Made it to Chicago and met up with my family that had flown in for the week to stay with the inlaws. I was looking forward to some rest but had a scheduled 6am radio appearance (call-in) with Wisconsin Public Radio. The 1 hour interview was with a vegetarian DJ and I assumed they were set to skew me. Turns out the DJ fully disclosed that she was a vegetarian then went on to take calls from listeners about their favorite beefy finds in the burger-proud state of Wisconsin. I had a killer burger hangover this morning so it was a relief to not have to defend my burgerism at 6am.
I enjoyed the day off mostly playing with my 2 kids and catching up with the wife. The next event was the big burger blowout book party and signing at the Billy Goat tonight. It was a blast. Unlike the lame turnouts at my other readings, the Billy Goat party brought 40+ friends, fans, and family together for a real celebration. Sam Sianis was there, as was Bill and some of Sam's other offspring. Rick Kogan was there and read from his book about the Goat, A Chicago Tavern. Also in attendance was Jeff Ruby from Playboy magazine (the man who concocted his own list of burger faves a few months back), Bill DeShone, owner of Heinnies in Elkhart, IN (featured in the book) came west with Truth writer Marshall King, and Glenn Fieber from Solly's was there, down from Milwaukee. The shot below is of me, Bill Sianis, and Glenn.
I read from the book, Rick read from his, and a local bookseller was on hand to sell books.
I requested that the bookseller bring more than they thought they needed and they brought 30. Turns out that they should have brought many more because they sold all 30 in 45 minutes. The woman selling books said the speedy sales was 'unprecedented'.
Tomorrow I'll be on WLUP-FM for a quick 10 minute call-in to the Johnny B morning drive show. I'm sure there will be a skewing planned on favorite burger spots in Chicago...
2 comments:
Alexis and I had a wonderful time at the Goat, and it was great to talk burgers & hearing loss with you. Hope all goes well at Barbara's tonight, and the rest of the trip too.
Actually this is a comment meant for the yet-to-be-written Book Tour Day 10 post...we caught your talk at Schwartz in Shorewood (WI) and really had a good time listening to you and Glenn Fieber. The book is great. We'll dig up some pictures taken during our various burget travels and send then to you. Good meeting you!
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