Tag: chicago

How To Lose Credibility With Me

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

I had one very interesting day last week. I braved the alleged most dangerous city in the USA per Fox News, Trump, MAGA, and assorted other clowns to attend a trade show in Chicago. Yes, the same Chicago that recently hosted Lollapalooza with 110,000 people per day packed into Grant Park with ZERO casualties over the 4 festival days. No shootings. No overdoses. No heat-related deaths, and it was hot. The crowd for Chappell Roan was massive.

I wouldn’t be caught dead in a crowd like that, but nobody else was either, because Chicago is safe and a great place to visit or live. I felt safe visiting the trade show as well as a store named Woolly Mammoth where I attempted to sell my human skull.

No, not my own personal skull which I’m still using at times, but a skull I inherited from a former boss when he passed away. I liked it for a while, but then it started making me sad thinking about its original owner. The proprietor of Woolly Mammoth and I talked human skulls for a while, but we were unable to agree on a price. He wasn’t the one that lost credibility with me. He was quite credible and obviously knew his skulls. It was the guy who took my blood at the stop I made just before Woolly Mammoth.

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False Spring Payback

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 4 Comments

The last two days in Chicagoland have been amazing with partly sunny skies and temps over 54F/12C each day out by us. Yeah, they had wild thunderstorms two nights ago in Chicago, but I live 40 miles west where we got but a sprinkle. It’s been great.

But we are a fatalistic lot here in the Midwest. We believe that we will pay for enjoying a false spring in early February. We have history and facts on our side. The year my oldest daughter was born on the 5th of February saw a mild winter … until after she was born. Then is snowed and snowed through March.

However, while the false spring was around, I did what millions of others in greater Chicagoland did and headed outside … in shorts. Two days ago, I amazingly took my second bike ride in February on a normally unnavigable trail so early in the year. It is usually slop until May. But two days ago, it was relatively free of snow and muck. I was having a great time, although my out-of-biking-shape legs protested mightily. I had the trail to myself, and I was comfortable in shorts and a sweatshirt in early February. Glorious. And then, I received some payback for enjoying myself so early in the year. This happened …

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I survived 2 Mageddons

~ Jim Flanigan

The past week was rough. First, we had Snowmageddon a week ago. I paid the price physically. Those 3 days of heavy snow and subsequent back-breaking snow removal were followed by 3 days of Coldmageddon. I paid the price mentally on those cold days. The 3 days of Coldmageddon were not the coldest Chicagoland has ever seen, but they were brutal, down to -16F/-26.7C overnight. Highs during the day were subzero F and around -18C. Cold enough that the train track fires had to be lit to keep the switches working.

And then we had a bit more snow and a bit more cold to finish out the week. We’re coming out of it now, and I look forward to days above freezing this next week.

I checked on fellow Chicagolanders to see how they were mentally coping with Coldmageddon. Here’s a Chicagoan who hit the beach.

I do love to swim, but that seemed a bit extreme to me. I couldn’t even bring myself to go to the pool. I settled for doing this each day …

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Back to the Beach … sort of

~ Jim Flanigan

Are you ready for a meandering post with lots of links that will eventually take you all the way to Chicago for a nice surprise? Well, read on then.

When I got in my car yesterday, I was pleased to see sand on the passenger seat. That may not make sense to most folks, but I live for being in and around water. People look at me funny when I tell them that I feel more comfortable being in water than on land. Of course, they normally look at me funny even when I don’t say anything. Science teaches us that our evolutionary ancestors crawled from the oceans. Well, I would like to crawl back.

Anyway, that sand came from a Boxing Day (Dec 26th) kayak excursion. I carry my kayak in my vehicle, so the sand must have come off the bottom of the craft. It was a grey, chilly, wet day, and I loved every moment on the water. Seeing the sand made me smile as I recalled my first kayak of the winter season. Maybe another one later today?

After swimming outdoors in my illegal swimming hole all the way into early October, my plan was to start legally swimming indoors in November. Well, COVID had other plans for me, but I finally made it back to the pool in December. It felt odd after 2+ months off, and I looked a bit ungainly in the water. How do I know I looked ungainly? Well, the lifeguards that were training at the other side of the pool kept coming over to “rescue” me every time I swam a lap. Despite that, I surprised myself and made 0.40 miles. Not bad for my first indoor winter swim.

