'And It's No Go a Tear . . .' Leo Pipe Laureate Dave McKee '46 Pipes Lions Through Heaven's Gate

Dave and Kitty McKee



Dave McKee. Leo '46 has gone home to Christ.

The only sad part of my wonderful job is watching brave, generous, witty, tough and talented men part this world for their places in Heaven.

Bernard Pepping possesses the most dutiful eye for Leo fallen and I regret each note he sends me announcing the passing of Eugene Phillips, James McNicholas, or Jophn P. Coakley. Last night, I received the news from Bob Hylard about the nearing end and the passing of Master Piper Dave McKee.

Mr. McKee piped Leo Men to the Colors at every Veterans Observance and into the hall of most Alumni Banquets.  He was a classmate of Bob Hylard, who played in the Leo Marching Band and edited The Oriole.

"Pat...my very close friend dave McKee,leo '46.. the bag piper is in extremely critical shape at Christ hosp...he's probably close to the end..as you know he piped the vets day doings at leo until he no longer could about 4 years ago....he led the..." Stockyard Kilty Bagpipe Band"... for 50+ years....he and the band were featured in Chicago Trib many times through the years...he is a noteworthy and colorful character and I thought maybe you could get your friend rick kogan [trib] to do an obit honoring a guy who was there anytime he was asked or needed.....pat .i'm writing this approx. 8pm Tuesday and he is still hanging on, but barely....when the end comes I will forward this to you and hope that rick sees the value of a story about a great guy and the band he led through some much of Chicago history...as you probably know the s.y.k.b.was the lead band for the southside st Patrick's day parade ever since it went big time... Years back Dave and the band was on the cover of the trib sunday magazine section...very glossy in those days.....post ad ..great story on tamara holder....tnx pat.......if rick or another writer can do obit Dave's son Matt would be great source of wealth of info....Matt McKee   708/229-1253...tnx pat........"

Thanks Bob.  I know I will get the official news in few hours from Bernie Pepping.  One thing you can count on on this world and that is a Leo Man.

Being a Little Flower HS grad, I offer this small tribute to a sweet and talented Leo Man.  The poem is from a Northern Ireland poet and an Orangeman.




Bagpipe Music

It's no go the merrygoround, it's no go the rickshaw,
All we want is a limousine and a ticket for the peepshow.
Their knickers are made of crepe-de-chine, their shoes are made of python,
Their halls are lined with tiger rugs and their walls with head of bison.

John MacDonald found a corpse, put it under the sofa,
Waited till it came to life and hit it with a poker,
Sold its eyes for souvenirs, sold its blood for whiskey,
Kept its bones for dumbbells to use when he was fifty.

It's no go the Yogi-man, it's no go Blavatsky,
All we want is a bank balance and a bit of skirt in a taxi.

Annie MacDougall went to milk, caught her foot in the heather,
Woke to hear a dance record playing of Old Vienna.
It's no go your maidenheads, it's no go your culture,
All we want is a Dunlop tire and the devil mend the puncture.

The Laird o' Phelps spent Hogmanay declaring he was sober,
Counted his feet to prove the fact and found he had one foot over.
Mrs. Carmichael had her fifth, looked at the job with repulsion,
Said to the midwife "Take it away; I'm through with overproduction."

It's no go the gossip column, it's no go the Ceilidh,
All we want is a mother's help and a sugar-stick for the baby.

Willie Murray cut his thumb, couldn't count the damage,
Took the hide of an Ayrshire cow and used it for a bandage.
His brother caught three hundred cran when the seas were lavish,
Threw the bleeders back in the sea and went upon the parish.

It's no go the Herring Board, it's no go the Bible,
All we want is a packet of fags when our hands are idle.

It's no go the picture palace, it's no go the stadium,
It's no go the country cot with a pot of pink geraniums,
It's no go the Government grants, it's no go the elections,
Sit on your arse for fifty years and hang your hat on a pension.

It's no go my honey love, it's no go my poppet;
Work your hands from day to day, the winds will blow the profit.
The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall forever,
But if you break the bloody glass you won't hold up the weather.

Louis Macneice

Chicago Print Journalism, Really? - Depends Upon the Journalist

"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." John Swinton 1829-1901)

The Nicene Creed has worked pretty well, given the bumps and starts and start again nature of history.  I more than go along with that code and have a devil of a time living up to that Athansian paradigm almost as much as the four gospels, Acts, Epistles and Apocalypse sequel to the Old Testament.

Aside from that Code, pretty much everything else depends upon how well I think and act in its light.  Trial and error have had a remarkable effect upon me - I no longer light tire fires under viaducts, climb water towers upon challenge, vote the Party line, answer 1800-# phone announcements, regard Male Lo T or The Mood On Demand Products commercials with anything short of a belly-laugh, or worry about fairness in print journalism. By journalists, I refer to the opinion makers and heart breakers who go unchallenged in this traditionally hick burg.  I leave out of this very inky mix - news writers - reporters, Tim Novak, Natasha Korecki, Maureen O'Donnell, Dan Mihiopoulas, Chris Fusco & etc. They are a credit to the canons of taste.

For journalists I must include the disc jockeys turned editors and their peers who run opinion in both papers.

