Friday, March 15, 2019

The Ides of March

The Ides of March...on the Ides of March...singing about the Cubs.

Big Day for Chet


Sam Spade

Last night I attended the Senior SAG/AFTRA players performance of a radio play--Sam Spade--starring my old friend John Records Landecker. He did a great job in the lead role.


Radio Health Journal

Yesterday afternoon I joined Eckhartz Press author Janet Sutherland for a visit to the Radio Health Journal. Great interview--coming to a radio station near you soon.

Thanks so much to executive producer Reed Pence for doing the interview.

R&R Hall of Fame Presenters Announced

From this morning's RAMP newsletter...


The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has revealed the names of the presenters who will introduce and induct Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, Janet Jackson, The Cure, Radiohead, Roxy Music and The Zombies into the Rock Hall on March 29 during the 34th Annual Induction Ceremony at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, presented by Klipsch Audio.

Harry Styles will be presenting for Stevie Nicks; Brian May of Queen presenting for Def Leppard; Janelle MonĂ¡e presenting for Janet Jackson; Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails presenting for The Cure; David Byrne presenting for Radiohead; John Taylor & Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran presenting for Roxy Music and Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles presenting for The Zombies.

The ceremony will once again exclusively premiere on HBO on Saturday, April 27 at 8pm ET. SiriusXM will also broadcast the ceremony in April and will feature special broadcasts throughout the year devoted to the Rock Hall's inductees, past and present -- on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Radio (Ch. 310) and VOLUME (Ch. 106). A special exhibit dedicated to this year's inductees will open at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Friday, March 22.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Congrats Ken Churilla

Ken Churilla is the co-author of the Mitch Michaels book "Doin the Cruise" and we're happy for his recognition in his hometown. He posted this on Facebook today...

This may come across as a little self serving but hell with it, I think it's pretty cool. The library in my hometown of Highland is spotlighting Indiana authors and they reached out to feature me! Why it means so much to me is I can't even begin to tell you how many afternoons, evenings and weekends I spent there in HS and Jr High working on book reports, multiple encyclopedias open and spread out all over the table. If you would have told teenage Ken this would happen one day, never in a million years would he have believed you...


Felix Pie

My book "everycubever" is coming out in April and will feature mini-bios of every Cub who ever played, including the most appropriate Cub to post on Pi Day (3/14). Felix Pie...

~Felix Pie 1985-- (Cubs 2007-2008)
Felix was supposed to be the next big star in Chicago, a five-tool outfielder with dazzling talent. Like Corey Patterson before him, Pie never quite put it together. The Cubs handed him in the starting center field job in 2008, but he lost it by May. Chicago signed Jim Edmonds and sent Felix back to the minors. One thing many male Cubs fans will never forget about Pie is an injury he suffered during his time with the Cubs. It was called “testicular torsion” or twisted testicle. Some of us still have nightmares. The Cubs traded Felix to the Orioles in 2009.

Dobie Maxwell

Happy birthday to Eckhartz Press author Dobie Maxwell! His book "Monkey in the Middle" was released on this date in 2016--and became one of our best selling books. It's an amazing story, and Dobie is an amazing guy.

Behind the Scenes at WGN

A few more photos behind the scenes at WGN-Radio with Eckhartz Press author Janet Sutherland-Madden...

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Free Kicks, Episode 33

EP33: Adam and Rick discuss a fan attacking a player on the pitch, the Premier League title race heating up, the battle for 4th place, and Adam takes a quiz about one of the clubs moving up to the Premiership next year–Leeds United.

Listen to it here.

Chippy Gaw

My book "everycubever" is coming out in April and will feature mini-bios of every Cub who ever played, including today's birthday boy....

~Chippy Gaw 1892–1968 (Cubs 1920)
One of the greatest names in baseball history–Chippy Gaw–pitched only briefly for the Cubs. After logging nearly ten years in the minors, he got into six big league games in 1920, mainly as a reliever. In his last Major League appearance on July 4, 1920, he came in to relieve Cubs great Hippo Vaughn. He pitched a third of an inning and didn’t allow a run. He pitched a few more years in the minors before hanging up his spikes for good in 1922. After his playing career was over, Chippy went into coaching…hockey. He was the head hockey coach at both Princeton and Dartmouth, and later also coached Boston University’s baseball team. His real first name, by the way, was George.

Howard Stern

From this morning's Robert Feder column...

Author! Author! King of All Media Howard Stern is about to release his first book in 24 years. Howard Stern Comes Again is set to be published May 14 by Simon & Schuster. “For the last two years of my life, I’ve been involved in a project that has taken up almost every weekend, every vacation that we’ve been on,” Stern said on his Sirius XM Radio show Tuesday. “This is about my evolution and this is about my interviews. I started talking about the process and I started talking about my life and some of the things that have happened.” Stern’s previous books were the bestsellers Miss America in 1995 and Private Parts in 1993.

I just found out that my book The Radio Producer's Handbook is considered a Simon & Schuster book. They bought Allworth Press, which released it originally. Hope they don't read my novel $everance, which openly mocks another Simon & Schuster author (and the chairman of the board) Sumner Redstone.

Tucker Carlson

A few points about Tucker Carlson and the controversy surrounding his unearthed comments on the Bubba the Love Sponge show...

*These comments weren't from his youth. Tucker was not a kid. He was 40.

