Picking on Scabs “The Sun has an obligation to its readers and advertisers in Baltimore and is committed to continue publishing The Sun without interruption in the event of any work stoppage by the Newspaper Guild,” wrote Rondra Matthews. “Other Tribune newspapers, in the long-standing tradition of newspapers everywhere, are ready to step in to help The Sun continue to publish, which is both its right and its civic duty. The Daily Press will be part of that support....

The first time I saw one of Carl Andre’s huge arrangements of rocks laid across a gallery floor it seemed to be shouting at me in a foreign language, but the small work of his that’s on display in a parlor-sized gallery at the Art Institute elicits a quiet conversation. The museum’s stated purpose for putting together 15 or so little pieces from its permanent collection of 20th-century art–that they’re difficult to appreciate next to their larger, more famous kin–seems arbitrary....

I have sex toys that I’ve only used once or twice. I can’t return them, but I can’t bring myself to throw them away. Is there a secondhand market? I like to jack off with something up my ass. Unfortunately, I can’t order a butt plug on-line because my college roommate is a Christian. He would go into a preaching marathon if a package from a sex shop arrived. Can any household items do double duty as butt plugs?...

Author Michael Bonesteel vividly remembers the first time he came across the work of Henry Darger, the reclusive, emotionally disturbed hospital worker whose fantastically bizarre art and writings were discovered by his Lincoln Park landlord more than a quarter century ago. It wasn’t until the following year that Bonesteel saw Darger’s works for the first time, at a Museum of Contemporary Art show called “Outsider Art in Chicago” that included the work of six Chicago artists....

Cantor Alberto Mizrahi has the kind of rich, ardent voice and heart-on-his-sleeve bel canto delivery that could make an Italian tenor envious–and in fact he did court the stage early in his career, performing in both operas and musicals. But his theological and cantorial training–to say nothing of his love for Jewish music–turned out to have the stronger pull on him, and in the early 1990s he became chief cantor of Chicago’s Anshe Emet Synagogue....

Most of us know how to stay out of trouble with the law: Always call the officer “sir” or “ma’am.” Don’t fight city hall. Don’t get caught. “Don’t yell at the super” wasn’t always on the list, but if you ask Peter Francis Geraci, it is now. Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » At Larrabee and Division, Geraci was held for “verbal assault,” a class C misdemeanor....

In the high rocky wastes of Afghanistan, In the cruel ‘Indu Kush or beyond– ‘Oled up with what’s left o’ the Taliban In the great, empty sprawl of ‘Elmand– In some wretched and waterless canyon, where No Yankee or Brit’s ever trodden– It’s somewhere out there we’ll discover ‘is lair, The cave of Osama bin Laden! ‘E swims like a shark in a friendly sea (Remember those sayings of Mao?) We know where ‘e’s been–where ‘e’s likely to be But we never know where ‘e is now!...

Rock, Pop, etc. BASS X Free in-store performance. Fri 10/5, 7 PM, Crow’s Nest Music, 1157 W. Fullerton. 773-935-9196. GRETA CLARK, ELIZABETH DOYLE, MAURA PHENEY, STEPHEN RADER, JACK SHORT, CYNTHIA STEVENS & OTHERS Benefit for United Way and New York Community Trust September 11 Fund. Fri 10/5, 11 PM, Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont. 773-327-5252. THE DOG & EVERYTHING performs at the Chicago Design Show. Sat 10/6, 2 PM, second floor, Merchandise Mart, 200 World Trade Center....

Rock, Pop, Etc. ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS, HOOBASTANK, OZOMATLI, DIFFUSER All-ages. Sun 10/12, 6 PM, Riviera Theatre, 4746 N. Racine. 773-275-6800 or 312-559-1212. BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE See Spot Check; free in-store performance. Mon 10/13, 5 PM, Reckless Records, 1532 N. Milwaukee. 773-235-3727. MAUREEN CHRISTINE with pianist Rich Boban. Sat 10/11, 8-11 PM, Morgan Park Presbyterian Church, 2017 W. 110th Pl. 773-779-3355. CRYSTAL VISION Free in-store performance. Fri 10/10, 8 PM, Borders Books & Music, 1 N....

The serene room at MUANG THAI–white linens, dim lighting, and a single silk flower on each table–is the perfect backdrop for chef-owner Sirihathai Patkadee’s delicate fare. While the extensive menu is full of familiar offerings like satay, beef salad, tom yum, and pad see eiw, it’s Patkadee’s original concoctions that are most alluring. Pad paey sean, for instance, combines stir-fried shrimp, chicken, pork, baby corn, pea pods, and napa cabbage with clear bean thread noodles in a savory brown sauce....

