How Chicago became the alley capital of the country and why so much of the rest of the region is conspicuously alley-free.
Curious City - Shadow City: How Chicago Became the Country’s Alley Capital
How Chicago became the alley capital of the country and why so much of the rest of the region is conspicuously alley-free.
Curious City - Nice Pipes: The Inner Workings of Buckingham Fountain
The lowdown on how the fountain shoots water so high, and why it was built to impress in the first place.
Curious City - Nice Pipes: The Inner Workings of Buckingham Fountain
The lowdown on how the fountain shoots water so high, and why it was built to impress in the first place.
Curious City - Beyond Deep-Dish: Exploring Chicago’s Other Native Foods
A list of meaty, messy and often obscure city originals that's meant to get you out of your comfort zone.
the memory palace - Episode 75 (The Ballad of Captain Dwight)
The finale of the 2015 Summer Season.
Music
* Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score.
* There's Branches, by Keith Kenniff
* Then The Big Ocean, from Ben Sollee's score to Maidentrip.
* Then End of the World from Dan Romer's score to Beasts of the Southern Wild.
* There's The Sage, pulling once more from the dope-as-hell self-titled album from the Chico Hamilton Quintet.
* There's a loop pulled from Worm is Green's song, Brand New Day
* There's The Light, from my pal Jimmy's wonderful project, The Album Leaf. Go buy their albums.
* The piece at the end is the theme to Charlie Countryman from Christophe Beck's score.
* Oh: stuff gets heavy to Ghosts I from Nine Inch Nails.
* And finally (though out of order), playing over the fall-out from JFK's death is Now by Goldmund.
Notes
A selected bibliography.
* We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program, by Richard Paul and Steven Moss
* Voices of Contemporary and Historical Black Pioneers, Farmer & Shepard-Wynn, editors
* The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe
* Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Sciences, by Gulbert, Sawyer, and Fannin
* The All-American Boys, Walt Cunningham's memoir.
* The Ebony article mentioned in the piece can be read here.
Curious City - Mystery Boat: Alone and Idle in a Waterlogged Corner of Chicago
Ever see this rusty old freighter off the Bishop Ford Expressway? Its backstory says a lot about the Great Lakes shipping industry.
the memory palace - Episode 74 (Craning)
Episode 9 of the 2015 Summer Season.
Music
* Under the credits is Harlaamstrat 74 off of John Dankworth's Modesty Blaise score.
* There're too pieces from Per Storby Jutbring's album, Dance of the Diaper Fairy. Snowbound, up top, and the title track at the end.
Notes
* Hoo boy, have I read a ton of books about the space program, thanks to my stint on the writing staff of ABC's Astronauts' Wives Club last year. So, most of this piece is just "stuff I now know." However: read numerous contemporary newspaper accounts, readily available on
* Also key was the lovely prologue to First Man: The Life of Neil Armstrong, James R. Hanson's solid (if a little hagiographic) bio.
Curious City - Are there fallout shelters left in Chicago?
There are plenty, but let’s just say they’re not ready for a nuclear apocalypse.
Curious City - Are there fallout shelters left in Chicago?
There are plenty, but let’s just say they’re not ready for a nuclear apocalypse.