One For My Hometown.

I've never been out to the cities out east like NYC, Boston, Baltimore, Philly, or DC, but I have been to a lot of different cities and have yet to find one better than the one I live in--Chicago. I mean, come on, the president's from here. How much better can it get?

It's an unseasonably warm day here in Chi-town. I just got back from walking all over the place. Probably about five miles if I had to guess, but it's just a guess. I walked past Wrigley and down to the lake, which we Chicagoans tend to forget about during the winter months, but man did it look stellar today! I walked back and stopped to have lunch at Harry Caray's by Wrigley, where a cute bartender talked me into spending too much money on a delicious burger, loaded with toppings. She said I would probably fall in love with her because of how good it would be and yes I did.

And now after a couple of lunch beers, a full stomach, and sore legs, I'm ready to write! Yes, this is still a music blog. I'm working up to it.

Two music related things crossed my mind as I was out wandering. One, the warm weather is getting me psyched for SXSW next month. If I had to choose a second favorite city in this nation of ours, it would be Austin, TX. I will be heading down for my 3rd annual trip to SXSW next month. Austin deserves the title of "Live Music Capital of the World". I haven't been to every live music city in the world, but I can't imagine it getting much better than Austin. The airport even has great live music for god's sake! The image I always cut back to in my mind is the first time I ever walked down 6th St. and soaked in the beauty of live music coming out of most of the buildings I walked past. Now I know part of it is solely for SXSW, but part of it is the real deal. This is a city that embraces the wonder that is live music. Put it together with the weird characters, friendly people, delicious food, and beautiful scenery, and you have near perfection. At least from a guy who ends up there once a year.

As I walked around Chicago today, I thought about how underutilized this city's rich music history is. Chicago is the home of the blues. It is one of the cities where America's only true original artform, jazz, developed. It has been home to several great rock acts, like The Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, Chicago, among others. It has produced rappers like Kanye West and Common. It was the home to Chess Records, which released records from Muddy Waters and countless legends. It produced The Staples Singers and Buddy Guy. It has an underappreciated folk/singer-songwriter history that produced, in my oh so humble opinion, three of the greatest singer-songwriters of the 20th century--John Prine, Steve Goodman, and Michael Smith.

Why doesn't Chicago take more advantage of this rich history? Why isn't there an entertainment district like 6th Street where one can hear live music blaring out of every building? Oh sure, Chicago has some great venues like The Empty Bottle and Schuba's. It has also hosted Lollapalooza for the past few years now, but I still thing the city could cash in quite a bit more if they just embraced the music culture that exists here. Here's a call to Mayor Daley and the Chicago City Council: look at what you have. Utilize it. Why not a Chicago Music Hall of Fame or museum. Take a lesson from Austin. Chicago should be one of the premier music cities in the world, but I'm not sure if it is at this point. The history is there, but as for the present, one word: underutilized.

Second thing I thought about as I walked around The Windy City today, and yes it is pretty windy today (even though the nickname did not come from the gale force winds that usually add insult to injury this time of year)--the aforementioned, Steve Goodman.

My mind often wanders to Steve Goodman when I walk past Wrigley Field, especially on a spring-like day like this. Steve Goodman was and is the epitomy of Chicago and Chicago Cubs fans. He lived and breathed this city. He wrote songs about his horribly underachieving favorite baseball team, about the crooked towing companies, about the famous original machine-politics mayor of Chicago. He had that wry, honest Chicago way about him, much like other famous citizens of this city--Studs Terkel and Mike Royko for example. Goodman and I were never Chicagoans at the same time, as he died in '84, a decade and a half before I would become one down to my bones, but still I feel as if I can identify with him. That speaks volumes to his immense talent.

So as I walked past that great baseball shrine on Clark and Addison, I thought about the man who composed the song that plays now after every Cubs victory. I looked at the stadium, which is being touched up in preparation for the season that is just two months from its beginning, and I could almost hear the refrain, "Hey Chicago, whaddya say, the Cubs are gonna win today". And as I walked past the statues of Ernie Banks at Clark and Addison and Harry Caray at Addison and Sheffield, I thought to myself, "Steve Goodman should be here too."

I propose that a Steve Goodman statue should be put up at the entrance to the bleachers, right at the corner of Sheffield and Waveland. What a more perfect place for the man who encapsulates what it means to be a Cubs fan. I picture the statue being the diminutive Goodman seated with his guitar, wearing a Cubs hat and blue Cubs jacket, seated in the stands singing, "A Dying Cubs Fans Last Request". If I'm not mistaken, and it's been awhile since I've read Clay Eals' amazing Goodman bio, "Facing The Music" so I'm not positive on the facts, Goodman did a piece for a local tv station where he is doing just that. The picture is vivid in my head.

Goodman knew what it was to suffer with the lowly Chicago Cubs. Yet he also knew the joy of being a Cubs fan. Who else, but a hopelessly die hard fan, could write such an optimistic song as, "Go, Cubs, Go". Here is a man who sat in the bleachers on many a warm summer day. He would occasionally bring his guitar and play for the fans. The man bled Cubbie blue and had a deep abiding love for the game of baseball. What better representation for all of the true Cubs fans, than a statue of Steve Goodman. And why not? There stands a statue of a non-player at Sheffield and Addison already. Why not one just down the block too. Maybe save the corner of Clark and Waveland for a Ron Santo statue. Then it's an even two and two. This team as much as any is about the fans as much as the players themselves.

This day is a real tease! Much like the Cubs making it to the playoffs. You know they are going to lose, just like you know that this day is just one glorious anomoly in the midst of another harsh Chicago winter. But in this city, you take advantage of what you have, when you have it. You don't think Mayor Daley's going to milk the Obama connection for all it's worth in his mission to get the 2016 Olympics? Please! He's all over it. It's time the Cubs and the City of Chicago to do the same and embrace the amazing music that is associated with them. There's nothing like Chicago anywhere around. It truly is "My Kind of Town"!