I did a bunch of press interviews in 2016 around the release of the Empty Bottle Chicago book and it was featured in the Reader, Chicago Magazine, Vice and a few other places, but somehow I missed this thoughtful and brilliantly written review by Robert Rodi in New City, one of those Chicago publications that’s well worth picking up as it’s often full of surprises.
"Histories of entertainment venues tend to skew either toward brain-numbing listicles or institutional hagiography. But in fact “The Empty Bottle,” edited by John Dugan, is pure delight; it’s a compendium of short tributes and memoirs by close to two dozen people who have worked, played or hung out at the club, and whose voices are wonderfully varied and engaging. Yes, there are the obligatory recollections of early dates by Nirvana and Arcade Fire, but the cumulative result is something much greater—in fact, a genuine and consistently beguiling social history. Like, if Studs Terkel had been born in 1980." Read more at New City.
“The cumulative result is something much greater—in fact, a genuine and consistently beguiling social history. Like, if Studs Terkel had been born in 1980.”