Rick Kogan – Page 29 –

Detail of one the dozens of posters created by Sergio Mayora, initially to help promote Weeds.

A good tavern is hard to find. This new book is about Weeds, its bartender and his creations.

November 1, 2023 at 2:20 p.m.

Two men walked into a tavern. This was not unusual for these two men to walk into taverns. The two men, who were myself and the writer and filmmaker Dave...

Gene Siskel, left, and Roger Ebert are flanked by Joe Antelo, "At the Movies" executive producer, at a show taping on July 11, 1985.

Would Siskel and Ebert give thumbs up to this new book about them?

February 2, 2024 at 11:52 a.m.

I do not know Matt Singer, the author of "Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever," which was published Oct. 24 and which the Tribune's Michael Phillips recently...

Music producer Ira Antelis works in his home studio in Jan. 2021. He is one of the creators of the "We Are Here" concert coming to the Salt Shed.

‘We Are Here’ concert at Salt Shed will have music from the past, played now ‘when we need it most’

October 25, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Sitting across from Ira Antelis, having lunch one day last week, the conversation was, as it was at nearby tables, about the tragic troubles in the Middle East. "Heartbreaking," he...

The White Sox scoreboard message "Please return to your seats" goes unheeded as thousands of spectators engulf the field during an anti-disco demonstration at Comiskey Park.

Disco came and disco went, with Chicago’s Comiskey Park a memorable battleground in ‘The War on Disco’

October 24, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

If you can hum a few bars of "Disco Duck," have I got a show for you. It is the latest episode of the distinguished PBS "American Experience" series, which...

Musician Corky Siegel, second from right, in a photo with Howlin' Wolf.

There’ll be no singing the blues when Corky Siegel turns — can you believe it? — 80

October 18, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Corky is a kid's name and the only Corky I have ever known has ever been childlike in his energy, enthusiasm and worldview. My Corky may actually be your Corky...

Claude-Aline Nazaire-Miller wears a garment designed by Jack Cave in her home in Chicago on Oct. 11, 2023.

Nick Cave invited her to make her first movie about his work, with magical results. It’s part of the CIFF.

October 17, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Of the many films — more than 175 by my count — that are part of the current edition of the Chicago International Film Festival, one of the shortest is...

Musician Heather Lynne Horton at her Orland Park home.

The life and times, songs and influences of rock ‘n’ roller and suburban mom Heather Lynne Horton

October 10, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

With a new album and fresh from making music at a three-day event called the Opelika Songwriters Festival in Alabama, Heather Lynne Horton was home in Orland Park Sunday and...

Dick Butkus acknowledges fans before announcing the second round draft pick for the Chicago Bears during the 2015 NFL Draft at the Auditorium Theatre at Roosevelt University May 1, 2015, in Chicago.

In the wake of Dick Butkus’ death, celebrating the man behind the image

October 7, 2023 at 9:56 a.m.

One of the first non-Native people to set foot here, in what would eventually become Chicago, was a French explorer named Robert Cavalier, sieur de la Salle, and he had...

One of the recipients of this year's "genius grant" fellowships from the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation is Rina Foygel Barber of the University of Chicago.

This year’s MacArthur Foundation fellowships, those so-called ‘genius grants,’ are announced

March 12, 2024 at 11:55 a.m.

There are a few professors, a couple of writers and one hydroclimatologist around the country who today feel happy, proud, financially stable and, perhaps, optimistic about their futures. That is...

"Prine on Prine: Interviews and Encounters with John Prine," by Holly Gleason.

Celebrating the late, great musician John Prine in the new book ‘Prine on Prine’

October 3, 2023 at 10:21 a.m.

There is no question that had movie critic Roger Ebert not walked into the Fifth Peg club one night in 1970 and heard an unknown singer/songwriter named John Prine, that...

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