Search results for ""author rick kogan""

Louisville native John Jacob Niles (1892--1980) is considered to be one of our nation's most influential musicians. As a composer and balladeer, Niles drew inspiration from the deep well of traditional Appalachian and African American folk songs. At the age of sixteen Niles wrote one of his most enduring tunes, "Go 'Way from My Window," basing it on a song fragment from a black farm worker. This iconic song has been performed by folk artists ever since and may even have inspired the opening line of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe."In I Wonder as I Wander: The Life of John Jacob Niles, the first full-length biography of Niles, Ron Pen offers a rich portrait of the musician's character and career. Using Niles's own accounts from his journals, notebooks, and unpublished autobiography, Pen tracks his rise from farm boy to songwriter and folk collector extraordinaire. Niles was especially interested in documenting the voices of his fellow World War I soldiers, the people of Appalachia, and the spirituals of African Americans. In the 1920s he collaborated with noted photographer Doris Ulmann during trips to Appalachia, where he transcribed, adapted, and arranged traditional songs and ballads such as "Pretty Polly" and "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair."Niles's preservation and presentation of American folk songs earned him the title of "Dean of American Balladeers," and his theatrical use of the dulcimer is credited with contributing to the popularity of that instrument today. Niles's dedication to the folk music tradition lives on in generations of folk revival artists such as Jean Ritchie, Joan Baez, and Oscar Brand. I Wonder as I Wander explores the origins and influences of the American folk music resurgence of the 1950s and 1960s, and finally tells the story of a man at the forefront of that movement.

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Combining the incisive pen of a newspaperman and the compassionate soul of a poet, Mike Royko became a Chicago institution - in Jimmy Breslin's words, 'the best journalist of his time'. "Early Royko: Up Against It in Chicago" will restore to print the legendary columnist's first writings, which chronicle 1960s Chicago with the moral vision, ironic sense, and razor-sharp voice that would remain Royko's trademark. This collection of early columns from the "Chicago Daily News" ranges from witty social commentary to politically astute satire. Some of the pieces are falling-down funny and others are tenderly nostalgic, but all display Royko's unrivaled skill at using humor to tell truth to power. From machine politicians and gangsters to professional athletes, from well-heeled Chicagoans to down-and-out hoodlums, no one escapes Royko's penetrating gaze - and resounding judgment. "Early Royko" features a memorable collection of characters, including such well-known figures as Hugh Hefner, Mayor Richard J. Daley, and Dr. Martin Luther King. But these boldfaced names are juxtaposed with Royko's beloved lesser-knowns from the streets of Chicago: Mrs. Peak, Sylvester 'Two-Gun Pete' Washington, and Fats Boylermaker, who gained fame for leaning against a corner light pole from 2 a.m. Saturday until noon Sunday, when his neighborhood tavern reopened for business. Accompanied by a foreword from Rick Kogan, this new edition will delight Royko's most ardent fans and capture the hearts of a new generation of readers. As Kogan writes, "Early Royko" 'will remind us how a remarkable relationship began - Chicago and Royko, Royko and Chicago - and how it endures'.

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Created from the Chicago Tribune's vast archives, Gangsters and Grifters is a collection of photographs featuring infamous criminals, small-time bandits, hoodlums, and more at shocking crime scenes. These vintage glass-plate and acetate negatives were taken from the early 1900s through the 1950s, and they have been largely unseen for generations. That is because most have never been published, only having been witnessed by the photographers and police in the moments after an arrest, crime, or even murder. Included are graphic crime scenes, raw evidence, and depictions of searing emotions, captured on film during a time when photographers were given unprecedented access alongside police. Some photographs resemble film noir movie stills. Some are cartoonish. All feature real people, real drama, and real crimes. Accompanying information about each is included wherever possible, often with archived news stories. Gangsters and Grifters is a powerful, visually stunning look back into the dark story of Chicago's nefarious crime underworld. These fascinating, surprising, and entrancing photos reveal still-unsolved murder mysteries and portraits of notorious gang overlords like John Dillinger and Al Capone. This is a must-have for photography buffs, history lovers, and anyone curious about the seedy underbelly of early 20th-century Chicago.

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