The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
BOOK SIGNING PALOOZA
=If you want to meet an Eckhartz Press author this summer and can't do it, it's only because you aren't trying very hard. So many opportunities coming in the next few months. We're sure more will be added in the coming days. Here's what we have so far, 25 chances to meet 13 different authors...
*July 21--Robert Conlon (Celtic Knot) is speaking to the West Suburban Irish Mission at the Naperville VFW (908 Jackson, Naperville) at 6:30pm
*July 23--Vicki Atkinson (Slivers & Surviving Sue) is at the Round Lake Public Library 6-7pm talking about Writing for Wellness
*July 24--Robert Conlon (Celtic Knot) will be be participating in the Eastland ceremony at noon with the Eastland Historical Society on the Chicago River. He will also be appearing on the WGN-TV morning show that day (Photo of the Eastland Disaster from Bob's book)
*August 9--BOOK LAUNCH PARTY for Richard Reeder's novel Sarasota at Edgewater Public Library at 2pm.
*August 12--Nick Digilio (40 Years, 40 Films) will be at Classic Cinema's Lake Theater in Oak Park screening the Albert Brooks classic "Defending Your Life" at 7pm.
*August 14-16--Robert Conlon (Celtic Knot) will be appearing at the Milwaukee Irish Fest in their Literary Corner.
*August 15--Rick Kaempfer and Todd Schneider (Grun Weiss Vor!) will be appearing at Green White Soccer Club's 70th anniversary party at Metro Majewski Park. Live music, beer truck, roasted pig, homemade sausage and more!
*August 22--BOOK LAUNCH PARTY for Russ Fahrner's Face Your Monster at Salerno's Pizza (Grand and Racine), 1:30-3:30pm.
*August 26--Richard Reeder (Sarasota and 1001 Train Rides in Chicago) will be appearing at Cliff Dwellers (200 S. Michigan) at 5pm.
*August 27--Russ Fahrner (Face Your Monster) will be appearing at Oakton Arms in Park Ridge to speak to the Cancer Center at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital.
*August 29-- Vicki Atkinson (Slivers & Surviving Sue) will be at Harper College for "Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers and Writers" 10am-2pm. More information is here.
*August 31--Richard Reeder (Sarasota and 1001 Train Rides in Chicago) will be at his old stomping grounds (Max & Benny's) in Northbrook at 7pm.
*September 2--Jim Elsener (Sirens in the Loop) will be appearing at the Richland Public Library (in Michigan) 5-7pm. He'll be talking about the history of the City News Bureau of Chicago.
*September 9--Robert Conlon (Celtic Knot) will be at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square at 6:30pm.
*September 9--Nick Digilio (40 Years, 40 Films) will be showing the film "Duck Soup" at Classic Cinema's Lake Theater in Oak Park at 7pm.
*September 12-- Vicki Atkinson (Slivers & Surviving Sue) will be at the Printers Row Lit Fest (in the CWA tent) 10am-12:30pm.
*September 12--Robert Conlon (Celtic Knot) will be at the Printers Row Lit Fest (in the CWA tent) 10am-12:30pm.
*September 12--Gloria Golec (South Side Memories) will be at the Printers Row Lit Fest (in the CWA tent) 12:30-3pm
*September 12--Tony Fitzpatrick's family (The Sun at the End of the Road) and David Stern (The Balding Handbook) will be at the Printers Row Lit Fest in the CWA tent 3-6pm.
*September 13--Russ Fahrner (Face Your Monster) will be at the Printers Row Lit Fest (in the CWA tent) 10am-12.
*September 13--Jim Slusher (To Nudge the World) will be at the Printers Row Lit Fest (in the CWA tent) 12-2pm.
*September 13--Nick Digilio (40 Years, 40 Films) will be at the Printers Row Lit Fest (in the CWA tent) 2-4pm.
*September 13--Bob "Wilbur" Williams (Bubble Boy) will be at the Printers Row Lit Fest (in the CWA tent) 2-4pm.
The Sun at the End of the Road
=We were informed this week that Tony Fitzpatrick's The Sun at the End of the Road was short-listed (one of the five finalists) for the very prestigious Pattis Family Chicago Book Award this year. We're super-proud of Tony and his book. He would have been thrilled. Congrats to the 2026 winner, Dominic A. Pacyga. Dominic is a Chicago literary icon.
=July 16, 1887 was the day of Shoeless Joe Jackson’s birth. Tony wrote a tribute to Shoeless Joe in The Sun at the End of the Road. Here's a small taste of that...
Joe Jackson was a great ballplayer who never felt totally comfortable playing in Chicago. He was from South Carolina—a slower place and pace, even when it came to sports. He bounced around a couple minor league teams, the New Orleans Pelicans among them. In 1915, the Philadelphia Athletics traded him to the White Sox…where he would become a star.