Journalism is as hit-or-miss as American movies. Sometimes you get My Weekend With Marilyn, most times you get what ever is playing On Demand.( Hey, at least you didn't spring for AMC& Lowes prices and the $12 small combo, parking and gas!).

There's good stuff out there, but you really must be discerning -trial and error - I'd take one Steve Rhodes over any number of Eric Zorns, Carol Marins, Mary Schmichs, or Richard Roepers; one Dennis Byrne over a parliament of  Steve Chapmans, Clarence Pages, Neil Steinbergs, or David Brooks-eses..

They are the cheerleaders for the powers that be and wanna be, if funded and sanctioned by the political social engineers and their wallets .Shucks, a hack ink-slinger who barks on demand may . . . .just may end up as a career king maker, or helping the thieves steal more efficiently.

John Kass remains the only true link to the Arrch Wards, Ray Coffeys, Nick Von Hoffmans, Herman Kogans and Mike Roykos of Chicago's great writers.

Wit has been replaced with snark -whatever the Hell that is; opinion is not wanted - e.g. Steve Rhodes.

Like betting on clams in the Midwest, too many of the passed along and institutionally agreed-upon talents ( Manya Brachear, Megan Daum, Mary Mitchell, Stella Emerita, Dawn Turner Trice, Rich Miller and the Latino Line-up at the Sun Times -Alejandro Escalano, Suzanne Ontiveros, et.al.) will give that uncomfortable tum-tum followed by 

• A feeling that your teeth are loose and about to fall out
• Confusing hot and cold temperatures (for instance, you will feel that an ice cube is burning you, while a match is freezing your skin)
• Headache (probably the most common)
• Low heart rate and low blood pressure (in very severe cases)
• Metallic taste in the mouth
• 
  

Trial and error, the gradus to discernment, may lead one to believe that there are more than one bad clam in the bag.

Rick Kogan, a Real Newsman, Talks Up Danny Goldring, a Real Actor\

                                                                                              

Chicagoans have a nose for BS, that somehow gets all plugged up when they enter the polling booth on election day.  Almost any day other than election day the old collective snot-locker works just fine.

That is due to the fact that Chicagoans were blessed with real newsmen for so long.  One could pick up one of any of the many news dailies and get the straight dope on what was going on -unvarnished, unparsed, nuance and agenda free reporting.

Like Chicago home-grown root beer, potato chips, ice cream and job security, accurate and BS free reporting is limited to a very few sources - The Tribune offers John Kass, Rick Kogan, Phil Rosenthal and Dennis Byrne on the opinion and information beat - these gents are the real deal with leather on the pavement experience reporting the news. The Sun tImes has only Steve Huntley and Mark Brown, but is blessed with great reporters like Natasha Korecki, Maureen O'Donnell, Steve Metsch, Tim Novak and Chris Fusco. The great Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Mark Konkol has moved on.

Rick Kogan is a great read and an even better listen - the man has pipes.  Rick Kogan has the sexiest voice on radio.  The only other voice sexier on the planet in my experience belonged to Barb Stegmiller.  We tended bar at the old Reilly's Daughter in Oak Lawn before and during the Jimmy Carter Administration. Barb and I are contemporaries and moved along the same strands in the south side network - she is a daughter of St. Tommy More Parish, Queen of Peace High School and an alumna of ISU.  Barb has a voice that Lauren Bacall would have murdered an orphanage full of toddlers to possess.  Reilly's Daughter owner Boz O'Brien made an offer to Barb on behalf of male staff of several hundred dollars a month to call each of us periodically at 2,3, or 4 AM.  " Hi . . .Pat, this is Barb . . .did I wake you? "  Not to worry!!!!!!!!

Rick Kogan does exactly the same magic on female listeners and the odd gent to bats for the other side of the plate, every Sunday Morning on WGN and now on WBEZ.  The deep, husky basso profundo words of welcome that links listeners to guests comes through the wires like a Wurlitzer Church Organ in Cologne Cathedral with E. Power Biggs hitting the keys.

More than Rick's great voice, his honest heart and head presents news of people with exacting detail to accuracy.

Rick Kogan's latest presentation is that of Chicago actor Danny Goldring - a guy with the Ashkenzim Irish mug - that combination of Celt & Viking Redheaded pallor that seems to charm and threaten simultaneously, unlike the more Sephardic Micks like me.  Mr. Goldring is just one of the many great Chicago actors in the cast of "Boss" - Kelsey Grammer's brilliant mirror of Chicago politics.  Kelsey Grammer has collected many of the best from Chicago stage Tony Mockus, Francis Guinan, Amy Morton and my personal favorite in the entire series -James Vincent Meredith as Alderman Ross.

Danny Goldring like most of the Chicago based and born cast has that familiar presence - we know this guy.



There is no BS to his character.  He is a Chicagoan.  Mr. Goldring plays the boyhood pal to Grammer's Mayor Tom Kane, former CPD homicide dick, conscience and saloon owner Ryan Kavanaugh. Mayor Kane came up through Streets and Sanitation and out of Bridgeport; He has gone away from what he was to the powerful monster that he has become.  Goldring's Kavanaugh keeps him tethered to the roots.

