Chicago

  I love music.  I always have.  My mother used to play music, as we ate dinner.  Her favorite music to play were Broadway showtunes like Camelot, South Pacific, My Fair Lady, and The King and I.  When The Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show, it was my mother who told me to watch it that night.  I was hooked.  I came to love other singers including The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, Peter Frampton, Bob Dylan, The Who, Prince, Willie Nelson, Madonna, The Carpenters, Suzi Quatro, The Carter Family, The Cobbwebs, The Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie, Goose Creek Symphony, Elton John, Canned Heat, James Taylor, and many more.  One band that stood out during the early 70's to me was Chicago.

 Back in 1970, when I was going through some tough times and wanted to end it all, a group of young people at Kilbourne Park Baptist Church accepted me for who I was.  We would listen to records.  One band in particular was Chicago and their second album.  It is a classic.  Every song on that album speaks to me in one way or another.  I bought every album that Chicago put out up until Terry Kath's death.  He was their lead singer.  Their music was the best during the 1970's.  Even when I got into disco, I would come back to Chicago.  They worked on the soundtrack for one of my favorite films from that period called "Electra Glide in Blue".  Listen to Terry Kath sing the song "Tell Me" from that film.  It will change your life.  It did me.

 I have seen Chicago twice in concert.  Each time was wonderful.  I knew all of the songs and sang right along with them.  So, when I saw in 2022 that they were going to do a live zoom chat with their fans to promote their new album, I just had to participate.  They were going to answer questions from people on the call.  I wanted to tell them what an influence their music had been on my life, but I thought they probably get that all the time.  The three original members on the call was Robert Lamm, Jimmy Pankow and Lee Loughnane.  They are the only three still participating in Chicago.  Most of the comments were how great they are.  I wanted to ask a more musical question, so I asked them about their band coming out after Blood, Sweat & Tears.  Both had horn sections.  Was there competition between the two bands?  The moderator asked my question to these superstars.  They answered it in a long discussion about the two bands managed by the same person and record label.  It was a fascinating discussion on the business of music.  My question was the only one the moderator asked of the three.  There were hundreds of fans on the zoom call.  They answered MY question!!  These same people who contributed to me turning my life toward a positive outlook.  They answered ONLY MY QUESTION!!!  The rest of the hour was spent talking about their new songs.  One thing I have learned in talking to musicians over the years:  don't tell them how great they are, but rather ask them about their craft.  They are much more willing to talk about that.  Now, I have given away my secret.  You want to know another secret on how to talk to celebrities?  I will keep that one to myself.