 | With tonight being the Oscars, SCOPE-TECH has sent Alex Trebek to Springfield to quiz the local residence, JEOPARDY style. While the Simpsons seemed to be out of town, the other residents in town came to help with the fun. |
So, with no further ado, let's get their responses to the following answer:
Are you planning your summer vacation? Are you wondering what to do in Chicago besides all the standard tourist stuff (don't worry, I'll hit you with plenty of that, too.) Today's "walk" is designed for you art buffs.
| 1 - Flamingo: Adams/Dearbourn - Starting you off in the heart of the Loop, in the Federal Plaza. If you are staying downtown, this is a good place to begin. Chicago has a good amount of MEGA outdoor art installations. This one was made famous in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" in the parade scene. |  |
| 2 - Miró's Chicago: 69 W. Washington - This statue may be a star in other places, but unfortunately, it's tucked into a little nook across the street from the much more famous Picasso across the street. But it's a really neat bit of craft, and since you are across the street, you really should take a second and give it a look. And I'm not sure why it has a fork coming out of the top of its head. |  |
| 3 – Chicago Picasso: State/Washington – This is "The Big One" when it comes to Chicago's outdoor artworks. It's one of the most iconic images Chicago has. And it's not just a work of art behind glass or fenced off. As you can see, people climb on is, slide down it (but that steel can get a little hot if the summer sun is pounding down on it). I think even tough it's huge, the accessibility of it is what makes people love it so much. Also, while it may seem like it's in a big, empty plaza, it's rarely an empty plaza. Farmer's markets and ethnic festivals keep it hoping in the summer, and a Christmas-fest tides it over during the winter. |  |
| 4 – Tiffany Dome / Chicago Cultural Center: 78 E. Washington – I was planning on using this as part of the architectural walk I'll feature later, but you'll be walking right past it, so I thought you might want to stop in. Plus, it opens early, so you won't have to wait. The dome is on the 4th floor, south stairwell. There are many other treasures in this former library so give yourself a few minutes to look around. |  |
| 5 – Millennium Park - South Michigan Ave – Chicago's new star. While technically called "Cloud Gate", the huge stainless steel blob is universally known as "the Bean". I had a view of the park while they were assembling this beauty and hanging the plates on the framework. It's now so polished, you can barely see the seams. This is a must see. The second big star is Crown Fountain. And if you are toting kids 2 to 20, bring a towel and a change of clothes. They are going to get wet. And they are going to love it. The pictures rotate and change and spurt water out of pursed lips every few minutes. And you can take the new Nichols Bridgeway to the next stop on the way. (Or maybe you should cross Michigan Ave and grab a bite to eat before heading in to… |   |
| 6 - Art Institute of Chicago: 111 S Michigan Ave - (10:30 am – 5:00 pm) – Let's face it, if you are into art, this is the place to visit. And you are going to want to spend hours. HOURS here. It's got tons of stuff that you'll recognize from books and stuff. I'm sure you recognize "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Seurat & "On the Terrace" by Renoir. (And if you don't, just nod and fake it, okay?) And that's going to happen to you a lot here. Every corner you turn around, you will see something amazing. I've done a few posts about it in the past, so if you want to see them follow the links (LINK, LINK, & LINK). Currently, they have a Picasso exhibit running thru mid-May. |   |
| 7 – Chicago's River North Gallery District – So, you've seen a ton of great art at the Art Institute, and now you want to go get you some. The River North Gallery District is a great place to shop / window shop. We had to visit some of them last fall for one of The Daughter's art classes, and saw some really cool glass and photo galleries. And we also saw the pink nightmare with the gold jingle bells over there. Could have sworn we'd blogged it, but it appears that the closest we got was when Cora posted a couple of pictures in her 365 list HERE. And I want you to try to get that image out of your brain. |  |
| 8 – Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art: 220 E. Chicago Ave. – I've never been to this one. But, might as well include it, since it's on the map. Plus, to get to it, you've had a nice walk up Michigan Ave, which usually has some kind of art installation going on. And HEY! There's a Cheese Cake Factory at the Hancock Building. |
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So there you go. An my first "Chicago Walk". Do I expect anyone to actually "walk the walk"? No. But if you are thinking of visiting my fair city, maybe this will give you some ideas on what to see and do while you're here.
Future "Walks" I have planned include:
Funny how times change, isn't it? Back in the day, this was not viewed as contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Or The Land Of Confusion
No rest for the wicked.
Saturday morning, the alarms went off at the regular time. Arrg. Remember the contest that The Daughter won a while back? (LINK) Well, earlier in the week, Walgreens called again and said that another group wanted to honor the winners. The group was the Rainbow PU$H Coalition. They apologized for the fact that their founder, Jesse Jackson, may not be there due to a high profile funeral he would be attending later in the day. But, they wanted us there by 9:00, and sent 2 emails with the address:
930 E. 55th St.
So, we got ready to go and headed out by 8:00 am, since it was going to be a haul down to the south side. We decided to take Lake Shore Drive down for the scenery, instead of the expressway like the GPS wanted us to. Now, earlier in the week, I'd Googled the directions, and I was a little confused. The address on the email didn't sound right, but Cora had it on two emails, so, who am I to trust my Swiss cheese memory? As we drove south, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a huge classical looking building with "Rainbow PU$H" on it…
but I decided to trust the emailed addresses, thinking they may have multiple locations. So we drove on…
And arrived at a 930 E. 55th, which was somebody's townhouse.
