Explosive Decompression

August 28th, 2006General2 comments

Close up of Millenium Park Cloud Gate (“Bean”).

I had a brilliant time in Chicago thanks to some excellent hosts and a pretty inspired local variety of food. When the healthiest thing you’ve eaten all weekend is a Maxwell Street Polish, you know you’ve had a good time.

What I like about Chicago is that it’s urban but not as tightly wound as New York; it feels like San Francisco except it’s actually cleaner. You can take the train north and the city opens up into tree-lined streets like Brooklyn; and all around are joggers — at least while the temperature allows it.

And people are really nice. “Hi!”, they’d say. “WHAT?! I’LL KILL YOU!!!” I would scream back. I can’t help it, I’m not used to friendliness. My response is in my nature like The Frog and the Scorpion.

Millenium Park.

Millenium Park is an urban wonder. Raised gardens, people doing pilates outdoors, a twisty Gehry ampitheater, and the magical Bean (see above). I saw it from the plane on the way in, and it looked like a tiny mercury-flavored jelly bean.

The city has a lot of good things going for it: Comfort food, easy walking and easy public transit, Freddie, and great theater. And at the same time it has its challenges — it’s racially divided, and that feeling is palpable as you walk down the street.

But this city is definitely going in the right direction. I get a strong feeling that I’ll be back soon, and will be given more time to put together a more comprehensive report.

Silk Road Theatre Project: This up-and-coming company really has its act together. They’re wonderful hosts and put together a really excellent read of “Cowboy”.

A hundred and twenty people showed up to see it on a Sunday afternoon, and like I said then, it was easily the most diverse crowd (in every way imaginable) I’d ever seen at a public read for anything. Looking forward to working with these folks in the future. If you’re local, I highly recommend checking them out.