The Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, Tn. is one of my favorite music museums in the country. I’ve been chronicling the museum since 2003 when it opened on the site of the original Stax studio, which was razed in 1989.
I’ve leaned into the way the museum connects with local students through their Stax Music Academy. I had some of the inspired students on my WGN radio show in 2017 as they prepared to go to France, England, and Ireland to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Stax/Volt European Tour.
I’ve also made a minor nuisance of myself wondering aloud for 25 years why Chicago hasn’t been able to [...]
John Prine collection (Image courtesy of Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, items on loan from the John Prine family.)
Singer-songwriter John Prine traveled around the world.
But he performed with the comforts of home.
A collection of heartfelt treasures were always on a black-draped table at the center of the stage behind Prine. The materials provided comfort and emotional support for Prine as he faced large audiences.
The items celebrated his roots in Maywood, Ill. as well as his family and friends in Nashville, Tn. They included:
* A plastic motorcycle man [...]
Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Veeck thought outside the box.
One of the best ways to understand Veeck’s brilliant mind is to go inside a large plastic storage box of treasured clippings, notes, paperwork, and pictures covering Veeck’s years of owning the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, and St. Louis Browns.
It is a remarkable archive that has never been made public.
Mary Frances, Bill Veeck, and midget files.
There’s files and files and files: “How Veeck Got the Sox–1975.” “Scoreboard.” “Buys Browns 1951.” “Veeck-Cuba” “Disco Demolition.” “Amputation,” “Veeck in High School (Hinsdale [...]
Lee’s Barber Shop is in a tiny strip mall on the near north side of Naperville, Ill. A seasonal Dairy Queen sits south of the barbershop and a shuttered dry cleaner is on the north end of what is known as Modern Way Center. Lee’s has as much in common with the Las Vegas Strip as hair on Bruce Willis.
The new master barber at Lee’s is Noe Hernandez, Jr.
Hernandez grew up in the Naperville area, about 40 miles west of Chicago, before embarking on a career that took him to the Palmer House in Chicago, H.R.H. Truefitt, and Hill Barbers in London (the oldest barbershop in the world) and most recently master barber at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
