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“Capturing the ART of LIFE”
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Captures The Art of Life for our readers enjoyment, our contributors exposure, our advertiser’s prosperity, promoting artistic expression, people, life style, and businesses.
About "THE DAY" The Art of Life begins with Imagination & Creativity expressed through many forms of art producing pleasing and interesting results, making thier way into our life experience - entertaining the senses and the mind.
“It is my sincere prayer that Vigoré assist in the achievement of helping others.” Sante Furio Founder, Vigoré magazine
Vigoré is an Italian word that translates into English as vigor or vitality. Vigoré originated in Chicago and is the perfect magazine name for the people, culture and artistic talent. Vigoré is In-Print (actual magazine) and On-line (Internet, flip-magazine) for a total market connection. Visit the website for details. www.vigorechicago.com or www.vigoremag.com
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by curator J.D.Rose On May 10th 2015 Marc Rubin's painting "The Day" was publically displayed marking the 20th anniversary of The National Day of Hope for the Cure to HIV/AIDS. In 1993 Marc was asked by Stephen Donovan a founder of AIDS Walk to make a symbolic painting including the artist's well known daffodils to serve as a symbol of Hope, a point from which the Red AIDS Ribbon could be tied onto Yellow Daffodils to renew AIDS Awareness efforts. It was projected to be used as Public Art. Eighteen months later upon completion of the 64 inch by 64 inch work in Pointillism-plus a date was set for the first "National Day of Hope". Marc made a commitment to keep the work for its humanitarian purpose for 20 years or until HIV was cured. In the third year The City of Hope, California, which serves patients with several life threatening diseases asked and was given use of the painting and additionally tied Pink Ribbons onto Yellow Daffodils as the on going symbol of Hope for a cure to Breast Cancer. The National Day of Hope rapidly became a reason for fragmented AIDS Charities to coalesce and better serve those afflicted. Now the painting is available for sale like Marc Rubin's other works.
THE GREATEST MOST DIVERSE PAINT TO CANVAS
MASTER ARTIST of our lifetime
Marc Richard Rubin The Most Diverse Artist Of Our Time Celebrating Forty Plus Years of Art.
V Special Interest
Synchronism Post Impression Cubism Abstract Expressionism In 1977, Marc Rubin made the greatest contribution to Fine Art since Georges Seurat invented and defined Pointillism in 1873. Marc Rubin defined and created the first work in his invention, Synchronism. Synchronism was in practice but never as a genre. The bold color and contrast of Marc Rubin’s works are derived from Seurat’s color principles which are the foundation of all modern art. Marc Rubin continues to produce works in styles which define him as a truly unique artist. Intentional Fine Art: Timeless, combining two or more styles from the current timeline or any previous age into harmonic balance. Marc Rubin has used Synchronism combining Post Impression, Cubism and Abstract Expressionism.
“For any artist, when the child within dies, so does the art.”
“Cubism expresses the character of the character from the inside as well as the outside.”
Atrocity 911
V Special Interest
There are many stories in the windy city ...
Some call it the
OUTFIT On the following pages Bernard Bruno shares a compendium of the Outfit’s activities Back in 2011 actor Robert De Niro and director Olivier Assayas sat side by side on the Cannes jury. Now they’re making a movie together. Assayas has partnered with De Niro to join Robert Pattinson in the film Idol’s Eye. The was scheduled to start shooting in October 2014 in Chicago and Toronto. The press release announcing the film doesn’t have many details, but there is speculation (via The Film Stage) that this is a retitled launch of the Assayas project Hubris. That was described in 2013 as “an action-packed crime thriller set against the backdrop of organized crime in Chicago in the 1970s.” Which would be something I’d watch the director of Carlos do in a heartbeat.
Theatrical productions have been inspired by the Outfit. In production is “CHICAGO’s ROLE IN THIER CRIME OF THE CENTURY by Hillel Levin. The world premiere of ASSASSINATION THEATER took place on August 9, 2014, at the Arts Center of Oak Park in Oak Park, IL. In the past the OUTFIT and Tony Accardo have been the target of news reporters.
The Outfit has generated great interest and articles. Idol's Eye, a movie based on a April 2007 article for Playboy called, "Boosting the Big Tuna." The story is about burglars who break into the home of Chicago's longtime Godfather, Tony Accardo. Articles about the “outfit” connecting the White House with the outfit have pushed Court cases to be filed ROSANOVA v. PLAYBOY ENTERPRISES, INC. No. CV475-58. 411 F.Supp. 440 (1976) Louis F. ROSANOVA, Plaintiff, v. PLAYBOY ENTERPRISES, INC., Defendant.United States District Court, S. D. Georgia, Savannah Division. April 6, 1976.
Cinema, Theatrical Productions Investigative Reporting, Court Cases
The Search Warrant by Bernard Bruno The Chicago Outfit’s boss, as alleged by the news media, was Anthony Accardo. The press had a habit of calling
him “Big Tuna” because of his hobby to go deep sea fishing in the Bahamas. But we called him something else. I want to tell you some stories about the Chicago Outfit, so I'll start in the middle. On November 11, 1978, at eight o’clock in the morning as I was turning the key to my law office the telephone was ringing. I answered it and before I could say anything more than hello, I heard a frantic, uptight, fearful voice, “Barney, this Marie Kumerow, the FBI is in daddy’s house. He is in Palm Springs. They say that they got a search warrant and they are going everywhere and … .” Daddy was Anthony Accardo, Tony, or “Joe” or “Joe Batters” depending on who was addressing him. “O K, stay calm. I’ll be right there.” As I drove to Anthony Accardo’s, the Big Tuna’s house, I wondered why would the Federal Bureau of Investigation want to search the alleged head of the Chicago Outfit’s house for evidence? What kind of evidence would he keep in his house that would incriminate him after many years claiming not having spent one night in jail? Yet he was human - as the alleged head of the Chicago Outfit could he have slipped? © Copyright B. Bruno 1968, 2014
As I pulled into the U-shaped drive way there were three parked cars. The house was a large modern single story ranch style stone house with an attached three car garage on a corner lot. I was familiar with the house so I went in through the side door which entered into a big room with a laundry, closet storage, toilet, and freezer area and into the kitchen. As I entered, “Hi, Barney, here is the paper one man gave me. I’m so scared and nervous. I don’t know what to do. What will Daddy say?” She was visibly upset nervous and shaking, “Calm down Marie, there’s nothing you can do. Give me the warrant.” She handed it to me and I read it as a Federal Search Warrant for the Anthony Accardo Residence and Attachments in River Forest, Illinois. As I read, it was proper and authoritative for an official and legal search of the premises. I asked who was in charge, and one FBI Agent stepped forward to identify himself by showing me his identification card. Then I asked him to instruct all the other Agents to produce their identification cards.
The Search Warrant
As I walked through the house, room by room, I proceeded to ask for and examine the identification cards of each Agent who was present assuring myself that each was an official FBI Agent and not a pretender brought in by the FBI as an opportunity to commit a dirty trick under the cover of a search warrant. In the FBI group two were women Agents. Then, as a second thought, I figured dirty tricks are unlikely because such would legally disallow any legitimately found evidence. As I continued my examination of each Agent’s card, he or she continued in the process of the search looking in every nook and cranny of the first floor. Every room, the laundry, kitchen, closets, cabinets, and drawer of the first floor. The basement area included the furnace with other various pieces of machinery, a large clothes closet, an “... if you don’t find any material office, a full-sized kitchen, and a large evidence you pay for the family room and table, and a pantry damage.” Without any further storage room with a walk-in cooler. Each room had one or two Agents ado the Agents walked away. opening and closing doors, opening and closing drawers, and opening and closing any boxes. All of this while feeling and rifling the contents with their hands and fingers. The refrigerator, freezer, and walk in cooler were emptied. Searching, they looked at and examined each article of clothing or item by lifting and replacing. Each drawer was rifled and fingered. Extensive probing was made of each and every piece of furniture, area, and location of the house even including the drapes. Nothing was left unexamined, untouched, or unstudied. From time to time there were words, remarks or sneering at a piece, for example, an item in the curio cabinet. I remember one remark I heard, “He must have practiced on the baby grand on how to use the machine gun!” It must have been a glorious day for the FBI Agents. The course of the search was consuming all the time of the day without producing any legally significant evidence, so the Agents’ tempers became cranky. One Agent in the main bedroom asked for the key to the locked drawer of the night stand at the side of the bed. I asked Marie, “Do you know where the key is?” “No.” Then another in the room Agent gruffly spoke up, “Alright, then we will have to break it open.” “Fine and if you don’t find any material evidence you pay for the damage.” Without any further ado the Agents walked away. In the basement in a wall glass-enclosed case were a number of rifles on display. There was a lock device on the sliding glass door so an Agent queried, “Where is the key to open this glass panel?” I turned to Marie, “Do you know where the key is for this panel?” She replied, “No.” Promptly the Agent stated, “OK then we will break the glass.”Answering I told him, “And if you find that the guns have no evidentiary value you will pay and replace for the damage and the cleanup.” There was a moment of silence and then a voice sounded, “OK forget it,” and we all dispersed.
V Special Interest
After a spell a voice from the utility room reported having found an incinerator and in it a pair of burned eye glasses. In a conference the Agents decided to take the residue ashes and glasses in a paper bag. Again after a spell the relative quiet was broken by a loud yell coming from another part of the basement in the pantry storage room, “Look what I found?” It was a full-sized safe door with a handle turning knob. The safe door was concealed by an ordinary passage door.
The Search Warrant
A number of Agents tried to open it by putting their ears to the combination dial while turning the dial and listening to the tumblers. Nothing happened, the handle did not turn.A number of Agents gathered and whispered among themselves, then one turned to Marie asking, “Do you know the combination?” “I don’t know it.” Immediately the Agent stated, “So we’ll break or drill the lock or blow it open!” I interjected, “Well, before you do anything let me call Mr. Accardo.” The Agents conferred and it was agreed that I call Tony. I called him and explained the dilemma. Tony was thoughtful. The FBI looks like it is serious to blow the safe. After Tony and I exchanged a few more words, I hung up the phone having come up with a solution to the dilemma to get the combination. With the FBI following me close behind, I went to the kitchen, located a cabinet opposite to the grill, opened it, located a stack of dinner plates, counted down to the fifth plate from the top, removed it, turned it over, and read the combination from a piece of paper taped to the bottom. I pulled the taped paper from the plate and went down to the basement pantry room where the safe door was located with two Agents following me. I was nervous because I never did this before and with my past experience of opening my high school locker lock I was hoping that all would go well. As I stooped over to focus on the dial two Agents crowded and hovered over my shoulder trying to look at the numbers as I started to dial. I stopped and turned to them, “Just a minute. Get away from me. You don’t get these numbers. I will open the safe.” They moved away from me so I stooped down and dialed. When I finished the handle didn’t turn. I felt concerned realizing what the results could be. Again, I bent over to try. This time I was more secure in turning the knob more accurately and firmly. Finished, I took a deep breath grabbed the handle and it didn’t turn. Now I was fearful and frustrated, a voice said, “Give me the numbers and I’ll try it.” “No,” I immediately answered, “I will try again.” I took a deep breath, twirled the knob both ways several times, slowly and firmly I dialed the numbers. I grabbed the handle and it turned and the safe door opened. Before I could open the door and get out of the way, the Agents pushed me aside and entered in first. It was a narrow room about 10 feet wide and about 15 feet long with shelves on both sides with boxes and things. I was outside of the safe when one Agent said, “Wow! Look at this. A box full of money,” while he was walking out holding the box in both hands. I asked, “Where are you going with it?” “I’m taking it with us.” “Aren’t you going to count it?” “No, don’t you trust us?”
