Madigan guilty!

But will the conviction of the former Illinois House speaker make any difference?

2-13-2025 (issue No. 180)

This week:

• Madigan convicted — The verdict will be meaningless unless it prompts tighter ethics laws in state government

• What foods most divide our nation? — My click survey aims to find “50/50 foods”

• About that Super Bowl halftime show …

• Last week’s winning quip

• News and Views — Hot takes, fully baked

• That’s so Brandon! — Updates on the misadventures of Chicago’s maladroit mayor, who is now threatening to fire bureaucrats who aren’t loyal to him

• Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go

• Squaring up the news — Where Charlie Meyerson tells readers where to go

• Mary Schmich — Another Trumpoem

• Word watch — Cockalorum is le mot juste for GRod

• Famous people who will turn 80 this year

• How to make sure you’re not paying for the Tribune’s “Premium Issues” — A regular reminder

• What’s on “The Mincing Rascals” podcast this week

• Quotables — A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately

• Quips — The winning visual jokes and this week’s contest finalists

• Tune of the Week — “If I Fell,” by the Beatles

Another one bites the dust: Madigan convicted

For robust coverage of Wednesday’s verdicts in the federal corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, I recommend the Tribune, the Sun-Times. WBEZ and Capitol Fax in particular. Briefly, though, Madigan, 82, was found guilty on 10 counts and not guilty on seven counts, while jurors were hung on six other counts.

I have no faith that crooked pols out there will be frightened into honest behavior by yet another conviction of a high-profile former public servant. Former Gov. George Ryan’s conviction wasn’t a lesson to his successor, Rod Blagojevich. And Blago’s legal troubles didn’t guide either powerful Chicago Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, or Madigan himself on the straight and narrow.

I’m paying no mind to the harrumphing of elected officials over the verdict —

— and will be watching instead to see if they’ll finally act to institute tough ethics legislation.

Gov. JB Prizker has talked a good game on stronger ethics legislation, but he hasn’t delivered. The Madigan convictions plus his fairly obvious presidential ambitions ought to inspire him to lead a charge in Springfield to give Illinois the toughest such laws in the nation.

In 2021, Reform for Illinois offered a critique of flaccid legislative efforts in this regard. Along with Change Illinois and Common Cause, the group put out a statement Wednesday:

Governor Pritzker and legislators described the 2021 package as a “first step,” with the governor vowing to “push for [more] every single year that I’m in office.” But we haven’t seen any progress on these issues since then.

Their proposed changes include:

Strengthening oversight by empowering the Legislative Inspector General’s office, improving lobbying regulation and revolving door rules, reducing abuse of our campaign finance system, and enforcing conflict of interest rules. … Failing to fix our broken system will just leave the door open for the next Madigan, continuing the cycle of corruption, scandal, and mistrust that plagues our state. Illinois deserves better.

Of course there’s no way to close that door completely, human nature and the lure of power being what they are. But we should be less focused now on the fate of this retired octogenarian and more focused on how to deter the most venal among those coming up behind him.

Re: Gustibus

My friend and former colleague Mary Schmich touched off several robust Facebook threads with a post in which she declared her strong aversion to eggs. Many people weighed in with their food preferences — what they hate, what they love — reminding me of the Latin saying De gustibus non est disputandum (loosely translated as “When it comes to matters of taste, there can be no dispute").

So I’ve embarked on a search to find what I’m calling “50/50 foods”— those consumables that roughly half the people like and half the people avoid.

Reading over all the responses I settled on a preliminary dozen to query you on:

1. Olives

2. Mushrooms

3. Sushi

4. Broccoli (cooked)

5. Onions

6. Spinach (raw or cooked)

7. Lima beans

8. Shrimp

9. Salmon

10. Feta cheese

11. Coffee (hot or cold, with or without cream and sugar)

12. And the food that started it all, eggs (either scrambled, fried, poached or hard-boiled)

I’ve created an online survey in which I ask which of these you like, which you avoid and which you’ll consume if it’s served to you, but would never order.

If you have other ideas for 50/50 foods, I might post a follow-up survey. But for now, click through and register your preferences.

Speaking of taste: About that halftime show …

The furious and still ongoing debate over rapper Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show seems to have split the public into mostly two camps: Those who were annoyed that the performance didn’t have mainstream appeal and those who are contemptuous of middlebrow folks too clueless to enjoy Lamar’s edgy lyrical and choreographical genius.

