Brand new episode. Booing pee wee hockey players, Germans in airports, an Abe Lincoln poem recited in front of Abe Lincoln, the death of Heavenly Bodies, and a fight in the buffet line—just some of the minutiae topics Rick and Dave break down this week. radiomisfits.com/mm380/
— Rick Kaempfer (@rickkaempfer.bsky.social) February 15, 2025 at 11:48 AM
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Saturday, February 15, 2025
Minutia Men
Friday, February 14, 2025
Free Kicks
Our latest episode of Free Kicks with Adam and Rick is about the final Liverpool-Everton game at Goodison Park. radiomisfits.com/podcasts/fre...
— Rick Kaempfer (@rickkaempfer.bsky.social) February 14, 2025 at 10:46 AM
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Monday, February 10, 2025
Publishing Portal--February 10, 2025
The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
The reason we do this. The day the author gets the first copy of his book in his hands. That's Mark Wukas, our latest author. His book The Kiss of Night is officially available for pre-order now, and we're getting tons of orders. It's a great Chicago novel.
=One half of the Rosenbaum brothers (Larry) did himself proud in this Minutia Men Celebrity Interview. Some of the fabulous stories from the book are included in this entertaining interview.
=Rick is hard at work on the new edition of EveryCubEver. In the meantime, he is posting everyday on the Just One Bad Century facebook page. Here's an example...
=Friday is the 10th anniversary of the Eckhartz Press book Truffle Hunt. Author Brent Peterson has his own substack (DestinationEatDrink), and this past week he featured an excerpt from the book. You can read it here. He also wrote about a church and explained how that church became part of Truffle Hunt.
=This week in 2015, Brent Petersen took the logical next step after writing his foodie novel Truffle Hunt. He posted his first Truffle recipe video. Enjoy!
=This week in 2015, Chicagoland Radio & Media reviewed and previewed Kipper McGee's new book Brandwidth. Some great info about a well respected book here.
=Jeffrey and Michael Gentile's book Mob Adjacent is a compelling look at the intersection of Chicago's mob world and some of the Hollywood Stars of that era. Among them, the great Jimmy Durante (Born Feb 10, 1893)
=The Loop Files features some of Chicago's all-time broadcasting greats. One of those talented broadcasters is celebrating a birthday this week (February 12), Wendy Snyder. She tells some great stories in the book and also provided a few photos from her early days, including this one...
=More Loop news...
Get well soon, Steve. www.axios.com/local/chicag...
— Rick Kaempfer (@rickkaempfer.bsky.social) February 4, 2025 at 10:03 AM
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=This week in 2018, the Sun-Times parted ways with entertainment reporter Bill Zwecker. Before he left his perch, Bill had this to say about the Eckhartz Press book Life Behind The Camera: This is a must read for anyone interested in learning about the world of TV journalism — as seen through the eyes (and lens!) of Chuck Quinzio — one of the best in the business. Reading Chuck’s many stories — well-spiced with his terrific dry wit — is a great way to discover how television photo-journalism has evolved from the 1980s to the present day. That said, Chuck’s often-hilarious tales about the foibles of the true characters he’s encountered these past three decades makes for wonderful reading.
=This week in 1964 (February 9), the Beatles made their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. Author Chuck Quinzio tells a very funny story about that night in Life Behind the Camera. You can read that free excerpt here.
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=Chuck Quinzio (above) isn't the only one with a humorous Beatles on Ed Sullivan story. John Landecker has one too. You can read that free excerpt from his Eckhartz Press book here.
=Speaking of John Landecker, when he published his award-winning memoir Records Truly is My Middle Name, he never dreamt that it would satisfy the final requirement for his college degree. Despite his Hall of Fame radio career, John had never gotten his college degree. His Alma Mater Grand Valley State University did some research into his transcripts and realized he just needed one more writing course. Writing a book certainly qualified. So, this week in 2018, John was awarded his degree. Rick Kaempfer wrote about that for Illinois Entertainer. This is John on graduation day.
