The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
It's After Hours Podcast Monday, featuring Candace Jordan talking about social and philanthropic scene in the fall and her friend Maria Pappas. https://t.co/NOMWXI1K4a https://t.co/vz9AJuNqSa
— Rick Kogan (@rickkogan) October 12, 2026
Upcoming Events...
– Sun, Nov 8, G-Man Tavern, 3740 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60613, Matinee, Interview and reading by Maria and book signing. We're calling this one the official launch party. 1-4pm.
– Sun, Nov 15, Green Mill Jazz Lounge, 4802 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640, 30-minute program by Maria and book signing – 3 – 5:30 PM
--Thurs, Nov 19. The Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, reading and signing, 7PM
=Two Nick Digilio appearances coming before the end of the month.
=He will be at the Pickwick Theater (5 S. Prospect, Park Ridge) on Wednesday, October 28 presenting the film "Poltergeist" at 7pm.
=Then on October 30, he'll be at Kaiser Tiger restaurant near the United Center (1415 W. Randolph) from 6-8pm, signing and selling his new book 40 Years, 40 Horror Films.
=Excellent workshop at the Irish American Heritage Center with Bob Conlon on Saturday. 25 people came to hear Bob give advice on how to write historical fiction, and particularly Irish historical fiction. Thanks to everyone who came out...
=Great turnout in Oak Park last week for Nick's Pix. He also has announced next month's choice.
=Here's one last photo of Gloria Golec's triumphant return to the Archer Heights Library. This one was taken by the librarian.
Pat Colander
=One of our favorite authors, Pat Colander, would have been celebrating a birthday this week (October 25). Pat was our first author to win the Book of the Year award from the Chicago Writers Association. Her book Hugh Hefner's First Funeral: And other True Tales of Love and Death in Chicago is a journalistic masterpiece. Unbeknownst to us, Pat was already sick at the time of its publication. She passed away in January of 2019. We still miss her.
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*Tommy Kaempfer (October 19)
=Rick's oldest son was born live on the air on WJMK Radio. The entire transcript of Rick's call from the delivery room to the John Landecker show is contained in the Eckhartz Press book, Father Knows Nothing. (Photo: Landecker interviewing 5-year old Tommy). Tommy is 31 now. In 2023, he edited the Kevin Matthews movie The Ed Zeppelin Story. He also has his own music review channel on YouTube under the name, The Wonky Angle.
*Mordecai Three Finger Brown (October 19, 1876)
=This is the Cub Hall of Famer's entry in EveryCubEver...
Mordecai Brown 1876–1948 (Cubs 1904-1912, 1916)
He was born in 1876, the same year the Cubs played their very first season in the National League. Three Finger probably owns one of the best nicknames in baseball history, and he earned it the hard way. As a seven-year-old boy, Mordecai caught his right hand in a corn grinder on his uncle’s farm. They needed to amputate almost the entire index finger, and the middle finger was mangled and left crooked. His little finger was also stubbed. When he learned to add spin to the ball by releasing it off his stub, he became a pitcher. When he started to have success, the newspapers called him Three Finger for obvious reasons. Three Finger is one of the greatest pitchers to ever wear a Cubs uniform. In ten years with the Cubs, he won 188 games, including 29 games in 1908 and 27 games in 1909. He led the league in wins, ERA, shutouts, and even saves (in four different years). He also pitched in four World Series for the Cubs. In seven World Series starts, he won five (five complete games), and three of those were shutouts. That, sadly, is probably a Cubs record that will never be broken. Three Finger was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1949: one year after his death. His 1.80 career Cubs ERA and 48 shutouts are both the best in franchise history.
Historical note: On the day that Mark Twain died (1910), Brown was on the hill for the Cubs. He beat the Reds 6-1 at West Side Grounds.
*Evander Holyfield (October 19)
=Evander rates his own chapter in Randy Merkin's book Behind the Glass...
