The Weekend in Foolish Attention
Bits and bytes of the week
MONDAY, DNC. I went in to work for some admin stuff, went home for a nap, then headed over to Union Square to behold the massive protest of opening night. Based on countless reports predicting the numbers, I expected something like a Blues Fest attendance, packed and vocal, shoulder to shoulder. What I came upon was more like the audience for the orchestra when it has rained all day—maybe a thousand or three.
I asked one of the organizers about his expectation of numbers versus the planning apparent on the ground.
“We expect between 20,000 and 70,000,” he told me.
“Then why do you only have seven port-o-johns on site and no EMT presence?”
He stared at me as if I had accused him of something nefarious and walked away.
At one point, I heard through the buzz of the crowd that some had broken through the outer perimeter fence of the United Center but by the time I got there, the police had shut it down quickly (and with only a few arrests and no one hurt). Some grumblings about freedom of speech and questions of how effective their march would be, given it was blocks away from the power brokers located within the Bulls’ home court.
There was a huge police and National Guard presence, cops on bikes, on foot, in vehicles. It reminded me of the security presence present at the S&S Dance Experience at Pritzker, hotly anticipated as a potential second House Music Festival but more like an actual house party on a neighborhood street. I imagine the overtime bill Mayor Johnson will get at the end of this will be intense.
All in all, the first night on television was a swan song celebration of Biden inside and a limp, unremarkable protest outside.
“The cost of a thing is the amount of. . . life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”—Henry David Thoreau
THE NUMBERS GAME. One of the strangest aspects of working at Millennium Park is that I am responsible for reporting the fuzzy attendance numbers. I have a map of how many people can fill each section but it’s still just a good guess. That said, in the middle of every event, I meet with the producers, the Ops Manager on shift, and someone from the city to agree upon a number that I will then report on official documentation.
I try to be conservative in the numbers but it is not in the interests of the producers or the city to report conservatively—their budgets are contingent on the appearance of big crowds. Thus, the attendance numbers are always inflated, sometimes by thousands.
Unsurprisingly, the numbers of protesters here in Chicago have a similar feel. I’ve been out there, checking out the protests, assessing numbers and then comparing my own judgment to what the media reports in the moment. They don’t report the numbers unless it’s big. Most of this week, they only mention ‘protesters’ without a number qualifier because the numbers are low. It isn’t in the interest of the media to report anything but that which will encourage clicks.
A TRULY CHICAGO MOMENT. I couldn’t go to the DNC sites on Tuesday because the DCASE Film Dept. was showing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in the park so I had to run the front of house. The last time they presented John Hughes’s titular film the park attendance was reported at 20,000 (which means it was closer to 15,000 but still a significant crowd). The ushers and I debated how much the downtown barricades and news of protests would affect the anticipated audience.
“6,000,” predicted my second-in-command.
“1,500?” another piped in.
“I think we’re gonna have seven people, a kid, and a service dog that isn’t a service dog,” I told them.
I was wrong. By the time the film started I estimated approximately 6,000 people on the lawn and in the seats, ready to watch a uniquely Chicago icon on the screen.
There is something amazing about an audience of that size watching a movie together. They laugh at all the best moments collectively. They applaud at the same moments. There is a sense of unity that is so missing from the discourse bandied about on the internet—a crowd of human beings with one goal, one motivation. To enjoy a classic film together. They applauded and cheered as Ferris, Cameron, and Sloan drive into Chicago and Hughes gives us long shots of this iconic city’s iconic architecture.
Ferris gets up on the parade float to lipsync to a young Wayne Newton and the folks in the park sang along. And when Broderick launches into the Beatles’ Twist and Shout something I never thought I’d witness happened in the most magical way.
Awash in the lights of the skyscrapers surrounding the park and the screen in front of them, in the cradle of Chicago less than a mile from Lake Michigan and steps from the Art Institute, two-thirds of this commonly bound crowd got up on their feet and… did the twist. Singing along and dancing with Ferris Bueller. Miles away, there were speeches of hope and unity with a scattering of protesters, but here—in the gift to the city, a free public park with free entertainment for all, there was a kind of oneness that political parties and passionate causes could never achieve.
It was the most Chicago moment I’ve ever witnessed.
DNC WEDNESDAY. A few months ago, I consulted with the organizers of the convention concerning event logistics and front of house plans, so I was informed I could have access to the United Center. Wednesday I decided to go out, check out the protesters, the hullaballoo, and make my way into the place.
