Cousin Ben’s blog

i always bike it to the addison station because they have an elevator that i can put my fly ride on
(too lazy to carry it).

i got onboard with my bike and sat down...it didn't take long for me to notice this sign...which is peculiar, since i usually tune that kind of shit out and look out the window or daydream.

seemed like something i was meant to see and get involved with...i'm not a big fan of spooky coincidences, but still...when something like this happens, it's like a knock on the door to step up and do something to help others.  so i noted the web address in my mind and rode on.

when i got to wilmette, i logged onto the net and registered to participate in the walk.  other family members committed to join me.  our primary motivation was clear: show support and solidarity with your fight...and secondly, to support a worthy cause: researching for cures.

(and yes, i do carry that damn camera everywhere i go!)

the walk was to take place saturday, september 30 at 7pm.

the night before this event, i had standing plans to see roger waters, bassist/singer of pink floyd, perform "dark side of the moon" in its entirety with his touring non-floyd musicians.  the venue was in tinley (middle of fucking nowhere) park, so i rented a car from o'hare to get down there.  my crazy sister scored the tix, so it was to be me, her, alex and zack for the great gig in the sky.

i picked up my sister from her office and took this shot of the view out from one of the windows.

it's hard to tell at this scale, but there's actually a perfect view of the city skyline in the background...but with the vivid green foreground of the trees, the sky and city both look like a painted screen that was pulled down behind them like a stage prop...very surreal!

it turned into a dark and stormy night as we began our journey...traffic was bumper to bumper from the combination of it being rush hour...friday night...dark and rainy...it was shaping up to be a long slog to tinley...we turned off the highway, just south of downtown for a piss break...then making our way back i noticed a detour sign for the junction i needed to make...i followed it, but there weren't any follow up signs...or i just missed them...hey, it's the southside...anything's possible, but anyway...needing to travel southwest, i roamed west for a bit, then south, then west again...hoping i'd bump into a helpful sign without having to backtrack downtown and waste more time...as we were travelling there were many flashing police cars and car wreck aftermaths at different intersections...what can i say: it was friday night, people like to get fucked up, it's dark and rainy and most people are shitty drivers even under the best of circumstances.  so, we gawked at their misfortunes and carried on.  as we drove, we were listening to a very trippy, hypnotic mix I had burned to CD, which went excellently well with the nighttime driving through the rain as we drifted past industrial scenes of souless factories, dark freight cars and railyard silouettes, and lonely, empty lots of southside chicago gliding past us to provide a nice floydian landscape prelude to the approaching concert. 

eventually, i hit cicero and took it south for most of the rest of our journey...passing by midway airport made me think of your dad for some reason...

well, we got to tinley about a half hour late, but that was ok because the concert had been delayed by that much because of all the rain, so we actually showed up just in time and had stayed dry (which mattered as it was forty freakin' degrees that night).  we found a spot off to stage right where we could stand and watch the show with a decent view and without being harrassed too much by the "move along" police.

i always look so damn happy

well, it's not as cool as sneaking backstage, but at least they got a seat

the obligatory flying pig

and now the moment you've been waiting for...the audio tease

shine on you crazy diamond

the following morning, we woke early to breakfast at the greasy shithole my sister and nephews are convinced is da bomb
then we dropped off alex at home as he was supposed to hook up with friends and train it downtown to do some special school project at the daley center (they had the chemical elements listed in each window or something like that)...that plan dissolved and he magically found himself in a skateboarding park in highland park somehow instead.

steph, zack and i headed to the airport to return the car and were planning to head downtown to hang out and eventually meet up with alex...but on the way to the airport, jackie called from the ER of the hospital steph works at...her mom took a tumble down the stairs.  we dropped off the car and headed over...all said, she's doing fine...just a cut on the face...she's a tough old bird.

needless to say, that nixed jackie's involvement in the planned walk for that evening, so she stayed with her mom and we took her car down to the city.  meanwhile, alex took a train downtown and got on a bus towards lincoln park.  i intercepted him at a prearranged bus stop after getting steph and zack settled at the light the night fairgrounds...we signed in at registration and made a donation, i was given a t-shirt, which i'm planning to send to you.  we grabbed some red balloons which had battery operated candles inside of them and then lined up at the starting point.  no sooner than the walk had started, it began to pour down rain...everyone forged ahead undeterred and we completed the whole circuit in about 30-40 minutes.  even though it was raining, the temperature was much warmer than the previous night.  we had fun on the walk and carried your ultimate frisbee with us.  you were in our hearts and thoughts the whole time.


the darkness of the picture betrays the large numbers of people hidden within its frame...thousands of supporters and survivors

you can never have too many