Meet Fred Nelson III, the Chicago man who performed with Aretha Franklin more than 200 times in the last years of her life.  

Punk rock bands, tons of tacos, cultural celebrations, butterflies and yoga usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Tap, rap, and a whole lot more when Collaboraction’s performance festival visits the West Side.

Meet the South Side native whose line dance became a worldwide phenomenon.

A viewer spots a Blue Island building with an image of three chain links on its facade. Geoffrey Baer has the scoop on the odd fellows behind that insignia in this encore edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago found that Chicago police officers with the highest number of complaints are responsible for a significantly higher share of civil litigation payouts.

She won back-to-back Olympic medals in the seven-event heptathlon and still holds the world record of 7,291 points in the event. We talk sexism in women’s sports and more with Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

A new book tells the story of how a showman saved thousands of premature babies in the early 20th century.

The haunting dramatization of “Crime and Punishment” now on stage attacks the work with the same fire and attention to moral argument as the master writer, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, himself. 

One of the oldest forms of art is still practiced throughout the world, but there is only one school in the United States where it’s taught. We go for a visit.

After a 70-year run that has resulted in multiple NCAA championship titles, the gymnastics program at the University of Illinois at Chicago will cease to exist once its current season wraps up.

A conversation with “Hoop Dreams” director Steve James, who tackles an ambitious series about racial disparity in a Chicago-area high school.

A revelatory, brilliantly acted revival of August Wilson’s play is currently on stage at Court Theatre, under the direction of Ron OJ Parson.

East meets West in an art show that began with a collection of photos found at an estate sale 27 years ago.

The Wall Street Journal recently examined email and text anxiety caused by the “tyranny of the exclamation point.” We discuss the punctuation phenomenon.

A new film looks at skateboarding as an escape from violence and boredom for three friends in Rockford, Illinois. We speak with director Bing Liu.