YEAR 2000
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The Windy City Blast
Chicago
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The two Website Managers were invited by Graham Nash to come to Chicago.
This is our story, written by Jeroen...
"The UnDutchables!"
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Jeroen & Dolf |
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April 11th."Chicago,
Chicago…!" Ol’ blue eyes in optima forma. Yet the first encounter with the
Chicago nightlife was not a memorable one for the two 4 WaySite website managers. We are
definitely not afraid to tell we crashed at 7.15 PM in our hotel
on the first night in the US. And we have to, our wives are reading this as
well.
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The morning after at Starbucks, sipping coffee out of those typical
spill-free mugs. The weather was clearing as promised by a obscure Belgium
newspaper. The
El chased our jetlag up to the Magnificent Mile which is North Michigan Avenue.
"Doors open on the left at Grand Station." And they did. This certainly promised
to be good day. Just to be sure we downed a few beers at Miller’s, which is the
Chicago equivalent of Cheers. Rolling Rock, Miller Genuine and bag full of pretzels behind
the oak counter. We were playing it safe.
After leaving the bar we scored some Pokémon for the kids and found out that Pokémon
actually meant Pocketmonster, which is where you usually keep your wallet. You have
to travel for 7000 km (~4000 miles) to dig that one. For a while we enjoyed watching a
police officer, fully buried in winterclothing, who was doing a kind of trafficdance (MOVE
IT!). We promised to keep that in mind for the concert later that week.
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We skipped the Buddy Guy's Legends
bar and went back to the hotel to eat the greasiest taco’s you ever
experienced.
Depressed by so much fat we headed back to our room and practiced our backstage
appearance. "Hello Dolf, I’m Graham……! Good zjow, I’m one of
the 4 WaySite’s".
The sun disappeared behind the watertowers of Wabash Avenue.
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April 12th.
Just two more days until the concert. After reading a massive amount of email we headed
for the El and got out at Clark. Had breakfast in the Thompson Center and tried the glass
elevators which lowered our Burger King with the speed of 16 stores in 12 seconds. Back
down there was a rally going on and we took some pictures as we chose sides in the
situation. NBC was there and of course we as 4
WaySite representatives had to explain what we were doing in the midst of
the stampede.
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"No comments"
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Carlton Ritz
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Made an escape
to Giardanos, where we ordered beer and chicken fingers. The sun came out after a few
hours and we strolled along in the direction of the Carlton Ritz where a
familiar band was staying. We made sure the guys were secure there and...
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...walked to the famous Hardrock Café,
after a short visit to Borders, a great book/CD shop.
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Two hardrockers?
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Outside the HR Café there was a
star melted in the pavement which said ‘Crosby Stills & Nash’.
With a sense of drama we turned it into a shrine and blocked the entrance for a few
minutes as we were posing for pictures.
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What? They also have a guitar from Nash on the wall!? As
we were personally invited by Graham to come to Chicago it should not be a problem to
close the room for public and admire that instrument in peace. It did not take long to
find the bar to order a few Corona’s and after several hours we even made it to
Famous Dave Ribs & Blues to eat piles of meat in the dark while listening to white
blues.
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The UnDutchables?
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April 13th brought American breakfast
at Savoy and a few visits to Wallgreens drugstore to stop a sinusitis. In Starbucks we met
a he or she who seemed to be the impersonation of Eddie Murphy playing one of his
characters. To get some overview on what the hell we were doing, we climbed the Sears
Tower, but it was kind of disappointing watching the city on this height behind
bulletproof glass. Ever been on the Empire State guys? That’s the way to do it.
The only good thing that came out of that visit is that we could point out Union Station
where we played the stairs-scene from the movie The Untouchables.
Covered with bloodstains we hardly made it back to the hotel. "Hi Dolf, I’m
Jeroen from 4 WaySite…"
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April 14th.BIG DAY. After seeing doctor
Michael Lee in the New Memorial Hospital who gave a prescription
for anti biotic and meeting a BB King looka-a-like cabdriver who was in the Lord and wants
to spread The Word in Europe, we had breakfast at the Corner Bakery. That sandwich
chicken/pesto was a religion on it’s own.
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A Polish cabdriver this time brought us to the United Center (nice area,
friendly people...) where we had to get the tickets and the after show passes at the Will
Call window. Guess what we heard on the radio: "Wooden Ships" and Marrakesh
Express". We had to wait very long -being a CSN&Y fan- but Graham
kept his word and the two tickets & passes were waiting for us. Bless the good man. We
went in and bought pizzas and hotdogs to reward ourselves. Great promoter seats with an
even better view on the stage. We soon exchanged 4 WaySite business cards with our
neighbors.
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For full review of the concert by Steve
Silberman (contributing editor of Wired magazine) and after
show we would like you to check this link. For the
not so interested ones, we continue to say that the concert was one of the best I ever
witnessed. The interaction between Neil’s and Stephen’s guitars were out of this
world. Just when you thought it could not get any better they shifted gear and moved up
towards Gibson & Fender heaven.
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'Have Faith In Me" and CSN&Y...
©Dolf van Stijgeren
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The
UnDutchables! |
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April 15th . Spend the whole morning in
bed discussing the concert and after show. Send a few messages to the CSN(Y)
mail list the Lee Shore, cause Graham actually did the song Chicago.
Got a phone call from Joe, a local and a friend of Dolf's.
He was going with us to the concert tonight and also joining was Michael Fox, a longtime
fellow Lee Shorer.
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Spent the rest of the day along the Magnificent Mile
where yours truly scored a signed copy of Stand and be Counted. Croz had signed a few
books when he visited the shop across his hotel.
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After that we were witnesses of a strange weather phenomenon. In about 10
minutes the temperature dropped some 20 F and a big cloud covered the middle
of the skyscrapers. It seemed to be the time and place to play the Close Encounters-tune
and throw the Pokémon balls into the air.
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Joe came to pick us up and drove us to Al
Capone’s house. Once again a friendly neighborhood where we carried out
a commando raid to get some pictures outside the car.
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Pauline, Dolf, Jeroen (the owner of Moretti's...?), John, Graham, Joe, Buzz and
Jackie.
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Finally made it to Moretti’s where we met
quite a few Lee Shorers - people from CSN(Y) mail list the Lee-shore - and our friend Mike for the first time.
Anyone for some Jan Crosby Salsa Dip?. Last night Graham had invited us
to come backstage for tonight as well, so that was a real surprise for Michael and Joe.
When we picked up the tickets and passes we felt like we owned the place.
Check this link for the
4 WaySite pre-show & backstage photographs and story.
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We continue to say that despite of
four very annoying ladies behind us, we had a great time. During Helplessly Hoping we
called Suz, also a longtime -gone?- friend and Lee Shorer. Although the concert was not
as good as the night before (we found out afterwards that Neil was sick), it had a real
climax when Neil broke all the strings of Old Black in a exhausting solo.
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Joe drove us back to his place in the suburbs of Chicago where he
is the proud owner of a lovely house. Next morning he and his wife brought us back to
O’Hare where we said goodbye. Very nice people, yet O’Hare was not
impressed and did not provide us with tax-free shops or at least a bar.
Sober by all meanings we boarded the Sabena plane and flew back to Holland.
Jeroen Mol, Website Manager 4 WaySite
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Many thanx to Graham Nash for inviting us and
all those nice people we met during our stay. Many of them are regular visitors of 4
WaySite and really encouraged us to carry on with the site.
This was truly an experience of a lifetime.
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Jeroen Mol
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Dolf van Stijgeren
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