Chicago, Chicago - that Toddling Town! - 108-113 of 178 Adventure

1st Goal of Chicago visit accomplished with buddy Dave

Our trip to Chicago this week had a three-fold purpose:
1) see a Cubs game in the same stadium where I saw my first major league baseball game 56 years ago;
2) attend the National Dramatists' Guild Conference; and
3) recall from my childhood memories by finding landmark locations with significance of my mother and grandparents.
     Sounds simple enough.
     On Tuesday, August 20, we made it to Joliet, Illinois, the site of our latest campground.  It was a long day; the 363 miles driven were the most we had traveled in Air Barty One in a day since we bought her.  Our original vow was to drive no more than 300  miles or 5 hours in any one day, so this was a bit on the high side of what we wanted to accomplish.
     We met up with the wonderful Dave Benoit for a cup of coffee in nearby Naperville.  Dave and Diedre had often worked together over the years in educational technology; it seems Dave was always running new companies and often hired Diedre for her expertise.  He has become a wonderful friend over the years.  An interesting guy, Dave played football in high school and was good enough to be offered several full-ride scholarships.  I especially admire that he  had the nerve to turn down Harvard and, instead, took a full-ride at Northwestern, no slouch of a school itself.  Dave and I have shared a mutual interest in sports ever since we met.  And he even flew out to Phoenix to see my first play, "Buzzard Ball."  What a guy!
     Our campground was nice enough, lakeside and all, but the manager there was a total jerk, yelling at us for showing up 5 minutes late after the check-in time.  What, are we back in 5th grade now?!  If you're a fan of the English TV comedy "Fawlty Towers," you'll understand when I describe this guy as the spitting image (and demeanor) of Basil Fawlty, except for Basil's good hygiene.
   

 Wednesday was our big day to go to the Cubs game, the 7th of the 9 games we would be seeing on "Road Trip '13."  Good guy Dave joined us for the game and provided transportation to the tricky area at Clark and Addison.  As usual, we had dinner at the spectacular Murphy's Pub right across the street from the center field bleachers at Wrigley.  That's a tradition with Diedre and me, something we've done for every Cubs game we've seen (about 20) since we met in 1988.
     Before you knew it, the Cubs were down 5-3, but then they rallied, scoring 5 runs in the 5th.  Of course, that was too good to last.  The Washington Nationals tied it in the 7th, then won the game in the 8th on a 2-run home run by a former Minnesota Twin player named "Spam" ... All right, his name is actually "SpaN", but being a guy born in Austin, MN, home of the Hormel Company, I take my spam where I can find it.  Final was 10-8 Nationals.  Funny comment: a home run hit earlier by the nationals player Hairston was hit so high and far into the night sky that Dave remarked, "That ball is going to need flight attendants."
   

