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Column: Special Consensus celebrates its half century of unlikely bluegrass glory

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rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 4d

Column: Special Consensus celebrates its half century of unlikely bluegrass glory with a new CD and an Old Town School concert. Think of the many miles they've travelled and the many people they have entertained and delighted. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/08/c...

When Greg Cahill formed this band 50 years ago, there were few other bluegrass bands from Chicago. The road has taken some turns.

Column: Tony Fitzpatrick has a new book, and maybe new lungs

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 7d

Ink on paper in Sunday Tribune with a gift link for those of you who have forgotten to buy a copy. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/01/t...

“The Sun at the End of the Road” is a new collection of artwork, poetry and essays, published this month. The author has to celebrate, for now, at the Rush University Medical Center.

Column: Tony Fitzpatrick has a new book, and maybe new lungs

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rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 11d

The latest news from the Tony Fitzpatrick front has the artist/writer/actor/etc as lively and optimistic as ever as he awaits a pair of new lungs and acts as hospital room host to a parade of friends and family. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/01/t...

“The Sun at the End of the Road” is a new collection of artwork, poetry and essays, published this month. The author has to celebrate, for now, at the Rush University Medical Center.

Column: WTTW’s new ‘Chicago Stories’ gives us Blago, blizzards and Frangos

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 18d

Each of the five new WTTW “Chicago Stories” programs is solidly produced, alive with vintage photos and video. This online version has a stunning and lively photo gallery, sparking your memories. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/24/c...

This fall’s season of the longtime documentary series opens with an episode on Chicago blizzards and concludes in late October with a remembrance of the Marshall Field’s department stor…

Column: In Kevin Matthews’ new ‘Broken Mary’ movie, his life takes a turn after finding a broken statue

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 19d

Hello Kevheads. A few years after he left the local airwaves, Kevin Matthews said “A lot of people think I died.” He did not and now is back in a movie that captures his wild past and his ongoing relationship with Broken Mary. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/23/k...

The documentary was six years in the making and premieres Oct. 7 in movie theaters all over the Chicago area.

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 21d

Ink on paper in Sunday Tribune, remembering Gary Comer and celebrating his CITY 2000

Column: New exhibit revisits CITY 2000, Gary Comer’s powerful message to the future

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 22d

Possible bonus @KoganAfterHours at 4:30 pm Sunday @WGNRadio will be the one and only show correspondent Candace Jordan, @CandidCandace

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 22d

Football season is here and @KoganAfterHours adjusts, so last show for a while is 4:30-6:30 pm Sunday WGN Radio with @HerbGould on his book, "Lambeau," and Mike and Paddy Houlihan on Irish-American film festival next weekend @wilmettetheatre.com

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 25d

Celebrating "CITY 2000," Gary Comer's ambitious, audacious, remarkable, outlandish, captivating, important and playful projects in the city’s history, one that he hoped would send "a message to the future.” www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/17/u...

CITY 2000 involved more than 200 photographers, videographers and journalists who would spend all of 2000 roaming the city and capturing moments both ordinary and extraordinary.

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 26d

Ink on paper in Tuesday's Tribune and it looks like this.

Column: Will there be more birthdays for the Uptown Theatre? A new book looks at its history

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 26d

Ink on paper in Tuesday's Tribune and it looks like this.

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · 28d

Ink on paper in Sunday Tribune.
Will there be more birthdays for the Uptown Theatre? A stunning new book looks at its remarkable, glittering history and also serves as a call to action, an argument for salvation.

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rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Sep 10

Will there be more birthdays for the Uptown Theatre? A stunning new book looks at its remarkable, glittering history and also serves as a call to action, an argument for salvation. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/10/u...

“The Uptown: Chicago’s Endangered Movie Palace” captures the building’s amazing history, but also serves as a call to action, an argument for salvation.

