In today's paper, I wrote about Northfield surgeon Dr. Daniel Ivankovich and his efforts to help earthquake victims in Haiti. He's dontated 2 tons of medical equipment an his services -- amputation, wound care, general surgery -- and orchestrated the transport of two paralyzed Haitian victims to Chicago for surgery. Ivankovich is blogging about the experience and soliciting donations.

Other Chicago folks are helping Haiti Relief efforts by drinking and dancing.
Here's a few:
HAITI-AIDE Cocktails: Order the Haiti-Aide rum punch cocktail (It's Kraken Rum mixed with cranberry and orange juice) at any of these bars and 100 percent of the purchase price -- $6.50 -- will be donated to the American Red Cross Haiti relief fund.
The fundraiser will last until Sunday or until the entire supply of Kraken Rum is gone.
You can order up a glass of Haiti-Aide at:
The Hangge-Uppe - 14 West Elm Street
Pippin's Tavern - 806 North Rush Street
River Shannon - 425 West Armitage Avenue
Mother's Too - 14 West Division Street
The Original Mother's - 26 West Division Street
The Lodge Tavern - 21 West Division Street
Streeter's Tavern - 50 East Chicago Avenue
She-Nannigan's - 16 West Division Street
Bootleggers - 13 West Division Street
Mahoney's Pub & Grille - 551 North Ogden

TONIGHT: Haiti Relief Fundraiser by the Young and Powerful Group at Crimson Lounge, 333 N. Dearborn. Donations taken at the door and proceeds from raffle will be donated to the American Red Cross and Yele Haiti, a charity established by muscian Wyclef Jean.

Tonight and Thursday at Rumba:
Tonight, it's a Hearts4Haiti Global Initiative fundraiser. A minimum $20 donation at the door will go to Doctors without Borders and International Child Care.

And Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Rumba, 351 W. Hubbard at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The $20 cover will be donated to Yele Haiti.

If you know of other Haiti relief efforts in Chicago, please post them in the comment section.

Say bye-bye to the July 3 "Independence Day Eve Fireworks Spectacular" at Taste of Chicago this year -- a major bummer for folks who enjoy the crush of a giant crowd.

Which gets us to this week's quiz question:
When and where did Taste of Chicago get its start?

Congrats to Zack Newmark who won last week's quiz. He knew late Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak is considered the father of Chicago Machine Politics?

Tony Chen, 34, of Glenview helped raise more than $3,500 in a single day for Haitian earthquake relief by working social networking sites.
The founder of Savvy Daddy, a social networking site for fathers, offered to donate 25 cents for every person who became a Facebook fan of World Vision(a humanitarian group that has served in Haiti for more than 30 years) in 24 hours time. World Vision has 800 volunteers on the ground in Haiti.
That's when an anonymous SavvyDaddy follower offered to triple Chen's donation --making it $1 for every new Facebook friend..
"When I offered 25 cents a few new fans trickled in, but when the other dad offered a triple match it started to go viral a bit. I was nervous it might explode, but pleased as well that we could help."
In a single day, 3,500 people joined World Vision.
"I made a donation over the phone the next day," Chen said. "It was double good. We were able to give money and now 3,500 more people are staying updated with World Vision on Facebook."
Chen, who traveled to Haiti on a service trip four years ago, said he decided to sponsor World Vision because the group has been working with Haitian locals for decades and will be there decades more.
"Six months from now when all the media is gone and people forget about Haiti they will still be there," Chen said. "And they have the local infrastructure and connections to keep helping people."
World vision spokesman John Yeager said the Seattle-based group has collected $15 million in donations in the last week for Haitian relief and most of it was from small donations via the internet.
"This kind of donation and the work Tony did makes a difference," Yeager said. "He was moved and you could feel it when you saw Savvy Daddy. You felt the urgency and see in his heart that he wanted to help. It makes a difference."

Congrats to last week's winner, Stacy Rubenstein.

She knew former Chicago Mayor "Long" John Wentworth once told voters, "You damn fools ... you can either vote for me for mayor or you can go to hell."?

This week' quiz is in honor of our late pal, Carlos Hernandez Gomez. He'd know the answer immediately.

Who is considered the father of Chicago Machine Politics?

The first reader to post the correct answer wins a Sun-Times T-shirt. I'll post your answers and the winner next week.

Edith Howard waits tables like her feet are on fire at Courtway Restaurant in the Loop.

"She has my order in before I sit down," Joe Salazar says. "Egg Beaters. Whole wheat toast, no butter. She's sharp, fast and takes care of everything I need. They don't make 'em like her anymore."
On Tuesday, Howard, 77, retired after 45 years at the throwback diner tucked inside a dark hallway in an office building at 29 S. La Salle.

Here's her story.

Meet Rosemary George. She's the Pizza Princess of of Pulaski, Vito and Nick's on South Pulaski in Ashburn.
Her father opened the joint 45 years ago. Vito and Nick's is known for it's cracker-thin pizza, a Southwest Side staple. Long-time regulars at the family pizza lounge have watched George grow up while the place stays exactly the same.
Say what you want about the place, there's no disputing it: George is a true Chicago character.
Here's her story.

