Musings, observations, and written works from the publisher of Eckhartz Press, the media critic for the Illinois Entertainer, co-host of Minutia Men, Minutia Men Celebrity Interview and Free Kicks, and the author of "The Loop Files", "Back in the D.D.R", "EveryCubEver", "The Living Wills", "$everance," "Father Knows Nothing," "The Radio Producer's Handbook," "Records Truly Is My Middle Name", and "Gruen Weiss Vor".
=Thanks to everyone who came out to see Dan McNeil this past weekend in Morton Grove. A fun time was had by all. Eckhartz Press publishers Rick and Dave might have accidentally spent a little cash on some baseball card goodies as well.
=Two more chances to see him this week. Tomorrow night (January 14) in Blue Island (photo below) and Sunday in Orland Park (The Orland Park Civic Center). Tomorrow night is at a brewery (Blue Island Beer Company) and Sunday's event is a sports card collector show. Either way, lots to do in addition to getting this critically acclaimed book personally autographed by the author.
=This coming Friday (January 17), Dan will be a guest on Garry Meier's podcast Garforce Radio. That's a live Facebook event during the 5pm hour (central time)
=This week is also Julius Peppers birthday (January 18). The recently inducted Hall of Famer rates a big write up in Dan's new book.
=Next week (January 21) he will be appearing on the WGN-TV morning show.
=Ken will be also be doing a presentation (“A SoxFest ‘Tailgate’ presentation by Last Comiskey” author, Ken Smoller, about the lessons of Comiskey Park’s destruction and impact on Chicago’s current debate about new stadiums for the Sox, Bears, Northwestern and Fire”) at a Sox fan event hosted by Sox Fans 479 at Paterno’s Pizza & Bar (located at the corner of Milwaukee/Central on the northwest side) beginning at noon on Saturday, January 25.
=Then he'll do another signing the same day, Saturday January 25th at AU Sports at 6006 Dempster in Morton Grove from 2:00-3:30pm.
=Also, a happy birthday is in order for one of the big supporters (and featured Sox players) in the book. Jack McDowell (January 16) is not only in the book, he appeared at the big launch party at the Chicago Historical Museum...
It's the week of Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year Awards (this coming Saturday, January 18). One of our books (Hospital Heal Thyself!) won this year and we'll be on hand to congratulate author Mark Taylor. But it's not the first time Eckhartz Press brought home the hardware...
=This week in 2017 (January 15), the Chicago Writers Association named Pat Colander's Eckhartz Press book as the CWA Book of the Year. This is a photo of Pat the night she accepted the award.
=This week in 2018 (January 14), Eckhartz Press author M.L Collins also accepted her award for CWA Book of the year for the zany/off-beat novel Out the Door! Eckhartz Press publishers Rick and Dave were on hand to help her celebrate.
=In 2022, Chili Dog MVP was also honored by the Chicago Writers Association. Authors John Owens (left) and David Fletcher (right) were on hand to receive their award.
=The book is about the 1972 White Sox and two of them have birthdays this week. Unfortunately Alvarado (born January 15) died in 2001, but Forster turns 72 this week (January 14), an appropriate number for the 1972 Sox hurler.
=In 2019, the Eckhartz Press book EveryCubEver was also a finalist for CWA Book of the year. Don't forget that author Rick Kaempfer features a Cub every day on the Just One Bad Century facebook page. For instance...
=This week in 2017, Eckhartz Press publishers Dave and Rick had breakfast with Lee Kingsmill and made the deal to publish his outstanding novel/memoir Safe Inside. Their faith in Lee was rewarded when the book was named as a finalist for CWA Book of the Year in 2018.
=This week in 2016, TV sportscaster (and Eckhartz Press author) Rich Kingannounced his retirement from television. At the time he had already written two books for Eckhartz Press (My Maggie, Back in the Game). His retirement allowed him to write one more. Ike and Me was a finalist for CWA Book of the Year in 2022.
=Martin Luther King Jr. was born this week (January 15) in history. One of our authors not only knew King, he got the opportunity to interview him on television. Joel Daly tells that story in the pages of The Daly News.
=On January
18, 1974—Black Oak Arkansas appeared at the Auditorium in Chicago. The Flip Side brothers (Carl & Larry) were there, presenting the show...
