Let the girls play!

Poor Emma Royko. She's an athletic little girl with two older brothers and lots of experience playing on teams with boys. But the Naperville Sun reports some coaches or team volunteers have told her she can't play, that she can only play on teams with girls.

League officials say there is no policy preventing girls from trying out for and playing on boys' teams. Let's hope this message comes across loud and clear to everyone involved with youth sports. Emma is so frustrated at being told she can't play on her team of choice that she's said she just doesn't want to play. What good can possibly come of that?

Stay with it, Emma! You GO girl...

1,2,3,4

Today's video was brought to you by Naperville City Desk and the number 4...

Friday night Fun - Slaid Cleaves - One Good Year

NCD is thrilled to present another long-time favorite!

I used to work for a major Michigan-based book retailer and for a couple years I sat across from our folk music buyer, Stefan. When he wasn't pelting me with rubber bands and stress balls (he'd wait until I picked up the phone and started talking then I'd feel a whack in my ear), he was a damn fine shortstop and also a terrific music buyer back when this major book retailer carried a lot of fantastic music. Sitting across from someone you play softball with who is a music buyer has its advantages and Stefan called me over one day and said 'Here, check this guy out.' I looked at the CD he handed me and said 'Slaid Cleaves? What the hell kind of a name is Slaid?' Stefan raised an eyebrow and said, 'yeah, it's a weird name but give it a listen anyway - I think you'll like it. If you hate it you can give it back to me.'

Ten years later I still have that CD (and everything else he's ever recorded, too).

It was called 'Broke Down' and I was hooked by the second song. Slaid is a singer-songwriter from Maine who moved to Austin to try to get his big break. He's a crazy-skilled wordsmith and every song has a line in it that I wish I'd written; he can break your heart in one chorus. I've long bemoaned the fact that it seems like not enough people know about him but just last week I was delighted to find out a couple people I work with are big fans, too. So Slaid, if you're touring, c'mon by Chicagoland! There's a bunch of people who would like to see you!

Without further ado - here is the song that hooked me on Slaid Cleaves: 'One Good Year.'

Who wouldn't be devastated (in a good way) by a bridge like this:

When you start givin' in
where do the promises all go?
Will your darkest hour
write a blank check on your soul?

Just give me one good year
to get my feet back on the ground
I've been chasing grace
but grace ain't so easily found
One bad hand can devil a man
A good one can turn him around
I've gotta get out of here
Just give me one good year

Friday night Fun - Slaid Cleaves - Horseshoe Lounge

More Slaid brilliantness - 'Horseshoe Lounge.'

Are you the the one who faltered
Was I the one who strayed
Maybe God left us out
of the plans he made

Friday night Fun - Slaid Cleaves - No Angel Knows

This is 'No Angel Knows' live.

Wednesday night surprise - TOM PETTY

So I heard a great Tom Petty song on the way home from work and it got me thinking.

Here's a classic...

More Yzerman Magic

Here's the extended clip of Yzerman's double OT game-winning goal from the blue line VS the St. Louis Blues.

More Stevie Y!

Here's a montage of Yzerman's top 10 goals of all time. Trixie remembers #1 very very well...

Congratulations to 'The Captain'

Naperville City Desk is elated to announce long-time captain of the Detroit Red Wings, Steve Yzerman, has been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Yzerman spent 22 years with the Detroit Red Wings, his only team, before retiring in 2006. He led the team to three Stanley Cups, in 1997, 1998 and 2002, and after Gordie Howe is probably the most beloved and respected Red Wing of all time.

Yzerman honorably served as captain of the team for 19 years and holds the record as the longest-serving captain of any major sports team in North American history.

Two of the three other player inductees are also former Red Wings. Bret Hull and Luc Robitaille were also named to the Hall of Fame, along with long-time New York Ranger Brian Leetch.

Chicago drivers are pretty courteous

According to a survey, that is. A survey commissioned by the AutoVantage auto club rated drivers all over the country and ranked them by most courteous and least courteous. Drivers in New York dethroned Miami for LEAST courteous (dis)honors, with Miami falling out of the top five. Dallas, Detroit, Atlanta and Minneapolis rounded out the snarling five.

Drivers in Portland, Ore. were given the honor of most courteous.

