The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
New Book Release!
=Just in time for opening Day, the new updated 6th Edition of EveryCubEver is now available at Eckhartz Press. Over 100 new or revised entries since last year's edition. Click here to get your copy.
Happy Birthday!
Two Eckhartz Press authors are celebrating birthdays this week. Eric Litt, author of Oscars Biggest Mistakes (April 1) and Dan Burns, author of Recalled to Life. Eric has become a well regarded film critic in Chicago and has a new book about movies coming out with us later this year. Dan has gone into film since leaving Eckhartz Press. (Here's a sneak peek at his latest). He is also the treasurer of the Chicago Writers Association.
Children's Book Day!
April 2nd is Children's Book Day, and though we aren't primarily a children's book publisher, we have published a few. Thank you to Ken Korber (featured this week in CEO Weekly), Tom Latourette, Scott Redman, Butch Zeppo, Dena Mendes, and Manton Clue for their contributions!
Happy Anniversary!
Two Eckhartz Press books were released this week. In 2015, Kipper McGee's well respected analysis of the media in America, Brandwidth, was released. In 2018, the book Cubsessions (written by Becky Sarwate and Randy Richardson) came out. The authors staged our most successful book launch party ever at Murphy's Pub. A Who's Who of Chicago Media and Cubs Nation attended, including the Budweiser Clydesdales. That's Eckhartz Press publisher David Stern reading Cubsessions to one of the Clydesdales.
=Eckhartz Press author Lauren LoGiudice is coming to town to do a variety show on April 11th. We've got our tickets. Do you have yours?
Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind
=Vicki Quade is also coming out with a show, beginning on April 12. Now in its 14th year, Bible Bingo is a long-running comedy about the Catholic culture of fundraising and bingo, featuring the character, Mrs. Mary Margaret O'Brien, a former nun who now heads a fictitious archdiocese fundraising department. It’s written by Vicki Quade, one of the creators of the international hit comedy, Late Nite Catechism, and of course, the great Eckhartz Press book Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind. Ticket prices are $35, group rates available. At the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Call the box office: 773-404-7336
=Big Loop Files news this week...
=Two big events that happened this week in history are chronicled in The Loop Files. Jonathon Brandmeier held a big party at the Chicago Theater for his 5th anniversary at the Loop (1988), and then at the same place for his tenth anniversary in 1993. The stories of those memorable broadcasts are told in the book. Here are a few photos too...
=Loop sportscaster Jim Shortz is also celebrating a birthday this week (April 1). Rick interviewed him live on the air in 1993. The translated transcript of that interview is here. Kevin made Rick do it in German.
=This week in 2013, John Landecker appeared on WCIU-TV to discuss his book Records Truly is My Middle Name.
=It was also a bittersweet week for John. His good friend Roger Ebert passed away. John appeared on Roe & Roeper's show on WLS Radio to talk about Roger. John also discussed Ebert in the pages of his book. We offered up that section as a free excerpt.
=April 4, 1968 was the day that Martin Luther King was assassinated. Landecker was doing a radio show with Martin's good friend Stevie Wonder when that news came across the wire. He tells the story in his book. You can read it here.
Jerry Krause
=The man that Bulls fans booed even after his death, Jerry Krause, would have been celebrating a birthday this week. Would you believe that Krause appears in three different Eckhartz Press books? Chet Coppock devotes an entire chapter to Krause in Your Dime My Dance Floor. Rich King discusses the late Bulls GM in his book Ike and Me. He also tells that story in this podcast. And finally, Chuck Swirsky's Always a Pleasure also delves into the legacy of Jerry. He even has a picture.
Phil Regan
=His nickname was The Vulture and he played for both the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox. Because he played for the Sox in 1972, he appears in Chili Dog MVP. Because he played for the Cubs at all, he's naturally in EveryCubEver. He turns 87 years old this week.
=This week in 2014, Joel Daly appeared on the air at WGN Radio to discuss his memoir. It was an evening appearance on Pete McMurray's show.
=This week in 2009, his TV station (Channel 7/WLS-TV) aired this time capsule of Joel's career...
=This week in 2007, the American Army housing area in Heidelberg Germany known as Mark Twain Village was officially closed down. Several crucial chapters in the novel Back in the DDR take place there. RIP to a time and place gone by.
=Both of these Chicago icons (Chet Coppock & Norm Van Lier) are no longer with us, but they live on in the pages of Chet's book. Norm would have been 77 years old this week (April 1).
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Brian Noonan
=The former WGN Radio host now hosts the evening show in Milwaukee (WTMJ), and is celebrating a birthday this week (April 3). We love him at Eckhartz Press. He has given back cover blurbs for two of our books, Father Knows Nothing by Rick Kaempfer and The Unplanned Life by Roger Badesch.
"It doesn’t matter whether you’re the father of sons or daughters, the stories in Father Knows Nothing will hit close to home. I laughed out loud picturing Rick breaking up fights between his sons, flinging the top layer of a pizza across the kitchen and scaring his son out of lawn maintenance. The frequent laughs are balanced with emotionally touching stories and insights. This book is a wonderful record of an exciting, tumultuous time that all parents will relate to."
“Roger Badesch is like an onion. He has many layers and if you’re too close to him for any length of time you’ll cry. The tears will be caused by laughter, sympathy or the act of shaking your head wildly in disbelief. If you’ve listened to Roger on the radio, you’ve no doubt experienced all three. I know I have. With The Unplanned Life, Roger regales us with the story of a life that is funny, tragic, hopeful, at times idiotic, but always endearing. You’ll want to laugh with him, cry with him, hug him and shake some sense into him all at the same time. Finally we can stop saying “Wait, what did he just say?” when Roger finishes a story. We can re-read his various tales and marvel at how a kid from Chicago could have enjoyed such a full and undoubtedly unplanned life. Just remember, if he offers you a ride home in a snowstorm…take the bus!”
