The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
*Author Birthday!
=April 30 would have been the birthday of Eckhartz Press author Chet
Coppock, who wrote his last (and most highly regarded) book Your Dime, My Dance Floor for us in 2018. Chet died the following year, but as long as Eckhartz Press is in business, Chet's words and photos live on...
=This week: The Loop goes somewhere it's never been before! A public library. Rick Kaempfer will be appearing at the Ela Public Library in Lake Zurich on May 1 from 7-8pm. Find out more information about it here.
=Next weekend: May 11. Another one that is destined to bring out the fellow Loopers. Jeff Hoover from the WGN-TV morning news (a former Looper himself) is helping to host this party.
=Three of the contributors to the Loop Files are celebrating birthdays this week. Lee Abrams (April 29) was the man who created the Graffiti Loop era (middle of first photo) and Larry Wert (April 30) was the boss man during the second heyday of the Loop (in the late 80s/early 90s). In addition, Greg Gumbel (May 3) was on hand during the most famous moment in Loop history, Disco Demolition. That's Greg below interviewing Steve Dahl that day at Comiskey Park.
=Jim Baumann has been the executive editor of the Daily Herald for the past few years. This week he announced in his final Grammar Moses column that he was retiring from the paper, effective May 10. Jim says he'll be working on the great American novel in his retirement. Maybe that will lead to his second Eckhartz Press book.
=Vicki Atkinson will be appearing next week in Palos Heights. More information about that upcoming appearance here.
=The man who ran the mob in Chicago for decades, Tony Accardo, would have been celebrating a birthday this week. He's not around anymore, but he certainly makes a few appearances in the Eckhartz Press book Mob Adjacent, by Jeffrey and Michael Gentile.
*Happy Anniversary!
“If you grew up in Milwaukee in the 1970s or ’80s, you knew about Samson – the huge, famous and hugely famous gorilla that resided at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Samson, who now resides in that “jungle in the sky,” thrilled generations of visitors, even when he was eating and sleeping. Dobie Maxwell’s book, Monkey in the Middle, tells the tale of a much lesser-known gorilla / bank robber in our shared hometown. Once you start reading this story, you might not feel like eating or sleeping until you’ve finished. It’s a story of friendship, loyalty, betrayal and conscience told by a comedian with a knack for pointing out absurdly funny moments during a white-knuckle rollercoaster ride.”
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=This week in 2013, John Landecker & Rick Kaempfer were interviewed by the Daily Herald about Landecker's memoir Records Truly Is My Middle Name.
=This is the anniversary (April 28) of author Frederick Lee Brooke debuting his series of mystery books. Brooke is a big fan of Eckhartz Press author Randy Richardson's 2012 novel Cheeseland. Here's what he had to say about it...
If you liked Larry McMurtry’s The Last Picture Show, you’ll love Cheeseland, Chicago’s answer to that Texas classic. Highly recommended!
=Author Jim Korkoris (born May 4) is a fan of fellow author Ann Wilson's memoir In Small Boxes. This is what he had to say about her Eckhartz Press book...
At times, poignant, sad and very funny. A wonderfully unique coming of age story. We will all see pieces of ourselves and our lives
in this book.
=One of the biggest stars to ever play for Green White Soccer Club, Illinois Soccer Hall of Famer Joe Filian is celebrating a birthday this week (May 1). Joe is featured prominently in the book Grun Weiss Vor, including this photo from his time on the New York Cosmos.
=This week marks the anniversary of the Kent State Massacre (May 4, 1970). One of our authors was actually there that day, and wrote about it in his memoir Doin the Cruise, Mitch Michaels. Mitch was already in radio in those days and it would be just a few short years later when he arrived on the dial in Chicago.
Rick and Dave
=During the pandemic Eckhartz Press publishers Rick Kaempfer and David Stern were Zoom-interviewed by the Chicago Writers Association about Eckhartz Press. This interviewed happened this week (May 2) in 2021.
