Spit Hit
It seems like everyone is "getting served" these days, and local MCs have no problem dishing it out. The raw talents of some of Chicago's finest MCs are served up fresh in Cherry Bomb's first feature film, "Rhyme Spitters," an 80-minute documentary that follows sixty-four young lyrical artists around a tournament from last summer in Wicker Park and at The Note. "I wanted to do an `8 Mile' meets `American Idol' kind of thing but better and more raw out in Chicago's neighborhood," says Cherry Bomb's founder, Rich Seng. Cherry Bomb, a free DVD and CD monthly publication that debuted in 2003, is paid through advertising and features local musicians and artists. The DVD (www.rhymespitters.com) is now available for free around town at more than twenty locations such as Reckless Records and Nick's Beer Garden. Also in the works from Seng: "Rhyme Spitters II," filming July 16 in Wicker Park and "Love Spitters," a reality dating game about the battles of love.

Bottle Baron
Chicago writer Jean Iversen knows how to serve up ideas when it comes to dining out in city restaurants without liquor licenses. In her new self-published book, "BYOB Chicago," Iversen has developed a guide to the bring-your-own-bottle lifestyle so many Chicagoans have been constrained to develop with the help of Mayor Daley's "problematic license politics." "I saw a mainstream following to dining out and bringing your own drinks, as well as the growing market of wine enthusiasts," says Iversen. "No one was covering this interesting convention." The book (www.BYOB-Chicago.com) lets you know how much money you can save by lugging those two or three bottles of red to dinner with you and provides numerous listings of wine and spirits stores where you can pick up your preferred poison on the way to nearly 150 Chicago eateries. "It's like going to a house party, with the laidback atmosphere in many neighborhood joints, but without the cleanup," Iverson says.

(2005-05-03)

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