© Copyright B. Bruno 1968, 2014
The Search Warrant
Sharply I replied, “No, I have heard about your dirty tricks. This money does not leave this house without being counted!” After a minute, a voice said, “OK, I will call and get permission.” An Agent went to a phone, called and explained the situation, and returning stated, “Count it!” Two Agents and I sat at the kitchen table as one Agent counted the $50 bills in packaged $5000 bank bundles and handed them over to another Agent while I watched and totaled the final amount of $265,000. The Agent in charge refused to give me a receipt for all they took with them at about seven o’clock that evening. Having concluded their search the FBI team left. The eleven hour search resulted in finding as alleged illegal evidence: a pair of cuff links, the residue ashes with a pair of burned eye glasses, a telephone memo booklet, a red velvet gift case with two dueling pistols, a BB gun that Mr. Accardo used to chase squirrels from pooping on a stone water fountain statue of a boy urinating mounted in the back yard, and the $265,000 “illegal” money speculated as having been skimmed from Las Vegas Casinos or other illegal business activities.
Two Agents and I sat at the kitchen table as one Agent counted the $50 bills in packaged $5000 bank bundles and handed them over to another Agent while I watched and totaled the final amount of $265,000.
When the Accardos returned from Palm Springs we talked about the search and his concern was the probability that they took advantage of the warrant to plant a recording device which meant he lost his right of family privacy. The Search Warrant had been obtained by the FBI to search the Accardo residence for evidence on the disappearance and suspected death of the Accardo’s home handyman, Volpe, who had been the first one to discover and to tell Tony of the burglary in January 1978 of the Accardo home, and for evidence generally to make a Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) case for many other matters alleged against Accardo, which at that time regarded, chiefly, a series of murders of five Chicago-area burglars known to have ties with the Outfit. The five burglars allegedly stole from Accardo’s house the suspected loot taken from a jewelry heist of Levinson’s Jewelers. Soon after the Accardo house burglary, the burglars’ mutilated corpses started to show up sometimes in trunks of cars in random locations around the Chicago area. Between the time of the Accardo home’s burglary in January 1978 and the time of the service of the Search Warrant on Accardo’s home on November 11, 1978, these Outfit-tied five burglars were found dead perhaps as retribution for their burglary of Accardo’s house. Volpe was just a handyman whose disappearance was and is a mystery.
V Special Interest
After the Accardo home search, the FBI was silent for over a year. The FBI possessed and tested the money attempting to determine its source or connection, if any, to the Chicago Outfit’s organized group and to racketeering so as to confiscate it according to the RICO law. In due course, Mr. Accardo considered that the FBI had enough time to process or forensically to test his property and money. He requested his defense lawyer, Mr. Carl Walsh, to petition the Federal Court to consider the matter. The Court ordered that the money be returned to Mr. Accardo. Pursuant to Court Order, the FBI called Mr. Accardo to state that the money would be available on a certain date after 3 PM at the FBI office.
The Search Warrant
When Tony discussed this with me we both thought it strange that the FBI set the time in the afternoon and especially a time after 3 o’clock. We surmised that the time was I decided not tell the FBI that I had intended after the Chicago Loop banks close their public banking services. The the off duty policemen guards ... FBI’s pick-up time was a problem, maybe even a set up. Mr. Accardo asked, “Are you willing to go and pick it up?” I thought for a minute, “OK, but we have to make arrangements.” Mr. Accardo said, “I have been thinking about it. They do not intend to make getting the money easy. They want to create as many obstacles as possible.” I said, “It sure looks that way. I don’t want to walk around the Chicago Loop with a ton of money and people all around me.” Thinking, Mr. Accardo said, “We have talked with our local bank and their correspondent bank in the Loop is, luckily, directly across Dearborn Street from the Dirksen Building where the FBI office is located. It is just one block west through the open Post Office Plaza to the bank’s building entrance. The bank will have a teller and guard in the lobby waiting for you after 3 o’clock. Just one more thought. Do you feel safe walking across the public Post Office Plaza?” Answering I said, “Not really.” “Maybe after all these problems they have something up their sleeve. Why don’t you get a couple of guys to walk with you for that block?” “Yeah, I’ll ask a couple of off duty policemen. They are my friends.” Tony replied, “Sure, I’ll pay for them.” I called two policemen friends, explained my situation and they agreed to go with me so I gave them my instructions. When the day to collect the money arrived, I picked up my two policemen friends and off to the FBI office we went. I decided not tell the FBI that I had the off duty policemen guards who would remain in the Dirksen Building lobby waiting for me to walk to the bank. If I didn’t have my eye glasses on that meant that I felt someone was following me after I left FBI office. If my glasses were on, that was a signal that no one was following me. On the appointed day, I left my escorts in the lobby and went up to the FBI office, identified myself, and soon an Agent escorted me to an office where on a table were stacks of money. I pulled out a chair and sat down. He asked, “What are you doing?” “Counting it.”“Why?” he replied, “it is all there.” So I started to count the bundles of $50 bills in $5000 stacks. As I moved along wetting my fingers with saliva to avoid sticking I began to sense a burning feeling on my lips and tongue. As I continued to count the burning feeling intensified, and the thumb and index finger of the right hand started to burn. I took out my handkerchief and faked to blow my nose, instead wet it with saliva to wipe my lips and tongue and then my fingers. Doing this, I wondered how many chemicals had been used on the cash trying to get fingerprints, and what other forensic tests had been done to check possible sources of origin. Apparently no evidence had been discovered, as had been presented to the Court, thus, the FBI had no reason legally to keep the money.
The Search Warrant
I finished my count, packed the money in my oversized briefcase, and walked to the I turned to look who called elevator apprehensively. No sooner had I and it was John “Bulldog” got there than a person joined me and got Drummond from a Chicago in the elevator with me. I was suspicious TV television station with and concerned so I pressed another floor to get out before reaching the ground floor. his camera crew. I got out alone and, no one around, so I pressed a button for a down elevator and when it came I entered alone, went to the ground level, got out with my glasses on, signaled my friends, and started towards the Dearborn Street exit doors. Just as I began walking a voice called out, “Hey, Mr. Bruno just a minute!” I turned to look who called and it was John “Bulldog” Drummond from a Chicago TV television station with his camera crew. I had no intention to have an interview. I had not called Drummond, so only the FBI could have made the arrangement. I hurried along with my guards attempting to distance myself away from Drummond, crossed Dearborn in midblock to avoid the corner and traffic lights, and crossed the Post Office Plaza and Clark Street. As I walked to the revolving door of the bank I saw the teller and the guard. I was safe. The teller asked me to follow her to a side office with the guard where she proceeded to count the money with her right thumb covered with a rubber fingertip. Her fingers never burned. Finishing she looked up at me and said, “$265,000 is here?” I answered affirmatively with a sigh, “Yes and thank you.” She nodded and stooped to write a receipt for me, gave it to me, and I left with my two friends relieved that it was over.
© Copyright B. Bruno 1968, 2014
Then I drove to Accardo’s house to bring the bank receipt, whereupon Mr. Accardo asked, “I gather everything went well?” “Yes”, I answered without expressing the experience of my emotional feelings. “Thanks,” Tony approved. © Copyright Bernard Bruno 2014
V Special Interest
Bernard Bruno compendium of the OUTFIT will appear in future issues of Vigoré Chicago magazine
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The Power of Public Art by M. Rubin The power of Public Art started thousands of years ago with the earliest human civilizations . In fact, important buildings in the ancient world were expressions of public art. Without it civilization would be boring. Thousands of years ago the creation of Public Art expressed the unique visible identity of every civilization. It appears that as soon as we humans perfected the construction of basic structures we needed to protect us from weather and animals we also needed to make those structures beautiful. That need is the core of what makes us humans. What began as our desire to make our environment beautiful quickly grew into expressing The things expressed range from clothing and customs to politics and religion.
We wanted our unique group identities to have stability and permanence. That led to publically displayed stone sculpture. Our need for uniqueness led to the quest for unique color pigments. For example, Greek colors were black, red and ochre while Mesopotamia and Egypt used blue and its well known that the Romans loved purple, the Chinese use red and the culture of India embraces all colors. We now know that most ancient civilizations adorned their buildings and public sculpture with color. Today we still identify countries, regions and their human cultures by the unique artistic style, colors and adornment of structures and their Public Sculpture. The American cultural experience is the richest the world has ever known. As people from every unique culture merge in the United States a "World Culture" is developing that encorporates all of the artistic flavors of planet Earth. Our Public Art reflects individual cultures and even a merging of cultures. The 20th century invention of Modern Art and Architecture strives to find a common ground derived from multiple unique cultures. Modernism grew directly from an invention of the 19th century, the Museum. Museums are public venues created to showcase all of the unique styles of Art, Culture and Architecture that humans have created. They are still new to humankind. In America freedom of expression was protected in our laws to keep us safe from singular humans taking control of and changing Art and Culture for their singular need as those things are derived from a concensus of large groups of people. While Public Art can be used by religions as well as despotic rulers but its core purpose remains universal to humanity. The American melting-pot experience has given us a greater variety of Public Art than anywhere on the Earth. Chicago is great example. For example: Chicago's Millennium Park displays the iconic "Cloud Gate" a sculpture by Sir Anish Kapoor, a British-Indian sculptor who was born in Bombay, India and along North Dearborn you will see public sculptures by Marc Chagal - French, Pablo Picasso - Spanish and Jean DuBuffet born in Belgium.
The "Cloud Gate" ingeniously unites all of its viewers in one expansive reflection thus bringing them together in a public group portrait. Since Mexican immigrants re-energized the ancient art of the public wall mural the city now sports public mural works that express many cultural heritages and a healthy number demonstrate a merging of cultural influences. Wall murals tell stories of human experiences. Public Art that is displayed to express and record a civilization's history is as much a part of today as it was in Nineveh of Mesopotamia in 7000 B.C.E. Whether it is a statue in a public park anywhere in the USA or in the capitol of our nation many works of Public Art remind many generations of our civilization's history.
The Power of Public Art “The American melting-pot experience has given us a greater variety of Public Art than anywhere on the Earth. Chicago is great example.” - Marc Rubin
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Public Art Today by Marc Rubin When 2D or 3D Fine Art has a public purpose which records history or bolsters civilization it is often displayed for public viewing. Since the advent of Fine Art painting during the European Renaissance many works were created for permanent public display. The Roman Catholic Church is the best known patron of Western Religious Public Art. In the 20th Century Pablo Picasso was commissioned to paint a memorial to World War II. That work is called "Guernica" and was made for the United Nations building in New York. Since the 1950's in The United States new purposes for Public Art have been created. Everything from enormous advertising sign boards and wall murals to varied forms of "Installation Art" are part of mainstream America.
The work consists of sixteen unique components that measure about 8 feet in length and up to 5 feet high.
I recently conferred with the owner of very successful men's clothing stores about the vast unused space above his merchandise in one store. The ceiling height in Gay Mart of Fort Lauderdale is 22 feet. Owner Craig Attebury asked for a creative way to fill the large overhead volume in such a way as to make the store an exciting experience. I chose to celebrate the South Florida Beach culture. The color format of yellow, red and blue is a perfect match for the store's colorful beach and sports clothing. The Public Art Installation consists of flat silhouettes of men swimming, diving and riding dolphins. The work consists of sixteen unique components that measure about 8 feet in length and up to 5 feet high. Swimmers and "dolphin riders" race across the store's interior sky as divers fly down from above. The Pop Art Installation Work is titled "Wilton Water Sports", swimming and diving and dolphin riding. This work is a perfect fit for the environment in which it is exhibited. It is a 3 dimensional work consisting of 2 dimensional components. It is a post-1950's Public Art experience.
What Chicagoans don't know about their Dubuffet Who renamed this art Monument and Beast? With limited art knowledge this Jean Debuffet sculpture expression is obvious. You can see bushes, trees and a man. The sculpture has vertical lines and soft rectangular shapes. What you are seeing in the center is the leafy parts of the trees. In a speech given at the Chicago Art Institute, Jean Dubuffet addressed the City of Chicago announcing his work with a detailed explanation.
