The Terrible Catsafterme

With my ever-growing addictive obsession of celebrity encounters, I decided to attend my fourth consecutive Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia show in Chicago – even if it meant taking a road trip just two days after returning from Florida. I got back from that vacation on Wednesday afternoon, September 22, 2010. This left me only one evening to get the air filled in my new Acura over at Mom’s house, so it was road-worthy for another trip. And even though I had lots to do before the trip, it wasn’t difficult for her to talk me into staying for a nice beef stew dinner.

I had somehow managed to talk Denise into going with me again as she had in March of this year, and this time she was able to arrange a place to stay in Aaron’s sisters’ apartment. Unfortunately, both Jennifer and Melissa were out of town that weekend (in separate places), so we didn’t get to see them. Oddly enough, they were both in Ohio for Adam’s birthday party the previous weekend, which I missed while I was in Florida.

Denise and I decided to head out on Friday evening instead of waiting until the next morning, so I got off work about 90 minutes early, Denise met me at my house, and we were on the road by 5pm. It was about a five-hour journey plus the time it took to stop and Wendy’s for dinner and maneuver around the closed streets that the stupid GPS took us through. At one point I thought we were either on a military installation or on subway tracks. We gained an hour as we traveled west, and got there about 10:30 or so.

It was a bit of a complicated production to drop Denise off so that she could go inside to get the garage door opener, then find the parking garage, and wedge my car into the teeny tiny space that Jen rented. Denise and I agreed that I could not do any drinking and driving because if for the sole reason that I’d never get the car back in the garage. We finally made it into the very nice apartment, let out their dog Maddie and hit the hay.

The big show was the next morning on Saturday the 25th. We got up nice and early, took Maddie for a walk to the closest Starbucks so Denise could get that infernal hot beverage known as coffee. It took about 45 minutes to get to the show which was being held again at the Hilton Rosemont near the Chicago O’Hare airport. It opened at 10am and we got there about 10:20, after figuring out the complicated parking procedures.

Walking Maddie the wonderdog through Chicago on a brisk morning

Overall, it was a good show. For the most part, several of the celebs had settled on $20 for their photos with an extra $5 to get a picture with them. Some were a bit more, some less. There were three celebs that had been scheduled to be there whom I had wanted to see, but had cancelled: Patty Duke, Lisa Marie, and Ronnie Schell. One early line-up even listed Rip Taylor as a guest. Surprisingly there was only one celebrity there whom I had met before, but I still made sure to say hello to Marcia Wallace who is a wonderful lady, both personally and professionally. Cubby O’Brien was also slated to appear on Sunday, but I didn’t need him again anyway.

Denise meets Denise Nickerson, Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

I got everyone who I had wanted in just one hour. The only dud of the show was Joyce Hyser, who had starred in the teen romp Just One of the Guys. She wanted $20 for her autograph and $10 for a picture with her, and wouldn’t budge on the price, so I poo-pooed her. Other celebs who were present who I didn’t want or need included Mia St. John, Larry Manetti, Roger E. Mosley, and several James Bond stars like Robert Dix, Britt Ekland, and Maud Adams. Follow the trail of the celebrities I met here.

We hightailed it out of there about 11:20, hoping to get back to the apartment as soon as possible, and over to Wrigley Field – which was in walking distance – for the 12:05 Cubs game vs. the St. Louis Cardinals. Surprisingly, we did quite well through the baseball traffic as we drove right next to the stadium, parked, and then walked over to it. However, we did not do so well at first at scoring tickets at first.

Even though the game had already started, the cheapest tickets availabe were $47 each. There were not Standing Room Only tickets available and the scalpers we talked to wanted high prices. I was about to break down and get the expensive tickets, when a nice scalper approached us with some Upper Deck (section 509) tickets for $15 each. He even offered to let Denise go in first with the ticket to prove that they were good, and then let me pay him afterward. So that was the deal!