Joe could neither read nor write—in restaurants, he waited to hear what other players ordered and repeated it—and he was pressured into a bad contract by the morally bankrupt Charles Comiskey; the ‘Old Roman’ was a tightwad and a cheat. Granted, back then, ballplayers didn’t make the kind of money we think of today, and all the guys had jobs during the off-season. Some will argue Comiskey paid the going rate; other owners were cheap as well and not much has changed—they're still cheap. My father would say they were “tighter than a bag of assholes.” I honestly believe Comiskey set the stage for the Black Sox scandal—because of his cheapness.
=This is the artwork that accompanies Tony's essay...
Joe Jackson vs. Chicago American League Baseball Club
=Speaking of Shoeless Joe, in 2024, Eckhartz Press released a transcript from the Joe Jackson trial, which hadn't been seen in 100 years. It has been devoured by the baseball scribes around the country, but apparently not by the powers that be in baseball, who decided last year to end the ban for the Black Sox. The Plaintiff in that trial, Shoeless Joe Jackson, essentially admitted his guilt in this transcript.
=Eckhartz Press author Kim Strickland is celebrating a birthday this week (July 16). Kim wrote the novel Down at the Golden Coin for us back in 2012. It was the second book we ever published.
=Somehow Rick Kaempfer's novel $everance remains relevant today, despite the fact that it's a critique of the media world from 20 years ago. Many of the things Rick predicts in the book (for comedic effect) have actually happened. Some of them continue to happen. Like this...
=Hey all you conspiracy buffs: How is it that this annual closed-door and secretive meeting of the owners of all American media hasn't spurred a conspiracy theory?
=One of the contributors to The Loop Files was former Looper and current WGN-TV Morning News co-anchor Robin Baumgarten. Robin and her WGN team celebrated an important milestone this week...
=Three other contributors to The Loop Files are celebrating birthdays this week, including Terry Gibson (July 19), Pugs Moran (July 20), and perhaps the biggest star in the radio station's history, Jonathon Brandmeier (July 15). This is a photo of Johnny performing at his 5th anniversary concert in 1988 along with Newsman/Bluesman Buzz Kilman (photo by Paul Natkin).
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=Ten years before The Loop Files was released, Brandmeier also contributed to the Eckhartz Press book Records Truly Is My Middle Name. His radio idol was John Records Landecker and he told a few stories in the book about that, including this one...
“To me listening to John Landecker was appointment radio. I would look forward to six o’clock every night, just waiting for his show to begin. He didn’t just talk. He had this rhythm in his voice. If Larry Lujack showed us all that it was OK to be yourself on the air, John Records showed us not to forget the showbiz. Records was showbiz. He WORKED the music. He talked in rhythm with the music, on the beats, he became a part of the song. There was no better radio guy, pure top 40 energy, no one better. Name me one guy that was better than John Records. No one was! In the whole country! Let me give you an idea of the kind of impact he had on me. My dad took my brothers and me fishing in Canada. Imagine, we were surrounded by this incredible scenery, breathtaking view, and here I was sitting in the boat with my crackling little transistor radio, waiting for 6:00, so I could hear John Records Landecker booming on WLS. And I heard him too! In Thunder Bay. I heard him. I would have given anything to watch him in action. To me, he was like Wolfman Jack was like to those characters in American Graffiti. I imagined him in this tower somewhere, just mesmerizing us, just bringing it. Man he was the best. I can still hear it in my head. All these years later I can still hear it. That’s the kind of impact he had on me.”
=This week in 2013, Landecker appeared at the Beverly Arts Center to discuss the book...
=Jeff Reiter had a big week last week...
=One of the stories from his book that he talked about at the library was originally released in the Daily Herald, this week in history, July 13, 2011. It was about birds he has seen at ballparks. One of his most interesting and offbeat chapters in the book.
=Last week Nick Digilio screened the film "Inception" at the Lake Theater in Oak Park...
=Nick has also begun teasing his next book...
=This week in 2024, we released To Nudge the World. It went on to be named CWA Book of the Year.
=What is To Nudge the World? Jim Slusher’s “Letter To Readers” column has appeared weekly in the Daily Herald of suburban Chicago since July 15, 1999, providing insights into the decision making of editors and behind-the-scenes descriptions of their work. In tones ranging from deeply serious to engaging humor, this collection from 25 years of the column examines themes of trust, determination and community that define the relationship between a local daily newspaper and its audience. And it offers glimpses in real time of transformative changes affecting the newspaper industry.
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=This week Vicki Atkinson released this video from her very successful book launch party in Barrington...
=The Gentile brothers are still out there working it. This video is about one of the chapters in their book...
