In early April we made a trip to Chicago over the weekend to see "The Jersey Boys" , which is the stage version of the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli. We flew out of Louisville via Southwest Airways, and forty-five minutes later touched down very,very briskly at Midtown. I say briskly as the pilot really had to reverse thrust with enthusiasm to stop the 737 as it sped on a path of death and devastation. The male flight attendant came on the intercom and said "OuuW"as we came in so fast. Safely on the ground we found transportation in the form of a Jamaican cab driver who took five of us to our destination on Lasalle and Ohio Street. It started raining and then got colder to the point of a few flakes, in early April no less. Our hotel was as adequate as you'd expect for $65 a night, but that we paid over $220 per night with taxes.Something of a dump with a view. Directly across Ohio Street was a two-story McDonalds with a full block footprint . The Golden Arches were classily done ,and as I later found is the third busiest Big Mac in the US, and the 12th busiest in the world. It replaced one of the first McDonalds in Chicago on the 50th anniversary in 2005. Talk about classy!! Wow! You walk in the joint and there are escalators taking you to the 2nd level. One of my favorite things in life is furniture of the Bauhaus era and man were they there!! In one corner in a little nook looking out towards the Hardrock Cafe were 4 Barcelona chairs in black leather. These were originally designed for the 1929 Barcelona Worlds Fair by Ludwig Mies Van De Rohe, a young German Architect who Is given credit for the practical use and design of steel and glass skyscrapers. The Barcelona chair has become a classic and when manufactured by Knoll International these babies cast $4000 each! That corner of the McDonalds held $16000 of these beauties along with a classic glass-topped Knoll table. The middle seating area was outfitted in classic French Le Corbusier sofas and cube chairs in chrome and black leather. This furniture was designed for the 1929 Salon D'Automne in Paris, and like The Barcelonas, are expensive. I guarantee you that the average tourist or Big Mac patron doesn't realize what these black leather chairs that they're spilling diet cokes on are so expensive. The booths have Classic Eames bent plywood sidechairs in honey colored veneers. Even the floors in the seating niches have rosewood planks to complement the Bauhaus look. The inch-thick plate glass has aluminum and steel connectors and fittings to form a classic contemporary glass exterior two stories high, all from Germany I might add. It seems ironic that the thing I enjoyed the most in Chicago was the McDonalds. I woke up at 4 o'clock on Sunday morning and the double drive-thru lanes were completely filled with patrons buying cokes and burgers. One skinny pimp was dancing along leading his stable of chubby ladies in tall black boots into the McDonalds ,maybe as a reward for a productive night. I feel that pimps and their hookers are like vampires and can't stand the effects of clean, pure sunlight. I guess they got happy meals and headed to some dark, slummy tenement to await the next night and new patrons.Not this country boy though!!WE went to the Field Museum and before entering ,looked across at the panorama of the legendary Soldier Field, home of the Bears. Without a doubt this monstrosity of architecture is the ugliest creation on earth. It is so bad that so-called professional architects could create something so absurdly ugly and bizarre. What is even more mind boggling is that some people in power actually bought the concept. Mies Van Rohe is turning corkscrews in his grave that this monument is allowed to stand. The Field Museum was great and we saw "Sue" the tyrannosaurus rex skeleton on display.We saw a lot of native American displays , along with a nice exhibit on the South Pacific Islanders, which made me want to be there.All too soon we boarded the orange and blue jet back to Louisville to a rainy and cold Sunday afternoon in Kentucky. Since then we had a 5 something earth quake centered somewhere in Illinois south of Chicago. Too bad it didn't knock Soldier Field down so someone could create something more elegant in a city known for architecture. Again one of the memories of the museum was a McDonalds in the basement . What stood out was that it was huge and had at least 25 Hispanics waiting on people. I could only say"Me no hable spanole" or something of that ilk.This week I was in Knoxville and realized how old I have gotten, and how I have gotten off track.Like the Eagles have so aptly said,"Half the distance takes twice as long." Viva Walk Like A Man!!!!
