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chicago symphony orchestra
Chicago, IL
November 25, 2005
Taking Chicago by Storm!
It was a Friday night near the end of November, and that meant the
air was cold and crisp with snow falling from the skies above. For
members of the
Midwest
Garrison of the
501st Legion, that would not stop us from taking over the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra hall. It was our mission to secure the
area, and make sure all things were in good order.
The reason why we were present at
this performance was because John Williams was directing. The theme
of the evening was “movies,” and the orchestra was going to play
several pieces of music from various movies including Star Wars.
Unfortunately though, we were not allowed to listen in on the
performance, and we would not even have the chance of meeting him in
person. That would have been one of my most memorable moments
relating to Star Wars, but sadly that wasn’t going to happen to me.
Friday afternoon I saddled up my
dewback to be able to seat two additional bodies, departed my
dwelling, and set my coordinates for the Walton System. It only took
me about fifteen minutes to get to their house, and after Mary
transformed herself into Asajj Ventress we were ready to make our
departure to downtown Chicago. The ride down to Chicago was quite
interesting, as it started snowing quite heavily the further we
moved down 290. Of course during our trip everyone had to slow their
driving down to 20 mph or slower, just because of a little bit of
snow. Well, my dewback handled the bad road conditions quite nicely,
and I was ready to take on whatever snowfall we were about to
receive.
The drive took about forty minutes,
which I thought wasn’t bad at all. However, once we were in downtown
Chicago it took about forty minutes just to move down State Street,
so that we could get into a parking facility close to the CSO. Once
we made it down there we dropped Mary off in front of the Exchequer,
and Bob and I drove into the parking facility to let our dewback
rest for a while. We walked down to the bar, headed inside, and met
up with all the other members who were already there from the
Midwest Garrison.
I’m not much into hanging out in bars
anymore (mainly because the smoke bothers the hell out of me), but
it was nice hanging out with everyone prior to the event. No one at
the moment had suited up for the event, as we were all going to suit
up in the “green room” in the orchestra hall. Bob and I actually put
on our armor next to our dewback in the freezing cold weather,
because we didn’t want to have to haul all our stuff to the green
room. Let me tell you it was freezing cold doing this! And, I
wouldn’t suggest anyone to change outside in the freezing cold
weather like we did. What normally would take me between 10-15
minutes to get suited up seemed like an eternity. People were
driving by us in the parking facility, some were confused and others
recognized that we were loyal troopers serving the Empire. Once we
were suited up it was time to head on over to the CSO.
It was a brutal walk in the cold,
even with the thermal underwear I was wearing under my armor. We
received several stares from people on the streets, sidewalks and in
their cars, but that was fine as I didn’t give a damn what people
thought. Hopefully people were more amazed at our outfits rather
than disgusted or them thinking we were funny-looking. I love
wearing my armor, and I take great pride in suiting up in it. Like
I’ve said on a number of occasions, it brings me as close as
possible to the Star Wars universe.
We met up with Mary in the lobby of
the orchestra hall, and she was all decked out in her Asajj Ventress
outfit waiting for us. That was nice of her, because we really
didn’t know where we needed to go and where that green room was
located. She escorted us down a long hallway, took an elevator down
one level, and we were standing in front of the green room. Once
inside, we saw everyone suiting up in their outfits, getting
themselves ready for a fun evening of trooping. In the background,
you could hear the orchestra warming up and practicing to some of
the music, and that in itself brought back memories of when I used
to play in band and orchestra (I played the trumpet for
approximately seven or eight years). It was nice knowing that we
were already finished getting ready, so we were able to relax and
not stress out about getting into our outfits.
Once everyone was ready to roll, we
had to wait patiently for what seemed like a half hour. I wasn’t
entirely sure what we were waiting for, but it seemed like we all
arrived a little too early. Once we got the signal from one of the
CSO employees, it was time to move to our destination… the lobby of
the orchestra hall. Because we all couldn’t fit in one elevator at a
time, we had to go in a few separate trips. I was one of the first
to make it into the elevator, so I got to get upstairs first. Once
those elevator doors opened, there was a small crowd of people
watching us empty out of that elevator. Cameras started aiming at
us, flashes started going off, and the “oohs” and “ahhs” whispered
in the air. My adrenaline started pumping when I saw everyone
staring at us. Maybe I’m getting excited about this because I’m a
“newbie,” but I’m sure I’ll have the same feelings after I put in a
few years of doing events like these.
 Just
outside the elevator was this grand spiraling staircase that went up
to the second level of the building, and the people from our group
who had cameras wanted to take some group photos of us. Walking up
the stairs in my armor proved to be quite difficult, but I managed
to get up those stairs much better than when I first started wearing
my armor. We first had pictures taken of us with our helmets on and
then with our helmets off. While our assigned photographers were
taking our pictures, the crowd took advantage of the moment and
started snapping shots as well. None of us were camera shy, that’s
for sure!
After having our photos taken, it was
time to head out to the lobby area, where we would be spending the
majority of the evening. We had to walk down this long hallway, and
it somewhat reminded me of what it might be like if we were real
troopers heading off to war. That extra walk helped me get myself
into character, and prepare me for the onslaught of photos from the
hoards of people we were about to run into.
 Surprisingly,
the evening started off somewhat slow, but it wasn’t too long until
the lobby was jam-packed with people who wanted to get inside to see
the show. So before we knew it we were getting mobbed by people
wanting to take pictures with us, not that there’s anything wrong
with it. Because it was starting to get so insanely crowded in the
lobby a few of us decided to make a break to venture outside, and
boy were we in for a surprise with the wind and cold air. The only
way you could stay somewhat warm, was if you were to constantly keep
moving, which I did. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be having a good time
out there. Due to the extreme cold, we didn’t stay outside for more
than ten to fifteen minutes at a time. Even with the thermal
underwear under our armor, we were still cold as all hell.
The evening went by fairly quickly,
and before we knew it our services were no longer needed. That
wasn’t so bad though, since we were going to undress and meet up at
the Exchequer for a few drinks. Bob, Chris Spice and I were among
the first at the bar, and we gathered close to the bar so we didn’t
have to worry about running out of things to drink. I hadn’t had
dinner yet, so I ordered myself a burger with fries, which was good
enough to satisfy my appetite. A few beers later (many more for
others) and it was time to vacate the premises.
In the end, we all had a wonderful
time, and I’m looking forward to my next assignment.
Photo Galleries
Click on the links below to see
the three different photo galleries.
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