May 31st - June 6th - 2011

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Watch for TicketPulse®.net and TicketTicker®.net coming soon. The purpose of these ventures in development and soon to be launched is to educate the public on THE NATURE and PROCEDURES of purchasing tickets and direct them to worthwhile opportunities (and venues) by which to maximize their enjoyment of the myriad of entertainment options available in our vibrant and beautiful city at the BEST PRICE and AVAILABILITY and create a universally accessible INTERACTIVE media and internet vehicle for the public to acquire specialized, advance and real time information on tickets and TARGETED events they desire to attend anytime and anywhere in our metro area.

Expounding on this real time TOTAL information TARGETED (perhaps by neighborhood, ward or district) access concept is the newly minted "tech guru" of Chicago, John Tolva, who espouses the mantra that, and I quote "data is the center of city services", even though he readily admits that the city has a LONG way to go to get to the point of an "INTERACTIVE PLATFORM".

Tolva, whose resume includes an impressive stint as Director of Citizenship and Technology at IBM, is influenced by the city of San Francisco, which, for example, has a car parking app for available parking spaces in the city and is capable of a constant FLUX in the price adjustment of parking in those targeted areas based on demand, and retains the ability to allow for the motorist to directly pay by phone ON THE SPOT or at selected locations for assurance that they will indeed get the desired spot they want exclusively.

Sadly, ex Mayor Daley sold off our parking meter franchise in Chicago in one of the DUMBEST DEALS I have EVER SEEN , and the incompetents running it (defined as NON working parking meters) have it for the next 18 years, but the point of technology applied as an enhancement to city services and REVENUE streams is well taken. At least the city can watch the parking spaces they GAVE AWAY with some of the over 10,000 cameras that make Chicago one of the most enabled cities IN THE WORLD for surveillance of their citizens and neighborhoods.

Granted, San Francisco has an internet infrastructure second to none, and is home to major players on the web like Twitter, Facebook, Apple and MANY MANY MORE, but Chicago is quickly becoming the "Silicon Prairie" with the runaway success of Groupon and the Lightbank venture capital financing backbone and industry that nurtured it, but a recent article in the Chicago Tribune laments the lack of mainstream financing in our tech sector, and notes smaller cities like Denver, Austin Texas and Minneapolis have almost as much capital available to their tech entrepreneurs as we do.

Ted Zoller, professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School., who obtained his stats from Capital I. Q, a Standard and Poor's company, based his conclusions on the "Deal maker per capita" stat, a reference to how many companies were funded at a certain financial threshold as compared to population demographics in those respective cities, and this investigation revealed that Denver, with a third of the population of Chicago, had almost as many dealmakers as we did.

At the top of the list is former R.R. Donnelley & Sons Chief Executive John Walter, who holds investments in MediaBank, Echo Global Logistics, InnerWorkings and Groupon, which Forbes has labeled the fastest growing company ever.

Those companies were created by serial entrepreneurs Eric Lefkofsky or Brad Keywell, who have gone on to start venture capital firm LightBank, which is spawning even more tech related ventures as we speak.

Lefkofsky, Walter and Keywell have invested in technology startups together repeatedly , prompting Zoller to call them a syndicate.

JB Pritzker, of New World Ventures in Evanston, is another key player, Tickets Now, a Rolling Meadows company that was bought by Ticketmaster for $265 million dollars a few years ago was one of their winning deals.

It was refreshing to see 20,000 bikers descend on Lake Shore Drive on Sunday May 29th for the annual "Bike The Drive" event we touted in last week's Metro Pulse®. Braving deceiving cool temperatures and heavy fog, the bikers enjoyed an enjoyable ride down our stunning lakefront.

In case you are unaware , second hand cigarette smoke KILLS, so if you are looking for an apartment in the Chicago Metro area, go to www.chicagosmokefreehousing.org to find a space and send a message to the STUPID landlords who still allow their tenants to be poisoned by on site smokers by spending your money in smoke free environments and allowing their competition "TO BLOW THEM AWAY" no pun intended.

If you haven't noticed, I am a BIG proponent of checkbook diplomacy, or harassment of the financial bottom line in making points on things.

And, in expounding upon the theme of health and fitness in this summer season, Greg Borzo has written a book called "Where to Bike Chicago", which highlights 72 different bike paths in our beautiful city for riding, check it out, this is our answer to Oprah's book club leaving the scene, more on Oprah later in this posting.

