We close out the week with a moment of personal privilege. As readers of these pages know, I happen to like Chicago a great deal. The Cubs, da Bears, the beloved Northwestern, Ravinia Music Festival, the Art Institute, Charlie Beinlich’s, Del Rio’s, the Chicago Botanic Garden, Writers Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Second City, WFMT, and…and…well, a lot more. I do know I yammer about it a lot. But what I’ve found over the years is that when people who chide me have a reason to go to Chicago, many, if not most of them say afterwards, “Oh, okay, I see why you like it so much.” So, it was a pleasure to see Condé Nast Traveler publish the results of its 2024 Readers’ Choice Award for Best Cities in the United States. with 575,048 people participating. It’s their 37th annual survey. And their #1 Best City in the U.S. was – (to no one’s surprise of those who’ve made it this far) – Chicago! And not only was Chicago named #1, but…amazingly, this is the eight straight year it was named! To be fair, I don't know what the criteria was for people to vote by, though I think there was an overlap between people living in a city, visiting on business and vacationing. And also to be fair, having seen the results of several other surveys that Condé Nast Traveler has done, I don't take this as the quintessential result to end all results. Though, to be biased, I do think they got it right in this survey. For the eighth year in a row... I was trying to decide which song to go out with here -- "Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)" or "My Kind of Town (Chicago is)." But then I realized, no, this instead is the piece to end with. "The Best Kept Secret in America," by the great banjo master Stephen Wade. I posted an article about it in 2013 (and then did a follow-up in 2021), so this is an appropriate time to repeat it. Not just for the timing, but it also in some ways helps explain the survey result. * * * The Best Kept Secret in America In 1979, a unique performer named Stephen Wade developed a unique theatrical act. He combined banjo playing, storytelling and percussive dancing into a stage show called Banjo Dancing. It was hugely popular in the city, and ran for 13 months, which included a performance at the White House. He then took his show on the road, and ended up in Washington, D.C., where he had a longer run. That would be 10 years. In the ensuing years, he's developed another show On the Way Home which had another successful run in Washington, won him the Joseph Jefferson Award in Chicago [the city's prized-version of the Tony Award], and toured. He's written books, essays, and as recently as 2012 released his latest album, Banjo Diaries, which got a Grammy nomination (albeit for liner notes) I haven't heard or seen a great deal of Stephen Wade, though enough to really admire him. And this may be my favorite thing he's done. It's his crown jewel. It doesn't have much banjo, except as accompaniment, but rather is sort of a rhythmic, heart-filled poetic essay that for eight minutes grows and builds and is endearing and ultimately moving (and unique) in its heartfelt and effusive love for its subject matter. One near and dear my own heart. Chicago, from the good to the rough-hewn edges,. It's called "The Best Kept Secret in America." Something, I think, that closely describes the effusive Stephen Wade, as well. (By the way, he's right about the phone number for Magikist carpet cleaners. I still remember it, too.) I should add that Stephen Wade is still performing, and in 2019 he released an album that was basically a 40th anniversary tribute to that original show, Banjo Dancing, that premiered in Chicago.
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The timing of this is good. I was going to take a respite after having written my expectations yesterday for the debate tonight and had nothing to add about that. And there was nothing that struck me as being anywhere near as important and therefore somewhat distracting. So, I was looking for something frivolous. And this fit. As readers here have long-since figured out, I love the Chicago Cubs. Having said that, bear with me and don't go running off yet. The point here isn't about baseball, though it's part of the story, but only part. And it isn't all praise. Just some. The baseball part: on Sunday, the Cubs had a Cubs Hall of Fame presentation for two of their all-time great players, pitcher Kerry Wood (legendary on the team for having pitched one of the greatest games in major league history his rookie season -- a one-hit game with a still-record-tying 20 strikeouts) and third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who hit 368 home runs in his career. Okay, that's pretty much the baseball part. This is where we get into the point. The Cubs made a video to honor the two men, which played on the scoreboard at Wrigley Field, but they also posted it on their website this way -- Okay, without knowing anything about the Cubs, or even if you knew zero about Kerry Wood or Aramis Ramirez -- when you see that tweet above, and read it in full...take a guess, with no more clues, and who do you think "Justin Wood" is? While there is a reasonably good chance that you're right with your guess (well-done!), I won't give the answer yet, because for those who might still not be 100% sure, here below is the video