Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

Summertime Chi: 5 hot spots to visit

The WISCH LIST

June 26, 2010

This past Monday marked the official start of summer, a date that I’ve always found ironic because all it truly means is that the days start getting shorter.

You just looked down to see if your glass is half empty, didn’t you?

Don’t worry, I’m going to fill it back up.

Regardless of calendar technicalities, Chicago is still summer’s favorite city. And to mark the season, I thought I’d share with you five suggested events – one for each of the next five weekends – you can check out this summer in the City of Big Shoulders (and, lately, Big Thunderstorms).

July 3-4: Taste of Chicago

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Taste of Chicago – which began on Friday and runs through July 4 in Grant Park – is nothing new.

But what is new is that the Taste will now culminate in a late-night fireworks show on July 4, rather than the traditional July 3 display.

Because of high costs and overcrowding, the city has scrapped its big July 3 fireworks show in favor of a three smaller simultaneous displays on the July 4, launching from Monroe Harbor (as usual), Montrose Harbor (North Side) and 63rd Street Beach (South Side).

Truth is, Chicago’s 3rd of July event a nightmare for many Taste patrons: Far too much congestion and far too few cell signals. This new plan will probably make the festival more enjoyable for everyone.

My tip: Download the new Taste of Chicago iPhone app. Its detailed map, menus and music lineups are impressive.

July 9-10: Old St. Pat’s Block Party

For the past 26 years in the West Loop, Old St. Pat’s Church – Chicago’s oldest public building – has been hosting what’s billed as the World’s Largest Block Party.

It’s also known as the city’s largest singles party, annually drawing more than 25,000 revelers to Madison and Des Plaines streets.

Each night’s event lasts from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. with this year’s music headliners Barenaked Ladies (July 9) and Spoon (July 10). Tickets – which include five drinks and cost $40 or $70 for a two-night pass – can be purchased through www.worldslargestblockparty.com. Attendees must be 21 years old and proceeds support the mission and outreach activities of Old St. Pat’s.

My tip: Buy your ticket online beforehand – and early. The event usually sells out.

July 17-18: Sheffield Garden Walk

If flowers and foliage is your thing, then the Sheffield Garden Walk is probably your festival.

Spend noon to 5:30 p.m. on each day exploring more than 90 urban gardens in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and then hang around until 10 p.m. for music, food and drink.

The festival’s entrance is at Webster and Sheffield avenues and the $6 donation ($10 after 3 p.m.) helping to provide support for neighborhood schools, local institutions and community projects. For more information, visit www.sheffieldgardenwalk.com.

My tip: Bring the whole family. The event’s Kids Corner offers plenty to keep your children entertained.

July 23: Jammin’ at the Zoo

A few weeks ago, I ran a 10K race through Lincoln Park Zoo and as a flock of flamingoes stared at me while I jogged past, I was reminded of just how cool the zoo is. And it’s even cooler when you add music.

Now in its 17th season, Jammin’ at the Zoo opens its gates at Cannon Drive and Fullerton Avenue at 6 p.m. for a concert featuring Lovehammers (7:15 p.m.) and Collective Soul (8:55 p.m.). The show is held on the zoo’s south lawn under and costs $23 for adults and $12 for children. For more information, visit www.lpzoo.org/eve_jammin.php.

My tip: Lawn seating is first-come, first-serve. So plan ahead.

July 31-Aug. 1: Summer on Southport

Chicagoans know it. But I’ve long said that for many outsiders, Southport Avenue – located just five blocks west of Wrigley Field – is one of the most underappreciated streets in the city. It features offers a more low-key alternative to the customary Wrigleyville madness with its array of bars, restaurants and boutique shops.

The Summer on Southport festival, held at Southport and Waveland avenues, is a good opportunity to experience a great street from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. A $5 donation is requested. For more information, visit www.southportneighbors.com.

My tip: For a taste of the French Quarter, wwing by Blue Bayou (3734 N. Southport), my favorite New Orleans-themed restaurant in Chicago.

I’m not sure who his competition is, but this guy has to be the best Super Mario Theme Beat Boxer Ever … doesn’t he?

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

Chicago’s new pastime: Cup Chasing

The WISCH LIST

June 19, 2010

Some cups runneth over. Chicago’s, meanwhile, just runneth all around.