Ooops.
So we turned around and headed back to the building that I thought was a repurposed old church (once inside, I changed my mind to "old synagogue" and was right (LINK))
We entered the lobby (or was it a community center with all the people hanging out?) down the side street, and the receptionist didn't have any clue what we were talking about, but had us sit down anyway.
With Jesse's statue giving us the eyeball.
After a bit, they called us back thru the door and into the hall, and that's when I met Jesse. He stuck out his hand, I shook it and greeted him as "Reverend Jackson" (regardless of how I may feel about some of his politics, the man has earned a level of respect) and then we passed.
They led us and some other groups into an office/conference room where the lady in charge kept talking about "the program". The Program. Going over the timing for the program, etc. And it slowly dawned on us.
This is going to be TELEVISED!
Thanks for warning us. And thank goodness we dressed up.
Then Jesse popped in said a few words, and like a flash, he was gone before my cell phone camera could focus properly.
But he did pose for a genuine photo-op before he had to leave and we were ushered to the auditorium.
Maybe we should have known it was going to be on TV/Internet, but the 11:00 Saturday broadcast from Rainbow/PU$H just isn't something that I'd ever been exposed to. Well, I was upfront and center for the Full Monty exposure this day.
At this point I want to reiterate a point: I was a fish out of water, and it had nothing to do with skin color. I was raised Catholic; Roman Catholic. Our church services are, umm, sedate. And the only time people talk back to the priest is in a scripted chant. In the last 2,000 years, no one in a Catholic church has ever shouted back at a priest "You got that right" during mass.
But more on that stuff later. Back to the real star of the show.
The celebration started, and after a touring Swedish gospel choir finished, her group was called up to the stage. And she looked a little nervous.
But when she was on stage, she smiled with confidence (as I fought the 10,000 watt light bulb trying to bleach out every picture I took.) And see, they spell "PU$H" with a dollar sign. I wasn't being snarky!
And there's that light I was talking about, oh, and in the door frame, above the plant, you can just make out a Star of David.
But the child managed to step out from behind the plant and give me a good smile before she left the stage. So grown up looking.
And as she was leaving the stage, the camera did catch her mom & me in the audience.
Then the program got interesting.
Jesse's son, Jonathon, who has a strong background in business and finance (WIKI) seemed to tell us that the credit reporting agencies didn't have the right to grade investments, and that banks shouldn't use people's credit scores when determining who to loan money to, because that was all in the past, and spoke nothing about their potential. Maybe he has some crystal ball he wants them to use? Or should everybody just get charged the same rates? I didn't get it.
But then a real charismatic speaker (so can't remember his name) got up and started talking about weeping. And boy did he work himself and the crowd up. He was pretty moving and all (got the wife crying), but since he was talking about how (in his words) the Black community can lead thru the moral virtue of weeping for their dead, I didn't feel the message was really aimed at me.
And then they asked for $100 donations from the audience. And then read the names of the donors. Out loud. ON THE AIR. And my Catholic sensibilities needed CPR.
But I survived Rainbow/PU$H and Rainbow/PU$H survived me. After the broadcast, they invited the Daughter back for a round table discussion next Saturday. Starting @ 7:30 am. Yeah, we think we'll pass on getting up 4:00 am on Saturday, thanks anyway.
On the ride back, I pulled off toward the planetarium to see one of my favorite views of the city.
And as we parked the car in the garage, the Daughter gave me a long hug.
And that made it was all worth it.
So, let me back up…
Over the holidays, we ran into some trouble with our DSL. AT&T was given a chance to resolve the issue, but they declined to step up to the plate, so Comcast was brought in. They could have a guy out at 3:00 on New Year's Eve to get us running on cable internet.
While the main guy was looking around for some cable (conjunction) junction box or other to liven up the cable jack we need to use, his flunky "Slappy" asked to use our bathroom. Dude was in there a looooong time. A creepy long time.
Fast forwarding, the cable internet is hooked up, tested, they leave, and we have a nice New Year's Eve.
But, my first flush of the New Year, and I hear "drip, drip, drip" and look down to see that there's water all over the floor on the right side of my toilet.
I think the cable guy broke my toilet.
I THINK THE CABLE GUY BROKE MY TOILET.
So I did what any self-respecting man with my DYI skills would do… I put a plastic cup under the drip and we used the other bathroom.
For about a week.
Okay, I was looking at the toilet on day 2 or 3 and moved the tank a little and it stopped leaking for a while but came back. I tried Googling it, and that terrified me even more.
I was about ready to call the plumber, but then I did the unthinkable:
I got an adjustable wrench out of the tool box, crawled down on the bathroom floor, and I tightened a nut about 2 turns (the nut holding the tank to the seat, not one of my testicles, thanks for asking) and BOOM! no more drips.
And the cup is still sitting there 3 weeks later.
