Citizens Report American Irish Culture

Guinness Open Gate Brewery Chicago opens Thursday

Guinness Open Gate Brewery Chicago opens Thursday

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

Fall Festival Season, with Danahey on the Loose

Fall Festival Season, with Danahey on the Loose

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

Summer recap, no chaser: Danahey on the Loose

Summer recap, no chaser: Danahey on the Loose

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

Danahey on the Loose at Navy Pier and The State of Sound

Danahey on the Loose at Navy Pier and The State of Sound

  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

Danahey on the Loose in Carbondale

Danahey on the Loose in Carbondale

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

Danahey on the Loose Way Past St. Patrick’s Day

Danahey on the Loose Way Past St. Patrick’s Day

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