I'm taking a road Trip to Chicago next month, first time except for a one night stop over 10 years ago. Which record stores are good to check out and what venues show I check for shows???

I went to Dave's Records, which I think was on Clark. The owner (Dave, I presume) was pretty nice and I found a couple of good records there. My general impression of Chicago record stores were that they were expensive, even compared to the ones I've frequented in NYC and Boston. The Reckless Records chain was pretty meh.... Probably about 80% of their stock was new stuff. That all said, I probably only hit about half the places I could have.

Quimbys books was pretty cool. I got a great Fantagraphics book about 30s-40s superhero comics. Myopic Books in that neighborhood was pretty good too... It had that used bookstore smell.

My band is going up to Chicago to record this weekend and I, too, would like to know if anything rad is going on there or where I should look. In response to Ken: I know that Quimby's bookstore is an excellent stop for great zines - as well as Chicago Comics. There used to be a pretty rad record shop on Clark Street near the Metro. But its been years... That area in general (Wrigleyville) is full of cool places.