But I’m in a third camp. It comprises those who are not ashamed to admit that they didn’t understand much of what was going on during that frisky 13 minutes on the field but who weren’t in the least bothered by it.

Just because I don’t enjoy or appreciate a particular art form doesn’t mean it’s shit, or that I am somehow more or less sophisticated than those who do enjoy it. Rap, for one, is not generally my thing. I literally don’t understand much of it, in the way that I don’t understand French poetry. Lamar’s words Sunday were often indistinct, as demonstrated by the closed captioning on the official NFL YouTube video:

I remember syrup SES and crime allowances finessing on with some counterfeit now I’m counting this with my account I’m this do say with my tast (CQ) like for the analyst girl I can bu (CQ) you the world with my past upu (CQ) I know it’s good want you sit don’t taste my blood.

And so on. Sure, that’s a voice-to-text interpretation and certainly garbled, but I couldn’t do any better watching and listening at home. So I took away what little I could from the dancing and snippets of lyrics I was able to glean, and I shrugged it off.

Not everything is aimed at old white people! I’m not just used to this, I’m happy about it. Diverse art forms ultimately feed on and enhance one another. The melting-pot analogy applies to music, and the only ones entitled to complain are those in a captive audience.

I was free to leave the room — though I didn’t — as was nearly everyone whose BVDs were in a twist over Lamar’s act. Judging from social media, those familiar with Lamar’s work and his feud with Drake understood all or most of what was going on and have high praise for it.

I may be extra inclined to be in the “whatever!” camp because many people look down on my favorite musical genres: Old time string band and traditional country. They consider these boring, simplistic and repetitive — shit, in other words. I suppose I could smugly try to explain to the haters the wonderful nuances and intriguing history of this music. Or I could heap contempt on them for their narrow-mindedness.

But my choice is to accept, even embrace the fact that not everything has to be for everybody.

Last week’s winning quip

The worst part about parallel parking is the witnesses. — @audri_em

Here are this week’s nominees and the winner of the Tuesday visual-jokes poll. Here is the direct link to the new poll.

News & Views

View from Tuesday’s Picayune Plus: If Trump pardoning Blago helps put 4,982 miles between us and that sleazebag, I'm all for it!

View from Tuesday’s Picayune Plus: Trump’s proposal to get rid of the penny coin is change I can believe in

News: The White House blocks Associated Press reporters from covering certain Trump media availabilities because the wire service stylebook still uses “Gulf of Mexico” instead of Trump’s preferred “Gulf of America.”

View: Members of the Washington press corps ought to band together and collectively refuse to send cameras or reporters to events where the AP is not invited. Sure, Fox News, Newsmax and other right-wing organizations won’t join any such boycott, but the journalists who let this happen to the AP over a perfectly defensible style choice need to stand up to the bully now, because if he gets away with this, they might be next.

News: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth restores the name “Fort Bragg” to the North Carolina U.S. Army base that has been known as “Fort Liberty” since 2022.

View: It was weird and grotesque to have a prominent military installation named for a traitor and slaveholder, the inept Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg:

"Braxton Bragg was a famously poor general, known to be so by soldiers and officers in his own command," said Bruce Levine, an emeritus history professor at the University of Illinois and author of several books on the Civil War, including "Half Slave & Half Free: The Roots of Civil War."

"More importantly," Levine said, "Bragg enthusiastically, if poorly, helped lead an armed insurrection against the United States government that tried to break up the Union and preserve slavery." (PolitiFact)

Stripping his name from the fort was the right thing to do.

When I heard that Hegseth had restored the Bragg name but changed the honoree to Pvt. 1st Class Roland L. Bragg, who won a Silver Star and Purple Heart fighting for the U.S. in World War II, I thought it was a sly wink to the “Lost Cause” racists and dead-enders who still want to celebrate the Confederacy.

But I’m assured that such folks remain furious that Braxton has been mothballed. Losers in solidarity with a loser.

News: “Trump Softens Tone on Inflation After Pledging to Lower Prices”

View: The New York Times headline above — with it’s mewling “softens tone” phraseology — should have added the word, “suckers!” Remember Trump promising to bring prices down “on day 1” should he be elected? He was speaking out of his nether regions.