*John Williams (October 19).
=WGN Radio's midday star was one of the endorsers of Beth Jacobellis' novel Cameo...
Mythical but modern, Cameo shows us how to listen to the past to find love in the present.
=The late singer/songwriter/guitarist makes a surprise appearance in Chuck Swirsky's book Always a Pleasure.
*Snoop Dogg (October 20)
=You might also be surprised to hear that Snoop appears in Randy Merkin's Behind the Glass.
*Sir Georg Solti (October 21, 1912)
=The late, great conductor makes several appearances in the upcoming Eckhartz Press book, The CEO's Symphony. Here's a photo from the book, Sir Georg with author Henry Fogel...
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=Wilbur was a 20-game winner for the White Sox in the 1970s, but he also managed to do something even more impressive. He found his way into three Eckhartz Press books. This first photo of Wilbur with Nancy Faust and Bill Melton appears in Chili Dog MVP. The second photo of Wilbur and Jay Johnstone with Soxette (and future Eckhartz Press author Pat Motto) appears in To The Men I've Loved. The third photo of Wilbur appears in the upcoming Frank Mathie book The Feature Creature. Frank got the opportunity to hit against Wilbur while doing a story for ABC-7 in Chicago. Wilbur passed away earlier this year. His final interview was recorded by Chili Dog MVP author David Fletcher and appears in the film My Father, Dick Allen.
*Jimmie Foxx (October
22, 1907)
=Jimmy looks a bit like Mike Ditka, doesn't he? This is the Cub Hall of Famer's entry in EveryCubEver...
Jimmie Foxx 1907–1967 (Cubs 1942, 1944)
Jimmie was nicknamed the Beast because of his imposing physical presence. Foxx is one of the all-time greatest sluggers: a two-time World Series champ, a three-time MVP, winner of two batting titles. Foxx led the league in home runs four times, RBI three times (despite playing at the same time as Ruth and Gehrig), and hit 534 career home runs. Unfortunately for Cubs fans, only three of those home runs came with the Cubs, who picked him up one year after his last good season. He hit .190 with the team in 225 at bats, and was released in 1944. He later managed one of the women’s teams during the war and was the inspiration for the character played by Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own.
*Pam Zekman (October 22)
=The great investigative reporter for WBBM-Channel 2 Chicago was naturally a City News Alum. Yes, she is featured in the Eckhartz Press book about that admired news organization: Sirens in the Loop.
*Pele (October 23, 1940)
=The greatest soccer player of all-time appears in two Eckhartz Press books. The top photo is Pele with Green White Soccer Club legend Tom Czop from the book Grun Weiss Vor! The second photo is Pele's Signature Shoes, which are discussed and highlighted in Ryan Trembath's entertaining book about the signature shoe craze.
*William Hulbert (October 23, 1832)
=This is the Cub Hall of Famer's entry in EveryCubEver...
William Hulbert 1832–1882 (White Stockings President, Founder of National League)
William was born during the Andrew Jackson presidency. Hulbert became the president of the White Stockings after the Chicago Fire, and signed a bunch of players against league rules. Anticipating that he would get in trouble for that, he worked behind the scenes with fellow owners to form a new league the next season. The National League officially began play in 1876, and Hulbert was not punished. He became the president of the National League the following season and served in that role until his death in 1882. Among his accomplishments was ridding the league of the rampant gambling that had been such a big problem in the National Association. His gravestone in Graceland Cemetery looks like a baseball. He is a member of baseball’s Hall of Fame.
*Wayne Rooney (October 24)
=Wayne appears in Paul Banks' book about the success of the Premier League in America, Transatlantic Passage. Paul even managed to snap this shot of the former Manchester United man.
*Drake (October 24)
=Chuck Swirsky met Drake during his days in Canada, and tells that story in Always a Pleasure.
*Bill Wyman (October 24)
=The former Rolling Stones bassist appears in Bobby Skafish's We Have Company.
