Chicago
Just a little while ago, I was flipping through the channels, and stopped to watch the opening scenes of some dumb Sandra Bullock movie just because it was a montage of clips of one of my favorite places on Earth: Chicago. I have a connection to that city which goes back to my childhood, and can still remember trips to the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Museum of Science & Industry, as well as Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park (the old one), Navy Pier, and Sears Tower. My mother, of course, was born and raised there, in an Irish neighborhood on the South Side. Still to this day, any movie that takes place there---The Blues Brothers and Ferris Bueller's Day Off are prime examples, but there are many others---is going to cause a certain amount of nostalgia on my part, because I feel such an emotional connection to that place. I used to go up on the train and just walk around, go to the library downtown, or walk down by the river, or along the lakefront, and explore the undercity below Michigan Avenue (down there where they filmed several scenes for the movie Streets Of Fire, another old favorite).
I really miss that city. It would be impossible for me to recount all of the good times I have had there, going back almost 30 years, or even just thinking back to all the great times I've spent there in just the last 10 years, with great people like Devin, John B., John W., Alison, Waz, Lara Jeanne, Josh, Kelly, and so many others. Actually, around here somewhere, I have a lot of photos taken on some of these sojourns in the city by the lake, and I think I should start scanning them and posting them here in this blog.
There is no place, other than Dublin and New Orleans, where I have been happier than in Chicago. As far as I can recall, I have not been in the city since I saw Tom Waits last August with
desierto. I think it's been entirely too long...