Out of the Office

I'm out of the office today and tomorrow.

Will be back at the blogging desk on Monday.

Don't forget to tune in to Minutia Men! New episode drops later today (Thursday).

Josh Liss

This month's Illinois Entertainer column is out. I spoke with WBBM News Radio's Josh Liss.

You can read it here.

Terry Boers Says Goodbye

I've always thought Terry Boers was a good writer, and he proved it again today with the announcement of his impending retirement.

His last day on the Score will be on January 5th.

He had a good run. 25 years on the radio. Good and bad ratings. Partnerships with both Dan McNeil and Dan Bernstein.

I haven't always been a fan of his show (especially when he and his partner rip their own listeners--never quite understood that), but I have always admired his knowledge and passion for sports. This is a big loss for the Score.

Our Latest: "Genuflections: Famous Folks Talk About Growing Up Catholic" by Robert Herguth

Eckhartz Press is thrilled to announce the release of our latest book Genuflections: Famous Folks Talk About Growing Up Catholic by author Robert Herguth.

Herguth is a long-time reporter (currently with the Chicago Sun Times) and has spent the last several years tracking down and asking famous people how growing up Catholic affected their lives. The stories are far from universal. Some of the celebrities remain devout Catholics, others have found another path to spirituality, but all of them were deeply influenced in one way or another by their Catholic upbringing.

The list of celebrities is impressive: Mario Andretti, Sal Bando, Megan Barry, Andrea Bocelli, Jimmy Breslin, Jerry Brown, James Carville, Joaquin Castro, Pat Connaughton, Billy Corgan, Kevin Cronin, Adam Devine, Dana Delaney, Brian Dennehy, Mike Ditka, Rich Donnelly, Josh Duhamel, Mike Eruzione, Alejandro Escovedo, Fabio, Tyler Flowers, Pau Gasol, Neil Giraldo, Bob Guccione Jr., Jeff Kinney, Bianca Jagger, Brian Kelly, Keagan Michael Key, Dennis Kucinich, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Michael O'Keefe, Doug McDermott, Louis Perez, Paul Ryan, Jane Sanders, Don Schula, Isiah Thomas, Keith Thibodeaux, Bobby Vinton, and Larry Wilmore.



The depth of thought these famous folks provide is even more impressive. Read about how . . .

Jane O’Meara Sanders experienced “an Irish-Catholic upbringing in every way”...

Actress Dana Delany wanted to be a nun, but a fun one . . .

Hard-nosed coach Mike Ditka strikes an enlightened tone . . .

Louie Perez of Los Lobos doesn’t want the baby thrown out with the bath water . . .

Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins wished Bach had been played at mass . . .

Romance novel hunk Fabio kept getting kicked out of Catholic schools . . .

The name of Alejandro Escovedo’s punk band was inspired by an unpleasant parochial-school encounter . . .

Congressman Joaquin Castro identified with St. Martin de Porres while a kid . . .

and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan found Catholic school “warm and inclusive”

Pre-order your copy today. Will ship in plenty of time for the holidays.

Tis the Season

Created this one for the release of "Father Knows Nothing". Vinnie Argento on vocals...

This Week in Hate

The New York Times has debuted a new column that I hope doesn't have enough material to continue. It's called "This Week in Hate" and it's about all the various acts of hate going on around the country since the Trump victory.

Read the first one here.

Start the timer on the whine machine, and the beginning of the "This week in white people being picked on" column being prepared by Breitbart.

Teal Tuesday

You've probably heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but did you know about Teal Tuesday? That's an Eckhartz Press thing...and it means that great deals are available today only at Eckhartz Press!

The Grammy Hall of Fame

I didn't realize that the Grammy Hall of Fame existed, but now that I know, I'm mildly obsessed about it. I learned the news from Oldies music expert (and author and programmer and former jock) Ron Smith, who posted this on his facebook page...

The Grammy Hall of Fame announced the 25 recordings that will be inducted as the Class of 2017 Tuesday. They include Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock”, the Beach Boys’ “I Get Around”, “You Don’t Own Me” from Lesley Gore, “Wake Up Little Susie” by the Everly Brothers, Dion’s “The Wanderer”, “I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher, “Maggie May” from Rod Stewart, “Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin” from Sly & the Family Stone, Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water”, “Changes” from David Bowie, the Jackson 5’s “ABC”, Arlo Guthrie’s recording of “City Of New Orleans” and Lalo Schiffrin’s “Mission Impossible” theme. 1,038 songs have now been added to the Hall of Fame, all of which are at least 25 years old.

