Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Silent Auction

I got this in my e-mail box this morning. I can't go this time (see below regarding soccer tournament), but I encourage you to go if you want to support this not-for-profit organization. Here's the info...



The Haymarket Pub & Brewery is an ideal venue for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame's 4th Annual Silent Auction Fundraiser.

Haymarket is known for its beer. Its food. Its location. Its general congeniality. All that could be said about a lot of places. But Haymarket is also known for its Drinking & Writing Theater, which nobody else can say.

Haymarket has a guy on staff with the title of literary director. That tells you a lot right there. Steve Mosqueda is the guy, and of course he has other duties besides running the theater performances and other special events. Literary director, though, is what he cares about most.

Steve and fellow Neo-Futurist member Sean Benjamin are the main forces behind the project, and their efforts to bring theater and comedy into the brewery, along with Pete’s brewing acumen and Christopher’s culinary prowess, have distinguished Haymarket as a Chicago treasure. Steve and Sean’s wild, alcohol-enhanced imaginations produce a steady stream of interesting beer-related theatre, like the time they pub-crawled 24 miles along Western Avenue.

This is the second straight year Haymarket Pub & Brewery has agreed to host our fundraiser, and we’re grateful for their hospitality. Haymarket has a large contingent of dedicated, bright employees who seem to love their jobs and revere their workplace. To partner with them is to see all these dedicated workers come together like a family, and we’re proud to be a part of that on this occasion.

We'll have Haymarket's back room for the occasion. Think of it as a party at which you chat with friends, meet new ones, ask special guest Dave Eigenberg if Chris Noth is really that big, sample one then another delicious beer, and in between all that scratch out a bid on that Chicago Federals jersey that might fit your Uncle Max if it's too big for you.

Get your tickets now.

Green White

One of my on-going writing projects is the history of Green White, a soccer club co-founded by my father in the 50s. This month I cover the early 90s. Read it here.

By the way, this weekend we're having our annual tournament at Metro Majewski park. Come on out, have some delicious Hungarian sausages (we made them ourselves last night), and watch some soccer.

What German City Should You Live In?

Take the Quiz here.

I somehow got Weimar. Never been there, and I grew up in Germany.

Happy Birthday Joel!

Today's Best Tweets

Some of the tweets I found this morning, puttering around on Twitter...




Jeff Greenfield ‏@greenfield64 5m
My next book: a collection from various Comments Sections, entitled: 'The Triumph of the Id."

MLB ‏@MLB 9m
Let's do this: @MLB.com staffers are ready for the #IceBucketChallenge.

steve rosenbloom ‏@steverosenbloom 13m
Just throwing, um, stuff against the wall, such as D-Rose's bad knees and worse cover stories.The RosenBlog: http://trib.in/1pNyrrB

Tim Mak ‏@timkmak 24m
Sen. Rand Paul considering a bill that would create church/state boundary in weapons from military to law enforcement http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/21/swat-lobby-takes-a-shot-at-congress.html …

Sports Illustrated ‏@SInow 26m
Pete Rose wants incoming @MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to give him a second chance: http://on.si.com/1s3J3AT

Potash ‏@LarryPotash 25m
Did Hackman grab Rooker's balls in Miss.Burning? He just told me: absolutely. #mustwatch @WGNMorningNews

ChicagoCubsOnline ‏@TheCCO 27m
#Cubs : The Daily CCO: Cubs Might Move Edwin Jackson to the Bullpen and Other News http://bit.ly/1sX7uEm #MLB

ABC News ‏@ABC 39m
JUST IN: DOJ has announced a $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America over mortgage probe http://abcn.ws/1ttPZZ5

Howard Fineman ‏@howardfineman 56m
The War Of Glenn Beck's Worlds - http://huff.to/1AAENxZ . My #HuffPost # ThirdMetric invu in w Glenn Beck. Says he's had a "change of heart."

