Chicago History Museum

Vivian Maier: In Color – Chicago History Museum – February 26, 2022

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Because I had failed to notice the full name of the exhibit before entering, it took me about 15 minutes before I realized why I wasn’t seeing any of Maier’s thousands of black and white photos. Shoot me.

The display is separated into seven parts – looking through (which could have been divided into looking out and looking in), straight on, from behind, up close, from afar, up, and down. Add strange and charm and you’ve got a raft of quarks.

The first shot that stood out for me was Canoes in the Chicago River (@1965-1974), a time before gentrification resulted in kayaks displacing the canoes.

Two Socks on a Clothesline made me wonder what Maier, rather than some curator, might have named it had she commercialized her work. How about something more profound, like Line Interrupted? And what about the fact that the socks don’t match? I’ll have nightmares about that.

I would have liked to grab Hippies in the Loop (April 1970) and take it home with me, as I’m sure I could find someone in the large crowd who I knew if I had more time and a magnifying glass.

City on Fire: Chicago 1871 – Chicago History Museum – October 13, 2021

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I strolled into the Members’ Opening Commemoration to the strains of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire playing in the background, just as I imagine it does at every meeting of AA (Arsonists Anonymous).

I wasn’t there for the exhibit (which is interesting and well done – though not as well done as the city was following the historical event), as I had already seen it a few days earlier on the actual 150th anniversary of the conflagration, but rather to partake of the refreshments in order to practice chewing with a mask on in public in anticipation of a couple upcoming dinner events on my calendar.

Though the mask wants to slip down off one’s nose, it’s definitely doable with controlled mastication. And perhaps it will even help me slow down my notoriously fast-eating habit, along with my habit of eating when I’m supposed to be fasting.

The other thing that I wanted to research was whether the inside of my mask would act as a garbage disposal of sorts, but, upon inspection after the fact, there were no noticeable remnants of the barbecue chips that the museum offered as gourmet fire-related food. So, bring on the ribs and Sloppy Joes.

Amplified Chicago Blues – Chicago History Museum – April 24, 2018

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In the 1970s I went to hear the blues fairly often, at places like Kingston Mines and The Checkerboard Lounge, where I accompanied a friend who was “dating” blues guitarist Lefty Dizz at the time. Neither Lefty (who wasn’t a big enough name) nor the Checkerboard (which didn’t open until 1972) made it into the Chicago History Museum Exhibit, which is more about earlier years; places like Pepper’s Lounge, Delmark Records, and The Fickle Pickle (you have to love that name); and more well-known musicians like Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf.

The exhibit features a lot more pictures than music but there are three musical parts of the exhibit.

There is a karaoke room, where you can sing Sweet Home Chicago. No one tried it while I was there, including me, for which I’m sure everyone wandering around the museum was grateful. There were school children in the building who could have been scarred for life.

Another part of the exhibit gives you the opportunity to learn how to play blues on an electric guitar. The sounds coming from the guitar when I tried to follow the instructions sounded nothing like blues, or music for that matter. The exhibit will be there until August 10, 2019. I’ll go back and try again.

There also is a sound panel where you can learn how to mix music, I think, because it wasn’t working. I would have been better at that. I made a lot of party tapes in college. I’ll go back when it’s fixed.

From the gallery outside the museum’s theater, it sounded like there was a blues movie playing, but the theater was closed for a private event. One more reason to go back.  Good thing it was a Tuesday afternoon, when the museum is free for Illinois residents, or I might have been miffed.

As a result of these issues, I only spent 45 minutes at the museum. Of course I only spent 45 minutes at the Louvre when I was there. Mostly pictures there too (some sculptures), no music.