Phil Parlapiano

THE STREETS OF CHICAGO
THROUGH THE EYES OF A VISITOR
Jerry Briggs-- (WOG)

--June 18, 1997 

Wednesday morning in Chicago, my second day in the area, provided a little extra time before meeting Kathy and her husband before the show. I had my box of John Prine tapes, and thought I'd enjoy a little music with the windows down on this mild day.

  My eyes lit on the new Phil Parlapiano tape that he gave me in Vienna, and I decided I'd heard enough Prine for a day (yeah, right!)

  I put in the tape and the music just jumped out at me. Phil's cassette is like a healthy fungus. You listen and it grows...and grows....and grows. By this time I'm of the impression that this is the best tape I've heard in a long time, and I don't even know the words yet.

  Heading up South Indiana, under the Central Station. Mist from the lake blowing in to cast the tall buildings ahead in downtown with an eerie blue, like a landscape portrait made by a painter preferring pastels. Phil's music is pounding out of my radio, with appropriate lines. Realizing that this is an album so new that most haven't heard it, I'll just mention things as though you were familiar with it and hope that you decide you wish to hear more.

  Up to Roosevelt, over the bridge. "Was I so wrong, was I so wrong?" wailed Phil. His voice seemed to float out even to the distant Lake Michigan as I turned corners, went down one-way streets. Off Lakeshore onto East Jackson. Cleaning crews with matching T-shirts, designer sunglasses, moving slowly, picking at city waste along the streets. "Out with the old, in with the new!" was playing as Phil's "Brave New World" resounded the streets.

  My radio perhaps too loud, I found myself on Washington as a pretty girl came along the sidewalk, roller-blading. Was it my imagination, or did her pace change slightly as she swayed along the street? She smiled as she went past and Phil paid absolutely no attention, and continued his singing, "Don't fade, don't fade, don't fade, don't fade away!" She skated on down the street and around the corner, hips in steady half-time to Mr. Squeeze's song.

  Busses. Cabs and more cabs. Turn Only On Arrow. One Way. Girls. Old ones. Young ones. Right on Lake. Left on Stetson. Right at the Hyatt-Regency. Signs. "Navy Pier" On the sign as I approached, "John Prine June 18 " Phil singing "See me comin', see me comin'," as "Something On Your Mind" winds up on side one.

  Belmont and Broadway. Stop again, just to watch people. Beautiful old section of town. New business, old buildings. Sitting across from Reckless Records which faces a check-cashing store. Bicyclers, walkers, joggers, girls in shorts and high heels. Parking meters. Traffic. The pleasant smell of chili mingling with the gyros aroma from the next corner. Phil, not noticing anything, yelling, "What you're ever telling me, man, is impossible, to forget that I ever had a heart."

  This town is alive. People are alive, busy, going somewhere that only they know. "No Real Losers" is repeated again and again by Phil., "...just people that are lost...." The check-cashing door never stops opening and closing, while the GREAT CLIPS $10.00 barber shop seems to be like the Maytag repairman. Baby Strollers. Cops. Two-way traffic. Dents. Sounds of the city. SUPER CUTS $9.95 barber shop across the street not benefiting from the discounting....another Cash Store, this with liquor and Illinois Lottery also doing less business than the competitor two doors down.

  Does anyone work in Chicago on Wednesday? The bustling crowds. The girl walking with her boyfriend, her mouth going, and hands expressing emphasis. Phil singing "if something is on your mind....why don't you say so?" A man with a shopping cart, winter coat, having a conversation with another collector armed with a 3-mil, 50-gallon Hefty about half full. Rolling ahead then, leaving his friend resting against the liquor store with his cane, perhaps getting a breath or wondering why the hell he was wearing a leather jacket on a day like today....

Two girls walking toward me, hand in hand. Phil's voice suddenly cutting in on side two as the cassette began, "She Was Every Mother's Dream, No One Knew About Her, She Tried To Make The Scene, With Money, Sex, and Power!" They walked on past, unhearing, because my window was up by now. Phil slyly singing, "Now I like love.....and I love sex...!" and I decided to find a bite to eat before meeting Kathy and her husband. Phil, neither hungry nor tired, continued to serenade me as I drove.