Music 10
Bars 16
The closest thing to a genuine country honky-tonk in Chicago, this run-down corner bar–smelling of 30 years of spilled beer and stale smokes–offers an all-country jukebox, all-night sets on the weekends by a solid country cover band called Diamondback, and cheap beer flowing all the time. Country Claude & the Chicken Chokers play on Wednesday nights. | Mon-Tue 9 AM-2 AM, Wed-Fri 11 AM-4 AM, Sat 11 AM-5 AM | 4659 N. Clark | 773-334-2402
Riviera Theatre
Best known for its cult hits Coed Prison Sluts and The Real Live Brady Bunch, the Annoyance was founded in 1987 as a gritty alternative to slicker, more commercial improv and sketch troupes. It moved into this new space, which houses a 100-seat theater behind a storefront bar, in the summer of 2006, after a peripatetic stretch of years. The current ten-show roster includes the musical Arm Soup (a spoof of the Donner Party story), the late-night variety show Grabass, and Messing With a Friend, in which improv hotshot Susan Messing collaborates with guest artists for an evening of unscripted mayhem. | 4840 N. Broadway | 773-561-4665 | annoyanceproductions.com
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Since July 2005, Bookslut founder and editor Jessa Crispin has been hosting readings by national and local authors on a near monthly basis in the cozy second-floor party room at the Hopleaf (see Bars and Restaurants). Next up, on April 11: Jeannine Hall Gailey (Becoming the Villainess), Ander Monson (Neck Deep and Other Predicaments), and Catherynne M. Valente (The Orphan’s Tales). Must be 21 or over to attend. | Hopleaf | 5148 N. Clark | 312-850-4277 | bookslut.com