itself. And trust me, there is actually a point to all this. And a non-baseball point it is. By the way, you don't have to watch the 2-1/2-minute video to keep playing the game, because I'll give some more hints from it below. But it's a very good video, filled with clues, and it's also fun to see how emotional Kerry Wood and Aramis Ramirez are while watching it -- narrated as it is by Justin Wood and Aramis Ramirez, Jr. Especially Kerry Wood, who clearly seems on the verge of bursting into tears at any given moment, with a clench, quivering jaw. Okay, if you did watch the video, you got a bunch of clues to the question at hand. If you didn't watch it, though, some of the clues are -- Justin Wood saying that "Wrigley Field was your office, but some days you took me to work." And also, as this is being said, there are pictures of Kerry Wood and a little boy. In addition, another clue: Justin Wood says that to Cubs fans, Kerry Wood's most famous strikeouts were his 20 in that one memorable game, but "For me, it's your last one." And as he says that, we see Kerry Wood strike out a batter, and then turn to walk off the field, as we hear the announcer say that that is Kerry Wood, who is retiring, leaving the field for the very last time -- and a little boy runs onto the field and hugs him. And one last clue if you haven't figured out a guess yet. Near the end of the video, Justin Wood says, "To Cubs fans, you were a hero. But to me, you were my dad." Okay, now, it's time to make a guess. No need to guess on who Aramis Ramirez, Jr. is, I'm sure you've got that one figured out. It's easy. The harder question is who do you think the other narrator is, Justin Wood? I'll give you a moment. Are you ready? Okay, he is -- Kerry Wood's son! Yes, really. It's true! I know that some of you (which is the polite way of saying "all") guessed -- "Kerry Wood's son" and think that this quiz game is stupid. And you're right on both couonts, but as I said, that's not the point. There is a totally separate point to it all. That's because, as much as I love the Cubs. And think the fans are wonderful and loyal and know and love baseball and stuck with the team for 108 years of futility -- -- it turns out that for a handful of the fans, that is the limit of their expertise, deep and abiding love of the team, and perhaps because they pour so much love on the Cubs, for other areas of their daily life away from baseball they have little room left for common sense and are unearthly stupid. Because, and I swear this is true, these few took to Twitter to not only ask who "Justin" was, but also slam the Cubs administration for not telling them. And the thing is, lunatic as that is, it's not just one of two who just screwed up, but almost close to a dozen or so!! Yes, really. To be clear, no, not everyone, thank goodness. And not even most, thank heavens. Most Cubs fans who posted weren't delusional, but sane and rational with an awareness of life outside the ballpark. And they loved the video tribute and were emotional and were joyous celebrating two of their all-time favorites. But that many people, maybe around 10, actually were that totally clueless. Honest. It explains much about problems in life caused by others. (Were some joking? It's possible, too, obviously. But when you see the breadth of them, and the phrasing of most, some people pissed off, some even posting graphic memes of annoyance, and that there's no real reason to make yourself look that stupid publicly, even for just a joke -- no, I think all of them were on the level.) And because even though I'm insisting it's true that people posting couldn't figure out who Justin Wood was, I feel this is so insane that proof is needed. So, here are just a couple screen shots of some of them. And also -- Yes, I know. Dear Lord. I only hope they aren't licensed to drive heavy machinery. (I also hope some were not Cubs fans at all, but just Twitter stragglers who'll comment on anything that scrolls by their feed. But it's not likely. Besides which, if Cubs hopes were effective, the team would have won a World Series a lot sooner than 108 years.) But for all that, this below was my favorite of them all. My favorite because the guy not only didn't have a clue, but he was so annoyed at the Cubs' website administrator for not explaining who this "Justin" person was that he took them to task. Yet what I like most about the exchange is that the Chicago Cubs official who handles the online account -- someone who I'm sure is told to be as absolutely polite and gracious to everyone who posts on the website, even St. Louis Cardinals fans -- was clearly so taken aback and aghast at the depth of monumental stupidity (forget all the brain-dead obvious clues, the first line says, "We call them heroes. They call them Dad") that even he couldn't help but be just a wee bit snarky in reply. So, for all of you readers here who correctly guessed that "Justin Wood" is, in fact, Kerry Wood's son -- Huge congratulations! You win our Chicago Cubs Fan of the Day Award!! It's why I always say that we have the finest readers on these pages in the entire Internet. And I appreciate you all. The Democratic Convention starts on Monday in Chicago, and this story popped into mind, that made it seem oddly timely. I know it won't appear that way at first, but bear with me. It requires some background