I am headed out to the desert. I am going to Burningman.

I know, I know, dirty hippies running around naked in the desert. I think that’s what a lot of people think it is. And you know, it might very well be, [...]]]> Well folks, after today’s post there will not be another post until September 9th.

I am headed out to the desert. I am going to Burningman.

I know, I know, dirty hippies running around naked in the desert. I think that’s what a lot of people think it is. And you know, it might very well be, I’m sure there’s quite a bit of that going on. But for me, it’s to see something that does not occur anywhere else in the world.

I’m a traveler, I like to travel, a lot. I want to see things other people haven’t seen. That’s why I like being a tour guide. I know how much fun it is to see something new, to learn something new, to meet someone who’s funny and strange.

Traveling is taking human existence down to it’s most basic levels. No matter where you go people need to sleep, eat and get somewhere. So even in the remote Himalayas, there is a place to eat, sleep and get somewhere. It boils it all down and it’s just a matter of how people do it.

Burningman is the same thing, everyone needs to eat, sleep and get somewhere. But this, my goodness, it’s just in the way that you do that. I want to see something few will ever see, I want to see huge art in the middle of the desert. I want to see what happens to a human when placed in a situation like that. I just want to see.

So on Monday I leave and really, I hate leaving Chicago. Hate it. Sure, it’s nice to get away and go somewhere and see something, but yesterday I went to the lake and looked at that skyline shining like a diamond on such a pretty day and realized there was no feeling of “oh I have to get out of this city.” It wasn’t about leaving here, it was about seeing something new.

And as I walk down my pretty neighborhood street, the trees are so amazing and lush. When it rains I don’t even need an umbrella, the tree’s canopies are enough umbrella for me. And I marvel that in just a couple of days I’ll be in a desert – no trees, no green, no cicadas making that crazy noise. You know what? I’m going to miss it, even for just a week, I’m going to miss it.

Wish me luck!

In the Indian grass the Indians listened: they too had lived by night.

And hear, in the uproar in the hotel, the first sounds of a city that was to live by night after the wilderness had passed. A city that was to roll boulevards down out of pig-wallows and roll its dark river uphill

This [...]]]> Last week:

In the Indian grass the Indians listened: they too had lived by night.

And hear, in the uproar in the hotel, the first sounds of a city that was to live by night after the wilderness had passed. A city that was to roll boulevards down out of pig-wallows and roll its dark river uphill

This week:

That was to forget, out of steel and blood-red neon, it’s own peculiar wilderness. Yankee and voyageur, the Irish and the Dutch,  Indian traders and Indian agents, halfbreed and quarter-breed and no breed at all, in the final counting they were all of a single breed. They all had hustler’s blood. And kept the old Sauganash in a hustler’s uproar.

Yankees - New York wanted Chicago to work very badly. The Illinois Michigan Canal (built in 1848) would ensure a waterway from New York to the West. If this canal worked, New York would dominate. When the canal was in talks, the land around the proposed canal became very valuable and land speculation was out of control. People were buying and selling land really fast, you could become a millionaire or lost it all in a matter of minutes.    Lots of New Yorkers came to the play the game. Our first mayor, William Butler Ogden, came from New York to check on some land and ended up staying – thank goodness he did. I love him.

I’m reading “Chicago – A Biography” right now and Pacyga writes: “One rather ostentatious presentation saw a black man dressed in scarlet and bearing a scarlet flag riding on a white horse through the town to announce land sales, gathering crowds wherever he stopped to shout out.”

I won’t mention what a scarlet flag would mean roughly 100 years later, but the Boystown Tour might help you out there…

Voyageurs is a french word meaning “travelers,” basically boat/delivery men in the fur trading days in the 1830s. We were “discovered” (I put that in quotes on my tour too, I wish I could think of a better word for it) by the French – Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet. So, there were definitely a lot of French here too.

Then there’s the Irish and the Dutch – The Irish came in great numbers after the Great Famine in 1845. The Dutch were here as early as 1839, some of the earliest immigrant settlers.

Indian Traders and Indian agents – I had to look up Indian agents – someone who worked for the US Govt who basically acted as a liaison…yeah, sure they did…

Halfbreed, quarter-breed and no breed at all – hell, our first permanent settler was a “half-breed.” Jean Baptiste Pointe de Sable was West African and French and he built a house right at the mouth of the river, right where the Spirehole is.

