The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
We have two brand new hits on our hands...
=Nick was selling them at the Drive In in Dixon this past weekend (below), and has another event coming up in a few weeks (see a few items below).
=This book is already flying off the shelves. Currently it's a #1 new release in its category on Amazon. This afternoon at 3:30pm Maria Pappas will be on the air on WCPT (820 AM) with host Joan Esposito. Be sure to tune in! Maria is always an unpredictable (and entertaining) interview.
=Co-author Mark Eleveld chatted with Rick Kogan about the book on his podcast.
=This Friday (September 25) at 7:30pm, Maria will be at Pella Restaurant in Burr Ridge (720 Village Center Drive) signing and selling her book.
=If we could clone Robert Conlon, we would. The man is a sales machine. Of course, it helps when his book is so good. He has another event this week at the Book Loft in Oak Park (Wednesday, September 23, 6pm, 1047 Lake Street). Come on out and meet Bob. He spins a good yarn.
.jpg)
If you happen to be in Brooklyn this week, you've got a chance to see our very own Lauren LoGuidice performing her stand up comedy routine at the Brooklyn Comedy Collective (167 Graham Ave.). Doors open at 6:30. The show starts at 7:00. Get your tickets here.
=Janet Sutherland's Eckhartz Press book is about her comeback from a Brain Aneurysm. Janet is a big supporter of the annual fundraiser for the Brain Aneurysm foundation, and naturally she will be there this Sunday, September 27, at McCormick Place. The registration is at 8am, and the walk is 9:15am. You can pre-register here: The 2026 Brain Aneurysm Run/Walk
=Come out and see Eckhartz Press author Roger Badesch this weekend. He will part of the SAG-AFTRA Radio Players presentation of The Tell-Tale Heart (as the policeman) at Chief O'Neil's on September 27 at 4pm. Tickets are free, but registration is required. You can register here.
=To say that Nick Digilio is a little excited about this upcoming event is an obvious understatement. Naturally he'll be selling his new book there. It couldn't possibly be more thematically appropriate.
=And here's another big deal for Nick. On Saturday October 10 (at noon), he will doing a book signing/meet & greet/interview at the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Rich Koz (Svengoolie) will be interviewing Nick.
In case you missed it...
=Chili Dog MVP was a big hit in Boston this past weekend!
'%3E%3Cpath d='M15.9963 8c0 4.4179-3.5811 7.9993-7.9986 7.9993-4.4176 0-7.9987-3.5814-7.9987-7.9992 0-4.4179 3.5811-7.9992 7.9987-7.9992 4.4175 0 7.9986 3.5813 7.9986 7.9992Z' fill='url(%23paint0_linear_15251_63610)'/%3E%3Cpath d='M15.9973 7.9992c0 4.4178-3.5811 7.9992-7.9987 7.9992C3.5811 15.9984 0 12.417 0 7.9992S3.5811 0 7.9986 0c4.4176 0 7.9987 3.5814 7.9987 7.9992Z' fill='url(%23paint1_radial_15251_63610)'/%3E%3Cpath d='M7.9996 5.9081c-.3528-.8845-1.1936-1.507-2.1748-1.507-1.4323 0-2.4254 1.328-2.4254 2.6797 0 2.2718 2.3938 4.0094 4.0816 5.1589.3168.2157.7205.2157 1.0373 0 1.6878-1.1495 4.0815-2.8871 4.0815-5.159 0-1.3517-.993-2.6796-2.4254-2.6796-.9811 0-1.822.6225-2.1748 1.507Z' fill='%23fff'/%3E%3C/g%3E%3Cdefs%3E%3CradialGradient id='paint1_radial_15251_63610' cx='0' cy='0' r='1' gradientUnits='userSpaceOnUse' gradientTransform='matrix(0 7.9992 -7.99863 0 7.9986 7.9992)'%3E%3Cstop offset='.5637' stop-color='%23E11731' stop-opacity='0'/%3E%3Cstop offset='1' stop-color='%23E11731' stop-opacity='.1'/%3E%3C/radialGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id='paint0_linear_15251_63610' x1='2.3986' y1='2.4007' x2='13.5975' y2='13.5993' gradientUnits='userSpaceOnUse'%3E%3Cstop stop-color='%23FF74AE'/%3E%3Cstop offset='.5001' stop-color='%23FA2E3E'/%3E%3Cstop offset='1' stop-color='%23FF5758'/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3CclipPath id='clip0_15251_63610'%3E%3Cpath fill='%23fff' d='M-.001.0009h15.9992v15.9984H-.001z'/%3E%3C/clipPath%3E%3C/defs%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=small}
Rick Kaempfer and David Stern, thanks for your tremendous support in believing in our book project, Chili Dog MVP, Dick Allen, The 1972 White Sox and A Transforming Chicago that John Owens and I wrote in 2021/2022. We were fortunate to have Sharon Pannozzo as our publicist to help launch the book. Thanks to Rick and David we were runner-up for Best Non-Fiction book for the Chicago Writers Association awards in 2022. The book evolved into My Father, Dick Allen , and my Emmy Award-winning director, Andy Billman, and I have gone all over the US previewing the film, including yesterday at the Boston Film Festival. We appreciate @Eckhartz Press for supporting us over the past four years.