Rick Kogan goes to the roots - a barbershop -to present this authentic and talented actor -

Look at that face in the photo and try to tell me that is not a great neighborhood face. Aging handsomely and full of life, it is the face of actor Danny Goldring — even the name is neighborhood perfect, Danny — sitting in the barbershop that he has visited with regularity for the last 20 years.
The guys, barbers and customers, at Alfredo's, at 833 N. State St., greeted the actor warmly last Saturday morning. Stories were swapped, a few wicked but well-meaning wisecracks filled the air, and fading photos of customers and barbers past lined the walls.
"I love this place," says Goldring. "It's old school. A lot of characters."

Boss presents an authentic portrait of Chicago politics - it is pure prose, tough quotidian, smelly, nasty and broad shouldered.  Grudges are the grease of our government.  Politics is the sport of mooches and career of geniuses. These days, Chicago politics is characterized by milquetoasts with power and feebs with cover:  Could a ninny like Pat Quinn have been governor twenty years ago?  Could a suburban grifter and name-dropper ever have gotten into the elevator to the Fifth Floor at City Hall, before Richie Daley sold off every asset and authentic apparatus in city government? I think not.

Chicagoans like authentic for the most part.  That is why Ed Burke and Mike Madigan manage to do some good for people. while the milquetoasts gab on Chicago Tonight.

Kelsey Grammer has done more for political science than Thundering Dick Simpson is allowed to do.

We know BS and genuine PS when we see it.

Actors and newsmen men like Goldring and Kogan keep Chicago's nasal passages clear.

I Remember 1964 , Little Flower, Clancy the Roller Skating Monkey, Tommy Walsh,and Nailed Rick Kogan's Pop Quiz

Thanks Rick Kogan!

1964, I was twelve. I lived in a two bed room Georgian looking north to the railroad tracks at 1755 W. 75th Place in Little Flower Parish of the Chicago Gresham neighborhood. Little Flower was founded in the mid 1920's to serve the massive Catholic demographic in Gresham. Monsignor Stephan McMahon was a priest, lawyer and real estate genius who built one of Catholic Chicago's most impressive campuses between 79th and 81st Streets/ Honore and Wood Streets. The grammar school was tuition free to parishioners and brand new co-educational high school was filled to capacity.

The Church Rectory had a fruit(Peach, cherry and apple) orchard and underground garage all within view of the two grammar school buildings. A huge convent housed the Religious Sisters of Mercy who operated the school. This was a working man's parish that looked like it belonged to the Gentry. Monsignor McMahon made this happen.

President Kennedy was killed before the start of year. I was in Sister Dorableats's sixth grade class and would end the year in Sister Gertrudas's seventh grade class -both Sisters of Mercy were in the words of Grandpa Hickey - 'hairy-faced old Galway bitches.' My academic preparation for life consisted in rigorous reading and arithmetic drills and understanding that these two particular nuns had no use for the male species whatsoever.

We testosterone pups formed a reactionary Band of Brothers and engaged in minor larcenies in recognition of the Hoods' intense dislike for our smelly, willful, sloppy, curious and energetic selves. I was and remain an affable goof who had the pleasure of the company of great people. The three Mike Kellys (1,2,3), The brace of Bobby Ryans (1,2), Willie Bigane, Freddie Knight, Al McFarland, Jimmy Shea, Jimmy Zach, Larry Fiscelli, Danny Miller, and the great Tommy Walsh* were told in no uncertain terms that we would collectively "Die on the gallows." Yeah, right. For kicking over the Mission Money Monkey?

The nuns won a Clancy the Great Skating Monkey at the Mother McAuley Fair. It was a battery operated roller skating plastic monkey that skated when money was tossed into the yellow plastic hat in its hand. They used this ruse to weasel our dimes and nickles and pay to keep the Congo Catholic. You think I'm bullshiting? Well, I'm bull-truing.



Among us was Tommy Walsh. Tommy was the son of a single Mom in our parish, which was about as common as a Vegan Cannibal. Tommy and his Mom lived in an apartment flat building on Honore Street and Tommy's Mom worked at the Bell Phone Company at 87th & Ashland. Tommy, unlike the rest of us had scads of free time. He was a genius and an Irish Greaser.

Most of us Micks dressed like the little gents that our moms wanted us to be. Tommy Walsh dressed like a tough Dago from 69th & Ashland. He wore Stacy Adams Rat Stabber loafers ( fence climbers with heels) on his feet and a black leather Cabretta coat for all seasons. Tommy was also morbidly obese and walked pigeon toed. Tommy was Outlaw, Baby!

Tommy Walsh was Young Emerson Writ Large! A Concrete and clay Thoreau with a sense of humor. He was as a God to us lesser more compliant male untermensch! He said what was on his mind to his pals and boon chums and to the Black and White hard women with pens and cough drops tucked under their Wimples. When told of his sinful nature in not dropping dimes into the Mission Can, Tommy replied, "What and help the tribes cooking our Missionaries, S'ter? No thank You!"

Again when queried on matters theological, "Hey, I don't ask you 'How Do You Feel About the Immaculate Conception?' Do I S'ter?" Whack! WHACK! Tommy often was sent to see Father Gerrity and after the Clancy Incident, Monsignor McMahon -Himself.

