Laura Hawbaker

All is quiet and peaceful on Clark Street in Andersonville. Some local boys step into Simon’s Tavern for a beer. A brisk wind blows, and a fresh, spring sun shines. In the distance, the ominous scuffle of feet. Groans, boding evil. They round the corner, a menacing wave of 200 lurching figures, faces peeling with rotten flesh. Low, guttural moans for "brains!"

It’s Chicago’s first-ever Zombie Pub Crawl, organized by local improv theater troupe pH Productions. The horde hits three Andersonville bars—Simon’s, Charlie’s Ale House and Hamburger Mary’s. As they go by a local Einstein’s, one zombie groans, "Grar! I want brain bagel!" When they pass the Starbucks packed with coffee hounds and Mac-users, dozens of zombies claw at the windows, their faces plastered to the glass.

The Zombie Pub Crawl is the (ahem) brainchild of pH members Alaina Hoffman and Jason Geis, who swiped the idea from a similar crawl that took place in Minnesota. Geis explains, "People have been cooped up for the winter. We’ve been zombies for so long, let’s break out our inner zombie and do this. We found out what days weren’t Cubs weekends and went gung-ho!"

Ben Wilson, a tourist from Detroit, is caught off guard by the zombie horde while he waits outside Simon’s. "You would not see this in a million years where I’m from," he laughs. "I got here yesterday. I wanted a little taste of everything Chicago had to offer: Millennium Park, the Sears Tower… and, apparently, zombies!"

(2008-04-29)

Also by Laura Hawbaker

Globetrottin'
It’s Monday at the Globe Pub, and paper bedecks the tables like place settings. Typed on the face of each sheet are detailed instructions: crumple into a ball and hurl at the performers deemed "a waste of time." Patrons boo at the top of their lungs and gleefully chuck wads at the stage. Hecklers shout with free abandon. Occasionally the on-stage act scoops up a projectile and lobs it back at the crowd
(2008-04-08)

Mass Religion
It is Saturday at the Epiphany Episcopal Church, a 120-year-old house of worship that is pounding bass music from within. Lucas is performing with the Final Salvation, one of many music acts at Collaboraction’s fifth annual Carnaval, a fundraiser for the innovative non-profit theater troupe. Bushmills, Solve RGB, Dark Wave Disco and the Blue Ribbon Glee Club all contribute their time, money and talent to the divinity of this ethereal rock party
(2008-04-01)

Boarding School
March 20, the five-year anniversary of the Iraq War. Kristen Brooks, a Mother McAuley High School student, is participating in a protest against waterboarding, the controversial interrogation technique that the Bush administration claims is within the limits of the Geneva conventions, but which many condemn as torture
(2008-03-25)

Five Long Years
Within spitting distance of the United Center, a Bush/Cheney ’04 campaign sign hangs askance from a chain link fence; it’s the only indicator a poster revolution is taking place. Inside the otherwise nondescript brick compound, volunteers in ink-splattered jeans use stencils, silk screens and spray paint to create hundreds of anti-war posters. They’ll paste their work in neighborhoods across the city to coincide with the five-year anniversary of the Iraq War on March 19
(2008-03-18)

The Pursuit of Chicagoist
(2008-03-05)

Monster Mash
(2008-02-26)

Everyone's Got Issues
(2008-02-12)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment