By Steve Rhodes
1. And the government will bail us out, son.
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2. How unimpressive were the new Tribune newsroom braintrust of Gerould Kern and Jane Hirt last night on Chicago Tonight? Very. Especially Hirt, who was completely unresponsive and out of her depth.
Perhaps most embarrassing was when Eddie Arruza asked Kern and Hirt about Trib staffers who were concerned about the pair’s lack of reporting experience. Kern sputtered that he actually had reporting experience – at the Daily Herald long ago – and that he didn’t see the point of Arruza’s question. Hirt sat silent; she hasn’t ever been a reporter. Ever. Not even once, as far as I can determine.
3. The Trib’s redesign finally brings the paper into the 80s.
4. Geez, what does geomorphologist David Montgomery have that I don’t have?
5. In my TVNotes column today, I forgot to mention that I happened upon a Happy Days rerun last night titled “Goin’ To Chicago.” My favorite part was when Ralph Malph was reading a guidebook that described “South State Street” as “the home to red hot burlesque.”
Thanks to IMDB, I can report that the episode aired in the show’s second season, in 1975.
The plot is described thusly: “While in Chicago with their high school choir, Richie, Ralph and Potsie sneak by their chaperones, wind up on the wrong side of an unsympathetic downtown nightclub owner, and win the sympathy of a kind-hearted cocktail waitress.”
It actually wasn’t very good, and not very Chicago. The establishing shots were of Buckingham Fountain, the Wrigley Building lit up at night, and the neon lights of State Street’s old-time Chicago and State-Lake theaters.
6. A few things on the Beachwood Family calendar:
* Tonight at Toons, the guys who are Outside the Loop Radio will celebrate their second anniversary as Chicago’s almost above-ground audio magazine.
* On Wednesday night at Stage Left Theater, Cub Factor columnist Marty Gangler’s “100 . . . Years of Losing” will conclude its run at Stage Left Theatre.
* On Thursday night, friends will gather at Happy Village to toast Margaret Lyons of Chicagoist, who is departing for New York City. Her fun, witty and incisive work will be missed.
* I’m scheduled to appear on Fox Chicago Sunday this . . . Sunday. I’ll be discussing trends in the blogosphere during election season.
* On Saturday, October 4, J.J. Tindall will read selections from his Chicagoetry collection at Steve’s Sports Bar & Lounge.
* And, of course, over the next three nights the Twins will spank the White Sox silly.
7. When Rick Telander asks of Jay Mariotti, “Does anybody care about Mariotti’s fake date lines, stolen quotes, false scenes, etc.?”, I hope he understands he’s asking that of his bosses who edit the paper too. (via Chicagoist)
8. CTA chief Ron Huberman is promising a feature by early next year that will give riders “the ability to text a phone number posted on bus stop signs to learn the arrival time of the next bus,” CTA Tattler reports.
9. Kristen McQueary wants to know “why Cook County must borrow $3.75 billion just two months after the county sales tax doubled.” The county tells her to file a Freedom of Information request.
10. “Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama told ABC News in May that he didn’t think his daughters would need affirmative action,” Kelly Virella writes on the Chicago Reporter’s blog.
“His statement and his historic achievement have become rallying cries for affirmative action foes around the country. I wonder if they’re aware of the results of a landmark 1981 study by social psychologists John Dovidio and B.B. Kline. They found that the more qualified black people are for admission to a college, the more likely white evaluators are to underestimate the capabilities of those black applicants.”
11. “The Twins haven’t finished strong, but they can make up for it with a successful (read: sweep) series vs. Chicago,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune says in “Twins Have Unfinished Business.”
12. “Today’s high priority manifest from Grand Forks, ND. to the Belt Railway of Chicago (GFDBRC, also known as the “Gift Brick”) had some nice power. In charge is SOO Line SD60 6022. Trailing are two SD40-2’s, in BN Cascade green and ATSF Santa Fe Bluebonnet. The train is slowly entering the BNSF’s Eola Yard.”
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Get on board.
Posted on September 23, 2008