SIDEWALKS
BY RICK KOGAN
Artists in residence
TWO CHICAGO CREATIVE SPIRITS HAVE THRIVED IN MICHIGAN–AND SO HAS MICHIGAN
It has been six years since Rick Tuttle burst on the art scene at the Union League Club with a showing of some of the books that he had transformed, with clever covers, slipcases and other embellishments, into one-of-a-kind works of art.
He had been doing this in relative privacy for a decade beforehand, but “burst” might be overdoing it a bit, since the show was seen by only a handful of people and Tuttle is nothing if not aw-shucks unassuming. “It all started because I couldn’t afford to collect fine editions of books,” Tuttle said at the opening of that exhibition. “I would buy these crummy old editions, with tattered covers and broken spines, and I just one day was compelled to mend them.”
His creations were so striking, unique and beautiful that anyone who saw them then has not been able to forget them. And you will see some of them when you walk into Tuttle’s new bookstore in Three Oaks, that most delightfully artsy town in southwestern Michigan.
This is the second “B” Books store. The first was a few blocks away and considerably smaller. Here he has the space for more books, as well as records and what he calls “beatnik stuff.” There’s also room to display his increasingly vibrant paintings and to host monthly gatherings (as in Osgood’s photo), which attract artists who live and vacation in the area.
But getting the store open has not been easy, as zoning issues have had to be hashed out with the town. The store opened and then closed, but Tuttle anticipates all will be well by the time you read this.
Three Oaks is roughly 75 miles from the Pilsen loft where Tuttle lived with his wife, the incomparable artist/actor/teacher Donna Blue Lachman, for many years. That space opened onto a courtyard that looked like something you’d find in New Orleans. The couple left Chicago for Michigan in 2004, and the house in which they now live opens onto a dazzling tree-pond-flower-filled landscape.
Understandably, they have been happy in this place, their creative juices flowing faster than ever. Lachman has been teaching and writing. Her one-woman show, “On Death and Gardening,” played in March at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse in Chicago, and she will perform “The Thirst: A Solo Work for Jew and Clarinet” in July and August at the Acorn Theater in Three Oaks.
Tuttle has been doing more writing too. Last year, he was named the Poet Laureate of Three Oaks, selected from 50 applicants in a blind competition. The job, which calls for Tuttle to write original poetry to mark special occasions and events, doesn’t pay anything but it has made Tuttle the talk of the town.
As Allen Turner, the chairman of the regional Poetry Board and originator of the Three Oaks Poet Laureate position, told the local paper, “Rick writes the most amazing poems. He’s truly gifted and talented in so many ways, and we are privileged to have him among us.”
rkogan@tribune.com
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Trippin’ on trypto
AMERICANS BEMOAN THEIR lack of sleep almost as much as they gripe about taxes. Stress makes us lie awake, stressed about feeling stressed. Though some experts say we really don’t need eight hours of sleep a night–and, in fact, may live longer if we get less–we feel cheated if we’re deprived of the hallowed eight.
To that end, we often take sleeping pills. Some 43.1 million prescriptions for these hypnotics were written in 2005, including the new generation of sleep-inducing drugs, such as Ambien and Lunestra. Then came reports that the drugs can cause odd behaviors–like driving, binge eating, urinating in public and fighting with cops, all while slumbering.
Such side effects have had a side effect: the recent comeback of L-tryptophan, the amino acid in turkey and milk that tends to make you drowsy. Tryptophan was banned in this country in 1991 after an outbreak of a deadly auto-immune illness was traced to a batch of L-tryptophan from a Japanese manufacturer.
After a long period, during which the FDA said it was unsure whether the outbreak was due to a contaminant or L-tryptophan itself, the agency loosened the ban in 2001. Now, as problems arise with Ambien, etc., tryptophan products are flooding the market, including Blue Zzzzs, Xenadrine Sleep and Cyence, three new over-the-counter products from Phoenix Laboratories, which claims they pack the wallop of “more than 15 servings of turkey.” Says marketing chief Robin Fromme: “These are a natural-based alternative for consumers who want to go somewhere other than [to] a pharmaceutical product.” Company consultant Dr. Stephen Lamm cautions that trypto is not as strong as Rx drugs, and only works “25-30 percent of the time.” But you’re less likely to take a joyride while snoozing.
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social studies
LIGHTING THE WAY I
A new species has emerged: eco-friendly lounge lizards. Some of the best-looking members opened Lumen, an ex-warehouse in the Fulton Market district made clean and green with bamboo, stainless steel and an LED lighting and video system. It’s hard to be a barfly at Lumen, whose expansive bar lacks stools, but there’s lots of modular seating. “Anyone can open a bar with stools but this is different,” said Nick Podesta, a partner in the organic venture. A portion of the night’s proceeds go to The Land Connection, which promotes organic farming.
First Lighters: Mesirow Financial’s Les Coney; B96’s Eddie Volkman; Tessa Gillenwater of Louis Vuitton; and Hard Rock’s Onya Jones, possibly checking out the competition.
LIGHTING THE WAY II
“I like Rosie [O’Donnell] and I think she’s funny to watch, and I have no idea why she’s leaving,” said National Geographic Channel and Oprah correspondent Lisa Ling. The former “View” co-host could shed no light on the Rosie rumors during her talk at the Global Alliance for Africa’s fundraiser, “Be a Light in the Life of a Child” at the Grand Ballroom. She was in Chicago to bring attention to efforts to improve the lives of thousands of African children, especially those orphaned by AIDS.
–Reported by Celia Daniels
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roamin’ numerals
10
NUMBER OF ANIMALS ADDED TO THE U.S. ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST PER YEAR UNDER GEORGE W. BUSH. UNDER BILL CLINTON, IT WAS 64, AND UNDER GEORGE H.W. BUSH, IT WAS 59.
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sunday 9:37 a.m.
BY CHARLES LEROUX
WARREN LEVIN, 55, PRESIDENT of the Lincoln Park Archery Club, is at the range north of Belmont Harbor practicing for a summer of shooting competitions. “I’ve got a photo of me when I was 2, holding a bow my dad made,” he said. “I’ve been into it for that long.” A good set of equipment, like the one he uses now, can run $2,000 (his scope alone was $300) but a starter set can be a 10th of that. That’s not bubble gum in his mouth; he’s blowing up balloons to shoot at from 60 yards away. Each balloon is about the size of a plum. “Without the scope,” he said, “they’d look very, very small.” When he’s not shooting, where does he work? “Target,” he said.
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the city quiz
HARRY’S CAMEO
Harry Sternberg was commissioned to paint “Chicago–Epoch of a Great City” by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture in 1937. He included a self-portrait: He’s the scientist at the far left here–which shows only part of a much larger mural. Where are we?
US Postal Service Lakeview Station, 1343 W Irving Park Rd.
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FOR THE RECORD
Here is an exercise for you: Stand across Michigan Avenue from the John Hancock Center and look up. Take in how incredibly high the roofline is (1,127 feet). Now imagine something nearly twice that high and you’ll have a sense of how tall the 2,000-foot Chicago Spire will be if it’s built. Now imagine something that tall standing where Lake Michigan and the Chicago River meet, dwarfing the rest of the skyline. Maybe this was the mayor’s real reason for razing Meigs Field.
