Our Latest WGN “Drive-BY” Podcast!

We meant to post this sooner, but this past week filled up and was soon overflowing, so we’re just getting around to it now.  Darn, don’t you hate it when life gets in the way of your plans?!?

Anyhow, the bottom line is, we’re getting used to the new WGN studios and every time we fall by, we forget how much fun it can be.

And, it was!

Our long time engineer and keeper of the big plug, Adam Phillips, made sure our June 26th ” radio drive-by” went smoothly and made sure he was always within reach in case one of us hit the wrong button.

Steve, Adam Phillips & Johnnie

It was the first time we worked with producer, Vivianne Linou.  Not only is she a terrific producer but, we found out, she dreams in Greek and plays guitar. What’s not to like?

Steve, Vivianne Linou & Johnnie

Our guests, Rick Pearson (Chicago Tribune Political Reporter and WGN Radio Sunday Spin Host), Patrick Crispen (Assistant Professor of Clinical Medical Education and Director of Educational Technologies at the Keck School of Medicine of USC) and Fred Weintraub (Royal Correspondent for WCIU’s “The Jam,” “The Worldly fellow” & Journalist heard on WGN Radio) brought their significant expertise and did their best not to make us sound too dumb.

And, have we mentioned, the view from the new WGN radio studios ain’t too shabby, either.

Looking down at the Chicago River, the Wrigley Building and other good stuff from WGN radio’s 18th floor studios on Chicago’s Wacker Drive.

All in all, the planets and the people involved aligned to help make Wednesday night’s show so much fun to do. We hope it was fun for you, too. If you missed it, or if you’d like to hear it again, just click this link to hear the full show podcast.

And, just in case we haven’t said it in a while, thank you so much for hanging out with us at our various cyberspace haunts and now and then when we jump back inside your radio speakers.  We never take your friendship for granted and we never will.

Back To “Life After Dark” For An Evening!

We hope you’ll join us tonight (June 26) from 10PM-1AM (CST) as we revisit our “Life After Dark” roots on WGN Radio, for an evening.

Yep, once again, we’re going to see if our brains and fingers remember the drill and which buttons to push as we spend a little time staying up late inside your radio speaker and hosting WGN Late Night.

We hope you’ll tune in to 720 AM or, if you’re not in the Chicago area, you can still listen and watch by clicking this link to WGN Radio’s live stream.

2019 Hyundai Kona Ultimate Road Test!

Our latest Video Road Test, the 2019 Hyundai Kona Ultimate, is now available on Consumer Guide Automotive’s Daily Drive website.

2019 Hyundai Kona Ultimate

The Kona is Hyundai’s offering in the, increasingly competitive, subcompact-crossover segment.  How does it stack up against the competition?  Just click this link to take a ride with us and see for yourself.

And don’t forget, if you want to check some of our previous road tests and some of the other goodies we’ve been pouring into the Daily Drive tank, just point your browser right here.

One Hundred and Four

One hundred and four years is a long time.  It’s highly doubtful that most of us will be remembered around the world one hundred and four years after our birth.

But then, Les Paul wasn’t most people.  June 9th, 2019, marks the 104th anniversary of Les’s birth.  We lost him in 2009 and there isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think of him in some way.

A memorable moment onstage with Les at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater

Les was a very special man and as fortunate as we were to know him, we were even more fortunate to be able to count him as a dear friend.

We’d like to share some news we got from Les’s son, Gene Paul.  Gene let us know about a project to honor his father that he’s been working on for some time.  Gene’s project, a beautiful website, lespaulremembered.com, was obviously built with love and unveiled to coincide with, what would have been, Les’s 104th birthday.  We’ve just finished spending more than a little time wandering around the website and, trust us, it’s REALLY good and deserves a significant amount of your time, too.

Also, as most of you who follow our paths inside your radio speakers and online know, we’ve recounted many of the memories of our time with Les and shared them along with personal photos, behind the scenes stories, memories from friends such as Duane Eddy, Charlie Daniels, Tommy Emmanuel, Doyle Dykes, Muriel Anderson and more plus some of the over 60 hours of conversations (We won’t call them “interviews” because they always felt more intimate than that.) we did with Les in a book titled “A Little More Les.”  We’re very proud of the book and like to think that Les would have approved.

To order “A Little More Les” go to http://www.alittlemoreles.com

We’ll turn on the blatant plug light long enough to tell you that, if you’d like to learn “a little more” about this special man, you can order a copy just by clicking on this link.

One Hundred and Four years from now, we’re confident that, all over the world, people will still remember Les Paul.  That’s not a bad legacy for the “Wizard Of Waukesha.”

Happy Birthday, Les!

Fun With Patti!

Patti Vasquez is a special talent … and an even more special person.  But, for this missive, we’ll stick to the talent part.  As hard as she works and even with all of her experience in multiple forms of media, we still don’t think she knows just how REALLY good she is.

Patti Vasquez

Patti always goes out of her way to be very gracious and complimentary to us and frequently tries to flatter us by saying she’s just a place holder for us.  Trust us, Patti, that place is yours now and we have enjoyed every minute listening to you blazing your own trails and very masterfully putting your own unique stamp on it.

But, will we always be standing off to the side smiling and applauding like very proud parents?  Heck yeah!

Any time Patti is nice enough to welcome us back to her show we always say “Yes” because we know we’re going to have a good time and we’re reasonably sure that good time is going to spread to the other side of the radio speaker.

That was the case this past Wednesday night when we settled into our chairs in Patti’s studio at WGN radio.  Per usual, we had a ball!

Johnnie, Patti Vasquez and Steve

Rather than trying to describe the radio party that broke out, if you didn’t get to hear it, just click this link to hear some of what you missed.

Or, if you’d like the album version and want to hear the complete show including some of the fun we had with Jon Soble from Max and Benny’s Restaurant & Deli (Who was nice enough to bring some delicious gluten-free goodies for us!), Chicago-based writer, DJ, musician and archivist, James Porter and Simon Collier & Luis Cortes from ComedySportz Chicago, then click this link.

James Porter, Steve, Jon Soble, Simon Collier, Johnnie, Patti Vasquez and Luis Cortes

Either way, we’re pretty sure you’re gonna have some fun.  We know, we sure did!

Thanks, Patti!

Wednesday Night With Patti!

Just a heads up that, because it’s been much too long, this Wednesday night (June 5th) at 10PM (CST) HimNHer will be sliding back in to the WGN Radio studios, studios to hang out for a while with Patti Vasquez.  We’ll celebrate WGN’s 95th birthday, Les Paul‘s 104th birthday (Yes, our book “A little More Les” is still available) and probably engage in the usual amounts of mayhem that seems to break out whenever we’re all in the same place at the same time.

Steve & Johnnie with Patti Vasquez

We hope you’ll tune in to 720 AM or, if you’re not in the Chicago area, you can still join listen and watch by clicking this link to WGN Radio’s live stream.

Hello, MIAMI?!?!

Well, proving that you never know where we’ll slide back into your radio speakers, this Sunday (June 2), at 3:15 PM (CST), we’ll pay a return visit to the WNMA 1210am Miami radio playground of our friend Bruce Silverman as we stop by his show, Silverman: On Sports.

We always have fun with Bruce and his definition of the word “Sports” is a bit broader than most, so don’t be surprised if we happen to talk a little about Les Paul’s upcoming birthday (On June 9, Les would have been 104) and our book “A Little More Les” and … well, who knows where else our collective brain power, or the lack of, may lead us.

If you’re not in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area. you can listen in to their live stream from anywhere around the world just by clicking this link.