Friday, June 01, 2018

Samantha Bee

My son Johnny and I were watching her show on Wednesday night when Sam Bee dropped the C-bomb on Ivanka Trump. We both gasped. Not used to hearing that one on TBS. I immediately suspected she was going to have to back off and apologize, especially because of the Roseanne kerfuffle earlier in the week.

Sure enough...



Will it be enough to save her job? I suspect not. The professional victims (the Trumps) will not let this go until she's a goner.

Then I saw this from the former Flying Nun...



Gidget? Is that you? This world is changing right before my eyes.

And what is the origin of this coarsening of America? I think Philip Rucker from the Washington Post might have his finger on it...

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Charity Gala

Attended another charity gala last night. This time it was for the City Kids Camp, a great organization that runs a summer camp out in the country (Dixon) for inner city kids. Eckhartz Press author Chet Coppock is a big supporter of this organization and was given an award for that as part of the event. He invited Bridget and I to join him at his table. Other guests at the table included both of Chet's now grown kids, the founder of Pro Football Weekly, CBS reporter Jim Williams, and Bears great Dennis McKinnon.

By the end of the night Bridget and I had contributed a bunch to the cause (they raised nearly $100,000), and signed a new author! Dennis McKinnon is working on his book and he wants it to come out on Eckhartz Press.

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Look Who is on the Cover!


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Thursday, May 31, 2018

Trump Thinking About Pardoning Martha Stewart

Until he sees this...


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Minutia Men, Episode 96

EP96 – Rick and Dave discuss the preacher who needs a new plane, spelling from 1963, wifi for grandma, the goat of the 1918 World Series, and Rick’s brush with Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

Listen to it here.
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Free Kicks Episode 4

EP4: Rick and Adam recap the Champions League final, USA’s game vs. Bolivia, and preview Groups A, B, and C in the upcoming World Cup.

Listen to it here.
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Cubsessions Now Available as an E-book

Cubsessions in now available as an e-book!

Die-hard Cub fans Becky Sarwate and Randy Richardson interviewed a diverse collection of some of the team’s most famous fans: actors, comedians, broadcasters, musicians, restauranteurs, athletes, journalists. Even those who are ubiquitous precisely because of their fandom. Cubsessions tells the story of divergent life paths – the roads taken, the failures experienced, and the successes reached – and how those paths all come together for a collective passion.

Order your hard copy here.

Your Kindle e-book is available here.
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New on Eckhartz Press: "The Write City Review: A Chicago Writers Association Publication"

The Write City Review – a Chicago Writers Association Publication is an anthology of poetry, short stories, essays, and book excerpts drawn from the Chicago Writers Association’s online publication, The Write City Magazine. The book includes beautiful color and black and white photographs of watercolors, sculptures, drawings, photography, and mixed media created by Chicago Writers Association members. Written pieces in the book include award-winning writing such as “On the Way to Heaven”, a first-person account of 9/11, by Catherine Underhill Fitzpatrick and “Deer Story” from Patricia Ann McNair’s award-winning short story collection The Temple of Air.

Contributors include: David W. Berner, Debra Borys, Dan Burns, Emily Calvo, Valentina Cano, Catherine Conroy, Genevieve Davis, Bob Francis, James Finn Garner, Catherine Underhill Fitzpatrick, Robert Grassel, Bob Grove, Qetesha Haynes, Samantha Hoffman, Bree Housley, Carrie Jackson, Hannah Jennings, Patty Johnson, Len Kuntz, Mary Lamphere-Author, Jackie Mantey, Kelly Maryanski, Patricia Ann McNair, Charlie Monte Verde, Richard Novak, Randy Richardson, Audrie Roelf, Erick Sierra, Clayton Smith, Bill Vernon, Tricia Wagner, and Sheila Kelly Welch.

Order your copy here!
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Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Roseanne gets trolled by pharmaceutical giant

Nice shot.


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Everyone Loves Minutia Men

A new episode drops on Thursday. Some reviews from the past few weeks...

Great Chemisty and Better Tangents
in iTunes by Carly0111 from USA on May 18, 2018
Dave and Rick light each episode up, going on tons of tangents and talking about whatever comes to mind. It's great! Great chemistry, totally worth a listen.

Excellent and Hilarious
in iTunes by pacman127 from USA on May 18, 2018
Always expect wonderful randomness from Rick and Dave! Crazy stories and exciting topics. Great for listening on a long ride! Great hosts.

Perfect balance of length and content
in iTunes by hoomans69 from USA on May 11, 2018
Perfect balance of lenght and content. Dave and Rick are fun and in between their jokes there are some gems that make me think :) You can hear how they know each other well enough to transport that chemistry in the show. So happy I found Minutia Men on Twitter!

One of a kind!
in iTunes by IMDBjourney from Australia on May 9, 2018
One of the most random, off the cuff podcasts i've heard. Very funny, unique and entertaining, check it out, you won't regret it!

Entertaining!
in iTunes by The Herfcast from USA on May 7, 2018
Great show with lots of info!

Love It
in iTunes by chileangumbino from USA on May 7, 2018
These guys are great! I love the format, I get tired of listening to a single subject discussed for too long so this show is perfect for me.

great podcast
in iTunes by MustBeTheMeds from USA on May 7, 2018
I love it. These guys are great and very entertaining. Definitely would recommend!

Loads of fun
in iTunes by Paddyo1980 from UK on May 6, 2018
This is a really interesting podcast, the hosts work well together. They are clearly good friends and that comes across, making the podcast fun, warm, and enjoyable.

