Musings, observations, and written works from the publisher of Eckhartz Press, the media critic for the Illinois Entertainer, co-host of Minutia Men, Minutia Men Celebrity Interview and Free Kicks, and the author of "The Loop Files", "Back in the D.D.R", "EveryCubEver", "The Living Wills", "$everance," "Father Knows Nothing," "The Radio Producer's Handbook," "Records Truly Is My Middle Name", and "Gruen Weiss Vor".
The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
Award Winner!
=Extending our congratulations to Jim Slusher! This week the Chicago Writers Association named his book To Nudge the World as the Book of the Year in the Indie Non-Fiction Category. The award will be handed out on January 23rd (6-8pm) at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square. What a great achievement, Jim. (The Daily Herald also congratulated him in the paper last week)
=Jim joins a long list of fellow Eckhartz Press authors who have been recognized by the CWA, including Book of the Year winners Pat Colander, ML Collins and Mark Taylor, Honorable Mention Book of the Year winners Lee Kingsmill, Dr. David Fletcher, and John Owens, and Book of the Year Finalists Roger Badesch, Ken Churilla, Jeffrey Gentile, Michael Gentile, Rick Kaempfer, Rich King, John Records Landecker, William Mansfield, Mitch Michaels, Bobby Skafish, and Ken Smoller.
=18 authors recognized in 14 years. Not too shabby.
Evanston native Doug E. Jones has a thing for Chicago — a true love for Chicago, in fact. That, and his talent as a writer and his gift for storytelling, means that Take Me Back to Chicago, his fourth novel, should be a meaningful read for anyone who has any kind of thing for Chicago. Not to mention that he worked his way up from “coffee boy” to staff writer for the television show Charmed. So, what’s the book about? It tells the story of a young man in 1970s Chicago as “he tries to pay off his dead father’s debt to the Irish mob.” Charming, for sure.
=Our next book is percolating. We have the cover. It will be available for pre-order soon. The book is a history of The City News Bureau of Chicago, and it's really good. More details in the coming weeks.
=A few Eckhartz Press author appearances/interviews to look forward to in early 2026...
The Loop Files exhibit at the Museum of Broadcast Communications will be there until the end of January. Make sure you see it before it goes away.
Nick Digilio (40 Years 40 Films) will be on WCPT with John St. Augustine at 4pm on January 2.
Jeff Reiter (The Best of Words on Birds) will be hosting a talk at Mayslake Peabody Estate in Dupage County on January 15.
Dick Allen will be given the Lou Boudreau Hall of Fame award on January 18. Dick Allen Jr. and Chili Dog MVP authors Dr. David Fletcher and John Owens will be there at the Tinley Park Convention Center at 3:30pm.
Gloria Golec (South Side Memories) will appearing on the Sharing the Heart of the Matter podcast in January.
Jim Slusher (To Nudge the World) will be appearing at the Book Cellar on January 23, accepting his Book of the Year award from the Chicago Writers Association.
Rick Kaempfer and David Stern will host a virtual event in honor of Tony Fitzpatrick and his book The Sun at the End of the Road on February 6.
Jeff Reiter (The Best of Words on Birds) will be appearing at the great birder event, Gull Frolic in Lake County, on February 15.
Mark Wukas (The Kiss of Night) will be appearing at Welcome to the Show at the Getaway (4530 N. Lincoln Avenue) on February 16.
Vicki Atkinson (Surviving Sue) will be appearing at Wauconda Library (11am-12:30pm) on February 20.
Robert Conlon (Celtic Knot) will be appearing at the Gman (on Clark in Chicago) on March 15.
A Very Eckhartz X-mas
=Back in 2018 we gathered a dozen of our authors and had a group book signing on the Northwest Side of Chicago. What a fun day. (Top Row, L-R: Chet Coppock, Beth Jacobellis, Bruce Bohrer, Becky Sarwate, Randy Richardson. Middle Row, L-R: William Mansfield, Donald Evans, Rich King, Richard Reeder, Alex Burkholder, Ronnie Woo Woo. Bottom Row: Dave and Rick)
=This historical photo was taken on December 31, 1988. Future Eckhartz press authors Dan McNeil and Chet Coppock on the sideline during the infamous Fog Bowl game at Soldier Field.
=This week in 2022, Chuck Swirsky appeared on WGN Radio with Steve & Johnnie to talk about his book Always A Pleasure. He also did a book signing at the Windy City Bulls game, and ran into an old friend--this week's birthday celebrant Jared Payton (December 26).
