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Pop culture dispatches from the Great Lakes

Chicago

Railroad Track Elevation in Chicago: A Modern Marvel

February 3, 2015 by John Gramila Leave a Comment

“How few know even the names of the men who design and execute the work and in whose care the public safety is placed.  How vigilant and resourceful they must be is little appreciated by the passengers who are almost lifted as they ride.”

-M. K. Trumbull, Engineer of Track Elevation of the City of Chicago, 1908

1911 map of all track elevation projects

The 1890 census confirmed Chicago had become the second largest city in the United States. Driven by immigration, the population had more than doubled in 10 years. 41 percent of residents were born in foreign countries. The Civil War, ending 25 years before, vaulted the geographically northern Chicago past traditional rivals St. Louis and Cincinnati as the Western hub of rail transportation and manufacturing. By 1889, thousands of trains were entering and leaving the city every day. More than 2,000 miles of track ran directly through Chicago neighborhoods, all at ground level.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Chicago, History Tagged: 606, Bloomingdale Line, Chicago, history, Railroad, Track Elevation

Thoughts from the Dugout: Let’s Play Two

January 26, 2015 by Travis J. Cook Leave a Comment
ernie-banks

Image courtesy Getty Images

Ernie Banks passed away on Friday, January 23rd, 2015, eight days before his 84th birthday. He was a Chicago icon, a Hall of Fame shortstop who won two MVP awards while playing his entire career for the Chicago Cubs. He never made it to the postseason, but was widely regarded as “Mr. Cub”, a beloved figure in spite of his team’s mediocrity – or because of it. He was the first player in the modern era to be identified as an offensive force while playing shortstop, a position not known at the time for prolific offense.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Baseball, Obituary, Sports, Thoughts from the Dugout Tagged: Billy Williams, Chicago, Chicago Cubs, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Wrigley Field

The Fidelity of Images: Rene Magritte at the Art Institute of Chicago

July 23, 2014 by Andrew Rostan Leave a Comment

I am not a fan of surrealism or excessive flights of fancy in art: when confronted with Salvador Dali or Hieronymous Bosch’s mind-warping visions of the unimaginable, my flesh feels like it is creeping off my skin and my eyes avert themselves. The one exception to my distaste for surrealism is Rene Magritte, whose paintings, photographs, handwritten essays, and the productions of his ad agency in Brussels, is currently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago in their special exhibition Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary 1926-1938, which runs through October 13.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Chicago, Events Tagged: art, Chicago, Chicago Art Institute, magritte

Live lit’s newest asset: Story Club Magazine

February 11, 2014 by Meryl Williams Leave a Comment
Story Club Magazine's debut issue is available online now.

Story Club Magazine’s debut issue is available online now.

Chicago’s live literature scene just became available in a new format, in case you haven’t made your way to a show in person.

Now readers can peruse stories online, all of which have been performed before a live audience, thanks to Story Club Magazine. The quarterly magazine released its premiere issue last week, made up of stories performed not just at Story Club Chicago, but other live lit events in the area. It also features stories from performances in other cities, including those at Story Club Boston and Story Club Minneapolis.

“We’re spreading the gospel of live lit a little wider,” said Dana Norris, Story Club founder and producer.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Books and Literature Tagged: Chicago, Live Lit, Story Club

The E Street Flag Flies Over Wrigley

September 11, 2012 by Andrew Rostan Leave a Comment

 

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have, over the past few weeks, said a lot about the current, challenging state of America, the hard work and sacrifices we, the people, have to take upon ourselves, and the power of we, the people, in shaping our future. I’m not here to pick apart their speeches—this is not a site about politics. I bring this up because on the two days after Obama accepted the Democratic nomination, I saw these people, myself included, who together will be shaping America’s future. The entire cross-section of our citizenry, from paunchy guys in Bears T-shirts to kids with massive Afros to the most well-dressed men and women imaginable (entirely prepared to let themselves get soaked) to loud-voiced men trying to scalp not tickets but parking passes. They were all gathered around Addison, Clark, Sheffield, and Waveland those nights to watch Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on their Wrecking Ball tour.

One of my pet statements to friends regarding my love of music is that I choose my one concert a year based on which artists I need to see before they retire or die. I’ve been a fan of Bruce Springsteen since I was little and saw the “Dancing in the Dark” and “Glory Days” videos in heavy rotation on VH1, and my Uncle Richard, my dad’s twin brother, told me about seeing the E Street Band six times in the late seventies and early eighties. In March 2009, right before I let Los Angeles, I got to see them play the Los Angeles Sports Arena during the Working on a Dream tour, which would prove to be Clarence Clemons’s final tour before his death…a memory I will cherish until I die. That concert was probably the greatest I ever attended, a two and a half hour explosion of energy which concluded with a glorious rendition of their mammoth anthem “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight).” However, there was also a particular mood about that tour which only comparison allowed me to put my finger on. Working on a Dream was more a collection of songs than a full, structured album, and Springsteen felt the need to tightly structure his concerts around a grander, very liberal political message: the songs chosen for the setlist ran together to tell a very specific narrative of ordinary people, our rights, and our power, and it included a ridiculous monologue to that effect during the performance of the song “Working on a Dream.” Also, the E Street Band was a bit more subdued, probably to accommodate Clemons’s ill health; the Big Man only broke out his sax on about half the songs, and there was a sense that they were reining in their capabilities a bit. This wasn’t bad. It allowed for a glorious slow section in the middle of the concert when Bruce and Roy Bittan strung together “The Wrestler” and “Racing in the Streets,” and Clemons’s solos were choice and dynamic. But it was a different vibe from what one can hear on the Live 1975-1985 album and footage from other tours.
[Read more…]

Posted in: Music Tagged: Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, E Street Band, Wrigley Field

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