Chicago’s extreme-left Mayor Brandon Johnson said locking up criminals is “racist, immoral and unholy” as he and Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker blasted President Trump’s threat to send in the National Guard.
“We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence; we’ve already tried that, and we’ve ended up with the largest prison population in the world without solving the problems of crime and violence,” Johnson said during a fiery press conference in the heart of the Windy City Monday.
“The addiction on jails and incarceration in this country, we’ve moved past that. It is racist, it is immoral, it is unholy, and it is not the way to drive violence down.”
A very special thanks to my good friend pictured here, Mr. Josh Dick of Indianapolis IN who spent 4 mornings this past week helping me get the photo galleries on this website in order. It was long overdue. What is even more long overdue is hanging with my brother who I last saw in person last Thanksgiving weekend in Indianapolis. He is also the man that resurrected this website after it was hacked along with my social media pages a few years back and I lost 2 decades of hard work. A reminder that there are some truly miserable vindictive people out there. Just one thing. If you stab me in the back you better hope I do not have any dirt on you. In the words of my friend tommy Victor of PRONG: “I like my revenge… best served cold.”
The last holiday weekend of the summer is upon us and it’s going to be an exciting week, along with a road trip to northern Michigan next weekend.
Memorial Park Cemetery was developed in 1913 on approximately 200 acres of land. Located in the quiet suburb of Skokie, Illinois, Memorial Park Cemetery has provided burial services for Chicago-area families. The cemetery is distinguished for its natural beauty, with shade-providing trees, gorgeous gardens (one designed by a famous Chicago landscape architect) and peaceful lagoons, which are home to swans and ducks. Furthermore, few cemeteries have a mausoleum as magnificent as Memorial Park’s. The art deco building is an architectural wonder. Dignified, elegant and peaceful, Memorial Park Cemetery is an ideal final resting spot for loved ones.
I’d planned this trip over a week ago when I saw Jerry was buried in Skokie. The weather was perfect for such a ride and Skokie is light on traffic both auto and pedestrian. The cemetery was big and beautiful I spent about an hour after taking pix of Jerry Springer’s gravesite which was the easiest I’ve ever found. It did make me want to go back and explore Skokie via bicycle again. Melita was worried as she thought it was too far. Hell, it’s no further than biking to work in the west loop or simply to Evanston.
Gerald Norman Springer (February 13, 1944 – April 27, 2023) was a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, lawyer, and politician. He was best known for hosting the controversial tabloid talk show Jerry Springer from 1991 to 2018. Springer was noted as a pioneer in the emergence of “trash TV“; his eponymous show was a “commercial smash and certifiable cultural phenomenon” in the 1990s.
Springer died at his home in Evanston, Illinois, on April 27, 2023, at the age of 79. A family spokesperson said that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a few months prior to his death. Steve Wilkos, former Jerry Springer show bodyguard, paid tribute to his colleague, saying: “Other than my father, Jerry was the most influential man in my life. Everything I have today I owe to Jerry. He was the smartest, most generous, kindest person I’ve ever known. My wife and I are devastated. We will miss him terribly.” He was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Skokie, Illinois
Thanks mofo
post podcast 8/31/2025
photo by Max Bravo at the Chicago History Museum Labor Day 2025
I’d been wanting to return to the Chicago History Museum ever since I started studying Chicago history a few years ago. A fun hobby/habit that began when I read “The Devil in White City” a gift from my cousin Kimmy and then “Sin in Second City” which was a gift from a co worker nearly 20 years ago after he was reading it in Las Vegas he gave me his copy when he was done.
