Sonny Rollins-- Thursday, August 28

Thursday was the first night of the Chicago Jazzfest. I was super excited because Sonny Rollins was playing a free concert at Millennium Park. I love Sonny Rollins. He's the 1st jazz musician I ever paid attention to. Because my dad does his taxes. Here's the story-- when my dad was young and supporting a wife and small child, he was working at Blue Cross & Blue Shield. He started moonlighting at H&R Block during tax time to make a little extra cash. He started doing taxes for his co-worker Gloria. Gloria happened to be Sonny Rollins' sister. So he started doing Sonny's taxes too. Gloria's son, Clifton, is now Sonny's trombonist. And my dad does his taxes too. So Sonny's the 1st jazz musician I ever really heard of and I've had an affinity for him my whole life. When I got married "St. Thomas" was my Recessional song. Love that song. It's just so happy. You can't hear it and not smile. I dare you. He played it last night and and at 80-something, Sonny's still an amazing musician. I managed to focus on the music for a chunk of the time. Which was impressive considering we had arrived at the lawn 1 1/2 hrs early and managed to drink lots and lots of wine. There was some horsing around as a result. Maybe not as focused on the music as we should have been. But as far as I'm concerned, that's what free summer concerts in the city are about.

Alex with a Jazzfest pamphlet

Laura with her empty bottle of wine over her head and empty glass. Trouble right behind.
Alex now converted Jazz pamphlet into a paper airplane. Trouble starting.

Me with the Pavilion behind us

That little speck dressed in white is Sonny

I LOVE the Pritzker Pavilion. So cool.

Mom & little girl boogieing to Sonny

Portrait of Alex. By Drunk Laura.Drunk texting. Always a good idea.

No wine for Tim. Thus the expression.

How to explain? On the L ride home, we started throwing around a block of leftover gouda. Laura kicked up her legs. Next thing you know, Alex was rubbing the gouda on her leg? There was cheese everywhere. Tim was in the role of adult trying to get us to stop. But there was no stopping us. We were totally retarded.