We wanted to pick just the right person to interview at Sidetrack, considering it was showtunes night, and no one impressed us more than Joe, who knew all the words to most of the songs and pretended to know the rest.

A very talented graphic designer/singer/emoter, we think Joe has a future in show business if he learns some of the male roles.

Read our full interview with Joe after the jump.

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We heard that tonight was showtunes night at Chicago's "premiere video bar" Sidetrack and the thought of seeing a room full of homos singing along to a big video screen of Ethel Merman performing "No Business Like Show Business" proved too enticing for us to stay away.

So after a delicious dinner at local gay pan-Asian eatery Ping Pong (on N. Broadway and Buckingham), we strolled over to Sidetrack to catch a few tunes. There we met up with fellow blogger Rod 2.0 and shared a bit of catty blogosphere gossip that anyone else would find dreadfully boring.

But back to the scene: Sidetrack has an 80s futuristic decor that some would consider a bit cheesy, but we will let the photos speak for themselves. We really loved the wrought iron bathroom because walking in felt like leaving show choir rehearsal and entering a Falcon dungeon. We giggled at the contrast.

The bar is decked out with video screens everywhere and, as promised, they were showing video footage of showtune performances from all eras. Not as many patrons knew the words as we expected, but they were doing better than we were. Take the full tour after the jump.

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A trip to the Windy City wouldn't be complete without a photo in front of the impressive Buckingham Fountain (aka the Married With Children Fountain), so here I am. Throughout our two-day visit here in Chicago, we have been so impressed with how clean and well-landscaped the city is. The waterfront is pristine and gorgeous, the sidewalks are free of poop and garbage, and even the cross-town expressway is attractive and well-designed. Walk with us after the jump.

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Today we stumbled upon one of Chicago's hidden secrets: the plentiful and varied supply of lubes at the corner pharmacy! We have all been in a crunch and been forced to buy Astroglide or (God forbid) KY at CVS in the middle of the night, and the end result is never good. Well here in Chicago at Walgreen's, which is arguably the most conservative of all the big pharmacy chains, we found they sold more varieties of lube than they did celebrity perfumes (only Shania's and Britney's were in sight).

There was ID, Wet, Probe, and even something called "Elbow Grease" that came in intimidating tubs. We weren't even in the gay neighborhood, yet while shopping for a pen we came face to face with the biggest bottle of ID Glide we have ever seen. See the detail shots after the jump, along with the moral of this story.

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Lewis came to Chicago via Belize, and wouldn't live anywhere else in the world, except maybe New York. He has done some "gay modelling" locally, but we won't delve too deeply into what that means.

We took a few minutes out of his evening at Roscoe's last night to ask him a few questions about his home city. He proved to be very friendly. Read his full interview after the jump.

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Every Chicagoan who wrote to us before the road trip started said that we have to check out Roscoe's, and that even on a Sunday night it would be lively. Well it did not disappoint. What looks like a little neighborhood bar when you first walk in proves to be much larger, with four bars, an outdoor garden patio, a dark room for dancing in the back complete with dry ice and strobe lights, and lots of "cute young guys and the men who love them" as reader David described.

We enjoyed some $3 beer and watched campy music videos while soaking up the genuinely friendly and unpretentious attitude of the bar patrons. We're not sure if it's a midwestern thing, but we already feel at home here.

Photos of the bar and back room after the jump.

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After recovering from the depression induced by the mall in Flint, MI, we arrived in Chicago just in time for the Captured! By Robots show. This band is the creation of J-Bot, who plays music with a band of home-made robots that all play their own instruments. The current tour is "I Got Married By Captured! By Robots," during which J-Bot, who is an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church, marries couples, gay, straight or otherwise during the concert (and offers instant annulments afterwards for the faint of heart).

Val and Ava, pictured above, were two lovely ladies who are in the same roller derby league and decided take their status as "league wives" to the next level. Check out photos of their delicious wedding cake as well as pictures of the band after jump.

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• Egypt has an astonishingly low HIV infection rate, but not because everyone is using condoms. Gays are afraid to get tested because their hospital records might be used against them in police raids, so the freely available tests are underutilized. [Pink News]

• Black voters are repeatedly duped by the Republican party's homophobic tactics, according to a new study. [365 Gay]

• You can now officially find gay sex inside of Walmart. The Brokeback Mountain DVD will be sold as planned despite protests from Christian groups. [LA Times]

• The community of family-friendly Crystal Lake, IL will allow the Gay Games to send its perverted, homosexual rowers to compete on their beloved body of water. [ABC7]

• Syphilis is on the rise in Chicago. Shall we issue an orange alert or can citizens smarten up and start playing safe? [The Advocate]

Some of us at Queerty have family in Chicago. Some of us don't. As we mentioned yesterday, the gay games are scheduled to kick off in Chicago this summer, and all events had venues secured… except rowing. The Gay Games organizers wanted to host the event at Crystal Lake but some bigoted locals had other ideas. A city council vote clocked in at 2-2, but just Tuesday, the full council voted again at 2-3. Does any of this really matter or not? Let's hear from the little people.