The Sun at the End of the Road
=Great article by Rick Kogan in the Chicago Tribune last Wednesday about Tony Fitzpatrick's family--especially his kids Max and Gabby--and their new film. We just love the picture that accompanies the piece too, which also features Tony's wife Michelle and the spirit of Tony.
‘Driven,’ a short film by Max and Gabby Fitzpatrick, features and honors their dad, Tony https://t.co/I0AUvuOXrO
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) September 16, 2026
Ken Korber
=The man behind our best-selling children's books has a piece in the latest issue of Newsweek Magazine. It's called Children Should Learn Lifesaving Skills Early.
=Richard Reeder has a new website for his book Sarasota. Check it out here.
=Jeff Reiter appeared at the Elgin Garden Club last week and sent us this note...
My presentation was called "The Nature of Birding." When it was over one of the younger members presented me with the attached poster. She was clearly paying close attention to my words on birds! Plus she is a good artist. Her name is Rachel Balk.
=This book has also been made into a film. Have you seen the trailer?
Eckhartz Press birthdays!
=Happy birthday to Eckhartz Press author Gloria Golec (September 22). This photo of Gloria and her grandchildren was taken just last weekend at the Printers Row Litfest...
=Eckhartz Press author, and founder of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, Donald G. Evans is also celebrating a birthday this week (September 25). Don wrote a great book of short stories for us called An Off-White Christmas. Stories about Christmas time, but not necessarily about the holiday itself. It's a perfect gift. Here's a podcast interview of Don talking about the book.
=Fellow author (also celebrating a birthday this week--September 24) Christine Sneed is a big fan of Don's book. Here's what she had to say about it...
The stories in Don Evans’s excellent collection, An Off-White Christmas, are full of witty, humane moments, vivid characters and settings that range from Chicago to Syracuse to Las Vegas. The people you’ll meet here are your friends, your neighbors, your relatives—in all their flawed beauty and pathos. This book is not to be missed.
=This week is also Bruce Springsteen's birthday (September
23). Eckhartz Press author Brent Petersen, a bit of Boss-o-phile, met Mr. Springsteen a few years ago and had his picture taken with him. No big whoop.
=This book is about the history of an esteemed local Chicago soccer club, Green White. Reading that history is like reading the history of soccer in Chicago. Among the biggest soccer stars to ever set foot in Chicago is former Chicago Sting star Arno Steffenhagen (right). His birthday is this week (September 24). Naturally Arno is also in Grun Weiss Vor! This is a photo of him with former Green White player Ralph Mansfield (left).
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, is celebrating a birthday this week (September 25). John Landecker tells a great story in Records Truly Is My Middle Name about Hamill's appearance on his show in 1977. It involved a bit John called "Radio Star Wars". We looked for the audio from that bit, and found it was recorded off-the-air by a radio listener that day. He explains the story quite well, but that's not the reason we're posting it. You can hear the bit itself here. It begins around the 2 minute mark of this video...
Scottie Pippen
=Scottie Pippen's birthday is this week too (September 25). The Bulls Hall of Famer appears in two Eckhartz Press books, Always a Pleasure by Chuck Swirsky, and Behind the Glass by Randy Merkin. (Photographic evidence below.)
The Sun at the End of the Road
=Marc Hauser was a famous photographer, and a friend of author Tony Fitzpatrick. Marc was born this week in history (September
25, 1952). Tony wrote a piece about him in The Sun at the End
of the Road. Here is a small excerpt...