=This week in 2023 (January 14), Chuck Swirsky made an appearance at The Windy City Bulls, and signed copies of his book Always a Pleasure. Two of the many basketball legends who appear in the book are celebrating birthdays this week, former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau and Bulls player Dwayne Wade
=This week in 2012 the authors of our first book The Living Wills made an appearance on the WGN-TV Midday News. It was the first of many TV appearances by Eckhartz Press authors.
=Rarely has an interviewer and interviewee hit it off as quickly as Eckhartz Press author Richard Reeder and TV personality Rabbi Doug. This interview is from this week in 2019.
=Vicki Quade is famous in Chicago for her theater work, but she also penned a witty Eckhartz Press book Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind about her everyday encounters with Chicagoans. We love the way she organized the stories by location. For instance, an entire chapter is about her experiences in the post office. This might be good week to read that chapter. The first U.S Postmaster, Benjamin Franklin, was born on January 17.
=We have two books about soccer in the Eckhartz Press library. One is called Grun Weiss Vor! and the other is Transatlantic Passage. That second book is about the Premier League in England. Author Paul Banks was lucky enough to get to speak to some legends, including this week's birthday boy (January 18) Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
=Cubsesessions is a book about celebrity and die-hard Cub fans, and what Cubdom means to them. One of the featured fans was the Bleacher Preacher Jerry Pritikin, seen below at the book launch party with Eckhartz Press publisher David Stern. His birthday is this week (January 18).
=Another contributor to the book was Pat Brickhouse, widow of Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack. She not only contributed to the book, she contributed to our website justonebadcentury.com. Unfortunately Pat passed away this week in 2022.
The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
Hospital Heal Thyself!
=Congratulations to Hospital Heal Thyself author Mark Taylor for winning Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year in the Indie Non-Fiction category. We are proud to have given birth to this award winner. When the book was submitted for the award, it was an Eckhartz Press book. In the subsequent months Mark's book was bought by international publisher Wiley, and we encouraged him to take the offer to get international exposure. That's how good this book is. It definitely deserves recognition as Book of the Year.
=Taylor is a veteran healthcare journalist who has covered health and medicine for newspapers and business publications for decades. He is a recipient of Kaiser and Knight fellowships and is a co-founder of the Association of Health Care Journalists. Taylor is a former steelworker, taxicab driver, waiter and lifeguard who lives in a Northwest Indiana suburb of Chicago.We applaud Mark on his accomplishment!
=Our other nominated book Last Comiskey was unfortunately in the same category as Hospital Heal Thyself. In virtually any other year, Ken Smoller would have won. His book about the last season at the original Comiskey Park has gotten great reviews, and brought him lots of attention. Just recently he appeared on Ed Lynch's podcast, Surfing Baseball with Ed Lynch.You can listen to that here.
=Last week we got the news that Dick Allen finally made baseball's Hall of Fame. Thanks to everyone who has been writing to tell us that the publication of Chili Dog MVP was actually a factor in propelling Dick into the Hall. That's nice of you to say, but I think Dick's bat had a little more to do with it. The publishers can't even take credit for the book--that credit goes to the incredible authors John Owens and Dr. David Fletcher, and to the editors George Castle and Tom Shaer. Can't wait until July. The whole Eckhartz Press crew is going to Cooperstown to be there for the induction.
=Thanks to everyone who came out to Moretti's last night in Edison Park to see Dan McNeil and buy his great book about the Bears I Bear Witness. Here are a few photos from the event.
=He has a few more signings on the schedule. Back to Bridges in Griffith Indiana this Friday (12/20) for the Indiana game. On Sunday (12/22) he'll be at Hunley's in Cedar Lake, Indiana. On Thursday (12/26) he'll be at Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora.
=And he appeared in this television interview with Rabbi Doug.
=And finally it was the 35th anniversary (December 20) of an event that Rick produced when he actually worked at the Loop, Steve & Garry's A Christmas Carol. The star-studded event was covered by every news outlet in town and garnered a full page story in the Chicago Tribune. This is how Loop General Manager Jimmy de Castro described it at the time...
=This was also one of the saddest weeks in Eckhartz Press history. This week in 2018 (December 16), Eckhartz Press author Mark Gelinas passed away after a valiant struggle against pancreatic cancer.
