If you, like me, were born between 1970 and, oh, let’s say 1982, you too were probably once an avid baseball card collector. And that also means you, like me, cringe at the horror of how little those thousands of dollars and millions of hours have amounted to. But perhaps you, like me, have also had a chance to get all of that redeemed. The money’s still gone, but I think something just as good landed in its place.

II.

Rogers Park bridges: needing art, or needing new trolls? You decide.

III.

One of these days, they’re going to put booze on wheels at the airports. Flyer beware.

IV.

Sox and Cubs: it’s only doom and gloom for one of them. Guess which.

V.

Finally, a reminder that I’ll be headlining the Tamale Hut Cafe Presents series with some all-new material Saturday August 21, 7pm. Admission is free, BYOB, and there’s an open mic portion of the evening as well. Check it out. And don’t forget the metal.

Thank you as always for reading.
AMR
Chicago, IL / August 2, 2010

Likewise, I’ll be reading an as-yet-undetermined 30 to 45 minutes of (mostly) new material as the featured writer of the August edition of the Tamale Hut Cafe Presents series. There’s tamales and words, and that is a pretty winning combination if you ask me.

Essay Fiesta
Monday, September 20, 7pm
Book Cellar
4736 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago

The Tamale Hut Cafe Presents: Andrew Reilly
Saturday, August 21, 7pm
The Tamale Hut Cafe
8300 W. Cermak Rd., North Riverside

* LeBron James, he of the megastar stature and all-around great basketballosity, will be coming to a Chicago Bulls near you. Believe.

* Volume two, issue one of Normal Words is now online.

* The new Yakuza album is pretty good, if you’re into the whole adventurous metal thing. My interview with their lead singer/saxophonist is online here.

* ¡GOOOOOOOOOL!

* Finally, if you’ve ever been on vacation to Chicago (or anywhere, for that matter), you may be familiar with any number of travel guides and publications, all full of well-meaning advice and things you, as a visitor, absolutely must do while traipsing about whichever destination you refuse to call home. But what don’t they tell you? And more importantly, what do they tell you? The answers may surprise you. Actually, no they won’t.

Thank you as always for reading.
AMR
Chicago, IL / June 30, 2010

* A new version of an old story of mine, “Gunslinger,” is up now at the excellent, mobile-only CellStories. Some of you may remember this from last fall at Red Kiva; to get the full effect, imagine me yelling the loud/comically evil parts in a demon voice.

* I will be reading “In The House Across The River” at the September edition of the excellent Essay Fiesta series, a piece about best friends and the small, huge things that divide them.

* I also still call it Comiskey.

* The Hawks this week will do exactly what I predicted they would back in March.

Finally, as some of you reading this already know, The 35th Street Review closed its doors last month. Rest assured this was neither an easy decision nor an especially enjoyable process, writing up a farewell letter and moving the site into the past tense and whatnot. To say the three years spent with that site “was” a fun ride feels more incomplete than I know how to describe, but some things defy even a sportswriter’s sense of overblown hyperbole. So, you know, I’ll try to work on that. The hyperbole, that is, not the dwelling. Some things you just gotta let go of.

Thank you as always for reading,
AMR
Chicago, IL / June 8, 2010

1. fanboy worship, knowing that some of my favorite musicians in the world have graced the very same stage where I stood up to tell a club full of folks about the time I got kicked out of a band I loved very much. Believe me, it’s quite surreal thinking things like “I wonder what kind of nachos Steven Wilson ordered” or “I wonder what Lisa Hannigan thought of the beer list.”

2. total awe at what people know how to do. Case in point: preceding me was a magician, and following me was an unexpectedly moving puppet show, later complemented by a Baroque choir and a fantastic comedic folk-pop-rock trio. And you realize, people out there have skills—stuff you forget about, stuff you maybe didn’t think about in the first place as something anyone actually commits their time and energy to. One minute you’re thinking about prog-rock appetizers of choice, the next you’re being bowled over by the small wonder of what one dedicated individual can become capable of. Puppets courted puppets while low comedy slow-danced with high drama, and there but for the grace of saying words into a microphone went I.

——

Speaking of saying words, I’d like to say a special thanks to everyone who made it to Morseland last week. The crowd was great, the place was packed, and this time around I managed to get a recording which I will try to post online in the near future. The next show has yet to be scheduled—sometime in the coming months—but you will know about that as soon as I do.

As it so happens, I also spent some time in New York City, made the right choice where Chicago bandwagons are concerned, took shots at beer, made a stand against Walmart and, surprisingly, took a moment to say something nice about the CTA. These are busy times we live in; perhaps what I really need is a puppet to help keep things moving.

Thank you as always for reading,
AMR
New York, NY & Chicago, IL / May 4 & 6, 2010

Twins: evil.

Rollins: prolific.

Fiction: “3F Sharp,” in the new issue of Concisely.

——

In other news, I’ll be hitting the stage again at the end of this month, this time reading a new story entitled “Heavy Metal ****storm,” an epic tale of friendship, metal, beer, northeastern Illinois, southeasterrn Wisconsin, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, dungeons, dragons, and a trio of sweet-eyed heartbreakers with something very sinister connecting them through time, space, and the romantic misadventures of one confused boy.

Wednesday, April 28
Andrew Reilly · Paul Davis · Darwyn Jones
2nd Story at Morseland
1218 W. Morse Ave.
Chicago, IL
Doors 7pm / Stories 7:45pm
Directed by Anne Adams
Music by ElvisBride
Tickets: $10 online or at the door

Can’t wait to see you there. Thank you as always for reading, and maybe for listening, too.
AMR
Chicago, IL / April 8, 2010