(photo from Facebook posted by Chuck Ferrara)

Chicago newsman Carlos Hernandez Gomez was often a young man in old man's clothes --1950s horn-rimmed eye glasses, an throwback Fedora, skinny tie and a full-length rain coat.
Carlos had an encyclopedic knowledge of Chicago corruption history and keen political insights that he loved to share whether he was on the radio, TV or a bar stool at the Billy Goat Tavern.
He knew all the players in Chicago politics and more importantly they knew him. They respected him, too. Carlos earned it.
On Sunday, Ol' Carlito died too young. At 36, he lost a brutal battle with cancer.
President Obama had this to say, ""He was a throwback in the style of Chicago's storied political reporters. He loved Chicago, and he relentlessly sought to tell its story with the commitment to truth and the insatiable curiosity that any good reporter has to have. I quickly learned that when you saw his sharp fedora in a crowd, hard questions were coming. But Carlos always played it straight. And I always enjoyed our interactions in Springfield, Chicago, or on the campaign trail. Carlos was a role model to many, and an integral part of the Chicago story he strived to tell."
That's the kind of impression he made on a lot of people.
Simply put, Carlos was tough, talented and funny as hell.
I'll always remember his late-night impressions of the late John Stroger former State Senate President Emil Jones that would always made me spit my beer on the floor at the Goat Tavern. And I'll remember all the "off-the-record" talks we had over cold ones. Those were special.
CarlosHernandezGomez (say it in one breath) was a true Chicago character, a solid reporter and an even better friend to so many people. I'll miss you buddy.

Carlos was a huge Beatles fan. On Monday morning, I gave this song a spin on the record player and thought about our friend. It's a cover of George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" by Jim James (Yim Yames) of My Morning Jacket. Give a listen. Think of Carlito. He was one of the good ones.

Hipsters hanging out at the Happy Village Bar should know: You are now drinking in a national treasure.
Nearly all of East Village - from Division to Chicago between Damen and Hermitage - including the friendly dive bar recently earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.
For two long, East Village is Ukranian Village's unappreciated step brother. Now the neighborhood has been recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. Read more here.

Last week's winner was Nick Georgopoulos. He was first to know Chicago-style deep dish pizza was invented at Uno's. Nick didn't get specific with who invented the casserole-esque pie. Which was a good call. Generally, Uno founder Ike Sewell, a former liquor salesman, gets credit. But a story in the Chicago Daily News back in the '60s credited Sewell's employee Lou Malanati for coming up with the recipe. Either way, Nick scores a T-shirt. Congrats.

This week, here's your question:

Which Chicago mayor once told voters, "You damn fools ... you can either vote for me for mayor or you can go to hell."?
(That's him over there.)

The first reader to answer correctly wins a Sun-Times T-shirt.

All that talk of turning Jimbo's Lounge into a John Barlleycorn (i.e. a Cubs bar) appears to be sufficiently dead thanks to outstanding Beverly tavern keeper, Billy Guide of Cork & Kerry on Western. (C&K is probably the most popular joint on the the Western "Death Walk" route, but I like the prices at Sean's Rhino Bar, better.)

My old pal Steve Metsch at the SouthtownStar broke the news Friday while I was battling the flu.

Wrigleyville builder Matt Lederer is out to help the environment -- one dried-up Christmas tree at a time.

Rather than remodeling kitchens today, Lederer, 41, said he's sending his crews to scour neighborhood alleys to pick up discarded trees otherwise destined for a landfill.

They'll haul loads of old trees to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum for a proper death by mulching.

"I'm doing it for the environment because it's just the right thing to do," Lederer said. "Recycling the trees saves space in the landfill and [is] creating something, mulch, that will be good for the area."

Lederer, owner of Mahogany Builders, said he decided to turn his workers into alleyway recyclers for a day after years of scooping up a few brittle Christmas trees while on his way to mulch his own. This year, he hopes his guys recycle 100 trees. "Hopefully this might inspire other people to do simple things like this [for the environment]," he said.

If you know someone doing Something Good, email me.

Who is credited as being the inventor of Chicago Deep Dish Pizza? (Hint: There's only one answer.)

Be first to post the correct answer to win a Sun-TImes T-shirt. Winner will be announced next week.

Konkol's Korner reader Sal Curran.

He was the first to email the correct answer to last week's quiz. Curran knew that Clybourn Street is named after Archibald Clybourn, who was a butcher at Ft. Dearborn
and in 1835 became Chicago's first police constable.

Congrats, Sal. Email me your address and I'll ship out your prize.

Look for a new quiz question on Wednesday.

Jim Terry is watching you, Chicago. He's riding a CTA train or hunched on a sidewalk scribbling the shadows on a skyscraper or the look on your face -- stuff that might end up in one of his comic books. (Here's his website.)

"I'm the guy with the sketchbook that nobody really notices," says Terry, a 35-year-old who soon will be downsized out of a job as a chain bookstore clerk.

Terry's street-level observations have seeped into his latest comic Lie Down Low, a gritty noir chronicling the misadventures of Stan and Baker, a pair of two-bit hoods from Chicago.

"The architecture is awesome in this city. It's grimy and eloquent at the same time," he said. "So are the people. We've got some interesting characters here."

Read more ...

And check out Terry's drawings here.