{"id":448412,"date":"2026-05-27T21:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/448412\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T21:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:53:08","slug":"late-artist-tony-fitzpatrick-works-set-for-sale-the-rundown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/448412\/","title":{"rendered":"Late artist Tony Fitzpatrick works set for sale: The Rundown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good afternoon! It\u2019s Wednesday, and heads up that the Chicago area remains under an air quality alert<\/a> through tonight. Here\u2019s what else you need to know today.<\/p>\n

1. Nearly 70 Tony Fitzpatrick works are set to be auctioned in a sale of the late artist\u2019s \u2018inherently Chicago\u2019 originals<\/a><\/p>\n

Tony Fitzpatrick was never the most famous or the trendiest Chicago artist, but few of his peers managed to cross into the realms he did as a poet, gallerist and movie actor.<\/p>\n

Along the way, the nearly lifelong Chicago resident gained many friends, arts contributor Kyle MacMillan writes. Fitzpatrick was a critic and a ceaseless advocate of his hometown, incorporating scenic and iconographic elements from its urban fabric into his distinctive collages and other works.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just see him as inherently Chicago,\u201d said Emily Ziemba, research curator for the Art Institute of Chicago\u2019s department of prints and drawings. \u201cThere are so many stories that you can mine from Tony\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 70 of Fitzpatrick\u2019s creations will be featured as part of a larger May 28 sale overseen by Potter & Potter Auctions. The Chicago firm is billing it as the largest grouping of his work to come to market since his October death at age 66.<\/p>\n

The sale will feature 32 lots, most from one anonymous collector, and they carry an estimated total sale price of $36,000-$52,000. [WBEZ\/Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>]<\/p>\n

2. Under fire over the tainted \u2018Broadview 6\u2019 case, Chicago\u2019s top federal prosecutor outlined \u2018sweeping\u2019 reforms<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cBroadview Six\u201d case fell apart, days before trial, after a judge discovered improprieties during grand jury proceedings. The alleged misconduct came to light only after a lengthy push by defense attorneys to get the judge to review unredacted transcripts of what occurred.<\/p>\n

The allegations include a prosecutor improperly putting her personal credibility on the line to support criminal charges, a prosecutor having substantive contact with grand jurors outside the grand jury room and a prosecutor excusing grand jurors who disagreed with the case.<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros\u2019 office said in a press release today the new process \u201cwill be more transparent, effective, and impactful while greatly reducing the likelihood of mistakes and errors.\u201d It also said \u201cmany\u201d of the reforms \u201care being implemented for the first time anywhere in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the most specific reform identified by Boutros was \u201cextensive, deep-dive training from national experts outside the office.\u201d As my colleague Jon Seidel writes, that\u2019s perhaps because of the secrecy that traditionally surrounds the grand jury process.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the former lead prosecutor in the \u201cBroadview Six\u201d case, Sheri Mecklenburg, also formerly handled the case against former Loretto Hospital Chief Financial Officer Anosh Ahmed. Defense attorneys for a co-defendant of Ahmed\u2019s are seeking permanent dismissal of the charges against their client, though no such motion has yet to be filed on behalf of Ahmed. [Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>]<\/p>\n

3. Chicago\u2019s giardiniera is headed to Pope Leo with Mayor Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n

When Mayor Brandon Johnson meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican tomorrow, he will present the pontiff with a jar of the Italian relish from storied West Loop grocer J.P. Graziano, Amy Yee reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted a representation of real Chicago food. Giardiniera is definitely something that could represent that,\u201d said Jim Graziano, the fourth-generation owner of J.P. Graziano.<\/p>\n

The condiment, made of pickled vegetables, accompanies iconic Chicago foods like Italian beef sandwiches and Chicago-style hot dogs.<\/p>\n

A member of Johnson\u2019s office came to the store last week to pick up one jar of house-made Partanna Extra Virgin Hot Giardiniera to give to the pontiff. It\u2019s the company\u2019s \u201ctop-shelf\u201d variety and sells for $19.49, Graziano said. \u201cThe pope deserves nothing but the best.\u201d [Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>]<\/p>\n