The day that Clancy the Roller Skating Monkey arrived to shakedown each and every classroom, Tommy Walsh was prepared. He sat in the very first seat at front of the classroom, next to the cloakroom.

The Monkey had a hat-ful full of pennies, nickels and dimes that two young nuns would dump into a big metal pail. " Take out your pennies and do God's work! Here Comes Clancy!"

The Monkey made the circuit of rows and ended with his hat-ful of loot on his delightful way to the big money pail, but had to make it past Tommy Walsh. Tommy let go of a convulsive sneezing fit and launched out a large leg at the mechanical monkey. His razor toed Stacy Adams footwear caught the plastic primate under the chops and the toy from the good folks at Ideal went out of commission and clouds formed over the Catholic Congo. Tommy was paddling in the murcky waters of Really Shit Creek! The howling classroom showered coin of the realm to the squeals of delight and approval from the timid showered down like me. Mike Kelly 1. grabbed a few dimes for a post-curricular trip to Millie's Candies and Sundries on 79th & Winchester. Sister Dorableat, who looked like Broderick Crawford with a hangover, twisted Tommy's ear and dragged him to THE OFFICE. He was sent from there to the Monsignor.

Hours later, after Book of Valor essays, we watched out of the classroon windows as Tommy Walsh and Monsignor Stephan McMahon walked among the peach trees in the rectory orchard. Both the Monsignor and Tommy were laughing their asses off.

The Second Vatican Council was wrapping up. The Church decided to self-evaluate. We no longer have builders and priests and like Monsignor McMahon, but there are still nuns like Sister Dorableat -in civvies.

1964! I remember it well. Thanks to the Tribune's best link to genuine Chicago history and the greatest speaking voice in the City, Rick Kogan for today's walk back.

I nailed the quiz.

Chicago Live 1964 Almanac quiz


1. The Southwest Expressway, completed in 1964, was later renamed in honor of whom?
A. Adlai E. Stevenson II
B. Dan Ryan Jr.
C. Dwight D. Eisenhower
D. Bishop Louis Henry Ford
Your answer was correct.
2. What Cubs star infielder and former Rookie of the Year died in the 1964 crash of a small airplane he had been piloting?
A. Ryne Sandburg
B. Ken Hubbs
C. Rogers Hornsby
D. Lou Brock
Your answer was correct.
3. Fill in the blank: 7.1 inches of snow fell on March 29, 1964, making it the snowiest _____ in Chicago history.
A. St. Patrick's Day
B. Ides of March
C. Vernal Equinox
D. Easter
Your answer was correct.
4. What famous Chicago residential complex was completed in 1964 along the north bank of the Chicago River?
A. Lake Point Tower
B. Park Place Tower
C. Chicago Spire
D. Marina City Towers
Your answer was correct.
5. What R&B singer and graduate of Bronzeville's Wendell Phillips Academy High School was shot to death in 1964?
A. Marvin Gaye
B. James Ray
C. Sam Cooke
D. Nat King Cole
Your answer was correct.
You got 100% correct.
Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune

* Tommy Walsh was the only student out the one hundred twenty kids in my grammar school class to attend a Chicago Public High School. I hear that he earned a Doctorate.

The Great Rick Kogan's Hand is Flush With Green Queens

Rick Kogan* has a voice like a Gothic cathedral's pipe organ. My God, the man has pipes! His Sidewalks feature on WGN amasses a loyal following of listeners not only for the pitch and timbre of Kogan's majestic voice, but also the high quality of the narrative. As a journalist and word sketcher, Rick Kogan is the equal of Dan McGrath, a sportswriter/editor of national renown and the leader of Leo High School's institutional advancement efforts.

Today, Kogan treats us all with wonderful portrait of Chicago's ethnic royalty - the St. Patrick's Day Queens. Interestingly, in Kogan's print basso susurrations for the Sunday Tribune links us with another voice Catherine O'Connell**.

Cathy O'Connell is the 1976 St. Patrick's Day Queen Emerita and one the most gifted singers in this town. Cathy sang at Leo High School for the November Veterans Observances in tribute to all who serve America.

It is a great kind of a sorority," said O'Connell. "I feel like a den mother. We have so much fun together."

Gorecki said, "I probably didn't realize it until the luncheon, but this honor and these women who came before me are part of me forever."

The 21-year-old Gorecki — "Polish on my dad's side and Irish on my mom's side," she said — is a freshman at DePaul University majoring in international studies, having taken a break after high school to explore a musical career on the West Coast. But she is determined that music stay a part of her life.

If she needs a role model, there is not far to look. O'Connell has made a fine career as a singer, first in taverns and cabarets before quitting to start a family. For the last decade or so she has been drawn to more intimate and less raucous spaces, such as churches, cathedrals and theaters.

O'Connell will be performing with longtime pals Kathleen Keane and Jimmy Moore on April 16 at the Skokie Theatre.

She used to characterize her career by saying, "I marry 'em, and I bury 'em" but since expanding her realm to include performing at baptisms, she said playfully, "I'm hatchin', matchin' and dispatchin'." She has also made five wonderful CDs, survived a horrific car crash, raised three fine young boys and still proudly wears, but once a year, the yellow sash she received long ago when she was a queen.