The Chicago Beachathon is June 11th, go to chicagobeachathon.com for insight into the 3.45 miles and the 12 OUTRAGEOUS obstacles in their torture track, it is billed as the HAPPIEST race in Chicago, tell me that AFTER you finish the course, sponsored in part by LandShark beer, that may help you at the end in killing the pain. Use promo code FUNRUN on the site for a $10.00 credit on the mandatory registration fee required to enter the event.

Symphony Center at Orchestra Hall (CSO.org/usa) is getting to the root of the matter with a series of summer performances highlighting the musical tastes of America, beginning June 10th with a show focusing on New York, New Orleans June 12th, Memphis June 16th, Detroit June 17th and Austin Texas June 18th, check the web site for show times and ticket availability.

In a sobering addendum to our sports year to this point in Chicago in 2011, The Bulls choked and lost to the Miami Heat four games to one AT HOME in a heartbreaking 4th quarter collapse that saw Lebron James almost single handedly execute an 18 to 3 Miami surge in the final minutes (he scored 9 of the points) to erase a double digit lead The Bulls held that SHOULD have brought victory, not to mention the last second 3 pointer launched and missed by Derrick Rose that should have TIED the game and forced overtime.

This loss is exacerbated by the statistical fact that the Bulls as a team historically are 53-0 when leading by double digits in the 4th quarter, a squandered stat in the misery of this loss.

On the positive side is the fact the Bulls are a YOUNG team and the future looks bright in that respect as they ponder this loss and they and management make adjustments for the future, remember NBA MVP Derrick Rose is all of 22 years old, the youngest MVP EVER in the NBA, and this loss will provide insight and experience AND MOTIVATION for the future.

Add to this the fact the Bears lost the NFC Championship to the hated and DESPISED Green Bay Packers, the reigning Stanley Cup champion Black Hawks lost in the first round after a heroic comeback from 3 games down to the Vancouver Canucks in overtime in the pivotal game 7 (The Canucks are now in the Stanley Cup finals) and our baseball teams at press time are dwelling at the "Bottom of the Cellar" in their respective leagues with anemic attendance figures to boot in this young season.

Coupled with our HORRIFIC spring weather, as well as the 3rd biggest blizzard/snowstorm in our history in early February, it has been a difficult stretch for us here in Chicago, but summer is around the corner and at least we can look forward to that, blue skies and sunny days, as I continue infused with the positive mental attitude that comes with being a cancer survivor.

The horror of the tornado outbreaks that have RAVAGED the South, and more recently the Midwest, give us pause in our own little worlds to say our blessings that it isn't THAT BAD here, the visuals and the stories are HEARTBREAKING and the somber fact is that this tornado season as of press time is on track to be the deadliest ever in terms of death, due in no small part to the SEVERITY of the storms.

The Joplin, Missouri tornado, described as a "Target" tornado due to it's DIRECT hit on the beleaguered and devastated town, was rated a RARE F-5 on the Ted Fujita Tornado rating scale, with winds IN EXCESS of 200 miles per hour. Of the just over 50 F-4 and F-5 storms (the highest rated and MOST POWERFUL) we have seen in the US since 1950, we have ALREADY had 4 tornadoes of this magnitude this year, and this grim statistic is the reason we are seeing such utter devastation and DEATH this year.

La Nina, the atmospheric condition that allows for COLDER than normal water in the Pacific (El Nino is the warmer cycle) is the MAIN catalyst for these storms as this cold water phenomenon causes powerful cold fronts being thrust by high altitude winds across the western states, and warmer than normal water in the Gulf of Mexico this year is creating warm fronts and storms which meet these COLD fronts heading east as the warm fronts head north from the Gulf and collide with the COLD fronts in the Midwest and Southeast, hence the outbreaks in such localized areas (known as tornado alley), as these powerful tornadoes require this cold air/hot air contrast in the upper altitudes to garner the strength to create the circular rotation and wind speed needed to feed and propagate these storms.

Again, we implore you to send a donation to the American Red Cross by dialing 9099 on your cell phone to give an automatic $10.00 dollar donation. It is a sad stat that since the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March, we have had floods of biblical proportions all down the Mississippi, displacing THOUSANDS of people, AND NUMEROUS devastating tornado outbreaks, making this a BUSY season for disasters. Sigh.