News: On the U.S. House floor, Rep. Mary Miller, an Illinois Republican, introduced Rep. Sarah McBride, a transgender woman, as “the gentleman from Delaware.”

View: It’s indecent and ill mannered not to address someone in the manner they prefer. Miller is a childish troll, and perhaps should be addressed as such in Congress until she apologizes and mends her ways.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson metaphorically peed down both legs when addressing the mini-controversy with reporters later: “Let me be unequivocally clear: A man is a man and a woman is a woman. And a man cannot become a woman. That said … I also believe we should treat everyone with dignity.” Then he scurried off.

That’s So Brandon!

Updates on the misadventures of Chicago’s mayor

I’m getting a very Trumpy vibe from Hizzoner’s insinuation that he now intends to subject his department heads and possibly other city employees to a loyalty test. In her story for the Sun-Times, City Hall reporter Fran Spielman quoted Johnson at an appearance Monday night at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church on the South Side:

There were a number of people that I inherited in my administration. And I was trying to show Godly presentation that we can work with people who come from other administrations. … They don’t have to agree with me 100% to work within my administration … (but) if you ain’t with us, you just gotta go … because playing nice with other people who ain’t about us — it’s just a waste of exercise. … So there’s a whole bunch of people saying, “Oh, shoot. Who’s about to get fired?” Well, you about to find out. Stay tuned.

“Godly presentation”? Interesting choice of words.

Anyway, Spielman’s story went on:

Rich Guidice, a City Hall lifer, spent nearly 11 months as Johnson’s chief of staff. Guidice argued it wasn’t a mistake for Johnson to allow members of the previous administration to stay on. Rather, it was a political “necessity” for an inexperienced politician who had never before held executive office and had not assembled his own team. …

“They didn’t have a bench to put people in a lot of the places they originally wanted to have people. ... Even if he wanted to get rid of people, (he) couldn’t because there (was) nobody qualified to put in those spots. They were probably unaware of a lot of the challenges they were going to be up against if you do want to replace a commissioner or even a deputy in certain places. …

“There (are) a small group of people that probably share his views. And I don’t know how he would be able to replace (people in his) government with people with those views and keep the wheels turning on the day-to-day functions of the city,” Guidice said.

I’ve seen no evidence that holdovers from Lori Lightfoot’s administration have stood in the way of Johnson’s agenda — the only exception being Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, and Johnson appointees on the Board of Education have already moved to fire him. Nor have I seen any evidence that disloyal bureaucrats have contributed to Johnson’s 14% approval rating in recent polling. Either way, though, putting loyalty over performance is a bad look.

Land of Linkin’

• “Worst Super Bowl ever? From awful ads to a divisive halftime show to a boring game, 10 things to forget,” by Tribune sports columnist Paul Sullivan. “The Super Sunday event aired commercials promoting both Scientology and Christianity. …. The thing is, if you have enough money to spend $8 million per 30 seconds on a Super Bowl ad, shouldn’t you be actually giving it to people in dire need of help?”

• Reader Bob E. recommends “Why Is the U.S. So Good at Killing Pedestrians?” — a 2023 episode of the “Freakonomics” podcast that sheds some light on the debate over lowering the speed limit on Chicago’s streets.

• YouTube turns 20 on Friday. It’s hard to imagine a world without it.

• Axios: “Dems "pissed" at liberal groups MoveOn, Indivisible” for lighting up their phone lines instead of calling Republican lawmakers.

• In “The Next Mayor,” Chicago Magazine’s Edward McClelland analyzes the prospects of the potential 2027 challengers to Mayor Brandon Johnson in this order: Alexi Giannoulias, Susana Mendoza, Mike Quigley, Bill Conway, Anna Valencia, Janice Jackson, Luis Gutiérrez, Kam Buckner, Brendan Reilly and Lori Lightfoot. McClelland has underrated Buckner, I feel, and I doubt Quigley, Gutiérrez or Lightfoot will run. I also note the absence on his list of Rahm Emanuel, Willie Wilson and Paul Vallas.

• I’ve been on BlueSky for a while now if anyone wants to follow me there.

• The Alliance for Philanthropy and Social Investment Worldwide: “Elon Musk has given away less than 1% of his wealth.” Meanwhile, “Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Mackenzie Scott have all given away 20%t or more of their wealth.”

