Took my 91-year old Chicano artist uncle to hear Cheech talk about Chicano art. A lovely Sunday.

Sonny Curtis RIP. The last of Buddy Holly's Crickets, also wrote 'Walk Right Back', 'I Fought The Law' and the theme to the Mary Tyler Moore show. youtu.be/hKrxq5U8SBY?...

Kids in a field with a goat, near 79th & Cottage Grove, looking northeast. The houses in the background are still standing (ones on right are on Ingleside).

tear gas and more pepper balls deployed outside the broadview ice facility. agents detained two more people. protesters were blocking the driveway so agents, including border patrol’s bortac team, violently pushed protesters and allowed one vehicle to leave and another to enter.

Stay vigilant

Postcard and key club membership card for one of the countless smaller clubs along 63rd Street in Woodlawn. The Ramsey Lewis Trio performed here in '56, with Ramsey, Eldee Young on bass, and George Stardust Green on drums and vocals (before Red Holt joined).

Chess Records first release was by Gene Ammons, in 1950. #1425 (after the Chess family home address). Jug was 25 but already fully formed as a soloist with the tone he was known for. youtu.be/e8AmQlsrcG4?...

An airplane flying around Soldier Field ahead of the Chicago Bears home opener, is dragging a banner that reads “HEY ICE MASKS ARE FOR CUCKS”

There is a banner plane flying around Soldier Field with what looks like a message to ICE that I can't make out. Can anyone see it?

Crazy house price times in Woodlawn

An AFM contract for a 1947 Gene Ammons performance at the Mt. Moriah Masonic Temple in Evanston. Note also the mention of payment to the bassist on this gig, Eugene Wright.

My friend did this sidewalk chalk piece today, thought you all would enjoy it too.

The Southmoor was taken over by the Blackstone Rangers, hence why TWO and the city moved to condemn & replace w/TWO-run housing development. That didn't happen, so now it's a drive thru Chase bank & parking lot

With credible reports that there will soon be a major increase in federal immigration enforcement activity in Chicago, I want to once again highlight the Family Support Network - a rapid response resource run by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). Use it if you spot ICE.

Vines are bad for masonry.

On FB Marketplace in Chicago: the sign from the Thirsty Whale in River Grove. Coupla notes: - before Whale, it was a restaurant where my aunt waited tables & Tony Accardo tipped her $100 - a band of HS acquaintances played there then got a C&D letter from a popular metal band for name appropriation

So, which animals will be used in the American version of Maus?

I've long wondered about this chair Eldzier Cortor is sitting in. What is it? (Wayne Miller photo)

Indiana Harbor, 1997. Photo by Zeolite, who says 'Velvia (film) makes this look like the land of sky blue waters. Don't be fooled.'

This Russell Lee photo of a 47th St menswear shop 1941 has interesting sartorial point; the hats have an 'open' crown. Wearer could shape it however he pleased. They weren't stuff. Most hats were like this until the 50s.

Based in part on the Thorne Smith novel The Passionate Witch, which in turn was, for some reason, the name of the B-17 my uncle was on when shot down over Germany.

Hotels on this street were once common. Here are a few. Parkland, Plaisance, Southmoor, Crest, Grace (none exist)

There was a boulder with a commemorative plaque for this race in Jackson Park at the site of the start/finish line. It disappeared when OPC construction started. Will it return? Probably not, even if someone knew what happened to it (also doubtful).

She was also a major patron of jazz and hosted its creators at her apartment in Hyde Park. Here she is w Diz (at 57th Art Fair) and the Sonnys, Rollins and Stitt (at McKie's Lounge)

Looking for a complete copy of the 1958 film 'Wonders of Chicago', in color with the sound track. Any leads appreciated (color outtakes exist, no sound; sound version exists, but is b&w).

A big tip of the cap to @thebombshelter.bsky.social for spinning my band's LP tonight - makes night shift go by so much faster!

One more

Another noir-y shot

Over these two days: - enough water that I counted 7 street manhole covers popped up - home power just went out as new storms approach - a bldg I work in, built 2019,, now, this afternoon, has a massive leak from the rooftop mechanical space

Said it before: we Chicagoans cannot be glib about climate change & other cities. Our infrastructure cannot adequately handle two days of torrential rain.

Danielle Spencer RIP. The hilarity that was What's Happening was all down to her and Shirley Hemphill. www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/d...

Sheila Jordan, the jazz vocalist who tugged at the boundaries of music whether she was scat-singing or freshly interpreting songs by Kurt Weill, Rodgers and Hart, or Jimmy Webb, has died at age 96. Access the free article here: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Did some noir-y stuff before the rain arrived.

Finally finished building a light box for this sign panel. These things were everywhere when I was a kid, probably more than Old Style. (Arnie's was in Wisconsin)

Lower foreground was Iroquois/Youngstown Steel, which had recently closed (1st Chicago milll to close) when this photo was taken. New freight shed is where the bulk ore had been stored. By '70 all mill was removed & became the freight port that's there now.

Marvel as I tie Cmdr. Lovell to Hyde Park and South Shore: 1) Apollo IIX capusle is at MSI, 2) his son married the daughter of the Alexanders Steak House owner, who invented creamy garlic salad dressing at their location on 79th/Exchange. (Liz Taylor had some flown out for her wedding)

RIP. Got to meet him, a gracious and generous conversation.

It looks like the Golden Sahara II will in fact be crossing the auction block at the auction of the Klairmont Kollection museum here in late September. This thing is the most batshit crazy custom car I've seen, and I consider myself an enthusiast. www.mecum.com/lots/1151297...

These were newer freight warehouses and terminals for an anticipated shipping boom that never quite happened after the St Lawrence Seaway opened.

Eddie Palmieri RIP. Play this loud. youtu.be/qLxd-vU7AWQ?...

Ghost signs aren't always obvious. Villa Sweden hasn't existed since at least '87 when Ann Sather moved into the space. (I should go to whatever's there now and demand to join the Lions meeting because the sign told me so.)

The info that I was actually looking for uncovered this incredible quote from a judge regarding his dead wiseguy friend:

Today I learned that parts of my neighborhood are the setting for a Roblox game. There's a whole rendering of Parkway Gardens.

While looking for something else, stumbled on this ad from '55. That's stuff is pretty durable, because here's the pictured house today.

Perfect place to resurrect LaRoc's. #iykyk

80s/90s music video right here

This year, they wrapped this one in the 1925 livery (colors/font) so at first glance I thought this was an old photo.

Sheila Jordan, one of the best jazz singers ever, needs our help. www.gofundme.com/f/support-sh...

Four more hours. Save $5 if you buy a signed copy!

Free ebook from University of Illinois Press this month: Roots of the Black Chicago Renaissance: New Negro Writers, Artists, and Intellectuals, 1893-1930 www.bibliovault.org/free_ebook_r...