Monday, September 21, 2009

Cemetery Melodrama & Tony's Car





New batch of photos, most from 63rd Street. This time around, between Pulaski and Kedzie. I'll get to a few of those during the week, but I am posting shots of the car in front of Tony's Western Wear. I would drive around in that thing. Until the cops pulled me over, I would scoot around in circles. The top photo is an oddity, though. The day I had lunch with Greg, I saw the cops in Evergreen Park talking with the bus driver. Looking out the window, I saw this lady pushing the stroller around somewhat aimlessly. Never made the news, the scene made me sad, mostly because I knew it wouldn't make the news, pure and simple. If it bleeds, it leads, and this wasn't one of those stories.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Sunday Night Studs, Stags, and, ah, Shafts








Just clearing out some of the S's in my Pulp Fiction folder. Not much else to say here...

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Aladdin Ruins




I'm currently involved with a project called HOLLOWPOINT, with John Kewley, my co-writer on @JOYMOTEL. Set in 1965 LA and Chicago, I have to dredge up some period photos for reference. We used to have this massive amusement park called Riverview right in the middle of the north side. I have memories of the joint, thought it was demolished when I was eight. We never had a lot of dough, but it was a cheap day just to walk around. The highlight for almost everyone was Aladdin's Castle, with a maze of oddities, a rolling floor, a hall of mirrors, and such. But I came across the damnedest photo of the ruins. Aladdin himself was dismantled just about last, the front of it was simply wood, maybe acting as a sound baffler for the people who lived in the two flats across the street. The last ride I was aware of that was dismantled was the parachute ride, because in the early 70s you could still see the black monolith from the Tri-State Tollway. Didn't expect to be writing about Riverview tonight, but that one photo really did it for me...

Yes, That Was Me With the Dharma Initiative Cookies Walking Through the Deserted Subway and State and Lake




It's late and there's much more narrative I could add about my trip home and a chance meeting with an old friend as I was within steps of crossing the street to Sheffield Avenue. Tonight I went to what quite a few people, including Erika Olsen, the organizer on the Chicago end, was going to be a modest get-together of a bunch of people who enjoy the TV series LOST. Well, there were close to a hundred people at this thing, I talked with a woman from Charlotte and two guys from Grand Rapids, several others. The weather was amazingly well-behaved for late September, I was never cold in the least, not even that close to the lake in an open ended tavern. I wore my Omaha Streets & Sanitation shirt for warmth (the shirt has ZERO ventilation), and as I walked around, trying to find a place to sit, several people thought I had a cool Dharma logo shirt on. I never even thought of that and the damn show has been on since 2004. Anyhow, for once, I had an entirely enjoyable Friday night.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Do Not Attempt To Adjust Your Television...




...we control your surroundings. Or however the theme from Outer Limits went. Yesterday I went downtown to have lunch with Greg and talk about LOST, as he and Darcie have finally watched "The Incident". We joked about the helicopters in email, and there one was as I walked to the bus at 9:45. Then, in the Monroe Street subway, I looked for a phone, because I was early and wanted to pass it on to Greg that I was moseying around. Two phones did not work, more the norm here than not. And yet the phones still remain, some just the shells. The last one on the left worked, and as you can see, Donnie Rumsfeld must have gotten to the phone just before mwe to put that sticker on the receiver. Next thing you know, I'll see Rod Serling, David Janssen, and Bobby the Mitch chain smoking away, asking me why I won't accept that I'm part of the happy undead.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Fullerton Beach






A week or so I rambled a bit on how hard it is to hang around the Loop at night, that was the night Twilight Tales was at the Fullerton Beach bistro, and instead of the Red Line, Mike and I took the Clark Street bus back downtown. I'm amazed at how well these photos came out, I took just these three, and the only photo I took in the Loop was of the Chicago Theater, where I then went underground to grab the Red Line there. It is so easy to take for granted that I live so close to a lake.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Unmarked Helicopters









They are still flying overhead late at night, but nowhere near the frequency of a week ago last Thursday. Its not to disposable camera that made it difficult to photograph, it was the suddenness they appeared, and my trying to be convincing in showing different times of day. Always due south, then back within the hour, but once they were heading south every twenty minutes. Some photos I simply couldn't get because of the setting sun. We are directly south of Midway Airport, but I don't know where these guys are headed, or why they were so busy on the 3rd of September. I had lunch with my friend Greg the next day, he lives south of me and recalled hearing one that was quite loud as he was putting his sons to bed. Some nights I can hear them, then see their flashing lights from the window above my computer. So what's up, Rumsfeld? I assume you are still reading my blog, right? Well, of course, I know you have someone helping you with the bigger words. Like hel-i-COP-ter.