Ernie Medina was a passionate Chicago music fan who joined the Merchant Marines in 1969. When Medina returned to his sister’s home near Glenwood and Ridge in Chicago he taped urban radio and favorite records on his Grundig TK2400 reel-to-reel tape recorder. Like an anchor in his soul, Medina dragged the machine on the USNS Wyandot when he returned to sea.
His son, Mike Medina, is a fine Chicago urban historian and musician who recently repaired the broken-down Grundig. Medina is a former airline mechanic who now repairs lab equipment at the University of Chicago. His father died in 2009 but he has heard a reborn spirit in the Chicago music experience of the [...]
The Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, Tn. is one of my favorite music museums in the country. I’ve been chronicling the museum since 2003 when it opened on the site of the original Stax studio, which was razed in 1989.
I’ve leaned into the way the museum connects with local students through their Stax Music Academy. I had some of the inspired students on my WGN radio show in 2017 as they prepared to go to France, England, and Ireland to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic Stax/Volt European Tour.
I’ve also made a minor nuisance of myself wondering aloud for 25 years why Chicago hasn’t been able to [...]
