The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
Happy Birthday!
=Eckhartz Press author Beth Jacobellis is celebrating a birthday this week (March 3). Beth's debut novel Cameo came out early in 2018. We did Q&A with her the week the book was released.
=Don't forget that The Loop Files author Rick Kaempfer is going on the road to NW Indiana this coming weekend. Two of the stars of that book, Mitch Michaels and John Records Landecker, will also be there with their Eckhartz Press books, Doin the Cruise and Records Truly Is My Middle Name.
=Two Loopers are celebrating birthdays this week, Laura Witek (March 4) and Scott Dirks (March 5). Both tell great stories in the book, including the stories behind these photos.
=Dick Allen, the star of the book Chili Dog MVP, was born this week in 1942. Chili Dog MVP was released on his birthday in 2022.
*Lost in the Ivy
=Author Randy Richardson is a die-hard Cubs fan, so naturally his murder mystery takes place in Wrigleyville. Fellow Cubs author Stuart Shea provided this blurb for the back cover of the book...
"Randy Richardson’s Lost in the Ivy expertly captures the weirdness and excitement of the streets that the Chicago Cubs—baseball’s weirdest and most exciting franchise—call home. And aside from being a terrific “I’ve been there” walk through Wrigleyville, it’s a cracking murder mystery to boot!"
Stuart Shea, author of "Wrigley Field: The Unauthorized Biography" and "Wrigley Field: THE LONG LIFE AND CONTENTIOUS TIMES OF THE FRIENDLY CONFINES"
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=Author Bobby Skafish was making the publicity rounds this week in 2017 talking about his Eckhartz Press book We Have Company: Four Decades of Rock and Roll Encounters. Among his appearances, a visit to WCIU-TV's morning show.
=NBC news anchor Lester Holt is celebrating a birthday this week (March 8). He is featured in the pages of Rich King's book Ike & Me. Another person featured in Rich's book is Franklyn McCormick. The smooth WGN radio announcer is the topic of one the book's most memorable passages. King told that story in this episode of Minutia Men Celebrity Interview
=Legendary Bears safety Doug Plank celebrates a birthday this week (March 4). This is what he had to say about Your Dime My Dance Floor author Chet Coppock...
"When I think of Chicago sports, I think of Chet Coppock. Chet is everywhere and he knows everyone. He has done everything there is to do in sports reporting and broadcasting."
=Janet Guthrie is a trailblazing female race car driver. Her birthday is March 7. Chet Coppock got to know Guthrie during his days in Indianapolis, and wrote about her in Your Dime My Dance Floor.
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“You may think you know Roger Badesch if you have listened over the years to his exact and artful news reports on radio, but between the covers of this book you will find so much more–a man of great depth, many passions and skills. His is a wonderful life that you can now share.”
Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, WGN Radio
=Chuck Quinzio's harrowing tale of his life as a TV News cameraman has fans from across the spectrum, including Rob Reiner, who is celebrating a birthday this week (March 6)
=Chicago media critic Robert Feder wrote that one of the highlights of Joel Daly's memoir The Daly News was the inclusion of a few examples of his nightly commentaries from the Channel 7 News in the 1970s. One of those was delivered on the air this week in 1972. You can read that free excerpt from Joel's book here.
=On March 7, 2013, The Living Wills became the first Eckhartz Press book to be used in a high school's literature curriculum. Co-author Brendan Sullivan was on hand at Marist High School the day it was introduced at the school.
=Pat Colander's book would go on to become the CWA Book of the Year in 2016. One of the book's biggest fans was Saturday Night Live alumnus Tim Kazurinsky, who is celebrating a birthday this week (March 3). Here's what Tim had to say...
As Paul Simon bookended…”Time it was, and what a time it was….A time of innocence. A time of confidences.” Chicago in the ’70’s was surreal, scary and freaking hilarious. My Second City kith and kin may have found brighter lights in N.Y. and L.A. — but we were spawned and fermented at North and Wells. Good thing Pat Colander thought to take notes and chronicle everything.
=Randy Merkin's behind-the-scenes look at sports talk radio is full of great pictures of Randy with the movers and shakers of the Chicago sports world, including this week's birthday boy, Chicago Cubs Cy Young Award winning pitcher Jake Arietta (March 6).
=Rick Kaempfer isn't just Eckhartz Press's publisher, he is also the president of Green White Soccer Club, and the co-author of the book about that storied club's history, Gruen Weiss Vor. Among his many duties is emceeing the banquets the club stages, including this one on March 6, 2017.