Now Chicago offers me a unique way to enjoy the water outdoors all winter long.

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A Musical Tale of Stones, Tubes, & More Stones

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

It’s not often that you can see a classic band from the 60s or 70s with more than one original member. A notable exception are The Rolling Stones with original members Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Charlie Watts lasting from 1963 through 2021 until Charlie passed away. Add Ronnie Wood in 1975 until now, and that’s a group with history, legacy, legitimacy, and longevity.

So, it was with some excitement that I saw The Tubes from the mid-70s coming to my little hometown theater advertised with 3 original members including wacky frontman Fee Waybill, known for his many wild costume changes during a concert. That’s how their extended tour that appears to have started in 2022 was touted. Sadly, along the way, one of the three original members passed away. Down to 2, but quite a duo, Fee Waybill and Roger Steen, writer of their cheeky song “White Punks on Dope.”

I was all in to see The Tubes. Please note that I didn’t say I bought a ticket. Not many others did either. I was convinced the theater had done a ticket giveaway as they sometimes do to at least get sales of their concessions, and that I had missed the email for the free tix. I went to the box office and mentioned that I heard (from me talking to myself) that they were giving away free tickets to fill seats. Uh, no. But as long as I was there, they gave me a free ticket. I was encouraged to sit anywhere I wanted. Open seats were plentiful.

I arrived just in time to hear “Sushi Girl,” a very 80ish tune and favorite of mine. That was kind of the highlight of the show. For me, it was downhill from there. I don’t want to disparage Fee, Roger, and the other new Tubes band members. They are still out on the road touring and living the rock & roll dream. Good for them. But Fee as the frontman is 73, looks 83, and moves around like he’s 93. It was hard to watch at times. At least he brought his “nurse” to assist him with his costume changes.

Can someone please help The Tubes change the digital graphic projected onto the screen to reflect a 2023 tour rather than 2022. Aren’t digital graphics free?

And about those costumes? At the end of “Wild Women of Wongo,” Fee had stripped down to this.

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It’s NOT a Dry Heat

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

Look, I am not a climate change denier. I know that the US Southwest has roasted under sweltering, record-breaking, albeit dry heat this summer. But I’m in the greater Chicago area. Yeah, it gets hot here in the summer. We’ve used our air conditioning for a few days this year. But normally, 90F/32C is hot for us. And God Almighty, it gets humid here. You know, we have this enormous freshwater lake nearby that can make it feel like you’re breathing water at times.

On Monday, I took a look ahead to next week’s forecast. I heard we have a heat dome coming next week.

Yeah, that is centered just outside Chicago close to where I am. But this forecast is freakin’ ridiculous.

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A Tale of Two Concerts

~ Jim Flanigan

How in the bloody hell did I end up at this show over the weekend?

Some say it’s because I’m Father of the Year. I volunteered to take my 15-year-old daughter and her friend to see the feminist punk band Destroy Boys. You may remember them from their haunting ballad “I Threw Glass at My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m on Probation.” Anyway, I took these two lovely young ladies into Chicago to Metro to see the show.

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Concert Quiz

~ Jim Flanigan

Are you up for a one question concert quiz? Lovely! Please read on. We have an extended holiday weekend in the US with lots of concerts in town. A couple friends and I were choosing between these two free concerts.

I know you’re thinking, “Who the hell is Mark Farner?” He was a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter for Grand Funk Railroad, so certainly a front man for GFR like Gramm was for Foreigner.

Frontier Days doesn’t really take place on the frontier, but in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. It’s not that far, but I wasn’t up for a drive on consecutive evenings. We had to pick one. The setlists were compelling. Here’s a link to Gramm’s setlist featuring a veritable hit parade of familiar Foreigner tunes. Here’s the link to Farner’s setlist featuring slightly older Grand Funk hits.

So, quiz time. Which did we choose?

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No, My Bike Isn’t Broken

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

I don’t know what I was thinking when I resolved to cycle 500 miles this biking season. Even after starting in February with plans to bike into November, I may not come close to the 500 mile mark. By the end of May, I had totaled all of 50 miles. 50. Five oh. Ugh. Let’s see where that put me geographically.

After passing through Chicago, one of the great cities in the world (unless you listen to Fox News), I found myself at the border of … Indiana. Ugh, again. I’m not going to disparage Indiana. However, my plan was to cycle more in June to get out of Indiana as fast as I could. But here I am with one week left in the month, and I am still not pedaling enough.

