Dancing Mr. President and Mr. Bill. (Courtesy of Robinette family.)
William Robinette was more than the ringmaster of the amazing Stay Out All Night Disco in west suburban Stone Park.
He was a ringmaster of life.
Mr. Robinette died Tuesday afternoon after an extended illness. He was surrounded by his family and grandchildren. He was 73 years old. On March 12 he celebrated his 52nd anniversary with his wife Darlene.
Affectionately known as “Mr. Bill”, Mr. Robinette was an accomplished bassist-vocalist who in the early 1970s played in the touring bands of the Marcels and the Vogues. In the [...]
Date Night at the Get Me High (Courtesy of Butchie Dakuras.)
The Get Me High Lounge was completely down to earth.
The tiny storefront jazz club was nestled at 1758 N. Honore near some train tracks in Chicago’s Wicker Park. The Get Me High flourished in the mid-1980s when gob-smacked noir nightlife was all over Wicker Park like a street hustler.
Neighborhood folks could check out the original Artful Dodger punk club on North Milwaukee Avenue and the Double Door when it was a workingman’s bar lined with commemorative Elvis decanters and Webb Pierce on the jukebox. I lived in a graffiti-laden Wicker [...]
Mary Frances and Bill Veeck in March 1959 when Bill purchased 54 % of the White Sox for $2.7 million. (Photo courtesy of the Veeck family.)
There were clouds, but Mary Frances Veeck never paid much attention to them.
After I heard of the Sept. 10 passing of Mrs. Veeck I began to realize that almost every time I saw her we were sitting outside. The first time was opening day April 1976 in the Comiskey Park bleachers after her husband Bill bought the White Sox. Mr. and Mrs. Veeck looked me in the eye as we spoke. I was just a kid among 40,300 happy fans.
In July 1991 I drove to Cooperstown, N.Y. to [...]
Ted Butterman, 1935-2022 (center)
The Chicago Cubs paid regal tribute to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II with a moment of silence before Friday’s game against the San Francisco Giants.
But they missed on Wrigley Field’s King of Swing.
Slugger Dave Kingman? Nope. Third baseman Patrick Wisdom? They’re still here.
Wrigley Field bandleader Ted Butterman died Aug. 31 in a care facility in Buffalo Grove, Il. The Dixieland jazz maestro was 87 years old. He was in hospice for one day. A lifelong musician, Mr. Butterman played to his biggest audiences between 1982 and 2017 at Wrigley [...]