In the final counting they were all of a single breed.  We were all a single breed, even the “Yankees” who were here often married Indian women and hung with the Indian dudes a lot. We were just hanging out and partying and buying and selling land. But eventually that stopped too, New Yorkers married nice white women and Du Sable finally left as well, it had all gotten a little too rough for him and his dark skin.

But we were all hustlers. We were hustling for New York or for control of the West or for the removal of the Indians or for liquor or land. We were all here for the same reason.

They all had hustler’s blood. And kept the old Sauganash in a hustler’s uproar.

Those early days at the Sauganash must have been some kind of fun.

DuSable tshirt - I love it

Why Margaret, why would you do that?

Because I love this tour, because I believe in it and because I want to share it with you all.

Why should you come out?

Come out for Boystown. Come out for a neighborhood that has [...]]]> I’m offering half-price tickets to the Boystown Tour this weekend. Saturday and Sunday tickets are 10$.

Why Margaret, why would you do that?

Because I love this tour, because I believe in it and because I want to share it with you all.

Why should you come out?

Come out for Boystown. Come out for a neighborhood that has shown you a good time with good service, restaurants and retail. Come out for me, because you like my posts and you think I’m fun. Come if you like wine. Or are curious about Steamworks. Come if you enjoy local art, come if you’ve ever been to Sidetrack and still call it Sidetracks.

Come for your gay brother, sister, mother, father. Come for your straight brother, sister, mother, father.

Do it for Pride, for the Northalsted Merchants Association, for Scarlet, for Kafka Wines, for Gaymart and Roscoe’s. Come out for fun, knowledge,  or a good time.

Do it for Henry Gerber, Ma Rainey, Abraham Lincoln or Jane Addams. Do it for summer, celery and Conrad Sulzer.

Do it for Johnny.

Come out if you’re even the least bit curious, come out if you’re not curious at all but think you should be.

Come out for Belmont and Halsted, for The Center, for the Brown Elephant or the Hearty Boys. Come out for Market Days, Halloween and Halsted Tastes Better. Come out for 5$ martinis and 10% off at a local business. Come out for the Playground, for Lakeview, Marshall Field and the Blue Men.

There are a million reasons to come out and hardly any for not coming out.

Tours are 90 minutes, start at 5PM Saturday and Sunday. We start at Roscoe’s at 3356 N. Halsted. Just let me know if you’d like to come and I’ll take you out and show you a neighborhood that affects all of us.

Curious?

We move on to:

In the Indian grass the Indians listened: they too had lived by night.

And heard, in the uproar in the hotel, the first sounds of a city that was to live by night after the wilderness had passed. A city that was to roll [...]]]> We started with Vermilion. “Whiskey-and-vermilion hustlers, painting the night vermilion.”

We move on to:

In the Indian grass the Indians listened: they too had lived by night.

And heard, in the uproar in the hotel, the first sounds of a city that was to live by night after the wilderness had passed. A city that was to roll boulevards down out of pig-wallows and roll its dark river uphill.

Let’s start at the top shall we?

“and heard, in the uproar in the hotel, the first sounds of a city that was to live by night after the wilderness had passed.”

The hotel I’m assuming (since it’s also brought up later) is The Sauganash. The Sauganash was the first hotel in Chicago, built on Wolf Point – basically where the Sun Times building is at the confluence of the south and north branches of the river. It was opened by Mark Beaubien who bought it from James Kinzie. Originally just a tavern, Beaubien expanded it into a hotel 1831. He also became the first ferry-keeper in Chicago and was on call day and night. Busy dude.

The Sauganash was named after Billy Caldwell, who was a “half-breed,” his father was a Brit and his mother was a Pottawatami, so Caldwell was a perfect liaison. Sauganash meant “Englishman” in the Pottawatami language. His Indian name was “Straight Tree.”

Man. I wish I knew my Indian name.

