Hangin’ With Delbert McClinton!

Those of you who have been with us for a while know we’re huge fans of multi-Grammy award winner and legendary singer/musician, Delbert McClinton.  We’re also very fortunate to have known him for quite some time.  Delbert was one of the artists who were nice enough to let us use one of their live performances on a charity CD we did, in 2000, called “Life After Dark.”

Steve & Johnnie’s “Life After Dark” CD

Well, we hadn’t seen Delbert in a while and when we heard he was going to be appearing at one of our favorite haunts, Space, in Evanston, we immediately made plans to stop in and catch up.

Delbert couldn’t have been nicer.  We had a great conversation and he was nice enough to let us record some of his performance.

Steve & Johnnie backstage with Delbert McClinton at Space, in Evanston.

The video of some of our conversation and Delbert’s performance of one of the songs from his new album, “Prick of the Litter,” are now posted on the Steve & Johnnie page of WGN Radio’s website.   We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Just click this link and turn it up!

 

Dashing Through Monday’s Snow …

Proving that timing is everything, assuming we can all make it through the predicted snowfall, this Monday, March 13, at 1:15 PM, our “A Little More Les” book tour lands at the The Nineteenth Century Club, in Oak Park (178 Forest Avenue, Oak Park, IL, 60301) for an appearance/book signing.

And yes, along with sharing many personal and behind the scenes stories about the legendary Les Paul, we’re bringing a VERY special Les Paul guitar with us.

Steve & Johnnie holding a VERY special Les Paul guitar.

We’ll tell the story behind the guitar when we see you. Hope you can join us. For more information, just click on this link.

2017 Toyota 86 Video Road Test!

Our Video Road Test of the 2017 Toyota 86 has just been posted on Consumer Guide Automotive’s Daily Drive website.  So, what did we think of the morphing of the former Scion FR-S into this new/old Toyota model?   Just click on the link above and see for yourself.

2017 Toyota 86

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.

Well, THAT Was Fun!

As we write this, it’s January 8 (Happy Birthday Elvis, Wayne Jancik & to Johnnie’s Aunt Wilma!) and we think we’re starting to recover from our “Cheap Date Life After Dark New Year’s Eve Extravaganza” on WGN Radio!!

THAT was a party!

Just a small portion of the Michigan Ave. crowd right outside the WGN studio.

For those of you who have asked, here is a link to the podcast.

And, courtesy of our friends Daiki Ishiyama and Masako Yoshizawa, here is a link to an album of photos and videos from the night’s festivities.

Our thanks to Ronnie Rice, Lisa McClowry, Sidney Friedman, Josh Solomon and Erika Brett from The Empty Pockets and all of our other friends you will hear in the podcast and see in the photos and videos who were nice enough to think that spending New Year’s Eve with us would be a good time.

And, most importantly, thank YOU for continuing to hang out with us on the air and online.

As we’ve said before, we never take your friendship lightly.

We Hope You’ll Join Us New Year’s Eve On WGN!

22 years ago we rang in the New Year on the air with you on WGN Radio from the Showcase Studio for the very first time.  Well, buckle up because, this Saturday night/Sunday morning from 10 PM – 2 AM, the old year will exit and the new year will start with Steve & Johnnie’s “Cheap Date Life After Dark New Year’s Eve Extravaganza” on WGN Radio!!

We’ll kick off this live 22nd anniversary broadcast with in-studio performances from several guests including Josh Solomon and Erika Brett from The Empty Pockets plus one of the featured artists on the PBS Soundstage Special “Cornerstones Of Rock,”  the man who sang lead on many of The New Colony Six’s hit records, Ronnie Rice, as well as, fresh from her “Legends” tour, the multi-talented Lisa McClowry along with The Musical Mentalist, Sidney Friedman, who will have some predictions for the new year.

We’ll have hourly countdowns from different time zones:

At 11 PM we’ll countdown live from New York’s Time Square.

At Midnight, we’ll have the Chicago countdown live with thousands from right outside our studio on Michigan Ave.

Our view, last New Year’s Eve, from the Showcase Studio

At 1 AM, we’ll have the New Year’s Eve Whiskey Row “Boot Drop” countdown, live, from Prescott Arizona.

Throughout the show we’ll be checking in with some old friends.  For example, there is this guy named Spike who just might be familiar to you and then there is our friend Chuck Mead from BR549 and “The Million Dollar Quartet.”  And, of course, we’ll have a lot more “drop-in” surprises, but if we told you everything you wouldn’t be surprised.

And all this is just the tip of the iceberg!

So, keep watching this space for more updates on as much fun as we can fit in.

Don’t forget, if you’re not in the Chicago area, you can listen and WATCH the show.  Just click on this link to WGN Radio’s live stream.

Get Out Of The Snow With Us!

We just realized that with all the book signing appearances we’ve done, the one we’re doing this weekend just may be our first inside the city limits of Chicago.  Yes, we know it’s supposed to be cold, snowy and nasty, but we still plan on having some fun, so we hope you can join us.

This Saturday, (12/17/16)

1-3 PM — We’re happy to be joining our old friend Bob Koester, the man behind Delmark Records, for a special pre-Christmas book signing appearance at his new store, Bobs Blues & Jazz Mart (3419 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, IL.)

Bob’s Blues & Jazz Mart (3419 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, IL)

Along with hot cider, Johnnie is bringing some gluten-free holiday goodies, so it may be cold and snowy outside, but it will be cozy inside.

In case you’re not familiar with Bob Koester and his love for blues and jazz, this article by the Chicago Tribune’s Howard Reich will fill in your blank spaces with some of the reasons Bob Koester is a real Chicago treasure.

See you there!

And, This Weekend We’ll Be In Elgin!

As you may have noticed, we’ll be doing a number of appearances throughout the holiday season.  If you want to take a look at all of them, just click this link to our Events page.

But, we thought we’d post a short reminder that, if your Christmas shopping takes you to Elgin this Saturday, that’s where we’ll be hanging out.

This Saturday  (12/3/16)

3 PM — We’ll be doing an appearance/book signing in Elgin, IL. at the Gail Borden Public Library (270 N. Grove Avenue, Elgin, IL, 60120).

And yes, for those of you who have heard about it from some of our previous appearances, along with sharing many personal and behind the scenes stories about the legendary Les Paul, we’re bringing a VERY special Les Paul guitar with us. We’ll tell the story behind the guitar when we see you.

Steve & Johnnie holding a VERY special Les Paul guitar.

Hope you can join us.