Thursday, October 18, 2007

Chicago 'The Best Of Chicago: 40th Anniversary Edition'


I’ve got nothing… Again.

I’ve always been told that if you sit in front of a word processor long enough, something will come to you. I’m getting nothing.

I could tell you about ripping my musical choice of the day that I just synched to my Zune player… But that’s not very exciting. Continue at your own risk.

I’ve only seen Chicago once. And I can’t even remember what year it was… But I remember that Peter Cetera was spending his last tour with the band so it was definitely in their sucky phase.

I still go by a certain rule when it comes to concerts… If it’s a free ticket, I will see anyone. And when I was working at Peaches Music & Video (4217 High Point Rd: no longer there if you look for it), we had a deal with some radio station. They gave away tickets on the air and dropped those tickets off for last minute winners. When we closed the doors with tickets left over… Anyone working there that night could easily grab a pair of tickets and go. Usually, I was the only one that grabbed a pair to anything. And I mean anything.

I remember a time when Huey Lewis & The News played the Coliseum and I was excited about seeing the show. Unfortunately, it was wax night where we had to sweep real good and wax the floors. So I was late getting there and only caught the Robert Cray Band closing out their set with the hit “Smoking Gun”. I wasn’t happy about that, but I did get to see an overly dramatic “queen” dance on about a dozen mice when he unexpectedly flushed them out of a trash receptacle earlier.

His name was Shane… I don’t know for a fact that Shane was a “queen”… But the rest of the outright gay men that worked there constantly referred to him as such. He was a hoot! And he always had some very biting criticism about how some of our female customers were dressed… Including (unbeknownst to him) my girlfriend Melinda.

Shane was always good for a laugh… And that particular night, I was trying to get the hell out to see Robert Cray. Shane didn’t care. He was just being Shane… A flaming pain the ass. So I asked him if he could get in gear since he and I were going to the show later. Sure, I wouldn’t mind seeing Huey Lewis and his boys… But I really, REALLY wanted to see Robert Cray. That guy had talent in the sense of guitar prowess… He just sort of lucked up with a hit single.

We were taking out all the trash with only one can to go. It was a can stationed just behind the double doors leading to the break room and shipping/receiving department. The trash receptacle was made from a Peaches album crate. All of the slats fully encased the trash can liner so you couldn’t see what was inside of it.

For some reason, Shane ended up knocking over that trash bin and mice ran everywhere! There had to be a dozen of them! And just like the cartoon women who we only saw from the knees down on those Tom & Jerry cartoons… Shane was screaming at a high pitch and literally dancing all over those mice. He was high-stepping like an Indian brave! His arms were flapping around fueled by his fear of those brown little mice.

In a sense… The dance of mice death that Shane was performing was downright disconcerting as he crushed them under his white Nike shoes. And for some reason, I was laughing my ass off! I eventually made my way over to the couch because I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t stand up. It totally made up for missing Robert Cray.

Yeah… We walked in when Cray was playing his hit “Smoking Gun”. Then he walked off and the lights came up. Sh!t.

I was still looking forward to seeing Huey Lewis & The News. I liked them and I knew that it was hip to be square, so I was looking forward to a show from those guys. They seemed high energy enough for me. Even to this day, I cannot name a “bad” tune from those cats.

But let me tell… Those guys bored the hell out of me. It was like watching a show with mannequins standing around while Lewis & The News tunes played throughout the Coliseum. I wasn’t impressed at all. I just didn’t see why everyone in the place was rallying behind those lame performers.

Personally, I guess there was no topping Shane and his mouse dance of death. And I don’t know why that story came out instead of the Chicago concert. But I will tell you that when I saw Chicago… I had no expectations of them impressing me. And yet they DID! They were awesome! The Tower of Power horns! The musician ship of the band! Those mofos were awesome!

And the funniest thing… I remember sitting down 3 seats away from a woman as she looked at me with great disgust when I arrived. She picked up her purse and clutched it tight to her chest the rest of the night.

That’s what you get when I’ve got nothing. Thanks for reading.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2:20 PM

    Did you see Robert Cray last night?

    I missed it, dammit. I adore that man.

    ReplyDelete