The Queen of St. Paddy's Day is the subject of Mount Carmel's Pride and Chicago Renaissance Man Mike Houlihan's*** charming film Her Majesty, 'da Queen, which Rich Kogan mentions with unparalleled prose bass-baritone.

Chicago has many people to treasure.

Time to get ready for Mass!

*

Rick Kogan:Born and raised and still living in Chicago, Rick Kogan (left) has worked for the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, where he is currently a senior writer and columnist. Named Chicago's Best Reporter in 1999 and inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2003, he is the creator and host of WGN radio's "Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan" and the author of a dozen books, including "Everybody Pays: Two Men, One Murder and the Price of Truth" (with Maurice Possley), "America's Mom: The Life, Lesson and Legacy of Ann Landers," "A Chicago Tavern," the history of the Billy Goat, and "Sidewalks I" and "Sidewalks II," collections of his columns embellished by the work of photographer Charles Osgood

**

Singer Catherine O'Connell grew up in Chicago and in love with Chicago. Her affection for performing was nurtured by her parents, James and Mary, who shared with her their passions for music and theater. Her father, a talented amateur singer, gave her this early advice: "Tell the story and sing the song with a tear in your voice. Her mother, an accomplished actress, offered this: "Enunciate or no one will understand you."
Catherine, who was the St. Patrick Day Parade Queen in 1976, later developed her distinctive style and dramatic stage presence by performing in dozens of pubs, saloons and cabarets in Chicago, New York and the Caribbean.
Leaving the club scene to raise three boys, she switched direction in her career to focus on more intimate spaces in the city and suburbs, where the emotional impact of her singing has gathered her a large and devoted following. Bill Fraher, director of music at Old St. Patrick’s Church, calls her "the best communicator" he has ever worked with and one friend said "I never thought I could live through my mother’s funeral and you made me sing."
The Chicago Tribune's and WGN's Rick Kogan says, "Catherine is an original, as gifted a singer and as sensitive a performer as I have ever heard and seen. She might easily have become a star in the New York scene but, God love her, she's tied to our town."
March 2002 Catherine released her CD entitled 'I Arise Today' and December 2003 released 'Songs From My Father' available at Irish shops around the city and catherineoconnell.com.
From saloons to Symphony Center, chapels to cathedrals, funeral homes to festival halls, Catherine has touched the hearts and lifted the spirits of thousands of Chicagoans. She is currently working on a Christmas CD.

***Mike Houlihan

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.

19th Ward 75% Turnout Is a Signal 'Engaged and Informed' WBEZ Ignores

“Chicago is pretty evenly split in terms of demographics and voting participation. You have to build a coalition to govern with the city council and he’s going to have to deal with the aldermen in those wards,” - from Southtown Star's best and Chicago's most honest news reporter Steve Metsch reporting the words of a professor of political science.

Last night I listened to a special show on 848 a panel on WBEZ -no kidding. It was the usual stuff. A diverse cross-section of activists and Progressive thinkers told us what is really, really important.

Mayor Elect Rahm Emanuel will be joined by some new faces at City Council. And 14 aldermanic races appear to be headed for April runoffs. We know some of the winners and losers, but what does it all mean? To find out Eight Forty-Eight was joined by a group of engaged and informed listeners, and a panel of political experts. The panel included Maria de Los Angeles Torres, director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Rick Kogan of the Chicago Tribune and WGN, Dick Simpson from the University of Illinois at Chicago's Department of Political Science, and Kyra Kyles from Chicago Tribune's Red Eye.

No Ward organization precinct captains, or committeemen, no cops or fire representatives, no helots - working stiffs from Edison Park, Garfield Ridge, Canaryville, or Morgan Park, only engaged and informed listeners need apply.

In fact the only panelist speaking standard and clear Chicagoese was the great Rick Kogan. Click my post title and give it a listen.

Rick Kogan spoke of the youth vote and related a tale in which a young earnest man in the Tribune fibbed about voting - he did not and was one of about 800,000 other registered voters who did not.

Well, the helots voted. In my 19th Ward home to thousands of cops, firemen, City and County workers, professionals, teachers, and the odd sprinkling of activists, bust-outs and lay-abouts living in Mom's basement until crooks and thieves get right with Jesus, we voted from the opening bell in January to the song by the chubby girl.

There is a Ward Organization - recently, it has been described by Chicago Renaissance Man Mike Houlihan as 'The Balkans.' There is diversity of opinion -very strong opinions - and it is effective. In fact, the young Committeeman Matt O'Shea, a splendid chap in my opinion, garnered more than 61% of the vote and will be our Alderman.

Listen to the WBEZ and take a drink of Old Style every time conversation and discussion is used in this gab-fest on real politik from passionate coalition talkers and you will be drunker than a skunk.

WBEZ talkers want engaged conversation. Conversation must be engaged and informed . . . and sit out there in ozone.

Rick Kogan nails it.

Rick Kogan was appalled, and rightly so, by the lack of commitment by Chicago's registered voters. However, the 19th Ward voted - 75% of the registered voters got off their rumps and voted. Gery Chico won the Ward. Gery Chico was endorsed by Cops, Firemen and many of the Skilled Trades Unions and also by former 19th Ward neighbor Paul Vallas.

