Nelson Algren when Wicker Park was real.
Early in his first term President Obama made noise about bringing back a new deal of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) as a method to resurrect the economy. It is too bad this never came to pass.
Writers, artists, former newspaper journalists and photographers could chronicle the green economy, foodways and stories of the scores of immigrants who are changing America’s landscape.
Engaging state travel guides were written between 1935 and 1943 through the Federal Writer’s Project of the WPA. I still use them today when I travel. [...]
Caregiver art by Ted Crow, Cleveland Plain Dealer
We are a quiet but intrepid tribe, those of us who are in the growing number of parent caregivers.
We are the I’m Coming Soon Platoon.
I’ve refrained from posting much about my summer journey: taking care of my 92-year-old mom with dementia and heart disease and a father with Parkinson’s Disease who turned 94 on Nov. 17. Perhaps their challenges are private. But I now know the pharmaceutical department at the Meier store in Aurora like the back of my hand. Nitrile exam gloves? Aisle 4. Personal cleaning wipes: Aisle 2. [...]
Jeremy Pollack portrait made by James Iska two months ago.
Jeremy Pollack lived in a black and white world which fit him just fine.
His love of noir’, a 1950s love song and the smell of fresh newsprint shaped a colorful life. Pollack died on Nov. 17 after a short bout with pancreatic cancer. He was 55 years old.
His death came just two months after he released “The Hard-Boiled Detective 1,” an acclaimed collection of pulp short stories set in Chicago that he wrote under the pen name Ben Solomon. The writing is tight and rhythmic which amplifies the drama.
Copyright Hector Maldonado
Istanbul is an old city of deep shadows.
The density of 14 million people, regal mosques and the history of the capital of Turkey creates a humble stage. Istanbul has been the capital of four empires, ranging from the Roman Empire (330-395) to the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922).
We are all just passing through.
In March, 2012 I visited Istanbul. Chicago photographer Hector Maldonado and his wife Selin-Isin-Maldonado were my weekend tour guides and they took me to places I will never forget: coffee shops in Cihangir, which overlooked [...]
Thistle Farms staff hamming it up for the 2013 holiday season in their manufacturing area. (Photo by Peggy Napier)
Fiona Prine knows a few things about turning the page.
It has been 21 years since she moved to the United States. Fiona Whelan met her future husband, Maywood, Ill.-born singer-songwriter-storyteller John Prine when she was working in a recording studio in Dublin, Ireland. They married and she moved to Nashville, Tn. where they have raised three boys.
Fiona has said she heard all the words in the old country then found her voice in this country. Her sense of discovery [...]
Steve Liacopoulos of Rite Liquors helps launch Isaac’s art.
When you show your art on the outside border of the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago, you must really be a renegade.
That is where I found Isaac G. Abarca last month. He was propping up his oil on canvas paintings on a sidewalk near the entrance to the popular arts and crafts fair. He also hung his paintings like Christmas ornaments in a large honeylocust shade tree in front of Rite Liquors, 1649 W. Division.
“Hanging paintings in a tree is a beautiful thing,” Abarca said during a Sunday alcohol free conversation at [...]
Lou. Enough said.
CUBA, Mo.—-Lou Whitney was proud to tell tourists and visiting musicians that the Carter Family lived in a two story Victorian brick house in 1949-50 when they appeared with Red Foley on the radio version of the Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Mo.
That was Lou; talking about Springfield history before he would talk about himself.
In July we took Lou to the empty lot off of old Route 66 where Mother Maybellle, Anita, Helen and June Carter once lived. Lou stood tall, like a mountain in a meadow. His eyes squinted into the Ozark evening sun. He had his [...]
Ilse in Albuquerque on her Route 66 road trip. (Used with permission.)
I wonder what my roadie friend Ilse would say about Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel’s piece in Atlantic magazine where he wrote that he only wanted to live 75 years.
Ilse is 86 years old and just finished her solo Route 66 trip from Chicago to a photo conference in Albuquerque, N.M. Ilse is too busy to mope around and think about dying young.
Dr. Emanuel wrote, “The fact is that by 75, creativity, originality and producitivity are pretty much gone for the vast, vast majority of us….People can continue to be [...]
Route 66, Seligman, Az. 1991 (Photo by Dave Hoekstra)
Any doubts about the emotional power of Route 66 are cast to the wind when you read the road letters of my friend Ilse who is motoring west from the Great North Woods to a photo conference in Albuquerque, NM. Her words are butterflies, the modest car she calls Isabella is her net.
Ilse is 86 years old.
She has been to 140 countries. She is traveling Route 66 alone. (For details read the previous two posts on this site.) I asked her to stay in touch with us. Here is an essential take-away from her note of Thursday, Sept. [...]
Sleep in a wigwam; Route 66 California, 1991 (Dave Hoekstra photo)
Route 66 is one of America’s most historic common denominators, but because of the road’s accessible depth each traveler sees it in a different light. My friend Ilse has set foot in all seven continents and 140 countries but she had never traveled the Mother Road until this week.
Ilse is 86 years young.
The German-born roadie is driving alone in her “Isabella,” a camel-colored Hunday that is named after the Queen of Spain. Ilse has attended a couple of National Hobo Conventions in Iowa where fellow hobos [...]
Route 66, New Mexico, 1991 (Photo by Dave Hoekstra)
The gentle tones of the dispatch were from another time, one of car hops and flat tops.