This summer when I began my routine of biking Graceland Cemetery for exercise which is right out my front door across the CTA Train tracks it made it more fun looking for the gravesites of some of the people responsible for the building of Chicago and Chicago history. And it keeps me exercising although Melita believes I have a strange death obsession
Louis Sullivan, 1856 -1924
Daniel Burnham, 1846 – 1912
Bruce Goff, 1904 -1982
Charles Wacker, 1856 – 1929
Alan Pinkerton, 1819 – 1884
Philip Danforth Armour Sr. 1832 – 1901
Ernest Banks 1931 – 2015
Marshall Field 1834 – 1906
George Mortimer Pullman 1831 – 1897
Potter Palmer 1826 – 1902
Minnie Miñoso 1924 – 2015
Then it onto Rosehill that I have been completely unaware of until I went to search for Montgomery Wards gravesite I also found:
Oscar Ferdinand Mayer 1859 – 1955
Aaron Montgomery Ward 1843 – 1913
Richard Warren Sears 1863 – 1914
Ignaz Schwinn 1860 – 1948
John Graves Shedd 1850 – 1926
So this takes me back to the museum and on Labor Day 2025 Monday September the weather was perfect so I met Max Bravo at the CHM at 10 AM and we ended up spending most of the entire day hanging and having a record 5 beers in 5 hours at multiple locations and thus discovered a new spot for a return.
Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago‘s history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the intersection of North Avenue in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood, where the museum has been expanded several times. Long known as the CHS, the society adopted the name, Chicago History Museum, in September 2006 for its public presence.
Chicago History Museum Acquires Playboy Collection from Former Playboy Bunny Candace Jordan.
The Chicago History Museum is excited to share it has acquired the collection of former Playboy Bunny/Playmate and Chicago media personality Candace Jordan thanks to funds provided by The Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum. These items add to the Museum’s large collection of Playboy-related material and contain a more personal history of Playboy in Chicago.
“These items are a great addition to our already incredible holdings surrounding the history of Playboy in Chicago,” said CHM costume collection manager Jessica Pushor. “Having an employee’s perspective, someone who worked in the clubs and for many other facets of the company, gives us a fuller picture of the importance Playboy played in the greater history of the city.”
This acquisition includes a complete Playboy Bunny of the Year costume, three sets of Bunny ears, trophies, a Playboy Mansion rule book and dozens of images and records related to Candace Jordan’s career with Playboy. Once the collection has been processed into the Museum’s collection, the 2D (paper) items will be available for scholars and researchers through the Museum’s Abakanowicz Research Center.
I own one of these and would really like to find another
Anybody that knows Max knows how much he loves the blues espcially Chicago blues. This was a must take photo op.
I had last visited the museum in 2016 and a lot has changed since 2020 and the George Floyd/BLM riots here in Chicago. I think they could change the name of the Chicagpo History Museum to the Chicago History of Racisim Museum. Displays of racisim were abundant.
Well, goodbye, pretty mama
Get yourself a money man
Goodbye, pretty mama
Lord, get yourself a money man
You take that midnight train to Memphis
Lord, leave if you can
Train, train
Lord, take me on out of this town
Well, that woman I’m in love with
Lord, she’s Memphis bound
It was an excellent way to spend a good weather holiday in the Chi. Thanks to Max for the beers and the misadventure that ensued that afternoon which led us back to square one. The Vig!
“VIG” is short for the English slang word vigorish.
It represents the bookie’s or house’s cut on a bet.
The Vig Chicago is a 1950’s themed sports parlor in the heart of Old Town with a refined kitchen and classic cocktails designed for the contemporary drinker. The concept centers around the playful story line that it’s good to be bad. Inspiration is found in movies, sports and historical scenarios where we reluctantly connect with the bad guy. This concept is found in the architectural and design work as well as the food and drink menus. Every aspect of The VIG is designed around inspiring the lost art of conversation. THE VIG opened its doors October 2015 and have been serving great food and beverages that entice the palate and a space provides an atmosphere of a refined sports parlor.
www.thevigchicago.com
I AM MOST DEFINITELY RETURNING FOR THIS GIANT MEATBALL and they have an award winning cheeseburger and a really great selection of beer on tap.
Only in Pennsylvania can you drive from Intercourse to Blue Ball by way of Honey Hole, stop for pancakes in Pancake, pass through Climax, wave to the folks in Big Beaver, and still somehow end up lost in Forty Fort!
Meanwhile your GPS is screaming: “Turn left on Two Lick Valley Road” and you’re just praying you don’t get rerouted through Shartlesville!