All I can say is, WOW! I'd love to see inside this palace . . . and I'm thinking that the Neil Young concert this past weekend would have really been a wonderful way to experience the place! : ) Here's a bit of history for those who are interested in this kind of thing: The Chicago Theatre opened in October of 1921 and was the first large, lavish movie palace in America. Built in French Baroque style, its exterior features a miniature replica of Paris' Arc de Triomphe sculpted above its State Street marquee. Faced in a glazed, off-white terra cotta, the triumphal arch is sixty feet wide and six stories high. The grand lobby, modeled after the Royal Chapel at Versailles, is five stories high and surrounded by gallery promenades at the mezzanine and balcony levels. The grand staircase is patterned after that of the Paris Opera House and ascends to the various levels of the Great Balcony. The 3,600 seat auditorium is seven stories high, more than one half of a city block wide, and nearly as long. The vertical sign "C-H-I-C-A-G-O," at nearly six stories high, is one of the few such signs in existence today. A symbol of State Street and Chicago, the sign and marquee are landmarks in themselves, as is the 29-rank Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ. During its first 40 years, The Chicago Theatre presented the best in live and film entertainment, including John Phillip Sousa, Duke Ellington, Jack Benny, and Benny Goodman. The Chicago Theatre was redecorated in preparation for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair and "modernized" in the 1950s when stage shows, with few exceptions, were discontinued. In the 1970s, under the ownership of the Plitt Theatres, The Chicago Theatre was the victim of a complex web of social and economic factors causing business to sag. It became an ornate but obsolete movie house, closing on September 19, 1985. In 1986, Chicago Theatre Restoration Associates, with assistance from the City of Chicago, bought and saved the theatre from demolition and began a meticulous nine-month multi-million dollar restoration. A gala performance by Frank Sinatra reopened the theatre on September 10, 1986. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, #79000822.

The plans for this smoker come from Alton Brown. The elements: *large terra cotta pot *terra cotta dish with the same diameter *hot plate *metal pan *grill grate *fry thermometer *cinderblocks *extension cord The hot plate goes in the bottom of the pot with the cord running out of the hole (in this case, we dissected the hotplate so that the plastic housing sat outside of the pot, connected to the element via the wires). The metal pan (with woodchips) goes inside the pot. The grill grate goes on top of that and holds the meat. Top the whole thing with a saucer and thermometer, plug 'er in, and you're good to go! Total cost: $39.50 (for everything except the cinderblocks and the extension cord, which we already had)