Gammons Daily ‏@GammonsDaily 31m
'Kyle Hendricks' Sinker is the Real Deal' by @alecdopp http://wp.me/p3BWRG-5Ne #Cubs #MLB

Ice Bucket Challenge

It seems that everyone in the country is doing it, and I did it too. If you want to see the video, it's on my facebook page. I can't figure out how to embed it here. (Tech-moron alert!) I knew we had gotten to the point where everyone was doing it when I walked outside my house and saw three of the church elders from the church across the street do it yesterday. If you're wondering how it started, check out this piece in the Huffington Post. It identifies the guy.

Then this morning, I got this photo in my e-mail box from about seven or eight people. I had to post it. I make no political statement by posting this, other than to say I found it very funny...

Robert Deniro

When I heard about Katie Couric going to Yahoo!, I was a bit confused about how this was going to work. This is the first thing I've seen. Deniro is a famously difficult interview, and she did a very good job.

School's Back In Session

Last year I rewrote the Alice Cooper song "School's Out" for the much more exciting day "School's Back". With apologies to Alice Cooper...

Well we’ll have no noise,
No more screaming boys,
No toys left to destroy,
No siblings to annoy,
Well, we can’t help smiling,
Watching you pout,
Don’t let the door hit ya,
On the way out.
School’s Back in Session
School’s Back For Autumn
School, They’re All Yours Now
No more “I’m bored”,
No “When’s Lunches?”
No more Wii games leading to punches,
While they’re sitting in class,
And hoping that they pass,
Our stereo’s at full blast,
Where’s my cocktail glass?
School’s Back in Session
School’s Back Completely,
School, They’re All Yours Now

I'm currently editing the "Father Knows Nothing" book which comes out for Christmas this year. Not sure whether or not this will make the final cut.

Oh Happy Day!

Two of the boys are back in school right now. I can't get this song out of my head today...

RIP Don Pardo

This is a bummer. Don Pardo, the long-time voice of Saturday Night Live (and many other shows), has passed away.

He was 96 years old.

Here he is with Frank Zappa...

Nice Press for Eckhartz Press

It's been a good couple of days for our two newest authors. Last night, Bruce Bohrer ("Best Seat in the House: Diary of a Wrigley Field Usher") was on Pete McMurray's show on WGN Radio. Here are a few "action" shots...



Chicagoland Radio & Media also did a big write up about our upcoming book "Back in the Game" by Rich King. You can read the entire article here, but a short excerpt is below...

In 2007, King released his first book, "My Maggie." The heart-wrenching true tale was about King's incredible love story with his wife, Maggie. It covers Maggie's life from being diagnosed with hearing loss as a child, to her meeting and falling in love with King when they were both young, their 1970 marriage, to her progressive blindness, to her three battles with cancer, to her death in 2002.

The self-published "My Maggie" was released as a hardcover book, and later as an audio CD, to rave reviews. Proceeds from the sale of the book went to the American Cancer Society and the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind.

The late John Callaway of WTTW-TV said of the "My Maggie" book: "Rich King has written one of the most powerful stories of life, love, and loss you will ever read. His lovely, courageous Maggie will be forever etched in your heart and mind."

For many years after the loss of his wife and soul mate, Maggie, Rich King found himself feeling lost and depressed. With the help of friends and loved ones, King was eventually able to pull himself up and start dating again, connecting with a woman named April, who would later become his second wife.

Rich King's new book, "Back In The Game," is the follow-up story to "My Maggie." It covers the period of his life after Maggie's passing and his courtship with April. King also interweaves stories from his broadcasting career into the book. Just as with "My Maggie," the new "Back In The Game" is an inspirational true story about the power of love.

Helping King with the writing and editing of the new book was Lindsay Eanet, whose last name should be familiar to Chicago sports news fans. Lindsay Eanet is the daughter of WGN-AM Sports Director/sports anchor and Northwestern Wildcats play-by-play announcer Dave Eanet. She is a 2010 Journalism graduate from the University of Missouri-Columbia, who has been professionally writing and editing for the last few years.

"Back In The Game" will be released in mid-September as a trade paperback. It is being published by Chicago's Eckhartz Press, the local boutique publisher that also recently released autobiographies of famed Chicago DJ John Records Landecker, Chicago TV news cameraman Chuck Quinzio, and beloved Chicago TV news anchorman Joel Daly. In fact, it was the exceptional publishing and marketing job done by the company on those three books that led Rich King to contacting Eckhartz Press co-owners Rick Kaempfer and David Stern about working together on this new book.

