2556 W. Chicago 773-292-4123 squashtbyles.comm Runner-Up Anna Hovet

Lincoln Park www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/lincoln-park Runner-Up Humboldt Park

1938 W. Division 773-235-1006 jerryssandwiches.com Runner-Up Bari

I wasn’t aware of the Clean India Mission before I saw Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, an enjoyable Bollywood musical currently screening at the AMC River East. But the film, which plays a bit like an extended public service announcement, explains the roots and aims of the movement in clear enough terms to educate outsiders like me. The couple’s happiness proves to be short-lived, however. Jaya grew up in a household with modern plumbing, and she balks at having to defecate outdoors once she moves to Keshav’s village....

Squires cites the skeleton fight in Jason and the Argonauts as one of his all-time favorite effects sequences. Read part one of this interview. How many movies does a typical visual effects artist work on in a year? If I’m [designing] a building in New York that’s very reflective—you know, it has windows all down the side—it’s very easy to make it look “perfect” with computer graphics, meaning the windows come out as one flat surface....

2900 W. Belmont 773-604-8769 kumascorner.com Runner-Up Au Cheval

Rose Pest Solutions 1809 W. North 773-384-3000 www.rosepestcontrol.com @RosePestTweets

Less than a week after Donald Trump’s election—and in the face of his plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, Mayor Rahm Emanuel promised that Chicago would remain a “sanctuary city,” one that doesn’t prosecute or target people solely on the basis of their immigration status. The law’s exceptions can be broken down into four different categories: An undocumented immigrant can be detained and then turned over to ICE if he or she has a criminal warrant, a prior felony conviction, a pending felony prosecution, or are in a gang database....

Among the many reasons I prefer street fests to the major festivals that descend on our public parks is that most of the smaller events do better at showcasing local musicians. To be fair, this weekend’s Mamby on the Beach has more locals than almost any other festival its size, but the Logan Square Arts Festival—which runs Friday through Sunday—has booked almost exclusively Chicago artists (with the exception of a couple headliners), and it’s much cheaper....

Chicago rapper Queen Key wants to get across two main points with Eat My Pussy. The title of the June release—her debut studio EP—takes care of the first one, she admits with a laugh. “Besides the title, the message is basically ‘Queen Shit,’” she says. “It’s my attitude—how I feel about what I feel about.” Queen Shit is also about what Queen Key does—which includes projecting a don’t-fuck-with-me charisma, a might-be-dangerous sense of mischief, and an unapologetic no-exceptions ownership of herself and her sexuality....

This is the first thing I saw when I walked into Expo Chicago last night: Here’s another view. There was a woman just outside the frame who was cracking up. Aimee Levitt More heads by Esnaya. I thought at first they were beer taps. Over at Catherine Edelman Gallery’s booth, three of the pieces from Sandro Miller’s upcoming exhibit “Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich” were on display and had attracted quite a crowd....

Brian Jackson/Sun-Times Alderman Natashia Holmes has some challengers in the 7th Ward. No sooner had my post on the aldermanic cheat sheet hit the street—metaphorically speaking, of course—than I got complaints from readers wanting more. So in order to feed his ravenous appetite for aldermania, I will randomly open my cheat sheet and write about whatever ward I see. Here goes . . . Sandi Jackson—wife of Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr....

Few improvising musicians can match the transatlantic prolificacy of Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. Since moving to the U.S.—first to Chicago in early 2006, then to Austin, Texas, in late 2008, where he still lives—he’s stayed busier on two (and sometimes three) continents than most folks do on one. He’s equally expert on electric and double bass, whether playing tunes or freely improvising, and his imperturbable grooves are just as powerful as the thrumming energy and gnarled turbulence of his solos....

The Beer Temple 3185 N. Elston Runner-Up Bottles and Cans

Just as neurotic bookworms like me have nightmares about showing up to a big exam late and naked, I’m sure professional musicians lose sleep to terrible dreams about their instruments breaking down in the middle of a career-making performance. At Lollapalooza last year, that nightmare came true for local experimental-pop production duo Supreme Cuts. They were supposed to play right after Kendrick Lamar, on a nearby stage where they would definitely draw some of his huge crowd, but their equipment failed less than a minute into their set—and within moments, audience members with short attention spans began wandering off in search of more beer or something that sounded like Mumford & Sons....

Laugh Out Loud Theater Chicago 3851 N. Lincoln Runner-Up The Annoyance Theatre & Bar

On August 8, 2007, the Chicago Independent Radio Project—affectionately known as CHIRP—held its first public meeting, hoping to recruit people to its project of establishing an independent low-power radio station in the city. At that point CHIRP was led by a handful of former community volunteers from Loyola University’s WLUW, at least one of whom had been ousted when the school decided the station should focus more on students. It was a broadcast outlet in theory alone—no licenses for low-power FM stations were available in Chicago, or in any other urban center....

Courtesy Slippery Slope Slippery Slope The good folks behind Scofflaw have been teasing details about their upcoming new Logan Square bar for months without naming it, but last night the neon was lit, and this afternoon the press release went out: it’s called Slippery Slope. The two-floor space at 2357 N. Milwaukee will be sort of an homage to the dance-party action at the late, great Bonny’s or “Double Deuce from Roadhouse without the violence,” if you will....

Michael Gebert Rob Levitt and Tom Mylan on the patio at Honey Butter Fried Chicken “I learned a lot about cutting meat, but I also learned a lot about what kind of meat shop I wanted to open,” Rob Levitt says to a group of meat-eaters huddling inside Honey Butter Fried Chicken after being temporarily chased off the patio by a passing rainstorm. Levitt, the co-owner of the Butcher & Larder, was telling the crowd of about 50 about staging at Tom Mylan’s Brooklyn butcher shop the Meat Hook a few years ago, prior to opening his own Chicago butcher shop....