Millennium Park
Last year, we did a show for 10,000 people who came out to see us at the fantastically beautiful, Frank Gehry designed, Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park on the lakefront in downtown Chicago. If I had to pick a single night that represents the high point of this show’s history, that would be it. So, of course, we looked forward to returning, and scheduled a date: September 4th, 2008.
Which turned out to be the biggest single day of rainfall in Chicago this summer. We came within .05 inches of breaking the record for rainfall on September 4th in Chicago. Hurricane Gustav, don’t you know.
But, in a strange way, it was better this way. We did our show in front of about 1000 of the hardiest souls, the truest fans, who sat there in the rain to watch us, up on the dry stage. (For all his brillance, Mr. Gehry did not provide cover for the audience seating area.) Tom Bodett, Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca, and of course Carl Kasell were at their best, and our special guest, baseball legend Moose Skowron, was hilarious.
At one point, addressing the audience, I invoked the St. Crispin’s Day speech:
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here
Somebody from the audience shouted out, “And hold their manhoods cheap!” so I think it played.
Click on the pic by our producer Melody Kramer for more photos. In the meantime, thanks and gratitude again to the few, the happy few, the band of damp brothers and sisters, who joined us at Millennium Park last night.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Curses. Would’ve loved to have been there.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Only a WWDTM audience would be that enthusiastic about a Shakespeare reference - during torrential rainfall.
Hopefully that bit made it into the final cut so we can all share in the glory?
September 5th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
It was worth it, but I have yet 24 hours later warmed up. By the time I got home I was absolutely soaked.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Two things:
– Hey! Moose Skowron! Did he mention he went to the (sadly closed) Weber High in Chicago, back when it didn’t have a baseball team, so he learned the game like a true Chicagoan, playing 16-inch? Go, Red Horde! Bring on Coach K, fresh from his Olympics win, and you can probably claim to be the only show to have hosted both of Weber’s sports immortals.
– Now that Eric Zorn’s blown the lid off the WWDTM Buzzergate scandal, are you going to come clean in this blog?
September 5th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
What more would one ever expect of WWDTM?
Especially when no one could’ve suspected that Bill Skowron (”The Moose”) would be on the air!
September 7th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I work with a kids’ band and we do free concerts on the green all summer and our best shows are also the rainy ones when 2 or 300 people try to all squeeze under the gazebo and the unlucky ones who don’t fit have their umbrellas out. We don’t sell many CDs those days, but the shows are the best. Shared adversity, you know.
September 8th, 2008 at 7:39 am
“Buzzergate” should actually be “Gong-gate,” and, yes, U.S. Atty Patrick Fitzgerald HAS contacted me to subpoena my notes and, yes, I’m handing them over GLADLY.