Mini-meatball sandwiches, half-slices of pizza and toasted cheese raviolis weren’t the only tastes being offered at the Taste of Chicago this week. On Monday, the entertainment – Broadway in Chicago – also came in small portions, giving visitors a “taste” of some current and upcoming Chicago musicals. Here’s a few snapshots from the performance.

Wicked

Tides of darkness are growing. The hype has built to a fevered pitch. Smoke clouds the sky above a stadium in the Arizona desert where thousands will gather Sunday night. The entire season has been a mere prelude, a series of steps in an inexorable march toward the final culmination that is Super Bowl XLII.

Though I skipped a few posts, let's go back a few weeks to the end of Bea's delivery of our son, Matthew. Mainly because it was so much fun and stress-free.

Last I wrote, it was 9:30am and Bea had her bag manually broken. A nurse had already asked her if her pain was "acceptable to her," which garnered some glances to one another from Bea and me, and we had other women arrive later and deliver earlier than us, which was a joy.

The Bulls' playoff position exposes Eastern Conference inferiority

The Bulls have missed the presence of Luol Deng, who enjoyed a breakout season last year.

All Chicago was abuzz yesterday about the pit that opened up in Montrose Avenue after a 3 ft. water-main pipe broke around 1 a.m. Tuesday, swamping cars, swallowing parking meters and trees, and collapsing an 80 ft. section of the sewer, according to the Department of Water Management. The carnage has forced 10 businesses to close and flooded every basement on the block. The Trib's got a nice wrap-story.

About a week ago, I received an e-mail from the Burning Man Chicago list inviting me to a night of "art, music and mayhem" in Wicker Park at the Burkhart Underground, home and studio of "freak chic" photographer Fred Burkhart. Despite the bitter cold outside, I ventured out. Here's my write-up, broken up by a few photos I snapped of Burkhart's studio early in the night before things picked up (unfortunately my trusty Canon Powershot was running low on battery juice that night...).

Modernist architects, as far back as Chicago's own Louis Sullivan, like to note that "form follows function." But just as often, I think, form follows lot size. This family jewel at 1865 N. Wilmot Ave. (at the intersection of Oakley and Cortland) makes the best of a narrow triangle: Unusual, but not particularly unpleasant to walk by from this angle. I like the front cylindrical component - it makes the lot seem much less angular.

This being Monday morning, Friday is a ways away. To most that would be a depressing opener, but I’m here to propose an alternative that might brighten the work week!

The most important endorsement last week had nothing to do with Barack Obama, Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife or Ted Kennedy. Try Joe Namath. The legendary Jets quarterback predicted that Eli Manning and the New York Giants would upset the (previously) undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. He's now 2 for 2 on Super Bowl upset guarantees. I guess that means I'm only one behind him.

Reports say the hard-living, acerbic comic book writer died Sunday in a Las Vegas hospital due to complications from pulmonary fibrosis. He was 60 years old. Writer Mark Evanier, a longtime friend and colleague of the writer has written an official announcement post on Gerber's blog. Fans and pros from the comic-book world are paying their last respects in the comments below.