4. The Obama Center released its grand opening weekend events schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

Many of the events, held June 19-21, are free, family-friendly and available to the public, my colleague David Struett reports for the Chicago Sun-Times.<\/p>\n

The activities in the 19-acre campus at 6001 S. Stony Island Ave. \u2014 ranging from live music to dancing and face painting \u2014 may be the closest many people can get to being inside the Center\u2019s 225-foot museum tower for months to come. Tickets for opening weekend sold out in hours, and reservations for Illinois Free Days (on Tuesdays) are sold out past October.<\/p>\n

You can see the list of events in the link. [Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>]<\/p>\n

5. Calling all \u2018freaks, misfits and weirdos\u2019: The owner of The Alley is looking for a successor<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Thomas estimates he\u2019s traveled 4 million miles around the world on a never-ending quest of \u201clooking for weird s—.\u201d If you\u2019ve ever been to his store, The Alley, you know he\u2019s been successful in that mission, Selena Fragassi writes for the Chicago Sun-Times.<\/p>\n

From the racks of chains and spikes that could double as jewelry and weapons to the smell of fresh leather jackets and boots that fill the air to an overstock of Count Dracula dolls (complete with \u201cdeath certificates\u201d) that line metal shelves, Thomas has filled the counterculture emporium with the oddest and finest knickknacks, art and apparel since 1976.<\/p>\n

In the process, he\u2019s also become Chicago\u2019s go-to outfitter for punks, metalheads, goths, bikers and anyone who lives and dies by the store\u2019s motto, which greets visitors on the signage above its skeleton-flanked doors at the Avondale store: \u201cA safe place for freaks, misfits and weirdos.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a big part of the challenge in finding the right successor, said Thomas, though he noted the search is progressing. \u201cWhat I don\u2019t want to do is end up with a Ben & Jerry\u2019s where they see their legacy destroyed,\u201d he said, citing the ice cream brand\u2019s rows with parent company Unilever that forced at least one of the co-founders to resign. \u201cThat\u2019s a big deal to me. I\u2019d like to see the store go on.\u201d [Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what else is happening<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump is on a winning streak in Republican primaries, but his tightening grip on the party could make it harder to win in the November midterm elections. [AP<\/a>]Tired of leaks, the Trump administration proposed a new government-wide nondisclosure agreement for both new employees and those already serving. [NPR<\/a>]This year, the Hajj pilgrimage and Eid al-Adha are set against the backdrop of a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war and related tensions and uncertainty in the Middle East. [AP<\/a>]This list could help you find your next beach read this summer. [New York Times<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Oh, and one more thing \u2026<\/p>\n

How do you problem-solve funny? How does Second City \u2014 a company known as the training ground for sketch comedy legends like Tina Fey, Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert \u2014 create skits that work?<\/p>\n

It all starts in the rehearsal room, WBEZ theater reporter Mike Davis writes.<\/p>\n

The last mainstage show at Second City was \u201cThis Too Shall Slap.\u201d When director Carisa Barreca\u2019s cast came in on Day 1, they performed that show in front of a live audience. For the next four weeks, they continued to perform the old show at night while rehearsing sketches for the new show during the day. It\u2019s a grueling process, but according to Barreca, it\u2019s Second City\u2019s special sauce.<\/p>\n

You can go behind the scenes of the cast producing its new show, \u201cPandemonium, Please Hold,\u201d on Spotify<\/a> and Apple<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tell me something good \u2026<\/p>\n

What would you tell or ask Pope Leo XIV if you ever had a chance to meet him?<\/p>\n

Joe writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cI would ask the Pope that if the earth is a gift from God, what responsibilities do we have as caretakers for its viability?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cI would let His Holiness know that it was so very neat (and appropriate) that he quoted J.R.R. Tolkien (LOTR, Return of the King) in his first Encyclical. He is truly a Mellon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good afternoon! It\u2019s Wednesday, and heads up that the Chicago area remains under an air quality alert through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-448412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}