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 [...]
Mid-century modern in Tulsa, Ok.
And for my next move….
I’ve rented apartments and bought a condo. I never owned a house. Before I packed it up I wanted to buy a small midcentury modern ranch house. It was in my DNA. I grew up in ranch houses in Naperville, Ill. (built 1966) and Columbus, Ohio (1959?). My brother owns a midcentury modern ranch house in Nashville, Tn.
It was all a return to forever.
I’ve read the magazine “Atomic Ranch” for years, although I will never have the money to trick out a house like the dreamsicles in Palm Springs, Ca., St. Paul, Mn. and Los Angeles. I wanted to unplug [...]
Ray and Wilma Yoder, Cracker Barrel and RV fans (Courtesy of Cracker Barrel)
GOSHEN, IND.—-Ray and Wilma Yoder watch the world roll by from the front porch of their 85-year-old farm house on County Road 34 in Goshen, Ind. While sitting next to each other on a twin rocking chair, Ray and Wilma wave to Amish neighbors who hold tight reins on their horse and carriage. Truckers and cars go too fast for this thin stretch of rural highway about 25 minutes southwest of Elkhart.
You see, Ray and Wilma always move in modest directions.
They met in 1953 in baptismal class at a Mennonite (new order Amish) church [...]
Canadian sunsets (D. Hoekstra photo)
TROIS-RIVIERES, QUEBEC, CANADA—Like all great tiki establishments, the Hotel-Motel Coconut remains true to its original vision.
Gerry and Madelaine Landry opened the Coconut in 1961 in Trois-Riviers (Three-Rivers), a 90 mile drive north of Montreal. They wanted the Coconut to capture the spirit of their Tahitian honeymoon.
Amazingly, the place hasn’t changed much in 56 years
Current owner Valerie Boisvert looked around the dark 180-seat Coconut bar that is loaded with rattan chairs, totem poles, tiki statues and shell lamps. “They brought all this back from [...]
William W. Powers State Recreation Area–in Chicago.
Urban camping has spread its wings at the William W. Powers State Recreation Area.
The 580-acre park is the only State Park in the City of Chicago. The recreation area is at 130th Avenue O on the far southeast side of the city. The park’s jewel is the 419-acre Wolf Lake that borders Hammond, Ind., and although it has been described as a “hidden gem,” nearly half a million people visit annually.
Interim Site Superintendent Levi Bray said that at least 60 per cent are minority outdoors enthusiasts, which skews up from national camping demographics. There’s [...]
Minor league baseball, Clinton , Ia., June 13, 2017 (D. Hoekstra photo)
CLINTON, IA.—America was a different place when I began writing the Glove Compartment 25 years ago. Life is now framed by more jagged edges. People continue to leave big cities for the small and mid-sized cities that define the Midwest League. Where you unlock the doors, you unlock your heart.
When I began traveling in and out of Illinois to explore baseball’s backroads for the Kane County Cougars and the Midwest League, at least the state had a working budget. Just after this Fourth of July, Illinois passed a budget after a two year [...]
Mark Hamburger (Courtesy of the St. Paul Saints)
ST. PAUL, MN.—It was opening night of another renegade season for the St. Paul Saints. The Saints were celebrating their 25th anniversary as a franchise in baseball’s independent leagues, a place where there is still a flicker of light between nearly closed doors.
On May 18 a sell out crowd of 8,294 filled CHS Field in downtown St.Paul in 52- degree weather. Fans were motivated in part by a Mary Tyler Moore tam giveaway. Moore, who died in January, played a Twin Cities based television news reporter the hit television series “Mary Tyler Moore.” The show’s theme [...]
A few of our Springfield friends coming to FitzGerald’s in Berwyn (from far left Ruell Chappell, Nick Sibley on guitar, Abbey Waterworth, far right Donnie Thompson (and there’s the late great Bobby Lloyd Hicks on drums).
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.—The unadorned beauty of American regionalism can be heard in the songs of Abbey Waterworth. The 20-year-old musician is majoring in History and minoring in Museum Studies at Missouri State University (MSU) in Springfield. Her voice is as pure as mountain rain and filled with the promise of the morning sun. Waterworth is on the fast train to be to the Ozarks what a [...]
PEORIA, Ill .–The earth moves but it doesn’t shift quite as fast in Peoria, Ill.
As you roll into Peoria on I-74 across the Illinois River, you are met by a humble skyline that consists of the 50-year old Mark Twain Hotel, AFL-CIO headquarters and Caterpillar headquarters. Nestled beneath all that faded promise, like nuggets of gold in a stream, is Jim’s Steakhouse–or Jim’s as locals call it.
Jim’s has been around since 1960. The late Peoria Chiefs owner Pete Vonachen, his baseball bud Harry Caray and Peoria native Jack Brickhouse were Jim’s regulars. I’ve been going to watch Midwest League baseball in Peoria since 1985 when [...]M. Ward solo. I’m a fan.
