It’s festival time! Pretty much every weekend in September out where I live is filled with a festival. I like to think it’s because suburbanites are big Dylan Thomas fans, which is to say, like he said, “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Which basically… Continue Reading
So another summer’s pretty much passed faster than a meal from Taco Bell does. Turns out, it went quicker than Aaron Rodgers lasted as the New York Jets quarterback, too. I marked the occasion with what pretty much was the busiest weekend of the season for me. Friday, I went to Ravinia with Best Fest… Continue Reading
This summer has been a memorable one for Chicago Scots President and CEO, Gus Noble, filled with celebrations and sorrows. Just a few weeks before heading overseas to be among those honored as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), Noble’s father, Bob, 80, passed away June 11 back in… Continue Reading
For Bloomsday, Best Fest Buddy Tom and I broke out the kilts last Friday to hit the Chicago Scots Scottish Festival and Highland Games in Itasca. Bloomsday is a very Irish lit kind of day. But marking the June 16 in 1904 that James Joyce set Ulysses at a Scottish fest, you say? It’s… Continue Reading
The 2023 Chicago Scots Scottish Festival & Highland Games is going to the dogs. It’s also moving out of Itasca after being held there a final time Friday, June 16 and Saturday, June 17. As for the canines, the nonprofit Chicago Scots held a preview event Saturday, June 3 at Caledonia Senior Living &… Continue Reading
I had not been to Navy Pier in a long time. So an invite from journalist/writer/documentary maker Dave Hoekstra to a reception for the popup version of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum’s “The State of Sound: A World of Music from Illinois” exhibit there was enough to get me out of the… Continue Reading
The fireworks show out where I live that had been planned for the Saturday after St. Patrick’s Day never happened. Why they have fireworks then is a mystery to me. Perhaps St. Patrick shot them off to drive the snakes out of Ireland. Perhaps not. I do know that a well-off bar owner has been… Continue Reading
The final memory I now have of Judy Dees is of stopping by her home on the eve of New Year’s Eve to drop off some thank you gifts from her little buddies, my buddy Tom’s three grandkids. See, Mrs. Dees (as they and I called her), had given them envelopes for Christmas. Mind you,… Continue Reading
Until this Sunday’s 5th Annual Hibernian Hooligan Ball, the last time legendary Chicago comedian Bill Brady and Mike Houlihan shared a stage together was in the indie film, TAPIOCA. The movie starred Ben Vereen, Tim Kazurinsky and a legion of Second City all-stars. Brady played himself in the off-beat comedy. Brady threw Houlihan off the… Continue Reading
Reclaim the Chicago Flag for the Irish Diaspo Claiming the Chicago Flag for Irish America! Chicago’s Irish and Irish American community have cause to celebrate on Friday October 7th when the Chicago Cultural Alliance will screen the film IN SEARCH OF WEEPING JIM in their “Journey Chicago” program at The Irish American Heritage Center that… Continue Reading