If I’ve learned nothing else while living in the “Win”-dy City during the 11 days since the Blackhawks captured the Stanley Cup, it’s this:

When it comes to fan adoration, Stan is most definitely the Man.

And I’m suffering from a bit of Cup envy.

According to the NHL, the Stanley Cup logged more than 400,000 miles of travel between 2003 and 2008. But, heck, I figure in the past week it covered at least that much ground in Chicago alone.

From the rooftop of The Wit hotel to the rubber at Wrigley Field to popular North Side bars such as Rockit, Stanley’s Kitchen & Tap and Tavern on Rush – really, pretty much any place with a liquor license – the Cup spent the week making like a sailor on shore leave.

It’s seemingly been everywhere.

And, yet, I seem to keep being everywhere else.

Last week, I attended Friday’s Blackhawks parade in the Loop, but had to depart before glimpsing the Cup so I could hop a train and make it up to Wrigley Field on time for the Cubs-White Sox game.

At the Friendly Confines, fans thought the Cup would show when the first pitch was delayed for 20 minutes and a pedestal was placed behind home plate. But, it turned out that was just for the silly BP Crosstown Cup, drawing more boos from the crowd than the Cubs themselves.

On Sunday night, the Cup finally did visit Wrigley, but I saw only the buses – and not Lord Stanley – outside the ballpark when the Blackhawks arrived.

After that game, the Cup was ordered away from Wrigleyville by the City of Chicago to temper any potential Cubs-Sox madness, and ever since I’ve been relegated to jealously following Stanley via friends’ photos and status updates on my Facebook page.

One friend saw the Cup Sunday afternoon lounging on a boat on Lake Michigan and then again that evening at Wrigley Field, compelling her to write, “I think that it may be following me. If it shows up at work tomorrow, I’ll be concerned.”

Another friend posed for photos beside the Cup at Joe’s on Weed Street, the bar where it headed – along with the entire Blackhawks roster – after fleeing Wrigleyville on Sunday night.

Others have snapped shots of themselves hoisting the Cup, kissing it or drinking any number of adult beverages from its lip.

But, perhaps I’ve just not been inventive enough to see Stanley. On Tuesday evening, one Wrigleyville rooftop building along Sheffield Avenue taped big red letters on its ground-floor window announcing the offer: “FREE BEER FOR HAWKS PLAYERS.”

That would seem to be one surefire way to lure the Cup.

Or, at least, Patrick Kane.

Cornhuskers 101: Classy is in session

One night early this week as I walked in to my Chicago gym, the vanity plate on a BMW parked outside it caught my eye. It read: “CHI TWN.”

On a Nebraska plate.

Just then, the car’s owner – a Chicagoan living in Omaha – walked up and told me, “When I applied for it, they asked me at the DMV, ‘What’s Shy Twin?’ I was like, oh, jeez.”

Well, with their beloved Cornhuskers joining the Big Ten Conference in 2011, Nebraskans will soon learn. And here in

Illinois, college football fans should study up on the University of Nebraska, too.

Once the Huskers begin Big Ten play, if you get the opportunity to roadtrip to Lincoln for a game – something I did for the season opener last fall – here’s my advice: take it.

Gameday at UNL (that’s what the locals call it) is an amazing experience, and it’s an easy drive west on I-80. There are scads of football traditions in Lincoln, and here are a few of my favorites:

Husker fans like their unique beverages. That includes the Elk Creek, an orange juice-flavored cocktail available at Sandy’s on O Street, and Red Beer, which is beer mixed with tomato juice … really.

At Illinois football games, fans chant “ILL-INI.” At Husker games, they chant “HUSKER-POWER.” And, in Lincoln, they don’t launch T-shirts into the stands, they launch hot dogs, using a funky contraption called “The Wienerschlinger.”

Also know that Nebraska’s defense is nicknamed “The Blackshirts,” the team begins each game by entering the field in a deafening ritual called “The Tunnel Walk” (YouTube it) and on gamedays Memorial Stadium (pop. 81,067) becomes the third largest “city” in the state, behind only Omaha and Lincoln itself.

Nebraska fans are also incredibly classy. After every game, those seated in the section near the visitors’ locker room applaud the opposing players as they exit the field.