In years past, knowing that I was going to miss a goal would either make me crazy or work harder to meet that goal. Now, I just want to see where I can get to before cold weather makes me hang the bike up for the season. I’m just going to enjoy the ride. My youngest daughter and I may be taking a driving trip along a similar route, so maybe I can point out some places to you that we see along the way while driving/imaginary biking.

Now as for swimming, even though we have no pool this year, I’ve been swimming frequently. I was feeling all puffy-chested as I headed out for a longish (for me) open water swim this morning at this gorgeous body of water.

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Summer Concerts Rock

~ Jim Flanigan

While I prefer my summer concerts to be outdoors, I kicked off my 2023 summer concert series with my wife at an indoor show at City Winery in Chicago where I recently saw some of XTC perform as EXTC. The great thing about venturing out in Chicago to do anything is that there are never any Fox News viewers out & about in Chicago. One of the great cities of the world is just a bit too scary for them. My message to Fox News viewers is to listen to Steve Perry of Journey and “Don’t stop believing” that nonsense. We really don’t miss having you around.

We had just seen Michael McDermott around Halloween last year do his annual Halloweensteen show where he pays tribute to Bruce Springsteen. It was a great show, and it was free, courtesy of local radio station WXRT, which made the show even greater. But I had never seen McDermott perform his own music. In fact, outside of absolutely loving one of his songs and having heard a few others, I was somewhat unfamiliar with his catalog. So, it was with some trepidation that I bought tickets to see McDermott perform his album Gethsemane on the 30th anniversary of its release.

Well, the gamble paid off. First, his Gethsemane album is a gem from beginning to end. No wonder he was being hailed as the next Dylan. You can listen to the whole album here.

But there have been big changes in McDermott in the 30 years since Gethsemane was released.

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Ecstatic to See Ex-XTC as EXTC in Concert

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 3 Comments

I challenge you to say that title 3 times fast. It almost didn’t happen for me. I have been recuperating from a nasty bout of acute bronchitis. Take my word for it that there’s nothing (a)cute about it. I spat something up onto the driveway from the depths of my diseased bronchi and watched in horror as it scurried under my car. I think it has latched onto the undercarriage of my vehicle and is tracking my travels, waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

But I felt just good enough to make the trip into Chicago to meet my oldest son for a concert. Yes, I survived yet another trip into Chicago, aka a crime-infested hellhole per Fox News. I parked on the street for free and had a pleasant walk to City Winery where we had a delightful dinner and saw EXTC in concert.

Before I get to EXTC, I pointed out to my son that the band from his first ever concert would be playing a show soon at City Winery.

He was unimpressed and claims he can’t recall the concert from when he was two years old. Sounds like someone is running from his past rather than embracing it. Anyway, back to last night’s show …

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Icky Pop

~ Jim Flanigan

Nobody is exempt from the ravages of time and aging … except maybe for QB Tom Brady. Nobody can cheat death … except maybe for Rolling Stone Keith Richards. I am no exception. As I age, I am finding that even my wrinkles have wrinkles. I get it. We get old. We get gross.

I accept that fact as I go concerting, seeing a mix of new and old acts. The old acts show some mileage and tread wear. That’s right, they look tired. See what I did there? I used some tire analogies and then the word tired?

Editor’s Note: He thinks he’s so clever. He’s not. Those “clever” tire references are nothing more than retread puns. See what I did there?

Anyhoo, Iggy Pop came to town this weekend. I would have liked to see one of the pioneers of punk, but he played the Salt Shed, a new music venue with no seating unless one wants to pay a lot more. I don’t. It’s probably for the best.

If I ever walk around the house without a shirt, my youngest daughter will cry out in despair, “Put a shirt on!” Now I know why. Here’s 75-year old shirtless Iggy on stage at the Salt Shed.

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Not Weighting for Spring

~ Jim Flanigan

It happens to me twice a year. When the weather turns cold, I gain weight. When the weather warms up, I gain weight. I’m not quite sure why it works that way, but I am sure that it is damn annoying. It’s especially hard to accept in the spring after I have been doing this all winter with slices of pizza.

https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1629754151235092481?s=20

Springish weather has arrived early in Chicagoland this year (thank God), so I’m trying to get a jump on that weight gain as the seasons change. I don’t ever remember cycling in February before, but I made it out 4 times on my bike last month on my way to a planned 500 miles this season. How far did I get?