*Hal Bruno (October 25, 1928)
=The famed reporter (ABC) was another prominent alum of City News
Bureau. Naturally, he appears in our book about the CNB, Sirens in the Loop.
=Eckhartz Press made the front page! Great article in the Daily Herald this week in 2025 about Jeff Reiter and his book The Best of Words on Birds. Thanks to Daily Herald writer Katlyn Smith.
=This week in 2023 Rick Kaempfer got the first copy of The Loop Files.
=This week in 2022 (October 26), Chuck Swirsky's book Always a Pleasure was released by Eckhartz Press. Chuck was a promotional machine the next two months pitching the book. This week in 2022, he was on WGN Radio with Bob Sirott (October 20), and was featured in the Chicago Sun Times (October 20).
The Unplanned Life and Wicker Park Wishes
=This week in 2020 (October 21), Roger Badesch was interviewed by Margaret Larkin for her Metrolingua blog about his memoir The Unplanned Life. You can still read that interview here.
=At the time, we had no way of knowing that Margaret Larkin would become an Eckhartz Press author herself. Just two years later (October 22), she appeared in Wicker Park to promote her novel Wicker Park Wishes...
=This week in 2021 (October 2), Daily Herald editor/columnist Jim Baumann was featured in Robert Feder's column. Jim had just published his highly acclaimed book Grammar Moses. The book was a collection of Jim's famous grammar columns from the Daily Herald.
=This week in 2020 (October 22) we lost one of our favorite Eckhartz Press authors, the universally beloved Joel Daly. Joel was a Renaissance man, anchorman/reporter/attorney/singer/actor/pilot. His book The Daly News was a 2014 release by Eckhartz Press. When Joel passed away he was lionized all over the media. Of course Channel 7 did an on-air tribute to Joel. The Sun-Times published this wonderful obit. Media writer Robert Feder also paid tribute. Great guy. We miss him.
=This week in 2020 (October 22), author Kipper McGee appeared on the RadioInfo podcast to talk about his media book Brandwidth. You can still listen to that here.
=This week in 2018 (October 20), Mitch Michaels drove all the way to Northwest Indiana for a book signing at Tom Lounges' record store. Two of the members of M&R Rush showed up to say hello. Mitch repaid the favor this year by providing the voice for M&R Rush's audio book.
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=This week in 2017 (October 23) we released the Hall of Fame edition of Records Truly Is My Middle Name after it was announced that John Landecker had been inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. He was later also inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. John wrote a few new chapters and added a few dozen more photos for the new addition.
=Two days later he made an appearance at Purdue University (October 25). Both John and co-author Rick Kaempfer appeared for a lecture in the media department.
Best Seat in the House and EveryCubEver
=This week in 2016 (October 20), as the Cubs were beginning their World Series run, WCIU-TV invited two of our authors Rick Kaempfer (EveryCubEver) and Bruce Bohrer (Best Seat in the House) to be part of their morning show, live from Wrigleyville. This is Bruce with the WCIU Morning host at the time, Jon Hansen.
=This week in 2016 (October 26), Bobby Skafish appeared on Kipper McGee's podcast to discuss his book We Have Company.
Cheeseland and Lost In the Ivy
=This week in 2015 (October 21), Eckhartz Press author Randy Richardson was asked to attend the Carl Sandberg Literary Awards to benefit the Chicago Public Library Foundation. Steven Sondheim, Rick Bayless, Scott Simon, Bill Kurtis, Marv Levy, Sara Paretsky, Jim Peterik and Scott Turow were among the other attendees. You know, no big whoop.
=Though this book is not technically an Eckhartz Press book, it did begin co-publisher Rick Kaempfer's official literary career. 22 years ago this month (October 21, 2004), Channel 7 reporter Andy Shaw interviewed Rick and his co-author John "Swany" Swanson for Lake Magazine. You can read the entire interview here, if you're interested.
