Chicago, again... again... again (part 2)

[beaky]

Alrighty, then... finally on our way!!


     


Trying hard to track our progress, and... hey! It's Lincoln Park! Never flown over it this high before. This is where yours truly first soloed, in a Cessna, on a fine day back in 1995.

     


I should know this one, but I'm at a loss.

     



Interesting fracture patterns on this frozen pond...

     


Something interesting this time: At KEWR I was comisserating about long lines and the usual airport gripes with a woman and her college-age daughter while waiting to buy bad coffee... her husband joined them briefly, then went off to find some sandwiches. He looked vaguely familiar... as I left with my coffee, I heard some fan start gushing all over him (which I never do), and realized where I'd seen him: it was that master of bass and the Chapman Stick, Tony Levin! And of course he was on my flight ... LOL! I was tempted to chat him  up, but I know that while artists and other celebrities like being appreciated, they get a little weary of "oh man that show in Toledo in 1984, dude, you were like, and i was so like, and wow, man that was awesome..." so I left him alone.
But it made my day... the incarnation of King Crimson with him and Belew and Bruford was one of my favorite bands and their show at the Landmark in syracuse on the Discipline tour was mind-blowing. a legendary "session cat" and very unique bass artist.

     


When Tony Levin flies coach on an MD-80 to chicago, he's still a rock star... when I do it, I'm just...




Finally over Lake Erie... oh look, Canada... again.





Hone stretch now... descending over Lake michigan. Fascinating granular-looking ice here near Chi-town...
     



Next: arriving at ORD

[Brett_Henderson]

The mystery airport looks like Sussex..  KFWN

[Jakemaster]

Chicago!  I was there over the weekend...

[Willit Run]

Excellent, Tony Levin!! 8-)  Ah, you should have asked him if you could have a picture together!!

 More great shots!!

The two times I flew to LAX I had a celebrity on each flight.  The first time Vincent Price was onboard (Shows you how long ago that flight was. ) and the second time Micky Dolenz was in the seat in front of me.  I got to see Micky's big head of hair with a bald spot in the middle all the way to LAX!!

  Cory

[Mobius]

You picked a heck of a time to come to this part of the country.  It's so cold..... .......

Nice pictures though, that ice on lake Michigan looks weird.

[beaky]

The mystery airport looks like Sussex..  KFWN

Good eye... you are absolutely right. There's the big apron, the road, and "Freeloader Hill" to the north.
Makes sense on that course, too (NW from KEWR).
It's amazing how different these fields look from this angle than from my usual 3000 feet or so...

[beaky]

Excellent, Tony Levin!! 8-)  Ah, you should have asked him if you could have a picture together!!

 More great shots!!

The two times I flew to LAX I had a celebrity on each flight.  The first time Vincent Price was onboard (Shows you how long ago that flight was. ) and the second time Micky Dolenz was in the seat in front of me.  I got to see Micky's big head of hair with a bald spot in the middle all the way to LAX!!

  Cory

I hate doing that to people... try to imagine being interrupted 100 times a day by people who think they have some unique, special connection to you... if I'm introduced to a celebrity by a mutual friend or if I'm working with one, it's different... you can sort of build up to that sort of thing. But I just can't do it to them cold like that in good conscience.

I bought his records, turned people on to the music, bought  tickets to his shows and hollered, applauded and enjoyed myself. That's all a guy like that really wants from his fans... not being hassled when he's trying to enjoy some quality time with his family.
I'm sure he'd have been cool with it- he was pleasant enough to the "Wow, Tony; Gabriel's last tour, man, it was like, so awesome" guy... but, I dunno... it's weird, to me.
 I feel really cheesy asking for photos or autographs. At Oshkosh in 2003 I actually had something clever and sincere to tell Lane Wallace, so I decided to go for it, she was alone for a moment...and we ended up having a nice chat because it turned out she grew up near me and did a lot of flying in the same area... but that was rare for me, especially awkwardly asking her to sign my program. Embarrassing, but worth the trouble.

 But no way was I going to battle a crowd of sycophants for a chance to get autographs from Neil Armstrong, Chuck Yeager or Bob Hoover... it was enough to just listen to them speak and sort of breathe in the magic.

Speaking of Lane Wallace, what I told her was "I used to always read Bax's column first every time I picked up Flying magazine... now I always turn to yours first."
She liked that. And it was true... still is.  ;)

And when I met D. Rutan at the same Airventure, I decided to bust his chops a little just because the other people seemed so predictably awestruck... how many freakin' times does he need to hear how incredible his Voyager flight was, etc.? And... he spoke for about an hour about every detail of the adventure and the aircraft, and people were asking him things like how he and Jeanna relieved themselves during the flight. Which he'd already explained.
I asked him if Burt was going to let him play with SpaceShip One... he was surprised and a little annoyed, but amused at the same time, and eager to put in a plug for that program. I'll guarantee he'll  remember me...


I envy you your Vincent Price encounter... that's somebody I'd have liked to meet.

[Craig.]

Nice shots mate.
And I agree about not bothering celebs.
The worst place you can do it other than a dinner table, is a plane. There's no where for them to escape and the last thing you want is a plane full of people asking questions and wanting autographs.

[Willit Run]

Yeah, I would never bother them while they were eating and I would catch them before or after the flight.

 Meeting Vincent Price was a great experience.  He was a very nice gentleman and would take time to talk to who ever approached him.  I went up to him before the flight and told him I enjoy his movies and TV shows he was in ( Egghead in the Batman TV series  :) ).  We talked about the different movies he was in and that he was starting on a new project with Tim Burton. ( Edward Scissorhands )  It was kind of eerie listening to him talk because you associate the voice with his horror movie characters and it sent chills done your spine!!  As we were departing the plane I walked past him and he shook my hand and said it was a pleasure to meet me!!  Now here was a man that was a big star and it was his pleasure to meet me!!
It shows you that he was a pure gentleman!!