Archive for August, 2025
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August 12, 2025

A Banana Boat of Fun Ideas on Bill Veeck Night

Thank you, White Sox, thanks Bill! (Provided photo.)

 

Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Veeck loved incongruity, so he would have enjoyed Saturday’s “Bill Veeck Night” at Rate Field. The White Sox did a fine job with Veeckish stunts such as a pre-game petting zoo featuring Stella the Sloth, a 60-second marriage in center field officiated by former White Sox great Ron Kittle, a puffy Andrew the Clown, and a cool Veeck bobblehead.

But incongruity rounded the bases at the end of the game.

Jesse Cole, the effervescent founder of the Savannah Bananas barnstorming baseball team, appeared with a video message [...]

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August 1, 2025

The Musical Side of the Feed diner in Chicago

Summer, 2025 (D. Hoekstra photo.)

I’ve been going to Feed since Donna Knezek and Liz Sharp opened the southern-inspired diner twenty years ago in a country-industrial gumbo of Humboldt Park.

Feed, 2803 W. Chicago Ave., is a couple of blocks north of the Milwaukee District railroad station.  In 2005, the bar next door was the Famous Pizza Lounge (a.k.a. Hiawatha Inn), a former speakeasy with a curious clientele and a loud jukebox. Today, the Continental Lounge features a mural that pays tribute to the Milwaukee Road’s Hiawatha.

Christ Bambulas (1931-2013, a.k.a. Chris) owned the building that housed the [...]

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