday the machines meet all safety standards and would remain in operation despite a “calculation error” in safety studies. The flawed results showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.
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The American right is trapped in a hyperbolic and dysfunctional worldTo have credibility within the Republican party is to have none outside it. They act as if all their Kool-Aid has been spiked Polls suggest there are between one in three and one in four Americans who would believe anything. More than a third thought President George Bush did a good job during Hurricane Katrina; half of those thought he was excellent.
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Eminem sued his record label, the Universal Music Group, over the way royalties are computed for digital music, which boils down to whether an individual song sold online should be considered a license or a sale. The difference is far from academic because, as with most artists, Eminem’s contract stipulates that he gets 50 percent of the royalties for a license but only 12 percent for a sale. “As of now it’s worth $17 million or $20 million, but on a future accounting basis, five or 10 years from now, it could easily be a $40 million to $50 million issue,” said Joel Martin, the manager of F.B.T. Productions in Detroit, which first signed Eminem
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By now, you may have heard of the little app that could(n’t), Color. Funded to the tune of $41M pre-launch, co-founded by a prestigious Silicon Valley entprepreneur and already brimming with 27 employees, you’d expect the product to be decent if not extraordinary. And you’d be wrong.
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In the wake of the demonstrations during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, the city produced a white wash entitled “What Trees Did They Plant?” TV Stations that broadcast the film had to offer equal time to those speaking in opposition. One group was the Youth International Party or Yippies who produced this film. Paul Krassner wrote the script. Some classic film footage was re-mixed with footage shot during the demonstrations. There is some missing audio from this copy.
Tag: Chicago
Demolition of Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Hospital Scheduled
I had thought the Bertrand Goldberg designed Prentice Women’s Hospital was already demolished years ago, but apparently not.
As Rahm Emanuel prepares to takes office May 16, the first big historic preservation battle of his mayoralty is taking shape: Northwestern University is gearing up to tear down the old Prentice Women’s Hospital, designed by Bertrand Goldberg, the architect of Marina City, and replace it with a new medical research building.
If the university wins city permission for demolition, it could be wrecking the boldly sculptural, brilliantly engineered high-rise at the very time the Art Institute of Chicago is celebrating it as part of a major exhibition of Goldberg’s work. “Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention,” opens September 10 and runs through Jan. 8, 2012.
Such a glaring juxtaposition, with creativity displayed on the museum’s walls and ransacked outside them, would reveal to the world anew that Chicago destroys architectural landmarks as fast as the city builds them. And it would demonstrate just how hard it can be to save leading examples of mid-20th Century modernism. Although widely admired by architects, old Prentice is by no means beloved by the broader public. Some liken it to a prison.
Located at 333 E. Superior St., the 36-year-old high-rise is unquestionably a major work in Goldberg’s career.
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Preservationists have already laid the groundwork for a fight, meeting on old Prentice with downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd). “He’s one of the people who said you need to show how it can be reused,” said Jim Peters, president of Landmarks Illinois. Reilly didn’t return phone calls asking for comment. Nevertheless, it’s clear that the preservationists have taken a cue from his emphasis on finding a new use for the building.
Three Chicago architectural firms worked pro bono for Landmarks Illinois to prepare a study which looks at whether old Prentice could be re-used for offices, apartments or a research lab. The study makes a compelling case for the latter, arguing that the four quadrants of the former maternity floors could be sub-divided into research team areas and that the common space once occupied by nursing stations and nurseries could work well as a central breakout space.
(click here to continue reading Cityscapes: Northwestern wants to tear down Goldberg’s Prentice Hospital; preservationists have other ideas.)
I’d be pleased if the city found a way to preserve this building somehow, but I wouldn’t expect it to happen.
Red Light Shut Off
Haven’t eaten at Red Light1 in quite a while, but I pass it frequently walking down Randolph. Hope Jerry Kleiner’s KDK Restaurants pulls out of its death spiral…
Crain’s Chicago reports:
Red Light restaurant in the West Loop has closed due to an expired state license, the same week its South Loop sibling succumbed to its own license problems. Red Light, a pan-Asian restaurant at 820 W. Randolph St., on Wednesday posted a sign on its door saying it was closed, according to a woman who answered the phone at neighboring De Cero restaurant.