Now:

“A city that was to roll  boulevards down out of pig-wallows and roll its dark river uphill”

Alright, I grew up in the city, I’m as urban as they come. I might have seen a live pig at some point, but it was probably when I went to the Indiana State Fair, so I had to look up “pig-wallows.” I found this video which was quite helpful, but essentially a pig-wallow is mud and water and a place where the pig can go to roll around and cool off. I think once I get to Burningman the concept of a pig-wallow will make a lot of sense, considering the mud also protects from sunburn.

I’m guessing the “roll its dark river uphill” reference is about our masterful plan of reversing the flow of the Chicago River. See, we used to dump all our waste in the Chicago river in the late 1800’s and it was really gross and polluted. The river flowed into Lake Michigan and that’s where we got our drinking water, so all this gross is flowing into the lake and every one’s drinking it. Yuck. Well in 1889 we decided to build a canal, the Sanitary and Ship Canal that would be deep enough to reverse the flow of the Chicago River. The classic river tour joke is “now St. Louis gets its own Taste of Chicago.”

Heyo!

“It’s too hot.”

“It’s too cold.”

“Real Chicagoans don’t go to Taste.”

“The Cubs are going to win this year.”

And of course, my own personal favorites regarding the Air & Water Show:

“It’s a recruiting tool.”

“It scares my dogs.”

“It makes the windows in my building [...]]]> Living in Chicago pretty much my whole life, one hears the same thing ever year:

“It’s too hot.”

“It’s too cold.”

“Real Chicagoans don’t go to Taste.”

“The Cubs are going to win this year.”

And of course, my own personal favorites regarding the Air & Water Show:

“It’s a recruiting tool.”

“It scares my dogs.”

“It makes the windows in my building rattle.”

I’ve heard them all, every year the same thing, and yet, I look forward to this weekend with every bone in my body.

I love the Air & Water Show. Love it.

This year is the 51nd Air & Water Show. When it started in 1959 (the same year Second City opened, coincidence? Yes. Ha.) it was part of something called “Family Celebration,” a weekend for kids that were enrolled in the Park District’s program. The original budget was $88 and featured air rescue demonstrations, water ballet (sweet) and games and such.

The next year the Thunderbirds joined up and that was that. It was expanded as years went on, corporate sponsorships and whatnot and now it’s the largest spectator event in the United States.

I love the A&W show with the fire of a thousand suns, but what is it? Why? I really have no interest in boats and couldn’t care less about airplanes.

When we went to the beach this year for the 4th, we all got the simplest joy from watching the fireworks in the sky. There’s something magical about looking to the sky to see something amazing. Something about “where’s the show?” “It’s in the sky, the whole sky” that really pumps me up.

Normally I’m not one for crowds, especially millions of people – heck, I can barely handle the grocery store and it’s multitudes of people, but the A&W show is so spread out, there’s a WHOLE BEACH that is miles long, all you need to do is ride a bike and you never get stuck. Especially if you decide you don’t want to be in the crowds and you go hang at Belmont Beach and get the room and the planes.

Me though? I like to be close to it all. I like to be at North Ave and hear the announcers talk about each plane. I like to feel the sand in my feet with my eyes turned to the sky to see something that in any other context would never be there, planes zipping around some of the finest skyscrapers int the world.

I understand people’s reticence, I truly do. Most of these planes are war machines – but there is an inherent beauty in seeing what humans can build and the unbelievable mystery of raising tons of pounds up into the Chicago sky.

Plus, Vince Vaughn is jumping out of a plane this year…

What do you think about the Air & Water show? For or against and why?

Photo courtesy of sbrekke.com

Marry, Boff, Kill:

The Willis Tower:

The Trump Tower:

The Hancock:

This is a tough one certainly. I’m not here to make things easy on you folks, I’m here to make you THINK. Heh.

Okay, so for me…ugh, this really is tough.

I’m just going to say [...]]]> It’s time for another round of Marry, Boff, Kill! This time, we shall use skyscrapers.

Marry, Boff, Kill:

The Willis Tower:

The Trump Tower:

The Hancock:

This is a tough one certainly. I’m not here to make things easy on you folks, I’m here to make you THINK. Heh.

Okay, so for me…ugh, this really is tough.

I’m just going to say it:

Marry the Hancock, Boff the Trump Tower and Kill Willis.

Oh man, I hate even typing that for petes sakes.
What say you?

