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George Spink
I am a writer from Chicago who has lived in Los Angeles since 1990.
About Me
I was born (1940) and raised in Berwyn, a Chicago suburb about ten miles southwest of the Loop. I grew up hearing big band music because my mother and her two sisters who lived with us played listened to it on the radio all the time. I began collecting my own records in 1949 after my dad bought me my own portable phonograph player.
My collection grew and grew during high school and college, when I developed a strong interest in jazz. I graduated from Northwestern in 1963.
I lived in the Old Town neighborhood from 1964 until 1986, settling there after a year of graduate school. Two miles due north of downtown Chicago (the Loop), Old Town in the mid-1960's was a place with plenty of young people, cheap apartments, bars, restaurants, and night clubs. I worked at one of them, Big John's, from late 1964 until it closed in September 1966. Big John's was a legendary Chicago blues club that proved pivotal in the careers of young white musicians such as Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Nick Gravenites, Corky Siegel, Jim Schwall, Barry Goldberg, and Steve Miller. Big John's also featured black blues bands from the south side such as Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Little Walter, and, from the west side, Howlin' Wolf. I loved working at Big John's and living in Old Town, which remained my home for most of the next 22 years.
After Big John's closed, I began working as a writer, which I continue to do to this day. Some years have been prosperpous, others have not. But I love writing and I am happy I stuck with it. Over the years, I have written for trade magazines, consumer magazines, newspapers, big and small corporations, public relations firms, -- and, best of all, for my own enjoyment!
I retired in September 2001. Since then, I devote part of each day to working on my big band web site, Tuxedo Junction, at http:tuxjunction.net/, and my interactive, member-driven blog, The Palomar, at http://thepalomar.blogspot.com/.
Feel free to email me: [email protected]