Blues fest

This town will “Let the good times roll" once again. The Chicago Blues Fest starts Friday June 12. A good time will be had by all. It is estimated that over 600,000 will visit the fest over the three day period that it runs. Each day 200,000 will attend. There are five stages so each stage should accommodate 40,000. That is a lot of hot dogs folks.

You would think with all the people in attendance there would be some major problems. Not the Case. The City Of Chicago knows how to handle large crowds. Soldiers Field the home of the Chicago Bears has around 65,000 on each and every game day. The bears are my favorite, Go Bears. Hey bears go win something for crying out loud!!

After those Bears games Lake Shore Drive can be a bit crowded, but we deal with it. We have nothing here in the way of traffic that compares to New York City. I drove to New York to pick up a 1959 Fender Bassman amp (the holy grail of amps for blues guitarists) and made the mistake of driving into the Lincoln tunnel. My daughter and I spent 2 hours trying to cross into Manhattan. Not a lot of fun. How New Yorkers do it day after day is beyond me? My younger brother lives there and we met him for dinner. We had the same problem walking to Carmines, too many people walking and standing and yikes smoking. I’ll live out on my little 2.5 acre spot in rural Illinois. Thank you very much.

Here are my Chicago Blues Fest attending Tips; Take public transportation, parking can be costly and time consuming. Wear a smile. Remember folks most of the people in Chicago are very friendly. I’d say 99.99%. There are always the idiots though. Bring a hat although it may blow off. It is the windy city. Weathermen are saying sunny 72-76 for the three days. Bring an overcoat. You might as well bring an umbrella. Most of the weather guys in this town get it wrong most of the time. Chicago is Chicago and I have seen the temperature drop 60 degrees in one afternoon. I can almost guarantee it will not snow, but don’t hold me to it. Oh one last thing bring your galoshes. If you know what those are then you know what I’m talking about.