These clips are some of my favorites, but you can scroll down to find more of my work.
[Thrillist] “No Shots Allowed: An Oral History of Chicago’s Old Town Ale House”
[AskMen] “Living Mas at America's First Boozy Taco Bell Cantina”
[Thrillist] “Chicago's Unique Style of Magic Is Being Revived at This Uptown Bar”
[Cara magazine, Aer Lingus airlines] “Game On: … a whistle-stop tour of Chicago’s sporting landmarks …”
"The reason for this sorry state of affairs: Our schools are funded primarily through property taxes. This means that in Illinois, your zip code determines whether you get a shot at the American Dream."
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"A night-and-day difference from its upstairs neighbor, Baby Atlas is a small, loud boozery where you’ll probably have to shout-talk but also probably won’t even care because you’ll be busy CRUSHING IT like a Beyonce backup dancer."
[403,000+ reads, 20,000+ shares.] Read more here.
"Bruce Elliott, holding onto the bar with one hand and a railing with the other, confidently teetered on the back legs of his chair while a young couple on a date chatted away just a few seats away. Throughout the early evening, patrons would walk in and acknowledge Bruce with a nod, or offer a handshake, as he balanced upon his modest throne."
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"Perspiring from the hot stage lights and the constraint of his gray sport coat, Joseph Cranford addressed the crowd at the Chicago Magic Lounge in a blustery manner, more like a soapbox orator than a seasoned illusionist wielding a polysyllabic patter."
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"... if you speak the name of this drink three times under the pale moon light, an undead demon may reach out from the dark side to walk among us and wreak havoc on the mortal world, sowing despair and pestilence in its wake."
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"Spot the angrily scribbled 'NO KETCHUP' sign upon entering and immediately realize that Jimmy’s Red Hots is an old-school Chicago joint of the finest variety."
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GAME ON
“According to local lore, at one point regional authorities hatched a scheme wherein they staged an illegal dogfight, confident that it would cause the town’s most notorious characters to come out of hiding.”
"Put the rubber on the road at the right time, and it’ll only take ya three hours to get there."
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"For years, hoteliers have succumbed to good old-fashioned superstition when they've crafted their blueprints. And while the practice of "removing" the 13th floor—or erasing its traces—may seem a bit drastic, it can be partly attributed to a very real phobia. "
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"The films had a remarkable ability to capture the fine texture of suburbia-molded youth, but perhaps none of them packed so much exuberance onto the screen as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, set in Chicago."
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"Patrons anchored to the bar hold onto their cans of Blatz and shots of Kessler like they’re crucifixes, while the excellent jukebox plays rock ‘n’ roll classics that encourage drinking with a purpose."
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"Malone’s weird, warbly turbo-falsetto avoids hiding beneath the layers of lo-fi hiss, infectious power-chords and driving percussion. The harmonically rich, rhythmically jerky act teems with hypnotic vitriol, the Brooklynite’s alternately booming and evaporating voice a glaze applied over fragile plickety-plick banjo and brain-burrowing riffs."
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"Cuts featuring aggressive machine-gun percussion, heavy synth and stentorian vocals blared to epilepsy-inducing strobe lights that were beautifully balanced by gloomy, dramatic numbers displaying Reznor's signature brutal whisper-scream style and deft, soaring piano solos. Reznor maintains his pop sensibility through it all, saving his brooding electro from drowning in nihilistic drones."
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"Although 20% of babies who were exposed to classical music in utero become doctors or lawyers, 100% of babies born on stage during a classical-music performance become Bill Gates."
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"It was hot, too. The kind of capital-H Hot that made his shirt stick to the Caddy’s weathered baseball-mitt leather seats like carpet to a dropped lollipop. While reaching for the comb wedged in his back pocket, Grimes caught a glimpse of his eyes in the rear-view mirror, looked over his tangle of greasy hair, and coolly ripped the mirror out of its bracket."
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"On that storied evening, bars poured drinks until the sun rose over Lake Michigan. The night’s revelers would later tell stories of huge men sitting on tiny stools, their faces shrouded by smoke. Of newspapermen drinking into the wee hours of a weeknight. Of vixens in sparkling dresses, and of every other character—real or imagined—that has since become synonymous with the soul of Chicago."
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"In a way, for all its pageantry, magic is honest. The audience knows that the prestidigitator will deceive them before they are deceived. Their minds are marching to their own defeat ... That was the best taco supreme I’ve ever had."
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"Things were seen there that could not be unseen: A man dancing with an inflatable giraffe. A guy doing the robot while sitting on another guy’s shoulders. A pint-glass full of barf standing behind the boot lamp — two nights in a row. As a crowd of lubricated twentyishes sang along to the last song that was ever played at Bonny’s — 'Last Nite' by The Strokes — I realized that I would genuinely miss the place."
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"Skillfully blending smoky R&B and haunting downtempo, FKA Twigs sounds like The Weeknd showed up to a rave with a crew of glitter-covered, snake-toting replicants, and began singing after snorting crushed-up microchips. Everything in this sentence is a compliment."
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"The interior hugs you like a jet cockpit, especially when the dash-dials pop up only after inserting the ignition key. Additionally, the convertible offers 93,000,000 miles of headroom, and the soothing sounds of an engine that churns out as much as 495 horses out of a throaty V8."
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"If you’re looking to pay off a subprime mortgage on Harrenhal or raise an entire army, the Iron Bank of Braavos is the place to go. The Bedford, with its elegant vibe and giant bank-vault doors, is definitely where the Iron Bank’s representatives would hang out."
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