God's Own Suburban Smackdown, or New Emhurst Press Columnist Might Be A Jerk.

Anyone who grew up in Elmhurst is probably familiar with the humorous, editorial column, "Loose Change." Written by Jack Zimmerman, "Loose Change" was often funny and insightful, never taking itself seriously, it had been a staple of The Elmhurst Press for twenty-three years. He just wrote his last column. I liked it and I'm gonna miss it.

So, let's rip the new guy...

Jeff Vrabel attempts to be funny, but borders on insulting, as he pokes fun at Time's Person of the Year(agreed, but alittle late), YouTube and the current state of the media and information.

You can read the article here. My biggest problem comes in the second paragraph.

"You were also plummeting music mag Spin's Artist of the Year, where Your crappy band and its MySpace page apparently exerted more oomph than anything by Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan or Lindsay Buckingham last year. They do not have MySpace pages or blogs, which apparently makes them a little less noteworthy than, say, Chicago band OK Go, who became very popular with a groundbreaking video, shot for $24, in which they run on treadmills for several consecutive minutes."

Here is the first point where he reveals his contempt for harmless modern popular music, among other things, while staking a claim of integrity by comparing it to unimpeachable classic rock icons (which he's obviously smarter for listening to), who are now, more or less, irrelevant.

That's all fine and good, but Jeff, you are writing for an Elmhurst newspaper. OK Go! isn't just a Chicago band. The drummer of OK Go! is York High graduate and former Elmhurst resident, Dan Konopka. Some who read this paper may know him. May have had class with him, or been helped out by him. Some may have worked with him, knee deep in the shit. Other's may have written, lovingly of him, despite his having only a vague memory of the writer.

So, I'll be damned if I let some columnist, who considers his tastes superior to mine, slam my former 16 Inchers teammate. A son of Elmhurst who rocked me out a time or two in this fair city.

Shape up, Jeff Vrabel. You're on notice.

God's Own Suburban Success Story

This is Dan Konopka. The picture is from his sophomore Yearbook at York Community High School in Elmhurst.

Some of you might remember Dan in Art Staff at York.

You may not know it, but Dan isn't just a former resident and York Alum, he's one of our most high profile former resident and York Alum.

See, aside from living in Elmhurst for part of his life, Dan also plays the drums. Some of you might remember Dan playing drums at shows in Elmhurst. Some of you might remember Dan playing drums in your band at shows in Elmhurst.

Dan continues to make us here in Elmhurst proud. Dan is in a band called O.K. Go. The bands status has been on a steady rise due in large part to their impossibly hip videos. Their frontman was a recent guest on The Colbert Report.

I remember Dan. Elmhurst remembers Dan. And Dan remembers us both.

I have a friend at Capitol Records. While attending an O.K. Go concert she got to go backstage afterwards.

Approaching former Elmhurst resident Dan, "My friend Phil Hendricks says he went to High School with you? Do you really know him?"

Pausing and maybe smiling abit at some distant, humorous memory of a time the two of us undoubtedly once shared.

"Yeah... Sure... Phil. Cool. How is he."

I'm well Dan. So is Elmhurst. Well and happy at seeing your success.