The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
MEET OUR LATEST AUTHOR
=Coming soon to Eckhartz Press, a memoir by Henry Fogel. Very honored that Henry has agreed to be published by Eckhartz Press. He has an incredible pedigree. Henry Fogel spent over half of a century in the administration of orchestras and their musicians. He has held leadership positions with the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the League of American Orchestras. Now in his 80s, Henry is still active as a talent consultant and mediator for orchestras across the globe. Additionally, Henry is widely considered among the world’s foremost experts in recorded classical music with a personal collection of recordings that numbers over 25,000. His managerial and leadership skills, combined with his genuine love of the genre, have given him a unique perspective along an experiential path like no other. And before Christmas this year, Henry will also become a published author. Welcome to the Eckhartz Press family, Henry!
=It was a big week for Sirens in the Loop. Co-author Jim Elsener, a Vietnam Veteran, received this notice from the Military Writers Society of America...
We are pleased to announce that "Sirens in the Loop - A History of the City News Bureau of Chicago" has qualified as a 2026 Award Finalist. This means that you have won either a gold, silver, or bronze medal. We'll announce which medal you've won at MWSA’s annual awards banquet on October 24, 2026.
=Sirens in the Loop is now also available on Kindle! Get yours here.
=This week would have been the birthday of legendary Chicago broadcaster John Callaway (Born August 22, 1936). Callaway may have made his mark on Chicago through the broadcasting world, but he got his start at the City News Bureau of Chicago. His City News story is told in the pages of Sirens in the Loop.
=Eckhartz Press author Tom Serritella appeared on WGN Radio this week. An excellent interview with Wendy Snyder.
=Imagine Bob
Williams' surprise when he stumbled onto this Ultimate guide of Comedy Books from 2026. Look who's listed alongside fellow comedians like Arsenio Hall. Our very own Bob Williams and his very entertaining book, Bubble Boy.
=Eckhartz Press author Jim Slusher was in the news this week. The Daily Herald (where Jim works) made some changes after they were purchased by the Chicago Tribune. From Crains Chicagobusiness.com...
Staff in the Schaumburg offices were told of the layoffs yesterday afternoon and informed that Managing Editor Jim Slusher would be in charge of the newsroom, said one staffer who asked to remain anonymous. While no “content creators,” full-time reporting or photography staff, were let go, the behind-the-scenes editors and design personnel were largely veterans of the Herald, the staffer said.
=Richard Reeder will be appearing at two of his favorite places next week, Cliff
Dwellers on August 26, and Max and Benny's on August 31. He'll be talking about his new novel Sarasota. If you've never been to Cliff Dwellers, it's an amazing location on Michigan Avenue, overlooking Grant Park. If you've never been to Max and Benny's, Richard has built a literary empire in the back room of one of Chicagoland's best delis.
Slivers and Surviving Sue
=The Chicago Writers Association's revamped website prominently features Eckhartz Press author Vicki Atkinson on their Speaker's Bureau page. Two of her favorite programs, Navigating Elder Care with Peace and Humor and Writing for Wellness are on their front page. Thank you, CWA!
=On August 29th, Vicki Atkinson will be appearing at Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers at Harper College's Schaumburg campus. Vicki will be signing and selling her new novel Slivers and her memoir Surviving Sue. Come see Vicki and explore the many other books that will be featured there. It's a festival for readers, after all.
=Bob Conlon had a busy weekend in Milwaukee at the Irish Fest. He sold a ton of books. Thank you to everyone who stopped by!
=We also have a photo from last week's appearance at Embassy Public House. That's Bob on the right, along with “Irish” Art Mohr, and Coley “The Legend” Newall from Galway.
Birthday wishes
=Happy birthday (August 19) to The Living Wills co-author Brendan Sullivan. The Living Wills was our first book, and Brendan has been it's champion. He also contributed to the book The Loop Files.
=One of the most enthusiastic supporters of EveryCubEver was the late great WXRT morning man Lin Brehmer (Born August 19). Here's what he said about it...
From the immortals to the footnotes, they’re all here. Every player has a story. An enduring fascination for any baseball fan with the curiosity to ask, hey, who were those guys?”
=There's no update of the book this year, but we are providing free excerpts on the birthdays of Cubs Hall of Famers. Born this week (August 18, 1893), Burleigh Grimes. Here's his excerpt from the book...
Burleigh Grimes 1893–1985 (Cubs 1932-1933)
Grimes never shaved on days he pitched, because the slippery elm he chewed to increase saliva irritated his skin, so he always had stubble on his face when he took the mound. That led to his nickname, Ol’ Stubblebeard. He wasn’t just known for his stubble, he was also known as one of the toughest competitors to ever take the mound. His scowl would have made Randy Johnson’s look like a smiley face, and when it was time to give someone an intentional walk, he was known to throw four pitches near the batter’s head. Grimes is a Hall of Famer, but certainly not for his one and half years with the Cubs (1932-1933). He was a five-time 20-game winner, but only went 9-17 for the Cubs. Ol’ Stubblebeard was the last legal spitball pitcher in the majors. When he retired, so did that pitch. (Wink, wink. Right, Gaylord Perry?)
=Also, this week in 1996 (August 18), EveryCubEver author Rick Kaempfer took his oldest son Tommy to his first ever Cubs game. (Photographic proof below). Tommy has gone to at least one Cubs game every year since then (except the Covid year when no-one was allowed to go). An older lady saw Rick and Tommy that day in 1996 and asked: "Are you going to make him a Cubs fan?" When Rick responded in the affirmative, the old lady said: "That's child abuse." True story. (Rick and Tommy are going to the Cubs game together again tonight--30 years later).
