Touching Base

Boy, has it really been more than two months since my last entry on this blog? I suppose it's about time that I touch base. Appropriately enough, I'm announcing my latest essay to be posted to the Lovable Losers Literary Revue, which is titled "Touching base with the last Cubs' champions." Read it and weep for me and my sad, pathetic life.

Speaking of the Cubs, I'd be remiss if I didn't put out a formal invite ot the last Lovable Lovable Losers Literary Revue of this inaugural 2008 season. It is this coming Monday, Sept. 8, u:30 p.m., at our regular stomping ground, El Jardin Restaurant, 3335 N. Clark St., Chicago.

After six straight losses, one can't help but fear that the Cubs have fallen victim to the September Swoon and that damned bearded goat. So who you gonna call? Curse Busters, of course.

It's hard to believe but we started this thing way back in April and now five months later, the Cubs are clinging to first like the withering September vines to the red bricks. It's our last chance to save the Cubs from themselves, and whatever mystical forces that are out there haunting them. So to end the Lovable Losers Literary Revue series, we're going to get to the heart of the Cubs Curse and, hopefully, put a stake in it and help to turn this 100^th anniversary into the Next Year we've been waiting for. We'll pray, munch on goat cheese, and even summon the spirits using a Ouija board.

My contribution to the night is Scapegoats, a short essay written in the voice of an angry goat, which will be read by a professional actor (only because we couldn't bring a live goat into El Jardin).

Hope to see you there.

Randy (aka Goat Boy)

Event: Lovable Losers Literary Revue: Curse Busters

Date: Monday, Sept. 8, 2008

Time: 7:30 PM

Location: El Jardin Restaurant, 3335 N. Clark St., at Buckingham Place (773)528-6775). El: Red, Brown, Purple (rush hrs) to Belmont. Bus: 22 (24 hrs), 77, 152.

Cost: FREE

Description: Authors Rick Kogan ("A Chicago Tavern: A Goat, A Curse, and The American Dream), James Finn Garner ("Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales of Our Lives and Times") and Stuart Shea ("Wrigley Field: The Unauthorized Biography") and Lin Brehmer, morning disc jockey on Chicago's progressive music station WXRT, take on the Cubs Curse, from the bearded goat to the black cat to Bartman, in the Sept. 8 Lovable Losers Literary Revue. Joining them in this epic battle against the September Swoon will be poet Sid Yiddish on the Ouija board, crooner Dave Impey and actor Joseph Tokarz. The curse-busting festivities begin at 7:30 p.m. El Jardin serves up free nachos and $3 beer specials.

The Lovable Losers Literary Revue, a hootenanny of Chicago writers, musicians, film makers, actors and bums, will celebrate and mourn the Cubs’ long losing streak. The evening will begin with a toast and end with a prayer, and in between there will be literary readings, historical reenactments, trivia contests, singing, sacrifices and general rooting. Our home base is the back room of El Jardin Restaurant, 3335 N. Clark St., three blocks south of Wrigley Field. For more information, including a complete schedule, visit www.lovablelosersliteraryrevue.com

Update on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 01:44PM by Randy Richardson

When the news is bad about the Cubs, you know it's got to be good for those who write about the team. So it should come as no surprise that the news wire service Reuters picked up my essay "Touching base with the Cubs' last champtions".