Column: Writer James Tehrani’s first book is ‘Alfalfa — The Rascal You Knew, the Character You Never Knew’

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rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Sep 9

A long time in coming, writer James Tehrani's first book is 'Alfalfa — The Rascal You Knew, the Character You Never Knew.' And a fine book it is, full of surprises and featuring a real life murder. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/09/j...

James Tehrani may know more about Carl Switzer/Alfalfa than anyone on the planet and the proof peppers the pages of his entertaining biography.

Column: Forty years of book and author memories at Lit Fest

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rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Sep 2

There's so much to see and hear at the weekend's Lit Fest. It is free and and fun and also a wonderful way to remind people of the city’s vitality as a literary center. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/02/c...

I have attended every one of these summer tributes to the written word. I’ll be back at this 40th anniversary edition with a few author presentations.

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Aug 31

The life of Bill Kurtis, ink on paper in Sunday's Tribune.

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rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Aug 30

Abbreviated @KoganAfterHours short and sweet 6-7 pm Sunday @WGNRadio has singer Libby York on next birthday show @wintersjazzclub; director of programming, Amy Danzer, on next @PrintersRowFest with me twice on Saturday with Abbott Kahler (aka Karen Abbott) and Bill Kurtis.

Column: Bill Kurtis writes of the adventures of his ‘Whirlwind’ life as a TV news anchorman

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Aug 27

Bill Kurtis was there for the Chicago 7, Charles Manson, Tokyo Rose, Richard Speck, Vietnam, "Anchorman," "Wait, Wait..." and so much more. A witness to history and an honest, stylish chronicler of his own story in "Whirlwind." www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/27/c...

It’s understandable if you know Bill Kurtis only as an anchorman. Read his new autobiography for more, in bookstores in September.

Column: Remembering astronaut Jim Lovell, one of a rare kind

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Aug 26

There were seven people dead, the owners of a Palatine restaurant and five of their employees, fatally shot with a revolver. Remember? This would come to be known as the Brown’s Chicken massacre and a new book, 'Something Big,' captures the ripple effect. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/26/b...

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rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Aug 23

@KoganAfterHours 5-7 pm Sunday @WGNRadio brings you James Tehrani on his book, “Alfalfa"; news on special screenings (with Rainn Wilson and others) at @wayfarertheaters; review of “Eden” movie; Robert Loerzel and James Pierce on "The Uptown: Chicago's Endangered Movie Palace.”

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rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Aug 16

@KoganAfterHours 4:30-7 pm Sun. @WGNRadio has Kevin McGuire on “Take the Long Way Home”;
@AbbottKahler on “Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II”; correspondent @CandidCandace; @PatrickWohl on “Something Big," on Brown's Chicken Massacre

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Aug 12

Best-selling author Robert Kurson on Lovell: “Jim’s most outstanding quality was his warmth and kindness, how welcoming he was to those who asked to shake his hand, to take his picture, to describe the first Earthrise ever witnessed by humans.”
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/12/r...

It is a long way from Lake Forest to the moon — 240,000 miles, give or take — and Jim Lovell made that trip twice, seeing things that few people have ever seen and living a life of estimable grace.…

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rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Aug 9

After Hours with Rick Kogan 4:30-7 pm Sunday WGN Radio
has Mark Kriegel on stunning “Baddest Man," on Mike Tyson; Ronnie Marmo as Lenny Bruce @desplainestheatre; Mark Kogan on “Elvis Week at Graceland": Kyle Mathers/Hannah Luchtenburg on Richard Hunt exhibition.

Column: A new podcast seeks to put you in ‘Hamlet’s’ head

rickkogan.bsky.social @rickkogan.bsky.social · Aug 6

A new podcast seeks to put you in 'Hamlet's' head. A bold but wildly successful journey, it was director Jeremy McCarter's idea and stars Daniel Kyri. Trust me, it is an intimate, exciting and ultimately enlightening experience. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/06/h...

Jeremy McCarter of the Make-Believe Association has created a podcast version of Shakespeare’s play that puts you inside his thoughts, and him in yours.