Chicago Calling part two- Back in Black/New York State of Mind

8 Nov

from July 14, 2006

Chicago is being taken over by New Yorkers. The hotel is full of Mets fans, and so is the next hotel. And the next. Weber Grill, a very good BBQ place, was full of Mets fans. This is not good. Yes, I wrote not. For the most part, they are obnoxious. The Cubs fans, for the most part, are very friendly, despite the fact that their team sucks and they are 21 games under .500 and their manager is killing his pitchers and Wood and Prior are doomed to never be any good and- whew! See? It’s rubbing off on me. Anyway, you can easily tell the mid-westerners from the New Yorkers. The people from NYC are always yelling. METS! NEW YORK! YEAH!!!!!!! And of course wearing Mets gear to the game we get dragged into it. I like talking with the Illinois people, and the people from the rest of this part of the country because they all seem A- friendly B-naïve, in a good way, and C- genuinely open. DISCLAIMER- I spend most of my time around tourists, so I am missing the average Chicago scumbag.

Last night I went to a nice restaurant for dinner, Weber Grill. Its dressy casual, at best. (It gets Barrys four-star thumbs up!) I wore my black jeans and a nice black button-down black shirt, and my black sneakers. My black shoes did not make the trip. They hate to fly. Anyway, I firmly believe that what I am about to say is true. Ready? I was the only person in the Chicago Metro/Navy Pier Area wearing black. Sure, there were some black shorts and some black tank tops, but no one wore all black but me. Im from NYC, dammit! Everyone stared. I was a hit! Or and oddity. Lots of white, pink, khaki, pastels, red, but little black. BTW- all the women, from 6 to 60 are wearing tanks. Upper Mid-west strikes again. I was a tough guy. They were all afraid of me. I pushed them around and strutted like I owned the city. No I didnt. I felt strange and wondered where all of these people came from. (Mostly the mid-west, it turns out.)

Later, I’ll tell you about the Mississippi Basin Regional Convention in my hotel, the homeless, and the Gay Games take to the streets!

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