The Guinness Open Gate Brewery Chicago opens to the public Thursday. For Best Fest Buddy Tom and I, though, to paraphrase Earth, Wind & Fire (and keep things Chicago), we will remember the 26th night of September. That’s when we attended a preview night for the spacious West Loop digs. The former rail depot, located… Continue Reading
Over the weekend I made my way from the cornfields of Iowa to the leafy lakeshore suburb of Wilmette to see Lakelands, one of three fine films that made up the Irish American Movie Hooley. Ok. I live in the northwest suburbs, less than 10 minutes from 1-90. But it may as well be Iowa,… Continue Reading
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
In early May, Best Fest Buddy Tom, his brother Mark and I hit the highway for a trip to Carbondale. We headed downstate to help one of Mark’s sons celebrate his 30th birthday. Our drive from the Chicago suburbs was not long after a terrible multi-vehicle accident along I-55 near Springfield caused by a dust… 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