Chicago drivers ranked 14th on the list of most courteous, but fell from the number 8 spot they held last year. Survey respondents attributed the decline to too many people talking on cell phones while driving.

Naperville City Desk couldn't agree more. Blogging is only a side-line for us, we commute about 90 minutes a day for work and we see people yakking on cell phones all the time. What we can't understand is seeing people on the phone at 8:10 am - who are people talking to at that hour? A girl at work told us her boyfriend made her get a cell phone so she could 'call him during her commute.' Seriously? Because he can't bear to be parted from her for another 45 minutes after work? That seems like a boyfriend who doesn't care for her much. He should encourage her to drive carefully and that does not mean talking on the phone. People. When you're driving you should be DRIVING. Not yakking. Drivers on cell phones are distracted and not paying attention to the road. Here's an idea: try listening to NPR - it's hands-free and you can improve your mind without being so distracted you are a menace to other drivers.

Friday night Fun - Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles - Stop and Think It Over

Naperville City Desk presents a treat tonight. We went to FitzGerald's in Berwyn last week to see Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson and were delighted to get to know their opening act and label mate Sarah Borges and her band the Broken Singles. I've been reading about her in No Depression for years and I'm glad to say I got to hear her and I see why she's getting attention. Sarah's got cheek and pipes and her sound is a very cool mix of punk and country, pop and honky-tonk, and a more than a little girl group throwback. We bought the two of her CDs they had available (and ordered an earlier one from Amazon) and we've been digging it all week. I'd also like to mention that Sarah and the boys are very personable and made it clear they appreciate everyone who comes to hear them and even the ones who just discovered them. This was day 51 on the road and you couldn't tell.

NCD is also very happy to give a plug to FitzGerald's, a fantastic local venue. I moved here wondering where I'd get to hear the kind of music I like and now I know exactly where. I couldn't get on the FitzGerald's email list fast enough.

To kick things off here's a video Sarah and the guys made for 'Stop and Think It Over' complete with grainy black and white film and sparkly dress.

Friday night Fun - Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles - Honey Now

More delicious goodness from Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles - a cheeky cover of the Gillian Welch classic 'Honey Now.' It says a lot about a singer-songwriter when they pick great songs to cover.

Friday night Fun - Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles - Lord Only Knows

And this is video #3 from our new fave, SB & the BS. Sun Studio Sessions

'Lord Only Knows'

Rate that ad!

I HATE this commercial. Truly, truly loathe it. F-



But this one is a lot better. B

You can't make this stuff up

Miller Beer truck overturns on tollway, spilling its cargo. No, seriously.

Enough said

Cabbies are creepy

Hate to make generalizations, but we here at the Naperville City Desk have a lot of experience with cabbies, mostly in New York City, a little in Pennsylvania, and plenty of experience getting a ride from the western 'burbs to O'Hare.

I attended a convention in NYC a few years ago and took a cab from the Javitz center back to my hotel and quickly became convinced the cabbie was going to kill me. He had a hair-trigger temper and while I tried to remain as pleasant as possible to attempt to stay in the cabbie's good graces, the ride was an expletive-filled rage fest, with plenty of bitching about how effing stupid people are. I don't scare that easily and once I reached my destination I paid as quickly as I could and walked into my hotel shaking from feeling like I had literally dodged a bullet.

Then there was my Pennsylvanian Pakistani phone stalker. I was headed home for Christmas to see my family and arranged a shuttle ride to the Philly airport. Because I am friendly with all people I made small talk to pass the time in the one hour drive and the driver asked me for my phone number. I wasn't interested in him but I made the mental bet that 9 times out of 10 you give out your phone number and it never gets used so I figured I was safe. No. I wasn't even to my gate yet when he started calling me. The driver called 2 or 3 times a day nearly every day for three weeks but I never took any of the calls. Thank god I hadn't had him pick me up from my home. I was very grateful when the calls stopped.

Now I arrange taxi rides to O'Hare airport regularly and haven't had any truly heinous experiences but I have been picked up by drivers who seem to have an angry edge to them. Then there was the time I arranged for a 6 am pick-up and walked outside at 5:58 am only to see the taxi driving away. Apparently the driver thought maybe he had the wrong building so he decided to run by some of the neighboring buildings to see if anyone was coming out. I was annoyed by that one but held my tongue as I just wanted to get to the airport in one piece.