=This week in 2018, Lee Kingsmill was also making the rounds doing interviews, including WGN Radio. Lee (photo) is widely respected as a writer. Fellow author Michael Lister said this...
“The best books expand our humanity by the vicarious experiences and opportunities for compassion they provide. Lee Kingsmill’s Safe Inside is just such a book. It’s rich and textured, filled with family dynamics, religion, sexuality, the refuge of the imagination, the sanctuary of movies, and most of all, the depth, truthfulness, and complexity of humanity.”
=Eckhartz Press has a retired judge in our stable of authors. Judge Michael Bender's book Protecting Children came out in 2018 and was featured this week in the Chicago Tribune.
Everything I Know I Learned From Rock Stars
=Author Bill Paige conducted hundreds of interviews with rock stars from 1975-1995. Two of them are celebrating birthdays this week, Peter Gabriel (Feb 13) and Gary Clark Jr. (Feb 15). Their stories are featured in Bill's timeless book.
=Another great Eckhartz Press book about rock and roll is Bobby Skafish's acclaimed We Have Company. Bobby dedicates a chapter in his book to native Chicagoan, Doors organist Ray Manzarek. Ray was born this week (February 12) in 1939.
=When Brendan Sullivan and Rick Kaempfer formulated the story line of The Living Wills using improvisation techniques, they were surprised that the actor Lorne Greene was referenced repeatedly. You never know what will come out in improv. In particular, this song became an important plot point. Happy heavenly birthday Lorne (February 12), and thanks for the subliminal inspiration.
The Balding Handbook
=David Stern's self-help masterpiece The Balding Handbook: Five Stages of Grieving for Your Hair Loss is sold out and out of print, but this tribute to Burt Reynolds lives on, and so does this song, Cueball Wizard, which came out this week in 2014...
Sunday, February 09, 2025
The Sweetest Words
Bill Holub spent eighteen years laboring in the news department of WLUP Radio in Chicago. He wrote news for the likes of Buzz Kilman, Laura Witek, and Maggie Brock, and he hosted his own public affairs show on the station: "Chicago Street Talk." During his years at WLUP, he also introduced a young intern from his department to the producer of the Steve and Garry show. The couple was married a few years later. (Yes, I'm referring to Bridget and me)
Bill Holub is a huge baseball fan, and that's the reason I asked him to contribute to the blog. That was nineteen years ago, and people loved this piece so much, I've run it every year since. It's become a tradition, and this year we need it more than ever.
Every year at this time, when the pitchers and catchers started reporting to spring training (that's today for Cub fans), Bill would walk the hallways of WLUP saying...
THE SWEETEST WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
By Bill Holub
“Pitchers and catchers report”
These are indeed the sweetest words in the English language. Friends have been hearing me recite this every year at this time. I once had an old poker playing friend who used to say the sweetest words have always been “I’ll play these”. This is the same friend who couldn’t win even when dealt a pat hand. That however is a story for another time and place, where an explanation of the relationship between the quantity of beer consumed, what the cards in your hand really look like and the amount of money you bet can be fully explored. It’s really something scientists should be looking at.
In the meantime, I apologize to all those who came here looking for a sentimental dialogue on romance. I’m sorry to say it but the sweetest words in the English language are not “I love you”. Now that I think of it, this may instead be a sentimental dialogue on romance and baseball.
It’s funny how the two always converge around Valentine’s Day. Spring fever is referred to as that time of year when things start to bloom as the weather changes and love is in the air. It is no coincidence that this is the same time the baseball season opens and brings hope to all of us diehard baseball romantics.
My love affair with baseball was re-ignited in 1987-88. There was only one place to catch baseball highlights from all over the major leagues back then. Once a week you could tune in to “This Week In Baseball” with good ol’ Mel Allen. During those two seasons I was hooked into witnessing two West Coast baseball Gods embodied in the forms of a young Mark Mcgwire and Jose Canseco. This is before anyone had ever heard of andro, anabolics and the other chemical cocktails that have since cast a pall over these two. Back then, I was treated week in and week out to mammoth sized home runs flying out of every ballpark in the country. The fact that these home runs were being hit by players wearing what my brother and I had always considered the coolest looking baseball uniforms in the world (the Oakland A’s green and gold) had me embracing the game I grew up on all over again.