=Wicker Park Wishes is Margaret Larkin's wonderful debut novel set in the 1990s in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Margaret is also known for her series of podcasts with Chicago journalists and media stars. This week she posted another one...
=Not every story in Randy Merkin's book is about a sports figure. In Beyond the Glass he also tells the tale of this picture. It rates its own chapter in the book. Ken Jeong is celebrating a birthday today (July 13).
=On July 16,
1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife died in a plane crash. Would you believe that the book Bubble Boy has an anecdote about that day? It's true. Just another example of the unpredictable nature of Bob Williams' memoir, Bubble Boy.
=Great review by WTTW of Last Comiskey by Ken Smoller. Here's a little taste of it...
"Last Comiskey” is a book-length valentine for a place once called the “Baseball Palace of the World.” An affectionate account of the last season at Comiskey Park, the book also recalls monumental moments from the 1970s and ‘80s.
=One of the Sox stars featured in the book, closer Bobby Thigpen, is celebrating a birthday this week (July 17). He's 63.
=This week in 2022 (July 19), author Will Wagner got to hold the first copy of his book Talking 'Bout My Generation, hot off the press. It's the sort of day every author remembers forever.
=The very next day (July 20, 2022), fellow Eckhartz Press author Judy Ann Jamerson got her first copy of the novel Belle. There's a reason why we take photos of those momentous events.
=This week in 2018, Richard Reeder's book 1001 Train Rides in Chicago (July 14) was released by Eckhartz Press. Here's a Q&A with the author discussing the book's release. Richard's launch in Evanston (July 15) was a memorable party.
=This week in 2018 (July 18), the first edition of Cubsessions came out, and the authors Randy Richardson and Becky Sarwate had a special night at the Book Cellar in Chicago.
=The following year (July 19), Club 400 threw a big Cubs party, and every single person there got an autographed copy of the second edition of Cubsessions. Among the honored guests that night, former Cubs PA Wayne Messmer, and former Cubs Carlos Zambrano and Willson Contreras.
=Speaking of Wayne Messmer (above), his birthday is this week (July 19). Wayne was kind enough to provide a back cover quote for former Wrigley Field usher Bruce Bohrer when his book came out on Eckhartz Press.
=Bruce did a great job on his publicity tour. Here are a few highlights...
=If you're a rock star and you've never been interviewed by Bobby Skafish, are you really a rock star? Three of the stars featured in Bobby's book are celebrating birthdays this week: Jackson Browne (July 14), Joe Satriani (July 15), and Stewart Copeland (July 16).
=This week in 2017, Bobby appeared at the Record Mart in Hillside to tout his book.
=White Sox announcer Steve Stone is celebrating a birthday this week (July 14). Stone is a big fan of Eckhartz Press author Chuck Swirsky, and provided this quote for Chuck's book...
When I first met Chuck I didn’t believe anyone could be that positive and supportive. Add that to enthusiastic and genuine and you have Chuck Swirsky. A great basketball broadcaster and a better man.
=This week in 1982, the network television show Real People came to Chicago to do a feature on our fine city. One of the people working in the mayor's office at the time was author Roger Badesch, who writes about that brush with network television in his book The Unplanned Life.
=This week in 2021, Roger released the audio version of his book.
=One of the first stars to have his own signature shoe was the Romanian tennis player Ilie Nastase. Naturally this week's birthday boy (July 19) is featured in the Eckhartz Press book Signature Shoes.
=This week in 2021 (July 19), Eckhartz Press author Paul M. Banks sat down for this Q&A about his book Transatlantic Passage.
=It's true that Rick Kaempfer is not publishing an update to EveryCubEver this year, but he has promised to provide free excerpts from the book on the birthdays of Cubs Hall of Famers.
=Lou Boudreau was born on July 17, 1917. Here's the excerpt about Lou from the book.
Lou Boudreau 1917–2001 (Cubs manager 1960, Cubs announcer 1958-1987)
Lou had a Hall of Fame playing career with the Cleveland Indians, winning the World Series as a player/manager in 1948 (the last time Cleveland won it), but he spent many more years in his hometown of Chicago, covering the Chicago Cubs. Lou’s only season wearing a Cubs uniform was 1960. He took over the managing job from Charlie Grimm and led the team to a 7th place finish, 29 games under .500. After the season he asked for his radio job back, and was replaced as manager by the ridiculous College of Coaches experiment. A whole generation of Cubs fans grew up listening to Lou on the radio. His interviews with Cubs manager Leo Durocher were the stuff of legend. Because of Durocher’s unique personality, the show (Durocher in the Dugout) was often entertaining. Lou passed away in 2001 at the age of 84. His nickname was Good Kid.
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