Ravinia Festival Tickets Go On Sale April 28

Ravinia Festival Tickets Go On Sale April 28

One of my most favorite things to do in the Summer is go to the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park Illinois. I first went to a concert there in 1969, my Father took me to see Benny Goodman and I never forgot it. This is

a world famous music festival, Janis Joplin played one of her last concerts at Ravinia, everyone you have ever heard of has played there at one time or another.

Ravinia is the oldest outdoor music festival in the United States with everything from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to the late Frank Zappa playing there. The festival is a 3,200 seat band shell with perfect acoustics and then a huge lawn on 36 acres that holds comfortably 15,000 and it sells out almost every night. The concerts are in June, July, August and a few in September.

What is so nice about Ravinia is the you can bring any food and drink into the venue and have a picnic while hearing great music. There are great dining establishments on the grounds too if you do not plan ahead. You find little bars all over and you can get fine wine by the glass, a drink or hard liquor or a nice beer. Also the Metra train station is right in the grounds of the festival so we just hop on the train and go and then get home in about 25 minutes, as happy as can be.

A few of the Artist playing in the 2015 season are the Gypsy Kings, Steely Dan, Santana, Tony Bennett with Lady Gaga, the Doobie Brothers, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Steve Miller, Harry Connick Jr., Chicago, ZZ Top, Little Big Town, Jackson Browne, Gladys Knight, The O'Jays, Itzhak Perlman, and I am only naming a few if you want to see the complete schedule click Ravinia Festival2015.

See you at Ravina, I will be wearing shorts and shaking my booty.

originally from

Active Rain

"20080706 Ravinia Festival" by TonyTheTiger at en.wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - 8http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20080706_Ravinia_Festival.JPG#/media/File:20080706_Ravinia_Festival.JPG

Chicago Blues Fest June 12 - 14 2015

The Chicago Blues Fest 2015 is June 12 through the 15th this year and the headliner is Chicago's own Buddy Guy. This is the world's largest free Blues Festival in the world and always attracts many people from all over. I always go and enjoy the music and take some photos. I suggest you try to attend, it is really a lot of fun and I always meet people interested in Blues music and have lifelong friends who attend. If you want to read about it straight from the source then click Chicago Blues Festival 2015 schedule below for all the information you will need. I took the photo to the below of Buddy Guy at the Chicago Blues Fest 2005.

The Chicago Blues Fest is located in Grant Park which is at Jackson and Columbus in Chicago IL 60602. Admission is 100% free and there is so much more with this festival such as a great selection of food and drink, many booths that are very interesting and this event is always fun. The hours are 11 AM to 9:30 PM and often it stretches on to about 10:00 PM. Don't tell anyone that is a secret.

Another secret is that all the performers play unannounced sets at the local clubs around Chicago. You will be sure to bump into Buddy Guy or almost all the performers at Buddy Guy's Legends at 700 S. Wabash in Chicago only a few blocks from the Blues Festival. Also check out Rosa's Lounge at 3420 W Armitage Ave Chicago, IL 60647 one of my favorite clubs that has after hours jams.

Here is the schedule of the main stage but there is also 3 smaller stages that are just as good but I do not have the room here so I give you this Chicago Blues Fest Schedule 2015 link:

 Friday June 12th

Petrillo Music Shell

·         6-6:45pm - Zora Young

·         7:05-8:05pm - Clarence Carter

·         8:25-9:30pm - Syl Johnson

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Petrillo Music Shell

·         5:30-6:15pm - Toronzo Cannon

·         6:30-7:45pm - Taj Mahal Trio

·         8:05-9:30pm - Buddy Guy

Sunday June 14 2015

Petrillo Music Shell

·         5-6:05pm - Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues and special guest Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater

·         6:20-7:45pm - Willie Dixon Centennial Tribute featuring Billy Branch, Keshia Dixon, Tomiko Dixon, Bobby Dixon, Freddie Dixon, Alex Dixon, Cash McCall, Sugar Blue, John Watkins and Andrew Blaze Thomas

·         8:05-9:30pm - Muddy Water’s Centennial Tribute featuring Bob Margolin, Mud Morganfield, Big Bill Morganfield, John Primer, Rick Kreher, Bob Stroger, Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith, E.G. McDaniel, Barrelhouse Chuck , Jerry Portnoy and Paul Oscher

Evanston IL Restaurant Health Inspection Scores Available By Text

Evanston IL Restaurant Health Inspection Scores Available By Text

Evanston IL is constantly becoming more in touch with technology and has many more programs to make things easier for the residents and people visiting town. You can not get ratings by a text message if you are worried about the condition of a restaurant. I have never heard of this anywhere else, have you?

I quote the City Of Evanston in their News Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEApril 9, 2015 Media Contact: Charliese Agnew cagnew@cityofevanston.org Phone: 847-859-7833 Evanston Restaurant Health Inspection Scores Now Available to Local Diners via Text Message EVANSTON, ILLINOIS - The City of Evanston is pleased to announce that residents and visitors can now receive publicly available restaurant health inspection scores directly to their mobile devices via SMS/text message. To find out health inspection scores for Evanston eateries while on-the-go, community members can text “RESTAURANT” to the 311 Service Center at 847-448-4311. Within seconds, the texter will receive a prompt to enter the name of a restaurant and receive the inspection score. At this time, Evanston appears to be one of only a few government agencies in the country to offer health inspection scores by way of text message. Evanston health inspection scores can also be found on Yelp’s popular website and mobile application. “We are thrilled to provide Evanston diners with yet another resource for accessing the City’s restaurant health inspection information.  We continue our efforts to make our data available on multiple platforms in real-time so that all residents have access and can make the most informed decisions,” said IT Division Manager Jose Calderon.  In 2014, the City launched an improved service that allows residents to send text messages from their mobile phone directly to Evanston’s 311 Service Center by using the 10-digit phone number (847-448-4311). In addition to text messaging, community members can also communicate with 311 through an online chat service and mobile application. The growth of 311's services is a part of the City's ongoing commitment to be open and transparent, which includes the open data portal available at openevanston.org. To learn more, please contact Digital Services Coordinator Luke Stowe at 847-448-8633. -END-

800 Elgin Optima Horizons Evanston IL Condo For Sale

800 Elgin Optima Horizons Evanston IL Condo For Sale #PH12

I have just listed a 2 bedroom, 2 bath penthouse condo at the Optima Horizons in Evanston IL 60201. This building is one of the most popular high rise condo buildings for Northwestern students or anyone who wants to live right in downtown Evanston. The condo has hardwood floors, granite counter tops, upgraded kitchen cabinets, in unit laundry in a great building that has door person, management on site, full sized swimming pool, exercise room and of course a super location.
You can walk to Northwestern university, all the unique stores and restaurants Evanston has to offer and great entertainment with places like Evanston Space, Club 27 and so much more.
If you are interested to see this condo or any others please feel free to contact us at

Coldwell Banker. 1 (800) 858-7917

This condo is listed at $299,000.

800 ELGIN ROAD #1612 EVANSTON IL 60201