Prine Retrospective 10/3 Austin City Limits Season Premier

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Once upon a time in a magical place called Chicagoland, there was a guy named Earl Pionke. He owned a club called "Earl of Old Town." It hosted up-and-coming singers like John Prine, Steve Goodman, and Bonnie Koloc. All soon to become nationally known...

https://www.chicagotribune.com/ente...t-ae-0617-kogan-sidewalks-20120615-story.html
OMG, Your bringing back some long forgotten stuff. I lived on the West Side - Austin District for the first 60 years of my life until I retired. EoOT, that was a great time in the day. It's a shame they probably won't be holding that party for Earl due to the virus. Fitzgearlds was a major haunt of mine for decades as I lived within near walking distance.
Time waits for no man. :(
 
We're from the same area as Prine. Prine was from Maywood, and I lived in Berwyn. What's a Berwyn?? All are within a few miles.

Peterik from the Ides and Survivor is also from Berwyn. Again, what's a Berwyn??
As Svengoolie says, Berrrrrrrrrrrrrrrwyn.
Don't know how old you are but, Trivia question for ya, What was the name of Fitzgeralds before it was Fitzgeralds?
 
Rich Koz, aka Son of Svengoolie is the son of one of my Dad's friends. Sven's Dad owned a deli in Mundelein for many years.

Fitzgerald's was Deer Lodge before it became Fitzgerald's. Last month, after 40 years, Bill Fitzgerald sold the place to Will Duncan. Duncan had been involved in Empty Bottle and Thalia Hall. I'm told he'll retain the name and continue running it as a music venue.

I saw/heard/met Al Kooper a few years ago at Fitzgerald's. Sam Giancana lived a couple blocks from there in Oak Park.

No secret, I'll be 66 on Friday. Ah, nobody's that old.

OK, I'll quit the side bars. PM me if you'd like.

As Svengoolie says, Berrrrrrrrrrrrrrrwyn.
Don't know how old you are but, Trivia question for ya, What was the name of Fitzgeralds before it was Fitzgeralds?
 
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Rich Koz, aka Son of Svengoolie is the son of one of my Dad's friends. Sven's Dad owned a deli in Mundelein for many years.

Fitzgerald's was Deer Lodge before it became Fitzgerald's. Last month, after 40 years, Bill Fitzgerald sold the place to Will Duncan. Duncan had been involved in Empty Bottle and Thalia Hall. I'm told he'll retain the name and continue running it as a music venue.

I saw/heard/met Al Kooper a few years ago at Fitzgerald's. Sam Giancana lived a couple blocks from there in Oak Park.

No secret, I'll be 66 on Friday. Ah, nobody's that old.

OK, I'll quit the side bars. PM me if you'd like.
You nailed it. ;) Not many remember Deer Lodge. We're close to the same age, I'll be 70 in a couple months.
Yep MoMo lived and died in that house,, frying up some sausage and peppers.
I spent many many a night in Fitz's, haunting the place for all the Chicago blues artists that played there over those 40 years. Never forget the night we spend celebrating Lonnie Brooks 60th birthday there with his son Ronnie Baker and the band. A party to remember. o_O
 
One more pic of Earl of Old Town. Note the posters hawking appearances by John Prine & Steve Goodman to the left (our right) of door. You are there, thanks to Martin Konopacki:


Most cool. Fine music clearly never required a Bill Graham poster and venue budget(though the Fillmore East in NYC was also pretty cool).
 
never heard of him

When I woke up this morning, things were lookin' bad
Seem like total silence was the only friend I had
Bowl of oatmeal tried to stare me down... and won
And it was twelve o'clock before I realized
That I was havin' no fun
But fortunately I have the key to escape reality

And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile
It don't cost very much, but it lasts a long while
Won't you please tell the man I didn't kill anyone
No I'm just tryin' to have me some fun
Well done,
hot dog bun,
my sister's a nun
--------------------

Washington Post:

At 1:56 p.m. on Wednesday, Bill Murray, responding to a texted request, called to tell us about a time when, after a breakup, he found solace in the music of John Prine, the songwriting masterwho died Tuesday of complications from the novel coronavirus. This is the conversation, edited for clarity

...But anyway, I just thought because someone sent me a message reminding me of the original story, I thought, well maybe that’s a sign I should tell you the story.

So, anyway. I had my heart broken. The only time in my life [I was] truly depressed, really, really, really depressed and I did not leave the house.
I just stayed in the house, and finally I remembered something that Hunter S. Thompson said to me on a very long, long night — “Oh, we’re going to have to rely on John Prine for the sense of humor” — cause we were both deeply dark.
And he put on a John Prine record and I thought, “Well, that’s interesting.”
Maybe he thinks that John Prine is a humorist, and I remembered that in the midst of this dark fog that I was in, and I went and found this John Prine record.

It was a CD that had 26 songs on it, I think, and I listened to it and I listened to it and I listened to it and finally I think it was Song 22.
There’s a song called “Linda Goes to Mars.” And I remember reacting to it. I just was, ‘Huh.’ That was all.
Just huh, like huh, that’s kind of funny.
And that was it. That was it. That was the bottom. I had touched the bottom and it was over, and I was on my way back.
But nothing, no person could make me smile, no person could make me glad in any way.
I was a really, really unfortunate character for a pretty long time, and that song, that “Linda Goes to Mars” — that was the one that got me around.
And it’s just after that I came to know him and really realize what a wonderful gift was given.

--------------------------------------------------------

This story in the local paper reminded me I'd seen him play a short set at Farm Aid III in 1987.
The party kept going all night in his hotel room:
L. Kent Wolgamott: Remembering John Prine
 
I donno. I'm sorry if I'm bogarting this thread. But I keep running into friends on the street (six to twelve feet away! with our masks on!) who say they can't stop thinking about John Prine, every day, even now. Me either.

Here's another great piece that just appeared. It's from a lefty rag, and it's pretty unsparingly political (as Prine was), so if it violates the letter or the spirit of QQ policy, then I'll understand if it gets taken down. Ultimately it's about Prine's deeply human moral compass. But if the early paragraphs push your buttons, then skip to the end:

There’s a certain painful irony in his dying now, at this moment, when so many of us are keeping ourselves isolated, missing the human connection we previously took for granted. Before the virus, we were already living in a world where loneliness was endemic, subject to impersonal forces that alienated us from each other. It can only worsen in the coming months. Prine, meanwhile, died of the very disease that has us further walling ourselves up. If he were here, he would likely be writing a painfully sweet song about it.​
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/04/john-prine-obituary/
 
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