People compare him to WeeGee or Ralph Eugene Meatyard—fine photographers, to be sure, and great artists, but I find Marc's vision more shot-through with kindness and compassion. Many photographers look through a lens like they’re viewing a line-up of suspects—detached, removed, as if offering any element of their own feeling somehow invalidates the work itself. WeeGee often shot crime scenes, inviting a leering, voyeuristic glimpse into the tragedy of one’s fellow man or woman. Diane Arbus' photographs evoke something similar, and I always get the feeling she was ’slumming.’ Not so with Hauser. These were the kids from his neighborhood; kids he saw every day. His neighborhood and mine—Bucktown, in the early ‘80s, was a much rougher place than it is now, and those kids were a feral bunch. Many of them came to a bad end; drugs, crime and addiction took a lot of them. But, for that one Halloween? Marc forever preserved them in the amber of childhood, a place of near-innocence and joy. I am careful not to copy the kids from Marc's amazing book. His documentation of Chicago childhood is a work of art unto itself and should not be pantomimed.
=This is the artwork by Tony that accompanied the piece...
Notable Anniversaries...
The Sun at the End of the Road
=This week last year (September 26, 2025), actor Richard Kind called out Tony Fitzpatrick while singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field. Tony was incredibly touched by the gesture. He was in the hospital at the time, and only had a few more days to live. Tony did something that he had never done before. He put on a Cubs hat. (Tony was a die-hard Sox fan). It was the last picture Tony ever posted on his Instagram page.
=One of the enduring elements of Dan McNeil's excellent Bears book I Bear Witness is the chapter about the Bears legends who have passed away in recent years. Dan does a wonderful job eulogizing them, including one of the all-time greats who passed away this week (September 23) in 2020, Gale Sayers.
=This week in 2018 (September 27) the Eckhartz Press book The Scar Dance was released. It was named a finalist for Book of the Year by the Chicago Writers Association. This is a Q&A with author William Mansfield around the time of the book's release.
=This week in 2018, Chet Coppock made an appearance at Blue Island Beer Company to promote his book Your Dime My Dance Floor. Chet held court during a Bears game and offered his commentary. The crowd loved it.
=This week in 2018 (September 28), Lewis University named their student center after Brother James Gaffney. Gaffney, of course, is the subject of Andrew Langert's Eckhartz Press book.
=This week in 2018 (September 24), Richard Reeder signed copies of his book at the legendary north suburban deli Max & Benny's.
Everything I Know I Learned from Rock Stars
=This week in 2017 (September 25), Bill Paige received this wonderful review by Michael Doherty about his book Everything I Know I Learned from Rock Stars.
--Famed Music Blogger Michael Doherty
=Here's the letter from Kurt Vonnegut...(click to enlarge it)
=This week in 2017 (September 26), the music writer for the NWI Times, Tom Lounges, reviewed Mitch Michael's book Doin the Cruise. Here's a little taste of what he said...
Michaels is old-school and defines the term "radio personality" as he tells stories and becomes your surrogate friend on the other side of the dial, the voice you turn to when you need company and want to share a memory or two. Michaels does more than say — "That was ..." and "This is ..."
"I live the music. I tell listeners about the bands, the ins and outs of the music, share a story about the song or something about a concert by that artist I attended years ago. I don’t just talk at my listeners, I talk to them," Michaels said. "I hang out with them and rock right along with everyone who’s listening, because what it all comes down to really is we're all the same. We’re all just fans."
=And that was before Mitch was inducted into the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now he has the hardware.
=This week in 2016 (September 26), Bobby Skafish released his book of rock and roll interviews, We Have Company. Among his first stops on the publicity tour, WGN-TV.
=This week in 1979 (September 22), Kiss performed at the International Amphitheater in Chicago. Naturally, the Rosenbaum brothers were the promoters of this incredible concert, and their kids were all there too. Want some photographic proof? You'll find it in the pages of The Flip Side. It's also here...
=One of the events that takes place in the novel Back in the DDR happened this week, September 23, 1976. It was a Crosby & Nash concert in Eppelheim, Germany. A real concert attended by the lead character in the book, Rudi.
The Balding Handbook
=The Balding Handbook helped balding men through the five stages of grieving for their hair loss. Because this week is also the anniversary of The Brady Bunch debut (September 26, 1969), it seems like a good week to feature this photo of author David Stern from the Denial stage of the book. Sadly, the book is no longer in print. Blame Rogaine.
.jpeg)
