Rick Kogan

A new book takes you behind the glitz and into “a freewheeling community of motion picture technicians and into a wild, pre-gentrified, dangerous era. From "The Exorcist" to "The Godfather" and about 50 other movies I know you've seen. chicagotribune.com/2026/03/24/cin…

Newcity is a survivor and happily, creatively so. Its 40th anniversary issue is its biggest yet. It can now be found all over the Midwest and there's a new outpost in Brazil. What's the secret? Reading this may give you a clue. chicagotribune.com/2026/03/18/new…

Mike Royko called Rupert Murdoch "The Alien" when he came here to buy the Sun-Times in 1984 and in a new four-part documentary you can learn why his children might call him "Daddy Dearest." He made them all billionaire-rich but at a heavy emotional price. chicagotribune.com/2026/03/17/dyn…

A love story for the ages takes to the stage, featuring letter-writing lovers, rollicking 1920s Chicago, Fanny Brice, Carl Sandburg, Clarence Darrow, the Dill Pickle Club, sex, politics, a pet kangaroo and more. chicagotribune.com/2026/03/11/col…

The life and work of artist Jack Simmerling is celebrated in a wonderful exhibition. As he once told me "I have always been drawn to the past, to preserving it,” and he did so in thousands of colorful and heartfelt ways. chicagotribune.com/2026/03/10/jac…

No one is immortal, but two music-makers originally from Scotland--John Ballantyne and Gus Noble--bring John Prine, Steve Goodman and Kris Kristofferson back to vibrant musical life in "Chicago 1971." chicagotribune.com/2026/03/04/chi…

A new book, “Sirens in the Loop: A History of the City News Bureau of Chicago,” gives you a raucous story. Like a massive high school yearbook, it's peppered with the names of kids-who-made-good: Mike Royko, Seymour Hersch, Pam Zekman, even Kurt Vonnegut chicagotribune.com/2026/03/03/sir…

Billy Branch is a harmonica playing, singing giant in the blues world, a contemporary of his pal Buddy Guy. Hard to believe that when he came here for college, he had “zero knowledge of the blues, and I mean zero.” It's quite a story. chicagotribune.com/2026/02/25/chi…

The Irish are coming. The Irish are coming. Mark Howard comes back home, and his innovative, artistic, exciting Trinity Irish dancers kick things off, so to speak, Saturday night at the Auditorium. chicagotribune.com/2026/02/24/st-…

@KoganAfterHours 5-7 pm Sunday @WGNRadio brings you actor Phil Donlon on @StBaldricks; John Ballantyne and Gus Noble of Crazy Heart on "Chicago 1971” March 15 @oldtownschool; bluesman @BillyBranch1003 on career and latest CD, “The Blues is My Biography."

The Drinking & Writing gang once gave us a look at what it takes to have a drink at every tavern on Western Avenue and now returns with an inventive new show, a musical based on a woman encountered in a dream. chicagotribune.com/2026/02/18/dri…

The Reader Lives! with new owners and a lively new issue. But for those of us of a certain age, a stunning new book captures how important and entertaining and illuminating and fun the Reader's first 50-years were. Where did you find your first apartment? chicagotribune.com/2026/02/17/chi…

@KoganAfterHours 5-7 pm Sunday @WGNRadio has Paul Teodo storytelling at Carnivale, with Susana Mendoza/Arny Granat, @carnivalechicago; new Drinking & Writing @SmallBeer show @Neo_Futurists; Mark Jacob, author of a “Free Chicago: 50 Years of the Reader.” chicagoreader.com

@ChicagoLitHoF Sad What a good guy

George Rawlinson, dear friend to the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, passed away January 13th after a decade long battle with cancer. Read about his incredible life as written by Donald G. Evans. 🤍🤍🤍 chicagoliteraryhof.org/blog/entry/geo…

@DaveHoekstra66 Beautiful, just beautiful Onward

Nancy Hays is bringing the amazing, inspiring, exciting story of America's greatest jockey, a Black man named Isaac Burns Murphy, back to life in a new book, a show in Highland Park and, maybe one day a movie. chicagotribune.com/2026/02/11/bla…

Gone to soon at 75, but what a life Boz O'Brien had and shared with anyone who ever walked into his Reilly's Daughter, filled with fun and food and music and memories for a few generations and still in the family. chicagotribune.com/2026/02/10/boz…

@KoganAfterHours @WGNRadio Sunday after NU b-ball game, until 7 p.m, gives you bluesman Billy Branch; John Davies on “Phunny Business”; John Holden on Edgewater’s theater history; correspondent Candace Jordan of party/social scene; Nancy Hays on book/show about hidden hero.

@TrayceZPR Agreed. If you watch let me know what you think.

😱 What?! I can't believe Netflix, or any streamer, didn't buy this. 5 episodes.

He was known as the 'Frugal Gourmet' and pioneered the food-on-TV revolution. But Jeff Smith had dark sides. Sometimes drunk of air and accused of having sex with teenage boys, his career crashed in 1997 and a new documentary has the sad story. chicagotribune.com/2026/02/04/fru…