By 1989 I was so hooked on this game I even started collecting baseball cards again, although as much as an investor as a fanboy. I also started another nasty habit that impacts my life to this day. That is when I started a fantasy baseball league with a bunch of guys at work. 1989 also happened to be a division winning season for my beloved Cubs, so I was in baseball heaven and haven’t looked back since.
THE NATIONAL PASTIME
I think we can honestly say that baseball is no longer the national pastime in this country. It has been supplanted by football. I can accept that. Although I would insist the true national pastime is gambling, which is the driving force that makes football the number one spectator sport in America. I suppose I could go off on a George Carlin type of rant here on the differences between football and baseball, but that’s not why I’m writing this piece.
I just want to point out there is one major difference between the two and that is commitment. I’m talking about the commitment between baseball fans and football fans. Football is a four month season requiring your undivided attention one day a week, or two if you’re both a college and pro fan. Baseball is a six month season requiring your undivided attention throughout with your favorite team(s) playing as many as five or more games a week.
Baseball is a commitment. I believe it carries as much of a commitment as love. They both require dedication and attention. They can both go awry despite the best laid plans. An early swan dive in the standings in May that ends a team’s season before it even had a chance can be just as painful as not having your phone calls returned after the second or third date. Meanwhile an October champagne shower celebrating a pennant or World Series championship is as sweet and memorable as a ‘yes’ to a question posed on one knee.
BASEBALL AND THE CINEMA
Once that warm baseball is back feeling starts sinking in every year, I like to get fully immersed by throwing myself into my favorite baseball movies before the games actually begin. This is my form of spring training.
You’ve got your “Bull Durham”, “Field Of Dreams”, “Major League” (only the first one, please), but there is one movie that hits me in the right spot. “City Slickers” is not a real baseball movie per se, but there’s one scene that remains among my all-time favorites. It’s where the three friends (Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby) are on the cattle drive and passing the time by discussing their favorite baseball memories. Billy Crystal remembers the first time his father took him to Yankee Stadium as a kid and how he had never seen grass that green before. Mickey Mantle even hit a home run that day. Daniel Stern recalls how growing up he and his father never saw eye to eye, but they could always talk about baseball with each other. “We always had baseball” he says.
As for me, one of my earliest baseball memories was getting to take the day off of school with my brother because my Dad got opening day tickets to Wrigley Field. I still remember wearing our warmest winter coats and knit hats, waiting to sit down while the Andy Frain usher brushed the snow off our seats. They don’t make Aprils in Chicago like that any more.
THE SWEETEST SOUND
There is a sound that accompanies the words “pitchers and catchers report”. It is the sound of a ball popping into a mitt. The sound of a simple game of catch. It is more than the crack of a bat sound. The sound of a mitt popping brings the memories and feelings of a lifetime of baseball flooding your senses all at once. It happens every time, whether it’s major leaguers or just a game of catch with your dad or your kid. The week pitchers and catchers report there are no cracking bats, only popping mitts. The sweetest sound in the world. “Pitchers and catchers report”. The sweetest words in the English language.
THE SWEETEST WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGEBy Bill Holub
“Pitchers and catchers report”
These are indeed the sweetest words in the English language. Friends have been hearing me recite this every year at this time. I once had an old poker playing friend who used to say the sweetest words have always been “I’ll play these”. This is the same friend who couldn’t win even when dealt a pat hand. That however is a story for another time and place, where an explanation of the relationship between the quantity of beer consumed, what the cards in your hand really look like and the amount of money you bet can be fully explored. It’s really something scientists should be looking at.
In the meantime, I apologize to all those who came here looking for a sentimental dialogue on romance. I’m sorry to say it but the sweetest words in the English language are not “I love you”. Now that I think of it, this may instead be a sentimental dialogue on romance and baseball.
