The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
Happy Birthday!
=Eckhartz Press co-founder and one of our most prolific authors, Rick Kaempfer, is celebrating a birthday this week (July 28). Rick has written Father Knows Nothing, $everance, Back in the DDR, The Loop Files, and EveryCubEver for us, and co-written The Living Wills, Records Truly Is My Middle Name and Grun Weiss Vor.
=On the tenth anniversary of $everance's release (August 1, 2017), Rick updated the "Who Owns What in the Media" section at the back of the book. Here's radio. Here's the rest of traditional media. Time for another update soon.
=This week in 2019 (August 2), Rick made a few appearances promoting EveryCubEver. First he did a morning show in Elgin, then in the evening he did an appearance at Club 400 in Lake in the Hills and met former Cubs reliever Pedro Strop.
Happy Birthday!
=Another Eckhartz author is celebrating a birthday this week (July 29). Happy birthday to Mob Adjacent co-author Mike Gentile. Mike is the older of the Gentile brothers, and the one who really sounds authentically Mob-Adjacent. Jeffrey is the more urbane of the brothers.
First Copy of the Book
One of the most rewarding days in publishing is the day the author gets his or her first copy of their book. To Nudge the World's Jim Slusher had that moment last week. So what did he do with his first copy? Naturally, he gave it to his mom. That's her in the photo below...
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=Tonight's the night...
=Author Pat Motto is having the launch party for her brand new Eckhartz Press book To the Men I've Loved in just a few weeks. Mark your calendars.
=Our book Last Comiskey is actually the companion piece to the documentary film Last Comiskey by Matt Flesch. Matt came to the book's launch party. In a few weeks (August 22) he'll be doing a mini-screening of the film at the Arlington Heights Public Library. (You can register here). It will also include a Q&A with former White Sox pitcher Don Pall. Get your books signed by Matt & Don, by ordering them from us before the event, and bringing them that night.
Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind
=Vicki Quade is the author of our book Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind, but she is even more well known as a playwright and stage performer. She has three big shows coming up this fall, and sent word that tickets are available. Great fun, especially for Catholics. The shows are called Late Nite Catechism, Holy Ghost Bingo (for Halloween) and Are You Smarter than Your Eighth Grade Nun. Here are the details...
* Madison Street Theater, 1010 Madison St., Oak Park
=This week in 2013, we lost one of our authors, Felizitas Sudendorf. Her book about her courageous immigration to America was a big early hit for us. It was the only book we ever released on our imprint, Helgard Press. She combined war stories with old German recipes. It was a revelation. When she passed away, Rick wrote this tribute to her. We have since lost a few other authors including Chet Coppock, Joel Daly, Pat Colander, Dena Mendes, and Mark Gelinas. All of their books live on at Eckhartz Press.
=Duane Scott Cerny owns one of Chicago's funkiest antique stores, and it inspired him to write the highly acclaimed Selling Dead People's Things. The book came out this week in 2017 (August 2). You can get a good feel for Duane's larger-than-life personality in this podcast interview. The man's an absolute stitch.
Best Seat in the House
=This week in 2014, Bruce Bohrer had a book signing in one of the most obvious places imaginable, Murphy's Bleachers. Several of his old Cub-usher colleagues showed up to say hello. So did at least one former Cub, Rick Sutcliffe.
=One of the people featured in Chuck Swirsky's book Always a Pleasure is celebrating a birthday this week (July 28). Former Bulls coach and long-time basketball announcer Doug Collins is a Swirsky friend and confidant. Another famous basketballer is former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. It's his birthday this week too (July 31)
=Two of the people Chet Coppock wrote about in Your Dime My Dance Floor have birthdays this week. Neither of them were really sports people, although the late Irv Kupcinet (July 31) did do color commentary on Chicago Bears games (with Jack Brickhouse) for many years. Would you believe that Chet also knew Arnold Schwarzenegger (July 30).
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=This week in 2019, two Eckhartz Press authors, Deb Tokarz and Janet Sutherland, appeared on the same radio show, Playtime with Bill Turck...
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=This week in 2021, Paul M. Banks was making the rounds promoting his soccer book Transatlantic Passage. One of the stops was the Sports Beezer show (July 28). The following day (July 29) he appeared on WGN-TV News with Larry Hawley.
=This week in 2022 (July 28), Dr. David Fletcher, the co-author of Chili Dog MVP gave a well-attended chat at Cantigny in Wheaton. It was a fun celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1972 White Sox.
=Two of the 1972 White Sox are celebrating birthdays this week, Pat Kelly (July 30) and Tony Muser (August 1). Both are featured in Chili Dog MVP
Inside Melania
=This week in 2020 (July 29), Eckhartz Press author Lauren LoGiudice debuted as a podcast host on the Radio Misfits Podcast Network. Her show is called Reconcile the Aisle. She later did a show with Eckhartz Press publishers Rick Kaempfer and David Stern.
=What on earth could tie these two books together? The answer is Steve Trout. The former Cubs pitcher appeared in the book Cubsessions, and We Have Company author Bobby Skafish came out to that massive book launch party. Here's a photo to prove it...