Bicyclists’ rights advocates felt optimistic in April when the Illinois senate passed the Bicycle Safety Restoration Act by a vote of 54 to 0. But last week the measure died in the Illinois house’s judiciary committee, which deadlocked on the bill and prevented it from moving forward. Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » Illinois bicyclists haven’t had liability protection since 1998, when the state supreme court ruled against Jon Boub, who was severely injured when his bike wheel got stuck in the planks of a Du Page County bridge that was being repaired (a case I wrote about here on June 19 and November 20, 1998, and on March 30, 2001)....

MARCH Joe Louis’s boxing gloves, Steve Dahl’s helmet from Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, and a photograph of Hull House’s 1909 women’s basketball team–stiffly posed in bloomers and black stockings, their shirts buttoned to their chins–are just a few of the bits of memorabilia on display in the Chicago Historical Society’s new exhibit Chicago Sports! You Shoulda Been There. The opening celebration takes place today from 9:30 to 4:30 and includes a demonstration of 19th-century basketball, pennant making and other crafts, and sports activities for families (including a cricket game)....

Pianist Fiona Boznos and percussionist James Boznos started Klang, which means “sound” or “ringing” in German, in 1995 with another pianist and percussionist, intending to tackle a wide range of contemporary music. Supplemented by wind, brass, and electronic instrumentalists, they quickly built a repertoire of 60-some works by 38 composers, including Conlon Nancarrow, Helmut Lachenmann, and Toru Takemitsu. After being highly touted for their performance in a George Crumb retrospective two years ago, Klang nearly went dormant, as its two founders parted company....

Only die-hard fans will relish Open Door Repertory Company’s revival of the Gershwins’ rarely produced 1933 successor to Of Thee I Sing. In the less successful sequel, likable President and First Lady John P. and Mary Wintergreen become dictators in an America controlled by an underpaid army and venal Supreme Court. Parallels to Nazi Germany notwithstanding, the plot is preposterous, but George and Ira pepper the show with irresistible numbers, especially for the chorus....

Labor-intensive art often gains meaning from the very act of its making: if thousands of beads are arranged to depict a kitchen, the viewer is at least impressed by the obsessive effort. Michael Ferris Jr. takes this self-reflective process a step further in his show of five inlaid-wood sculptures and eight paintings at Aron Packer. The sculptures are mostly male busts whose elegant, partly symmetrical geometric patterns in multiple colors and grains of wood suggest a fixation on his craft....

Lead Stories Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » According to a dispatch this month from the Washington Post, the Jammu and Kashmir State Cable Car Corporation continues to run its gondolas at the mountain resort of Gulmarg, passing within three miles of the “line of control” that separates Indian and Pakistani forces in Kashmir. The gondolas occasionally pick up ground fire, and business is down considerably for skiing, hiking, and golf, but some frolickers show up…....

For many years Jerry Pritikin, wearing a pith helmet with a propeller on top, went to almost every Cubs game and spent a lot of time encouraging other people to be fans. That’s why Harry Caray called him the world’s greatest Cubs fan. That’s why the Wall Street Journal dubbed him a “baseball missionary.” And that’s why he became a leading character in Lonnie Wheeler’s book Bleachers, about the 1987 season at Wrigley Field....

PAUL BURCH & THE WPA BALLCLUB Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » Paul Burch is out to enrich traditional country music, not revive it. Specifically, he’s zoomed in on the brief period between Hank Williams and early rockabilly, injecting it with seemingly anomalous textures and colors–ranging from the cool vibraphone on “Willpower,” from last year’s Blue Notes (Merge), to the surprising sitar on “I Turned a Corner,” from his previous album, Wire to Wire (Checkered Past)....

Presented by the Chicago-based documentary production and distribution company Terra Nova Films, the eighth annual Silver Images Film Festival continues Friday, May 4, through Friday, May 18, at Atlas Senior Center, 1767 E. 79th St.; Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington; Church of the Open Door, 5954 S. Albany; Copernicus Senior Center, 3160 N. Milwaukee; Good Samaritan Health and Wellness Center, 3551 Highland, Downers Grove; Horizons Community Services, 961 W. Montana; Maravilla Independent and Assisted Senior Living, 145 N....

Did investors really jump to their deaths when the stock market crashed in 1929? If so, was it just on Wall Street or all over the country? Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites » And you know what? People wanted to believe in it at the time. Even while the financial meltdown was in progress, reporters in downtown Manhattan were checking out a rumor that 11 busted brokers had jumped out of windows....