Forest and Conqueror (original name given by Jean Dubuffet) Interview with Marc Rubin In the 1970’s Chicago born artist Marc Richard Rubin was introduced to painter and sculptor Jean Dubuffet following Marc’s inclusion into the 1973 Art Institute of Chicago competition exhibition. They became fast friends. Jean’s influence remains in many of Marc’s works and can be seen as early as 1975 in Rubin’s 4ft. by 6ft. cubist work “Chicago.” It was around that time that Jean told Marc the City of Chicago was going to purchase and include his large sculpture “Forest and Conqueror” in its new downtown collection of outdoor public sculpture. Jean shared with Marc his artistic intentions and sculpture technique as an expression for his love of nature and man’s ability to conquer and tame his raw natural environment for both beauty and sustenance. The Dubuffet’s work graces the plaza at the James R. Thompson (State of Illinois) Building at 100 W Randolph St. Several locations were cited to Jean however the final choice brought him tremendous pride. The installation was made a short time before Jean Dubuffet passed away. Today Marc Rubin remains upset over the renaming of the master work. Today it is called Monument and Beast a title that is opposite to its original intention. Jean told Marc, “How perfect! I could not have wished for a better location. It tells the story of man conquering the forests of Europe to create beautiful farms. This is the story of Illinois too.”
Marc still speaks of the importance of Dubuffet’s series of “natural” works such as “Four Trees” at the Chase Manhattan Bank Building in New York City and Dubuffet’s “walled gardens” that were created to give man a place from which he can view the surrounding natural environment.
Marc Rubin said, “I hope one day Chicagoans will learn the truth about their Dubuffet sculpture. The true title explains the work. Jean created a sweet, light hearted and whimsical masterpiece.
The pure and simple meaning of “Forest and Conqueror” is warm and endearing but lost to changed words, “Monument and Beast”, that invoke images of cold monumental skyscrapers and hard hearted political beasts rather than settlers clearing land to create rich farmland and a city with more trees and gardens than residents.”
Must an artist BE DEAD before their creations are revered? It has only been since the advent of politicalisms that Fine Art has been politically pushed as far away from humanity as is possible. Political tyrants will always fear free thinking as that is one thing they cannot control. Making Art is the natural manifestation of free thought. Collecting Art is an expression of free thought. To continue their control of humanity one totalitarian group in America worked hard to invade all of the platforms for expressing thought including radio, TV, print media, education and the internet. You have probably been coerced into believing that Art is for “those other people”, not you. Well, that is a heinous lie. You see it is as natural as breathing to have Art in your life. In fact owning Art of high or low cost is a fulfilling experience. What you collect expresses your singularity. Artists with great technical talent and the ability to awe humanity must be enjoyed while you and they are alive. Tyrants benefit from dead artists as they can rewrite their lives to suit the “group think” that bolsters their control. Real Artists open windows of truth that allow you to freely see and feel life. Think; if artists are prevented from recognized achievement, so are you!
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PLATE Sixth generation of the Slagel Family raising livestock serves the finest restaurants in Chicago is now inviting the public to join them on a farm tour of their old-fashioned livestock farm. Chances are, if you enjoyed eggs for brunch at Trump Towers in Chicago, you had a taste of Slagel Farm eggs. Chances are, if you had fine Ribeye Steak at The Publican in Chicago, your mouth watered with the unforgettable flavor of Slagel Meats. Nestled among the flat land of corn and bean fields of North Central Illinois sits one of the area’s best kept secrets…Slagel Family Farm. LouisJohn, wife Leslie and son Branson, are the sixth generation of the Slagel Family raising livestock. Along with LouisJohn’s father, mother and younger brothers and sisters, they all work together to run a small diversified farm raising hogs, cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits, corn, soybeans, hay, and pumpkins. In Chicago, Slagel Meat products are delivered weekly to fine dining restaurants. Slagel Farm livestock are all naturally raised in an outdoor environment, fed grain, grass and hay. No implants, hormones, steroids, artificial additives, preservatives or constant levels of antibiotics are used.
The Slagel family led by a young man from rural Illinois transformed the tiny Slagel Family Farm into the hottest meat purveyor in Chicago. Slagel Family Farm 23601 E. 600 North Road Fairbury, IL 61739 Email: slagelmeats@live.com Tel: 815-848-9385 www.slagelfamilyfarm.com
Slagel Family Farm Tour & Dinner Events! What better way is there to learn more about the food we eat than to come directly to the farm and see how it is grown and cared for? Re-connect with the land and watch the livestock roaming the pastures in the wide-open skies outside the city. As more and more people have the desire to learn more about their food and where it comes from, we felt offering a farm tour and dinner would be an excellent way to bring you closer to your food. Our tours, which run from spring to fall, will be a full afternoon of learning and enjoying food. The farm dinners will offer the chance to meet the farm families behind the product, see animal’s first-hand, and ask questions about raising and processing livestock. After getting the question from someone in the city while making deliveries " so which one lays the eggs- the male chicken or the female chicken?" we decided it was time to bring the public back to the farm and educate them about all the work involved in what they are eating on a daily basis. Each farm tour/dinner will be paired with one or more well-known chefs from Chicago. The afternoon will start out with a snack after all the guests arrive. We have a barn on the farm which is not filled with animals. This serves as our dining area and has a kitchen in it for food preparation. Following our snack, we will begin the farm tour which will be given by the farmer- LouisJohn Slagel. Guests will have the opportunity to ask questions, hold baby piglets, gather fresh eggs, and interact with playful goats and lambs.
Pig Math .... a great formula Part of what makes Slagel pork stand out is the farm’s unique crossbreed, a mix of three heritage breeds Duroc + Berkshire, both for their meat quality + Chester White for its maternal instinct, which leads to healthier piglets
Many customers have had the chance to enjoy Slagel Family Farm meat products at the finest restaurants around Chicago Geneva, IL Restaurants A Toda Madre Altiro Bien Trucha Wilmette, IL Restaurant Artisanal Wilmette Evanston, IL Restaurants Boltwood Found Homestead Meats Crystal Lake, IL Restaurant Dukes Alehouse Kitchen Dwight, IL Restaurant Station 343 Naperville, IL Restaurant Sugartoad Western Springs, IL Restaurant Vie Hinsdale, IL Restaurant Vistro Chicago, IL Restaurants Analogue Antique Taco Atwood Cafe Avec Bar on Buena Barrel House Flat Bento Box Bedford Big Jones Birchwood Blackbird Bow & Stern Carriage House Chicago Celeste Charlatan Chicago Firehouse Chop Shop Commonwealth Tavern Conrad Chicago Current Dove's Luncheonette Eastman Egg Co. Elizabeth Endgrain Farmhouse Fat Rice Fig Catering Fountain Head Frank-n-Dawg's Fransesca Al Forno Frontier Girl & the Goat Goose Island Grandma J's Local Kitchen Haymarket Hidden Shamrock Hot Chocolate Howells & Hood Hyatt Regency Chicago Intercontinental Juno
Chicago, IL Restaurants cont. Lagunitas La Madia La Sardine Little Fort Little Goat Lockwood Longman & Eagle Lula CafÊ Mac's Mas Monkey’s Paw Nana Organic Nico Osteria Nightwood Oak & Char Osteria Owen & Engine Parachute Parson's Chicken & Fish Perennial Vie Pleasant House Bakery Publican Publican Quality Meats Red Door Rootstock Sable Kitchen Salero Signature Room Sixteen Slurping Turtle Southwater Kitchen Spiaggia Sunday Dinner Table Donkey Stick TETE Charcuterie The Butcher & Larder The Kitchen The Local The Promontory The Peasantry The Purple Pig 312 Three Aces Tre Soldi Tuman's Tap & Grill Two Untitled Village Tap West Loop Salumi West Town Bakery White Oak Tavern Wood
Following the farm tour, most of our events will include a butchering demo. This will be a cutting (not slaughter) demonstration given at our butcher shop which will show how we break down a beef, hog, or lamb carcass into retail cuts you can find at your grocery store. This will be done by a guest butcher, or someone that regularly cuts meat at Slagel Family Meats. More details on what is getting cut and who will be butchering is listed in the schedule of events. Following the tour and butchering demo, we will head back to the barn and enjoy a four course meal prepared using products raised within feet of where we are sitting. Check or website for Farm Tour and Dinner Dates and links to the tickets! www.slagelfamilyfarm.com
WHY WHY WHY BECAUSE we
Vigore´ (Vee-gor-ray: Vigor, Vitality)
Believe in God and have Faith NEVER NEVER NEVER
GIVING UP INSPIRATIONAL WORDS is a scheduled feature. Amateurs, emerging poets and professional writers can submit works to appear in print or online to be highlighted in subsequent issues. For submissions visit www.vigorechicago.com
STOPtheHATRED Religious, Social, Racial, Economic, Cultural
Accept the responsibility of leadership
PROTECT SERVE HEAL Warning: This does not mean more government involvement, regulations and restrictions. Over the past six years Washington politics slowly created a monster of a mess and now the same politicians want to take action to clean it up receiving credit as part of their legacy.
Solar Energy
Solar Energy & Shared Infrastructure Neighborhoods Solar tea was a great idea, and now …
People v. Government v. People v. Government v. People v. …………. The USA’s photovoltaic solar energy industry (“solar”) is fragmented, is growing rapidly, is subject to suspicion, and ultimately demonstrates real future success for energy hungry users, investors, utilities and government. Confusing? Solar manufacturers’ standards are fragmented, solar installers are numerous and uncoordinated, power utilities are coming around toward acceptance, and government is, well, confused. The federal government especially reacts awkwardly due to political fractiousness after the Solyndra debacle, more on that below. The major solar panel manufacturers (Solar City in the USA; Trina Solar, Yingli Solar, JA Solar and others in China) each experiment with different technological methods to improve efficiencies and each uses inconsistent standards (see, for example, the International Code Council’s Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) reviewed and adopted ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria (AC428). Among us, some public acceptance/some public rejection of solar without understanding much about any long term benefit is the norm. Among elected officials, they show reluctance and avoidance due to new regulatory volumes that must be written - and few of them know how to write the new laws and regulations. Those who reject solar are not who you might think, namely, oil and gas vested interests. in fact, British Petroleum, (BP) through its subsidiary, Orion Renewable Energy Group, has built Pennsylvania's largest solar farm at the best costs yet. The $2 per watt barrier will be bettered by this new solar farm in Pennsylvania’s Franklin County.
The real solar rejecters seem to be poorly-educated people, superstitious people, elected officials beholden to lobbies, or watchers of cynical newscasters. Those who accept a future solar infrastructure The real solar rejecters seem to be are sometimes misinformed, too. The majority poorly-educated people, superstitious of rejecters, and some of the acceptors, do not visualize how the solar systems can work. Can people, elected officials beholden to we make a solar system as understandable as lobbies, or watchers of cynical newscasters. the Interstate Highway system? Yes, and herein is such an effort. Most can understand that Orion Renewable Energy Group has built a 14 megawatt, buying solar panels reduces the monthly electric bill of $25 million solar farm that will cost users just $1.80 per the individual household. For example, Solar City and watt fully constructed. What that means is this solar farm others promise an individual that buying their solar panels can provide power to possibly one-thousand houses at will be financed in a truly genius manner – calculate the prices that, though a bit higher than conventional sources, cost of buying and installing solar panels, look at your are modestly low multiples of current costs and shrinking. monthly bill, pay the solar company less than your
Municipal government may regulate and simultaneously may promote solar because municipal government is closest to the people – municipal government may be a little like the ancient Athenians’ form of direct-to-the-people government. Citizens and politicians seem aware of the benefits of solar power. However, persuading politicians to think about new ideas and new technologies is hard, especially in the areas of basic infrastructure, such as the power grid and therefore solar power. Despite a little bit of knowledge, state and local politicians mostly fear solar. Some of these elected officials may be beholden to their local constituent Com Ed or equivalent – OK, understood. Nobody sensible wishes to overthrow the power monopolies, legally formed and fundamentally important; rather, the conservative view should be to partner local government with the power monopolies and rising solar plants. Federal elected officials are too distant from local ideas and local needs to get it right, though, among those Feds who support solar power, to their credit, their approach seems to be the global evolution style of awareness of environment popularized by Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot.
