Oh, Malort!

Alyssa is joined by David Baxter (Thank You Five, Friends of the Countess, The Twelve Months of Christmas) to discuss the history of Grease.  

NWI Times: Grease has deep, dark Chica routes

Telegraph: Grease at 50: ‘The Pink Ladies? They’d kill you if you looked at them wrong’

Chicago Tribune: Bring back our own, original R-rated 'Grease'

Yahoo: Everything you didn't know about 'Grease,' from the $171 stage version to the original name of the T-Birds

WTTW: Grease Premiere at Kingston Mines

Chicago Tribune: ‘Grease’ gets its grit back

Chicago Reader: The Original Pink Ladies

Time Out: Writer/composer Jim Jacobs shares his favorite Chicago memories

The Independent: Donna Mills

Playbill: Restored and Raunchy, The Original Grease Begins Performances in Chicago, Where It All Began

Chicago Tribune: The original ‘Grease’ was born in Chicago, wild, funny and new in 1971

The Independent: INTERVIEW / Did you get very far? Aha, aha . . .: Jim Jacobs was happy writing ads and taking bribes. Until Grease. Tell me more, tell me more, pleads Sabine Durrant

Chicago Reader: Exactly how bad are the bad kids of The Original Grease?

Chicago Tribune: `GREASE’ IS HIS WORD

NYT: Think 'Grease' Is the Word? A Lawsuit Says It's 'Piracy'

A Theater of Our Own: A History and a Memoir of 1,001 Nights in Chicago

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am joined by The Pat Whelan from BestEveningEver! to discuss Peter Schivarelli best known as the manager for the band Chicago and owner of now defunct hot dog stand Demon Dogs; however there is so much more. His story involves Streets and Sanitation, No-Show jobs, the Blizzard of 1977, dead bodies, and lawsuits. It is so Chicago it hurts! 

We also have some fun digressions. 

I laughed until I cried.

Show Notes:

Chicago Sun-Times: 43rd Ward aide under fire // TV catches sanitation chief doing errands on city tim

Chicago Tribune: SCHIVARELLI TO RETIRE AMID JOB CONTROVERSY

Chicago Reader: Schivarelli’s Beef

Chicago Tribune: CTA carryout order: Demon Dogs to go

SCHIVARELLI v. CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY (2005)

SCHIVARELLI v. CBS INC WBBM (2002)

Chicago Tribune: EX-SNOW CHIEF SHOOTS INTRUDER

Chicagoist: The Bill Comes Due For Demon Dogs

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Alyssa gets Morgan Stringer's takes on three upcoming Chicago lawsuits: Thompson V United States, The Hoover Case, and Hubbard Inn. 

Directly related discussions include: a dead banker found in the master bedroom of a client, Demon Dogs, the band Chicago, Streets and Sanitation, SCOTUS, Real Housewives (SLC and OC), and Coffeezilla.

It is a wild ride.

SHOW NOTES: 

Chicago Tribune: 11th Ward hopeful labors to grow the Daley legacy

Chicago Sun-Times: At crooked Bridgeport bank, executive blew the whistle, but no one did a thing

Chicago Sun-Times: Dead CEO of failed Bridgeport bank in the spotlight as embezzlement trial begins

Chicago Sun-Times: Ex-boyfriend of daughter of failed Chicago bank executive guilty in death of her fiancee in San Diego

Chicago Sun-Times: Why did Bridgeport bank president kill himself in customer’s Park Ridge home?

Eater: Hubbard Inn’s TikTok Lawsuit Won’t Stop as Judge Denies Motion to DismissChicago Tribune:

Chicago Tribune: CHANNEL 2 SUED OVER AD CAMPAIGN

FOX 32: Judge allows Hubbard Inn’s defamation lawsuit to proceed amid viral TikTok claims

Chicago Sun-Times: Patrick Daley Thompson on prison life: ‘It was horrible, absolutely horrible’

WBEZ: U.S. Supreme Court to hear appeal of Patrick Daley Thompson, heir to Chicago political dynasty

Chicago Sun-Times: Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson guilty on all counts

NBC: Hubbard Inn sues woman for defamation after viral TikTok

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 In this episode Alyssa tells Ben Panko about the 1992 and 2021 versions of the movie Candyman and the urban legends which surround it.  

Show Notes:

Chicago Tribune: Cabrini-Green and a horror film that captured the fears of public housing

Vox: How a tragic unsolved murder and a public housing crisis led to Candyman

Chicago Reader: How a story about the horrors of housing projects became part of a horror movie

Chicago Reader: They Came in Through the Bathroom Mirror

Horror News Network: Cabrini-Green: The True Horror of ‘Candyman’

AIC: Horrorella Talks Tolstoy, Beethoven and Candyman with Writer-Director Bernard Rose!

Chicago Tribune: BLACK SLASHER `CANDYMAN` DRAWS FIRE OVER `RACIST` DEPICTIONS

WTTW: Why ‘Candyman’ Continues to Hook Audiences Nearly 30 Years LaterVulture: Candyman Is a Soulless, Didactic Reimagining

Chicago Magazine: The Return of Candyman

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alyssa updates John Zinn about the Madigan trial which organically invokes William Shakespeare, Steven Sondheim, and David Axelrod and others.  

