Phone Messages

Some historians claim the mass killing of cats in medieval Europe led to the Black Death. These days, researchers have found domestic cats fail at urban rat control while harming billions of native birds.

Chinese restaurants came to the United States in the 19th century with Cantonese migrants who worked in mines and built railroads. But Chinese restaurants that were also Vegetarian did not emerge until the 1980s.

For the AACM 20th anniversary celebration, Cecil Taylor performed at Mandel Hall with Roscoe Mitchell, Douglas Ewart, Malachi Favors and Steve McCall. After the concert he recorded a station ID for WHPK.

Somewhere in the Wayne National Forest, a massive blue spruce memorializes a Florida flea market dealer from Fond Du Lac Wisconsin.

The Polk-A-Lay-Lee was a ukulele like instrument created for Polk Brothers Electronics in 1965. One could buy it for five dollars with the purchase of a tape recorder or TV.

Scholars debate the origins of the term y'all. It's usage typically but not always marks one as from the South.

In 1980s Chicago, Hyde Park's Promontory Point had a semblance of racial integration, but most of the city was marked by a history of severe segregation imposed by violence and racist institutions.

The University of Chicago's first radio station began broadcasting to Burton Judson Courts in 1945. In 1951 they extended to the entire campus as WUCB, in 1968 moved to the FM dial as WHPK and in 1985 increased their power from 10 to 100 watts.

In the late 80s, the artist Garry Hayes brought a couple of lucky kids to the happiest place on earth: a legendary Minneapolis bar called the Gay 90s.

In the Spring of 1989, a fatwa by the Iranian Leader called for the killing of Salman Rushdie. During his first few months in hiding, Rushdie moved dozens of times. Could one of these hideouts have been my studio apartment in Hyde Park?

The Art Institute of Chicago has one of the most highly rated art schools in the country. But is going to art school worth it?

Arthur Mann, whose class on American Social Movements was always packed, researched and practiced the ideals of urban order.

Les Misérables has been on London's West End continuously since 1985. Its first Chicago performance came in the Spring of 1989 at the Auditorium Theater, and at least two tickets went unused.

An old barn on the south side of Chicago's Midway Plaisance became the center of artistic creativity throughout the twentieth century.

Living above Harold's Chicken Shack can have surprising effects on a vegetarian.

When playing four square at Hyde Park's Promontory Point, be prepared to address the physical needs of toddlers.

Watching nineteen seventies television could be compared to eating cheeseburgers, but its screen angels should be taken seriously.

Can a 1980s answering machine function like a Star Trek transporter, moving me through space depending on the caller?

Walking west on Chicago's Grand Avenue provides ample time to formulate rap rhymes.

Chicago in the 1920s could be an exciting place for a young, church going woman of small town Michigan.