Calls to Red Light went unanswered Friday.
A spokeswoman with the Illinois Department of Revenue said that Red Light’s retail license expired Jan. 31 and the restaurant had been operating illegally and against the direction of the state office to cease operations. The Illinois Liquor Control Commission revoked Red Light’s liquor license in January, she added.
(click here to continue reading More trouble for KDK Restaurants: Red Light goes dark amid license problems | Restaurants | Crain’s Chicago Business.)
- on W Randolph in the West Loop [↩]
Chicago Graffiti Among World’s Best
I have a certain fondness for graffiti, because if it is done well, if it is more than just someone’s scribbled moniker, it becomes Art. In fact, there is quite a lot of graffiti in Chicago that is just simply Art. I call it Street Art to distinguish graffiti I like from what is just juvenilia.1 The lack of permanence is part of the energy of the work, but apparently, Richard Daley contributed to Chicago’s cultural life in this instance without realizing it. I’ve visited a lot of cities, and Chicago has some of the best guerilla artists anywhere.
For nearly 20 years, Chicago and Cook County have waged war on graffiti.
The city estimates it will spend $5.5 million to remove graffiti this year, and despite a $487 million budget deficit, the Cook County board renewed its commitment to the cleanup by rejecting Sheriff Thomas J. Dart’s proposal to scrap a suburban graffiti-removal unit costing $600,000 a year.
But the anti-graffiti strategy — deploying crews called graffiti blasters to quickly erase or blot out painted surfaces — has imposed a kind of natural-selection process in the graffiti subculture. By discouraging all but the shrewdest and most determined practitioners, the city and county have inadvertently contributed to making Chicago a vibrant hub of graffiti activity, according to experts.
“It made Chicago graffiti an aggressive and competitive sport,” said Sebastian Napoli, 32, who began writing graffiti around the city in the 1990s when writers called Chicago “the chocolate city” after the brown paint used to cover their work. The enforcement efforts “weeded out guys that get up once or twice and tried to call themselves writers,” Mr. Napoli said.
Roger Gastman, co-author of “The History of American Graffiti” (HarperCollins), said Chicago was “the biggest scene in the U.S. that is the most undocumented.” The book, to be published next month, explores graffiti in several cities and devotes two chapters to Chicago. It will be the first look into the city’s elusive subculture since William Upski Wimsatt’s self-published “Bomb the Suburbs” in 1994.
According to Mr. Gastman and his co-author, Caleb Neelon, the rise of Chicago’s new breed of graffiti writers dates to Mayor Richard M. Daley’s campaign to eradicate graffiti as part of preparations for the 1994 World Cup games at Soldier Field and the 1996 Democratic National Convention.
(click here to continue reading Crackdown Feeds a Flourishing World of Graffiti / Chicago News Cooperative.)
I have a bunch of photos of Chicago street art, if you want to see some examples I’ve encountered. Click here, or here for instance. Or use the Lightbox slideshow (click the triangle to start the show)
- What is Street Art? By my loosy-goosey definition, simply art I’ve discovered that isn’t in a gallery. Most of it is graffiti art, and semi-permanent as well, but that isn’t a requirement. [↩]
Just a Dream I Keep Having
Grant Park. More archive diving – this from Thanksgiving weekend, 2006. The two sailors in closeup in this photo ((albeit only from the back))
Toned in Photoshop
15% better when viewed in Lightbox
Roundys in West Loop
This deal has been discussed in various forms for a while now
Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., which has been pushing to break into the Chicago market for more than four years, has inked deals for two Mariano’s Fresh Market stores in the city that are to open next year along with a third suburban location in Palatine. The Milwaukee-based chain has signed leases for two city locations: a store at the northwest corner of Monroe and Halsted streets in the West Loop — where talks had faltered a year ago — and in the Uptown neighborhood, where Mariano’s is to anchor a big retail-residential development planned at Clarendon and Montrose avenues.
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In the West Loop, the Mariano’s will be kitty-corner from a Dominick’s just west of the Kennedy Expressway. Developer Seymour “Sy” Taxman says the deal was resurrected several months ago as Mr. Taxman brought in a couple new equity partners and dropped plans to build a tower atop the grocery store.