Ilse e-mailed me about a week ago after reading Route 66 stories on my website. On Sunday, Sept. 21 she embarked on an eight day trip down Route 66 from Chicago to the 76th conference of the Photographic Society of America in Albuquerque, N.M. Ilse is driving her “Isabella,” a camel-colored Hyundai that she named after the Queen of Spain. She will listen to classic country music on satellite radio and German folk songs. She likes Johnny [...]
Syl Johnson in his garden, August, 2014 (Photo by Paul Natkin)
Syl Johnson digs deep for his soul.
Last month I visited the global rhythm and blues singer at his home, studio and garden on the south side of Chicago.
I’ve known Syl for 30 years and have great memories of his late 1980s days as owner of Solomon’s Fishery, a chain of soul fish restaurants in the Loop, west suburbs and Gary, Ind.
Syl was likely the first African-American chain restaurant owner in downtown Chicago and no one has disproved that statement.
Syl will tell you that when he appears with his big [...]
L.C. Cooke portrait by Paul Natkin
L.C. Cooke sits on a regal chair in the center of the pulpit of Christ Universal Temple church in Calumet Park, just south of Chicago. He is surrounded by an air of satisfaction.
There is light, but there are no shadows.
Cooke, 81, is the brother of Sam Cooke, gospel icon and member of the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
L.C. Cooke has released his first music in 50 years and he is here to share the good news.
“The Complete SAR Records Recordings” hit the streets a few weeks ago on ABKCO Records, the label [...]
Sophie (left) and Liz on the last day of the Busy Bee (Courtesy of Chester Madej.)
Sophie Madej was always let down when one of her regular Busy Bee customers left the Wicker Park neighborhood. She uplifted spirits while serving pierogis, sour cream spinach soup and potato pancakes between 1956 and 1998 at one of Chicago’s most famous diners.
Mrs. Madej died on Aug. 21 in her northwest side home. She was 86 years old.
The Busy Bee, 1546 N. Damen, was defined by a shoebox shaped diner counter and bright yellow walls you would find in your Grandmother’s [...]
Former NBA Commissioner David Stern (L) and Joe Lee (Courtesy of Charles E. Newman)
Any passionate Chicago Bulls fan would recognize the forever young looking African-American passing out towels and soaking up blood, sweat and tears behind the home bench. I saw this gentleman as a fan in the 1970s and he was in the house in 1990 when I covered the Bulls for the Chicago Sun-Times.
In the early 1990s I had a chance to talk to Joe Lee, who was the Bulls equipment man since the franchise’s birth in 1966.
Wanting to sit down with Joe Lee is what made me “different” in [...]
CHARLESTON, S.C.–Only by traveling do you discover where you belong.
I have been down that road a couple times this summer, whether it was dancing to Beach Music in the sand of North Myrtle Beach, S.C. or just taking a memory trip under a full moon to the Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City.
But a lasting image of the summer of 2014 is seeing my friend Mike Veeck addressing the Charleston River Dogs fans after “Disco Demolition 2” at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park in Charleston, S.C.
Besides Veeck, I would argue I am the only other person who has attended both Disco Demolitions. The [...]
Get up. Stand up.
Live music is back at the iconic Wild Hare reggae club.
A two-year battle to present concerts at the Wild Hare, 2600 N. Halsted in Chicago, culminated on July 29 when the club announced a series of free shows to begin on Aug. 1.
The popular Chicago reggae band Gizzae will appear with Dub Dis, Fucha and Friends at 9 p.m. Aug. 1. Indika, Gizzae with vocalist Ugoch, a.k.a. “The African Butterfly,” , Drea, Boombostic and friends will perform at 9 p.m. Aug. 2. A bunch of local musicians will jam out with roots reggae music in a Lollapalooza after party on Sunday, [...]
Greer Stadium, June 2014
NASHVILLE, Tn.—The guitar shaped electronic scoreboard always struck a chord with me.
It was a sweat-crawling evening in 1993 when I saw my first game at Herschel Greer Stadium, the home of the Class AAA Nashville Sounds. The 53-feet tall, 60-feet wide guitar scoreboard offered an immediate sense of where you were.
Music City. Big dreams.
The big ax in center field would be like having a handgun shaped scoreboard in Chicago. Or a parking meter.
On my first visit to Greer I heard about Conway Twitty being a part owner of the Sounds and that resonated with me. I liked [...]
Jim Brosnan pitched for the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. He was a fearless craftsman. He once struck out Willie Mays three times in one game. Between 1956 and 1963 Mr. Brosnan compiled a lifetime ERA of 3.54. He was also a splendid writer.
In the summer of 2004 I took Mr. Brosnan to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Chicago-based publisher Ivan R. Dee had just reissued Mr.Brosnan’s groundbreaking 1959 diary “The Long Season” and 1962’s “The Pennant Race.” These honest accounts of the game and the business of baseball would become the template for best sellers like Jim Bouton’s “Ball Four” and Bill [...]
The World’s Largest Drive-In M & R Loew’s Double Drive-In. Opened in 1950 and closed in the mid- 90s. It was at 2800 W. Columbus near Marquette Park in Chicago. The drive-in had three screens and could accommodate 1,800 cars. (Photo by Jim Indreika, Courtesy of Theater Historical Society of America)
One good thing about Jimmy Buffett’s “Drive-Ins Nationwide” concert is how much easier it will be to get in and out of the parking lot than at Alpine Valley, Wis. or the First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre in Tinley Park, Ill.
Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band appear at 8:45 p.m. (CST) [...]
