My Kind of Party

It's no secret that I have a small amount of civic pride when it comes to sweet home Chicago.

In fact, you might even say that I think its the greatest achievement of a civilization in the history of mankind.

Either way, I love my hometown, and make no secret to the sunbathed masses out here that, like Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines, "I shall return!" to the city of deep dish and big shoulders to make movies and TV eventually.

So, you can imagine that when it came to my attention that a party for Chicagoans living in L.A. and working in show-biz (people like Jeff Garlin, Joe Mantegna, etc.) was going to be held this week in Santa Monica, right in my own backyard practically, it wasn't a matter of IF I would attend, just HOW.

Luckily, the woman who ran the event was in charge of the Illinois Film Office when I interned there waaaaaay back in 2006. After a few calls, some begging, some pleading, and some collective bargaining, I was able to secure a ticket to this fantastic, custom-made event, and attended this past Monday night.

There's a Sun-Times article about it here, but let me tell you it was AWESOME!

Firstly, it was hosted by the Melman brothers, who were behind the popular Hub 51 in Chicago (I've been there!), who have opened a brand new Lettuce Entertain You restaurant called Le Grand Orange in Santa Monica. Boy, did they know how to throw a party: deep dish from Lou Malnati's, Italian beef and hot dogs from Portillo's, 312 Goose Island beers.....I was in heaven.

Oh, and there were some people there, too. And since it was a pretty small venue, I got to at least rub shoulders with everyone, and had at least a few quick exchanges, including discussing deep dish with Joe Mantegna, talking Second City with prez Andrew Alexander and did some catching up with former Mainstagers Joe Canale and Molly Erdman from my interning days there.

One big regret was not saying hello to Jeff Garlin, who left pretty early. He's one of my favorite Chicago, guys, a great Cubs fan, and due for a REALLY funny season of "Curb".

I also got to have a pretty nice talk with former Fox morning show hosts Bob Sirott and Marianne Murciano, who were on TV every morning before I headed out to catch the bus to good ol' St. Pet's.

Of course, since those were the people everyone wanted to talk to, I spent most of time chatting with a great assortment of random people who all shared a common interest in the City of Chicago and working in the entertainment industry.

Though I didn't make any blockbuster deals, I got to meet some pretty cool people, learned a lot from those who have a few years on me experience-wise, and made a couple of contacts that could always help out down the line (I mean, who would have ever thought that organizing location files in the James R. Thompson bldg 3 years ago would get me into a party in Santa Monica this week?).

Of course, as the Sun-Times article points out, the real attraction last Monday was former Monster of the Midway DICK BITKUS. With so much chatting going on, I wasn't able to snap many pictures, but there was one I was sure to nab.




We were both pretty drunk.

God, I love Chicago.