“I took a very big risk on this property because I believe in this neighborhood,” says Mr. Taxman, CEO of Skokie-based Taxman Corp. “I’ve been at this project for a long time. I wanted to make sure, when we made a commitment to go forward, that this project was deliverable.”
Mr. Taxman, who wouldn’t identify his new partners, says a lender has agreed to a term sheet to finance the project. He expects to start construction in late summer or early fall so that Roundy’s could open by late 2012.
The store will be about 70,000 square feet, Mr. Taxman says, on the second level of a new building atop a 25,000-square-foot retail strip along Halsted. There will be a surface parking lot plus rooftop parking above Mariano’s.
(click here to continue reading Roundy’s signs deals for more local upscale grocery stores | News | Crain’s Chicago Business.)
Virgin Hotel Possibility for Chicago
Looks like Branson’s first choice, the Chicago Motor Club building, might be off the table.
With his U.S. airline getting ready to fly into Chicago, Sir Richard Branson wants a hotel to go with it.
New York-based Virgin Hotels, the British billionaire’s upstart chain, has been scouting downtown for a location, recently breaking off talks to build a 189-room hotel in a vacant Art Deco building in the East Loop.
The venture, which plans to invest about $500 million in four-star hotels over the next few years, is Mr. Branson’s latest effort to subvert an established industry with his iconic brand, which has been slapped on everything from record stores to spaceships.
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Virgin entered into talks last year with a venture led by local investor Sam Roti that owns the empty 17-story tower, court records show. In a December letter to Mr. Roti, Virgin said it was considering investing as much as $10 million in a $74-million project, including the construction of a new tower next door.
The Motor Club property is tied up in a dispute between Mr. Roti and one of the property’s lenders, Chicago-based Aries Capital LLC, which won a judgment of foreclosure in September. A few weeks later, Mr. Roti sought to thwart Aries’ foreclosure by seeking Chapter 11 protection for the Motor Club venture.
Virgin ended talks with Mr. Roti in early February, according to court documents, which don’t cite a reason.
(click here to continue reading Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotels looks to open in Chicago)
Built in 1928 to be the home of the motor club, the distinctive structure was designed by Chicago architects Holabird & Root, who also built the Chicago Board of Trade and the Palmolive Building. The lobby features a mural map showing 19 major auto routes across the country by John W. Norton, who also painted a mural of Ceres, the Roman goddess of the harvest, in the Chicago Board of Trade Building, 141 W. Jackson Blvd.
(click here to continue reading Foreclosure suit hits Motor Club building | News | Crain’s Chicago Business.)
Too bad, that is an attractive building, imo. If I have the right building. For some reason, I thought this was called the Jeweler’s Building. Unfortunately, my Chicago architecture book is at my other office. Doh!
Afternoon Sun On Lincoln
Lincoln’s low cost auto insurance, that is.
No area code, so this sign is at least older than 1989.
Continue to archive-dive, this photo is circa summer, 2006. I’ve taken others of this same billboard, but like how the light fell here.
Waiting for Summer Blues
Diversey Harbor, circa June, 2006. Dusk in the summer is the best part of the year.
16% better in Lightbox
Slightly blued-up in Photoshop to capture the essence of the moment.
Oriental Consistory
From the NYT, April 18, 1905
High Masons At Chicago
Members of the Masonic Order assembled here today to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Oriental Consistory. The new home of the Oriental Consistory, at Dearborn Avenue and Walton Place, is to be dedicated.Members are here from England, Turkey, France, Hawaii, and Cuba. The one hundredth convention of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Valley of Chicago is also being held.
Carbon and Carbide Building blues
Emerald City
Since I haven’t been out taking photographs recently, have been digging through my photo archives instead. I have learned different techniques since 2005, when this photo of the Chicago skyline from 55th Street was taken.
This washed out photo was cross-processed in Photoshop (notice the sort of odd colors, especially in the cloud area), a technique that occasionally yields interesting results.
Originally a film technique:
Cross processing (sometimes abbreviated to Xpro) is the procedure of deliberately processing photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film. The effect was discovered independently by many different photographers often by mistake in the days of C-22 and E-4. The process is seen most often in fashion advertising and band photography, and in more recent years has become associated with the Lo-fi photography movement.