*Anyone else on any legitimate network would have been fired. Period. That's just a fact.

*He's not a victim. He said all of these things on a RADIO show. This is not a gotcha.

*Next time one of those whining snowflakes on Fox News calls someone else a snowflake, the screen should go black and a still shot of that host crying should come on for the rest of the show.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the most recent example.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

George Moolic

My book "everycubever" is coming out in April and will feature mini bios of everyone who ever played for the Cubs between 1871-2018. Among them, today's birthday boy...

~George Moolic 1867--1915 (White Stockings 1886)
George had one of the greatest nicknames in Cubs history. His teammates called him Prunes. He was a 19-year-old backup catcher and outfielder for the 1886 National League champs, but he didn’t make much of a contribution to the team. He hit only .143 in 56 at-bats. That was the full extent of his big league career. Prunes may not have lasted long, but he could always say that he played on one of the most star-studded teams in Major League history. Among his teammates: Hall of Famers Cap Anson, King Kelly, and John Clarkson, plus stars in their day like Ned Williamson, George Gore, Jimmy Ryan, and Silver Flint. Oh, and the most famous of them all, future evangelist Billy Sunday. Prunes got a bloody nose in 1915 at the age of 47. Doctors couldn’t stop the bleeding, and after three weeks, he passed away. Official cause of death: nasal hemorrhage.

Happy Birthday Johnny!

Son #2 became an official grown up today. He's 21 years old. Happy birthday Johnny!

Monday, March 11, 2019

The Mooch Retweeted Us

He has 875,000 followers...


National Women's Month

March is National Women's Month, and we salute the many female authors who have written Eckhartz Press books, including our newest author Janet Sutherland-Madden. We still miss the late Pat Colander, Felizitas Sudendorf and Dena Mendes, and we'll always appreciate Becky Sarwate-Maxwell, Beth Jacobellis, ML Collins, Ann Wilson, Jeanne Bellezzo, Lori Oster, and Kim Strickland. Also, Kristin Oakley who edited "The Write City Review", Lindsey Eanet who co-wrote "Back in the Game" with Rich King, and Jessica Hagy who provided illustrations for Kipper McGee's "Brandwidth"

Spring is not quite here yet

My book "Everycubever" is coming out in April and features short bios of Every Cub Ever including today's birthday boy. There has been a Cub for every season (except Winter--but it's the off-season). The Cub of Spring is this one...

~Jack Spring 1933–2015 (Cubs 1964)
He pitched for seven teams in his eight big league seasons, and for exactly one month that team was the Cubs. They acquired Jack in May of 1964, and he pitched in seven games over the next few weeks. But then on June 15, 1964, Spring was called into the manager’s office and told he had been traded again. This time he was the throw-in in the trade that sent Lou Brock to the Cardinals. In St. Louis, Spring won a ring (although he didn’t make the postseason roster that year). Not sure what happened to that Brock character. One of the most miraculous stats of Jack’s career is this little tidbit: He once went 19 consecutive outings without recording a strikeout. That’s the longest streak since 1957.

The Shine is Off

From this morning's Hollywood Reporter...

Former Fox News co-president Bill Shine has abruptly resigned from his position as President Donald Trump's communications director. No reason was given for his departure.

"Serving President Trump and this country has been the most rewarding experience of my entire life," Shine said in a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday morning. "To be a small part of all this president has done for the American people has truly been an honor. I’m looking forward to working on President Trump’s reelection campaign and spending more time with my family.”

Trump praised Shine, who served as an assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications, in a statement. "Bill Shine has done an outstanding job working for me and the administration" the president said. "We will miss him in the White House, but look forward to working together on the 2020 presidential campaign, where he will be totally involved. Thank you to Bill and his wonderful family!”

No idea if this is a response to last week's blockbuster New Yorker article showing the cozy relationship between the White House and Fox News (I doubt it), but he lasted less than a year in the job.

Lemonade out of Lemons

Kyle Long was named one of the most overpaid players in the NFL. How did he respond? Perfectly.


MIlt & Justin

From this morning's RAMP newsletter...

WGN Radio/Chicago announced that Chicago native Justin Kaufmann will host the return of the station's iconic Extension 720, which will air on select weekday evenings beginning this Friday, March 15, produced by Pete Zimmerman.

Extension 720 originally ran from 1968 through 2012 and was hosted for 39 of those years by Milt Rosenberg. Kaufmann's rebooted Extension 720 will honor the format of that original show with long-form interviews and a focus on a variety of topics, from arts & culture to politics & innovation. Kaufmann will also meet Chicago voices on location in the communities and neighborhoods where they live and work.

Todd Manley, WGN Station Manager and Vice President of Content, said, "You'll hear candid conversations with Chicago newsmakers, tastemakers, and activists both known and unknown." Kaufmann commented, "I'm humbled and honored to continue the legacy of one of the best radio programs in Chicago history. I can't wait to get started."

Kaufmann and Zimmerman will also produce Lower Wacker Live, a daily podcast delivering a comedic news brief that will be available wgnradio.com and through iTunes subscription. Kaufmann and Zimmerman were previously heard on The Steve Cochran Show and The Download with Justin Kaufmann.

The Price is Right

I think I'm going to make the trek downtown to check this out. Featuring my old pal John Records Landecker...