The Solar Panel Marketplace
monthly electric bill, say 15% less, for as many months necessary to pay off the purchase price, then thereafter, any electricity you produce is free – you get the electricity you need and pay no one. The local power company is just your back-up. Additionally, local power companies in many jurisdictions may purchase the individual’s surplus power. Though attractive to the consumer, this surplus-buy back is a regulatory nightmare just beginning to happen. (I sympathize with all sides in this legal fight.) But surplus electricity sold back to the local utility is not the only way to go. Tesla batteries (expensive) for the home are the latest innovation from Elon Musk’s bag of genius tricks.
Solyndra is both proof of concept and proof of any nascent marketplace prone to failure. Solyndra was a California company successfully selling its proprietary photovoltaic solar panels (cylindrical panels instead of flat panels that improved efficiency of converting sunlight to electricity) for commercial power stations. The idea and science was right, the marketplace appeared accepting and growing, and the social consciousness to move from fossil fuels to alternatives was becoming more mainstream culture. Investors were interested, and the US government guaranteed a loan in excess of ½ a billion dollars expecting a return. So, what went wrong? Ordinary marketplace factors! Costs of manufacturing ordinary flat solar panels fell. Conventional flat panels were cheap all of a sudden. No need to obtain a little more efficiency for a lot more money as offered by Solyndra. The investors (very sophisticated fund managers) eventually saw the only real value of the company going forward was not adapting to the evolving marketplace, but rather was going to be preservation of tax losses to be used against their other investment gains, a tax plan which was confirmed by the Bankruptcy judge.
As a result, Solyndra’s solar debacle negatively influenced the marketplace’s acceptance of solar. Solar is misunderstood as a bad idea, such as fracking (hydraulic fracturing of rock formations to release embedded minerals) is misunderstood. Among other misperceptions, it looked like solar would go the way of the rapid-though-partial obsolescence of the fax machine. Misunderstanding, unfortunately, results in consumeravoidance reasoning: don’t buy it if you don’t have to; something better will come along soon; or, let’s not lay a marketplace wager on solar infrastructure yet let’s keep some solar infrastructure around because it has some limited utility. Despite resistance, real traction and expansion in solar power are manifest. Utility scale solar plants are springing up, and the energy consuming public is buying more solar while the misunderstanding is declining. While US congressmen and senators in Washington DC are distant from their constituencies, motivated by general concerns and not individual concerns, federal government oversight of energy is an essential element of commerce both at the national scale and at the local scale. But so far, local government looks most attractive to regulate solar infrastructure because local government is best suited to be responsive to local citizens and land users. Let’s decrease federal government involvement for a great many reasons, not least of which is its bad track record with solar. Make local government the best governing authority for solar infrastructure. Solar arrays at a local scale with minimal distance for distribution to users are efficient and environmentally sound. Municipal government may regulate and simultaneously may promote solar because municipal government is closest to the people – municipal government may be a little like the ancient Athenians’ form of direct-to-the-people government.
Infrastructure Infrastructure, on any scale in any industry, works best by those who use it and who are bound to it geographically. A small scale solar power plant operated and regulated and paid for by the population directly “in view”, that is, a community of a size from 6-600 houses, of the solar plant that supplies their energy is a proposed new model. When a suburban home development is proposed to be built, the developer can apply to local government for an additional license to build solar infrastructure and a power plant proportionate to the size of the development. This license application can be as easy as any other application for a building permit. Unfortunately, few municipal governments have considered solar for discussion, let alone draft a local municipal code for routine review of solar applications. Persuading politicians to move forward on infrastructure issues is hard to do, see reasons, above. Fairness is another issue. The power company monopolies built and paid for the major power generation plants and the distribution grid in the USA; however, some power utility monopolies must “buy” the electricity generated by a solar household whereas other monopolies stateby-state do not have to buy home-generated electricity. Power companies sense being taken advantage of by upstarts. The power transportation grid is a common carrier that from the start was paid for by the utility
monopolies according to fair regulations and is now watched over by local government oversight committees. Must utilities now allow other, even very small, power producers to coattail on the infrastructure they built and maintain? Solutions include minimizing use of any of Com Ed’s and others’ infrastructure, establishing regulated rates for grid access, geographically re-mapping the grid to accommodate solar, and re-drafting municipal codes. The existing power monopolies and the new, ill-defined solar generators must embrace each other for the benefit of their constituencies and neighborhoods, for more and cheaper energy, and, ultimately, for the health of the globe. The federal government promotes new solar technology with tax credits. At the federal level the available investment tax credit (“ITC”) is 30%, meaning every dollar spent on solar generates a $0.30 credit against income taxes. The 30% ITC will remain in effect through Dec 31, 2016, unless extended. Beginning 2017, the solar tax credit becomes 10%. Companies in the solar industry shall utilize the 30% ITC by building inventories, and expanding storage capacity and infrastructure until the end of 2016. Thereafter, accounting benefits and production efficiencies will continue to grow these companies and their profitability.
Home Compare the passive solar industry, mainly for hot water applications, with today’s solar photovoltaic industry. The passive solar industry has been around for a long time (think tens of thousands of years) and became popular again during the fad of solar iced tea – place water and tea bags in a glass pitcher, set it in bright sun for a couple of hours, then add ice, voila! Actually, solar water heaters always have been used by ancient and modern societies. Configuring rooms in a home (or cave) so that rooms with solar gain create convection currents to pull cool air from cool spaces within the home were understood by ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Home construction designs have used convection features for eons. The modern passive solar industry did not harm nor corrupt the plumbing or HVAC industry. Likewise, the solar photovoltaic power industry neither will harm nor corrupt our lawful power monopolies. Using kWh as the standard old method of measuring household power consumption is still useful, though it is outdated because it does not include all the variables. A solar infrastructure’s power delivery and consumption are best measured by use of newer, more complete and convenient metrics to gauge utility, savings and return on investment. The new metrics must measure a complete solar infrastructure: the photovoltaic modules including their costs of manufacture and transportation; the local distribution grid; sunlight efficiencies; cost of local array; peak demand factors; maintenance, labor; useful life and disposal and more. Cost per kWh is a bit of a misleading measurement albeit it is the measurement we all are used to because our current electric bills reflect upon the fuel used to create a watt and the utility’s facilities costs and not much more.
When ALIENS from other solar systems finally visit earth,
“WHAT THE HECK!? You got this powerful sun to provide endless energy, but you burn stuff instead!!??” they’re going to say,
Rather, a total cost to operate per yielded watt including the metrics named above can provide meaningful, newly formulated units of measurement such as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Energy engineers are collaborating to make international codes for solar more coherent and adopted.
The Math Proves It The practical home installation models are not complicated. Ordinary algebra illumines the design. Start with a location (see Where In The USA,) of average days of sunshine, say, 250 days per year of sunshine with an average of 8 hours per day, which results in 2000 hours of direct sun per year. The kilowatt-hour (symbolized kWh) is a unit of energy equivalent to one kilowatt (1 kW) of power expended for one hour. At current efficiencies, a 1 square meter photovoltaic panel currently puts out about .2 kWh. Multiply the variables and the result is 1 square meter panel x .2 kw x 2000 hours yields 400 kWh per year, give or take. Then, estimate the electrical demands of average houses by size, say, for example, let’s calculate for a 500 square meter (1640 sq ft) house, and a 1000 square meter (3281 sq ft) house. Look at your electric bill – it’ll show your annual consumption. How big is your house? If we assume a 500 square meter house uses 8000 kWh of electricity per year, then that house needs 20 square meters (66 sq ft) or so of solar panels.
A 1000 square meter house using 16,000 kWh of electricity per year needs 40 square meters (132 sq ft) or so of solar panels. What if we have a small community of, say, 40 houses? Can we centralize the solar array and achieve greater efficiency of scale? Can the community distribute the electricity to 40 houses cheaper than if the 40 houses each does it itself? Unknown. Certain cost differences are known such as the costs for wiring a house. However, scaling efficiencies have not much been tested and published.
What about storage? Well, broadly, the local power utility provides all our individual storage needs. And now, new, home-scale batteries are available. But, historically, before power utilities, energy was stored in nature – the water wheel turned all the energy stored in the moving river, the wood or dung stored the energy until a flame ignited it. Today at the home scale, we enjoy electrical energy more than wood- or dung-combustible energy because electrical energy is way more efficient and cleaner. On a big scale, we especially want a well-maintained national grid because it provides our “on demand” electric resource, this thanks to the historical concept of nation, that is, a national enjoyment and cooperation among our power companies, government, investors that built our infrastructure, and us the consuming public.
“Sunset in The New Land” Pointillism 1983, 34 x 54 inches
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Where In The USA? Not everywhere suits solar. Efficiencies are different depending on weather and geography. Many charts are available through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (“NOAA”) website, www.noaa.gov, demonstrating geographical distribution of cloudy and sunny days, strength of sun, hours of usable sunshine, and other variables. One typical chart, copied below, lists cities in the USA with their respective solar efficiencies: Average annual sunshine % Sun 60 60 57 58 58 48 62 54 50 49 50 61 69 53 56 59 55 63 60 85 73 56 64 70 54 58 56 57 58 68 56 85 45 48 58 58 63 51 78 66 60 68 66
City
Total Hours Atlanta, Georgia 2738 Austin, Texas 2644 Baltimore, Maryland 2582 Birmingham, Alabama 2641 Boston, Massachusetts 2634 Buffalo, New York 2207 Charlotte, North Carolina 2821 Chicago, Illinois 2508 Cincinnati, Ohio 2335 Cleveland, Ohio 2280 Columbus, Ohio 2183 Dallas, Texas 2850 Denver, Colorado 3107 Detroit, Michigan 2436 Hartford, Connecticut 2585 Houston, Texas 2578 Indianapolis, Indiana 2440 Jacksonville, Florida 2880 Kansas City, Missouri 2810 Las Vegas, Nevada 3825 Los Angeles, California – Louisville, Kentucky 2514 Memphis, Tennessee 2888 Miami, Florida 3154 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 2484 Minneapolis, Minnesota 2711 Nashville, Tennessee 2510 New Orleans, Louisiana 2649 New York, New York 2535 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 3089 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2498 Phoenix, Arizona 3872 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2021 Portland, Oregon 2341 Providence, Rhode Island 2606 Raleigh, North Carolina 2606 Richmond, Virginia2829 100 Rochester, New York 2298 Sacramento, California 3608 Salt Lake City, Utah 3029 San Antonio, Texas 2629 San Diego, California 3055 San Francisco, California –
Clear Days 110 115 105 99 98 54 109 84 81 66 72 135 115 75 82 90 88 94 120 210 147 93 118 74 90 95 102 101 107 139 93 211 59 68 98 111 61 188 125 105 146 160
Reference National Climatic Data Center. Comparative Climatic Data. World Data Center for Meteorology. Climate of the World. In the next installment, this author discusses solar power around the globe, in particular, other countries that do it well, that is, make an on-going investment in solar - China and Germany are preeminent examples. Immediate best ideas for the USA are to joint-venture: USA’s and China’s solar manufacturers can joint-venture with, say, ExxonMobil and Com Ed and local governments. Solar joint ventures boast a broader appeal than just energy innovation. As currently stated by two American luminous thinkers, joint ventures can help on the broader economic/diplomatic fronts. Please see the Atlantic Monthly, June 2015, article authored by two former US Secretaries of the Treasury, Henry M. Paulson, Jr., and Robert E. Rubin, THE BLAME TRAP, Why the U.S. and China need to act on each other’s economic critiques. Excerpt: Chinese investors could help the United States speed growth now without worsening its long-term debt problem. The U.S. has vast infrastructure needs and a paucity of public capital… In Ohio, Michigan, and California, for example, proactive governors are attracting Chinese investment and creating high-quality jobs in sectors like auto parts and clean energy.