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Another Weird Day

~ Jim Flanigan

It was probably finding the dead body on the beach that really made Monday weird for me, but I’ll get to that later. Monday was a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Interestingly, it was also a state holiday in Alabama and Mississippi to “honor” the traitor and Confederate General Robert E. Lee. They call it King-Lee Day in those states. It’s so nice that they link MLK with slavery.

Anyway, I decided that business would be lighter than a normal Monday, so I took most of the day off to address some clinical trial study business in Chicago. My first appointment was for, uh, well, I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t remember. Oddly enough, I went anyway. They seemed to know me when we spoke on the phone and confirmed the appointment. However, when I got there, it sure didn’t look familiar to me other than it was on Chicago’s beautiful Michigan Avenue. But still I continued unknowingly on to the appointment in a small, nondescript, sixth floor office. It wasn’t until I was sitting in an exam room that I realized what the study was for. I was grateful that it wasn’t for an experimental lobotomy. I read the release form and remembered I was there for an Alzheimer’s study.

I’m guessing I don’t have to point out the irony. I also wonder if I really qualify. You’ve read this blog. Can you really say that I don’t have a thinking problem?

In 3 months, I’ll know if they have identified certain tau proteins in my blood that may or may not indicate that I have a propensity toward Alzheimer’s. Or something like that, I forget.

I had some time before my next appointment, so I thought a winter walk on the beach would be a good idea. Boy, was I wrong. Sure, I enjoyed the walk – until I stumbled upon this dead body.

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Halloween Hijinks

~ Jim Flanigan

I hope you all had a fun Halloween. We started celebrating the scary holiday by attending Halloweensteen, a Bruce Springsteen tribute concert performed annually by Chicago native singer/songwriter Michael McDermott. It appears to be a beloved Chicago tradition that I had never heard of before with many repeat attendees. Now I know why. The show exceeded our expectations. There’s a big difference between a bunch of local musicians forming a tribute band to mimic an artist’s music and a professional musician like McDermott assembling other professional musicians to interpret and perform another professional’s songs.

Our seats were outstanding. The last time my wife and I were at the excellent and classy Park West concert hall, we stood and swayed through a show by Brit pop-rocker Dave Edmunds. However, my wife has knee issues worse than me, so I called ahead to check and see if we could be guaranteed seats. Well, not only were we provided seats, but they were just off to the side of the stage on a padded bench in a handicappped section. We had a great view.

There was a bit of a problem as drinking progressed at the 2+ hour show. I’ll explain.

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For One Night, I Was Young Again

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

There was a time when I thought nothing of going out at 10PM to start my night out. These days, if it is dark out, regardless of the actual time, even during a solar eclipse in the middle of the day, I want to go to bed. Last week, I was experiencing some anxiety about heading into Chicago on a work night to go see a punk rock concert with my son. It seemed so wrong on so many levels for someone my age.

But I sucked it up and drove to Chicago during rush hour. To my surprise and relief, I made it on time! My son advised me we were going to take a bus. I had never ridden a Chicago Transit Authority bus. In fact, we were supposed to take the very bus that was half a block away and about to leave. We ran, and I felt young and fast once again as we caught the bus. My balky left knee not only held up, but it felt better than ever after the short sprint. As we entered the bus, I wondered how many altercations I would be in as we rode. I had prepared for the evening by not shaving for a few days in a futile effort to look tougher. As it turned out, we didn’t get in even one scrape, although I swear a matronly grandmother gave me the stinkeye as I snagged the last open seat before she did.

We had a casual, relaxing meal before the concert, but my anxiety rose again as we walked to the concert hall. This would be a concert by the Australian punk trio The Chats. If that name sounds familiar, you may have been one of a couple people who read my post about their latest release. I figured I would be the oldest in the concert, but it turned out there were plenty of olds at the show. Being a senior with hearing loss was probably good. The Chats were loud. Take a listen.

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Yesterday Was a Weird Day

~ Jim Flanigan

I started yesterday with a Wordle that I swore I had solved in 2 … then 3 … then 4 … then 5 … then 6 … then nope.

