Around 1:30 in the morning on May 24, Barry Cunnane was walking down West Leland on the way to a Ravenswood bar when he and a friend passed two men on the sidewalk. One of the men whirled around and said “What’s up?” and shot Cunnane in the head. Cunnane died that afternoon at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center as his parents arrived at O’Hare. Cunnane and his killer do not appear ever to have met, there was no apparent motive, and the crime is still unsolved.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Cunnane was 27 and had moved to Chicago from his native Dublin in 1997. He had a day job in marketing at the American Medical Association, but the aspiring actor and musician also performed with the Saint Sebastian Players and often played guitar at the Wise Fools Pub. In June the local chapter of the Sligo Association, an Irish social organization, got in touch with some of Cunnane’s friends offering to do something to help (Cunnane’s mother was originally from County Sligo). “They were very supportive,” says Cunnane’s friend Mike O’Malley, the chair of the Justice for Barry committee that was formed as a result. “They came to the wake and funeral, then started talking about putting on a fund-raiser, which is their traditional response to people in need.”
M. and Cunnane both took guitar lessons at the Old Town School of Folk Music, so M. also asked their sometime teacher Eric Johnson if he would perform at the benefit. Johnson–formerly a member of I Rowboat and Califone–and his girlfriend, Gillian Lisee, currently lead the rambling, poetic Fruit Bats, whose second album, Mouthfuls, came out on Sub Pop in April.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Jim Newberry.
