Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Doomed Dillo Day

Every May Northwestern has an event called Dillo Day. They put up two stages on the lakefront and get some surprisingly big bands to play. Starting at 7AM the students started heading out to the tailgating parties held by some of the fraternity houses.
The old expression, if you don’t like the weather in Chicago wait ten minutes, did not apply this year for Dillo day. The morning started in the 60’s with light rain but deteriorated quickly.  Enter me.
I had dropped my Goddaughter off at work at 10A. Having no idea that that this was any special day at all at the university, I put myself online just in case I could pick up a couple of rides. My first request took about 15 seconds. It was a group of 3 people that I picked up at a fraternity house.
The police officer directed me to turn. I pulled over in the middle of a crowd of about 30 students. Three of them got in. The two girls sat in the back and a very tall young man sat in front in my little car. Not having enough legroom, his legs were up high close to his body. I could see the goose flesh covering his legs. I immediately turned on the heat in the car. I looked at the display on my dashboard. It was down to 45 degrees and they had been outside in the wind and rain wearing shorts and tee shirts.
“Where too,” I asked.
“I’ll direct you,” came the reply from the guy next to me between chattering teeth.
As he directed me toward the dorms I gathered from there conversation that they were heading back to the dorms to change into warmer clothing and then heading back out to the parties. I told them that it was silly to call another ride. I would be happy to wait for them while they changed clothes.
Two of them ran in to change and one girl stayed behind in the back seat. We started to talk and I learned that they were 3 out of 5 siblings. They girl that went inside was graduating from the university and they and one other brother came down to visit her. From what I gathered the missing brother was kind of the screw-up of the family and they had lost him at the party. Her exact words were, “He’s a big boy and he’ll find his way somewhere.”
I brought them back to the party that I had picked them up from.
From the next 5 hours I spent the day shuffling students back and forth between dorms and the 3 fraternity parties going on. They all found it amusing that all they needed to do was get in the car and tell me which party they were going to and didn’t even need to give me an address.
I did pick up the same person twice, once by himself and once I picked up his friend first and then picked him up. He got in the car and said, “Hey great seeing you again.” I told him it was great that he was back in the car because the scent of his really nice cologne had started to fade.
There were two girls who were pretty drunk and speaking a language I could not place. They decided to take advantage of the option to use my Aux cable to listen to there music. I was happy to let them until the earsplitting volume started to scream from my speakers. They asked me if they could turn it up, and I asked them to please keep it low enough to not blow out my speakers. I believe that was the only less than 5 star rating I received that day.
As they day rolled on the wind picked up. By 2 o’clock they had cancelled the actual concert due to dangerous conditions at the lake, mainly the 30mph wind gusts that the stage were not built to sustain. I felt bad for the kids. The outdoor parties wound down and I started shuttling disappointed people to restaurants instead of the concerts that were promised for that evening.

Monday, May 25, 2015

June 5th 2015 - Gig At Coleman's - just a little taste of the type of music you will hear.





A little taste of what you will get for the Gig at Coleman's In the Park on June 5th, with Robert Campbell on Guitar, Scotty Big Cat and who knows who else... It's an Acoustic set, with two amazing guitarists and big mouth (ME) in a family neighborhood bar/restaurant. I sure hope you can make it! xoxo

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Passing Gas

Driving in Old Town, Chicago.

It was cloudy and pouring rain. For whatever reason, the inside of my car, even with the windows up and no heat or a/c was warm and stuffy. Usually, my car stays cool, especially because it was very cool in the City today.

I picked up a a couple of fellows, good looking, mid thirties. I believe they were Gay - no bearing on the story, just describing.

A  Led Zeppelin tune was playing, and I liked the song I was hearing. I thought maybe I can sing this one for my up coming gig?

I asked the guys, if they knew the name of the song.

"It's Led Zepplin, I know that, just don't know the name of the song."

"I'm trying to come up with new tunes to sing for my upcoming gig."

"Where are you performing?"

"Oh, Northwest Suburbs."

"You need to get yourself into the City and start performing here, we would come out and see you. Do you mind if we roll down the windows?"

"No, not at all."

"What kind of rating would you give us, if we passed gas back here?"

Laughing, "Dude, I would graciously roll down the window, and give you a five star rating. I can't control bowel movements and/or flatulence. It's a natural human thing."

We all had a hardy laugh.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Massage Manic Man - Too Far, Too Much Feb. 2015

The stick-man figure, the center of the geographical target, whose surrounding lines double up and down as the alarm sounds, 10 beeps or so, is all I get before I decide to take this rider's request.

I did.

He stood by the curb in front of a restaurant. Dressed in blue jeans and a blue jean decoratively studded jean jacket, shades and with a Machista aura, he motioned toward the front passenger side and attempted to open the locked door. As he climbed in the back, passenger seat, he said, "Hey how you doin', you want me to sit in the front?"

I said, "No, No...your fine. Were are we headed?"

"Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins...I have to get some ice cream bars for my uncle, you want anything?"

"No thanks."

He asked again, "You Sure?" I responded, "No thanks."

"It will only take a minute."

I waited...anxious to get this ride over with and get him to his destination.

He came out of the Ice Cream/Donut shop, and proceeded to get into the car. As I drove off he began to speak (Chicano accent).

"Yeah, you know, I just got out of work and can't wait...I'm gonna make an appointment to see my massage therapist. She gives great massages, I mean, she really digs in deep and uses, this kind of oil, smells good...but before she does that, she shaves my back and my chest. She is just amazing. She massages my whole body. Oh yeah, she is great. Do you get any massages?"

"That's great. Na, but good for you. If it makes you feel good, go for it."

"Oh my god, and you should see what she does with my feet, I love when she puts your fingers through my toes, and the oil she uses, I have to ask her what she is using."

Finally arrived at the destination.

Too Far, Too Much.