Between taking pictures, searching for my delicious grilled onion hotdog and Bud Light, texting my friends greetings from Wrigley, and communicating with Jennifer Smith, I missed seeing the St. Louis pitcher Blake Hawksworth get hit in the face by a Cubs line-drive, and the Cardinals’ manager get Tony La Russa ejected from the game.

From our (first) seats at Wrigley

I was amused by the local businesses across the street from Wrigley Field that had put bleachers on top of their roofs from which to watch the baseball games

Beer and an onion dog, check

My friend Jennifer Smith, whom I had just seen in Ohio three weekends earlier was at the game with three of her friends. I had made plans to meet up with her and her husband Vincent for dinner after the game. She invited us to sit in their section, which took us from high above left field, to a lower section in right field. When it became clear that the Cubs were going to win 7-3, her friends left while we continue to drink beer. I mistakenly thought that Old Style beer was a Chicago favorite, only to find that it was really just the cheap stuff.

With Jennifer in our (second) seats

The final score outside Wrigley Field

After the game ended around 3pm, we got our obligatory pictures outside the stadium and then all walked back to the apartment, to take out Maddie again. Even though I’m not a fan of dogs, I quite liked Maddie. We hung out there for a bit, then headed to the train station to catch the Red Line to Belmont, then Armitage, near Lincoln Park. Nearby was Sai sushi restaurant and standing on the corner in front of it was Vincent.

We soon realized that Sai was owned by the same folks who brought us Hachi’s Kitchen, where Heidi and I had joined Jennifer and Vincent in March 2009. We kicked off the meal with Oyster Shooters again, but Denise didn’t want to try it so I got two. The meal was again amazing with the Dynamite appetizer and specialty rolls like the volcano, spicy white tuna crunch, bagel salmon, and soft shell (which we were convinced was being called the ‘chop chop’ by the waitress).

Back on that horse, with the culinary delights of the oyster shooters

Vincent shows off the array of sushi at Sai

Grand and glorious times in Chicago

Vincent and Jennifer treated for dinner, so I wanted to make sure that they were supplied with plenty of drinks. We walked over to a nearby bar called Beaumont, which was almost nearly completely empty (save the one Asian girl who came in and parked herself in the restroom for 30 minutes, and a trio of guys who hung out for 15 minutes) for the three hours or so that we hung out there. I had several Blue Moons and White Russians – which gave me red ears. There was a good selection of music on the jukebox, and we made a game out of naming the artists and years.

Booze and such at Beaumont

Denise and I parted ways with Jennifer and Vincent as it was getting close to 10pm. We caught the Brown Line back to Belmont and then switched to the Red Line to Addison, home of Wrigley Field. The alcohol intake prompted us to make an unscheduled stop as we walked back. Yes, the little El Burrito Mexicano seemed to pull us right into its doors so that I could get a delicious chorizo and egg burrito and a Coke.

Late night cravings for Mexican alcohol-soaking foodstuff

Turning myself in as a drunken celebrity stalker

We slept in moderately late on Sunday morning, taking Maddie out one last time, packing up, and heading out at about 11:30am. Unfortunately, the trip was jinxed from the start as the GPS took us through some crazy back roads. Although we skipped the toll roads as we headed southward rather than eastward, we nearly ran out of gas. I veered off to search for some and finally found it, only to then realize that we were just inches from the next gas station where I veered off.

But the worst of the trip was yet to come when route 70 was completely closed down and we had to take a detour – the same one that everyone else was – through the tiny Indiana cities of Lewisville, Straughn, Dublin, and Cambridge City. These towns were not equipped for the traffic, although the residents seemed to enjoy watching us come through. We amused ourselves by honking, as we paid the three-hour price. We also ate McDonalds.

The trip back took a total of nine hours. After losing an hour, we didn’t get back to my place until 8:30, and then Denise had to drive back to Columbus from there. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to talk her into this trip again next Spring.

2010 will continue as I do my utmost to find more celebrities who will take pictures with me…

Follow the trail of Chicago celebrity encounters here…

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 30th, 2010 at 6:22 am and is filed under 2010's - Early, Celebrity Encounters, On the Town, Vacations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.