which might seem to make no sense, no matter how unlikely. Northwestern University has an annual student-produced revue that began life as a written sketch show, but has morphed into a very popular, successful improv-based production, the Mee-Ow Show. (It started out as a barebones alternative to the big, famous, meticulously-produced Waa-Mu Show that's coming on its 94th year. While student written, there is faculty involvement. And a sort of hierarchy structure.) The Mee-Ow Show, though, did catch on, and it just had its 50th anniversary a couple months ago, and there was a big reunion. Among the show's alumni that I'm aware of are Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seth Meyers, Craig Bierko (who starred on Broadway as 'Harold Hill' in a revival of The Music Man), Dermot Mulroney, Josh Meyers, Kristen Schaal, and SNL's Ana Gasteyer, Brad Hall and Gary Kroeger. (Well, also, the Lady Shellington, who I've oft-mentioned here, Shelly Goldstein.) Stephen Colbert has said he auditioned for the show, but wasn't cast. Man, the competition must have been tough that year, or the producers fools. I mention all this because I wrote for the very first Mee-Ow Show. Not sketches, though -- rather, I wrote the music and lyrics to two songs. One was called "Ma Bell," a sweet ode to the kindly, endearing lady who wanted to involve herself into every aspect of your life for the good of America. However, I insisted they drop the other song. What happened is that I went to a rehearsal near opening night, and discovered that they had cut the middle out of the song, and the number now made no sense. (Their explanation was that the show was running long. "So, you cut out 30-seconds from a song??" I noted that the sketch that preceded it ran over 12 minutes. "You couldn't find something to cut there?" But no, the producer wouldn’t put the missing 30-seconds back it in, though he gave me a choice – leave the mangled song as is, or if I was unhappy, they’d take it out. Since my name would be in the program as having written this now-jumble of a song, and I knew that writing was my intended profession, I told them to take it out. (The concept of deletion apparently lingers on. The website for the 50th reunion has a page listing everyone who participated in every production. Well, almost everyone. I can't speak for others, but I wasn't listed among them. There is a Facebook Group page for the reunion, and I politely mentioned the omission there, and fortunately still had the original program to attach a copy as proof. I was added back in, and the fellow writing a book on the history of the show, to be published later this year, said it's now been updated, as well. O huzzah! Which gets us the point. That first Mee-Ow Show was done in 1974. In the news at the time, both political parties were trying to decide where to hold their next convention in two years. As I'm sure most people know, Northwestern is in Evanston, which borders Chicago to the north. So, the song I wrote was a look back at the previous convention, the first after the 1968 debacle in the city with what was later called in the official study a "police riot," and the number suggested how a group of civic leaders had tried (to no avail) to get either party to bring their convention back to the city, which had hosted so many political conventions throughout U.S. history and give it another chance, called “Why Not Chicago?”
See! I told you there was a connection! Needless-to-say, with the news tomorrow and Chicago finally getting a political convention again -- after 56 years, and especially a Democratic one -- the old song came to my mind. I went through my files and actually found the lyrics. I recall that the music was very chipper and upbeat, somewhat of a “soft shoe” number. (By the way, on that Facebook Group page, when I mentioned something about the two songs, to my surprise some fellow responded that he had been one of those rehearsing this one. I apologized to him after all these years for cutting his number… Happily, he was okay with it.) So, 50 years in the making, here finally is the first public appearance of at least the lyrics of the song, "Why Not Chicago?"!! Why not Chicago? What’s the matter with us? We are friendly And we’re cheerful. Why are both of the parties so fearful To go meet in Chicago? Do we deserve all this hate? We promise to run the convention Like we handled it in ’68. Why not Chicago? Tell us what we did wrong. We had total Peace and quiet. Well, except for one small, minor riot. So, what’s wrong with Chicago? We promise that we’ll do our best To help all the people who like us, And then go out and beat up the rest. What is the dreadful disease we’ve contracted? What have we done to instill all this fear? Just because some of us over-reacted Please, can’t we have a convention this year? So, why not Chicago? Give Mayor Daley a chance. He is honest And respected, Just make sure that his man gets elected. Oh, give us a convention To show off the things we can do. If you like how we handled the last one, Just you watch us in ’72. This is an interview that Variety podcaster Michael Schneider did with Seth Meyers back in April, though it only got posted last week. It comes on the heels of Meyers' show celebrating its 10th anniversary and getting renewed by NBC for four more years. At first, Schneider thought