Speechifying
Lotta public speaking in the next few weeks. Most are local. If you’re interested in technology and urbanism come on out for a conversation. University of Illinois Chicago College of Urban Planning...
View Article“Can you switch to Pandora?”
Beat Research Chicago continues. And wow is it fun. But can you determine where in this set I was asked to stop by the bouncer? (I did stop. Quintessential needle scratching off the record. Finished...
View ArticleShovel Ready
Heading into winter late last year we were told that it was going to be one for the record books. And so it has been. Temperatures have yet to go into minus territory and there are towns in Texas with...
View ArticleThe Brick Brothers
Almost exactly a year ago my sons asked me what “investing” was. A strange question from a 9- and 7-year-old, but I was impressed by the curiosity and it seemed timely given the banking implosion. I...
View ArticleSupertramp on the brain
I just realized I love Supertramp and always have. WTF. What else do Ilove that I don’t know that I do? — John Tolva (@Immerito) March 21, 2012 Really the only way to get this out of my head was to...
View ArticleDrums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
Mix from last night’s always-enjoyable overlap of Beat Research and Urban Geek Drinks. A few older tracks (and a K-TEL easter egg) laced into the stew. Enjoy. John Tolva at Beat Research Chicago, April...
View ArticleNegril, Jamaica
May 2012. Eight couples of college friends all turning 40 this year, a 16th wedding anniversary, rum, reefs, and a commemorative mix of reggae and its descendants, below. Jamakeup by Immerito on...
View ArticleScorched wheat
In 2007, as my parents and I were exploring the area around my family’s home town in southern Italy, we drove through an ominous stretch of landscape. It was Illinois farmland meets Mauna Loa, cropland...
View ArticleGiftmix 2012
Keeping the flame alive, here’s the year-end giftmix. You know the drill. It ain’t the best of 2012 and it’s barely generically coherent, but these are the tracks that either (a) made people on the...
View Article(X * X = Chicago). Solve for X.
Recently, as we sometimes do to fill time, my family and I were asking each other trivia questions. My six-year-old daughter piped up with one from left field that made me laugh out loud — then had us...
View ArticleWhat the public way means in the networked age
Let’s start here. I want our relationship with public objects to feel like this. It does not feel like this currently. But let’s back up to a street scene in Chicago in the late 1930′s for context....
View ArticleLost in Space, Ascent Stage edition
Got the urge to muck with the Lost in Space theme recently. I loved the re-runs of that show growing up (and have deliberately forgotten that a movie was made of it in the 90′s). The theme I used began...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Negril, Jamaica
May 2012. Eight couples of college friends all turning 40 this year, a 16th wedding anniversary, rum, reefs, and a commemorative mix of reggae and its descendants, below. Jamakeup by Immerito on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Scorched wheat
In 2007, as my parents and I were exploring the area around my family’s home town in southern Italy, we drove through an ominous stretch of landscape. It was Illinois farmland meets Mauna Loa, cropland...
View ArticleGiftmix 2012
Keeping the flame alive, here’s the year-end giftmix. You know the drill. It ain’t the best of 2012 and it’s barely generically coherent, but these are the tracks that either (a) made people on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
(X * X = Chicago). Solve for X.
Recently, as we sometimes do to fill time, my family and I were asking each other trivia questions. My six-year-old daughter piped up with one from left field that made me laugh out loud — then had us...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What the public way means in the networked age
Let’s start here. I want our relationship with public objects to feel like this. It does not feel like this currently. But let’s back up to a street scene in Chicago in the late 1930′s for context....
View ArticleLost in Space, Ascent Stage edition
Got the urge to muck with the Lost in Space theme recently. I loved the re-runs of that show growing up (and have deliberately forgotten that a movie was made of it in the 90′s). The theme I used began...
View Article10,000
I’m coming up on my tenth anniversary as a Flickr user and just posted my 10,000th photo. Actually it is not a photo but a short clip of the CTA Holiday Train rolling in to Belmont station on the...
View ArticleGiftmix 2013 (Holiday Edition)
As 2013 winds down it is time for the annual reliving-making-cassette-mixes-for-friends moment. It’s really for me. I’m unwilling to give up on that visceral joy of stitching tunes together as a gift....
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