Squaring up the news

This is a bonus supplement to the Land of Linkin’ from veteran radio, internet and newspaper journalist Charlie Meyerson. Each week, he offers a selection of intriguing links from his daily email news briefing Chicago Public Square:

■ “Most powerless image ever” of a U.S. president: That’s how MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell perceived a joint news conference the president held with Elon Musk.

■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich: “Someone in the press actually committed a journalism and called Elon on his bullshit.”

■ The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch: What Musk wants “is worse than you think.”

■ Workers who lived through Musk’s Twitter purge have advice for federal workers.

■ Tech watchdog Cory Doctorow: Musk’s stealing a billion dollars from low-income Americans and sending it to TurboTax parent Intuit.

■ Two-time Pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten on Trump’s plans to stop minting pennies: “Now he’s just fucking with us.”

■ Paul Krugman has a new word for your vocabulary: Autogolpe.

■ The Telegraph: The U.S. freeze on foreign aid has claimed its first victims.

■ A nonprofit that has provided health care and food for Chicago’s needy is shutting down clinics and pantries.

■ “My mind is admittedly blown” — Tedium proprietor Ernie Smith, astonished that Warner Bros. Discovery is dropping dozens of its archive films “on YouTube. For free. Without any sort of gating.” Here are at least some of them.

■ The Daily Beast says Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance didn’t sit well with “many prominent conservatives.”

■ Wired shares “the wild true story” behind how he pulled it off.

You can (and should) subscribe to Chicago Public Square free here.

Mary Schmich: In Trump we trust

My former colleague Mary Schmich posts occasional column-like entries on Facebook. Here, reprinted with permission, is a recent TrumpPoem:

Some say that I’m an evil man
Some say my crimes are many
But on one thing we can agree:
Let’s get rid of the penny!

Those copper coins are ancient junk
They clutter up your drawers
You must admit on this I’m right!
Despite our culture wars.

A penny for my thoughts, you say?
You know what’s on my mind
That I am king and you are pawns
And I will rob you blind.

I’ve got the help of Elon’s punks
They’re geniuses at theft!
They’ll break into your bank accounts —
Take that, folks on the left!

A penny saved, a penny earned?
That adage is a lie
A billion pilfered by my DOGE--
Now that’s my battle cry.

And btw…

They loved me at the Super Bowl
I am the king of sports
And while I’m ruling everything
I’ll close down all the courts

And speaking of the Super Bowl
That halftime show was crap
A DEI amusement park!
I’m gonna outlaw rap.

I got a faith adviser
Who believes in getting rich
She’s also quite a sexy blonde
I love a pious (expletive deleted).

Dear Lord, I am your servant now
Well, actually, I’m God
I use my power for great things
Why, look — I pardoned Rod.

And while we’re talking great ideas
Let’s praise my newest cause —
To make this country great again
I’ll bring back plastic straws!

Another reminder to check out “Division Street Revisited,” a new podcast series hosted by Schmich. Three episodes have already dropped.

Word watch

In Rick Pearson and Jeremy Gorner’s Tribune story about President Donald Trump’s pardon of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the reporters referred to Blago as a “cockalorum,” a rare word they defined in the article as meaning “a boastful and self-important person in need of public attention and adoration.”

Perfect!

Merriam-Webster tells us that it’s related to “cocky,” dates back to the late 1700s and “may have derived from the obsolete Flemish word kockeloeren, meaning "to crow.’"

For the annoying former governor, I humbly suggest the coinage “dickalorum.”

My predictably testy take on the Blagojevich pardon is here.

Bonus puzzle feature

In Tuesday’s Picayune Plus, I debuted NewsWheel, my current-events take on the WordWheel puzzle that appears in the Tribune Monday through Friday. Check it out. To have the bonus issue it delivered to your inbox every week, to support this endeavor and to salve your conscience, become a paid subscriber.

Famous people who are turning 80 in 2025

The Neil Young/Neil Old joke in the Picayune Plus’ visual quips poll Tuesday inspired me to look up the age of rocker Neil Young. He’s 79, but will turn 80 in November. This, in turn, inspired me to seek out and compile a list of notables who will become octogenarians this year.

