Chicago loses another good one today, famed columnist Irv Kupcinet has died at age 91. Growing up in Milwaukee, I spent much of my youth in and around Chicago and feel greatly influenced by the cultural patchwork of the Windy City. Personal icons such as Studs Terkel and Kup set a class meter that today's Geraldos and Jenny Jones (beware, pop-ups) have made into mincemeat.
And Kup was one classy motherf--er, excuse me, sonofabitch. He was the gossip columnists' gossip columnist, the one that A-list Golden Age stars wanted to talk to, pre-paparrazi, pre-Entertainment Tonight, pre-all the bullshit.
And he lasted a helluva long time. He filed his last column this week. What a classy guy. Adios. The party is getting pretty awesome up there.