he'd do the interview in the spirit of Meyers' "Day Drinking" segment, but opting instead for a "Day Eating" gambit instead instead. And honestly, interesting and fun as the 45-minute conversation is, that's one of the two reasons I'm posting this. That first reason is the host invited in Dan Michaels and Tod Hiller, boyhood friends and the owners of the Los Angeles branch of Gino's East, a very popular, small Chicago pizza chain. A place I love and eat at (or take out) often. The other reason is that five of the six people involved with this are all graduates of the beloved Northwestern University -- Meyers, podcast host Schneider, co-owner Michaels, and the two (unseen) young staffers running the camera and audio. Somehow, Hiller slipped through the cracks. The cover a range of fun topics (including on his background in Chicago), sample a lot of pizza and other menu items, and Meyers gives his Top Ten Pizza List of anything related to pizza. One clarification. At one point, the hosts as Dan Michaels how he ended up bring Gino's East to Los Angeles. And he gives his answer about "we" while looking at Seth Meyers, who nods in agreement. So, it looks like the "we" involved are those two. It's not, it's the off-camera Tod Hiller (who is generally off-camera for most of the interview.) Heading out from Chicago this morning, and back to Los Angeles later today. I may write something this evening -- or I may have too much to catch up. We'll see. The elves taking care of the homestead have been given advance warning, so my assumption is that they'll clean up the place and leave it in the same state they found it. As we said from my days in the park service, "Leave only footprints, take only memories." Though I don't expect to see any footprints. Ahem... The trip has been excellent. I got to see some favorite spots -- the Chicago Art Institute and Chicago Botanic Garden (actually in Glencoe, long-walking distance from where I grew up) -- the Disneyland of Botanic Gardens. And I stuffed myself at my favorite spots: Charlie Beinlich's Food & Tap, Del Rio's, Walker Bros., and Chicago pizza (this time at Lou Malnati's). And of course, the Cubs at Wrigley Field. All a joy to get back to after five years away, because of the pandemic. I also spent a wonderful Mother's Day with my 96-year-old Aunt Joan (who I'm staying with) and cousin, up at the 96-year-old Deerpath Inn for their excellent buffet. Be back soon... Well, the day has finally come. I finally made it back to Wrigley Field after over five years. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that this occasion doesn’t thrill others like it does me, but then – well, that’s why God created the concept of “tomorrow,” when those uninterested can check back for other folderol. For anyone else (and “anyone” might be a particularly appropriate word), here are a few ponderings about the day. One of the great (and perhaps unique) things about going to a Cubs game is that the El train stops literally a block-and-a-half from Wrigley Field. (It’s in the middle of a brownstone neighborhood after all – something I love. You’re walking through a old world neighborhood, turn a corner…and then there a baseball park looming up in front of you.) So, getting to a game is profoundly easy. There’s an El station only an eight-minute walk from where I’m staying with my aunt. They come by about every 15 minutes, and on a Cubs game day, every El stops at Addison, where Wrigley Field is. I went with my cousin Susie, which gave me more trepidation than it might seem – that’s because she’s a big White Sox fan. She said she thought about wearing her White Sox cap, but after some consideration she decided against it. It’s a glorious ballpark, built in 1914, the second oldest in the U.S, after Fenway Park in Boston. And it still has the only scoreboard in baseball that’s hand operated, looming over center field It's not just that the day was great -- sunny, around 70 degrees, a light breeze -- but we lucked out, catching a doughnut hole. It was supposed to rain Tuesday, yesterday and Thursday. And it did rain on Tuesday...and is still expected to today -- but when we were at the game yesterday? It cleared up perfectly for some reason known to a greater power. Everything was wonderful about the game, except the game. The Cubs only manage one lousy single -- and it was a scratch, infield dribbler that Cubs catcher beat out by half a step. And that was it. And they lost 3-0. Pretty good pitching by the Cubs, but that carries the "positive side" only so far. Making things worst, the San Diego Padres pitcher, Dylan Cease, is a former pitcher on the Chicago White Sox. And a favorite of my cousin. So, she kept enthusing about how great he was doing. The best I could muster was, "I'm so happy for you..." Still, the day was a joy. It was wonderful being back at Wrigley after far too long, and it was a treat watching the Cubs in person there. The elves taking care of the homestead back in Los Angeles say they are very jealous. Alas, no, we 30,000 in attendance didn't get to sing Steve Goodman's "Go, Cubs, Go" after a victory. But there are about 125 games to go. Or to put it better -- about 125 games to go, Cubs, go. We now return you to our regularly scheduled website. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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