First, I hit Union Square to check out the scene. More protesters but only marginally so. Still only seven shitters. Much like images of students camping out and creating a play space for themselves, I get the sense that the organizers are feeling a bit defeated in the lack of numbers.
I walk the ten minutes to the United Center and it is more like a concert line at Soldier Field than anything else and I can instantly tell that much of my consult regarding line management and ease of access has been ignored. I waited in line to get into the place for nearly three hours and then gave up so I could at least get home to watch Bubba speak his truth.
Earlier this summer, my mom, sister, and niece had plans to come out but I’m now glad they stayed home. Waiting in line in Chicago is only slightly different than waiting in line in Wichita (the difference being there is way more parking in Kansas). They’re getting the best show available via MSNBC.
DEFINITELY NOT ‘68. Leading up to the DNC, lots of people wanted to bring back the spectre of the 1968 DNC when anti-war protesters clashed hard with the cops but this ain’t that. One reason is that, following the protest/riots of 2020, Chicago’s municipal big dogs are simply not having it again. The world watched a protest turn into looting stores on Michigan to be then reduced to reparations rather than opportunism. Even under a mayor known for his progressive bona fides, these cats are not indulging the heretical neo-toddlerism of our most recent crop of activists.
There are so many cops in body armor, bike cops, private security, and national guard just waiting in huge groups for any hint of mayhem that it’s overwhelming. It’s easy to spot those who’d rather beat and batter than protect and serve yet there are a minority of this type in line. It’s easy to spot the potential malefactors in the crowd—they’re the ones wearing COVID masks outside with hoodies and dark glasses milling about with a vicious greed about them. What once was a great disguise is now like a beacon shining down to expose the dickheads looking to cause mayhem in the name of free speech and nihilistic destruction.
A second obvious difference is that in 1968, those protesters had personal stake in ending the war because they all could be drafted into it. It was their lives on the line. Today, the war in Gaza touches directly only a small portion of them—those who have immigrated from their land torn from them by a WWII Accord and those with family members square in the melee—while most are in solidarity in what I call T-Shirt Activism. Buy the shirt, wear it, take a selfie wearing it, move on to the next t-shirt. Like the platforms these folks use to make noise about their causes, they’re all talk and no action.
I’m disappointed. I expected better. Or more. Or at least an authentic representation of the rhetoric. I certainly didn’t want chaos but it would’ve been nice to see some creativity in play rather than the sneer of “Well, we can’t light cars on fire here or steal some TVs, what’s the point then?”
A VERY WELL-PRODUCED TV SHOW. At this point in my week, I’d give Mayor Johnson and the DNC team a solid B+ in their planning and execution of this convention. As my friend distinguishes, there are the producers and the organizers—the producers have killed this, the organizers managed pretty well. Chicago is looking good, the police presence has been overwhelming but peaceful, the televised program has been first class (a lot better than the standard New Year’s Eve broadcasts) and the speeches have been upbeat and hopeful.
The on-the-ground protests get a D- mostly for lack of planning and attendance.
AND… Kamala killed it. I even got weepy. Sure, I understand how curated the entire affair was and what I saw on television was exactly what the Democrats wanted me to see. No kidding. That said, Harris was built up to be seen as the next president and she got up onstage and sold it.
I don’t know what will happen in November (no one, despite their most vociferous pronouncements, does) but I have reason to hope the Left may not fuck this thing up. The fact is that who the president is only affects most of us in the most shallow ways but that choice is not inconsequential. I’m very comfortable with the Harris/Walz ticket and, as I have said time and time again, I’d sooner vote for a bag of nails soaking in a red wagon full of K-Y jelly than Trump. Thanks to the machinations of party politics, at least she isn’t soaking in lube.
And that’s the week. Whew. Now we all go back to rooting for our wrestler in the ring and making sure our bills are paid. Rock on!
I believe that we can win!!!
Didn't watch the convention or the news about the 'protests' because I strongly expected both to be depressing. I was half right, as you've explained here.
S'hard to whip up serious demonstrators when they have no skin in the game.
Harris wins 54/46, Dems keeps the senate and gain a bit in the house.
Unless Trump/Vance self-immolate, which is possible I guess.
Have a kick-ass week, Brother!