The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
White Sox Special
=Last Comiskey, Chili Dog MVP, Joe Jackson vs. Chicago American League Ballclub
=Tonight in Skokie at Sketchbook, 4901 Main Street. Festivities begin at 7:30pm. Author Eric Litt will be selling and signing books. He'll also do a reading. See you there!
=We have a launch party scheduled for Dan McNeil's new book I Bear Witness. Dan will be at Bridges in Griffith Indiana signing and selling his book. It happens to coincide with a very important Indiana University football game--which will be on all the TVs in the joint. The date is November 30th. The time is 1-4pm. Join us for an afternoon of fun and football.
=This one is burning up the website these days. The story of the great Flip Side record stores and concert promotions doesn't officially come out for a few more weeks, but the buzz is real.
=Meet the authors. The story is mainly told by Carl & Larry Rosenbaum.
Hailing from the north side of Chicago, Carl and Larry Rosenbaum are two brothers who had an idea and an abundance of gumption to make it in the record business. Their passion, drive, creativity (and sometimes naivety) led to The Flip Side becoming Chicago’s premiere record store chain. From that chain came a concert arm that produced some of Chicago’s most memorable concerts including 1977’s Super Bowl of Rock shows at Soldier Field and The Who at the International Amphitheatre in 1979. Both proud husbands, fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers, Carl and Larry Rosenbaum may be retired now, but from 1968 until 1995 they brought rock and roll to life for millions of Chicago music fans. (Larry on the left, Carl on the right)
Ken is a 35+ year journalist with three books to his credit. In addition to The Flip Side: Where Chicago Rocked (Eckhartz Press), Ken co-authored the Chicago Writer’s Association ‘Book of the Year’ finalist Doin’ The Cruise: A Lifetime in Radio and Rock & Roll (Eckhartz Press) as well as No One Said It Would Be Easy: A Husband’s Journey Through His Wife’s Battle With Breast Cancer (Dunham Books) which achieved Amazon Best Seller Rankings in the Breast Cancer category of #1 (Canada), #3 (Australia), and #7 (USA). Ken has simultaneously forged a 30-year career in music and media, spending the majority of it in country and rock & roll and writing various media kit biographies for the likes of George Strait, Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, Ray Scott, and more. He currently holds the title of Director of Marketing & Communications for the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. Visit his website at KenChurilla.com.
=This week in 2022 (November 15), Eckhartz Press released Leaving Glory for Greatness by Lou Macaluso, a biography of football star turned civil rights hero LaMarr Thomas. It became our biggest selling book of the year, and is now taught in school at LaMarr Thomas' alma mater Thornton Township High School. When the book came out we did a Q&A with the author, Lou Macaluso.
=This week in 2018 (November 11), Eckhartz Press released Death of the Angels by long-time television reporter/producer Alex Burkholder. It was about the tragic 1958 fire at the Our Lady of the Angels school. We interviewed Alex about it the week of the book's release. Unfortunately Alex passed away earlier this year.
=This week in 2023 (November 13), Rick Kaempfer was making the rounds promoting his book The Loop Files. One of his first stops was the WGN-Radio morning show. On this particular day, it was hosted by fellow Looper, Wendy Snyder. You can listen to that here.
=One of the people featured in the book, Terry Bell, is celebrating a birthday this week (November 10). Happy birthday Terry! (With husband, and fellow Looper, John Bell)
=This week in 2017 (November 11), the Eckhartz Press brass flew down to Atlanta Georgia to support author Mark Gelinas, who was marching in the Purple Stride march to raise money for pancreatic cancer research. Mark gave a speech that day, and during the speech, revealed to all of us that his prognosis was dire. His doctors gave him a year.
=A few weeks later, Mark passed away. His book is still available at Eckhartz Press. Despite the unhappy outcome, it's an inspiring tale of a man who tackled the ultimate challenge of his life head-on.
=This week in 2016 (November 16), Pat Colander's book Hugh Hefner's First Funeral was named Book of the Year in the non-fiction category by the Chicago Writers Association.
=This week in 2021 (November 16), Grammar Moses author Jim Baumann appeared on WGN Radio talking about his book. You can still listen to that interview here.
=One of the many rock stars featured in Bobby Skafish's book of rock and roll interviews is the great guitarist Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake & Palmer). This photo of Bobby and Greg was taken in the early 90s at Bill Wyman's restaurant in London. Greg was born this week in 1947 (November 10). He passed away in 2016.
=This week in 2016, four Green White Soccer greats were inducted into the Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame. All are featured in our book, Grun Weiss Vor. L-R...Mike Duffy, Adam Kaempf, Stefan Laxgang, and Rudi Mayer.
=This week in 2018 (November 12), we lost one of the all-time greats, Stan Lee. The man who created Spiderman did endorse one of our books. There he is with Life Behind the Camera author Chuck Quinzio.
=This week (November 13) one of the contributors to our book Cubsessions, actor Joe Mantegna, is celebrating a birthday. Joe spilled his Cubs-guts to authors Randy Richardson and Becky Sarwate in Cubsessions. Here he is in his natural environment.
Close Encounters of a Chicago Kind
=Eckhartz Press author Vicki Quade is known for much more than her excellent book about meeting people in Chicago. She's also a playwright, and tis the season for her holiday plays. Christmas Bingo comes to Madison Street Theater, 1010 Madison St., Oak Park, for one day only, at 3 p.m., Sunday, December 1. Written by Vicki Quade, one of the creators of the hit comedy Late Nite Catechism, Christmas Bingo brings together two of the best things about being Catholic: Christmas and Bingo. The show features the character of Mrs. Mary Margaret O’Brien, a former nun and current bingo caller. Quade will be on stage for this performance.
=Former NBA great Jack Sikma actually plays a big role in Chuck Swirsky's life, and is therefore featured in the book Always a Pleasure. Jack is celebrating a birthday this week (November 14)
