 Tim Steil has worked as a television, radio,
and print correspondent for over two decades, including stints with
the Chicago Tribune, The Daily Southtown-Economist, and national magazines
like High Times, Insider, Amplifier, and many more.
Born in Mendota, Illinois in 1961, his first "story" consisted
of walking up and down the block with a tape recorder, interviewing
his neighbors about their opinions on the wage-price freeze instituted
by Richard Nixon. He was nine. Steil later sent Nixon a letter detailing
the neighborhood's concerns, for which he received a lovely form
letter from a White House intern informing him the President always
liked hearing from young Americans. Nixon resigned in disgrace a
few years later, and no President has had the nerve to blow Steil
off since.
Each morning he lights a candle and kneels to pray before a picture
of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and has decided after fifteen
years that The Simpsons are in fact, funny. Having grown up listening
to Neil Young, he tends to sound like Neil Young when he sings, which
is fine if you are Neil Young but not such a good thing for the public
in general. He plays many instruments, and does not suck much at
all, however the only two guitar solos he can play note-for -note
are from "Cinnamon Girl" and "I Want to Be Sedated." His
highest musical aspiration has always been to be a member of Sly
and the Family Stone.
He believes New York City is the capital of the civilized world,
and that that same world is going to hell in a handcart. His greatest
role model has always been Keith Richards and first thing in the
morning he looks like Dick Van Dyke on a bender. If there is such
a thing as re-incarnation he would like to come back as Jim Harrison.
The Subdudes song "Carved in Stone" makes him cry every
single time he hears it.
He lives in a lightly fortified compound on Chicago's Northwest
Side. |