Ominously, the HURRICANE season, which runs from June 1 to Nov 1 this year, is also projected to be a busy one, with a projection of 16 named MAJOR storms in the Atlantic basin, which are defined as storms with winds exceeding 74 MPH which constitute a category 1 hurricane and go up in wind speed from there, less than that is considered a tropical depression, so you know.

Hurricanes are created by rainstorms and thunderstorms that are formed over the Sahara desert in North Africa and the rare survivors that make it to the coast meander on out over the warm temperate waters of the south Atlantic, where in a perfect world they gain strength over the WARM open water and, in some cases, can grow to be the LARGEST most frightening storms on earth, wreaking destructive havoc over hundreds and sometimes THOUSANDS of miles, in the Pacific, the storms rotate COUNTER clockwise and are known as typhoons, or cyclones, make no mistake, they are still BAD ASS storms either way.

The Pacific storms are mostly, but NOT ALWAYS, spawned in the Philippines, where storms indigenous to that region move out into the warm waters of the South Pacific and potentially utilize the same atmospheric conditions as hurricanes in the Atlantic to grow into monstrous heat seeking wind machines of destruction by deriving their energy from the WARM OCEAN WATER they pass over, that's why they peter out on land, no warmth or intense concentrated moisture to feed the winds, the concept is similar to how lightning and thunderstorms feed the power and intensity of tornadoes.

Ironically, the aftermath of hurricanes when they pass over land from the open water is very often a major outbreak of tornado activity in the affected area due to the drastic temperature contrasts and wind strengths.

This concludes your weather lesson for today, but THERE WILL BE A POP QUIZ later.

Back to the beat with . . .

Another pop quiz.

Who is Stefani Germanotta?

Answer: Lady Gaga, bet you didn't know that.

And that she derived her name from a Queen song "Radio Ga Ga" and I find it AMAZING she titled her first album release "The Fame", but then she was playing piano at the age of (4), yes FOUR YEARS OLD, amazing again because her last single "Born this way", perhaps a subliminal nod to her prodigy roots became the fastest selling single EVER WORLDWIDE on Apple's I Tunes store, selling 1 MILLION downloads in 5 days. Remember she played here at Lollapalooza before she hit the big time a few years back and was discovered by R&B singer Akon , who saw her performing in a BURLESQUE show of all things.

See what you learn about culture by reading Metro Pulse®?

In last week's Metro Pulse®, I saluted the retiring icons Mayor Daley and Oprah Winfrey, but was unaware at the time that Mayor Daley was TRULY retired. It is being reported that the ex mayor has retained a public speaking agency to set up speaking gigs for him AND he has taken a post at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, a 5 year gig designed to "help foster public discussions" as stated by the university in a press release.

Oprah is struggling with dismal ratings for her new network as you read this, I hope she can turn that around, hell, she should give me a shot at a show, it would be an impeccably produced, entertaining gabfest of information and interactivity infused with the solid Midwestern values and outlooks so amenable to the palpability of the American public, spiced with humor and insight, and permeated with copious amounts of probing statistics and information designed to be the catalyst to greater mental stimulation and knowledge, encouraging engaging discussion and guided by a charter and foundation of catering to the public good and EDUCATING the public at large on the NATURE of their world with a DASH of politics. We can call it Metro Pulse® as I own the rights to the name and have 2 registered marks on it AND first use rights with ORIGINAL specimens.

How is THAT for a mission statement?

Plus, I am not far from Harpo Studios here in Chicago, call me Oprah, please. Chicago rules.

Beatle News-

Sir Paul McCartney has announced several engagements recently, one is that he is marrying his girlfriend of several years, Nancy Sewell, after a 4 year courtship AND he is playing Las Vegas on June 10th, which at press time was his only announced US date this summer.

Sewell, who is independently wealthy AND the cousin of Barbara Walters of ABC's THE VIEW, is a dramatically different type than Heather Mills, the gold digging ex wife he divorced some years back. Good luck to them in their new life. "All You Need Is Love".

Rumor has it that Sir Paul is angling to play Wrigley Field this summer during a time in August that the Cubs are on the road. Me thinks there are more Beatles fans than CUB fans, ESPECIALLY this season.

No definitive word at press time on this McCartney/Wrigley situation.