Jim Harbaugh
=The former Bears quarterback (and I suppose he's done other things since) Jim Harbaugh is featured in several of our books, most notably Randy Merkin's Behind the Glass, and Rich King's Ike & Me. Harbaugh is celebrating a birthday this week (December 23).
=Just as we were getting ready to release The Loop Files, Jimmy Buffett passed away. That led Jonathon Brandmeier to dip into his photographic archives and pull out this photo. He also told us the story of the day Jimmy rode his bike to Johnny's show (at Navy Pier) to appear on it. That story is in the book. Jimmy was a Christmas baby (December 25).
=Foreigner guitarist and songwriter Mick Jones plays a big role in the Mitch Michaels memoir Doin the Cruise. It's Mick's birthday this week as well.
And last, but not least, we want to recognize the people who make this company tick.
Happy Holidays to our editors Lauren Schultz, Mary Leonard and Mike Braden. Happy holidays to our gifted designer Jeff Waggoner. Happy holidays to our printers Publication Graphics (in West Chicago) and Wally's Printing (in Winfield). All of our people are local and it will stay that way.
Happy Holidays to the entire Eckhartz Press stable of authors. We are honored to have such a distinguished group (in alphabetical order): Dr. Vicki Atkinson, Roger Badesch, Paul Banks, Jim Baumann, Jeanne Bellezzo, Judge Michael Bender, Bruce Bohrer, Bob Boone, Alex Burkholder, Dan Burns, Pat Camilliere, Duane Scott Cerny, Ken Churilla, Tim Clue, Pat Colander, M.L. Collins, Robert Conlon, Keith Conrad, Chet Coppock, Joel Daly, Nick Digilio, Jim Elsener, Don Evans, Russ Fahrner, Tony Fitzpatrick, Dr. David Fletcher, Mark Gelinas, Jeffery Gentile, Michael Gentile, Gloria Golec, Jack Hafferkamp, Jessica Hagy, Bob Herguth, Nicole Herion, Beth Jacobellis, Judy Ann Jamerson, Doug E. Jones, Rick Kaempfer, Rich King, Lee Kingsmill, Ken Korber, John Records Landecker, Andrew Langert, Margaret Larkin, Tom Latourette, Eric Litt, Lauren LoGuidice, Lou Macaluso, William Mansfield, Spike Manton, Dr. John Martucci, Dobie Maxwell, Kipper McGee, Dan McNeil, Dena Mendes, Randy Merkin, Mitch Michaels, Frank Miles, David Mosele, Pat Motto, Joe Novak, Kristin Oakley, Lori Oster, John Owens, Bill Paige, Brent Petersen, Jason Pomrenke, Paul Possenti, Vicki Quade, Chuck Quinzio, Scott Redman, Richard Reeder, Edward Reyes, Jeff Reiter, Randy Richardson, Carl Rosenbaum, Larry Rosenbaum, Becky Sarwate, Todd Schneider, Bob Shannon, Bobby Skafish, Jim Slusher, Maggie Smith, Ken Smoller, David Stern, Kim Strickland, Felitzitas Sudendorf, Brendan Sullivan, Janet Sutherland, Chuck Swirsky, Mark Taylor, Deb Tokarz, Ryan Trembath, Will Wagner, Tom Weinberg, Ann Wilson, Mark Wukas, Butch Zeppo and Paul Zimbrakos.
105 authors have now written 120 books for Eckhartz Press. We are proud of each and every one of them, and we miss those who have passed away.
And Happy Holidays to the authors we have signed for the upcoming year, our 15th year of publishing. You know who you are! We're looking forward to adding to our family.
Have a wonderful holiday season, and we'll see you in 2026!
(And thanks to Eckhartz superfan Susan Erickson for creating this Eckhartz Press Christmas ornament. It hangs on Rick's tree)
=Maybe you came to his Book Launch party at Kaiser Tiger on Friday night. Axios' Monica Eng was there. So was Svengoolie's executive producer Jim Roche. Great turnout.
=Maybe you saw him at Brickhouse Tavern on Thursday night.
=Maybe you saw him at his movie screening/book signing at the Lake Theater on Wednesday night.
=If you missed all of those don't worry. More chances coming up. This week (Dec 18), Nick will be on WGN Radio with Kelly Leonard. He also has upcoming appearances on the WGN-TV morning news (Dec 31) and WCPT with John St. Augustine (Jan 2).
