The view of my Chicago street, 10 a.m. Dec. 25, 2010
Dec. 26, 2010—
I scoffed at the claim of rats chewing on the wiring of cars parked in our lot on the west side of Chicago. I’ve lived in Chicago for more than 25 years and never heard of this.
But rats disabled the cars of two neighbors and on Christmas Eve I think it happened to me. I’m taking my car in tomorrow.
I did some research and in recent years auto manufacturers have used more environmentally acceptable (and cheaper) soy based plastics as wiring insulation. I guess that’s like a beer and a shot for rodents. We’ve been using mothballs as a deterrent and that has seemed to do the trick [...]
Meeting Black Elvis, New Year’s Eve 1987.
Dec. 23, 2010—
New Year’s Eve. Where do I begin? That’s what New Year’s Day is about, right? I’m getting the feeling this New Year’s Eve will be like New Year’s Eve 1998. My Chicago friends Bob and Cleo met me at the Snow Flake Lounge, a tiny bar adjacent to the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Snow Flake Motel south of St. Joseph, Mich.
A local Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline husband-and-wife team hosted a karaoke party. Bob and Cleo were staying with some friends. I stayed at the Snow Flake, where my one-light bulb room had minimal heat and a mattress that was crazy hard. The lounge was packed with locals on a snowy [...]
Dec. 14, 2010—
Maybe some of you have been to Ruby’s Bar & Grill on the Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn, N.Y. Maybe not.
But everyone has the desire for an endless summer.
Ruby’s closed last month. It opened in 1934 and was the oldest bar on Coney Island. You could sit outside, stare at the Atlantic Ocean and understand just how small you are in this world. Life is not meant to be taken so seriously. They knew that at Ruby’s.
I remember dancing to Tito Puente and Ronnie Hawkins’ “Who Do You Love?” near Ruby’s jukebox. One time I saw a middle-aged African-American woman in breathless hip-huggers and chesty halter top. She was sucking on a [...]
Dec. 8, 2010—
I like to think I know a little about a lot of things, but I had never seen a real live tiny Christmas tree. I mean, a three-foot North Carolina Fraser Fir with real needles. You put a cup of water in a tree stand and everything.
The orange ribbon on one of about seven branches says it is a “Tabletop Tree.” It seems this tree is for someone in a transient apartment or prison.
I do live alone and over the weekend forked over $20 for one of these lame trees. No one could stop me. I’ve seen three-foot tall artifical trees, but not real ones. What’s next? Live micro-palm trees?
I recently decorated my Christmas tree. It took about three [...]
