Two great Americans died this weekend.
Studs Terkel was an American writer, historian and multi-purpose media personality. He was 96 years old. He is perhaps best known for his role playing writer Hugh Fullerton in the movie "Eight Men Out" and his interview in Ken Burns "Baseball". He also wrote the books "Hard Times" and "Working", which were oral histories of the Great Depression and working life in America, respectively.
Captain Tony Tarracino was best known as the proprietor of the legendary Captain Tony's Saloon in Key West. He passed at the age of 92 after a lengthy illness. Captain Tony was a fixture in Key West and once served as its mayor.
Both men were well known as raconteurs and master story tellers and two men that I, for one, would have loved to have drank a beer with.
That is especially true of Terkel, who was as interwoven into the fabric and lore of the city of Chicago as Mrs. O'Leary and her cow. A fair degree of his work dealt with Chicago and his love of the city of "Big Shoulders". But his was the voice of America and the voice of 20th Century American history. He gave voice to the struggle of the Great Depression, American working lives, war and recovery and the people who lived the 20th Century. He wrote of what he heard. He was the great American observer, and told her tale.
That spirit was also in evidence in life of Captain Tony, who escaped the gambling underworld of New Jersey in 1948 to arrive in Key West on board a milk truck. He would later buy a Key West bar and rename it Captain Tony's Saloon. In the 31 years he owned his bar, it would emerge as a Key West institution that, to this day, is as vital as ever and a must see destination at America's southernmost outpost on her mainland. He would sell his legacy to inherit the keys to his Key West when he became its mayor. His friend, Jimmy Buffett, would be the chair of his mayoral campaign and he immortalized Captain Tony in his song "Last Mango In Paris". Captain Tony embodied the warmth of Key West. His colorful life has now disappeared beyond the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but his legacy remains.
A toast to two great American lives well and colorfully lived...to Studs Terkel and Capt. Tony
and R.I.P. 
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