Locally Owned

Clarendon Hills Music Academy Owner Starts New Magazine

Listen to Patch's one-on-one interview with Derek Berg, who owns Clarendon Hills Music Academy and just launched the online Music Coach Magazine.

Derek Berg said that to successfully teach music, you need to have passion and purpose.  Chat with the owner of Clarendon Hills Music Academy about his theories on music coaching, and you'll see he has those two P's. I sat down with Berg, a 38-year-old Hinsdale native who now lives in Plainfield, to talk about his school, his style as a music teacher, and his newest venture, Music Coach Magazine, a free online magazine he's launching this month. "We cover everything from music business coaches to music instrument coaches," Berg wrote in an email describing the magazine. "In the first addition we have landed interviews with everyone from Scott Houston (PBS Piano Guy) to Bob Baker (well known author and music marketing coach)." Listen to the…

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Hinsdale South Grads Open International Lollipop Business' First Retail Space

Two sisters and their mom operate Vintage Confections, which ships hard candy all over the world but only recently opened its first retail location in the former Jennycakes space in Clarendon Hills.

Sugar, water and corn syrup are all one really needs to make hard candy, but there’s a lot more that goes into it at Vintage Confections. “It’s an old-fashioned process that we have updated to current times,” said co-owner Heather Kelly, who with sister Cheryl Carr opened in November the custom-made lollipop business’ first commercial space at 102 S. Prospect Ave. in Clarendon Hills. “We put a lot of spin on it.” That “spin,” which shows up in Vintage Confections’ translucent lollipops that at their core feature pictures of planets, cartoon characters, even the Hinsdale Central Red Devils logo, has gotten the Darien natives and Hinsdale South graduates international attention. Kelly started Vintage Confections in 2008, making different …

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