She collected bookmarks.Before Monday night’s concert she sat down and tried to open a taped white envelope. She struggled with the paper as the old yellow tape would not give. She finally removed a 1933 Chicago World’s Fair bookmark from the envelope.
It was a brass work of modest art, just like the one my father saved when he attended the “Century of Progress” fair as a 13-year-old. A similar bookmark was found in my father’s belongings when we cleaned out my parents house after their deaths. People say there are signals from beyond? Who knows? But her [...]
Bobby Lloyd Hicks, 1947-2017
“Bobby” Lloyd Hicks.
What a great name, what a great man.
Bobby Lloyd Hicks–it sounded like he came from somewhere big and dusty, like Texas, an old Kansas City steakhouse or a Gary Cooper western. But no siree Bob, the modest Mr. Hicks was born in 1947 in tiny Marshalltown, Iowa, where in 1852 future Baseball Hall of Famer Adrian “Cap” Anson became the first European born in the farming community.
And Mr. Hicks was an ace of hearts.
He was the drummer-vocalist for the Skeletons/Morells/NRBQ and [...]
Me and Ernie at Billy Williams Hall of Fame Induction, 1987. No dress code.
With apologies to The Band…….
I pulled into Wrigleyville, I was feelin’ about half past dead
I just need some place where I can lay my head
“Hey, Mister Rahm, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?”
He just grinned and shook my hand and, “No”, was all he said
Take a load off Ernie
Take a load for free
Take a load off Ernie
And you put [...]
CLEVELAND, OH.–It is 347 miles from Chicago to Cleveland, Ohio
And 71 years.
Slow down and enjoy the ride. Don’t let third base coaches Wendell Kim or Tony Muser wave you home.
Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
That’s the call of the Cubs fan.
The autumn drive from Chicago to Cleveland is as humble as Kyle Hendricks. You cross the Calumet River, dart through the green, gold and yellow trees near Michigan City and see where homes are for sale at $499 a month at Arrowhead Lake near Toledo.
The red barns of western Ohio look like [...]
Our Naperville house, April, 2016
Rarely do I tear up at the theater.
Frankly, rarely do I even go to the theater.
But “Naperville,” which opened Sept. 6 at Theater Wit, and runs through Oct. 16 at 1229 W. Belmont in Chicago, hit home. And home is the centerpiece of the splendid work from Naperville born playwright Mat Smart.
“Naperville” is framed by nuance and empathy, characteristics that are key to getting by in urban and suburban living.
“Naperville” premiered off-Broadway in 2o14 at New York’s Slant Theatre Project and New York [...]
Tracy the Mermaid (Dave Hoekstra photo and tip.)
GREAT FALLS, MT.–The wide open spaces of Montana can spawn the tallest of tales.
Located in sleepy downtown Great Falls, the mid-century O’Haire Motor Inn is anchored by the Sip n’ Dip Lounge. Guests walk up a short flight of stairs past traditional western lithographs into the lounge.
The dimly lit bar has a tiki motif replete with a 1960s bamboo ceiling. On Wednesday through Friday nights “Piano Pat” Sponheim is playing lounge music with a subtle polka beat. She has been the Sip n’ Dip headliner [...]
Oceanic Arts co-founders LeRoy Schmaltz (far left) and Bob Van Oosting (far right) with author and his friend, April 2016.
WHITTIER, Ca.–Every day is a getaway day at Oceanic Arts.
The holy grail of American tiki culture is tucked back in an industrial park in Whittier, Calif., the early home of President Richard Nixon.
Oceanic Arts is to the free blue seas what the Watergate complex was to fishy burglars.
Oceanic Arts is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
Founders LeRoy Schmaltz and Bob Van Oosting are still hanging ten. [...]
Courtesy of National Blues Museum
ST. LOUIS–The National Blues Museum is in a former department store in downtown St. Louis. The museum got a lot of love even before its April 2 grand opening, as the $14 million center was named a top travel destination by the New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine.
I waited until the doors opened to get my mojo talkin’.
The National Blues Museum is a snappy, well told story with lots of panels, posters and photographs. It has an ambitious vision. It is billed as the only institution of its kind dedicated exclusively to preserving and [...]
JOHNSON CREEK, WIS.—-The band Starship reopened the historically quirky Gobbler Theater Sunday in Johnson Creek, about half way between Madison and Milwaukee, Wis. Vocalist Stephanie Calvert channeled her inner Grace Slick reminding the older crowd to “Feed Your Head” in the band’s cover of the Jefferson Airplane 1967 hit “White Rabbit.”
Only the late 1960s would be able to birth the Gobbler Motel and Supper Club.
Feed your head, indeed.
The Gobbler complex was created in 1967 by area turkey farmer Clarence Hartwig, who decorated his dining room in pink colors and pink [...]
