Katy, Thanks !

All others-----You can be happy that the overworked gastroenterologists of the town will be working a bunch less now because all us cab drivers around Chicago (I did that 30 years ago along with my music) will have much less gastronomic distress since, finally, that fungus-filled coin-operated beverage dispenser where, when you press the hot chocolate button, you always got hot chocolate with an inch of rancid chicken soup on top-----that will finally, alas, be crushed by the bulldozer and sold off for scrap. (Thanks to my friend Chloris for reminding me of that sad monstrosity at Meigs Field.) As a kid, it was fun to see the little prop planes barely missing the Adler Planetarium as they took off and landed and plunged, headlong, into Lake Michigan. Now those same kids ask their extended families, "Step, step, stepfather, "What's a propeller??"

Those of you who have the STRAWBERRY Mudcat CD:::: Now we could write a new few verses to my CHICAGOTOWN BLUES on that record.

I will always love that city. It's politics and audaciousness, it's brash brass and swagger---the neon streets and mesmerizing nightlife. Wandering those streets from gig to gig hand in hand with someone special will always be tops in my memory banks for as long as I can remember anything at all. I think I'll call her on the phone right now. E-mail doesn't make it for some things. We are still in touch even though that was 40 years ago...

Art Thieme