Circus acts, a prison tour, barrel-aged brews and a powwow usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

A legendary record store is closing at the end of the month. We revisit our portrait of this one-of-a-kind shop opened by Val Camilletti in 1972.

When Al Westerman’s grandparents bought a farm in Northern Illinois in 1911, it came with a house, a barn and an apple orchard. Now, he collects heirloom apple trees and grows more than 100 varieties. 

Together with the brilliant musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Maestro Riccardo Muti and violinist Leonidas Kavakos launched into an absolutely spellbinding performance of Beethoven’s “Violin Concerto in D Major.”

There are many treats on Chicago stages these days. Theater critic Hedy Weiss joins us with her latest roundup.

Mickey Alice Kwapis knows that she doesn’t fit most people’s idea of what a taxidermist looks like. And she is trying to change that.

The Chicago Bears (3-4) take on the Philadelphia Eagles (4-4) on Sunday in a rematch of last season’s playoff game. Former Bears offensive lineman James “Big Cat” Williams gives us a preview.

It was a moving memoir that became an Oscar-winning film before premiering as an opera in 2000. After more than 60 productions around the world, “Dead Man Walking” is now headed to Lyric Opera of Chicago for the first time.

On the South Side of Chicago is a relatively small but academically renowned museum whose founder James Henry Breasted helped rewrite the history of human civilization. We go for a look.

A Halloween parade, immersive plays, fried dough and plenty of games usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

There is no denying the ferocity of John Leguizamo’s tragicomic jeremiad, his bravura gifts as a terrific physical performer, or his ability to improvise in “Latin History for Morons.”

The good news for kids this Halloween: They’ll likely come home with a bigger pile of candy than of healthy snacks while out trick-or-treating.

At the Obama Foundation Summit on Tuesday, Barack and Michelle Obama spoke about, among other things, the future of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin weighs in on the new design.

If your Latin history is a little rusty, actor and writer John Leguizamo understands – and he’s here to offer an antidote in the form of his latest one-man show, playing in Chicago this week. We get a preview.

Directed with just the right balance of the sacred and the profane by Joe Mantegna, Ronnie Marmo’s show, “I’m Not a Comedian ... I’m Lenny Bruce,” is a seamless weave of excerpts from Bruce’s acts along with original material that deftly takes us inside the man’s psyche.

Gear up for nature walks, art shows and holiday markets of all sizes across Chicago and the suburbs.