Chicago improv group The Katydids are perfect in this comedy sketch of social commentary currently on YouTube. Check it out.

The Katydids is a collection of comedians with varying forms of the name Katherine -- Caitlin Barlow, Katy Colloton, Cate Freedman, Kate Lambert, Katie O'Brien, Katie Thomas.
Clap for 'em.

Facebook groups are the new protest march -- the lazy activist's way to get media attention.
But does it work? Well, kinda. Remember the Facebook event page that asked people to show up at the defunct South Side Irish Parade "Anyways"? It caught media and police attention, but didn't bring a wave of drinkers to the Western Avenue parade route in Beverly.
Well, there's a growing Facebook group "People Against the Malling of Wrigleyville" -- 11,692 "members" strong and counting -- that did catch my eye, after all.
This group of socially networked 'friends' want to kill a plan to tear down a city block of eclectic businesses at Clark and Addison to make way for an upscale hotel, Best Buy, Dominick's, an Apple Store, a CVS Pharmacy and a boatload of parking.
The proposal, which has Ald. Tom Tunney's backing, would level the IO Theater, Salt and Pepper Diner, Goose Island, Mullen's bar and Grill, Bar Louie and Red Ivy and a couple of pizza joints.
The "Save Wrigleyville Now" Facebook manifesto goes like this:
"Residents of the area and the business owners have joined forces to heighten awareness for the families of these businesses, the patron, the Cubs fan, and certainly those who generally oppose the loss of one of the most regarded neighborhoods in Chicagoland. Frankly said - these are the places on Clark that residents and patrons WANT to keep - not shops that are found in malls that you can frequent elsewhere, or new clubs that pop in and turn over each month. A beige, concrete mall from Clark/Addison to nearly Clark/Cornelia will alter the heart of Wrigley."

The Facebook group was started by Tara DeFrancisco, who describes herself as a liberal from Ohio, on her personal Facebook page. The group asks fellow social networkers to join the Facebook page and sign a petition to "show Ald. Tom Tunney what matters to the people of the 44th Ward." (So far, a little more than 600 Facebook people have signed the petition.)
Tunney's reaction, "Yeah, I heard about it."
The 44th Ward alderman and owner of Ann Sather's Restaurant, said he
respects the Facebook "youth movement," but they are misinformed.
Addison Park on Clark project has been vetted and has lots of neighborhood support, Tunney said. The alderman says the development will be good for neighbors and improve a current business climate that's often "feast or famine" and dependent on Cubs games and events at Wrigley Field.
Here's the original story by City Hall reporter Fran Spielman from earlier this month.
It's easy to argue -- and I would agree -- that for years Wrigleyville has been growing increasingly suburban (read Naperville) and home to transient 20-something apartment dwellers from Iowa, Ohio and Michigan.
I mean, who's really going to miss Bar Louie (which is very suburban, there's even one in Milwaukee) or Red Ivy and a couple of greasy pizza places? Nobody. The IO Theater, you could argue, will be missed. But they'll just find a new location, hopefully one with some parking.
Is it really worth getting riled up about? Really? If it was would Wrigleyvillians only rely on Facebook to get their point across? When the "Save Lincoln Square" people wanted to a stretch of local businesses from eminent domain a few years back they marched on Ald. Eugene "Mean Gene" Schulter's office. Then, Schulter killed the idea.
These online activists filled with faux Facebook outrage will have to log off and get off their butts. Otherwise, they're just Twittering their thumbs.

When the Obamas return to Kenwood, they'll have new neighbors -- a Chicago plastic surgeon and his wife who recently bought the mansion next door.

When plastic surgeon Dr. George Moynihan and his wife, Lara Moynihan, purchased the 6,000-square-foot 1906 colonial mansion next door to the Obama's for $1.4 million last month only the Realtors and Secret Service knew their identity. Public documents filed with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds have lifted the veil on the "First Neighbors", who plan to spend another $1 million renovating the home previously owned by the first family's pals Bill and Jacky Grimshaw.

Dr. Moynihan specializes in facial plastic surgery and is the medical director of Gold Coast Plastic Surgery, according to his website. It's unclear if the Moynihan's are Republicans or Democrats. Neither has voted in a primary election in Chicago or Cook County, according to public voting records. Lara Moynihan declined to comment on the Obama's planned return home for Memorial Day.
The big question: Will Michelle Obama welcome them with a pie?

Here's blog news ripped straight from Aimee Zmysly's Facebook page:

Aimee Pierog-Zmysly

"So the supreme court has denied our medical malpractice claim against Cherry Point Naval hospital. I sort of knew this was coming but its disappointing that Yuriy doesn't have the same rights as everyone else. I hope that the Feres doctrine will be abolished and that our active duty service members will have the right ...to sue if a military doctor makes a medical mistake."

Marine Cpl. Yuriy Zmysly suffered a sever brain injury at a military base hospital after surviving two war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. The "Feres Doctrine" is a law that prohibits active military personnel from suing the government for medical malpractice.
Aimee filed a medical malpractice lawsuit anyway, but it was tossed out of court and the appellate court refused to reconsider. And now the Supreme Court, a long shot, has done the same.

So now, it's time to check back with U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski and Sen. Dick Durbin, who both told me that they would look for legislative ways to change the Feres Doctrine to permit Yuriy, and soldiers in similar cases to sue in the case of serious malpractice claims.

