The Des Plaines Theatre, circa 1936. Postcard image via Revitalized Des Plaines.
The newly remodeled Des Plaines Theatre is a heavenly addition to the Chicago area’s entertainment landscape. The theater opened in August 1925 as a vaudeville and movie house. The Des Plaines reopened late last year after an ambitious restoration that rolled through the pandemic. The historic theater had been empty since 2014.
The city of Des Plaines purchased the art deco theater for $1.3 million in May 2018. The city partnered with nearby Rivers Casino, which chipped in up to $ 2 million for renovations. The city [...]
Bo Diddley house, 4746 S. Langley on 9/20/21. Image courtesy of Chicago Fire Department.
There is a gritty beat to the music of Chicago.
It is deeply appointed, carries no pretense, and is something to hold on to. Forever.
In 2004 the late Bo Diddley told me he developed his famous beat when he heard Gene Autry’s “(I Got Spurs That ) Jingle Jangle Jingle” on the radio on the south side of Chicago.
Diddley was born Ellas Bates McDaniel in Mc Comb, Miss. just north of the Louisiana border.
His family moved to 4746 S. Langley in Chicago when he was seven. They wanted him to escape the sharecropper’s [...]
It is tough to be alone.
Music, books, and foodways can form a meaningful bridge to a welcoming place. A point of memory. And inspiration. I thought about these elements while contributing suggestions to the Music Lives Here multi-media project created by the City of Chicago.
The 50 Music Lives Here sites define the raw individualism of the Chicago ethic: Willie Dixon’s Yambo Records, 7771 S. Racine, the pioneering punk club O’Banion’s, 661 N. Clark, the Earl of Old Town, 1615 N. Wells, and many others, obvious and not so obvious.
The Music Lives Here markers are on sidewalks and feature a QR code for time travelers to gather more information. Starting [...]
Chuck E. Weiss (Image via ANTI- records)
Singer-raconteur Chuck E. Weiss lived in a world of flickering neon where every ashtray was filled and sunset hearts wandered on the edges of empty. Weiss was popularized in the 1979 Rickie Lee Jones hit “Chuck E’s in Love” but I came to know him in 1987 when he was headlining Chuck E. Weiss and the Godddam Liars, an industrial-strength rock n’ soul revue at The Central in West Hollywood, Ca.
Chuck Edward Weiss died on July 20 after a battle with cancer. He was 76 years old.
Exit numbers: 7/20/21. Sounds lucky.
Once in a while, the Chicago Sun-Times [...]