=Here is what Eckhartz Press publisher Rick Kaempfer posted after he heard the news...
My heart is heavy today. Just got the news that my good friend Mark Gelinas passed away. This photo is from his book launch just two years ago, with his wife Donna. My heart goes out to Donna and the incredible Gelinas family, particularly his son Alexander Briggs Gelinas, and Mark's parents and siblings. Mark was my roommate for a few years after college, and a friend I could always count on. I was texting with him up until just a few days ago. When he didn't respond to the last text, I feared this day was near. Miss you, buddy. I'm so happy your pain is gone.
=This week in 2022 (December 15), Chuck Swirsky appeared on Chicago Tonight (WTTW-Channel 11) to talk about his book Always a Pleasure and his 50 years of broadcasting. You can watch that here. There's also, by the way, a free excerpt of the book at that link.
=Two of the people featured in the book, Ray Meyer (December 18) and Adam Amin (December 19) were born this week as well. Chuck was one of the smart broadcasters who always remembered to get a photo, including with both of those gentlemen.
=This week in 2017 (December 17), two of our more prominent authors appeared at a book signing together, side by side, at the Orland Park Sports Collectors Show: John Records Landecker and Mitch Michaels. Here they are holding each other's books.
=This week in 2013 (December 18), a good friend of both authors, Superjock Larry Lujack passed away. Landecker devoted a good chunk of his book to writing about the legendary morning disc jockey. We published this free excerpt on our site the week Larry died.
The Balding Handbook
=This week in 2012 (December 18), Eckhartz Press threw a book launch party for David Stern's balding classic, The Balding Handbook: 5 Stages of Grieving for your Hair Loss. The party naturally drew a good number of fellow balds. As you can see, they were all still suffering through Stage 4 depression. Hopefully the book got them to Stage 5 acceptance.
=One of the reasons the Bears have been so continously bad for the past four decades is that the man who was groomed to take over for his father George, Mugs Halas, passed away before his dad did. That happened this week (December 16) in 1979. Chet Coppock devotes an entire chapter to Mugs in Your Dime My Dance Floor.
=This week in 1943, Walt "No Neck" Williams was born in Brownwood, Texas. He not only gets a mention in Chet's book, he gets this classic photo. Walt passed away in 2016. Chet passed in 2019.
=This week in 2017 (December 16), Tom Weinberg hosted a Sunday breakfast at the Book Stall in Winnetka to promote his book Chasing the Lost City. The Daily North Shore was there to chronicle the event.
=This week (December 16) is screenwriter Denise DeClue's birthday. Denise was a big supporter of Book of the Year winner Pat Colander and her Eckhartz Press book Hugh Hefner's First Funeral. Here's what she said about it...
Pat Colander toiled with me in the belly of the Chicago journalism beast in the 1970s and 1980s. When major stories were reported, she asked questions. When the questions were poorly answered or evaded, she asked even more questions of even more people. Then in a clear, true voice, she wrote it all down. She found the real stories behind the stories and this collection of her work is just great. She ought to be long-listed for the Man Booker prize, If I can figure out how to do it I will.
Denise DeClue, Writer of films including About Last Night, teleplays, documentaries, journalism, humor columns and a great deal of other funny stuff
=Legendary ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons is celebrating a birthday this week (December 16). Here he is with Bobby Skafish (and the other two Toppers, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill). This photo and the story of that interview is featured in Bobby's book We Have Company: Four Decades of Rock and Roll Encounters.
=This week in 1855 (December 17), the Peoria Daily Transcript was founded. It later became the Peoria Star. Even later it endorsed the Eckhartz Press book Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America by Paul Banks.
“Transatlantic Passage richly details the Premier League’s wide-ranging and often complicated influence on American soccer. While others saw mostly novelty in high-profile European clubs’ US-based preseason tours, Paul M. Banks uses them as a platform to tell the stories of the game’s most captivating and accomplished stars. Mixed with memorable and hilarious anecdotes, Banks’ incisive commentary expertly illustrates the many missteps of an often soccer-ignorant American media.”