=On Thursday Nick Digilio paid tribute to his late friend Tony Fitzpatrick, who wrote the introduction to Nick's book. Tony, of course, also wrote the wonderful Eckhartz Press book The Sun at the End of the Road. It's filled with Tony's amazing artwork. Tony's last two posters are also available at Eckhartz Press. Check them out here and here.
=On February 6th, Eckhartz Press publishers Rick and Dave will be hosting a virtual event that pays tribute to Tony and his book. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.
=Doug E. Jones was on the How to Share podcast with Wynne Leon and Vicki Atkinson. The two interviewers did a great job, and Doug told some behind the scenes stories from his Hollywood days. Here's Wynne's take on that interview...
=The December issue of Natural Awakenings is out and features an article about our man Jeff Reiter and his book The Best of Words on Birds.
=Don't forget that you've got two chances to meet Jeff in the new year. On January 15th he'll be doing a talk at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Dupage county. Register here. On February 15th he'll be in Lake County for the Gull Frolic. We'll have more information about that as it gets closer.
=Mark Wukas also has an upcoming event in February. He will be at Welcome to the Show at the Getaway, 4530 N Lincoln Ave., at 7 p.m. on February 16. More details as the date approaches.
What else is coming in 2026?
=We have some gems, in addition to the 7 books we mentioned last week. Coming very soon, a history of the City News Bureau in Chicago (from the files of the man who ran it for decades), and a hilarious memoir from a comedian who saw the internet bubble burst first-hand in the early part of this century.
=Also in the pipeline: a long lost manuscript from a beloved Chicago television icon, a tribute to the power of Chicago radio from a man who was inspired by it, an art book from an acclaimed Chicago artist, a business book from an expert who regularly appears on Chicago television, a book about the wonders of sobriety written by a former Chicago media executive, a collection of a Chicago newspaper columnist's best work, a tribute to sportscaster Les Grobstein, a former Chicago alderman's memoir, and a novel by an award-winning nationally-renowned Chicago novelist.
=Not bad, eh? 2026 is our 15th year, and it's going to be a big one for us.
=Author/blogger/podcaster Vicki Atkinson pays tribute to the authors she spoke with this year, including a half-dozen members of the Eckhartz Press stable. You can read that here.
=Vicki Quade's latest show is this week. She sent us a note...I'm performing my hit comedy, Christmas Bingo: It's a Ho-Ho-Holy Night!, at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago for one night only, December 18. It's part of my new Nuns4Fun, Late Nite Catechism series rebranding. To order tickets, go online to: https://irish-american.org/event/christmas-bingo-its-a-ho-ho-holy-nightYou can also call the Nuns4Fun office at (773) 388-0730.
=Have you seen the Loop exhibit at the Museum of Broadcast Communications yet? We hear there is a new display coming to this exhibit. It's being donated by Lorelei. That's all we're authorized to say about it at this time. Remember, the entire Loop exhibit is only running until the end of January. Be sure to see it before it goes away.
=This week in 2023 was another big week for The Loop Files.
=And he appeared in this television interview with Rabbi Doug.
=And finally it was the 37th anniversary (December 20) of an event that Rick produced when he actually worked at the Loop, Steve & Garry's A Christmas Carol. The star-studded event was covered by every news outlet in town and garnered a full page story in the Chicago Tribune. This is how Loop General Manager Jimmy de Castro described it at the time...
=Lee Kingsmill wrote the book Safe Inside for us back in 2018, and it was a finalist for CWA Book of the Year. He doesn't want to write another book, but luckily for us, he continues to write his blog, Me Now. He reviews opera, theater and film. This week he reviewed the film Hamnet.
=Brent Petersen's foodie novel Truffle Hunt is his only novel (so far), but he continues to write about food and travel with his trademark sense of humor. His recent piece in Rhode Island Monthly is a keeper. It's about the long Italian goodbyes. Very funny and very true.
=In 2024, Last Comiskey was a finalist for Book of the Year. Ken Smoller's book about the last season at the original Comiskey Park has gotten great reviews, and brought him lots of attention. Here's one example: he appeared on Ed Lynch's podcast, Surfing Baseball with Ed Lynch.You can listen to that here.
=Last year's Chicago Bears season was going much differently than this year. That's why we were especially appreciative to everyone who came out to Edison Park to see Dan McNeil and buy his great book about the Bears I Bear Witness. Here are a few photos from the event.
=This was also one of the saddest weeks in Eckhartz Press history. This week in 2018 (December 16), Eckhartz Press author Mark Gelinas passed away after a valiant struggle against pancreatic cancer.
