Chicago authors celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lonie Walker's Underground Wonder Bar

Last night a motley group of Chicago literary folk came together at Lonie Walker’s Underground Wonder Bar for “Come Home Chicago,” a celebration of the bar’s 20th anniversary.  Don de Grazia, author of American Skin and professor of Fiction Writing at Columbia College, along with fellow Chicagoan Matt Martin, hosted the event.

Why would a bar celebrate its success with a night of storytelling? Because the Wonder Bar is quintessential Chicago, and nothing says Chicago more than a good story. Not to mention the fact that a watering hole like the Wonder Bar is the natural habitat of a raconteur. What more could a storyteller ask for? There’s mood lighting, a captive audience, and beverages to quench one’s thirst after a long-winded monologue.

The night began with Chicago newspaperman and radio personality Rick Kogan extolling his love for the word booze, how it is lovely not only because of the sound it makes when popping out of the mouth, but also because of the visual images it triggers.  Booze. 

He described the excitement and importance of a night’s first drink and lamented the thinning out of Chicago’s drinking establishments. He noted that, while once boastful of its 7000 bars, the city is now home to less than a thousand.  “It used to be so easy to find a neighborhood tavern,” Kogan said, “but they are an endangered urban species.”   Kogan credits the survival of places like the Wonder Bar to the sense of community they provide and, of course, to the booze they serve.

Following Kogan was Billy Lombardo, who captivated the audience with comical memoirs from his book The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories. In one reading Lombardo recounted the events of the summer when he exacted revenge, by accident, on a childhood pal. It was what his best friend Matty called a “spectacular act of negligence.” He also read from the essay The Hills of Laura, a sincere and humorous narrative of Lombardo’s reaction to this same friend reaching second base with a neighborhood girl named Laura, her hills being a cute anatomical reference.

On a more serious note, John Schultz continued with a moving excerpt from his book No One Was Killed, an account of his experiences during the riotous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. John Schultz is the founder of the Story Workshop Institute in Chicago and has also written several other books including The Chicago Conspiracy Trial and The Tongues of Men.

Finally, Windy City Story Slam founder Bill “The Butcher” Hillmann introduced the last part of the event, a mini Story Slam.  A story slam is a storytelling competition, with the winner determined by the audience. In last night’s event, Maggie Richie bested her three competitors with a personal essay detailing her experience at the funeral of Derrion Albert, the Chicago teen who was recently beaten to death on his way home from Fenger High School.

What officially brought the whole event together was the endless discussion throughout the night of a little known, some might say revolting, Chicago secret: Jeppson's Malört. The bitter alcoholic beverage is as “Chicago” as these authors and, like them, can only be found in our great city.