SPRINGFIELD, IL.–The new exhibit “The State of Sound (A World of Music From Illinois)” celebrates the migratory paths artists took to Illinois. Visitors at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) in Springfield can learn about the roots of our musical tree as well as a multitude of contemporary branches.
Photo by Dave Hoekstra
You can follow some of this Chicago-to-Springfield path to visit “The State of Sound,” which runs through January 2022.
The ALPLM is rolling out a special $29 “State of Sound” VIP ticket starting May 26. That includes a T-shirt, our 36-page souvenir [...]
The road to find out & Larry King radio; 1991. The author at Santo Domingo Pueblo, N.M.
It sounds like a strange thing to bring Larry King into a conversation about the American road.
But I got hooked on Mr. King in the summer of 1991 when I drove Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, Ca. I was alone and I took my time: Saint James, Mo., Stroud, Ok., Seligman, Az., etc. My soundtrack was country and soul music, regional baseball games, and Mr. King, who had a late-night show on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Mr. King–who died Saturday at the age of 87–featured guest authors and [...]
MILWAUKEE—When you’ve been in lockdown for nearly a year, the only way to go is up.
Last summer I found socially distant minor league baseball in Franklin, Wis., southwest of Milwaukee. I drove along South Howell Avenue near Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. I noticed a few airport-themed restaurants and bars along the gritty ribbon of highway. It reminded me of the 1980s and going to the Baby Doll Polka Club, across the street from Midway Airport in Chicago. I recalled a simpler time when people might stop to watch airplanes take off into places more exotic than the South Side of Chicago or the South Side of Milwaukee.
So, last Friday I drove back to [...]
When you are young, the seasons turn like a pinwheel.
Seasons slow over time and become a paddlewheel in muddy water. As you grow old you try to hang onto something. The last flower from a garden. A John Prine song about summer’s end.
Or a place you may never see again.
On the steamy Fourth of July weekend, 2012, I visited the Tommy Bartlett Show in the Wisconsin Dells with my award-winning videographer Jon Sall. The homespun big top on water was celebrating its 60th anniversary and there was a reunion with a dozen Bartlett skiers from the 1950s and 60s.
Jon shares my eye for the simple beauties of Americana and this was something [...]
