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Brewery & Bar Activity During the COVID-19 Closings: North Cook/Lake Countieson March 16, 2020 at 7:08 pm

The Beeronaut

Brewery & Bar Activity During the COVID-19 Closings: North Cook/Lake Counties

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Brewery & Bar Activity During the COVID-19 Closings: North Cook/Lake Countieson March 16, 2020 at 7:08 pm Read More »

Brewery & Bar Activity During the COVID-19 Closings: West Cook/DuPage/Far West Suburbson March 16, 2020 at 7:08 pm

The Beeronaut

Brewery & Bar Activity During the COVID-19 Closings: West Cook/DuPage/Far West Suburbs

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Brewery & Bar Activity During the COVID-19 Closings: West Cook/DuPage/Far West Suburbson March 16, 2020 at 7:08 pm Read More »

Brewery & Bar Activity During the COVID-19 Closings: South Cook/Will County/Indianaon March 16, 2020 at 7:08 pm

The Beeronaut

Brewery & Bar Activity During the COVID-19 Closings: South Cook/Will County/Indiana

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Brewery & Bar Activity During the COVID-19 Closings: South Cook/Will County/Indianaon March 16, 2020 at 7:08 pm Read More »

A pleasant surprise on the silent streets of Pilsenon March 16, 2020 at 7:17 pm

A pleasant surprise on the silent streets of Pilsen

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A pleasant surprise on the silent streets of Pilsenon March 16, 2020 at 7:17 pm Read More »

Watch R Primary Cand. Pat O’Brien w Berkowitz tonite in Chicago on being a good State’s Attorney & Foxx messes- Bail & Smollett: Cable & Webon March 17, 2020 at 1:09 am

Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz

Watch R Primary Cand. Pat O’Brien w Berkowitz tonite in Chicago on being a good State’s Attorney & Foxx messes- Bail & Smollett: Cable & Web

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Watch R Primary Cand. Pat O’Brien w Berkowitz tonite in Chicago on being a good State’s Attorney & Foxx messes- Bail & Smollett: Cable & Webon March 17, 2020 at 1:09 am Read More »

Schooling From Home Tips for Parents to Keep Class in Sessionon March 17, 2020 at 2:45 am

Go 2 Mommy

Schooling From Home Tips for Parents to Keep Class in Session

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Schooling From Home Tips for Parents to Keep Class in Sessionon March 17, 2020 at 2:45 am Read More »

Brain Surgery in the era of Coronaviruson March 17, 2020 at 3:35 am

Becoming SuperMommy

Brain Surgery in the era of Coronavirus

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Brain Surgery in the era of Coronaviruson March 17, 2020 at 3:35 am Read More »

Malachy Towey, Irish immigrant musician who played the traditional bodhran drum, dead at 99on March 16, 2020 at 9:32 pm

When Malachy Towey beat on his drum, it could make a person want to dance a jig — or march off to war.

He probably was the oldest person in Chicago to play the bodhran, a traditional Irish instrument made from a goatskin stretched over a round wooden frame.

Accordionist Jimmy Keane said he was “the first musician I ever saw play the bodhran with his massive hands and knuckles — no sticks, brooms nor brushes for Malachy — just straight from his heart to his hand.”

Malachy Towey (right) with accordionist Jimmy Keane.
Malachy Towey (right) with accordionist Jimmy Keane.
Jimmy Keane

Those big hands also could replicate the tiny rosettes in the moldings at the Chicago Cultural Center. The founder of Beverly Plastering, he worked as a plasterer at the center and other buildings including hospitals, schools and restaurants.

Mr. Towey, an Irish immigrant from Cloontia in County Mayo, died in his sleep Wednesday at 99 at his Mount Greenwood home.

“He had a wonderful day,” his daughter Esther Muhr said. “He had a great dinner and was really happy and content.”

Malachy Towey.
Malachy Towey.
Provided

Only two weeks ago, he’d played a session at Lanigan’s Irish Pub, 3119 W. 11th St.

“He still was able to play a tune,” said Nick Glynn, a manager there. “He loved the bodhran.”

“He certainly made a mark with his playing and his presence at the session at Lanigan’s all these years,” said Liz Carroll, an acclaimed fiddler from Chicago who was the first American composer to receive Ireland’s top cultural prize for traditional music.

Malachy Towey (right, on bodhran) and flautist friend Kevin Henry and fiddler Frank Burke.
Malachy Towey (right, on bodhran) and flautist friend Kevin Henry and fiddler Frank Burke.
Provided

Young Malachy made his first bodhran at 9. When he was a boy, “The bodhran was usually only played one day of the year in Ireland, and that was what they called St. Stephen’s Day” — Dec. 26,” he said in a 2016 interview with Jay Shefsky on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight.”

He and his four brothers and sister grew up on a farm. Even during the Great Depression, his parents Bridget and Martin “were completely self-sufficient,” his daughter said. “They made everything or produced everything they needed except for tea and sugar.”

They heated their home with turf-peat cut from bogland.

“When he was a boy, every house was full and there were lots of kids,” she said. But with few jobs, “Eventually, everyone left.”

He followed his brothers to London, where he helped repair the damage from German bombs during the Blitz. He stayed busy because he knew how to do plastering, painting, carpentry and bricklaying.

Able-bodied men went to war, so, “at 17, he had a whole gang of men working under him,” said another daughter, Julia McSweeney.

One day, “He and his brothers were repairing some building that had been damaged in the bombing. and he walked across a roof,” Muhr said. “What he didn’t know was the roof was glass that had been painted black during the blackout” to shield the lights from enemy aircraft. “He fell through the glass really hard on a big table, and he was out of breath, and the table was surrounded by people, and they were all screaming at him. He looked around, and he realized he was lying on a big map of Europe with little boats and flags. It was the British Army’s battle headquarters.”