The point of relaying all these stories is that I now feel my underlying feeling that cabbies are creepy is justified, based on this article from the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ginny Narsete of Lisle was taking a cab to a train station and found a bag in the backseat marked with the logo of a Mexican restaurant. She looked in the bag and discovered it was a night deposit of $5,000 that had been left in the cab accidentally. Narsete owns a small business herself and never considered keeping the money so she told the driver what she had found and asked to be driven to the nearest police station.

That's when the cabbie started acting creepy, insisting that the money had to be taken to a cab stand and driving aimlessly, not taking her to her desired destination and running up the fare and refusing to let her out of the car. Narsete called her husband for advice and her husband spoke to the cabbie threatening to call 911 if his wife was not immediately taken to a police station. Finally the cabbie did as he was told and before leaving he insisted on being paid the full fare even though he had run up the total, taking Narsete's last $20.

Police at the station determined the cash was indeed from La Bamba restaurant and phoned the owners who were very grateful to get it back.

Narsete would accept no reward and her only regret is telling the cabbie what she had found, as she could have put herself in danger. She didn't even get all the way to the train station that was her intended destination; police were kind enough to drop her there.

Moral of the story: say nothing to the cabbie - take care of it yourself later from the safety of your own home or from driving yourself to a police station.

Bottom line? A lot of cabbies are creepy.

Friday night fun - EARLY R.E.M.

This is so cool - we're kicking off the festivities tonight with a treasure. R.E.M. making their national television debut on Late Night with David Letterman in 1983. The song is 'Radio Free Europe' from their debut album 'Murmur.' Called it one of the best albums of 1983, I call it one of the best albums EVER. (Stipe has so much hair!!!)

Friday night Fun - R.E.M

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Friday night Fun - 10,000 Maniacs

It's 10,000 Maniacs and Natalie Merchant at the top of their game.

For all the marbles...

Words cannot adequately express the outrage

We're spitting nails here at the Naperville City Desk, fighting back tears of anger and anguish and disgust. We were sickened this evening as we read this report of a Chicagoland man who dragged an eight-month-old puppy behind his car because he 'was mad at it.' I'll spare the heinous details as you can read the account yourself. The puppy was injured but did survive and was taken for treatment at an animal shelter. Cretin Larry Chambers was seen by an off-duty police officer who reported him and he was arrested outside his home. Adding to a charge of animal cruelty is a charge of battery and resisting arrest when he punched the off-duty officer in the chest.

It's hard to know what to be maddest about. The level of cruelty is bad enough, but there is also knowing that his offenses are only misdemeanors - he will likely receive more punishment for the assault than for the gross mistreatment of that poor defenseless dog.

There is a special place in hell for people who are mean to animals and I hope they're warming up a spot for this jackass.

NCD encourages any readers to give their dogs some extra love and maybe a treat or two and also recommends animal lovers make a donation to their local humane society.

Illinois Humane Society

Michigan Humane Society

Special shout-out to my neph-dog Marley who is the happiest little guy and who has a FANTASTIC mom.

NBC rescinds broadcast rights to Game 6 of Stanley Cup Final

NBC has rescinded the broadcast rights for Game 6 tomorrow meaning that fans in Detroit accustomed to watching away games on Joe Vision at Joe Louis Arena will have to find another venue. Penguins fans will not be able to watch the game in the plaza outside the Ice Cube either. NBC maintains that having 10,000 to 15,000 fans at the Joe to watch the game together (and 7,000 on the plaza at Mellon Arena) reduces the number of sets tuned to NBC for the game. I don't know how they do it in Pittsburgh but Joe Vision viewers have always ponied up a couple bucks and the proceeds go to charity. It's a shame NBC is playing it like this - greed is ugly, whether it's bankers, book-cookers, predatory mortgage lenders or money-grubbing network executives. And all for a microscopic hitch in the ratings. Makes me wish I was in Ann Arbor watching the game with my old softball buddies at the Grotto (shout out to Glen and Chip and Krause Street!). There would be about 40 sets of eyes on the garage TV enjoying great hockey and sticking it to NBC.

Friday night Fun - Dixie Chicks - Cowboy Take Me Away

All Chicks, all night! Tonight we're kicking off the first of four Dixie Chicks songs with something from their second album 'Fly.' This is 'Cowboy Take Me Away.' Natalie's hair is really short and Emily was blond back then.