Pre-orders for Rich King's "Back In The Game" will begin on September 1st at this link HERE. The first printing of the book just rolled off the press in the last couple of days and will be ready for shipping in under a month from now to those who place a pre-order at the start of September.

Eckhartz Press is also working with King to create a new e-book version of "My Maggie."

And CBS Chicago did this nice piece about Bruce Bohrer's "Best Seat in the House: Diary of a Wrigley Usher". Here's a short excerpt...

For nine years beginning in 2003, Bohrer saw good games and bad games, good fans and bad fans and his share of marriage proposals.

“I was amazed at the number of young men who would come up and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to ask my girlfriend to marry me today … could I come down here and do that and you take a picture?'” he said. “I did that numerous times. One couple was so happy with the way things came out they literally invited me to the wedding.”

He’s written about it all in a new book called “Best Seat In The House.”

So, how do you know if you’re usher material? Bohrer said it’s pretty simple: “If you’re a people person, and you happen to like the Cubs and you like being outdoors, absolutely.”

“Best Seat In The House: Diary of a Wrigley Field Usher” is available from Eckhartz Press.

Back in the Game

One of the greatest moments of being a publisher is the moment you hand the author the first copy of his book. This is Rich King holding a copy of his upcoming Eckhartz Press book "Back in the Game". It's the sequel to "My Maggie", which he released a few years ago. Congratulations Rich! The book will be available for pre-order beginning September 1st.

Why don't you allow comments, Rick?

I was listening to the Cubs game yesterday and was annoyed that every other commercial break was filled with a toxic political ad. The whole point of listening to the Cubs was to escape, to avoid the ickiness of the news, so I posted on facebook that it seemed like there was now officially nowhere to go where you aren't bombarded by political talk.

So what happened?

Political talk broke out on my facebook page.

(Sigh)

That's why I don't allow comments on this blog.

Casey Kasem's Body

The saga of Casey Kasem's body is a strange one indeed. It's been confirmed. He's going to Oslo, Norway. From Tom Taylor's NOW column...

Daughter Kerri Kasem confirms to The Hollywood Reporter the speculation you heard last week – that Casey’s second wife Jean intends to bury him in Oslo, Norway. A private investigator working for Kerri confirms that a Norwegian government official has said “It is arranged. He is going to Oslo.” That is, Casey’s earthly remains are headed there, to the consternation of his three adult children and many friends in the radio industry. Kerry’s spokesman Danny Deraney says “we don’t know what [Jean’s] plans are…we just know that she wants to keep Casey away from [his] family and friends and by the looks of it, hiding from law enforcement.” Kerri’s pursuing her own theory of elder abuse by Jean. But Kerri’s P.I. on the case, Logan Clarke, says “I don’t think we need to exhume the body, [because] we have so much evidence – video, photos, witnesses - and the police have collected so much evidence.” Clarke says “if this is not elder abuse, there is no such thing.” He also vows that “if the police drop this case, I’ll take it on the 6 o’clock news.” Casey reportedly had very different ideas about where he was to be buried – like L.A.’s Forest Lawn Cemetery.

A new Craig Ferguson show?

I was a fan of his old Late Night show, but ever since he was passed over to replace Letterman, Ferguson has been going through the motions. He already announced he is leaving CBS...he's just finishing up his contract.

Now comes word (in Variety) that he is in talks to host a 7pm nightly talk show through the Tribune. That's an interesing development. Would a talk show work in that time slot? I don't see why not.

What is Rupert Going to Do?

Following Rupert Murdoch as closely as I do (it's a hobby), makes for some interesting reading. (Photo: Rupert Murdoch) The reporting on his alleged pursuits and plans can make you dizzy. For instance, this morning...

Rupert is sniffing around start ups in San Francisco. (The Telegraph)

OR

Rupert definitely NOT pursuing any more content companies after Time Warner rejection. (Associated Press)

OR

Rupert may take another shot at Time Warner (according to a hedge fund investor) (Reuters)

Is it possible that all three of them are correct?

Not likely. And those are three pretty reputable sources.