Cross processing usually involves one of the two following methods: Processing positive color reversal film in C-41 chemicals, resulting in a negative image on a colorless base Processing negative color print film in E-6 chemicals, resulting in a positive image but with the orange base of a normally processed color negative
(click here to continue reading Cross processing – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
Oh, the title based, loosely, upon the fact that Frank L. Baum’s Emerald City of Oz was inspired by Chicago’s skyline.
My Chicago blizzard photos
From the Chicago snow storm variously called SnOMG, Snowpocalypse 2011, Thundersnow1, Blizzard of 2011, yadda yadda. I foolheartedly went out to take some photos around midnight, and lasted about an hour. I haven’t yet processed many of my photos, but here are a few.
Click to embiggen, or click twice to view in Lightbox.
Streaming. Toned in Photoshop to compensate for the color of Chicago’s street lamps.
If Memory Serves Randolph Street, before it got plowed. These firemen stopped to give this guy a push:
Keep on Pushing After this car got stuck, it swerved a few more times and turned down Desplaines Street.
Visitors on Snowy Streets Some other foolhardy folks strolling down Canal Street.
Underneath the Overpass Lake Street. I lingered here a moment to catch my breath. Hard to walk in snow that comes up to your knees – every step is a challenge.
Blizzard hype can officially commence now An iPhone snapshot, using Hipstamatic.
Wind Swept Snow An iPhone snapshot, trying to capture the fiercely blowing winds.
First Blizzard Casualty The wind was blowing so hard, I couldn’t hold my iPhone still enough to focus. So blurry dead bird it is…Also notice there isn’t any snow on my balcony. Later in the evening, the wind died down a bit, and snow is now piled about two feet deep here. Also, the wind blew my barbeque grill nearly off the edge. Was able to salvage most of the parts, we’ll see if any committed suicide once spring rolls around.
Road Closed Wacker Drive, an iPhone snapshot.
SnOMG! The lens on my iPhone got caked in wet snow. Actually, my Nikon lens2 also got frozen, wouldn’t focus properly for a while until I put it inside my coat to thaw out.
Chicago Sun-Times building on Franklin. An iPhone snapshot.
Under cover Wacker Drive and Lake Street. Visibility was next to zero, and the wind wanted to separate me from my hats3. An iPhone snapshot.
Abandoned Cab The radio and windshield wipers were on, but the driver was nowhere to be seen, perhaps inside calling for assistance, or taken to a hospital. According to news reports, the cab was hit by a train (tracks in the background).
Footnotes:Bad LSD trip: Who’s to blame
All stranded motorists have now been rescued from Lake Shore Drive – but they probably shouldn’t have attempted to travel on the major thoroughfare in the first place, city officials said.
Hundreds of motorists and CTA passengers were trapped on the drive for six hours or more Tuesday night. Many were not rescued until early this morning, as rescue workers battled white-out conditions, 70 mph wind gusts and waist-high drifts to provide help.
City officials, however, said they had cautioned people in news conferences earlier Tuesday to avoid using the drive and had repeatedly warned that massive waves along the shoreline could cause extremely icy conditions. Authorities, however, did not officially close the road until 8 p.m., nearly an hour after a series of accidents caused motorists and several CTA buses to become stuck.
“As reported in (Tuesday’s) press conference we knew that the lakefront and Lake Shore Drive would be hit especially hard,” said Ray Orozco, Mayor Richard Daley’s chief of staff. “Nonetheless, it was clear that people leaving the Loop were relying on it as a major artery to get home that night.”
While acknowledging the Lake Shore Drive standstill was “particularly troublesome,” officials said they would not apologize for keeping the road open as the storm intensified. Without a series of accidents shortly after 7 p.m., the ordeal might not have happened, they said.
(click here to continue reading Bad LSD trip: Who’s to blame? – Chicago Breaking News.)
Being on LSD for eight hours probably not the best way to spend the Blizzard of 2011 though
Perched in River North
Walking in the gallery district in River North (aka Little Hell), encountered this artwork hanging in the window. If you look closely, you can see my messy hair in the lower left corner.
Better in Lightbox