• Loni Anderson

• Adrienne Barbeau

• Rod Carew

• Eric Clapton

• Annie Dillard

• Micky Dolenz

• Mia Farrow

• Jose Feliciano

• Walt Frazier

• John Fogerty

• Jimmie Dale Gilmore

• Bob Griese

• Debbie Harry

• Goldie Hawn

• Linda Hunt

• Hale Irwin

• Phil Jackson

• Bianca Jagger

• Gabe Kaplan

• Tracy Kidder

• Ray LaHood

• John Lithgow

• Steve Martin

• Chris Matthews

• Don McLean

• Vince McMahon

• Bette Midler

• Helen Mirren

• Van Morrison

• Anne Murray

• Kathy O’Malley

• Alan Page

• Jim Palmer

• Glenn Poshard

• Priscilla Presley

• Pat Riley

• Mitch Ryder

• Diane Sawyer

• Bob Seger

• Tom Selleck

• Jaclyn Smith

• Reggie Smith

• Rod Stewart

• Steven Stills

• Pete Townshend

• Henry Winkler

• Burt Ward

• Neil Young

If I have forgotten someone particularly notable or if I have included someone who is deceased, (I have removed Lou Dobbs from the online list) I blame DEI.

An important reminder for those who have the Tribune home delivered on Sunday

Did you see the “Pets for Life” supplement tucked away among the other inserts last Sunday? If you are among the roughly two-thirds of Americans who have household pets, it might have been of some interest to you. If you are among the third of households that, like us, have no pets or are between pets, it was of no interest whatsoever.

What will be of interest to everyone who has a subscription that includes home delivery on Sundays is that “Pets for Life” is yet another of the so-called “Premium Issues” for which the Tribune charges you $11.99 (by reducing the length of your subscription plan accordingly).

Nowhere is this price listed on “Pets for Life” or on any of the other up to 14 annual unlabeled “Premium Issues” that cover such topics as gifts, sports, puzzles and food. The upcharge is nowhere mentioned on the covers of these inserts or on theTribune’s subscriber terms and conditions page. Subscribers can opt out of paying for “Premium Issues” — just call 312-546-7900 and navigate through the phone tree to speak to an operator — but the exemption lasts for only six months at a time. You then have to call again, or they’ll start charging you.

It’s so disagreeably scammy that, if any other business were pulling the same trick, investigative reporters would be all over it and editorial writers would be wagging their fingers and warning consumers. Those who do remember to call that number — again, it’s 312-546-7900 —at least once every six months can save enough every year to buy three subscriptions to the Picayune Sentinel. Just sayin’.

I sent a copy of the above to Tribune publisher Par Ridder to see, once again, if he wanted to offer a comment, explanation or excuse. As usual, he did not respond.

Minced Words

Cate Plys, Brandon Pope, Marj Halperin and I joined host John Williams on this week’s episode of “The Mincing Rascals” podcast. We talked about the Super Bowl halftime show — Brandon gave it a 10 out of 10 — the Michael Madigan verdict, the Rod Blagojevich pardon, the proposed settlement in the police killing of Dexter Reed and several other topics.

Subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Or bookmark this page. If you’re not a podcast listener, you can hear an edited version of the show at 8 p.m. most Saturday evenings on WGN-AM 720.

Read the background bios of some regular panelists here.

Quotables

A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately.

If this is a rebuild, it looks like a demolition without the necessary paperwork for a future structure. — Rick Morrissey on the Bulls ho-hum performance at the trading deadline

It’s important — particularly at a time when history and culture is being threatened and undermined — that we don’t find ourselves exacerbating the attempt to silence the voices of individuals that speak their truth through their lived experiences. — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson

DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) is being replaced by WUL (white, unqualified, but loyal). — unknown

I have lost all respect for Google, the shameless fellator of fascist idiocy. — Betty Bowers

The voters are blameless! How could they know that a guy who sent a mob to kill their elected representatives and overthrow a presidential election might act out again if given the White House again and Congress to boot? Those damn Democrats! Why didn't they warn the poor American people? — ‪Amos Magliocco‬

This feels like we’re in one of the Jurassic Park sequels where a lot of us were like “Hey, let’s not try this again because last time the dinosaurs got loose.” But other people were like, “Well, maybe the dinosaurs won’t get loose this time.” — @OhNoSheTwitnt

I’m old enough to remember when "You won’t believe what happens next!" was clickbait, not U.S. government policy. — Paul Bassett Davies

Punishing U.S. media for calling the Gulf of Mexico by its universally acknowledged name is a first name is a first step toward punishing them for acknowledging a recession when the Trump White House pretends it isn't happening. — David Frum

