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Chicago Blackhawks & Dixieland Jazz
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Chicago Blackhawks & Dixieland Jazz

by Dave HoekstraMay 28, 2010

May 28, 2010—

Maybe this is how my reporting career began.

I was 10 years old when I first sat in the smoky, stinky balcony of Chicago Stadium. On March 12, 1966 my Dad took me to my first Chicago Blackhawks game. In the third period the Blackhawks Bobby Hull fired a wicked slap shot past New York Rangers goalie Cesare Maniago to become the first player in the National Hockey League to score more than 50 goals in a season.

Apparently I was excited by all the beer and confetti.

I still get excited by beer and confetti.

Everyone in Chicago is talking about bandwagon jumping as the Blackhawks play in the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961. Sports radio guy Dan McNeil has declared there is no need to submit your resume as a Blackhawks fan. Then in today’s newspaper, he laid out his resume as a Blackhawks fan.

Two minutes for high shticking.

I am not here to do that. While people reminisce about Bobby Hull, Red Hay and Lou Angotti (they did get assists on that historic goal) and the good ol’ days of the Blackhawks, I wonder what happened to Chicago’s late night Dixieland scene. Look at this program (upper right): How about that “House of Dixieland” with the best Irish Coffee in town?

In one sense, the collective improvisation of Dixieland jazz is not unlike a power play in hockey. And Dixieland’s greatest hits include “St. Louis Blues” and The New Orleans Feetwarmers’ “Maple Leaf Rag.”

Go Hawks! I’ll be celebrating in the Shakey’s Pizza of my mind.

About The Author
Dave Hoekstra
Dave Hoekstra is a Chicago author-documentarian. He was a columnist-critic at the Chicago Sun-Times from 1985 through 2014, where he won a 2013 Studs Terkel Community Media Award. He has written books about heartland supper clubs, minor league baseball, soul food and the civil rights movement and driving his camper van across America.

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