WLS Top 28 for Week of January 15, 1973-- Part 1: 'Rocky Mountain High'

That's right, these are the top songs in Chicago according to powerhouse WLS, 890 AM half a century ago.

Fifty years ago today, I was a student at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and finishing up my senoir year.  I was taking my final education classes before I started student teaching the last 9 weeks before graduation.  I was also getting my last good licks as a college student in and hitting the bars of Lincoln Highway.  Our main hangout was Andy's.

*  Means the song was climbing the charts.  The number behind the artist is how high it got on the Billboard Hot 100 National Chart.

28.  *THE WORLD IS A GHETTO--  War     #7     Great sound guaranteed to get you into the groovin'.   Latin Funk Rock band out of Long Beach, California.

27.  *ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH--  John Denver      #9    You forget how good of a voice he had.  And, he loved anything doing with mountains.  His second hit following you-know-what.

26.  *DO IT AGAIN--  Steely Dan      #6      That was some real good instrumentation.  Their first hit.   Jazz rock band formed in Los Angeles.

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "Walkin' Down The Street, Smoggy-Eyed."  Answer below.  --RoadDog

"The World Is a Ghetto"

The DeKalb Footstompers-- Part 1: Doing the Saints March

One of Liz and my all-time favorite bands.  We've been watching them since they started back in 1973.  In the early days they played at Andy's in DeKalb and now at Lord Stanley's in DeKalb and PJ's Courthouse in Sycamore quite often.  Of course, there are many other places they play, but these are our favorite ones.

They have played NIU's Homecoming every year since 1973.  And, we have been to most of those homecoming shows.  To us, the Footstompers at NIU Homecoming are as important as the game.

This is from part 2 of an interview you can find on You Tube.

They remember their famous "Marches" outside of Andy's as they played "As the Saints Go Marching By."  You just have to wonder what people driving by on Lincoln Highway (DeKalb's Main Street) thought seeing four guys playing a tuba, accordion, guitar and drum walking down the sidewalk with a whole big group of slightly inebriated folks yelling, hollering and dancing behind them.  The poor Andy's doormen would be grabbing drinks as fats as they could before they went out the door.

One of the guys selling hot dogs from push carts outside of Andy's back in those days was the current owner of PJ's Courthouse in Sycamore where the band often plays.

Always A Good Time.  --RoadDog


CHOCOLATE RULES:  If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet?

Enjoying the Summer, Finally

Last week, we went over to the Taste of Antioch on both Thursday and Friday. Lots of great food and entertainment all four days.

Thursday, we saw an old favorite, Mr. Myers, who we've been following since their earliest days at back in the 70s playing at Andy's in DeKalb. Their music can best be described as Caribbean/Jimmy Buffett music, complete with bongos, steel drums, and a flute. We met Steve, who owned Captain's Quarters for 20 years before selling it last winter. He said 20 years was enough. Also met Madeline, who used to own Whitetail. She works for a cleaning service now and husband Tony is in security at the Pottowatamie Indian Casino in Milwaukee.

Friday, it was a two piece acoustic band called Bar Stool Soldiers and then a horn band called World Class Noise which played their own material as well as Earth, Wind and Fire type stuff.

Thumb and All. --RoadDog

Road Trip-- 34th Anniversary Part 4 Floods and Corn

FLOODS and DEKALB CORNFEST

Saturday morning we found out that today's destination had made the national news on The Weather Channel. A reporter was doing a live report from a flooded golf course in DeKalb. All this rain has the Mighty Kish, the Kishwaukee River (usually more of a stream or creek) flooding in a big way around DeKalb. I went on the hotel's internet and found out from my Illinois Lincoln Highway e-mail group that yesterday the city was essentially isolated by flooding. Northern Illinois University had been closed.

We decided to go to DeKalb anyway. We encountered no flooding along the Lincoln Highway (Illinois Highway 38) until we got NIU's lagoon and the bridge over the Kishwaukee. This area was flooded and water was up to the bridge, but it was still passable.

Cornfest was underway and, as usual, finding a parking place was not easy. Lincoln Highway, which serves as the main street through downtown, was blocked off. We got there in time for the FREE corn. From 11 AM to 2, it was all the corn you want for free. It is heated by an antique steam thresher and everything is done in assembly-line fashion. They'll give you two ears at a time, drenched in butter and in a paper container.

Nowhere to sit, and as I was eating one, I evidently tilted the container and got butter all over the front of my shirt, proof that I had been there, but Liz wasn't too pleased.

Walked around and listened to a band on the main stage. The Egyptian Theater, dating to the 1920s was open and had a free showing of "Field of Dreams" so took advantage. I don't remember ever going to this old movie palace with its art deco/Egyptian architecture. It was closed when I was a student, and almost torn down until a group stepped in and saved it. This is a major site along the old Lincoln Highway in Illinois.

Met The Lincoln Highway Association's state director, Kay, by the small park with the DeKalb mural, Veteran's Memorial Clock, and small WWII Sherman tank (which used to be parked by the train tracks across from Andy's and McCabe's for many years). She had planned to go to Rochelle last night, but had canceled due to the flooding. Kay said that next year, Cornfest will be held at a local park because of planned work on Il-38 through town. Whether it will return to the main drag through town the following year is still to be seen. I hope it does.

Watched the Beatles tribute band, American English, do some of the early Beatles songs. At least they were playing this time, not like the no-play that took place at the Kenosha County Fair a few weeks ago.

Still to be Continued.... --RoadDog