Author Archives: Marianna Beck

That was no wrestling match, that was art.

A Conversation With the Guru of Rock Reading

The Aragon Ballroom, with its mosaic tile and molded plastic towers, its double-tiered balconies and mock-stained-glass windows, proves that it is possible for a Moorish palace to collide with a German Bierstube and survive. Since its completion in 1926 at a cost of $1.5 million, the Aragon, at 1106 W. Lawrence, has seen everything from […]

Until recently, I thought channeling was what my five-year-old did to the TV on Saturday mornings looking for the Smurfs. But I was wrong. Really wrong. As wrong as the guy who listened to the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and heard “the girl with colitis goes by.” But I digress. Thanks to […]