 One of the best things about Wrigley is all the hoopla going on that isn't even a part of the game.  First there's the wonderful architecture for this great stadium that was opened in 1914.  Amazingly, the Cubs' ushers are almost as old as the stadium.  The guy in our section had to be 87 and he was one of the young ones.  I noticed that during the 7th inning stretch, he turned his hearing aid down as the crowd bellowed the words to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
     The concessionaires were a trip as well.  The Budweiser guy was so excited, bounding up and down the steps near us yelling, "BUDWEISER!!  HEY, I GOT YOU BUDWEISER RIGHT HERE!!"  Of course he was excited: he was selling a can of Bud Light beer for $7.75.  Almost as enthused was the younger guy selling cotton candy and long licorice whips.  He flashed by us in a blur, bounding so high he barely even touched the steps.  He had to have been on a sugar high.  Alas, the poor guy relegated to selling water (at $4.75 a pop) looked quite depressed as he slowly trudged up and down the aisles.  He reminded us of that teacher in the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," although instead of murmuring, "Bueller ... Bueller ... Bueller," he muttered "Water ... water ... water."
     By the 8th inning, a lot of the "fans" had left.  Now, the 99-year old Wrigley Field had been built with a lot of vertical steel beams holding up the second deck.  And they're still there.  So if you're in the last 20 rows of the first deck, these posts obstruct your vision to at least some parts of the field.  With the fans leaving, I noticed that a lot of the unobstructed seats in front of the posts had become available, yet the Cubs fans in the obstructed seats, being Cubs fans, didn't bother to sneak down into the unobstructed seats.
     Really?!
     I mean, how hard can it be to sneak down into the beamless seats, especially when the only security you had to slip by was an 87-year old usher taking his evening nap.  Maybe the fans just didn't want to see more Chicago losing baseball.  Are the Cubs really that bad?  (Answer: Yes.  They're in last place in the National League Central and have the 2nd worst record in all of the N.L.)
     Thursday was the beginning of the 2nd bi-annual Dramatists' Guild National Conference.  I have been a member of this playwrights' guild since "Buzzard Ball" was produced in 2004.  That's one of the requirements for Guild membership: the production of one of your plays on an established stage.  Since then, I have written 10 more plays, and in doing so, have utilized the Guild's services on a few occasions.  But this would be the first time I would be coming face-to-face with my peers in the industry, so to speak, and I was a bit nervous.  I mean, I'm just some goon writing funny things about sports.
     My lovely and supportive wife Diedre joined me on our train trip into the city of big shoulders; while I would be at the conference, she was going to take advantage of some daytime theatre in the loop.
     That afternoon's sessions and meeting were OK, but nothing to knock my socks off.  That would come on the following day.
     Friday, August 23, Diedre again joined me on our 90-minute train ride into the city.  Things got off to a fine start with a Q-and-A by established playwright and TV writer, Theresa Rebeck.  Her C.V. includes writing for the TV show "NYPD Blue" and being the creator of that recent smash hit, the aptly named "Smash."  It was wonderful to hear about the behind-the-scenes goings-on of the industry.
     And then  it got better.
     The next session was with Stephen Schwartz (composer) and Winnie Holzman (librettist), the creators of that fantastic Broadway hit, "Wicked," the pre-story of the witches of Oz  As was my style, I grabbed a seat in the front row, something that I had never done during my days in high school and college.  I don't know ... I must be getting hard of hearing.  Anyway, I was within an arm's reach of those two wonderful people.  Before "Wicked," Schwartz had been doing animation music, and for the most part, was happy with that.  He was on a Hawaiian scuba vacation with friends.  While on the boat back to shore after a dive, he noticed a friend reading a little-known book titled, "Wicked."  After a brief discussion, Stephen knew he had to have that story.  He thought the writer was a genius for making Elpheba (the wicked witch) not so evil.  His quest for the next year, then, was to transform this story into a Broadway musical.  Interestingly enough, he had to get the rights for it from actress Demi Moore.  She had wanted to do it as a non-musical movie.  Lucky for us Stephen convinced the right people of his vision.
     So that was Ty Cobb ... and now here came Babe Ruth.  (I enjoy the baseball metaphors--could you guess?)  Still in the front row, Bobby Lopez, playwright of the two huge hits, "The Book of Mormon" and "Avenue Q" approached the dais.  And wonder of wonders, his wife Kristen took the seat next to me.  An accomplished writer and singer herself, she has worked with Bobby on a lot of his efforts.  The two of us had a nice, if short, conversation.
     "Why, they're just kids!"  thought the 62-year old novice playwright in his best old fogie manner.
     Kristen spoke often to the assembled multitude from her seat in the audience.  She said that Bobby is into comedy all the time, so much so that once in awhile, needing a break, she'll say to him, "Honey, can't we just watch "Schindler's List" tonight?"  Bobby and Kristen then brought the house down by singing a song they wrote about an interview they heard Stephen Sondheim do.  The song was called, "I Wish I'd Written a Song Stephen Sondheim Wished He Would Have Written."
     The all-star day finished up with a session by the also far-too-young Tony-Award winning playwright of "In the Heights," Lin-Manuel Miranda .  Amazingly, he had gone to the same grade school as Bobby Lopez.  What are the odds?  And get this: he's currently working on a hip-hop musical about Mr. 10-Dollar bill himself, Alexander Hamilton (I am not making this up).
   

 Still on a high from the day's encounters, I joined Diedre that night for a wonderful mystery-comedy play at, of all places, the city's water works.  The play, "Big Lake, Big City" took place at the Lookingglass Theatre in the inner bowels of the ancient Chicago waterworks facility.  And it worked.  The play had been directed by "Friends" TV show star David Schwimmer.  He did a wonderful job.
     The final day of the conference could in no way compare with Friday's events, but I still enjoyed my time there.  In the Dramatists' Guild Conference vendors' room, they had a display there from their archives that included the following pieces of history:
1) a Eugene O'Neill contract from 1918;
2) a 1967 letter from Robert F. Kennedy;
3) Gypsy Rose Lee's application for Guild membership in 1953;
4) a letter from Ernest Hemingway written in 1939;
5) a 1969 note from Arthur Miller; and
6) Tennessee Williams' 1948 Pulitzer Prize announcement letter from the Pulitzer committee.
     This place felt like the Cooperstown of Broadway (There's that baseball thing again.)
     My last session combined my love of history and writing.  There were two people up front speaking about writing the history-based play.  One lady told the wonderful story of her research about the Alabama man who made the first flag for the Confederacy at the start of the Civil War.  It turns out that he secretly supported the Union.  To make things even more confusing, he was also the owner of 4 slaves.  Go figure.  Boy, I certainly want to see that play when it comes out.
   

Alexx at the train depot in Downer's Grove

 Relaxing after the end of the conference on Sunday, our last day in the Chicago area, I dragged Diedre out to find some landmark locales where my grandparents and my mom had lived from the 1930's up to about 1970.   I was able to find the last house where my grandparents lived and where I visited up till I was 15; unfortunately, there was a fence covered with vines at the spot where their driveway would have been.  Being tall enough, I peeked over the fence.  To my dismay, the house was gone and their hobby farmland had been turned into a housing development.
     Ah, progress.  What are you going to do?
     

