Music
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June 9, 2021

Encountering Sly Stone

Sly Stone at his Marquette Park piano. We should have written a song together. (Photo by Phil Moloitis.)

 

I don’t recall the tip that led me to the Prime & Tender, an oddball nightclub-restaurant at the corner of 63rd and Harlem in south suburban Stickney. It was the spring of 1983 and I was a staff writer at the Suburban Chicago Sun-Times and was freelancing for the Reader and the Illinois Entertainer.

The Prime & Tender was not the Pump Room. Patrons walked through a cheesy, long mirrored hallway as if they were boarding an old cruise ship. They sat along the perimeter of the multi-colored dance [...]

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May 18, 2021

Steve Goodman & Things That Touch The Soul

Steve Goodman in his favorite outerwear. (Courtesy of Rosanna Goodman)

 

Beloved Chicago singer-songwriter Steve Goodman did not miss much in his 36 years.

That’s how he wrote “City of New Orleans,” his 1971 ballad about a fading America. Goodman was taking the original City of New Orleans train from the Illinois Central station in Chicago with his wife  Nancy to visit her family in Southern Illinois. She fell asleep next to him. Goodman looked out at the fast-moving farms from his window. Time was flying. Inside he saw restless riders, train conductors, and old men in the club car. He kept score. He was a [...]

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April 28, 2021

Unprecedented collection of Illinois music history at Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Howlin’ Wolf harmonica, 1950’s (On loan from Bettye Kelly.)

 

SPRINGFIELD, Il.–”The State of Sound: A World of Music From Illinois” has been called one of the most ambitious exhibits in the 16-year history of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in downtown Springfield.

“The State of Sound” features Miles Davis’s custom-made red trumpet, Steve Goodman’s handwritten lyrics to “City of New Orleans,” Mahalia Jackson’s first Decca record from 1937 , and Curtis Mayfield’s 1970s paisley pants and vest suit. There are more than 125 artifacts that relate to the [...]

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April 12, 2021

John Prine’s table of love

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 from [...]

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