No matter if the Huskers win or lose.

One Swell(ed) Conference

On the topic of conference expansion, if you thought a 16-school Pac-10 or Big Ten would have been a huge league, consider this: During the 1920s, the Southern Conference boasted a whopping 23 members – and countless scheduling nightmares.

In 1921, charter members were Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee.

In 1922, Florida, LSU, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane and Vanderbilt joined up, and were later followed by Sewanee (1923), Virginia Military Institute (1924) and, finally, Duke (1929).

Dick Vitale was probably thrilled.

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

Storm mixes goodwill and Tonica for Amy Jacobson

The WISCH LIST

June 12, 2010

Living in Chicago, I’m reminded on a fairly regular basis how many city dwellers – and plenty of suburban ones – seem to often think there’s no life after 80.

Interstate 80, that is.

And, as a guy who spent the first 29 years of his life residing exclusively south of the I-80 corridor, I just as often feel compelled to remind them that there is.

Lots of it.

This past weekend, a big storm, some even bigger hearts and a dash of Windy City celebrity – all mixed with a little Tonica – only served to prove that once again.

Last Saturday night, as tornadoes carved a swath across Illinois, wreaking havoc in Streator, Dwight, St. Anne, Elmwood and other small towns, one well-known Chicago media personality had a front-row seat to the storm thanks to her rearview mirror.

“I was driving back to Chicago, and there was just this blob of black behind me,” said former WMAQ-Ch. 5 TV reporter and current WIND-560 AM radio host Amy Jacobson, who spent Saturday in the Peoria area covering the police search for Stacy Peterson’s remains. “I was down there (around Peoria) later than most media, because that’s when I get my best work done, after everyone else has left.

“So, I was heading back around 8:15 or 8:20 when it started hailing. I heard on the radio that there was a tornado in Elmwood, and that it was up coming up I-39 … Well, I was coming up I-39.”

Concerned for her safety, Jacobson called friends at the NBC Weather Center in Chicago for advice.

“I told them what exit number I was by and they told me, ‘Amy, you have to get out of there,’ ” she said. “In my rearview mirror, I couldn’t tell where the storm ended and the sky began. It was that big. The hair on my arms was standing up.”

Jacobson said she drove beneath an overpass, but there was no room to pull off. Drivers had already crowded beneath it to take refuge. Ahead of her, she then spotted the Exit 48 ramp for Tonica, located about 19 miles northwest of Streator, and immediately took it.

“I thought maybe I could find a ditch to get down in,” Jacobson said. “But then I saw a farmhouse, and I drove straight up the gravel road and ran out of my car with something covering my head. I yelled out, ‘I’m harmless! There’s a tornado coming, can you let me in?’ ”

At the Keef home, the family’s 21-year-old daughter, Ashley, answered the door and sized up the unexpected visitor.

“She yelled back in the house, ‘She’s cute, Mom. She can stay,’ ” Jacobson said with a laugh.

For two hours, Jacobson took refuge with Roger and Carolyn Keef’s clan, as they fielded phone calls from relatives and friends about the tornado destruction in Streator. After knowing his own family was safe, Roger jumped into action, grabbing his chainsaw and heading to Streator with friends Steve and Jenny Coon help Steve’s brother, Dan, whose home’s roof had been crushed by a fallen tree.

“My wife was pretty upset that I was going to Streator,” Roger said. “But if I can help people, I’m going to help them.”

For Roger – someone who 25 years ago gave his right kidney to his brother and this week said, “I was asked one time, what would I do if I had $100 million. Everyone had answers like, buy a second home, things like that. I just said that I’d help other people” – such a decision was simply second nature.

Roger said the police wouldn’t allow him to help with cleanup on Saturday night because of safety concerns. But he returned to Streator the next morning and spent all day Sunday chopping up trees and just “helping neighbors help neighbors.”

“It brought a tear to my eye,” Jacobson said about Roger’s actions on Saturday night. “He knew his family was OK, so he made the decision to go help others. That’s what I love about small farming communities. They take care of each other. And, really, that’s what America is all about. It’s what Illinois is all about.”

And, as it turns out, what the Keefs are all about.

