By Helene Smith
Everybody in, nobody out.
(ENLARGE FOR PROPER VIEWING)
Posted on February 3, 2017
Poem [“The Beachwood Inn Has Collapsed!”]
By Tim Willette and J.J. Tindall
Poem [“The Beachwood Inn has collapsed!”]
with apologies to Frank O’Hara
The Beachwood Inn has collapsed!
I was checking Accuweather and suddenly
it started raining or snowing
and you said it was hailing
but hailing hits you on the head
hard so it was really snowing and
raining and I was in such a hurry
to meet you but the traffic
was acting exactly like the sky
and suddenly I see a text msg.:
THE BEACHWOOD INN HAS COLLAPSED!
there is snow tonight in Wicker Park
there is always rain in Illinois
I have been to lots of other bars
and acted perfectly disgraceful
and collapsed here and there but not like this
oh Beachwood we love you get up
Posted on February 1, 2017
Wisconsin’s Specialty Cheesemakers May Be Better Off Than Other States
By Hope Kirwan/Wisconsin Public Radio
As markets for artisan and specialty cheese grow, a new national survey found many cheesemakers have a hard time staying in operation.
The survey, the first of its kind to be conducted by the American Cheese Society, includes responses from more than 900 specialty cheesemakers in the United States.
Posted on January 31, 2017
Beachwood Photo Booth: Urban Wheat
By Helene Smith
Amber waves of grey.
Posted on January 27, 2017
Beachwood Photo Booth: Gaslight
(Honoring The Hala Kahiki’s “Tiki Titan”
And The House Of Paradise He Outfitted
“If tiki had a Michelangelo, it might just be designer William John Westenhaver,” Maureen O’Connell writes for the Sun-Times.
(And if the Sun-Times had an editor, they would have made those verb tenses parallel, but I digress.)†
“And if he had a Sistine Chapel, it could be the Hala Kahiki lounge in River Grove.
“Mr. Westenhaver was one of the foremost makers of all things tiki – carved chairs, tables, totems, idols, light fixtures, candle and menu-holders. His pieces – produced by Witco, the company he co-founded in Mount Vernon, Washington – once graced Polynesian-style clubs, hotels and restaurants across the country, built in a wave of post-war escapism redolent of rum, coconut and bamboo . . .
“Mr. Westenhaver, 91, a resident of Coupeville on Washington’s Whidbey Island, died Dec. 14 after a fall, said his son Kim.”
Posted on January 18, 2017
Chicagoetry: Damocles In K-Town
By J.J. Tindall
Damocles in K-Town
A sharp sword dangles
Just above my head now,
Hung from a low, dark cloud
By a single strand
Of horse tail.
I can feel it
But can’t directly see it.
Got me on edge.
Posted on January 16, 2017
Beachwood Photo Booth: Bartcam
(Englewood 79th/67th
By CharlieBo313
Noontime.
YouTube Commenter: “Looks like you were eastbound on 67th, passed the southbound entrance to the Ryan and then entered the South Shore neighborhood.”
Posted on January 11, 2017
Chicagoetry: Reservoir Dogs
By J.J. Tindall
Reservoir Dogs
“For no man can make a dent in emptiness.” – Nelson Algren, Chicago: City on the Make
What is a river?
A ditch full of rain
What is rain?
The tears of a god.
What is a god?
A metaphor.
Posted on January 10, 2017