Gavin Good, sports reporter, Peoria Star
Ken Korber
=The first day of Winter is this week (December 21). Whenever we think of the first day of a new season, we think of our children's book author Ken Korber. He's literally a man for every season. That's Ken in the middle with his spring book. Rick Kaempfer is holding Ken's Winter book, and David Stern is holding Ken's Summer book. The Fall book is sitting on a table nearby.
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!
=Another Eckhartz Press author is celebrating a birthday this week (July 21). Happy birthday to one half of the Patty & The Stump team, Spike Manton. He co-wrote (with Tim Clue) a children's book for us during 2016 that remains timely today. It's about dealing with political bullies. (Photo of Spike below with Eckhartz Press publisher Rick Kaempfer at Zanies in Chicago)
=This is always a great way to get to know the author and the book he has just written. It's a Q&A with author Jim Slusher about his great new book To Nudge the World.
=Yes, that's Eckhartz Press author (Last Comiskey) Ken Smoller with the ultimate White Sox spokesperson, the one and only Ozzie Guillen. We thank Ozzie for his support of this project!
=One of the biggest stars in WLUP (The Loop) history was Sky Daniels. Sky is a big contributor to The Loop Files, and this week he's also celebrating his birthday (July 24). (PHOTO: by Mike Bucek)
=Another key Loop contributor back in the day was Albert Brooks. (Albert's birthday is July 22). He was a frequent guest on Steve & Garry's show in both Steve & Garry Loop eras. Here he is with Steve Dahl in the early days...(PHOTO: Paul Natkin)
=There were a few years that Bears kicker Kevin Butler was on Kevin Matthews show on AM 1000 so often that he might as well have been Kevin's co-host. This classic pic of the two Kevs (by Paul Natkin) appears in the book. Butler's birthday is July 24.
=Because the book Chili Dog MVP looks back at Dick Allen's unforgettable 1972 season with the White Sox, all of Allen's teammates from that team are also featured in the book. Here are three of them who have birthdays this week, including Dick's brother Hank Allen (July 23), former Cub Moe Drabowsky (July 21), and Buddy Bradford (July 25). Only Buddy is still around. Hank died in 2023 and Moe died in 2006. (Photos from Topps)
=This week in 2017, Bobby Skafish was making the rounds promoting his rock and roll interview book We Have Company. Among the stops, WGN Radio. He appeared on the Roe Conn show, which featured Anna Davlantes at the time. Anna's birthday is this week too (July 25).
=Isn't there a rock star birthday this week that ties into Bobby's book? Well, now that you mention it, there is one. Emily Saliers (from the Indigo Girls) is also in the book.
Walter Payton
=Considering that Walter Payton is the either the greatest or second greatest athlete in Chicago history, and our press is a Chicago press, it shouldn't surprise you to discover that three different books in our catalog have great stories about Walter, The Loop Files, Records Truly Is My Middle Name (by John Landecker) and Your Dime My Dance Floor (by Chet Coppock). We still miss Walter (who would have been celebrating a birthday this week--July 25), but he lives on in the pages of these Eckhartz Press books.
=WGN radio's Steve King is celebrating a birthday this week (July 26). Steve was a long-time colleague of Roger Badesch on WGN, and plays a crucial role in the most exciting story in Roger's book. He also provided this testimonial (along with co-host and wife Johnnie) for the back cover of the book...
“This book’s cover photo was taken on a night we’ll never forget. Trust us, we never had a night like that on the radio before or since and, along with our WGN radio listeners, were praying that Roger would survive. Spoiler alert: He did! In this book Roger shares the details of that night and other adventures, including his time with Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington, and first woman mayor, Jane Byrne. “The Unplanned Life” of this man we’re so proud to call a friend was obviously part of a bigger plan. Thankfully, he listened to the universe and went along for the ride. Buckle up, it’s a good one!”
Steve King & Johnnie Putman, award-winning Chicago broadcasters and authors
EveryCubEver =This week in 2019, EveryCubEver author Rick Kaempfer appeared on the Club 400 Podcast to talk about his book. The hosts of the show were blown away by the details. You can still hear it here.
=This week would have been the birthday (July 21) of the recently departed German soccer superstar Uwe Seeler, who helped the West German team win the World Cup in 1954. He also appears in an Eckhartz Press book. In the 1970s he came to Chicago and attended a Green White soccer game. That story is told in the pages of Gruen Weiss Vor!
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