A return to normal this week; Normal, Illinois that is, and maybe some more pandemic record shopping?

What a surprise to find the Charlatans in my Release Radar. Nearly 20 years old, Between 10th and 11th (Expanded Edition) got a proper expansion, and on double, clear vinyl to boot. Probably the most exciting thing on my #4THOFJULYRADAR.

Expanded, available on double clear vinyl and double CD, the reissue contains the original album plus remastered tracks from the often-bootlegged live show from Chicago in 1991, known as Isolation 21.2.91, a holy grail amongst fans.

Lil Wayne is returning to form, at least sort of. “Glory” sees Wayne at his finest, most focused, self, with more metaphors, than 2 Chainz.

Josh Rouse returns with a new single, or two-song EP, called Most of the Time. Another highlight of “Freedom” weekend was to hear Josh’s voice piping through the speakers.

The Grateful Dead release a massive collection of outtakes from their Workingman’s Dead album. Do you wanna hear Jerry talk about the joy of writing with the band he loved? Tune in, and check out this version of “Casey Jones.”

Supergrass drops a live version of the song that made them, “Alright,” live from Glastonbury in 1997.

The Radio Dept are something special. They do their own version of the ’80s, maybe even a bit of the sunny 70’s at times. It makes you long for the days of bands that wrote lyrics because they wanted to.

Don’t miss this demo of The Kooks “Window To The Soul.” It’s got a funky guitar riff that grabs you right away, with a big hook.

MisterWives came back with one of their best tracks yet, “Decide To Be Happy.” It’s a choice that might be the best for the rest of us, for now, and forever.

This one by Morgan James wasn’t in my #Radar this week, but it was really good. Great voice and feel for the track.

I can’t leave you without jazz and Englewood’s “Congo Bongo” is a transfusion jam that’s one part island, and one part new age.

Subscribe to my blog below.

The vast majority of Chicago homebuyers don’t know that there are really two different types of brick homes. They see brick and…well…they think the home is made out of brick. It’s a little more complicated than that actually. There is brick veneer and then there’s solid masonry and you can’t typically tell the difference between the two very easily.

Brick Veneer Construction

A lot of the brick homes you see at $1.5 MM and less are actually a frame construction with brick veneer and that’s because they are less expensive to build than solid masonry. The term veneer kinda sounds like it’s a fake brick covering but it’s not. It’s regular, real brick but it’s laid around a wooden frame structure. So the core of the house is the same as you would find in a home with siding but the outer layer is brick. In between the frame and the brick is a layer of sheathing, which is often gypsum (a drywall-like material) or maybe even plywood, usually wrapped in Tyvek or something similar.

Most of the brick construction in Chicago is brick veneer around a wooden frame.

Here are a couple of photos I took of a brick veneer house in my neighborhood that was under construction. Notice how they used plywood for sheathing in some places and gypsum in others. I have no idea how they decide between the two.

Wooden frame house with sheathing waiting for brick

Brick is laid as a final layer around the perimeter of the house which serves as the main weather barrier.

Brick is laid around the wooden frame with wrapped sheathing.

Solid Masonry Construction

In contrast, the basic structure of a solid masonry house is made from an interior layer of brick – the floor joists sit on this interior layer instead of wood framing. Here is a photo I took of such a house under construction in Lake View.

Solid masonry construction uses an internal layer of large bricks to form the structure of the house.

Note that instead of internal wooden framing the structure of the house is built using thin cinder blocks or CMUs (concrete masonry units).  Then another layer of more expensive and attractive brick is applied to the outside of the house. If you look closely at the photo you’ll see that there are protruding, corrugated metal strips set into the cinder block mortar joints that then get sandwiched into the brick veneer mortar joints. This provides additional support to the outer wall and keeps it from separating from the inner wall.

In this particular photo you’ll see that there is a very small gap between the two layers of brick. This is not a great construction technique because that gap is supposed to allow any water that penetrates the outer layer to harmlessly run down the outside of the gap. This close spacing could allow water to penetrate the inner layer of brick.

