Sure, you’d think the chief executive officer of a company struggling to emerge from bankruptcy and desperate to salvage an $8 billion buyout-gone-bad would have better things to do than pester his underlings with crazy proclamations. But in the case of Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels, you’d be wrong.

Randy Michaels (photo from Los Angeles Times)

The man at the top of the troubled media empire took time out of his real job this week to issue a list of words and phrases — 119 of them, to be exact — that must never, ever be uttered by anchors or reporters on WGN-AM (720), the news/talk radio station located five floors below his office in Tribune Tower.

Believe me, I’m not making this up. Read the rest of this entry →

If you are cruising the web right now looking for word of live-blogs for tomorrow’s state budget address, this is for you! Our new on-line chat show “The Lunchbox” will feature a live-blog covering the events from Springfield. This will be a nice compliment to what we have on-air, which is the live broadcast of Governor Quinn’s speech. The Lunchbox is like “The View,” but with a 1996 AOL chatroom motif. Tomorrow’s guest panelists will be (and not limited to): Marcus Gilmer (Chicagoist), Ramsin Canon (Gapers Block), Anna Tarkov (Windy Citizen), Dan Sinker (Columbia College, Punk Planet), Mike Fourcher (Purely Political) and many, many more.

12noon tomorrow. Join us. Public comments/questions are welcome.

We took a week off to regroup, but we are back! It’s time to continue our mega-popular Chicago non-hall of fame sports hero challenge!!! We give you two athletes that contributed to the Chicago sports landscape and put them in the proverbial cage to battle it out for blog votes. The winner moves on to the next day (Jeopardy! rules) to face a new Chicago non-hall of fame sports hero.  Today? We pick up where we left off with winner Norm Van Lier taking on…Billy Buck.

Norm Van Lier: His Bulls basketball career spanned over several decades (playing in 70s, broadcasting in 90’s/00s). Norm was a defensive marvel, named to three all-defensive teams. He also had a magnetic personality, one that made him a star before basketball in Chicago was king. According to Wikipedia: Van Lier held the record for the longest field goal in NBA history (84 feet) for 24 years until Baron Davis broke the record on November 17, 2001 (89 feet). Stormin’ Norman Van Lier also made a name for himself with his broadcast duties during the championship runs, as well as after.

Bill Buckner: Let’s forget about Buckner in Boston. He has his own fans there. But in Chicago, Buckner was a beast. He played during the down-years of the Cub in the early 80’s, but he was the star. He was a clutch hitter with a mustache to boot. I didn’t know this, but Buckner played his first game with the Dodgers in 1969! I had no idea he was in the league that long before coming to Chicago. He only struck out 453 times in his career and made the all-star team one time in 1981, while wearing Chicago pinstripes. Buckner may be a laughingstock in Boston, but he is remembered fondly on the North Side.

 Loading ...

March is here. Photo by Clark Maxwell

Top story: I had a stomach bug.  I’m better now, thanks. I went to the store yesterday to get some Gatorade and saltine crackers. The woman said to me, “this looks like hangover food.” It does? Since when are crackers and Gatorade hangover food? Maybe she thought the crackers were a patty melt. Anyway, the story here is the lack of compassion Julie has for my condition. I rarely get sick, but, yes, when I do, I probably act like a baby. I am my father’s son and he is notorious for acting like the heavens are opening up every time he gets a cold. But instead of getting “how are you feeling” compassion, I am getting huge sighs because there are cracker crumbs on the couch. This morning after a difficult night of restlessness, I got nothing! No “how are you feeling” or “can I make you some breakfast” or “sponge bath.” Then I realized maybe I could be more compassionate when she is sick (which is much more frequent than I). Maybe if I were nicer when she was sick, maybe I would get the basics in return. Or maybe the non-stop midnight moaning ticked her off. So, I ask you: who’s a bigger baby when they are sick – you? Or your spouse/significant other? Read the rest of this entry →

Note: I promise this is the actual sunrise. Not a gray wall.

The best baba gannoush in Chicago (photo by Steve Dolinsky)

I’ve seen it spelled a number of different ways: baba gannoush/ganoush/ganouj, etc., but no matter how you spell it, the dish is pretty much always the same – roasted, chopped eggplant, combined with garlic, tahini and spices, whipped or finely-chopped into a spread that is ripe for wedges of warm pita bread.  The reason we’re homing in on Taboun today, is because, quite simply, they make the best baba-g in town. Read the rest of this entry →

An assortment of news items (updated and annotated) from my Chicago Sun-Times column 20 years ago this week:

• “The hottest tickets in town — 125,000 free passes to ‘The Bozo Show’ — will be up for grabs. For the first time since the waiting list was frozen with a 10-year backlog in 1980, WGN-Channel 9 will accept requests for ‘Bozo’ audience tickets, covering tapings from this fall through 1995. . . . All available tickets will be allotted on one day only — next Saturday — via a special 900 telephone line.” [Tribune Co. canceled “The Bozo Show” in 2001 after 40 years on the air. I’m still mad at them for it.]
• “It’s anchors away at WMAQ-Channel 5, with Ysabel Duron and Mary Murnane preparing to move on from the NBC-owned station to advance their careers. And poised to take over where Duron and Murnane leave off is newcomer Jackie Bange, described by her bosses as Channel 5’s ‘next big star.’ ” Read the rest of this entry →

2009 was technically the year of the ox, but with all the pork belly and bacon buzz, it sure seemed like the year of the pig. Adventurous pork fanatics can take this obsession one step further in 2010 with Mado restaurant’s Pig Butchering series. For $50, participants can join chef and co-owner Rob Levitt as he breaks down an entire pig, explaining how the restaurant uses every part of the animal on their menu. Guests will also get to take home a sampling of the different cuts. Classes start at 12:30 on March 14 and 21 at Mado Restaurant, 1647 North Milwaukee, (773) 342-2340.

Read the rest of this entry →

Phil Rock loves his retirement. I guess, it’s sort of a retirement.

Rock is “of counsel” at his law form, Rock Fusco. Before I interviewed him last week for a story on the Democratic State Central Committee, he walked over to the window of his beautiful corner office towering 22 floors above the Chicago River, staring down and pointing out where the river turns south toward Chinatown. Not a bad gig.

Rock on retirement

Rock left the Illinois Senate in 1993, more than two decades after arriving. For a few years in the early 80s, he chaired the Democratic State Central Committee, and he held his committee seat in the Cook County Democratic Party until about ten years ago. I asked him to try to sum up what he’s been doing since his name stopped appearing on the ballot.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Read the rest of this entry →