“Lake Bluff Sunrise” Oil on canvas 1974, 22” x 28” - Post Impressionism In late spring of 1974 one year after his first major work in Pointillism, “Ladies of the Canyon”, was exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago, 24 year old artist Marc Rubin completed his first oil paint work of Post-Impressionist Northern Illinois landscapes. The first painting depicted a sunrise over Lake Michigan as seen from a bend in the shoreline in the town of Lake Bluff. Rubin was heavily influenced by the incredible collection of French Post-Impression works at the The Art Institute of Chicago. This work marks the beginning of a lifelong series of American sunrise paintings in which he employed an oversized scale of the sun to add emotion. By 1978 the series included more than 70 paintings. While about half were collected in the Chicago, Illinois region the rest were collected across the United States and as far away as Britain, The Netherlands, Brazil, Thailand and Japan. Critics of the day spoke of Rubin’s unique ability to meld influences from all of the Post-Impressionists including Van Gogh.
Chicago Plein Air Painter, Nancie King Mertz Chicago neighborhoods provide a wealth of inspiration for painters and photographers, as you’ll discover when visiting area galleries and art festivals. For years, Chicago artist Nancie King Mertz, has painted in the neighborhoods of Chicago and around the world, taking her gear on the road. Her Impressionistic style of painting is usually done on-site, or “en plein air”, to coin the common French term.
Mertz’ painting of “Catching Rays on Chicago Ave.” is from a photo she took while zooming down Des Plaines Ave. in Chicago. Her knowledge of the color often observed while Plein air painting, helped provide lively color for this piece, even though it was from a photo. She opted to heighten the shadow color to keep it from suggesting the “photo blacks” that are a dead give-away to studio paintings.
Similar issues arise when painting the lights in a photo—the artist often leaves out any color in the brights, as photos typically do. Here, Mertz used warm hues in the foreground lights and cool hues in the distant ones to bring visual interest to the light areas of the painting.
Nancie King Mertz Chicago Plein Air Painter, Nancie King Mertz Plein air painting is not for the faint-of-heart, but it is a true path to sharpen drawing, composing and color skills due to the rapid-fire decisions that must be made. Viewing color on-site opens a world of options that photos can’t provide when painting, as photo shadows are blackened and lights are bleached.Nancie teaches Plein air workshops around the US and she encourages her students to work quickly, to get shapes of dark and light on the painting surface before the changes in lighting occur. For the student to be able to make compositional decisions based on light and shadow is a great accomplishment and that skill helps them grow quickly into a fine Plein air painter. The skills acquired while painting on-site will transfer into a new way of seeing the subject in the studio. “The Great Escape” 12 x 16 was painted in pastel last winter in the Field Museum when the streets of Chicago offered no relief from the cold. Mertz typically starts and completes her works on-site within a 2 hour period. Outdoors, the light and shadows are constantly advancing and receding, so she has learned to concentrate fully on the subject to make rapid composition and color choices that must be resolved within that 2 hour window. Of course the light in the Field Museum remained steady during her painting session that winter morning, however it was “free day” and masses of children surrounded her while painting. Over the years, she has also learned to answer questions from onlookers while painting (sometimes for directions to the bathroom!) and remain focused on her intent
For workshop info, please contact Nancie by email: Nancie@NancieKingMertz.com To see more of her work, go to: www.NancieKingMertz.com Nancie King Mertz is a Master Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America & Chicago Pastel Painters, and is a Master Circle Member of the Int’l Assoc. of Pastel Societies.
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Robert Trisko National and International Award Winning Designs
Trisko Jewelry will be presenting their designs at art shows across the USA in 2015. Contact us for information on the upcoming shows and their locations. trisko2.com • 320.253.5346 • ian@trisko2.com
Photography By Larry Sanders
Robert Trisko
Ladies Rings
Pendants / Slides Stackables Mens Rings Custom Bands Geometrics 3D Rings www.trisko2.com for more information call 320-253-5346
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From Bricks to Fish: An American Success Story
Special Interest
The sprawling cornfields of DeKalb, IL seem like an unlikely place to expect anything but farms and hardworking farmers, but a booming fish food business and a story of success is exactly what you’ll find. Rod Buehler is the founder and creator of Rod’s Food, a company that makes premium frozen fish food for marine aquariums. This may sound like a small niche business, but the marine aquarium trade is a flourishing global industry worth approximately $330 million annually that consistently demands high-quality fish food. Rod, an experienced fish nutrition expert, has been filling that niche for over a decade and is considered to be a trailblazer in the marine aquarium hobby. Rod Buehler’s addiction to reef keeping began in 1990 when he was still working full time as a mason. While doing a remodel, someone suggested a fish tank as a room divider, and the seed of Rod’s new salty business had been planted. As Rod continued working as a self-employed mason contractor, he began seriously keeping marine fish and corals while living in rural Illinois. In 1997 Rod began breeding a variety of saltwater fish, and in 1998 opened a coral farm and mail order shop out of his basement, and started shipping his tankraised fish and corals all over the US. All the while, Rod had been making his own fish food from human grade seafood bought at grocery stores, and in 2006 finally decided to go commercial with his already sought-after homemade blend of reef food. Rod’s uses only the finest, freshest ingredients. He uses whole animals because they provide marine creatures with the most natural and complete nutrition. The same fresh, high quality seafood delivered to Chicagoland’s finest restaurants, is also delivered to Rod’s U.S. facility every week.
With a growing line of thirteen products, the most popular one is still Rod’s Original Complete Reef Food, the recipe for which was developed in house almost fifteen years ago. From a brick laying business, to a basement coral farm, to an exponentially growing business with his product sold in almost all fifty states, Rod Buehler is a modernday success story. As he says, “It’s all in the food!” To see his bright, retro website and learn more about his unique company, please visit www.rodsfood.com Rod's Food 15100 Illinois 23, DeKalb, IL 60115 Phone: 815.748.2141 Fax: 866.480.9342 E: rbuehler@rods-reef.com • www.rodsfood.com
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Congratulations from Vigoré, on your achievement. With determination and confidence you took the risk to be successful building your business offering a great product."
Artists are the frontline Warriors of Free Speech
V Special Interest
by Marc Rubin "People are saying freedom of speech will soon be a footnote in history because of the Charlie Hebdo massacre." Civilization, it seems, is too often on the edge o failure. Pundits are saying that. But Artists are saying, "We see and will record the deeds of humankind. We will remind all that humanity should not regress to a state of brutal savagery. We will continue to display all human thoughts from which civilized concensus is achieved.
We are the ones that the destroyers of civilization seek to silence on account of their ignorance and fear." The Charlie Hebdo massacre has brought fear of reprisal for freedom of expression to the forefront of our civilization. Americans must be reminded that the U.S. Constitution is the most liberating document of law produced by any human civilization. It calls for the protection of words and images.
It also establishes government as the protector. This document has produced nonstop human progress. It calls visual artists to freely express all societal discussions through images and objects. Once words have been spoken they quickly fade away but images remain and the ideas they depict are not forgotten.
"Reaching For Life" 22� x 28, Surrealism 1969 (Marc Rubin’s first painting on stretched canvas - acrylic)
THANK YOU HENRY IL. USA A small Illinois town shows its’ big heart, respect and appreciation
In 2005, a young man named Joe Thornton, Jr. worked on his Eagle Scout project for a memorial walk. Veterans' Walk at Stoner Park in Henry, Illinois is on display Memorial Day weekend and the 4th of July holiday weekend. Veterans' Walk was an Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project of Joe Thornton, Jr., and was dedicated on Memorial Day 2005. The project is now sponsored by American Legion Post 323 and has continued to be a service project of Henry Boy Scout Troop 74 for their charter organization. Veterans' Walk had approximately 145 flags in 2005 its first year. In 2014, there was approximately 950 flags.
CHICAGO
could follow the example of an EAGLE SCOUT from small town HENRY, IL. USA
Think about it ... Chicago should lead the nation by example honoring all veterans that served with a MEMORIAL DAY tribute. Taps, 21 Gun Salute, the names of our heroes displayed on small plaques and a pathway lined with America Flags. NORTHERLY Y ISLAND is a perfect location.
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A walkway to remind us of those who lived and perished serving the United States of America.
Music to TAPS
A way to reflect on the sacrifice for freedom. Maybe next year ... For details on how to accomplish this type of tribute go to www.henryil.com/history-veteranswalk.html The rest is up to the Mayor of Chicago and the City of Chicago. The event could generate pride, remembrance and revenue to sustain a yearly celebration.
Adventures in Cuba By Alex Rose, Environmental Journalist Since the early 1960s, Cuba has been almost entirely off limits as a travel destination for Americans. The end of 2014 saw a major shift in policy including a reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean. As an environmental journalist, this is an exciting development that prompted me to visit this island nation in January of this year, with the nonprofit organization I work for, Ocean Geographic Society. Due to the absence of US-Cuban commerce for the last five decades, arriving in Havana is akin to hopping into a time machine that brings you back to the 1950s where taxicabs are Chevy Delrays and Buick Centuries, and the aromatic scent of thick cigar smoke lingers around every corner. Half a day’s travel southeast from Havana is the world-class marine protected area (MPA) Jardines de la Reina, or Gardens of the Queen. And diving these pristine reefs certainly does make one feel like royalty. Whereas many islands in the Caribbean have suffered greatly at the hands of destructive and irresponsible tourism practices, pollution from unsustainable coastal development, and severe habitat degradation from overfishing, Gardens of the Queen is a diamond in the world of marine ecosystems that has thankfully been protected from all of this. It has been a National Park since 1996 and fewer than 1,000 divers are allowed to visit there annually. Commercial fishing there is illegal, so the species diversity and sheer quantity of marine life is astounding and unlike anything that exists in other parts of the Caribbean today.
An 8-foot croc diving down to rest in some sea grass.
Alex Rose
The only things you can see more of in Cuba than old cars, are sharks. Cuba boasts some of the “sharkiest” reefs in these waters because the ecosystem is so healthy. Sharks, despite how many people still misunderstand them, play an extremely important role in the marine food web. They are top predators that are in charge of keeping the populations of other reef-going animals in check, as well as ridding the ecosystem of sick or injured creatures that are a detriment to the overall health and success of coral reefs. Sharks are what we call “keystone” or “indicator” species because they are a barometer for reef health, so when there are no sharks, it’s clear that the reefs are in trouble. In that case, Cuba’s reefs are about as far from “in trouble” as possible. A diver can easily see three species of sharks in one morning, and then continue the day to photograph crocodiles, sea turtles, tarpons, Goliath groupers, jellyfish, eels, and undoubtedly more sharks.
A beautiful Cassiopea jellyfish catching the sun's rays. A silky shark shimmering in the Caribbean sunlight.
A classic Dodge on the streets of Havana, just one of an estimated 60,000 vintage American cars in Cuba.
Cuba, both topside and underwater, is a photographer’s paradise. I hope that in the coming years we can maintain a balance between relaxed regulations and sustainable tourism so as to preserve this place in its current beauty for the foreseeable future. For more photos from other destinations, visit my website: www.alexroserenaissance.com. Some of my articles are also available through Ocean Geographic Magazine (www.ogsociety.org).
Cuba is known for its pristine fields of elkhorn coral and the many species of fish that use them for shelter.
Cars vs. People: A pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every two hours Innovative, Simple Adjustments to make CHICAGO pedestrian and vehicle traffic safer and flow smoother without so many interruptions.
A pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every two hours and one is injured every seven minutes, according to data compiled by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. In 2012, 4,743 pedestrians were killed and an estimated 76,000 were injured in traffic crashes, NHTSA said. Pedestrians account for 14 percent of all road fatalities.
On ONE WAY streets, moving the location of just one pedestrian crosswalks 12 - 14 feet from the intersection could save lives, prevent accidents and allow traffic to flow smoothly. Moving the crosswalk area would eliminate the vehicle to pedestrian “collision danger zone” and reduce the vehicle to vehicle collision from behind. With heavy pedestrian traffic one vehicle turning can delay or prevent the flow of traffic. Moving the crosswalk would lessen the urge for pedestrians to cut-the-corner.