“He was promptly arrested,” Muhr said. “They let him go right away when they realized he was one of the guys trying to repair the damage.”

Malachy and Bridget Towey were married in 1947.
Malachy and Bridget Towey were married in 1947.
Provided

In London, he met Bridget Mooney, a fellow Irish immigrant from Ardee in County Louth. Beside working at a hospital, she had a wartime factory job making timers for bombs, according to their daughters. They married in 1947.

They immigrated again, to Canada, and later to Cleveland. When he visited Chicago for a Gaelic football game, “He realized a lot of his friends were here,” Muhr said, and the Toweys settled in Mount Greenwood in 1963.

He didn’t have a bodhran at first. “You couldn’t go out and kill a goat here,” McSweeney said. “He’d find a flat surface like a tray. He’d keep the beat on that.”

Eventually, Mr. Towey found the traditional drum, and, “as far as I know, I had the only bodhran in Chicago,” he told WTTW.

But after the Chieftains, the Irish maestros of traditional music, became popular, “suddenly you started seeing them everywhere,” Muhr said.

When he came to Lanigan’s a few years ago to watch County Mayo compete in an all-Ireland football match, patrons leaned in to listen to stories from Mr. Towey, who’d witnessed the last time Mayo won the competition. It’s been said Mayo was cursed by a priest after its last all-Ireland victory because the team ignored a nearby funeral procession.

“He was saying I was at the last all-Ireland they won, at [Dublin’s] Croke Park in 1951,” Glynn said. Nearly 70 years later, the team is yet to break its their losing streak.

Malachy Towey (right) and his grandson, bass guitarist Martin Saldana of the band Better Than Nothing.
Malachy Towey (right) and his grandson, bass guitarist Martin Saldana of the band Better Than Nothing.
Provided

Malachy and Bridget Towey and their children.
Malachy and Bridget Towey and their children.
Provided

His wife Bridget and son Shamus died before him. Beside daughters Esther Muhr and Julia McSweeney, he’s survived by daughters Marie Szyman and Shirley Saldana, sons Malachy, Kevin and Brendan, 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Arrangements are pending.

Malachy Towey.
Malachy Towey.
Provided

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Malachy Towey, Irish immigrant musician who played the traditional bodhran drum, dead at 99on March 16, 2020 at 9:32 pm Read More »

12 Things To Do Indoors During Your Coronavirus Self-Quarantineon March 16, 2020 at 1:26 pm

The coronavirus COVID-19 has people staying indoors, especially now that restaurants and bars are closed statewide for the next two weeks. If you’ve already finished every Netflix and HBO marathon you can think of and are grasping for new ideas, here’s a list of what to do during your self-quarantine. Thanks to online resources, there’s actually a ton of things to do indoors nowadays, from coloring to taking yoga classes, to learning computer coding, knitting, and everything in between.

things to do indoors



1. Download an audiobook from Audible

If you aren’t interested in audiobooks, they also offer language instruction and music.

2. Play brain games at Lumosity

Another excellent activity to try when you’re snowed in is Lumosity brain games. You can join a global community of 85 million brain trainers, all committed to challenging their brains with cognitive games designed by in-house scientists. Lumosity will have you diving right in with a Fit Test: three games that each challenge different abilities. That’ll give you your baseline scores, so you can watch how your scores change over time, one of the best things to do indoors.



3. Download sheet music

If you’re social distancing and staying home in Chicago, we also recommend downloading and listening to sheet music from free-scores.com. If you place an instrument or enjoy classical music, this activity with keep you busy. If you don’t already know how to read sheet music, you can learn via this Ted Ed Lesson.

4. Stay curious with TED Ed

You can learn just about anything academic via TED lessons. If you’d like, you can also create your very own lesson. At TED Talks, you can also watch speakers present on pretty much any topic you are interested in and some you didn’t even know existed.



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5. Learn an instrument

If you’re self-quarantined and looking to be productive, it may be a good idea to learn a new instrument, one of the best things to do indoors. Why not make use of the free music lessons at ArtistWorks?



6. Take yoga classes from home

MyYogaWorks has everything you need. It requires a paid membership, but you can sign up for a free 14-day trial.

7. Learn to code

Or, if you aren’t interested in coding, take another free class at Khan Academy. Khan Academy offers classes in math, science, engineering, computing, arts and humanities, economics, and finance, as well as test prep and college admissions help. All for free. Forever.



8. Get “Craftsy

Visit Craftsy to learn fabric crafts, how to bake, decorate cakes, spin, weave, make wood crafts, art, quilts, and way more. For free.

9. Find DIY projects

Take a browse through POPSUGAR‘s DIY section for some creative ideas to tackle while you’re self-quarantined, one of the best things to do indoors.



things to do indoors

10. Listen to a free podcast

The LearnOutLoud Podcast Directory offers over 7,000 audio and video podcasts you can learn from. They’ve screened thousands of podcasts to find ones of the highest quality that will instruct, entertain, and inspire you. If you are snowed in and want to stimulate your brain, we recommend viewing the collection available to you on your iPhone or listen to your favorites via Spotify.

11. Build a website

Start here, at WordPress Create, and WordPress will walk you through the steps necessary to do so.



12. Color

Bust out the colored pencils and join in the adult coloring trend. Find printable coloring pages, such as these Mandala pages. Or, if you’d prefer an app, you could do it that way, too. Search “adult coloring” in your app store and prepare to be overwhelmed with options.

At UrbanMatter, U Matter. And we think this matters.

Give more ideas on things to do indoors and what we should write about next in the comments below!

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12 Things To Do Indoors During Your Coronavirus Self-Quarantineon March 16, 2020 at 1:26 pm Read More »