Friday night Fun - Dixie Chicks are Not Ready to Make Nice

This is 'Not Ready to Make Nice' a direct response to the aftermath of all the Dixie Chicks CD-burning and bad-mouthing that went on after 'The Incident.' In fact, the treatment that they received became a verb - to be protested and put down is to be 'Dixie-Chicked.' Chicks responded in fine fashion with this amazing song and went on to a successful tour and five Grammys for their trouble. Thanks, Chicks, for thumbing your nose at the country-music establishment and NOT apologizing to W and standing your ground.

Friday Night Fun - Dixie Chicks (live)

Here's the Chicks doing 'A Home' during their 2003 Top of the World tour. The tour plans were made with a stage-in-the-round before 'The Incident' and security was tight at all their shows. With all the hoopla over Natalie's off-the-cuff comment about being embarrassed then-President George W. Bush was from their home state of Texas, the girls didn't show it during the show, other than a few choice comments from Natalie (which the audiences loved). Above all, the Dixie Chicks are consummate professionals. Seeing this clip reminds me how really really good they are. I've seen all their tours and hope to see many more.

They say home is where the heart is...
If the exception proves the rule, I guess that's true...

Friday night Fun - Dixie Chicks

Here's the video for 'Top of the World,' the Dixie Chicks divine cover of the song by Patty Griffin. Emily is the 1950's wife, Martie is the 60's wife and Natalie is representing the present day.

Your guide to farm fresh goodness

It's farmer's market time season so get some cash on Friday and get up early Saturday and head out for fresh fruits and vegetables and cut flowers. And maybe some baked goods. Don't forget to take along a good tote bag.

Here's a local farmers market locator guide provided by the Naperville Sun.

Farmers market locator

Another Naper-villain who HATES mailboxes

Not content to rest on his laurels as a former high school football star, Britt Andros, 19, of Naperville, had an early morning desire to stay gameday sharp.

To that end, Andros decided to use his hands and feet to lay waste to nearly two dozen residential mailboxes early Wednesday, which he had mistaken for tackling dummies according to the Naperville Sun. (Resisting urge to comment on a dummy tackling here...)

Andros apparently skipped the Gatorade, instead opting to carb-load with alcohol. When police were summoned to play defense, two officers tackled Andros, then had to Taser him when he tried to wrestle the officers to get away. Besides unsportsmanlike conduct, Andros was charged with felony aggravated battery of a police officer, felony criminal damage to property, and 21 misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property.

Ash borer insects found in Aurora

No, it's not a Sleestak.

A number of ash trees along the parkway in the Foxcroft subdivision on Aurora's West Side have been identified as being infested with the emerald ash borer, the city announced Monday.

The Beacon News reports the city has been monitoring ash trees for several years. In November 2008, one emerald ash borer larva was found on the city's far East Side in a "trap tree."

The emerald ash borer is a metallic green exotic beetle native to Asia that is approximately one-half inch in length. It was first found in Michigan in 2002 and most probably was transported to the United States through solid wood packing material. Since then, the use of ash tree limbs for firewood has been determined to be the leading cause of the spread of the insects.

Adult beetles eat ash foliage and cause little damage, but larva feed on the inner bark, disrupting a tree's ability to transport water and nutrients.

Any homeowner who suspects a parkway tree is infested may call the city's customer service line at 630-264-4636, and a staff member will conduct an inspection.

Residents who suspect an ash borer infestation on private property may go to the city's Web site, www.aurora-il.org, where they will find photographs of ash trees, the ash borer itself and ash borer exit holes. The city cannot treat or remove trees on private property, but homeowners may call local tree care professionals for guidance on how to care for a tree that is affected.

Residents can go to www.emeraldashborer.info for the latest updates on the emerald ash borer.

The emerald ash borer has been found in Ohio, northern Indiana, northern Illinois, Maryland, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Missouri and Virginia. It was first reported in Minnesota this spring. Since its discovery, EAB has killed tens of millions of trees and caused regulatory agencies and the USDA to enforce quarantines to prevent infested ash firewood from moving out of areas where EAB has occurred.

Naperville City Desk reminds everyone PLEASE DO NOT TRANSPORT FIREWOOD.