Stay for the Putin comparison.

Show Notes:

Chicago Sun-Times: David Axelrod deliberates on the case against Michael Madigan

Chicago Sun-Times: The case against Mike Madigan, laid out in explosive court documents

Chicago Sun-Times:Madigan judge has experience with Shakespeare, Michael Jordan — and law used to target ex-House speaker

Chicago Sun-Times: Woman whose sexual harassment claims rocked Springfield may be one of first witnesses in Madigan trial

Chicago Sun-Times: Mike Madigan, once Illinois' most influential powerbroker, now faces federal corruption trial

G. Robert Blakey

Chicago Tribune: Our Culture of Corruption

Chicago Sun-Times: The politics of picking a Madigan jury: Prospects asked how they view 'politicians for life'

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alyssa is joined by Molly McAleer from Mother May I Sleep With Podcast and Trend Lightly to discuss "The Steve Bartman Incident" and some parallels to the 1986 Red Sox.  

In case you don't know, on October 14th, 2003 during the NLCS the Cubs imploded and for years one man was blamed.  

Show Notes:

MLB YouTube: The Steve Bartman Incident

Sports Illustrated: What happened to Steve Bartman?

NYT: Steve Bartman Remains Invisible, 10 Years Later

NPR: Cubs Fans Try To Make Up For Sending Another Cubs Fan Death Threats In 2003

Bleacher Report: Chicago Cubs: 10 Things That Would've Changed If There Was No Bartman Incident

The Guardian: This article is more than 7 years old Steve Bartman, America's most infamous fan, receives Cubs redemption

ESPN: A convenient scapegoat

HuffPo: Steve Bartman Incident: 10 Years Ago Monday, The World Met This Poor Guy

Reuters: Winning helps Chicago Cubs fans forgive Bartman 12 years later

NYT: Cubs Survive a Bartman Moment and Are Headed to the Playoffs

The Guardian: The forgotten story of (but not by Chicago Cubs fans) … Steve Bartman

Fox Sports: Fan dressed as Steve Bartman at a Cubs-Marlins game

Business Insider: Even Bernie Mac's Career Went Downhill After The Steve Bartman Incident

MLB: The 'Curse of the Bambino,' explained

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode I tell Jeff Tischauser from Southern Poverty Law Center about the time the Chicago Tribune created a LGBTQA Moral Panic in the 1970's and how it is alive and well in 2024.  

We had some audio issues with this episode and are taking step to insure they never happen again but thought it is too good not to release and recording would not have had the same impact.

Show Notes:

Senate Hearing

NYT: Chicago Jury to Probe Pornography and Prostitution Involving Boys

Chicago Sun-Times: A Gay Rates Police

Chicago Sun-Times: Council Panel Announces Porno-Zones Ordinance

Chicago Sun-Times: Burke Goes to Conference

Chicago Sun-Times: Runaway Witness

Chicago Sun-Times: Results of the Probe

CST: Pillars of the Community

Sexual exploitation of children: a report to the Illinois General Assembly

Chicago Reader: On June 14, 1977 Chicago had its first big gay-rights protest

Windy City Times: HISTORY Every kick is a boost

NYT: Dr. Judianne Densen-Gerber Is Dead at 68; Founded Odyssey House Group Drug Program

Chicago Tribune: Reagan used her, the country hated her. Decades later, the Welfare Queen of Chicago refuses to go away

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode I am joined by Captain Scoot and we discuss Block 37 which was nothing better than a land grab which inspired a book and a BBC Documentary.

Show Notes:

Chicago Magazine: A Brief History of Block 37

Chicago Tribune: A look at Block 37’s troubled past

Chicago Magazine: The Block 37 Superstation: Chicago's Money Pit

Chicago Tribune: Block 37 represents a painful missed opportunity

Reddit

Chicago Tribune: Block 37 developer sentenced to 3 years in federal prison for fraud

NBC Chicago: Block 37: Show Me the Money (Again)

NYT: Trying to Break the Jinx of Chicago’s Block 37

NBC Chicago: After Long, Long Wait, Block 37 Is Open

Chicago Reader: Mr. Big Spender

Chicago Magazine: What Rahm Leaves Behind

How Chicago’s controversial TIF program took over a third of the city

NYT: COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE; Chicago's Block 37 Finally Becomes a Contender

Here's the Deal: The Making and Breaking of a Great American City

WTTW: The Boss and the Bulldozer

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we discuss Sears, Roebuck and Company.

Show Notes:

WTTW: The Rise and Fall of the Mail Order Giants (Article)

WTTW: The Rise and Fall of the Mail Order Giants (Video)

Smithsonian: The Rise and Fall of Sears

CNN: Sears’ extraordinary history: A timeline

History Channel: Sears

Chicago Tribune: Sears timeline: Rise, fall and restructuring of a Chicago icon over 130 years

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is not an episode about the history of Mike Royko. Instead, Alyssa is joined by writer and actor Mitchell Bisschop to discuss his one-man show Royko: The Toughest Man in Chicago and the journalist's contribution to the city.  

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices