Chicago: whose kind of town is it?

Press, 17 June 1982, Page 17

Chicago: whose kind of town is it?

By

MIKE ROYKO,

Chicago “Sun-Times”

A friend asked: "Do you know this Aiderman Lo’uie Farina?" I told him that we had a nodding acquaintanceship. "Can he be fixed?" he asked. Can a Chicago aiderman be fixed? What a question. Does a duck quack? Does a cat meow? Does a fish swim? “Good. Then do me a favour. Give him this. Tell him I’d appreciate some consideration." He handed me a folded piece of paper. “You can look,” he said. I read it. It said: "Chicago, the place to get a steak. “Chicago, where you'll always find a pal. “Chicago, a town that's just swell." There was more, but I stopped there and said: “What in the heck is this supposed to be?”

trapped in crushed vehicles. The present plan, devised by a Japanese research team, is to lift the entire passenger compartment clear of the impact area. This would be done by explosive charges.

A detector would gauge to . the micro-second the moment of impact and subsequent lift-off an instant before the crash. Then, the passenger module would be lifted up 60cm (about two feet) to escape the worst of the collision.

Said a spokesman for the Japanese development company: "This has no similarity with pilots being hurled into mid-air in ejection seats. It is just a method of moving people away from the brunt of the impact." ’ '•'*'

The more impact the car can absorb, then the more chance of survival for the occupants.

- Experts are insistent that at least one of these methods must be in production within three ' years to stem the alarming increase in deaths caused by being entombed in a cacoon of twisted metal.

In Europe, 80 per cent of car accident fatalities in-, volve people crushed and trappea in their vehicles. In America it is estimated that at least 1.5 million victims have died this way in the past 25 years. That is twice the number of United States soldiers killed in major- wars. — Features International.

“A song. 'You know, whatchmacallit, uh, lyrics.” "Lyrics?" “Yeah: You know, the words to a song." “I don’t understand. Why do you want me to give these lyrics to Aiderman Farina?" He explained: Farina came up with the idea of somebody writing an official Chicago city song. Later this year, a panel of musicians and composers will' look . the songs over and. select a winner.

“There’s going to be some kind of prize,” my friend said, with a wink, "so I thought maybe you could put in a word for me with the aiderman and maybe he can give this, you know, special consideration.”

I shook my head and said: “I don’t know. A traffic ticket is one thing. Or even special treatment for your potholes. But an official city song — that is a pretty heavy fix.” "Do what you can," he said.

“But your lyrics — swell doesn’t rhyme with pal.” "Sure’it does. All you got to do is pronounce swell sort of swall. Then it rhymes. No problem. Just give it to the aiderman.” . “What about the music?" “Do I have to write the music, too?” “Of course. You can’t have a song without music."

"Okay, I'll work on it some more and get back to you.” And he was humming as he walked away. It is rare that a Chicago aiderman has a',useful idea.’ And when they do, they don’t want anybody to know about it because it could lead to .their being indicted. But I think Farina's idea for an official city song contest has a lot of merit. And I'm going to try to encourage Chicagoans to give songwriting a try. Farina says the idea came to him when he recently' 1 represented Mayor Jane Byrne at an Armed Forces Day dinner. “I was sitting there with all these guys from the different branches of the military service," he said. “And every time one of them was introduced, the band would play the appropriate song. You know, when it was a marine, they played from the Marine hymn. When it was the Air Force, they played the Air Force song. “Then they introduced me, and they played that 'Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin’ town.’

“Well, it was kind of embarrassing. For one thing, the band didn't really know how to play it and they got the beat all wrong. And after all those dignified songs, it sounded kind of funny hear-

ing them play a song about a toddlin’ town. I agree. I’ve never cared much for “Chicago, Chicago." Especially the line that says: "I saw a man, he dahced with his wife." It’s outdated. Today., it would be more appropriate to sing: "I saw a man, he danced with a man." So I urge Chicagoans to take part in the contest. If you wish, you can send your entries to me and I’ll pass them along to the committee and maybe print some of the entries. It could be in the blues . style: “I got the Chicago blues, as blue as I can be, Lost my job, and/the landlord's after me.” Or maybe it could be waltz style: “On the night I got robbed, how I screamed for the police. When the cops finally showed up They charged me with disturbin’ the peace." But I'm sure you can do better. So give it a try. Who knows, you might have a big hit! Remember, they’ve sold millions of copies ’of that other song: "My kind of town, Chicago is." I’ve always liked that song. Especially. because when the composer- visited Chicago after writing it, he was mugged on the street. I guess the mugger wanted to let him know it was his kind of town, too.