Diary of a Newspaper Hawk

The heat is like the cold. Papers just don't sell. Papers sell when people got time, and they linger. In the heat, they move inside. They don't mess around with dropping me a buck and grabbing a Trib or a Times. Cold days, rainy days -- everyone expects this. But on a hot day, a business guy in a suit? He wants nothing to do with humidity. And let me tell you, that's Chicagoland, and whatever Chicagoland has got going on, th Loop is loaded with it. Heat, and the humidity off the lake. It's not all bad news. Just because one plugger is struggling doesn't mean we all are. Take Mohammed A. Sekhani. He's a waiter at Gibson's . Nice joint. Steakhouse. Top rate, I'm told. I don't eat there, but Johnny Depp does. A meat eater. Depp left him $4,000 to say thanks for good service. What if that happened to me? It would change my life. Want more? See Stella Foster's article. Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy [Blu-ray]

Now no one out there who knows Chicago doesn't Koko. Know the blues? You know Koko. Know anything about music? Maybe, maybe not. She wasn't famous like Bach, but she is a legend like Elvis. Koko's dead. I saw her in a few blues bars over the years, and caught her from the lawn seats at the Chicago Blues Fest . The Chicago Tribune collected what others are saying . They describe her Koko Taylor, born Cora Walton in Memphis, Tennessee, moved to Chicago in 1955 and is known as Queen of the Blues. In 1966, she had a major hit with her cover of Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle (see video below)," a tune that's since become a signature hit for her. Her smoky, almost-masculine-like vocals have influenced some of the most revered female singers around, including Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin. Even now, at 79, she pretty much owns the blues scene, having won 25 W.C. Hardy Awards (now known as the Blues Music Awards), more than any other artist.

Ain't no good way of saying what needs saying: This guy is an embarrassment to Chicago's finest. Worse than the thugs popping guns in the hood because he claims to be a good man. He's not, as evidenced here . Anthony Abbate claimed self-defense. She weighs 125. He weighs 250. Apparently, if it was self-defense, he's not much of a man either. Man up, pal. The Chicago cops are a fine bunch. Not this chump.