There are actually a couple of variations of solid masonry construction. When brick homes were built in Chicago 100 years ago they actually used 3 layers of the smaller brick – I assume cinder block hadn’t been invented yet. There are plenty of these 100+ year old brick buildings still around the city and if you have to open up their walls to do some work you often encounter these three layers.

Then, right after the turn of the century, during the housing boom, it became very popular to use a single layer of wide (8 inches) cinder blocks on the sides and backs of buildings to reduce the construction costs. To make these buildings look nicer they often used split face blocks. The only problem is that split face block is extremely porous and needs to be sealed. And because it often wasn’t sealed that usually resulted in some severe water infiltration issues.

Comparing Brick Veneer To Solid Masonry Construction

Everyone knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. The house that best withstood the trials of the Big Bad Wolf was clearly the brick one. The only thing is that we’re not sure whether that was a solid masonry house or a brick veneer house. Dr. Klaus Faust of Harvard’s Department of Comparative Literature has spent his life and a generous federal grant studying this fairy tale. Unfortunately, even after going back to the original clay manuscripts and illustrations he is unable to provide additional insight into this pressing issue. Nevertheless, it’s clear that brick is better than straw or twigs and you can assume that two layers of brick are better than one layer of brick.

In principle you should expect solid masonry construction to be more wind and fire resistant and it isn’t susceptible to rotting or termites. So it’s clearly better and higher end homes are built this way. However, don’t expect a solid masonry house to save you money on your property insurance. While a brick veneer house could come down quickly in a fire a fire that burns long enough will also eventually destroy a solid masonry structure.  And a solid masonry house is more expensive to rebuild. When it comes to home ownership you just can’t win.

#HomeConstruction

Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.

Ripples and waves.
Ripples and waves.

It feels at times you are trying to keep your head above water. As if you are at the shoreline strong and resilient, bold and brave ready to face the ocean of uncertainties. Your eagerness sends you running into the waves to only get knocked down by the force of the water. And once you’re down, you realize just how difficult it is to feel stable again. The waves don’t stop. Will they ever stop? The only thing that begins to occupy your mind is the need to survive. How do I survive the force of the world? How do I overcome the elements that are out of my control? Will the waters ever become still enough to catch a glimpse of my own reflection?

I often wonder if I am headed into the waves to avoid the calm. The more chaos in my life, the less time I spend getting to know myself. The less time I get to know myself, the more time I spend pleasing others. The more time I spend pleasing others instead of myself, the more I am actually failing everyone. Because you cannot fully love someone without loving yourself. And you cannot be intimate with friends or your partner without being completely vulnerable and intimate with yourself first. In order to spread the messages of love, kindness, and forgiveness you must first extend yourself the same grace.

If you continue to negatively self-talk, the few truths of your essence that you may have had glimpses of, completely dissolve into the salty waters. And there you are, feet getting buried in the sand, completely defeated and more further from your truth.

Still waters make for clear reflections. So I keep making ripples to blur the truth. The truth that I am not perfect. The truth that I have had past traumas. The truth that sometimes I cannot control my anger. The truth that I sometimes fail as a mother and a wife. The truth that I go numb and mindlessly scroll social media. The truth that I limit myself from living the life I was designed to live.

What we do know is this: the waves will continue to come. The water is in constant motion, at times feeling calm and at times forceful. But the joy comes when the waters do settle and you deeply know the person in that reflection. The person who embraces the waves because he or she knows who will be there when the calm returns. The joy comes from experiencing the strength gained in the struggle. You start to realize that even at times when your feet may begin to sink, you are capable of figuring it out and moving forward!

So now instead of chasing chaos you chase adventure. You chase the opportunity to challenge yourself and create new edges.
Because you put in the time.
Because you put in the work.
Because you allowed the space to feel safe and vulnerable.
Because you choose to love yourself first.

Fourth of July holiday. A weekend of celebration. People getting together in big crowds. Fireworks! Always a lot of fun! But in a pandemic? Maybe not quite as much fun?

