The latest news from Eckhartz Press, and a chance to peek into some of the great previous offerings from our humble little publishing company.
St. Patrick's Day
=St Patrick's Day has always been a big day for Eckhartz Press. Our Irish cup runneth over. Joel Daly (The Daly News) covered the parade for Channel 7 for 40 years. John Landecker (Records Truly Is My Middle Name) been has going to the parade since the 1970s (photo below with Bob Sirott) and Brendan Sullivan (The Living Wills) wrote a piece for us about what it means to grow up South Side Irish. It's all here.
THIS WEEK
=Coming this weekend, meet Ken Churilla and Larry Rosenbaum at the Chicagoland Record Show...Details below.
=Another appearance coming soon...
NEXT WEEK
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COMING SOON
=You won't want to miss this big day. Coming soon (April 5)...click on photo to enlarge.
=Last edition? It's a barn burner.
=Also, don't forget the first day of Spring is this week, or as we call it at EveryCubEver headquarters, the first day of Jack Spring.
Randy Richardson
=Randy has written three books for Eckhartz Press: Cubsessions, Cheeseland, and Lost in the Ivy.
Surviving Sue
=Another wonderful review of Vicki Atkinson's book this week. This time from blogger Lori Pohlman (Lake Arrowhead Lady Writer)...
Vicki is a fellow blogger, one I follow and read with pleasure, always knowing I will find something positive, real, and insightful in her posts. Vicki is generous with her readers, sharing of herself, her humor, her highs and lows with an empathic interest in our perspectives.
This is Vicki’s voice, and it shines on the pages of her book. She is a profoundly kind-spirited woman who grew up learning how to turn the injury and injustice of her mother’s mental illness into something bigger than her own pain. With keen intelligence, her father’s and sister’s love, and later through her own family and probably also due to her dedication to her studies, Vicki survives and thrives, and she does it without ever compromising her own values.
Vicki’s compassion for her mother is more than challenged over the years, but somehow, she stays the course of doing what she believes is best for everyone concerned. For those who don’t know Vicki or haven’t read Surviving Sue, I’d like to stop here to encourage you to read it for yourself. This story is worth your time. It may even affect the ways you view some of your own experiences, past or present. It may soften your heart. It’s a beautiful book, and an engaging read.
I Bear Witness
=This week is former Bears center Jay Hilgenberg's birthday (March 21). He was kind enough to provide us with a blurb for Dan McNeil's book I Bear Witness.
Dan gets puffy chested about his titanic drives and he does have length. He gets club head speed with that Barney Rubble body and hits it a long way. In every direction. The pride he takes in his radio work gets much better results.
Happy Anniversary!
Two Eckhartz Press books had book launch parties this week, Cameo by Beth Jacobellis (2018) and Nose Over Toes by Janet Sutherland (2019). Photos from those book launch parties are below.
Records Truly Is My Middle Name
=This week in 2013 was a big week for Records Truly Is My Middle Name. You don't really know what you have with a book until the Chicago Tribune's Rick Kogan chimes in. His excellent review in the Tribune came out this week, and Rick also conducted this interview in the Tribune newsroom.
=Two of the contributors to Cubsessions are celebrating birthdays this week, actor Gary Sinese (March 17) and Shawon Dunston (March 21). Dunston himself doesn't appear in the book, but the man who created the Shawon-O-Meter (Dave Cilha) does. That's Dave (on the far right) at one of the Cubsessions book signings. Others in the photo--author Randy Richardson, former Cubs ball girl Kathy Wolter, and Ronnie Woo Woo.
Scott Simon
=The NPR host is celebrating a birthday this week (March 16). He appears in the two Eckhartz Press books mentioned above. His late 1970s report on the John Landecker show was a significant turning point in Records Truly Is My Middle Name, and Simon was also interviewed by Randy Richardson and Becky Sarwate about his love of the Cubs for their 2019 book Cubsessions.
=This week in 2023, Windy City Reviews dropped an incredible review of Rick Kaempfer's novel Back in the DDR...
“For those reminiscing on or wishing they could have visited Cold War Europe, this reviewer has the next best alternative for you, in the form of Rick Kaempfer’s fascinating new novel Back in the D.D.R. In his highly polished and breezy writing style, Kaempfer takes the reader on a literary adventure of a lifetime, back to Checkpoint Charlie and the whispers of espionage.
Having an understanding of the geography, when added to Kaempfer’s descriptive and detailed writing, helps to transport the reader to these locations. Indeed, the reader may begin to feel as if they are physically accompanying Rudi and his family as they travel.
This fantastic story ends on a triumphal note for thirteen-year-old Rudi, who is forced to mature in a short time. Emblematic of this dawning maturity is when Rudi states, “In Chicago I always felt like a German boy pretending to be American, in Germany I discovered that I was not pretending.”
=This week in 2016 (March 21), Dobie Maxwell was making the rounds in his native Milwaukee. He had a big appearance at Shank Hall.
=This week in 1989 (March 18), Steve Dahl got his vasectomy live on the radio, and Garry Meier had to describe it. That story is told in the pages of The Loop Files.
=This week in 1861, Benedictine Sisters of Chicago founded. Eckhartz Press author Vicki Quade is a huge supporter of the organization, and they, in turn, are huge supporters of Vicki...
“Vicki Quade’s new book reminds me of Martin Buber’s quote which was always a favorite of mine: All real living is meeting. Anyone who loves or wants to know Chicago will enjoy Vicki’s keen humor and vivid memories. They invite us to find new ways to live and laugh, especially during this pandemic isolation. Maybe it will encourage some to write their own memories of human encounters!”
=This week in 2020, Lee Kingsmill's great book was given a long and heartfelt endorsement by WGN Radio's Steve King and Johnnie Putman.
=This week in 2023, in the days before a ridiculously needless trade war began, Chuck Swirsky pitched his memoir Always a Pleasure in Canada. It was a coming home of sorts for Swirsky who was the play-by-play man for the Raptors for many years.
Chili Dog MVP
=One of the 1972 White Sox is celebrating a birthday this week (March 23). Jim Geddes is featured in the pages of Chili Dog MVP.