"I'm here because I've lived in this town pretty much all my life, and it makes me furious that the town I grew up in, a town that has expanded and succeeded, would be looking at barring this because of [sexual orientation]," Spoor said. "It shouldn't make a difference; it's a sport activity."

Spoor's comment to a reporter sparked several angry comments.

"I do not want these queers coming to my hometown," said Larry Reyer, 55, a mechanic and 29-year resident. "Like I asked before, what revenue are you bringing in? What are you bringing in except stirring up all these problems?"

Um, what problems? A bunch of guys waking up at 5 AM to row a boat across a lake? No wonder Jason Voorhees killed all those people at Crystal Lake – they were a bunch of idiots.

Well, OK, maybe not all of them. We hope he spares those uber-tolerant Renzi family members.

Crystal Lake gives OK to Gay Games [Chicago Sun-Times]

We certainly don't like to dirty our fingers by pointing them in blame, but it seems there is a bit of a scandal brewing in Illinois.

Louis Farrakhan, the irascible Minister of the Nation of Islam, told the audience at his annual "Savior's Day" in Chicago the root of all evil in the world comes down to the Hollywood Jews, for promoting "lesbianism, homosexuality," and other "filth" in society. "It's wicked Jews, false Jews that make it a crime for you to preach the word of God, then they call you homophobic!"

Unfortunately, a member of the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes is Sister Claudette Marie Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan's Director of Protocol at the Nation of Islam. And she invited other members of the Illinois Commission to Farrakhan's speech. That must have been fun.

The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, says he had no idea of her involvement with NoI. In fact, he knows her as Claudette Marie Johnson.

CONTINUED »

We just finished watching the Winter Olympics and with Johnny Weir and the rest of those fit figure skaters, we can safely say the games were as gay as they always are. But this is a lucky year for us queers. Sure we had the flamboyant Olympics but this Summer will bring not only the return of the Gay Games, but the 1st Out Games which are to be played in one of our fav North American cities; Old Gay Montreal.

The last few Gay Games have ended in bankruptcy. So the gay person’s bible, The Advocate is showing its support (and giving both queer games some much-need advertising) by doing what it can to help from prevent the games from going the way of Ellen’s sit-com career; They’ve featured hot athlete on its cover. That alone has convinced us to make a trip to the Windy City this summer. That’s what we call a spectator sport.

Different games, familiar hurdles [The Advocate]

Steamworks, the bathhouse in Chicago, is doing something really incredible in the fight against AIDS. The club, which also operates clubs in San Juan, Toronto, and Berkeley, will begin free genotype testing for any man who tests positive for HIV.

For those who don’t know what genotype testing, read below:

Genotype testing is a process by which doctors can isolate what drugs will work on a specific virus, significantly cutting down on the trial-and-error method of prescribing a suitable treatment that doctors–and more important, HIV patients–would otherwise have to deal with. "It's a snapshot of where your virus is at–where your resistance is–and it eliminates a lot of the guesswork," says Kant. "I want to stress the importance of this. People in a low-income situation can now have this test without having to push and shove and beg and borrow to be able to benefit from this extremely expensive technology."

Not that we’ve been to a sex club or anything (yeah, right) but we’re just a little confused as to how the process will work. Will testing occur before or after checking your clothes? Will the doctors be on hand at 4am? Will the testing be a buzzkill to some of the party boys?

We’ll have to wait and see.

Steamworks [Official Site]
Seven Days in Chicago [New City Chicago]

• We're pretty sure that most of the astronomical budget for Superman Returns is going toward reducing Brandon Routh's bulge. [NY Post]

• South Africa's Gay and Lesbian Alliance is being slammed as a "joke" made up of "one publicity-hungry man." No, it's not Matt Drudge. [The Herald]

• Chicago's upcoming Gay Games are bringing some people to tears. We'll be sure to bring plenty of Kleenex on our way to the Windy City. [Wednesday Journal of Oak Park]

• We'd love to see a Gay Walk of Fame in Palm Springs. But Kevin Spacey probably won't appreciate his name being mentioned for consideration. [The Desert Sun]

• Clay Aiken is trolling the net for online gay hook-ups?! You don't say! [Queer Day]