Sir Paul has played Chicago sporadically thru the years, starting in 1964 with the Beatles at the International Amphitheatre and in 1965 AND 1966 with the Beatles at Comiskey Park, then as a solo artist in June 1976 with the Wings Over America tour at the demolished Chicago Stadium, then multiple arena dates in the fall of 1989 at the Rosemont Horizon for the "Flowers in the Dirt" tour, a return to Solider Field the next year in summer 1990 , then 2 United Center shows in 2002 and the last time Sir Paul played Chicago was October 18 and 19 2005, again at the United Center. We are ready Sir Paul, bring it on, just keep the face price reasonable or even you WILL Have problems selling tickets, be forewarned.

Ringo's All Starr Band is touring Europe with the same lineup as last year's US tour as we speak in case you are DESPERATE for a 'Ringo" fix and wonder where he is. Remember he turns 71 on July 7th of this year, Yikes.

"When I'm 64" is turning into "A Day In the Life', hope it never turns into "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help" for Ringo as he ages. For the record, the bloodline would rock on as first son Zak Starkey, 41, is the drummer for THE WHO.

I still like the idea of a "Magical Mystery Tour" in a "Yellow Submarine", but when the inevitable comes, then Ringo can join John AND George along with "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" , then they can ALL SAY "All Together Now", "I'm Only Sleeping" then "Good Night". (Whew.)

There are no 3 chord arrangements available for that verbal FAB FOUR sequence, Sorry kidz.

Solider Field is the host to several events this summer, even if the NFL football lockout is still in place when the exhibition and regular season are supposed to start in early August and September, which at press time looks like a foregone conclusion.

July 5th is the show of shows for the ULTIMATE rock Spectacle as supergroup U2 brings the 360 tour to the field a final time, 2 years in coming due to Bono's back injury LAST year which postponed the original date, this reporter was fortunate to see the show in 2009 and was BLOWN AWAY, the tour is in support of the "No Line On The Horizon" release.

Tickets still available after all these years, but maybe Groupon will try to move some discounted ducats in the deal Live Nation recently inked with them, as it appears MANY still remain.

In 2009, this U2 360 tour set the all time record for the largest attendance for 1 show on Sept 24th, 2009 at Giants Stadium in New York/New Jersey with a total of 84,472 attending, this year the tour HAS ALREADY grossed the biggest gross for a rock tour EVER (including international dates), surpassing the Rolling Stones "Big Bang tour " at $558 million dollars and by the time the tour officially ends in early July should have a final gross of close to $700 million dollars according to Pollstar.

Looks like the gauntlet is thrown to the ground as The Stones celebrate their 50th anniversary next year (officially on July 12th) and one has to think the "Glimmer Twins" will not take lightly to the ALL TIME TOUR GROSS moving into the U2 camp.

Remember, The Stones originally held the record for the largest gross with their 1994 "Voodoo Lounge" tour, then BROKE THEIR OWN RECORD with the"Big Bang Tour, so it bodes well for a last time 50th anniversary blowout tour to break ALL RECORDS, time will tell.

Seems ironic that one of their single biggest hits of the 60's was "The Last Time", a song they resurrected in concert as one of the 4 songs on the little stage they played out in the crowd midway back on the main floor in recent tours.

The Chicago Fire soccer team plays UK and GLOBAL soccer powerhouse Manchester United on July 23rd, also at Solider Field, in the first time meeting of these 2 teams on US soil.

If you are looking to capitalize on COUPON deals for SUMMER items, the Chicago Tribune Sunday paper is a great way to do so as the SUNDAY paper is LOADED with great coupon deals each and every week, for a limited time you can score the Sunday paper for the rock bottom price of 50 cents a week by accessing code X277 at Chicagotribune.com. You can also call 800 311 8500, but this deal is not guaranteed at any given time by phone, as I called to verify the particulars before I went to print on this and was told it is a variable deal by phone but a constant online.

SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK AND ROLL DEPT.

Sex- June 1st, Wednesday, is the day when the state of Illinois recognizes same sex civil unions or their equivalent for the first time, the sixth state in our union to recognize same sex couples and the licenses will cost $35.00 each, so you know. The licenses are only valid if a verified legal ceremony is held within 60 days of the filing, and the license allows the couples the same legal benefits as married couples.

