My Kankakee ... Song

This is Myshkin. I have never met her. Her band, Myshkin's Ruby Warblers recorded a tune titled, "King of Kankakee." She e-mailed me saying that she had never been to Kankakee. She claimed, "It was a love song from a very crazy time, I was on tour, we were driving by, it sounded nice....and somehow worked in my brain to codify the midwestern element of the person I was writing about...kind of accidental but sometime lyrics just work that way." The song is a rocking little tune. Myyshkin's number is not as well known as "The City of New Orleans," a song Steve Goodman wrote and Arlo Guthrie made famous.

Both songs can be purchased on iTunes for a total of $1.98 in a matter of a few clicks.

Kankakee in Africa

Here is my brother Bob in his Kankakee shirt attempting to play ping-pong with a cat in Africa. Despite the impression you may get from this photo Bob and his wife Michelle are doing some very important work in Zambia as part on an AIDS research project with Emory University and the Gates Foundation. You can read about the adventures of a couple Kankakee kids Africa at thier blog: http://michellebobzambia.blogspot.com/

Bob has made some interesting connections because of his Kankakee shirt. This is how he explauned it in a recent email:

"I wore my Kankakee shirt to a mzungu (foreign person) party at a friend's house. From across the room someone asks…"Hey is that Kankakee, Illinois?" She was a former University of Illinois student familiar with the Shell on Court Street. She had a roommate that was from Bourbonnais. I didn’t know her and I can't remember her name now. I will try to get better details in the future. Last weekend while cooking out at my place this guy says, “Your really from Kankakee?”. He was from Naperville and played Kankakee in football. Uniquely, he moved to Atlanta and then to Zambia. A somewhat similar path to my own."

Buy Kankakee Shirts online soon ... Downtown now

In just the first few days of mykankakeeshirt.com I have had a number of requests by those who want to have their own shirt. Of course, you can make your own but soon you will also have a way to buy shirts online.

If you live in the Kankakee area you can buy shirts at the Unity Skateshop on Court Street in downtown Kankakee or you can e-mail me (Bill Yohnka, unofficial Kankakee Ambassador) at byohnka@juno.com or call me at 815.933.7478.

Johnny Irion, a Kankakee Shirt and Willie

Johnny Irion is seen here jamming with Willie Nelson all while sporting his Kankakee shirt. This is my original hand crafted shirt that I traded with Johnny when his father-in-law (Arlo Guthrie) and family visited Kankakee in December of 2005. This shirt is a standard issue baseball shirt with letters that I cut out of iron-on blue jean patch material. Johnny and his wife Sarah Lee Guthrie are very talented, please check them out if you get the chance.

Bob and a warthog

My brother Bob is in Zambia with his wife Michelle. Here Bob shows off his Kankakee shirt with a warthog during a camping trip. Bob and Michelle are from Kankakee and are working with Emory University on an AIDS research project.