Last I checked, here's what Durbin's spokesman Joe Shoemaker had to say: "People like Yuriy Zmysly, who put their lives on the line for their country, should have their day in court and a fair shake against the government that they risk their lives for. The government shouldn't be liable for every hangnail someone gets on a base, but that is not the case here. . . . If they hit a dead end with the Supreme Court, we'll go back to the drawing board to try another way with legislation."

The drawing board awaits.

Chicago folks continue to lend their support -- and cash -- to Natasha McShane and Stephanie Jurich, who were brutally beaten by a baseball bat wielding mugger in Bucktown last month.
The folks at Helpnatasha.net -- a coalition of Chicago's Irish community -- have declared June 13 'Natasha Day.'
The group is putting on two huge fundraisers -- one on the North Side at the Irish American Heritage Center and the other in the south suburbs at Gaelic Park. All proceeds will go to the McShane family to help pay for Natasha's expected medical expenses.

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Last week, Chicago punk band The Lawrence Arms donated the proceeds from their show at Subterranean to McShane and Jurich. Show organizers -- the guys at Reckless Records and Logan Bar -- told me the one-night event brought in $8,000 for McShane and Jurich.

Taxi driver/ writer Jack Clark was a great guy to have a beer (or three) with at his second home, The Grafton in Lincoln Square. But more than that he's written a gritty, noir crime novel that you really should read. It's inspired by years of overnights that Clark spent shuttling fares through Chicago's darkened streets inspired his pulp mystery Nobody's Angel -- the heart-breaking story of Eddie Miles, a down-on-his-luck cabbie turned amateur sleuth after discovering a mutilated hooker in a dark alley and hearing of the brutal murder of a taxi-driving buddy.
Nobody's Angel (Hard Case Crime, $7.99) is the reworked, retitled reprint of Clark's 1996 self-published debut, Relita's Angel, which he sold for 5 bucks a pop from the front seat of his cab. Clark says he unloaded about 450 books that way.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this YouTube video is priceless.

Here's a the rest of the story.

The Lawrence Arms plan to donate all the proceeds from their show at Subterranean, 2011 West North Ave., on Wednesday night to Natasha McShane and Stacy Jurich, who were brutally beaten while being mugged in the early hours of April 23.

The Lawrence Arms front man Brendan Kelly wrote on his blog: "As someone who's stumbled home from my share of bars at 3:30 in the morning, I feel a deep connection to this plight. I've been speaking with my co-conspirators and we all feel terrible. So, here's what we're gonna do: Me and my friend Chris and my friend Neil (both fellow stumbling-home-in-Chicago enthusiasts) are going to get together one night and play some songs that we've written for anyone who wants to pay to come see us do it. We'll be calling ourselves the Lawrence Arms, we'll be performing at the Subterranean on Wednesday the 19th of May. The show will be 17+ and every single dime of the money will go to these girls to help them with their bills and their rehab and...[deleted], honestly, I don't even care what they do with the money. If they need some hot fudge sundaes, fine. Go for it, get the biggest [deleted] hot fudge sundaes you can get. It's the least we can do as a city, right? Of course it is."

The Lawrence Arms show may be sold out. But downstairs in the lounge at Sub-T, Reckless Records is sponsoring a raffle (stuff from Rodan, Violet Hour, Big Star, Quimby's, Myopic and Cubs tickets) and DJs from the Wicker Park record store will be spinning. All the cover charges and raffle money is going to the victims and their families. Organizers expect the benefit will raise more than $5,000 for Natasha and Stacy. Details.

Aimee and Yuriy Zmysly, the Oak Lawn couple I wrote about last month, are having a pretty good month. Crews have started -- and are making great strides on -- construction to make their new home handicap accessible.

And now -- thanks to a new act passed with bipartisan support and signed by President Obama -- the government's finally helping out with cash.

The Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act.extends veterans' medical benefits and grants stipends of up to $35,000 a year to family members who give full-time, around-the-clock care to veterans. Aimee and Yuriy appeared at a news conference with Sen. Dick Durbin on Sunday.

Chicago native Bethany Dwyer has made a name for herself on the stand-up comedy circuit. She's also landed parts on NBC's "The Office," MTV's "Disaster Date" and has a bit part in Eddie Murphy's coming movie, "A Thousand Words." Check out the story in today's Sun-Times. You can learn more about her here. And catch her twitter posts here.

Bree Gordon is a hooker -- but, hey, not that kind of hooker. Get your mind out of the gutter. She knits and crochet's everything from banana sweaters (called fruit suits) to bikinis. Read about her here.
Gordon, who goes by the alias Crafty McSchnafty, sells her wares online. On Wednesdays, you can catch her at Mother's Too on Division for the single's bar's "Stitch and Bitch" knitting circle.

You've probably heard the story. In the early morning hours of April 23, Irish exchange student Natasha McShane, 23, and her friend Stacy Jurich, 24, were brutally beaten in a Bucktown mugging. Jurich is out of intensive care, but still left with serious injuries. She is recovering in rehab.
McShane remains in critical condition and it's unclear if, or how well, she will recover.

A fundraiser, put together by former Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan and other members of Chicago's Irish community, is planned for June 4th, from 6 to 9 p.m at Local 399's Union Hall at 22nd and Grove (just west of Canal. There will be live entertainment, food, drinks, and special guests. All proceeds will go directly to a trust set up for the McShane family at Signature Bank.
For more information, click here.