=A few of our authors have had brushes with the biggest of the bigshots. That's Life Behind the Camera author Chuck Quinzio with the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton. It's Clinton's birthday this week (August 19)
=August 21 is World Fashion Day. Believe it or not, we have an author who was a model: Mark Gelinas. He wasn't exactly hard on the eyes...
=His cancer journey is chronicled in the book GelStrong, and induced support from fellow models, including this one, wearing postcards promoting Mark's book...
National Radio Day
=August 20 is National Radio Day. Have we ever published a book about radio? Um, yeah, we published all of these books about radio or written by radio stars...
=From the The Loop Files, one of the biggest stars in the history of the station is celebrating a birthday this week (August 19). Happy birthday to the newsman/bluesman Buzz Kilman, seen below with Dennis Hopper and Johnny B, with Johnny B, Kevin Matthews, and Danny Bonaduce, and in the old Loop studios shortly after he arrived in Chicago in 1980.
=Another week, another slew of rock star birthdays. Naturally, We Have Company author Bobby Skafish has featured all of them in his book, Robert Plant (August 20), Joe Strummer (August 21), and Tori Amos (August 22)
=A few notable sports birthday boys from this week are featured in the pages of Randy Merkin's sports radio interview book Behind the Glass. Bill Parcells (August 22), Kobe Bryant (August 23) and this guy below. John "Jurko" Jurkovic (foreground with Randy and Henry Winkler and Carmen DeFalco)
=Former Bears wide receiver Dennis McKinnon's birthday is August 22. Sports radio legend Chet Coppock wrote about Dennis in his book Your Dime My Dance Floor, but he was saving the best Dennis stories for a book he was writing with Dennis. The final draft of that book was turned in to Eckhartz Press the week before Chet died. After Chet's death, Dennis self published the book instead. It's on Amazon, if you're interested.
=One of the closing chapters of sports radio host Dan McNeil's book I Bear Witness features his tributes to the Bears who have passed away in the last few decades. One of those was Cedric Benson. He died this week (August 17) in 2019. Here's what Dan writes about him in his book...
Benson and a female passenger died at the scene when his motorcycle crashed with a minivan in Austin, Tex. He was 36.
The Heisman trophy winner, picked fourth-overall in ‘05, went 5-11 and 225 with tremendous burst and cut-back quickness. Benson never got out of second gear in Chicago and was shown the door in ‘08 after two alcohol-related arrests in a month. His rap sheep grew considerably as his NFL career devolved. He muscled out a few respectable years with the Bengals before one final season with the Packers.
Weed. Criminal trespassing. Boating under the influence. Punching a bartender.
Cedric Benson lived recklessly.
I admired Benson’s college career at Texas. He was a four-year starter and finished with 5,500+ career rushing yards, second only to Ricky Williams in Austin. He was my kind of back. Low to the ground. Powerful, but sleek. Elusive, but tough.
At training camp in Bourbonnais, Benson pulled up a chair in the air-conditioned RV to do a segment on my ESPN 1000 Mac, Jurko & Harry show. We were in a commercial break when Benson entered the trailer, so I attempted small talk and apologized for the lengthy wait before we got started.
“All good,” Benson said softly. “I got nobody else to go talk to.”
He was serious. Teammates paid him little or no mind. The beatings Benson endured following his 36-day holdout (defenders tackling him at full speed during thud time when tacklers don’t take ball carriers to the ground) were only rookie hazings but proved detrimental. An already bashful guy pulled away even more. Ced never closed the distance from teammates and was a football tragedy.
=Mark Wukas was interviewed by Richard Reeder at Max and Benny's in Skokie this week in 2025. We were there to record it...
=Jeff Reiter's Words on Birds column came out in the Daily Herald this week in 2025 and featured a nice plug for the book. You can read the whole article here.
=What a wonderful book launch party this week in 2024 for To the Men I've Loved. Here are a few pictures...
=This week in 2022, Will Wagner held a great launch party for his novel Talking 'Bout My Generation at the Mt. Prospect country club. A huge enthusiastic turnout for the author. Some photographic proof...
=This week in 2021 (August 20), Margaret Larkin's novel Wicker Park Wishes was released as an e-book. It's still available in that format, of course.
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=This week in 2017 (August 20), there was an article in the Cap Times about Eckhartz Press author Lee Kingsmill.
=Exactly one year later in 2018 (August 20), Lee made an appearance on WGN Radio with Rick Kogan to talk about his award-winning book Safe Inside. You can still listen to it here.
=This week in 2018 (August 23), Richard Reeder had a book signing in Skokie. Among the luminaries who showed up to honor him was the Mayor of Skokie.
=This week in 2014, Bruce Bohrer appeared on Pete McMurray's WGN Radio show to talk about his book Best Seat in the House.
=There are two anniversaries this week for films identified by Nick Digilio as his favorite films of the year. Nick writes essays about both of these movies in his book.
=August 17, 1990—Wild at Heart was released.
=August 18,
1989—Casualties of War was released.
=On August 19, 1977—Foghat Live was released. It became their top selling album, and naturally led to a record store appearance at The Flip Side.
=August 22,
1929 is the day the Music Box theater opened in Chicago. That theater is featured in the pages of Doug E. Jones' great Chicago novel, Take Me Back to Chicago.
And finally..
Holy Rollers
=That's Eckhartz Press publishers Dave Stern and Rick Kaempfer flanked by WFLD-TV's Dane Placko, Grammy Award winning jazz singer Kurt Elling, and former WLUPer Mike Medina at Guaranteed Rate Field for Pope Hat night last Tuesday (August 11). We came through for the Pope. The Pope did not come through for the White Sox.