I have all the entries for the Boystown Tour Tagline Contest. These entries are now on Survey Monkey so that YOU can be the one to pick the winning tagline. Some of the entries are hilarious, some are really awesome, some are … well some aren’t those other two things. I highly suggest you check [...]]]> First!

I have all the entries for the Boystown Tour Tagline Contest. These entries are now on Survey Monkey so that YOU can be the one to pick the winning tagline. Some of the entries are hilarious, some are really awesome, some are … well some aren’t those other two things. I highly suggest you check them out and vote for your favorite! You can do that here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C8Q823V

I know which one I like the best…I should probably go vote for it.

Second!

John and I were lucky enough to go check out Walking With the Dinosaurs last night. And it was awesome. It was Allstate Arena, we hopped right on the Blueline and headed out to Rosemont. Once there we had absolutely no idea where to go and everyone is just so darn friendly out there in Schaumburg! We hopped right on a bus and BOOM, there we were.

We got to our seats, walking over many, many children on our way. Allstate is neat, but um, there is absolutely NO AISLE room. It’s ridiculous. Seriously.

But we could hear the excitement of the kids around us and the show starts. They have an actor who leads you through and teaches you things about dinosaurs, the music starts up and it’s as close to the Jurassic Park music as you can get without being sued…and the dinos come!

It was so cool to see them, it really was, and I felt my almost 40 year old heart turn into a young girl’s heart in about 5 seconds. The dinos looked great, what shocked me a little was that they’re basically traveling on platforms. Now of course I know nothing of constructing life-size dinosaurs, but it was kind of weird to see them basically dragging a piece of wood around between their feet.

But the actor was good, the dinos were cool and half of the kids around us were terrified and the other half were so freaking excited. I think those are good percentages.

I highly recommend bringing your kids if they like this sort of thing and I also highly recommend getting whichever ticket price you can afford (I believe they go from 20$ to 60$ or so) but the dinos are so big and awesome, it really would not matter where you sat, even if you were a little one.

Here are some of mine so far:

Boystown Tour: Giving it to you straight

Boystown Tour: An in-depth look at the neighborhood where you go to Eat Drink [...]]]> Alright, I’m on the lookout for taglines for the Boystown Tour, who wants to play? The winner will get TWO FREE TICKETS to the Boystown Tour? How fun is that?

Here are some of mine so far:

Boystown Tour: Giving it to you straight

Boystown Tour: An in-depth look at the neighborhood where you go to Eat Drink and be Mary.

Apparently Hamburger Mary’s uses that one so it doesn’t work as well. Heh.

Boystown Tour: Come Out With Me.

What you got? Winner gets TWO FREE TICKETS!

From Wikipedia: A tour guide (or tourist guide) provides assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage interpretation to people on organized tours, individual clients, educational establishments, at religious and historical sites, museums, and at venues of other significant interest.

Okay, that [...]]]> Lately, especially with the Boystown Tour, I’ve been having a problem with my job description.

From Wikipedia: A tour guide (or tourist guide) provides assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage interpretation to people on organized tours, individual clients, educational establishments, at religious and historical sites, museums, and at venues of other significant interest.

Okay, that seems reasonable right? I am a person who provides assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary (what does that mean exactly?) heritage interpretation…

I do do that.

But there is something missing from the definition of a tour guide – dialogue and personality.

I’m not the type of tour guide to point at you and buildings and talk and talk – I mean, sometimes I do do that, I’ll admit it. On my Second City tours I do a lot of talking – but I still hesitate to call myself a tour guide. I want to call myself an idea instigator, or a one woman show on the street, or a conversation starter or a world guide or a walk leader or something that more closely explains what it is I do.

You see, the Boystown Tour especially is very two-way-street. Everyone joins in on the conversation, we laugh and learn and talk and walk and I’m a …. facilitator to learning or something.

Plus, I even think the word “tour” can be misleading. I think that word scares some people and they conjure up images of groups of bored people walking around for two hours…but that isn’t what I do. It’s exactly the wrong image.

What I want to do is somehow update the concept of tour guide – modernize it, make it hipper, cooler, more casual.

Tour guide just doesn’t seem to fit me and I’m having a hella time figuring out what word does. Any clues?