The 19th Ward voters voted. That should get the attention of the Mayor elect. It plum evaded the engaged and informed listeners and cheerleaders at WBEZ.

I'm a gabby dude, but I voted. 800,000 Chicagoans did not. They did not vote too heavily in WBEZ demographic Wards -home to the engaged and informed listeners. On the south side, we helots have an appropriate aphorism - Only Suckers Beef.

Rahm Emanuel is the Mayor elect. Come May 16th, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will need committed voters who actually vote. Nice numbers where I live..


Mayor results, ward-by-ward
More results:

Summary »

Mayor, ward-by-ward »

Clerk, ward-by-ward »

Referenda »

This site does not report results in uncontested races.

Visit the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners for more information »

Hover over vote percentages to see the vote count. These results are updated less frequently than the summary.

Ward Turnout Emanuel Chico del Valle Braun Van Pelt-
Watkins Walls % Asian* % Black* % Hispanic % White*
Chicago
41.6% 54.8% 23.8% 9.2% 8.9% 1.6% 0.9% 5.4% 32.4% 28.9% 31.7%
1st 35.0% 53.9% 21.8% 21.5% 1.4% 0.4% 0.3% 4.0% 4.8% 34.2% 54.8%
2nd 39.7% 64.0% 16.3% 6.4% 9.6% 2.2% 0.8% 13.7% 34.7% 7.2% 41.7%
3rd 40.1% 57.8% 11.2% 4.5% 21.1% 2.9% 1.6% 4.1% 77.2% 8.2% 8.7%
4th 48.3% 59.1% 9.6% 8.4% 17.7% 2.5% 2.1% 7.5% 70.0% 3.3% 16.2%
5th 44.8% 62.0% 9.2% 7.0% 16.7% 2.9% 1.6% 4.0% 73.7% 3.0% 16.9%
6th 42.6% 58.3% 8.6% 3.0% 23.7% 3.6% 2.1% 0.1% 97.0% 1.0% 0.5%
7th 40.6% 59.2% 9.9% 3.7% 21.1% 3.5% 1.8% 0.2% 88.7% 7.7% 1.7%
8th 43.3% 58.9% 8.9% 3.4% 22.7% 3.3% 2.2% 0.1% 96.5% 1.4% 0.6%
9th 35.1% 58.7% 9.8% 2.6% 22.6% 3.7% 2.0% 0.1% 92.3% 4.9% 1.6%
10th 41.3% 34.8% 52.3% 7.8% 2.9% 0.7% 0.5% 0.3% 24.4% 57.7% 16.6%
11th 44.5% 42.2% 46.6% 9.0% 1.0% 0.3% 0.3% 30.7% 3.2% 34.0% 31.0%
12th 36.1% 28.2% 51.0% 16.9% 1.7% 0.6% 0.4% 3.6% 15.8% 72.2% 7.9%
13th 58.3% 36.7% 49.3% 10.9% 1.6% 0.4% 0.4% 0.8% 4.1% 71.9% 22.5%
14th 45.7% 24.4% 60.2% 13.2% 0.9% 0.4% 0.2% 1.7% 1.9% 87.8% 8.4%
15th 29.1% 53.1% 15.8% 6.0% 19.4% 3.2% 1.5% 0.2% 59.7% 36.0% 3.1%
16th 28.9% 50.5% 18.1% 6.0% 19.9% 2.8% 1.5% 0.2% 53.4% 43.5% 2.1%
17th 32.9% 59.8% 7.8% 2.3% 22.8% 4.8% 1.8% 0.1% 97.1% 1.4% 0.4%
18th 44.7% 52.2% 20.3% 4.3% 17.7% 3.2% 1.7% 0.4% 67.9% 22.1% 8.5%
19th 74.3% 37.4% 49.3% 6.2% 5.3% 0.9% 0.5% 0.6% 26.6% 5.5% 65.9%
20th 33.1% 55.5% 12.2% 4.9% 20.9% 3.5% 2.1% 1.2% 78.1% 15.3% 4.0%
21st 39.5% 59.0% 8.8% 2.6% 23.0% 4.0% 1.9% 0.0% 97.3% 1.0% 0.6%
22nd 30.5% 26.9% 43.4% 24.8% 3.0% 0.6% 0.2% 0.1% 5.1% 92.6% 1.9%
23rd 58.1% 36.7% 53.3% 6.9% 1.7% 0.4% 0.3% 0.9% 3.8% 47.3% 47.3%
24th 31.3% 59.0% 9.0% 3.2% 21.9% 4.2% 1.6% 0.2% 88.3% 9.2% 1.4%
25th 39.3% 35.6% 39.9% 18.5% 2.4% 0.6% 0.4% 14.8% 7.8% 58.7% 17.3%
26th 31.6% 38.0% 21.2% 35.9% 2.7% 0.8% 0.3% 1.3% 12.9% 60.3% 24.0%
27th 33.5% 62.9% 14.2% 8.3% 10.5% 2.4% 0.9% 4.3% 41.9% 17.6% 34.6%
28th 29.2% 59.7% 9.3% 3.9% 20.3% 4.1% 1.4% 0.4% 81.4% 14.9% 2.4%
29th 36.0% 59.8% 11.5% 5.0% 18.5% 2.9% 1.4% 1.0% 65.1% 28.0% 4.9%
30th 29.9% 41.2% 31.0% 24.6% 1.5% 0.6% 0.3% 1.9% 4.0% 73.2% 19.7%
31st 30.9% 37.7% 34.4% 25.7% 1.1% 0.4% 0.2% 1.6% 2.9% 80.7% 14.0%
32nd 39.7% 66.7% 19.8% 10.9% 1.2% 0.4% 0.3% 4.5% 3.9% 10.8% 78.7%
33rd 39.8% 55.0% 22.5% 19.8% 1.4% 0.6% 0.4% 8.4% 3.7% 54.2% 31.4%
34th 38.9% 59.4% 8.9% 2.4% 22.7% 3.9% 2.1% 0.1% 96.1% 1.3% 1.3%
35th 37.8% 44.0% 22.4% 30.9% 1.4% 0.6% 0.3% 2.8% 4.6% 58.2% 32.7%
36th 48.1% 49.7% 36.9% 9.5% 2.4% 0.5% 0.4% 3.5% 5.6% 33.1% 56.4%
37th 29.8% 60.1% 11.0% 5.4% 18.6% 2.6% 1.1% 0.5% 63.0% 33.5% 2.2%
38th 44.5% 53.3% 33.5% 11.1% 0.7% 0.5% 0.4% 4.7% 1.5% 34.5% 57.7%
39th 43.6% 58.1% 28.1% 11.2% 1.2% 0.4% 0.4% 17.7% 3.4% 33.8% 41.8%
40th 42.0% 61.2% 19.6% 15.8% 1.8% 0.7% 0.4% 15.7% 8.7% 23.3% 49.2%
41st 53.8% 42.1% 49.7% 6.4% 0.7% 0.4% 0.3% 5.1% 1.0% 10.2% 82.3%
42nd 44.0% 74.6% 18.1% 4.4% 1.9% 0.3% 0.3% 12.9% 6.4% 5.6% 72.8%
43rd 43.8% 74.5% 17.2% 5.2% 1.6% 0.5% 0.3% 5.3% 6.5% 4.6% 81.5%
44th 40.6% 74.0% 15.9% 8.2% 1.0% 0.3% 0.2% 6.1% 3.3% 6.6% 81.9%
45th 50.8% 50.8% 37.5% 9.4% 0.9% 0.5% 0.4% 7.7% 1.2% 24.2% 64.7%
46th 47.8% 68.8% 15.1% 9.5% 3.9% 1.0% 0.6% 9.2% 17.6% 12.0% 58.6%
47th 50.8% 66.4% 17.0% 14.4% 1.0% 0.4% 0.3% 5.6% 3.1% 15.6% 73.2%
48th 45.5% 68.1% 14.5% 11.8% 3.9% 0.8% 0.4% 13.2% 17.4% 13.7% 52.7%
49th 43.4% 60.6% 15.4% 16.1% 5.1% 1.0% 1.0% 7.5% 27.1% 23.1% 38.8%
50th 43.8% 62.0% 21.5% 10.8% 2.9% 0.7% 0.6% 22.5% 10.0% 19.7% 44.6%

