Having come up in the 1970s, I listened to plenty of Barry Manilow, and I have a soft spot for him. A few years ago, I caught him on “Family Guy” and decided that he was absolutely awesome: what a sense of humor! In addition to writing so many great songs! Then, last week I… [Read More]
Blog
Category: Chicago
A Penny I Don’t Like
I’m on the record as being a fan of the penny. But here in China, the closest thing to a penny is the jiao, which is a tenth of a yuan. A yuan is worth about $0.15, so a jiao is worth about $0.015. I don’t like having a wallet stuffed with little bits of… [Read More]
Singing in Bars
In Asia,people sing in bars, and not just karaoke. Yes, I’m generalizing broadly, but I’ve decided that it’s a good idea to have a song ready to go when my hosts expect me to take a turn. It is: “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”. which is easy to sing and is a traditional… [Read More]
One of My Writing Places
I am too easily distracted at my home office. Sometimes, I go to a local soccer bar called A.J. Hudsons, buy a girl drink to pay rent for the table, and get to work. When the other patrons start singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, it’s time to go home and enter the draft on the… [Read More]
Another Sports Stadium Funding Disaster for Taxpayers
Yesterday’s Chicago Tribune has a long story about how the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview used taxpayer money to build Toyota Park, a stadium for the for-profit, privately owned Chicago Fire soccer club. Did it pay off? Why, yes, of course it did. It paid off for the team and different businesses that had connections to… [Read More]