I believe Nixon's punishment in Hell is having to see people stupider than he was getting away with more. — David Grossman

I am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders, which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standards and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc., and to likewise go back to the common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS, that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe. I look forward to signing these Orders. THANK YOU!!! — President Donald Trump

Quips

In Tuesday’s paid-subscriber editions, I present my favorite tweets that rely on visual humor. Subscribers vote for their favorite, and I post the winner here every Thursday:

I was surprised at the popularity of the banjo joke. I play the instrument — here’s a video of me jamming with then Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, who also plays — but am always there for jokes at its expense. Teexcop sells this along with dozens of other banjo related T-shirts.

The new nominees for Quip of the Week:

• A brunette, a redhead and a blonde were trapped on a desert island. And I won't get into the details, but the blonde did something rather foolish. The egg was very much on her face in the end. — @camerobradford

• If you want to make God laugh, inhale some helium then tell him your plans. — @kipconlon

• I told my dad I ran out of alcohol and didn't have any money to buy any for the weekend. So he gave me the huge bottle of vodka from the cupboard that I’d replaced with water when I was 16. Life really does come back to bite you in the ass. — @Lizbeth_Ellen

• “Black tie only” was written on the invitation card. When I got there, I noticed that other people had worn shirts and pants, too. — @oh_porter

• A bar of Ivory Soap may be 99.44% pure but you just know that last .56 is into some freaky shit. — @saltymactavish.bsky.social

• The other side of the road is death and the chicken is your immortal soul. Now tell me the joke again. — @wildethingy

• My "Not involved in human trafficking" T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt. — @shutupmikeginn

• On Valentine’s Day I’m going to walk up to a random couple and be like, “So this is why you’re not answering my calls.” — @popitforpoppa

• Appliances always know when you’re getting a tax refund. — @michelleDbelle

• Just bought a new umbrella for the person who finds it tomorrow. — @Eden_Eats

Vote here and check the current results in the poll.

For instructions and guidelines regarding the poll, click here.

Why the new name for this feature? See “I’m rebranding ‘Tweet of the Week’ in a gesture of contempt for Elon Musk.”

Tune of the Week

“If I Fell” is the Beatles at their best — sweet lyrics, intriguing harmonies, sophisticated chord progressions. I realize it’s not exactly a love song for Valentine’s Day, but it was part of the soundtrack of my life when I was first in love as a teenager and unsure of how deeply to give myself to a girl who returned my affections.

 If I trust in you, oh, please
Don't run and hide
If I love you too, oh, please
Don't hurt my pride like her
'Cause I couldn't stand the pain
And I would be sad if our new love
Was in vain

“If I Fell” was released in 1964 as the B-side of “And I Love Her” and was never a big hit in the United States. John Lennon wrote the song, but Paul McCartney sang the melody line. More from About.com:

• While not specifically about his wife, Cynthia, it has been seen by Lennon in retrospect as indicating some of his ambivalence about romance at the time.

• The body of this song has no verse/chorus structure to speak of, just two verses that each turn halfway through on an unexpected chord, making it seem as if a bridge has appeared.

I’ve liked “If I Fell” ever since I was a teenager, but it came onto my radar again recently when local journalist/pundit Mark Jacob posted to social media a cover by the MonaLisa Twins, whose work I featured here three weeks ago.

I’ve been opening up Tune of the Week nominations in an effort to bring some newer sounds to the mix. I’m asking readers to use the comments area for paid subscribers or to email me to leave nominations (post-2000 releases, please!) along with YouTube links and at least a few sentences explaining why the nominated song is meaningful or delightful to you.

Info

Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise. Browse and search back issues here.

Contact

You can email me here:

I read all the messages that come in, but I do most of my interacting with readers in the comments section beneath each issue.

Some of those letters I reprint and respond to in the Z-mail section of Tuesday’s Picayune Plus, which is delivered to paid subscribers and available to all readers later Tuesday. Check there for responses.

If you don’t want me to use the full name on your email or your comments, let me know how you’d like to be identified.

Help?

If you’re having troubles with Substack — delivery, billing and so forth — first try “Picayune Sentinel Substack help, Frequently Asked Questions.” If that doesn’t work check out the Substack help page. And if that doesn’t work, shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to help.

Thanks for reading!