Great listen!
in iTunes by Dutch wants a 9 Ball option from USA on April 29, 2018
Professionally done. Two guys with good perspectives and fun to listen to! Give it a shot!! Go Cubs!!
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Zander

Mark Zander has worked in Chicago at the Loop, the Drive, the River, and Me-TV FM, among others. From this morning's RAMP newsletter...

Congrats to Mark Zander, PD of Mid-West Family Active Rock WXRX (104-9 The X)/Rockford, IL, who has been promoted to OM/PD of The X and 18-month-old Sports-Talk sibling WNTA (SportsFan Radio 1330). In a staff memo announcing Zander's upgrade, GM Mike Paterson said, "One of the struggles we encountered over the lifespan of 1330 was finding someone to captain the ship that could help build structures for the station on a daily basis. We made a couple attempts at putting a team captain in place, yet neither worked for the individual and/or the station." He added, "Zander joined our team about the same time that we signed on 1330. Under his guidance, 104-9 The X has evolved into a contemporary rock brand that reflects the heritage of The X and the tastes of the Rockford area. Currently, The X is having its best revenue performance since before 2010 and primed for an even greater run of excellence."
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Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Weezer Covers Toto

Not sure how I feel about this...but the song has been in my head all day, and aw hell, who am I kidding? I've grown to like a song I've been making fun of since 1983.

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The Loneliest Man at Fox News

This is incredible...


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Eckhartz Author Blogs



Two Eckhartz Press authors maintain excellent blogs, and I like to promote them whenever I can. I like their current offerings very much...

Brent Petersen (Truffle Hunt) has a fine short story about playing chess with his dad: "You'll never win, Spassky"

Lee Kingsmill (Safe Inside) has a fine essay about going to a leather convention in Chicago: "What have I not seen?"
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Keep it classy, Roseanne

She has since apologized for this tweet, but whoa. This is about as racist as it gets...



Of course, Roseanne has the First Amendment right to say what she did. And ABC has the right to punish her for doing it...


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Royal Wedding (Bad Lip Reading)

These always crack me up...

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Journalists Killed Covering the Weather

I know it has crossed your mind. It certainly has crossed mine. "What happens if those guys sent out to cover that storm get killed?" Well, sadly, it happened yesterday in South Carolina. From Tom Taylor's NOW column...

Two TV journalists are killed, covering Monday’s storm. Sad stuff from WYFF-TV Greenville, SC – “News 4 anchor Mike McCormick and WYFF photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer died when a tree fell on their SUV.” It says they were “covering the impact of heavy rain” in Polk County, NC when a tree about three feet in diameter struck the station-issued SUV they were sitting in. Authorities found the vehicle’s engine still running and “the transmitter in drive” when they arrived on the scene. But McCormick and Smeltzer had died and the vehicle was trapped by the tree. Tryon, NC Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant says “I have never seen an event like this one” and adds that “I had done an interview with Mr. McCormick about 10 minutes before we got the call” about the accident. Apparently the tree roots in the saturated ground gave way and the tree toppled onto the news vehicle. More from News 4 here. WYFF is a Hearst-owned sister to Baltimore’s news/talk WBAL/1090 – which was busy covering flooding and other effects of the East coast storm that flooded historic Ellicott City, Maryland for the second time in two years.
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RIP Nick Michaels

A voice you may know has been silenced. From this morning's RAMP Newsletter...

Over the long holiday weekend we were saddened to learn that Nick Michaels, the unmistakable station voice of Hubbard Classic Rock WDRV (97-1 The Drive)/Chicago since its inception 17 years ago and the host of the syndicated show, The Deep End, died on Saturday, May 26 of a heart attack. He was 67.

A message posted Sunday on the Facebook page of The Deep End With Nick Michaels, read, "To all of the fans of The Deep End, yesterday morning Nick Michaels passed away from a sudden heart attack. He loved music deeply and his favorite thing in the world was to share the stories that made the music matter with fans like you. Right now we are all still in shock. We are working on continuing the show and we will post more information as we have it. We love you all and appreciate your continued support."

Information about memorial services will be forthcoming. We are told that The Drive is creating a full on-air tribute to Nick, which will air during the week of June 4. Stay tuned for further details.
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A different perspective

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Equipage

That was the word the 1963 spelling bee champion spelled. Here's some more info on that word...

1963: Equipage
What it means: Equipment for a particular purpose; a horse-drawn carriage.
How to use it in a sentence: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will leave St. George's Chapel in an equipage.

If you're curious about the spelling bee champion word for your birth year, Good Housekeeping has compiled them all. (Yes, I read Good Housekeeping. Got a problem with that?)
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An Insight into his Dishonesty

This article in Sunday's Washington Post is a perfect example of why you should never believe what the president says at face value.

This weekend his people arranged a briefing for multiple news sources, gave them quotes about the North Korean summit, told them it should be attributed to a senior White House official, and then when the New York Times reported it, the President accused them of making up the source. Fake news.

There were a dozen news organizations in on that briefing, including the AP.

The article I linked to is a Washington Post column defending the New York Times, arguably their biggest competitor.

Crickets from the conservative press. This is perfectly OK with them.
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Monday, May 28, 2018

Free Kicks on Facebook

If you're a soccer fan, you might appreciate this podcast I host with Adam Howarth, the director of coaching for the Illinois Youth Soccer Association. With the World Cup coming up, we'll begin previewing all the teams in this coming week's episode. Could be a fun Facebook page to like and follow: https://www.facebook.com/freekickswithadamandrick/

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