Side view of the train depot

We then went searching into downtown Downers Grove.  Once there, I immediately spied the old train depot I remembered from when my grandmother would take me into town to get my baseball cards.  Amazingly, the depot is still being used as a waiting room for trains into the big city, but now with a few shops added in.  I especially liked the bakery there called "The John Dough Bakery."
   

We had a 1930's photo of my mom's dog "Laddie" in front of the house where she grew up.  Fortunately this time, the address was on the back of the photo, so with the use of "Penny," our wonderful yet sometimes obstinate GPS, we found the house, still intact, and still identifiable with the Laddie picture.  As we were taking some exterior photos of the house, we noticed the front door was open and a woman was walking around inside.  So spurred on by fearless Diedre, we rang the doorbell.
   

Same view of the house as in the photo with Alexx as the dog

 Carol Ford was the homeowner's name; she had been living there raising her family for the last 21 years.  She couldn't have been nicer, even inviting us in and showing us around the place.  Many parts of the house were identifiable from stories we had heard from my mom.  After a wonderful tour, we bid her a fond farewell.
     

The fireplace in it's original condition.

Our final stop was Avery Coonley, the private school I had heard so much about while growing up.  

There my mom, having skipped first grade, joined her brother John in his 2nd grade class.  The school was built in 1929, and sure enough, it was still there and still functioning as an active school, although a bit enlarged I'm sure.  I had Diedre take a picture of me on what I supposed to be the same front steps where John and Mom's class picture was taken some 80 years ago.
     Wow!
     I'm now going to ask you for a favor:
     Meet me in St. Louie, Louie!
     See you next week.
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Hi All - Diedre here.  Just want to make a few additions of my own for those of you wondering how I occupied my time while Alexx attended his conference.

 I absolutely LOVE Chicago and was thrilled to be back in the city!  The country and scenery we are seeing on this trip is lovely and I do enjoy the little towns we find along the way.  But there is just something about cities like New York and Chicago that just make my heart sing!  Walking issues with my hip and asthma seem to dissipate as I just fly through the streets with an enthusiastic pace (not unlike what Alexx does when we are in a ballpark.)  So having three full days to myself while Alexx was in his conference was noooo problem for me!  I had the joy of seeing two matinees (The Color Purple at Mercury Theater and The Pianist of Willeden Lane at the Royal George Theater.) Both productions were outstanding.  I absolutely love going to the theater by myself.  I never have to worry if the other person is enjoying the show or not and I can totally focus on the play.  I would highly recommend both of these plays.  Especially the later which is only performed by. Mona Golabek, the playwright.  It's the story of her mother who was the lone survivor in her family from the Holocaust.  Due to her mother's talent as a pianist, she was chosen by the parents to board the Kindertransport and escape the Nazi treatment.  Mona tells her mother's story though text and music as a one woman show.  It's absolutely amazing as she allows her mother's story to give flight to the inspiring music and prose that touches the hearts of everyone in the audience.  I was spellbound.  If her  tour comes to your city - definitely see the show.
     

Besides seeing theater and walking the streets of the city - I covered 9 miles on one afternoon and 5 on another and was able to do a quick stop at both Second City and Steppenwolf on my little tour.  I also rode the subway and train but walking was my favorite mode for the best site seeing/people watching.    I managed to look at lots of items in stores without spending a dime!  I especially enjoyed having time for a leisurely lunch of sushi at an exquisite restaurant high above the city.

My third afternoon I spent in the stylist's chair in the Water Tower Place.  I had hoped to go the full 6 months without a haircut and just see how long I could grow my hair.  But the box coloring job I opted for in Michigan over a salon job was now starting to turn orange and my hair was not doing well with the length as it got thinner and less manageable.  

My "Before" picture.

So since I was in the lovely city I thought my odds of finding a qualified stylist were much better than on the backroads of Tennessee.  As luck would have it, I found Susan MacCoy at the Elizabeth Adams studio in the Water Tower Place.  Susan is an expert witness for cosmetology court cases and has styled the likes of Diane von Furstenburg, Barbara Walters and other celebrities so I figured she could handle my issues.  And well she did.  Three hours later I exited with softer tones and three inches less - still long enough to satisfy my agreement with Alexx that if I keep my hair long he won't grow his to pony-tail length - and not a big enough change for him to notice that I had had my hair done which I realized when at dinner he asked me what I did that day! Sheesh!  

My "After" picture

The only disappointment with my afternoon at the hair salon was the loss of one of my favorite earrings.  It apparently disappeared in a towel after the shampoo lady rinsed me as it was not to be found anywhere.  Bummer.  I seem to be acquiring a lot of single earrings! Thank goodness I have three holes in my ears!

     That's about it for me.  Alexx  covered the rest quite well.  Except for the jerk manager at the campground it was another great town on our trip as far as I was concerned!  See you in St. Louis!