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Archive of entries posted on August 2008

The end of an era

I saw this on the morning news on NBC 5 this morning. So I could share it here, I found Metra says so long to its rail saloons in the Trib’s online edition.

Every weekday at 5:17 p.m., the bar car on Metra‘s Milwaukee District West line becomes the place where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.

With beer and wine cups in hand, a cast of characters that seems straight out of “Cheers” tries to make the daily commute home as merry as the sitcom.

“It’s happy hour on the rails,” said Kevin McHone, 40, an information technology engineer from Gilberts and a bar car regular.

But just as every TV show eventually ends its run, this Friday will be last call aboard what Metra officially calls its “refreshment cars.”

I never took advantage of the bar cars, but I might have to this week before they are gone forever.  I suppose you can still beer up in the station and bring it onboard, but something about buying in the bar car is different.

Buddy Guy: Legend

Before college I always respected the blues but never really got into it.  Even now, I think my appriciation is bigger than my blues collection.  (Although, just turning on the Blues Music Choice channel on cable often fills a need as well.)  That being said, thanks to my friend Jon and the old Blind Pig in Urbana, while at college and afterwards my exposure went way up.  At various venues I’ve been lucky enough to see live performances by the late Junior Wells, the late John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, BB King, and Eric Clapton among others.

Of course, living around Chicago for most of my life seeing Buddy Guy is almost a requirement.  I’ve seem him at his place at least twice, and I keep meaning to make it more.  In the Tribune today was Buddy Guy helps Yahoo! music make its mark talking about Guy’s concert as part of a Yahoo! Music series.  In the article they talked about what Guy brought to the show such as walking around and interacting with the crowd as he plays.  This should be no surpise to anyone who’s seen him perform.

What spured me into writing a blog post was the last paragraph of the article.  For me, it really is a perfect example of what I think every passionate musician feels about his craft.  Really, I think it can be expanded to fit every person who is passtionate about whatever craft they do.

When Guy was asked to cite the best solo he’d ever played, he turned the question back on the fan: “What’s the best love affair you ever had?”