MINNEAPOLIS—One of the greatest baseball promotions in recent years was “Prince Night” at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. The event was on June 8, a day after the fallen rock star’s 60th birthday. The first 10,000 fans received inflatable purple guitars that replicated the custom made Prince symbol guitar he played at the rainy Bears-Colts Super Bowl in Miami.
A special ticket package included commemorative purple baseball caps with the Prince symbol. A post-game fireworks show was themed with Prince hits like “Raspberry Beret.” The Twins struck up an exclusive merchandising deal with the Prince estate, so yes there were commemorative baseballs with the Prince [...]
Ozarks portrait courtesy of Jim Mayfield.
I learned many things from nearly 30 visits to Springfield, Mo. over the past ten years. but paramount is the way to live through the spirit of music. Unfiltered rhythms of life are everywhere in the “Queen City of the Ozarks” ; in the bars, the cars, the art , the photography, the food. Music cannot escape these influences.
Our 90-minute documentary is called “The Center of Nowhere, The Spirit and Sounds of Springfield, Mo.” It premieres May 20 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Robbie Fulks appears May 19 in a songwriter session and his performance [...]
Tail Dragger at Cook County Jail (Photos by Jon Sall)
James Yancy “Tail Dragger” Jones was confronted by fellow blues musician Bennie “Boston Blackie” Houston in the early morning hours of July 11, 1993 at the Delta Fish Market at Jackson and Kedzie. They had an ongoing dispute about payment at that year’s Chicago Blues Festival. Blackie had threatened Tail Dragger with a knife and according to 1993 court records, Tail Dragger testified that he shot Blackie in self defense. Blackie was hit in the left eye.
Blackie, 49, died on the scene.
Tail Dragger was convicted of second-degree [...]
Our parents told us not to get rid of the dining room mirror.
The mirror with rosewood trim stands on three legs and is 6’5” tall. It has always been bigger than me. While growing up in Naperville, the mirror was in the corner of our formal dining room. The mirror was the quiet guest at Thanksgiving dinners. For my Mom the mirror was a peek into her past when it stood in the corner of her parent’s dining room in downstate Taylorville.The January move into my mid-century dream house has been challenging.
Who knew about all the complicated red light signs in Westchester, Il.? “Right turn on red must yield to U-turn?” Sounds like some kind of [...]