* Asian, black and white percentages exclude those who also identified as Hispanic

Source: Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, U.S. Census Bureau, Tribune data analysis

Rick Kogan Hosts Leo President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath on WGN 720's Sunday Papers

Leo High School President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath, the best prose writer in America, joins Chicago's Best Voice - Rick Kogan for The Sunday Papers tomorrow Morning!

Rick Kogan has a voice like the Wannamaker Church organ in Philly* and we get to hear it every Sunday morning, as we get gussied up for Mass and Services. This Sunday, Rick's guest is Dan McGrath and together they will toccata and fugue the mission of Leo High School, the Catholic high school for young men in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood that provides a quality college preparatory education and sends 93% of its graduates to college and balance into the skilled trades and public service.

The Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan
Sundays 6:30 a.m.
Rick Kogan starts off your Sunday morning with stories unique to Chicago and discussions on the news and oddities of the day . . .

Rick Kogan -Named Chicago's Best Reporter in 1999 and inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2003, Rick Kogan is currently a senior writer and columnist for the Chicago Tribune's Sunday magazine. He began his career at 16, working for the Chicago Sun-Times during the tumultuous Democratic Convention of 1968 and in various writing capacities over the next decade. He was later on the staff of Panorama, the arts and entertainment section of the Chicago Daily News.

When that paper ceased publication in 1978, Kogan joined the Sun-Times, where he worked the night shift, covering crime; served as entertainment editor; investigative reporter, feature writer and critic. His weekly columns on the city's nightclub scene were collected in a book, "Dr. Night Life's Chicago."

By the mid-1980s, he was on the staff of the Chicago Tribune where he was TV critic for five years and later the editor of Tempo, the paper's daily feature section. He was for five years the personal editor of the syndicated Ann Landers column.