=Here is what Eckhartz Press publisher Rick Kaempfer posted after he heard the news...
My heart is heavy today. Just got the news that my good friend Mark Gelinas passed away. This photo is from his book launch just two years ago, with his wife Donna. My heart goes out to Donna and the incredible Gelinas family, particularly his son Alexander Briggs Gelinas, and Mark's parents and siblings. Mark was my roommate for a few years after college, and a friend I could always count on. I was texting with him up until just a few days ago. When he didn't respond to the last text, I feared this day was near. Miss you, buddy. I'm so happy your pain is gone.
=This week in 2022 (December 15), Chuck Swirsky appeared on Chicago Tonight (WTTW-Channel 11) to talk about his book Always a Pleasure and his 50 years of broadcasting. You can watch that here. There's also, by the way, a free excerpt of the book at that link.
=Two of the people featured in the book, Ray Meyer (December 18) and Adam Amin (December 19) were born this week as well. Chuck was one of the smart broadcasters who always remembered to get a photo, including with both of those gentlemen.
=This week in 2017 (December 17), two of our more prominent authors appeared at a book signing together, side by side, at the Orland Park Sports Collectors Show: John Records Landecker and Mitch Michaels. Here they are holding each other's books.
=This week in 2013 (December 18), a good friend of both authors, Superjock Larry Lujack passed away. Landecker devoted a good chunk of his book to writing about the legendary morning disc jockey. We published this free excerpt on our site the week Larry died.
The Balding Handbook
=This week in 2012 (December 18), Eckhartz Press threw a book launch party for David Stern's balding classic, The Balding Handbook: 5 Stages of Grieving for your Hair Loss. The party naturally drew a good number of fellow balds. As you can see, they were all still suffering through Stage 4 depression. Hopefully the book got them to Stage 5 acceptance.
=One of the reasons the Bears have been so continously bad for the past four decades is that the man who was groomed to take over for his father George, Mugs Halas, passed away before his dad did. That happened this week (December 16) in 1979. Chet Coppock devotes an entire chapter to Mugs in Your Dime My Dance Floor.
=This week in 1943, Walt "No Neck" Williams was born in Brownwood, Texas. He not only gets a mention in Chet's book, he gets this classic photo. Walt passed away in 2016. Chet passed in 2019.
=This week in 2017 (December 16), Tom Weinberg hosted a Sunday breakfast at the Book Stall in Winnetka to promote his book Chasing the Lost City. The Daily North Shore was there to chronicle the event.
=This week (December 16) is screenwriter Denise DeClue's birthday. Denise was a big supporter of Book of the Year winner Pat Colander and her Eckhartz Press book Hugh Hefner's First Funeral. Here's what she said about it...
Pat Colander toiled with me in the belly of the Chicago journalism beast in the 1970s and 1980s. When major stories were reported, she asked questions. When the questions were poorly answered or evaded, she asked even more questions of even more people. Then in a clear, true voice, she wrote it all down. She found the real stories behind the stories and this collection of her work is just great. She ought to be long-listed for the Man Booker prize, If I can figure out how to do it I will.
Denise DeClue, Writer of films including About Last Night, teleplays, documentaries, journalism, humor columns and a great deal of other funny stuff
=Legendary ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons is celebrating a birthday this week (December 16). Here he is with Bobby Skafish (and the other two Toppers, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill). This photo and the story of that interview is featured in Bobby's book We Have Company: Four Decades of Rock and Roll Encounters.
=This week in 1855 (December 17), the Peoria Daily Transcript was founded. It later became the Peoria Star. Even later it endorsed the Eckhartz Press book Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America by Paul Banks.
“Transatlantic Passage richly details the Premier League’s wide-ranging and often complicated influence on American soccer. While others saw mostly novelty in high-profile European clubs’ US-based preseason tours, Paul M. Banks uses them as a platform to tell the stories of the game’s most captivating and accomplished stars. Mixed with memorable and hilarious anecdotes, Banks’ incisive commentary expertly illustrates the many missteps of an often soccer-ignorant American media.”
Gavin Good, sports reporter, Peoria Star
Ken Korber
=The first day of Winter is this week (December 21). Whenever we think of the first day of a new season, we think of our children's book author Ken Korber. He's literally a man for every season. That's Ken in the middle with his spring book. Rick Kaempfer is holding Ken's Winter book, and David Stern is holding Ken's Summer book. The Fall book is sitting on a table nearby.
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