Can't really argue with any of those choices. "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore has been an earworm for me ever since that Toyota ad started running. We played the poop out of it at Oldies 104.3, so I got pretty sick of it for a decade or so, but I can listen to it again now...



The full Grammy Hall of Fame list is here.

AP Guidelines for Use of Term "Alt Right"

The Associated Press is the standard bearer of all journalistic norms in this country. Even those who howl about "biased media" trust the Associated Press to be a fair arbiter.

So that's why this definition of the term of "Alt Right" is making me a little queasy. Here's their actual definition...

[The alt-right] emphasizes preserving and protecting the white race in the United States in addition to, or over, other traditional conservative positions such as limited government, low taxes and strict law-and-order.

And we will have the guy who popularized the "Alt Right" (Steve Bannon) in the White House beginning in January, and there's nothing we can do about it because it's a position that doesn't need Senate confirmation.

To view how to use the term "Alt Right" correctly in your reporting, click here.

Here's an example...

The proper way to do it, AP-style, is to put the term in quotes while concurrently calling it like it is: “‘an offshoot of conservatism mixing racism, white nationalism and populism,'” or, more simply, ‘a white nationalist movement.'”

Nothing to see here. Everything is completely normal.

Take It Easy

This is a great article about the Eagles and what they've gone through since the death of Glenn Frey. Highly Recommended.

There's also a section about the writing of the song "Take it Easy". Jackson Browne talks about how Frey wrote the second verse, and what that did for the song. Made me want to hear it again...

Soccer Tragedy

A plane crash has claimed the lives of a popular Brazilian professional soccer team.

The Washington Post has the horrible story.

According to the article, the plane ran out of fuel on it's way to Columbia. How can that happen?

Fashion

Me: See you later, Sean, I'm going shopping.
Sean: What are you buying?
Me: I need a sport jacket.
Sean: Make it the Cubs.
Me: Not that kind of sport jacket.

I think I haven't emphasized fashion enough with the youngsters.

Updated Every Cub Ever

What did you do this weekend? I'm guessing you spent it more productively than I did.

I updated our Every #Cub Ever feature at Just One Bad Century. 15 new entries. 70 updated entries. Lots of new pictures and videos.

Gotta admit, writing about the 2016 Cubs did put a big smile on my face.

282 Promises

A handy guide to keeping track of how many of Trump's 282 promises he keeps.

Spoiler alert: Many of these are impossible.

On an unrelated (and admittedly childish note), I got a kick out of this...

I hear Donald Trump really hates this photo. So make sure not to retweet it. Ever. pic.twitter.com/6dUnchk8tC

— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) November 25, 2016

Gel Strong Book Launch

Had a great time at the book launch for "Gel Strong" by Mark Gelinas on Saturday night. He's doing another big event in Atlanta in a few weeks. Congrats to Mark on the successful launch.

One more Fidel Castro story

Back in 2010, I interviewed Orion Samuelson from WGN Radio. He told this interesting story about Cuba, and Fidel Castro, and how he had an impact on Chicago radio...

"We had an interesting moment during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. President Kennedy wanted to send a message to the Cuban people that our dispute was not with them, but with their government. He came to several of the big 50,000 watt clear channel radios stations, including WGN, and asked us to deliver a message at midnight every night in their native tongue. And we did. And they could hear us all the way in Cuba. But, the Cubans took action to block us. Within six months they started a 200,000 watt station on the same frequency, and that really blasted us out of the air at nighttime. In the south all you could hear on 720 was Cuban radio. It took us twelve to fourteen years of intensive negotiating through the Swiss Embassy (because we didn’t have direct relations with Cuba) to finally reclaim the frequency in that direction. When I met Mr. Castro in 2000, I was really tempted to bring it up, but I didn’t."

Castro died this weekend at the age of 90.

RIP Florence Henderson

Sad news this weekend. From the Skimm...

RIP to the OG matriarch. Last week, Florence Henderson, who played Carol Brady on “The Brady Bunch,” died unexpectedly of heart failure. She was 82. Henderson started off on Broadway before becoming America’s mom in the early 70s. And she was still making appearances up until last week, when she showed up to a taping of “Dancing With the Stars” to support Maureen McCormick aka Marcia.

Both of the Brady parents are gone now. Not sure why this one bummed me out so much, but it did. We loved this show so much when I was a kid. RIP Mike and Carol...