John Blades

While still unable to say conclusively how Eugene Izzi died, police on Tuesday acknowledged that their investigation of the Chicago author's last moments has taken some unexpected turns. And given...

Not all the pianists worth catching in area concerts are the big-name ones who can afford to book Orchestra Hall. Consider Muza Rubackyte, for example. The Lithuanian piano virtuoso, laureate...

With its first-ever general director, Mark Tiarks, newly installed, Chicago Opera Theater has announced its 1997 season at the DePaul Merle Reskin Theater. Mozart's "Don Giovanni" will open the season...

Evanston's Ethnic Arts Festival covers the cultures of five continents. Two stages will present dance from many places including Africa, Greece and Puerto Rico and music from the Old Country...

For a drug boasting such side effects as unbearable pain, extreme degradation and death, heroin has maintained a strangely seductive profile in the entertainment world. The substance's staying power is...

A recent musical anthology gave Beatles' fans an aural history of the Fab Four. Now an exhibition of photographs offers visual mementos of the group's early years. Thirty-two photos by...

Though it may not sound like Ernest Hemingway's style, a "champagne tea" is on tap from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday when Rose Marie Burwell discusses and signs copies of...

When it came to book critics, Truman Capote, author of "In Cold Blood," spoke with a forked tongue and pen. But Alfred Kazin, 80, one of the country's most venerated...

When Saul Bellow, our most illustrious writer-out-of-residence, returned to Chicago on a brief sabbatical earlier this month, he barely recognized the "somber city" that he'd described in the opening passage...

A tour and workshop Saturday will shed light on the rich colors and imagery of religious stained glass windows. Participants can visit four historic Evanston churches (Levere Memorial Temple, St....