Was I becoming cognitively impaired, or was it just bad luck guessing? Any regular reader of this blog will choose the former. I even harbored thoughts of it as I got word that yet another of my cousins who is my age now is showing signs of dementia. But I chalked it up to bad luck guessing and got ready to continue my career in the cinema.

No, I wasn’t hired as an usher at the local Megaplex. I had a paying gig as a film extra playing a funeralgoer at Graceland Cemetery. Not Elvis’s final resting place in Graceland in Tennessee as I had originally thought, but Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

Traffic was light and I made it to the Chicago cemetery faster than Google said I would. I parked and had a distance to walk to the chapel where the filming would take place. That’s when I hitchhiked for the first time in my life.

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New Music for Old Rockers – Chatting You Up

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

It was the early 80s and punk music was fading fast. Even The Clash had evolved into incorporating more diverse genres in their music as evidenced by 1981’s “This is Radio Clash” and 1982’s “Rock the Casbah.” Did they sell out? No, but they did change with the times … except not so much in concert. They were still a nasty punk band live. I recall my boss at the time telling me about attending a Clash concert in 1982 at the Aragon Ballroom, affectionately called the Aragon Brawlroom by Chicagoans. Back then, you would want to wear old shoes to any concert there as there would be puddles of beer and urine throughout the space. Anyway, my boss told me that he was close to the stage and was spat upon by The Clash. My reaction at the time was, “Lucky.”

Fast forward to the 2020s, and I swore punk was dead and buried. Oh, sure, there were supposedly some punk banks still around, but I didn’t think they really had embraced the punk sound as defined by Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, The Ramones, and early Clash. For me, punk was RIPing, until I heard The Chats.

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Where am I Concerting Next?

~ Jim Flanigan

Not consorting, which sounds more fun, but concerting, which I define as the act of going to a concert. Merriam Webster may disagree, but what the hell does he know? He still owes me for drinks that one night as we argued the merits of gerunds until the wee hours of the morning.

Anyway, I enjoyed hitting the road with my youngest daughter a few weeks back to catch a Lumineers/Caamp concert followed by a Lord Huron show. The 4th of July weekend is typically a good time to see a free concert in the greater Chicagoland area. I had hopes for a show at Frontier Days in suburban Arlington Heights. Tonight they feature Ace Frehley of Kiss. Could be fun, but I am attending a “dance concert” in Chicago that my middle daughter is in as part of Noumenon Dance Ensemble. So, I can “kiss” seeing Ace Frehley goodbye.

On Saturday night, Jason Scheff, who had a cup of coffee with the band Chicago, is performing at Frontier Days. We have a neighborhood party starting in the late afternoon that should extend well past the point of when Jason Scheff takes the stage in Arlington Heights to a chorus of “Who?”

Finally, 4th of July Eve brings that vocalist Steve guy from Journey to the Frontier Days stage. No, not Steve Perry with the great voice and all the hits. This will be Steve Augeri who took over vocals for Journey and accrued no hits after Steve Perry left. Steve #2 singing the hits made famous by Steve #1 will keep me from making the journey to Arlington Heights on Sunday night.

But I do have an upcoming free concert on my calendar.

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Walking in Chicago

~ Jim Flanigan

If you listen to Fox News or Trump, you would think that walking in Chicago is impossible without being shot, but it is actually a lovely city to walk. According to CBS News, as of February this year, Chicago was only 28th on the list for most murders per capita among cities in the US, virtually tied with Birmingham in Republican Alabama. Of the 27 cities with higher per capita murder rates, 14 are located in Republican-dominated states like Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and Missouri. So, if you ever get to Chicago, take a walk and see the city.

Friends of mine did just that the other night. I have no idea how far they walked from their parked car to City Winery, but they ended up at a Marc Cohn concert. You probably remember Cohn from his memorable hit song, “Walking in Memphis.” Such a beautiful song.

Now if that was my signature song (I wish!), at some point in the song I would sing, “Walking in (insert city name I’m performing in).” Audiences eat that up. I was surprised to hear he didn’t sing a random “Walking in Chicago” at least once. Maybe that’s why Cohn played to hundreds at City Winery rather than 60,000+ at Soldier Field on the lakefront with a laser light show and smoke machines.

As I reflected on my friend’s concert experience, it amazed me to realize that if not for a lack of musical ability, an abrasive singing voice, and a low aptitude for songwriting, my friends may have been listening to me in concert at City Winery rather than Marc Cohn. So close.