The United States is the midst of its worst outbreaks of Covid-19. We’re seeing a run of more than fifty thousand new cases of the virus each day. It’s the most since the start of the pandemic three months ago. How is the president handling this? Let’s have a party!!

Tonight Donald Trump will be at Mount Rushmore. He’ll be leading a campaign rally that will be disguised as a supposed patriotic Independence Day event. Expected to join him are 7,500 loyal citizens. If you’ve been to Mount Rushmore, you know that it doesn’t have room for that many people. Even though they’ll be grouped into two separate areas, people are going to be jammed in together. There’s not a chance there will be anything close to social distancing….in a spiking pandemic. What could possibly go wrong?!

We’ve known Don isn’t concerned about the health and safety of the country’s citizens, but what makes this situation more dangerous is that South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem doesn’t care either. Her spokesperson described the way she handled the pandemic in the state like this, “Gov. Noem is the only governor in the country who never mandated a single business or church to close, never ordered a shelter-in-place order for her citizens.” And doing nothing is also the way she’ll handle tonight at Mt. Rushmore. On Monday, she told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham:

“We will have a large event July 3rd; we told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home. “But those who want to come and join us, we’ll be giving out free face masks if they choose to wear one, but we won’t be social distancing.”

Wow! While people are becoming ill in record numbers, this was her response? Masks optional? What could possibly go wrong?

As if this isn’t enough, there’s now a threat of a wildfire because of the fireworks. Mount Rushmore used to have a yearly Fourth of July fireworks show, but according to the National Park Service, between 1998 and 2009, a minimum of twenty-seven wildfires were started in the area because of the fireworks. The shows were discontinued and it’s been ten years since the last one. Trump couldn’t understand the reasoning:

“What can burn? It’s stone. You know, it’s stone. It’s granite. So I called up our people. And within about 15 minutes, we got it approved.”

So in July, when the risk of fire in the Black Hills is at it’s highest; in the middle of what is considered a moderate drought; in the exact area where they have had more than two dozen fires because of fireworks, Donald Trump and his flunky South Dakota Governor decide to hold a rally with a fireworks show. What could possibly go wrong?

People are supposed to learn from their past. For Donald Trump, the lesson should have been the event in Tulsa just two weeks ago. A crowd of six thousand people were packed into an arena. There was very little social distancing. There was very little mask wearing. Since then, there’s been a spike in Tulsa’s Covid-19 case numbers that has been attributed to the rally. Trump supporter Herman Cain, who was shown at the rally smiling smugly without a mask, is now in an Atlanta hospital with the virus.

And now we’re going to try it again and hope that the results will be different? What could possibly go wrong?

Type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.

You can have that Fourth of July barbecue after all.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the media and politicians, ignoring a new court order ending the governor’s  Covid-19 regulations, act as if nothing has changed. As if you still must obey, obey, obey.

But according to this legal analysis by Northbrook attorney Michael Ciesla, “The Governor’s COVID-1no9 Executive Orders Do Not Exist. End of Story”, Illinoisans no longer have to obey any of the orders. His analysis concludes: 

 Simply put, it means that as of this moment, all restrictions on citizens and businesses are lifted.  Masks are no longer required, social distancing is not required, restaurants can open to 100% indoor capacity without social distancing and gatherings of over 50 people are legal.

The Court also declared that Pritzker had no Illinois constitutional authority to issue stay-at-home orders or close businesses.

Michael Ciesla

Clay County (Illinois) Circuit Judge Michael McHaney ruled that state law does not permit Pritzker to extend his excessively strict orders for more than 30 days, and because that window closed  April 8. The suit was filed by  state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia).

 Emily Bittner, Pritzker’s spokesman, asserted that  order is not final and has no immediate impact because it didn’t include an injunction barring the State from enforcing the Governor’s phase four rules. 

But, as Ciesla explains, no injunction is necessary to effectuate the ruling.