Drugs- Illinois state lawmakers are cracking down on a NEW DRUG of choice, one that has the disarming names of "Ivory wave" and "Blue silk", a CLEAN drug that ironically promotes cleanliness? NOT. It is bath salts, which contain the synthetic drug methylenedioxypyrovalerone or if another looming pop quiz is instilling fear in your heart, we will allow the abbreviation MDPV on the test.

Snorted or smoked, this drug claimed it's first overdose victim, a 28 year old woman in downstate Alton who obviously felt that cleanliness was next to godliness, LITERALLY.

So while our ASTUTE congressmen down in Springfield were debating the HORRORS of snorting or smoking bath salts as to ostensibly protect the vulnerable segments of our society from such blatant abuse, they failed to pass a ban on trans fats, an insidious element included in our food supply that is a POISON. The bill didn't even address packaged foods (dumb) and exempted school cafeterias (Dumber), just foods made on site and provided companies with annual sales under $4 million dollars or LESS than 50 employees a waiver on the requirements if passed.

The Illinois Senate, in their infinite wisdom, voted 40-13 Against this bill, claiming it "Overreached" the boundaries of interference in people's lives, and noted that Oreos, made by Nabisco, already had eliminated trans fats from that product WILLINGLY.

Of course, the thought of any major food company policing itself at the EXPENSE of the almighty dollar on their bottom line without prodding is repugnant to this reporter as that assumption constitutes stupidity of the highest order in one's thought patterns.

The chamber CHEERED when the rejecting vote was read, and, in an example of thoughtful and considerate behavior, presented bill sponsor Sen Donne Trotter with a trans fat laden cupcake, which was promptly consumed.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised as, remember, this is the state where the EX governor was accused of ATTEMPTING to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Obama, but at least his morals don't appear to stray to promiscuous housekeepers, like the Ex Californication governor ARNOLD what's his name. I forgot because his son Patrick, in disgust over the fact his dad fathered a son out of wedlock and born within weeks of his mother giving birth to a sibling, reverted back to his mother's maiden Shriver in his Twitter persona.

By the way, how come New York STATE banned these trans fat poisons in their restaurants and we can't?

AND. . .

Rock and Roll- Summer brings the 40th Anniversary Hard Rock tour to the Chicago Hard Rock on Ontario and Clark starting June 2nd. The big rig semi will feature 40 different classic memorabilia items to celebrate the 40 year anniversary of the chain, which opens it's first outlet in Panama in Latin America in December.

And, in a final nod to summer and fancy cars, which go hand in hand in our volatile climate which allows FEW days to SAFELY display them, the following car shows are available for reminiscing about the past.

Here are the suburban areas in alphabetical order with dates and show times and web site references for further information.

Algonquin: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. June 14, July 12 and Aug. 9, Randall Road and Harnish Drive; alchamber.com

Barrington: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. June 2, July 7, Aug. 4 and Sept. 1, Station and Cook streets; barrington-il.gov

Bartlett: 6 to 9 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 25, Illinois Highway 59 and Stearns Road; doublekproductions.com

Batavia: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 19, 645 S. River St.; oldgoldcruisers.com

Berwyn: 6 to 9 p.m. June 7 and 21, July 5 and 19 and Aug. 16 and 30, Windsor and Grove avenues; berwyn.net

Cary: 6 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Sept. 7, Main Street and Northwest Highway; carygrovechamber.com

Chicago: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 26, California Avenue and Division Street; urbancutsinc@yahoo.com

Chicago Ridge: 6 to 9 p.m. on alternating Tuesdays beginning Tuesday, 6401 W. 95th St.; 708-857-8300

Downers Grove: 6 to 9 p.m. Fridays through Sept. 2, Main and Curtiss streets; downtowndg.org

Elmhurst 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays, Addison Avenue and First Street; elmhurstcitycentre.com

Forest Park: 6 to 9 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month beginning June 14, Madison Street and Thomas Avenue; email scody@forestpark.net

Drive on into the summer sunset. . .

As we speak of summer events in our current posting, a reality check to the inevitable passing of the seasons with the announcement of "A Christmas Story" The Musical ending a 5 city jaunt here in Chicago at the Chicago Theatre December 14-30th, no ticket on sale information at press time.

Till the next time MD
Michael E. Dehn
metropulseinc@hotmail.com

We are the "Original" Metro Pulse® since 1981. We are celebrating our 30 year Anniversary this year.