"Rick Kaempfer just twittered out yesterday that John Records Landecker will be back on WLS-FM starting this Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rick was John's producer over 10 years at the legendary Landecker's morning show. And Rick is working with John on his autobiography. I met Rick by telephone when he was the producer of the morning show and I was a listener and a fan. (I had listened enough to know that John lived and loved living near Michigan City in LaPorte County, where I was working at the time.) So Rick and I were soon communicating regularly as we coordinated a Landecker profile and photos. At some point, Rick asked about the possibility of freelancing for our magazine and he had a lot of good ideas and that's what happened. (Rick is a columnist and frequent contributor to Shore and also writes a blog, Father Knows Nothing, about being a stay-at-home Dad with three sons.) Rick also began writing books; one was a novel called Severance about the ramifications of hiring and firing in the world of broadcast. If Severance is a comedy of manners in an insane industry, then Rick's new book written with a partner Brendan Sullivan is something entirely different.
Rick and Brendan developed the story using an improv form called the Harold, created by long-time Second City director the late Del Close when he was a member of a troupe called The Committee in San Francisco in 1967. According to the cover notes the story is about a life-changing decision made by one Henry Stankiewicz and the ramifications over the next 30 years. If you want to find out more about The Living Wills, Rick and Brendan will be on WIND Radio on Sunday, December 18th, at 7 p.m. (easy to remember, only one week before Christmas Day) or visit Rick's website.
