100 Days, 100 Ties

Friday was a banner day [sarcasm dripping]. Two funerals. Ugh. Let me tell you about these gentlemen and their legacies.

George Hackbarth is the father of a dear family friend, whom I met about 15 years ago. Diana & Dave Price became friends of Diane as she watched them for 8 years (their boys, Andrew & Adam, are the same ages as Steven & Josiah, my stepsons).

George survived his wife, Irene, for 3 years, and they were always fixtures at their family gatherings. George, a professional tool & die maker, had great stories, and he made fantastic – FANTASTIC – Manhattans. He made them slowly and methodically, as a proper cocktail should be crafted, just as he probably crafted something else with ‘Manhattan’ in the phrase. Yes, the Manhattan Project. George machined the uranium bits and pieces of the atomic bombs that were tested in New Mexico and then final examed in Japan. You can read more of his tales here.

That was Friday morning. I wore a properly dark tie for the proceedings, but rather improperly spilled a drop or three of coffee on my Colker Special, an Armani Collezioni. Luckily my crapiPhone camera won’t pick up the subleties of the spillage. But, when I went to the visitation at funeral #2, my friend John Bernin picked up on those subleties, and gave me proper shit for it. What to do? Well, give him shit back, and go change my tie when I had the chance.

So, for the second time this week, I doubled up on my tie output for the day. I went with another Colker Special, a JZ Richards design for Nordstrom. While it still struck the proper tone, its purple had a bit more color than the day’s Tie No. 1 (these are Tie Nos. 287 & 288, by the way).

And so, with an uncaffeinated Deuxième Tie du Jour, my second funeral of the day arrived.

And thus, I come to Leo Passage, who also passed away this week. He is the father of my dear friend, Corrine Passage, who’s a neighbor that I admire in her own right. Leo is the founder of Pivot Point, a world leader in beauty education. He is an absolute icon in the salon industry, and you would not believe the outpouring of love that was present on Friday evening (and Saturday afternoon). People traveled from every continent (except Antarctica) to be here, and those who couldn’t come sent the most amazing flowers. Corrine and her brother Rob shared the eulogy, which turned into a celebration of the passion that someone can have for his true loves in life – wife, family and profession. Leo had all of that, and the inspiration that he emitted through his very talented pores rested on so many of the 600+ in attendance, as well as those who kept him in their thoughts throughout the week. I found a picture of him in a tie, but as this photo captures the twinkle in his eye and the smile on his face, I wanted to use it instead.

I can, however, add his grandson, Jack, to the GWT roster. A spitting image of the young Leo (there was a running video tribute at the visitation), Jack has the world ahead of him, and it’s obviously in his genes to grab what he wants.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

It was the best of ties, but since I wore only two ties, I should actually say “It was the better of ties.”

Yes, on Wednesday I pulled the old switcheroo (hearkening back to the glory days of the English slanguage, when “something-eroo” was the “fo-shizzle” of the day). I wore one suit/tie combo during the day, for my regular work-a-day, then gettin’ my seersucker goin’ on for our Annual Meeting.

So, since I have twice as many pix to post, let’s get this double tie-party started.

The original strip, which I guess would be the official Tie du Jour, is pretty plain-Jane. It’s dark navy with teeny-tiny white, red and green pinstripes in it, barely visible thanks to my crapiPhone. It’s from Harridge Row, which sounds British. This is one of several fairly staid ties that I own, that I avoid constantly. Of course, I go for the bolder ones over the dullards, but I’m going to have to have a YITW pretty soon (Yawn-Inducing Tie Week). Some may say I have had several YITWs up ’til now.

Since we at the chamber love to pile extra work upon ourselves, we planned our monthly SOHO group for today at lunchtime. Hosted graciously by Coworking Evanston, a shared-office space on Davis Street, I even got to capture a new Guy With Tie.

Lightning is owner of inMotion, a consulting firm that helps businesses establish their values and processes. And, yes, his name is Lightning. Love the paisley shirt.

