Essays, Interviews, Observations, Pop Culture, Stories, and other Dodginess

Posts from the “Essays/Writing” Category

The Louisville Hugger

Posted on October 18, 2018

I visited Louisville a few weeks ago. The last time I was there several years prior our band U.K. Grief played a show at a dive bar that goes unremembered. But it was where we debuted a new song there, “Pretty Little Johnny.” We went bar hopping after the show and discovered The Louisville Hugger. She was about the age of Courtney Cox when “Friends” ended and wore a brown leather jacket, loose green pants and blue heels. Long scraggily brown hair covered the parts of her face that weren’t already hidden by large sunglasses. She called herself The Louisville Hugger. She would go around offering free hugs. She had one of those little Louisville Slugger souvenir bats they give you at the end…

Depeche Mode Came To Town

Posted on June 29, 2018

  On June 1 Depeche Mode cleared out the stink in the United Center that was left over from the Bulls and Blackhawks. I had a good time at the concert. For the most part I was fine with every song the band played, but I as always I wish they would dig a little deeper. How about “Only When I Lose Myself.” Let’s hear that one for a change. I told my neighbor, Ms. Weregun, that I went to the concert. If you’ve read some previous posts, you know all about her. Especially from the one titled “Ms. Weregun.” Ms. Weregun reminded me of something I’m not sure I wanted to remember. That time she danced on the bar at Mickey’s Tavern in…

Words For Someone Who Died

Posted on January 16, 2018

Mickey’s Tavern in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood died a few years ago. One of its beloved regulars died in December. I first met Dr. Pelz at Mickey’s when I moved to the neighborhood. It was my first night on the block and I headed over to the dive bar on Medill and Leavitt before my bags were unpacked. It may have been Dr. Pelz who brought my first beer. It’s hard to tell. There was more than one free beer coming my way from longtime patrons who I would come to know well over the next few years. Bill Pelz was his name but to me he’ll always be Dr. Pelz. Dr. Pelz, a history professor at Elgin Community College,  hosted an annual Christmas party.…