And while it's getting safer to travel in a car, according to NHTSA statistics, it's getting more dangerous to walk or run. Total traffic crash fatalities declined 22 percent from 2003 to 2012. Pedestrian fatalities were steady from 2003 to 2007, declined in 2008 and 2009 and rose precipitously from 2010 to 2012. In 2012, pedestrian fatalities were up 6 percent from the year before, NHTSA said -- the highest number of deaths in five years.
ONE WAY STREET
ONE WAY STREET
Relocated Crosswalk
1965
An Indictment of the TAX CODE
It Started A Long Time Ago Get government out of health care! Oh, really? How? Eliminate Medicare? No one wants that! And wait – Medicare is the government’s healthcare since 1965. Oh, OK. Let’s eliminate the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)! But wait again. The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) takes health insurance away from the powerful health insurance lobby and places it in “exchanges”. That sounds like increased marketplace competition. Is it? And ACA health insurance requirements resemble the same requirements as mandated car and motorcycle insurance. Is that bad?
Puzzling? President Eisenhower gave us citizens a powerful warning to be aware of the powerful military-industrial complex because such a partnership may become self-supporting and selfperpetuating and thereby make government beholden to such military-industrial complex rather than the other way around. The healthcare-pharmaceutical complex deserves a parallel admonition today. Healthcare and pharmaceutical lobbies already own the minds of many elected officials. Generally, government involvement in business and in our daily lives has had both good and bad consequences. The Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act recovered thousands of square miles of forests from acid rain damages and saved people from breathing disorders common near the steel mills of Gary, Indiana, and Youngstown, Ohio. (I remember as a child holding my breath in the car while driving through Gary, and later in life driving through hundreds of miles of dead, acidified forests in Michigan and elsewhere.) Cheers to government for helping the environment! Unfortunately, however, government involvement in healthcare legislation, especially through the tax code since 1954 and thereafter, did not produce a similar social good. The fundamental problem with healthcare in the marketplace began when well-intentioned elected officials through the tax code gave a gift to society. Post WWII’s economic boom created an ebullient atmosphere wherein well-intentioned-but-misguided legislators believed that
social engineering through the tax code was a great idea. In particular, permitting an
employer to take a deduction for providing health care to employees, yet exempting those employees from income tax for the receipt of health care was a great social innovation. Right? Well, the marketplace consequences decades later have produced a non-competitive health insurance, health services and pharmaceutical marketplace.
V Special Interest
In contrast to the past, the USA now ranks poorly on healthcare, below dozens of developed countries. In healthcare, it seems, more government = less quality. One example of a healthcare procedure that was not connected with government taxing largesse was LASIK for vision. In its early years, LASIK was not covered by ordinary health insurance. LASIK providers had to compete for customers. Techniques improved and costs came down. As a result, over time the costs of LASIK have decreased many fold. By stark contrast, hospital and doctor services have not seen the same competition nor any cost reductions. Inversely, it seems, health costs went up as the tax code became more generous. Get government out of healthcare all at once or incrementally? All at once? Let’s first go back in time to the 1950s during the initial, partial tax subsidies for health insurance, and then let’s go to 1986 and the Tax Reform Act of 1986 signed by President Reagan making the subsidy complete. Once back in time, let’s have Congress vote against IRC 106 which excludes from an employee’s income employer-provided accident and health plans, and against corresponding IRC 162 granting a deduction to employers. Unfortunately, now is not the 1950s, and the current bandits in the Congress and Senate are unlikely to repeal past accounting mistakes that could impair their re-election. Incrementally? Well, the ACA is an effort to get government out of health care incrementally; however, to do so, government is going to get involved in healthcare more than ever. Hmmm. Paradox or …?
Like many government efforts to cure a problem that government itself caused, tax code engineering is likely to result in unforeseen consequences, and may produce new social disasters. For example, unfortunately, maybe exchanges become rigged for price fixing instead of competition – then premiums may go up instead of down, and coverage goes down, not up. And, fortunately, maybe we reduce costs and premium increases by preventing people without health insurance from using the emergency room for “free” routine medical services, free in the sense that we payers subsidize non-payers – then individuals cannot be admitted to a hospital without a health insurance card or doctor’s approval. The ACA will have successes and failures - time will tell
2015,16,17,18
CHICAGO: EMERGING WRITERS & BOOKS
Chicagoland AUTHORS & BOOKS Vigore Chicago Magazine Book Review of
A Tear and A Tear in My Heart
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Vigoré
A collection of Italian immigrant short stories by Bernard J. Bruno By Vigore book reviewer Mark A. Rudis The characters slowly emerge from incomplete to allegorical. Their simplicity helps the reader anticipate the transition. In the big city setting of Chicago in the not too distant past we observe in a peculiar way the simple acts of immigrants coming to America. They need work. They produce Italian families outside the poverty of old Italy and inside the strange, potentially successful city of Chicago, a place that reflects its own set of problems. They have family tribulations and legal problems, and they share their incidents in the English language but use the thoughts and mental constructions of the old Italian way of thinking and speech. Italian-style tragedy or comedy or irony is curious; thus, hopefully, it’s best have known Italy or Italians before entering these pages. Bruno establishes his characters in a manner similar to Italo Calvino as each main character represents a behavior to be observed, a point to be made. Thereafter, a Bruno character becomes everyday real, not surreal. In some stories, the author appears as himself as lawyer for immigrants or their children who try to navigate, for example, unions and labor law. In a story of small Italian bakeries, the union enforcers act not much as thugs but as semi-well-intentioned stooges protecting their interests and source of bread for their families while trying to pull a fast one. The bakers, neither heroes nor adversaries, merely want to bake and not have their loaves thrown into the street, an act which creates shame and humor more than fear. The author is arbiter who understands all sides, though he leaves the reader to observe and make his or her own judgment. A disheveled popcorn street vendor reveals a tragedy travelling long over time from old country to new. Paci, dismally poor and goofy, exemplifies a secret honor and revenge in the same moment, nd his honor is in turn honored in a different way by old friends. Paci interacts with the narrator only with nickel popcorn, remains distant and incommunicative, and yet Paci tells the whole story of the burden of protecting loved ones by not speaking as an act of sacrifice. Few of us learn the value of not speaking, and the sad story of Paci will provoke the reader only to sigh, and will remind us of past sadnesses and past sighs. Bruno writes with an imperfect voice, almost in vernacular. The effect places him closer to the characters; however, at times, this creates an uneasiness, a kind of discomfort arising from knowing too much about a person. At the end of each story Bruno presents a terse judgment, as if the tale was a parable with a moral to the story. But these moral statements seem something else, too. Visualize an old Italian man speaking with gestures, then ending his speech with a shrug - a shrug symbolizing understanding of the human condition. The shrug is the moral of the story.
BOOK REVIEW
CHICAGOLAND AUTHORS & BOOKS is a scheduled feature in Vigoré Chicago. Emerging authors and writers can submit published works to appear and be highlighted in subsequent issues. For submissions visit www.vigoremag.com
Ches Perry is one of Chicago’s original sign painters and muralists who has been painting the signs and walls of our city by hand since 1970. After being trained by the best at the Institute of Lettering & Design in Chicago, he bought Brownie Signs in Evanston. Business was booming through the 1970s and 80s. By the early 90s the computer sign industry took over, turning hand painted signs and murals into a lost art. Ches, however, pushed on and continued to hand paint signs while also offering digitally printed and vinyl signage. He sold the business in 2005 and stayed on as an employee, mainly working with vinyl graphics but missed hand lettering signs. The recent years have brought him much joy to see the resurgence in hand lettering and renewed appreciation for the character and detail that comes with a hand painted sign or mural. In
2012, he opened Right Way Signs with his son Alex in an effort to bring the art of sign painting back to Chicago. Together, they launched a Kickstarter campaign that was successfully funded, doubling its goal and giving Ches the chance to hand letter 270 signs that were created for backers all over the world. Now at the age of 65, he isn’t slowing down any time soon. Ches continues to play ice hockey, a sport that he grew up watching and playing in his hometown of Newton, Newfoundland, Canada. And his craft is in high demand for businesses all over the city like LinkedIn, Twitter, Goose Island Beer Co., Lagunitas Brewing, Glazed & Infused, Heritage General Store, Hotel Lincoln, The Winchester, Dollop Coffee Co., and many more.
the art of sign painting
The recent years have brought Ches much joy to see the resurgence in hand lettering and renewed appreciation for the character and detail that comes with a hand painted sign or mural
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS hockey team IN THE BEGINNING ... On May 1, 1926, the NHL awarded an expansion franchise for Chicago to a syndicate headed by former football star Huntington Hardwick of Boston. At the same meeting, Hardwick arranged the purchase of the players of the Portland Rosebuds of the Western Hockey League for $100,000 from WHL President Frank Patrick in a deal brokered by Boston Bruins' owner Charles Adams. However, only one month later, Huntwick's group sold out to Chicago coffee tycoon Frederic McLaughlin. McLaughlin had been a commander with the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division during World War I. This Division was icknamed the "Blackhawk Division" after a Native American of the Sauk nation, Black Hawk, who was a prominent figure in the history of Illinois. McLaughlin named the new hockey team in honor of the military unit, making it one of many sports team names using Native Americans as icons. However, unlike the military division, the team's name was spelled in two words as the "Black Hawks" until 1986, when the club officially became the "Blackhawks," based on the spelling found in the original franchise documents.
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Welcome... bienvenue...dobrodošli... hoşgeldiniz...powitanie...aloha!
Cay Clark Owner / Founder Cay's Cards US & International Greeting Cards Cay@CaysCards.com
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Love, Kindness, Appreciation, Humor, Silly, Serious, Sentimental www.CaysCards.com • info@CaysCards.com
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The American Triumvirate A Brief history of Three Powerful Figures By Bernard Bruno
Back in time around 70 BC in the heyday birth of the Roman Empire, it is recorded that Caesar joined with two adversaries. The Roman Triumvirate was formed in Rome among Crassus, Pompey, and Julius Caesar. This tripartite force was to create and expand the Roman Empire. Just as the power of those three Romans first combined as clout, so was it also formed around the 1950s among Sydney
Korshak, the mastermind, Anthony Accardo, the backhand power, and James Hoffa, the money bag. The emergence of these three powerful individuals can only be called the American
Triumvirate.
In the course of human events, people of different social classes and reputations crisscross in their paths of good people with the paths of bad people. All nationalities group by ethnic background or inclinations that drive them to their respective common goals. Then there are family traits and genes. Individuals have their own psychological inclinations prompted by social history, economic conditions, and personal yearning. God planned for all birds of one feather to flock together, so men folk, not to be outdone, agreed that all men of one nature and purpose shall join together. The American Triumvirate was formed in Chicago during the 1930s heyday birth of Hollywood’s brightest glimmer when a union for the theatrical stagehands was created. Somehow the union fell into the control of two minor criminal figures, Willie Bioff, “the Pimp”, and George Browne, an extortionist of Fulton Street businesses. During the course of a theatrical stagehand labor strike, Bioff and Browne managed to settle the problem with the Chicago movie chain, Balaban & Katz, by extorting $20,000. Celebrating their criminal feat of success in a drunken state, they blabbered about their success at Chicago’s Club 100, a known Outfit bar. Club 100 was operated by Nick Circella who reported the blabber incident to the Outfit’s “office”, a location which changed from day-to-day, restaurant-torestaurant, tavern-to-tavern. Soon Bioff and Browne were muscled out of the union by the Outfit. Later, making a business decision, then Outfit chief, Paul Ricca, instructed Bioff, Browne and Circella to patch up their differences as each was to take a role as figurehead officers in a new, national union. The new national umbrella organization union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, was cast by the Chicago Outfit consolidating all theatrical employee unions in the United States. With Outfit control, the union management had the power, a modus vivendi, over the theatrical industries. They had a strangle hold – they could call for a strike or could cause a fire.