Back at the ranch, I added Creighton Bledsoe, one of our interns who is technically a GWT alum. He was on here before during the week when I was running around with a bag full of ties so I could try to get 100 new GWTs (that includes Girls With Ties). Gotta dig the skinny tie.

Soon it was time to head home and don my Annual Meeting attire. Oh, I needed to be noticed (attention seeker?…PRESENT!) and seersucker was just my ticket to noticedom. My Deuxième Tie du Jour (we’ll call it the provisional TdJ) had a bit more personality. Just a bit, as did my suit.

This bright neon-blue and neon-green strip is from a designer called Club Urbano. I thought it would go well with my bright seersucker suit and my bright white belt and my bright white shoes and my…well, you get the idea.

Since it was a quasi-formal occasion, there were lots of GWTs running around. I only caught a few. Let’s get right to ’em.

JB

James Brewer is owner of Envision Wealth Architects. He’s new to the chamber, and he wore a great Ben Sherman strip that I may need to borrow.

Next we have a threebie pic, GWT alum Todd Paul joins Andrew Levin and Brian Levin, two NU students who have, along with several others, formed LEND (Lending for Evanston and Northwestern Development), a company that provides micro-loans for small businesses in struggling areas of Evanston.

Steve, version Griffin

Next we have Steve Griffin, another GWT alum, who is the Community and Economic Development Director with the City of Evanston.

Steve, version L-J

We stick with the Steves, as Steve Lemieux-Jordan was sporting a tie while also taking some pix himself. He and his wife, Genie, are owners of Evanston Photographic Studios. They were taking some LinkedIn profile photos for attendees. They got some good ones, as you’ll see in a second.

I mentioned that they were taking LinkedIn profile pics. I took mine during one of the more enjoyable moments of the evening (aka – I’d had a few beers). Which of these should I choose?

Thanks for reading…Brooke

Roar

Rock

Sock

Ive got some goooolden chesthair

I've got a goooolden ticket!

Sir Elton John (né Reginald Dwight, which you can’t spell without T-I-E) was of course at the royal wedding of most recent happenstance. His purple tie was quite befitting of the day, very regal. Of course, many wish he had busted out one of his tie-less outfits from the 70’s. That whole wedding needed a bit of naughtiness.

Naughtiness was not the order of the day, as I spent the first part of it taking a mostly-well, slightly-sick daughter to the doctor’s office. Then that same even-more-well-less-sick daughter accompanied me to the office all day. Luckily for all involved, she brought her laptop and enough books to keep her occupied, at least until the last 90 minutes of our stay, which was of course punctuated by exceedingly rapid-fire requests to leave the premises. Huff.

But, I did manage to get a tie on – and keep my top button buttoned, even – to last the day. It’s what we now know as a Colker Special, one of the group of ties that my friend David Colker loaned me several weeks ago. They are mostly power ties, bold colors that were the favorites of folks in the trading industry. Folks like David, who went to bat for the Cincinnati Stock Exchange against the Wall Street boys. If I ever get him to wear a tie again (I’m pretty sure he’s a GWT alum), I’ll snap a pic. But, if not, then here’s one that I plucked online…

Now, on to my Tie du Jour, or the CSdJ (Colker Spécial du Jour), as it turns out. As you can guess from the Eltonian subject, it’s a bold yellow number, a power strip, so to speak. It hails from the house of Ike, Ike Behar. The one bad thing was that I didn’t have any pocket squares that set it off just right, so I had to settle for something that went with the shirt. Sheesh, did I take my bitchin’ pills today?

Tomorrow is the Chamber’s Annual Meeting, a big to-do that will soon be to-done. Our new Executive Director, Eve Doi, will take a bow, as this will be her first Evanston appearance as our new boss. Best of luck, Eve! Can’t wait to re-meet you (she met with staff during the interview process). Hope she knows that she has to do shots with all of the board members…annual meeting tradition.

Thanks for reading…Brooke