A frequent guest on national radio and television shows, he has been an on-air critic for WBBM radio and WBBM-TV; was creator/host of "The Sunday Papers" on WLUP-FM radio; co-host of the daily "Media Creatures" program on AM1000 radio; and a featured weekly commentator on the television program Fox Thing in the Morning.

He has written 12 books, including, in collaboration with his father, Yesterday's Chicago, and in collaboration with Tribune colleague Maurice Possley, the best-selling Everybody Pays: Two Men, One Murder and the Price of Truth. His America's Mom: The Life, Lesson and Legacy of Ann Landers, was published in 2003. His latest books are A Chicago Tavern, the history of the Billy Goat, and a collection of the Sidewalks columns he writes for the Tribune magazine, embellished by Charles Osgood's photographs. He is also the narrator of an hour-long, 10-part Discovery Channel series titled Escaped!

*

The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest operational[1] pipe organ in the world, located within a spacious 7-story court at Macy's Center City (formerly Wanamaker's department store). The largest organ is the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ (which is barely functional). The Wanamaker organ is played twice a day, Monday through Saturday, and more frequently during the Christmas season. The organ is also featured at several special concerts held throughout the year, including events featuring the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Festival Chorus and Brass Ensemble.

http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/index.php

Rick Kogan Hosts Newberry Freedom Fest in Bughouse Square

Abraham Lincoln mopped the street with Judge Stephen Douglas. Two great actors, in 19th Century dress, reenacted the The Fifth Debate(Galesburg) of the Great Lincoln Douglas Debates.

The McCormick Foundation ran a Freedom of Speech Booth.

Amnesty International offered literature to Chicagoans, about political abuse of prisoners.

Illinois Atheist Pontifex Maximus, Rob Sherman walked around with a giant plastic Dill Pickle and proved that his arms are too short to box with God. The Dude is passionate and intense - really intense. God love him! Mr. Sherman had an Atheist tour bus that would have been the envy of Madonna . . . or the Madonna!

Check it out on Rob Sherman's site - It was parked on La Salle across from the Library - Ten-4, Rollers! Atheistical Mystery Tour is East Bound and Down!
http://www.robsherman.com/

Chicago writer, WGN radio host, golfer and Patriot, Rick Kogan directed the public speaking events made moving eulogies form Bughouse Square heroes the late Alderman Leon Depres and Studs Terkel. The always classy Rick Kogan asked for a moment of silence and Rob Sherman loudly objected to amusement of all.

Hey, Speak on it Brother! This was celebration of America at its Best in place that is a temple of Free Speech.

The Newberry Library hosted the 25th Annual Book Fair and it was a great success. The staff of the Newberry took care of browsers and buyers with speed and efficiency.

All around the park, preregistered speakers took to the soapboxes and gave out like Americans! Rick Kogan and I chatted about the power of the two actors who portrayed Lincoln and Douglas( with Michael Krebs taking the part of Lincoln, and Larry Diemer that of Douglas), as well as the intrinsic power of the words of Galesburg Debates themselves.

Douglas was a Democratic Party line, save the union orator with unhappy task of defending slavery.

Lincoln was the sharp, homey Illinois Central lawyer who bobs and weaves with the geography of Illinois. Douglas complained about Lincoln's feckless abuse of the Truth over the issue of slavery - saying one thing in Charleston and another in Freeport. Lincoln cleaned his clock with this!

When the Judge says, in speaking on this subject, that I make speeches of one sort for the people of the northern end of the State, and of a different sort for the southern people, he assumes that I do not understand that my speeches will be put in print and read North and South. I knew all the while that the speech that I made at Chicago, and the one I made at Jonesboro and the one at Charleston, would all be put in print, and all the reading and intelligent men in the community would see them and know all about my opinions. And I have not supposed, and do not now suppose, that there is any conflict whatever between them. But the Judge will have it that if we do not confess that there is a sort of inequality between the white and black races, which justifies us in making them slaves, we must then insist that there is a degree of equality that requires us to make them our wives. Now, I have all the while taken a broad distinction in regard to that matter; and that is all there is in these different speeches which he arrays here; and the entire reading of either of the speeches will show that that distinction was made. Perhaps by taking two parts of the same speech he could have got up as much of a conflict as the one he has found. I have all the while maintained that in so far as it should be insisted that there was an equality between the white and black races that should produce a perfect social and political equality, it was an impossibility. This you have seen in my printed speeches, and with it I have said, that in their right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” as proclaimed in that old Declaration, the inferior races are our equals. And these declarations I have constantly made in reference to the abstract moral question, to contemplate and consider when we are legislating about any new country which is not already cursed with the actual presence of the evil,—slavery. I have never manifested any impatience with the necessities that spring from the actual presence of black people amongst us, and the actual existence of slavery amongst us where it does already exist; but I have insisted that, in legislating for new countries where it does not exist, there is no just rule other than that of moral and abstract right! With reference to those new countries, those maxims as to the right of a people to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” were the just rules to be constantly referred to. There is no misunderstanding this, except by men interested to misunderstand it. I take it that I have to address an intelligent and reading community, who will peruse what I say, weigh it, and then judge whether I advance improper or unsound views, or whether I advance hypocritical and deceptive, and contrary views in different portions of the country.

Thanks Rick Kogan and thank you to the folks at Newberry Library!