The union could sabotage the entire movie industry in the United States. One method of extortion was as follows: encourage a problem to surface, escalate the problem to a crisis, but then resolve the problem upon the payment of millions of dollars to the union by a movie company. Problem solved. Eventually some movie industry moguls resisted and referred the extortion schemes to the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS and Department of Justice took interest, investigated and found grounds to indict and convict the officers Bioff, Browne, and Circella who then were sentenced to jail terms. With their conviction as
the fall guys, the three turned witnesses against the Chicago Outfit’s then head, Paul Ricca, who soon was indicted with others, found guilty, and sentenced to jail. Anthony Accardo immediately became the successor as Outfit chief, and then sought help within the judiciary through an official, United States Attorney General Tom Clark, to get Ricca paroled after serving a shorter time. Bioff, Browne, and Circella served their terms and were released under assumed names protection. One of these three later was found and identified by the Outfit. More on that, later. The American Triumvirate: Sidney Korshak, “the master fixer,” was the son of a Jewish, wealthy and successful contractor. Sidney graduated from DePaul University Law School personifying respectability, and he aspired to become a gentleman lawyer in Chicago. Very likely in his early practice he represented Willie ‘the Pimp’ Bioff and George Browne, those underlings in the Outfit cadre who acted as stooge figureheads of the union. By successfully representing other mobsters charged with criminal violations, Sidney soon was shunned by the city’s elite citizens. Though unfavorably stained and stigmatized from his successes with Outfit relationships, he thought to make the best of it. These underworld associations evolved into separate, silent, secret and more intimate relationships with the notorious Outfit. For example, as a lawyer with connections on both sides he could stave off a strike by arranging a sweetheart deal with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“IBT”) and other amalgamated unions. His introduction into union affairs connected him with the unfavorable group who allegedly had a hand in the movie industry extortions. Throughout his lifetime he easily migrated between all classes of society anonymously, stained yet in all legal respects innocent. Employing subtlety and intrigue he gained profit both for the good and for the bad. No one dared charge him with a conflict of interest because everybody gained by his manipulations. Sidney Korshak’s reputation increased when he was instrumental in making million dollar loans from the Teamsters’ Central States
Pension Funds to Las Vegas casinos and simultaneously earning an ownership interest. Soon Sidney was recognized as “The Fixer”. Throughout all of Sidney’s activities he maintained public anonymity while he held a secret partnership in the company of the persons whose reputations were honorable and dishonorable, and who were giants in the business, entertainment, labor, and
Opportunities arose to invest these funds. After Hoffa became affiliated with the Outfit, he appointed Allen Dorfman, an Outfit connected insurance man, to administer mortgages for the construction of the casinos that made Las Vegas a gambling empire, a showplace of the world.
criminal spheres. The
Korshak had the Hollywood and Outfit connection, Accardo controlled the Outfit and the unions, and Hoffa conceded his personal allegiance and that of the IBT to the Outfit. The American Triumvirate operated accordingly for many decades.
list of some of his public clients included Frank Sinatra, Ronald Reagan, MGM chief Kirk Kerkorian, Hilton Hotels, and Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner. The FBI considered Sidney Korshak as “the most powerful lawyer in the world”. Anthony Accardo, “the backhand power,” was the first generation American son of the Sicilian immigrant father, Frank, a shoemaker. In 1921, he was expelled from school at fifteen, then loitered the Chicago streets joining the Circus Café Gang that eventually merged into the Al Capone organization. About 1940 he emerged as the head of the Chicago Outfit right after Paul Ricca and his International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and others were convicted for extortion of the Hollywood movie industry made possible with the testimony of Bioff, Browne and Cilcella flipping as government witnesses. Soon Accardo, more genteel, changed the rough style of Capone to a quieter, more expansive business approach for the Outfit. Whenever in his life time in a situation Tony had his way, he would claim the achievement with a comment, “by way of the shoemaker’s son”, a self-praise to those around him at the time revealing he had power and brains to gain his ways. In general company he was sociable but reserved, never promoting his reputation or pressing his way. It was public knowledge who and what he was, and he never boasted of his power or position in a condescending manner or behaved in an offensive way. Even when filing his income tax, he plainly reported his occupation as ‘gambler’, not an illegal occupation. In all government dealings, he was supreme in his loyalty to the omerta, the oath of secrecy.
James Hoffa, “the bag man,” was a union activist from his early age. During the early organizing stages of the IBT, he participated with the aid of organized crime in the strikes and struggles. He manipulated his rise within and without a notoriously corrupt, troubled, and always in turmoil union to become the national president of the largest American union, emerged from the AF of L, the CIO and became the IBT. During his tenure as union president, his reputation was tarnished by his criminal tampering to fix
a jury and by his suspected bribery of President Nixon,
who before resigning as President of the United States pardoned Hoffa. Expansion of the Teamsters amassed millions of retirement funds.
A footnote from this story’s beginning: In Las Vegas, after Bugsy Siegel was slain allegedly by the Outfit, Gus Greenbaum took over Outfit operations of the casinos. When Willie Bioff was released from prison he was provided a new identity, William Nelson, and went to work for Greenbaum at a Las Vegas casino. Shortly thereafter, one morning when starting his car it exploded and Nelson a/k/a Bioff was silenced. Browne and Circella both slipped into the general populace with new identities and stayed away not wanting anything more to do with past associations. William Roemer, the FBI’s leader against organized crime, considered Anthony
Accardo a
genuine Godfather. In fact, Roemer’s book about the Outfit is titled, The Genuine Godfather. The FBI’s Roemer possessed only incomplete evidence that Korshak was the shady go-between for Accardo with Hollywood and Las Vegas. Korshak cautiously didn’t want to be seen with mob members and didn’t want them in his LaSalle Street law office. All meetings were surreptitious. The FBI never pinned anything on Korshak but inferred his mob connections through telephone records of calls made to his office by mob members. Accardo maintained with Korshak a low profile and a silent relationship for reasons, first, to respect Korshak’s past feelings of experiencing rejection by association from the elite society, and second, to avoid jeopardizing their investments if their relationship were exposed. The disguised arrangement was beneficial to both parties. In public circles, Accardo was treated as persona non grata, but he could use Korshak as a public proxy when appropriate. Korshak and Accardo died quiet, natural deaths in their homes. Hoffa disappeared after a luncheon in Detroit with alleged unknown union people. He never was found. Hoffa was declared dead seven years later. © B. Bruno 2015
by court order
Original Digital Art by Marc Rubin When traditional Fine Art tools are replaced by cursors and pixels and paint is replaced by a seventeen million color digital spectrum the same ideas can be expressed with a new visual appearance. Adding to the notion that commercial art can be included within the range of Fine Art, non-commercial Original Digital Art is now considered a true form of traditional Fine Art. These works are printed rather than painted. It is the use of state of the art pigment printing on varied materials including traditional artist's canvas and pigment based inks and control of printed quantities plus the signature of the artist that establish the monetary value of these works. The following are works from a series called "The 21 Gates of Delirium in the Never Ending Wonderwall of Life" created by artist Marc Rubin. The Wonderwall represents life's barriers and the doorways represent our ability to breach barriers and achieve the reward of success.
A Must See
"Animated Cubism" This internet movie is based on Marc Rubin's love for the works of the
French Cubist Piet Mondian www.marcrubin.com/swiff2.ivnu
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To Be Human What does it mean? What does it become? How do I walk through life? Why do I need to try? Why do I need to live? Why do I need to be on earth? Questions man (humans) has asked me for eons, questions the animals have thought, questions the universe has imagined. Questions, always questions, but man never seems to find the answers that will make them happy. Man always seeks answers, always asking what is life, what should I do in life, what can I have in life, what can I get in life, but seldom are the questions on how to live life, seldom on how to excel in the honor of life. Many have asked and seeked long for ones that truly understand the process and the challenge of the life experience. A great majority seem to think that life has some defined purpose, some defined plan, some defined arrangement that must make sense or it is not the proper way. Life was not intended to be this way, it was intended to be an experience that defines a spirit, a definition of every element in the universe. Nothing in life is identical, nothing in life is the same, nothing in life can be duplicated, it all has uniqueness. Yet man seems to seek to find only answers that other people place in front of them, only answers that are easy to see, only answers that are not difficult to sort. The true answers are in the deep inner sprit of one’s soul, it’s a place where so many have a hard time to find. So I ask all who seek answers, what is it to be, what is it to exist, what is to be human. So many philosophers, so many spiritualists, so many priests and so many deeply loving people have asked the question and only few have been able to find the true answer. If you are to understand yourself, if you are to see God, if you are to see your soul, if you are to learn, to love, to walk in the path that brings salvation, what must you become, what must you be and why should you be it? It is very true that this is a journey, a journey through an existence, a journey that reveals who you are. How is truth found, how is truth understood and how is truth revealed. It is done through the process of life, the process of existence, the process of life and death. Some life is short and some life is long, some life is meaningful and important and some life are just a waste. How does one decide which that they will be, how does one decide which they should follow, how do I find the path I need to search. How do I justify my existence, how do I see and find the truth? Every day, every minute I hear these thoughts. Why can’t they see the answers, why can’t they find the truth, because they don’t understand the reason for life? They don’t understand the reason to life, they don’t understand the process that life servers.
How many exist, how many work, how many pray and hope, how many try to survive and find some meaning to what they do. Almost all, very few, live to live, to experience, to exist, to love they self, to cherish in what they do, to honor in what they do, to find a strong path that leads directly to their own heart. How can the heart be found when it is full of fear and uncertainty? How can the heart be found when they only search a few minutes each day? How can the truth be seen if they only want to feel happy. The truth is in the experience, the discovery, in the flaws, in the cracks of humanity. Without the cracks and holes, without the spaces and lack of understanding then there is no chance to see the truth. The truth of becoming human and the truth of seeing the existence of one’s soul. If one person can see the truth all the universe will open and shout, the truth is the very core that I build life on. The human that’s exists now is self-centered, and oblivious to man’s true struggle. The current being only knows his needs, and feel it’s a great act of God to help others. It is truly sad, man must help others in order to see who he is, he must see others in order to see him self and his true core. In the future when mans knows himself better he will see that he is every man and every man his him and he will not want to harm anothers. It’s way off in the future, but it is also now, now what is important is where each person exist in the time frame of time. It is so is hard to say what is human when you view from one point of evolution and the point man is on the time line. Man does not understand the beginning and the end, as people only know where they stand. If you want to truly understand yourself look at it in the perspective of where you stand in the overall development of man. When you look at it that way you will realize that man is no where for if you are at the end you will not see the beginning. If you are in the middle you won’t see the beginning or end. So how can man truly understand what is man if he cant see the whole experience. So if you want to truly understand man you must see the whole picture and to see the whole picture you must be God. So man truly will never understand what it is to be human, only God can understand the true course and definition of human. So now, you might accept that understanding human is not possible. It is possible for man to only understand the moment they exists, the only moment that they can see. Man focuses on where he was and who he was, but cannot see where he will be. Many spiritualist say learn who you were to understand who you are today. The truth is only see what you need to learn so you can be a fuller person in the future. Many can see the past, only a few can see the future. There have been astrologists that write passages of the future, but the truth, the one thing I want them to see is them. What will they be in the future? Nobody has understood this concept and in these words I want people to begin to realize what the understanding of human is truly. Quite simple! I want man to see himself the very next minute he exists. This will show man the real truth and if they can do this, they will understand what is human and who I Am. Written by Paul Furio
The UNITED STATES is an EXCEPTIONAL country. There are countless exceptional American Citizens that have flourished under the flag of FREEDOM. Meet just THREE out of thousands exceptional Chicagoans enjoying FREEDOM and sharing thier TALENTS with CHICAGO, the COUNTRY and the WORLD.