“They were so gracious and wonderful,” Jacobson said. “The next day, I was at an event with Oprah (Winfrey) and Stedman (Graham) in Chicago. And, you know what, I enjoyed the time I spent with the Keef family more. They were great.”

Amy Jacobson

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

It’s Hockey Night at Lord Stanley’s

The WISCH LIST

June 5, 2010

Back in the Spring of 1962, the defending NHL champion Chicago Blackhawks were proud protectors of the Stanley Cup. And Ken Kilander didn’t much like that.

So, during a playoff game between the Hawks and Kilander’s beloved Montreal Canadiens in Chicago, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Quite literally.

As the story goes, Kilander was so upset at seeing the Stanley Cup glistening back at him from behind a glass case in the lobby of old Chicago Stadium that he opened it, reached inside and snatched the Cup off its stand. While making his way toward the building’s exit with Cup in tow, Kilander was spotted by a police officer who halted him and asked why he was taking the Stanley Cup out of Chicago Stadium.

“I want to take it back where it belongs,” Kilander explained. “To Montreal.”

As it turned out, the Cup did head to Canada after the ’62 playoffs, although it went to Toronto – home of champion Maple Leafs, who beat the Blackhawks 4-2 in the Finals – and not Montreal.

In the 48 years since Kilander’s attempted pilfer, the Stanley Cup has been to cities across North America, but never back to Chicago. That’s because, as you might have heard, the Blackhawks haven’t won an NHL crown since the one back in ’61.

So, considering that, how exactly does a bar in Illinois get named Lord Stanley’s when his Cup hasn’t “resided” here since the Kennedy Administration?

Wishful thinking?

That’s exactly what I went to investigate on Wednesday night, when I skated my way in to Lord Stanley’s Sports Bar in DeKalb for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers.

“Where better to watch the Stanley Cup than Lord Stanley’s?” Jess Galle, 28, of Elburn, asked rhetorically on Wednesday while he and his wife, Krista, sipped beers at a table, clad in matching Blackhawks jerseys.

Tucked along Lincoln Highway in downtown DeKalb just a few slapshots from the campus of Northern Illinois University, Lord Stanley’s has been a local institution since 1990. Known for its cheap drafts, delicious pizza and rowdy atmosphere, the place is also one of the few bars in Illinois with a distinct hockey theme which, until recently, was a sport about as popular in Chicago as cricket.

These days, however, with the Blackhawks out from under the tight-fisted reign of late owner Bill Wirtz, back on television during for regular season home games, and now in the Stanley Cup Finals, hockey is suddenly what’s hot.

“I think, at least here, this is bigger than when the White Sox were in the World Series in 2005,” Lord Stanley’s owner Mark Thompson, 48, said about the NHL Finals. “And, honestly, maybe even the Bears Super Bowl [in 2007]. I think with the Bears it was more expected.”

With a faded pennant from the 1991 NHL All-Star Game at Chicago Stadium, a green street sign reading “BLACKHAWKS DR.” and an old Denis Savard No. 18 banner among the memorabilia decorating the bar’s walls, Lord Stanley’s is clearly no Johnny-come-lately to the hockey game.

But how did the bar get its name?

“Well, I worked here for six years before I bought the place in ’90,” explained Thompson, decked out in a red Hawks jersey with “LORD STANLEY’S” stitched on back. “Back then, it was named Shamrock’s, and I wanted to give it a new name.

“Even though I’ve never played, I’ve always been really big into hockey. I love the sport. But I didn’t want this to be only a hockey bar, so while talking about it over a few drinks, I decided to also put a drawing of Stan Laurel on the Cup.”

Yes, Lord Stanley’s official bar logo not only features the Cup, but also the mug of comedic legend Stan Laurel.

“I always liked Laurel and Hardy,” Thompson said with a grin.

What Thompson also likes is the idea of the Blackhawks winning their first NHL championship in his lifetime, although he’s hardly happy with the wait.

“If the Hawks win, the feeling will be more ‘About Time’ than anything else,” Thompson said. “Bill Wirtz took so much out of hockey fans for so many years. But I’m very happy that things are the way they are now.”
Oh, and one last thing about Lord Stanley’s.

“This building has been a bar for 52 years,” Thompson said. “But before that it was a furniture store. And it was called Wirtz & Wirtz.”

I wonder if they sold furniture with Cup holders.