John Prine always seemed to be there for me.
But his music was there for you, too.
He wrote of angels that fly in from Montgomery, the mystical power of Wisconsin lakes, hobos, clocks and spoons and old people living alone in “Hello In There.”
He wrote “Hello In There” in 1969 based on a memory of delivering newspapers to a senior citizen home. He was only 23 years old. One of his favorite songs was “Far From Me,” about being raised near a junkyard in west suburban Maywood where “a broken bottle looks just like a diamond ring.”
John Prine saw those things.
He helped us understand those things.
John died Tuesday night from [...]
Kurt Grahnke on Washington Island (photo by Eliza Grahnke)
WASHINGTON ISLAND, Wi.–The best books contain discovery on every page. Over the summer we had a book signing for my Camper Book at Fair Isle Books on Washington Island. We drove my blue camper van off the Washington Ferry (built in 1989 in Sturgeon Bay) on to the island of 35 square miles.
There are no bridges on this island, but there are timeless connections.
The cozy book store was one of our first stops. I always like to make sure my books are in the store. Book store owner Deb Wayman had a note for me. It was from Gwen Gotsch, an Oak [...]
When the spirit has been dragging like a comb in the hair of Gene Simmons, you find out who your true friends are.
And I’ve been fortunate.
Really fortunate.
This updated website has all kinds of stuff. There’s categories of travel dispatches, baseball stories, things on food-ways and immediate, unfiltered musings on life passages. I’ll also be keeping my eye on breaking Chicago cultural news, issues that are near to me like why the city ignores its musical heritage.
I wanted to share this rather blunt link with my friend and collaborator Paul Natkin of Photo Reserve, Inc., who had the misfortune to be [...]