JOHN HOGAN
DAVID SPECTER
Executive Chef John Hogan of the River Roast restaurant located on the Chicago River. The River Roast is a great riverfront spot to eat and drink. One of the best restaurant on the river for a contemporary American satisfying cuisine and music enjoyment. A wonderful combination to delight your senses and palate. Born in Chicago, John Hogan's love of food began when as a child he watched his mother prepare meals for his father. Chef Tony Mantuano - James Beard award winner and Executive Chef John Hogan’s share their passion through thier cooking. The music on the menu the day Vigore arrived was Dave Specter,“Message in Blue”. riverroastchicago.com
Chicago native, Delmark recording artist recently released his tenth album. Blues guitarist, bandleader and producer Dave Specter has earned an international reputation as one of the premier talents on the Chicago blues scene. Since 1985 Specter has performed regularly at top Chicago blues and jazz clubs, festivals and concert halls throughout the USA. Dave has toured internationally with performances in Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Spain, England, Holland, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, Luxembourg, Mexico and Canada. Dave's latest album, Message in Blue features special guests Otis Clay, Brother John Kattke and Bob Corritore. It's currently topping the Roots Music Report's blues charts and has received rave, 4 star reviews from Downbeat Magazine and All Music Guide.
315 N La Salle Dr Chicago, IL 60654 (312) 822-0100
The history of a developing country that transformed into the UNITED STATES
of AMERICA, encompassed billions of lives. It can be compared to an individual’s life with all the experiences including the Bad, the Embarrassing, the Good and the Great. In history, the United States of America’s journey has been short and hard and the people have endured well. This process of evolution or life has taught many things, encountering many things liked and many things disliked. The United States has a life. Life must be lived in each moment, not in the past and not in the far future. Plan for today, live for today and prepare for the future. The future could be one day or 100 years, either way its need to be prepared for, in thoughts of desires or outcomes.
A LITTLE WISDOM
OF LIFE There is no point in life where despair or disgust should exist, for everything, every moment all leads to the next moment. There are many circumstances in the history of a country with challenging moments, moments of total despair, and moments of total confusion. When people review a country’s life (history) as they would review their own life, they would realize the difficult times were the moments that shaped the life journey. Many people do not look at the life of a country or individual life the proper way. They live in the past, they don’t live for each moment, for if you live for each moment you can define your life and the way you would like it to be. Move forward. Do not allow the past to enslave you.
V Special Interest
Scott McPherson Scott McPherson is founder and President of McPherson Public Affairs Group (McPAG) providing strategic public affairs and public relations counsel to a wide variety of corporate and association clients. Led by 30-year public affairs veteran Scott McPherson, McPAG offers the following professional services: Strategic Communications Planning and Implementation, Media Relations, Crisis Communication, Multi-state Grassroots Public Affairs Campaigns, Legislative Monitoring, Lobby Support and Management, Third Party Ally Recruitment, Education and Mobilization. If you face a challenginging set of public affairs or public relations issues, McPAG is ready to assist you. Scott is a founding sponsor of the Wilderness Classroom Organization. The Wilderness Classroom connects thousands of students with live expeditions throughout the world. The class improves core academic skills like reading and critical thinking while, helping the explorers solve problems, learning about ecosystems and interacting with the adventurers and scientists in the field. WCO’s main objective is to educate elementary and middle school students about the world’s wildest places, rich history and varied cultures.
‘Reflections Beneath Driftwood’ 2015 Light is energy. As humans we respond physically to the play of light entering us through our eyes. In art, strong contrasts of lights and darks attract the viewer’s eye to parts of a painting or photograph that the artist considers most meaningful. My current series or paintings and photographs, titled ‘Reflections Beneath Driftwood’, explore the changing landscape of Abiquiu Dam, in Abiuiu, New Mexico, caused by a twenty year drought. They also capture large pieces of petrified driftwood that have blown off of the boulders surrounding the dam that have landed into the water. From 2008- 2015, I have documented the amount of driftwood that has been exposed to the light, because of the significant water level drop at Abiqui Dam, which started long before 1995, when I first started visiting the dam. Back then you could jump off of the large boulders into deep water without touching the bottom of the dam. As of 2015, you have to walk 400 yards from the boulders, on dry land, to get to the water’s shallow edge; once there it is another 400 yards before reservoir water is over your head. Water is a life force. It is not only cleansing, refreshing, revitalizing, but it renews, sustains and creates life. We cannot live without light or water. As an artist the challenge for me is to provide an effective balance between appearance and understanding. Light as well as water create drama, movement, texture, purpose, place and feeling. Lights and darks can message our emotions softly or they can abrasively repulse us with intensity. We cannot escape the purpose that light and water play in our existence. My current photographs and paintings explore multiple surfaces as well as the illusion of the reflection that creates space, movement and composition underneath the water. The surfaces of my paintings achieve a range of realistic textural effects: petrified wood, water, rocks; and bones are all described through contrasts of tone. I use layers of thinned paint to create the illusion of texture in my work.
Paint is also used to break up the surface and add visual depth to the pieces. In the photographs, the driftwoods’ reflection capture not only light, space, volume, colors, textures, but shapes, as well as reflect the stillness, or wind currents, on the surface of the water. These large pieces of driftwood are stunning figures on top of the water with a complex visual story underneath. In this new series, light and shadow structures create emotional drama which plays upon an inanimate object like driftwood, that might otherwise seem unremarkable—by highlighting, for instance, the twist in a piece of driftwood which creates an intentional illusion of Artist Statement volume through a single light Jennifer Scott 2015 source. In the paintings the www.jenniferscottartist.com reflection becomes a playground to explore, light and undertones. The composition becomes rich with complexity, both from the subject itself and from the light source which creates the reflection. Lights and darks are interdependent and inseparable. Without their contrasts we would be unable to see or understand the world. Lastly, the concept of a ‘series’ is essential; because, each image becomes an opportunity to cause an emotional shift in the viewer, or a subtle shift in the conversation.
My hope is to stimulate different questions and illicit different emotions about the content to move the viewer beyond their ‘comfort zone’ in responding to the artwork. As an artist, I believe we need to be at the forefront of complex issues; pushing the boundaries of exposing truth, creating understanding and acknowledging our past, present and future, no matter what the subject matter is. www.jenniferscottartist.com
Technology: Silent Killer of Communication By Alexis Olson
Communication is depleting, conversing is a must. If we don’t talk, this generation will become a bust. Sure we will have technological advances, but all the relationships you pass will never have any chances. Sending a text bubble into the air isn’t communication: there is no emotion or confrontation. It’s just a few words laid out on a screen-kind of like an essay but a little less extreme.The point is straight forward, but the words don’t mean as much. It’s like having a blank canvas without a paintbrush. I don’t want to live in a world where life is on screen and where talking to a stranger is looked at as extreme. Phone calls should not be obsolete, and a text message shouldn’t make you feel complete. We’ve become so close to an LED screen that it’s given names like baby, and protected like the queen. We live life through selfies, pictures, and snapchat stories, but we don’t live in the moment- and frankly the moments are getting boring. Now don’t get me wrong- technology can be helpful, but when a child’s first words are wifi we should be remorseful. Technology isn’t life; we shouldn’t portray it as that. Family and friends are more important as a matter of fact. There are more than 170 million of us using social media daily: that number is extremely high and makes me think we are getting lazy. The average young adult has 649 Facebook friends and that popularity is just not reality.
The Facebook era should come to an end. Now that I have your attention, is it safe to say that many of you are unaware of the negative impact of technology on you today? I’ll be glad to inform you of the situations at hand: just lend me your ears and give me a chance. Look around this moment, go on take a look. I guarantee you will see someone with their face in their phone rather than a book. On average a child is given a phone at age 8. I don’t mean any hate, but I can’t relate. Cell phones were unimportant when I was small: heck I’m only seventeen and I remember the phone being attached to the wall. Does anyone find it strange that stranger’s walk past you everyday without sending a smile or hello your way? It’s a bit embarrassing that a cell phone can be smarter than you when Siri or Cortana beep in to give you a clue. Conversations have become awkward and mostly one-sided; when we don’t talk face-to-face people are just less exciting. As generations went on society shifted - now let’s all take a moment and give it some recognition. Adjust your lives; change the world one word at a time; just move away from your phone, and talk to someone new. You could be changing the world! Wow who knew?
Remember when people talked
Communication is an art form to appreciate and cherish
1962, Frances V. Furio Secretary to the Woodridge Chief of Police, Joel Kagann
Some do and many don’t
Is
Chicago becoming another
New York City?
International Artist Marc Rubins, born and raised in Chicago created Chicago Art reflecting the city as it looked decades ago. A time when the city shared its’ beautiful views with residents, businesses and visitors. Soon a limited number of corporations and condo owners will own the prime views of the Chicago river. The home city appeal and soothing river views are being reduced to partial views. No other city in the world has the rivers branches, bridges and spectacular views.
On July 18th, construction began on a 48-story luxury residential tower in Chicago. The first of three towers, part of the larger project, called Wolf Point .
Marc Rubin’s “Chicago River View” 1996 - Pop Cubism. Marc Rubin‘s Chicago images are available as reprints on poster and on canvas through Vigore Chicago magazine.
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lindseykatemeyer@gmail.com lindsey-kate.com
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lindseykatemeyer@gmail.com lindsey-kate.com
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Lindsey Kate, Back Cover Artist
Fashion Illustration is often a unique choice for a Fashion Design major. For many people that pursue that course of education, illustration is not always a favorite aspect, but for me it was different. To pursue starting your own business or offering a unique service is a somewhat scary thing to do, but it is extremely rewarding. With the support of my family, friends, and teachers, I was able to pursue my dream.
Throughout my education at Columbia College, I studied Fashion Design as well as Art History. I was extremely interested in the way that these two subjects could be combined. I have always been interested in Historic Fashion Illustration, since that is where couture design, advertising, and almost all clothing productions started from. Not only is it an applied art form, but I believe it can also become fine art. I also love abstract painting, and these passions are what gave me the idea to combine fine art with illustration in my most recent work. In the pieces you see, I focused on the technique of fashion illustration, while focusing on the color combinations and feelings those evoke for each piece.
My education throughout Columbia was extremely beneficial in learning about the fashion industry. The teachers that Columbia hires are active in their field, or have had an extremely interesting career history, and learning from these real life experiences is incomparable. Right after graduation, I decided to put everything I had into this career. I figured if I wasn't all in, I would never get to where I wanted to be. I knew that it would be challenging, as much of the work is freelance, but the most rewarding things often are.
What really helped me begin was a recommendation by a teacher I had while at Columbia. A man looking for in an illustrator for his new line came to the school for guidance and one of the names she gave him was mine. He contacted me and we began one of my first commissioned illustration jobs.
I was so grateful for that recommendation and it really solidified how important my hard work throughout college became. Standing out in this field isn't easy, but I have made it my goal to be remembered for my promptness, precise work, and creating a happy client for each and every project. Recommendations and returning clients, are just as important as advertising in this business, which I find is true for many selfemployed individuals. As more and more clients contacted me for work, I began to truly believe that I could pursue my dream as my career.
In order to spread my work throughout the country, and across the world, I have a website of my portfolio that I created at www.lindsey-kate.com. In addition, I manage the social media for my company through a Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, and Linked In accounts. My work is sold on Etsy and Vango, and of course custom work is always welcomed. I have found that one of the most important ways to keep my work and business interesting is to keep a current portfolio, continually adding new work and practicing with new media or techniques. In addition, showing in galleries and art shows continues to keep this form of art current and exciting for viewers and patrons.
I hope, through this and in the future, I can continue to introduce this art form to new people and new businesses. So far, I have been published on blogs, in catalogs, and magazines, and have had work used throughout the world, but I still have many more goals within this business that I would love to attain. This keeps me passionate, curious, and always striving for new opportunities.
I sincerely hope that my path can inspire others to pursue their next goal, especially if it may seem scary or unrealistic. Even a small step made every day towards your dreams will be worth it and you never know where it will take you. All the hard work and the unknown will one day pay off in the form of being able to do what you love.
Vigoré C
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(Vee-gor-ray: Vigor, Vitality)
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“Capturing the Art of Life”