Street Level

The Blog's Place in Marketing and Media Strategy

As Centerstage seeks to serve an active user group with up-to-date information on Chicago culture and entertainment, it looks to empower these very users, people in the communities reporting the real news as they see it, all (corporate media-type) filters off. An involved media of the people serving common interests is the strategy here. Street Level, this new blog is the tactic. So, blog on. It's your city. Tell us more about it, in detail, with links.

I think it's also important to recognize those community blogers already laying down the foundation in Chicago. Particularly, Chicago Bloggers, Crescat Sententia, and Gaper's Block.

Enjoy and Exciting

Enjoy and Exciting!

Pop-culture tidbits and snarky asides. Accurate and dependable!

I didnt read this one too closely, but looked like it had potential.

One Thumb Sideways

One Thumb appears to be a personal journal of reviews and film related content.

From the author:
I write the film, theatre, music and restaurant reviews that make the young girls cry.{;}

Lit Events Site

Golden Rule Jones is dedicated to literary world with a chicago angle. Lot of upcoming events are listed.

About This Blog (from the author "sam")

Some brief words about this blog: I started it because I couldn't find any place, online or off, that tracked literary events in Chicago. I alluded to this in an earlier post, but just to be more explicit, by literary events I mean literary fiction and poetry, or non-fiction about the aforesaid (literary criticism, biography, etc.). I don't include, of course, any of the non-fiction or self-help that dominate most lists of "readings" or "author appearances." I don't usually include genre (mysteries, thrillers, etc.) unless the author's works seem to have relevance beyond their genre. I don't include writers who don't already have a significant reputation. These last two criteria are subjective, of course; the list is influenced in other ways as well by my natural biases or interests (in foreign-language writers, for instance).

I also try not to list events where I can't link to a site that provides relevant details. It seems a reasonable screening mechanism if the goal is to include readings conducted with some degree of professionalism. More important, it gets me off the hook if there are errors or changes in time, place, etc.

That's the right-hand column -- the important stuff. Unlike most blogs, on this blog the posts are really secondary to the events listing. I use them to highlight new event series or sponsors, to flag articles about writers coming to town, or to talk about my impressions of those writers and their appearances. To a lesser extent (I hope) I use it to talk about random literary matters that catch my attention.

Punk and Indie Rock Site

In the Periphery appears to have lots of punk and indie rock info on it, several authors?

Check it out!

from their site:
""This site is dedicated to the
punk and indie rock community
in (and around) Chicago, the shows,
this place that we live, and the 'scene'
...much of the time, but not always- mostly
it's about the music we love...

For being such a large city with so many great
bands, there just isn't enough being written
about what happens around here. We do CD
and show reviews on this site, plus we have the main page which is meant to be a sort of sounding board for just about any topic related to music (even if it's really only on a tangent).""

Kucinich Storefront Signs

Dennis Kucinich, Presidential candidate, 4th term Congressman from Cleveland and co-chair of the Democratic Party's Progressive Caucus, is getting next to no play from the mainstream media. I'm happy to say that's not so on my "Main Street." In the last couple of days, I've taken notice of pro-Kucinich signage proudly displayed by merchants on Lincoln and Montrose.

The Illinois Democratic primary is March 16, 2004.

A popular NYC weblog

... is Gawker.