It’s funny how the two always converge around Valentine’s Day. Spring fever is referred to as that time of year when things start to bloom as the weather changes and love is in the air. It is no coincidence that this is the same time the baseball season opens and brings hope to all of us diehard baseball romantics.
My love affair with baseball was re-ignited in 1987-88. There was only one place to catch baseball highlights from all over the major leagues back then. Once a week you could tune in to “This Week In Baseball” with good ol’ Mel Allen. During those two seasons I was hooked into witnessing two West Coast baseball Gods embodied in the forms of a young Mark Mcgwire and Jose Canseco. This is before anyone had ever heard of andro, anabolics and the other chemical cocktails that have since cast a pall over these two. Back then, I was treated week in and week out to mammoth sized home runs flying out of every ballpark in the country. The fact that these home runs were being hit by players wearing what my brother and I had always considered the coolest looking baseball uniforms in the world (the Oakland A’s green and gold) had me embracing the game I grew up on all over again.
By 1989 I was so hooked on this game I even started collecting baseball cards again, although as much as an investor as a fanboy. I also started another nasty habit that impacts my life to this day. That is when I started a fantasy baseball league with a bunch of guys at work. 1989 also happened to be a division winning season for my beloved Cubs, so I was in baseball heaven and haven’t looked back since.
THE NATIONAL PASTIME
I think we can honestly say that baseball is no longer the national pastime in this country. It has been supplanted by football. I can accept that. Although I would insist the true national pastime is gambling, which is the driving force that makes football the number one spectator sport in America. I suppose I could go off on a George Carlin type of rant here on the differences between football and baseball, but that’s not why I’m writing this piece.
I just want to point out there is one major difference between the two and that is commitment. I’m talking about the commitment between baseball fans and football fans. Football is a four month season requiring your undivided attention one day a week, or two if you’re both a college and pro fan. Baseball is a six month season requiring your undivided attention throughout with your favorite team(s) playing as many as five or more games a week.
Baseball is a commitment. I believe it carries as much of a commitment as love. They both require dedication and attention. They can both go awry despite the best laid plans. An early swan dive in the standings in May that ends a team’s season before it even had a chance can be just as painful as not having your phone calls returned after the second or third date. Meanwhile an October champagne shower celebrating a pennant or World Series championship is as sweet and memorable as a ‘yes’ to a question posed on one knee.
BASEBALL AND THE CINEMA
Once that warm baseball is back feeling starts sinking in every year, I like to get fully immersed by throwing myself into my favorite baseball movies before the games actually begin. This is my form of spring training.
You’ve got your “Bull Durham”, “Field Of Dreams”, “Major League” (only the first one, please), but there is one movie that hits me in the right spot. “City Slickers” is not a real baseball movie per se, but there’s one scene that remains among my all-time favorites. It’s where the three friends (Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby) are on the cattle drive and passing the time by discussing their favorite baseball memories. Billy Crystal remembers the first time his father took him to Yankee Stadium as a kid and how he had never seen grass that green before. Mickey Mantle even hit a home run that day. Daniel Stern recalls how growing up he and his father never saw eye to eye, but they could always talk about baseball with each other. “We always had baseball” he says.
As for me, one of my earliest baseball memories was getting to take the day off of school with my brother because my Dad got opening day tickets to Wrigley Field. I still remember wearing our warmest winter coats and knit hats, waiting to sit down while the Andy Frain usher brushed the snow off our seats. They don’t make Aprils in Chicago like that any more.
THE SWEETEST SOUND
There is a sound that accompanies the words “pitchers and catchers report”. It is the sound of a ball popping into a mitt. The sound of a simple game of catch. It is more than the crack of a bat sound. The sound of a mitt popping brings the memories and feelings of a lifetime of baseball flooding your senses all at once. It happens every time, whether it’s major leaguers or just a game of catch with your dad or your kid. The week pitchers and catchers report there are no cracking bats, only popping mitts. The sweetest sound in the world. “Pitchers and catchers report”. The sweetest words in the English language.
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