The case was brought as a chancery case.  Plaintiffs in chancery cases seek remedies that are non-monetary such as injunctions or, in this case, a declaration of the legality of executive orders.  The Court declared that all of the Governor’s executive orders regarding COVID-19 are void as of April 8, 2020.  Such declaration is the final say of the Circuit Court of Illinois.  No injunction is needed as the Order simply erased the COVID-19 executive orders.  If a citizen or a business acts in defiance of the now void executive orders and law enforcement or a government agency seeks to punish such action, then it would be proper for the person or business would seek an injunction to bar enforcement of the executive orders.

In  other words, Illinois has become just like Wisconsin, whose Supreme Court nullified one and all pandemic orders issued by its governor, Tony Evers.

Free at last.

What a weird year. That might be an understatement. Since COVID-19 abruptly shut down all theaters on March 21 (and has kept them mostly closed since), movie lovers like me have had to adapt. This adaptation has taken many forms over the past few months:

1. Bought an annual subscription to The Criterion Channel (highly recommended – best first watch? 1972’s What’s Up, Doc? starring Barbara Streisand and Ryan O’Neal). I subscribed to HBO Max in May, and that service also has an excellent movie catalog – full of classics, new releases, and some forgotten favorites (Housesitter, anyone?).
2. With Summer Movie Season essentially cancelled, I’ve been rewatching tons of ’80s and ’90s summer blockbusters, in an effort to recreate some of the same sensation and get a heaping rush of nostalgia. Best rewatch? 1993’s Last Action Hero – the much maligned Schwarzenegger flop (it’s actually great, with a clever script co-written by Shane Black). That one held up. So did The Fugitive – a flawless film. Can’t say the same for the Whoopi-Ted Danson farce, Made in America. Interesting to watch that one given all the racial equality and police brutality protests of late. It was tone deaf back in 1993, and even more so now.
3. For Christmas, I asked for (and got) an outdoor projector. How very prescient! We bought a giant 100″ screen and now watch movies in the backyard on these warm summer nights. It’s not the drive-in, but it’s close and then the kids and I set up a tent and go to sleep after a double feature. We enjoyed Twister, but The Cable Guy might have been too over-the-heads. Don’t worry – they’ll come around on it some day, just like everyone else has.

So, that’s how I’ve been coping. Of course, I still watch as many new films as are released. I paid $19.99 for both Trolls: World Tour AND The King of Staten Island. I couldn’t watch Eurovision fast enough. And I’m one of the few, the brave, the proud to have purchased Scoob! for $25. None of those flicks made my Top 5 of the year so far (shocker, I know), but here’s what did:

5. The Vast of Night. A deft, brilliantly directed ode to 1950’s sci-fi and Twilight Zone/Outer Limits fare. Does a lot on a limited budget. A bit of a slow burn, but director Andrew Patterson is going places. And, there’s a long tracking shot early on that’s a real stunner.

4. The Platform. If you like Black Mirror or Jordan Peele’s horror flicks, you’ll probably find much to admire in this Spanish-language social allegory horror thriller. Hooks you within the first five minutes, and never lets up for the next 90 minutes.

3. Da Five Bloods. Spike Lee’s on a roll. His follow-up to the Oscar-winning BlackKklansman mixes genre and tone with wild abandon, using every film making trick in the playbook. The veteran cast are all impressive, but it’s Delroy Lindo who walks away with the movie, in what may be a career-best performance.

2. Bad Education. HBO snapped up the rights to this “based on a true story” flick after it premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. Hugh Jackman has never been better as a school superintendent with sociopathic tendencies. It plays similar notes as Election, but eventually charts its own path thanks to a fascinating story and unique, complex characters.

1. The Invisible Man. One of the last movies I saw in theaters before the shutdown. Maybe that’s why it stuck with me so well. Could also be due to the simple fact that Leigh Whannell knows how to stage scenes for maximum suspense, and Elisabeth Moss just crushes it as the lead. Exciting and topical, with a fresh take on toxic masculinity.