It's about personal validation.
We chatted for a while and then I said farewell. He wished me luck. I didn't think I would ever see him again, but I knew I had done the right thing. As it turns out, he died a few years later. But, he left a lot of himself in many people, including me. If I'm lucky, maybe someday I will have done some good for someone else and they will feel inspired enough to stop on their journey and thank me for a contribution of knowledge, advice or friendship.
That wouldn't be so bad.
Chicago was an extraordinary experience. Unfortunately, I spent the first 6 months there by myself, waiting for my wife to sell our home and then join me with the boys. My first night in town, Dick Rakovan, the General Manager, took me out to dinner. He brought me to an Italian restaurant called Gino & Georgetti's. He told me it was a place where you could see both “judges and mafia guys” having dinner together.
A deep fragrance of fresh tomato sauce filled the cigar-flavored air and Italian bread was carefully placed in the center of each table. It was busy with waiters quickly stepping back-and-forth between the kitchen and their assigned tables. The room buzzed with a mix of English and Italian conversation. If Al Capone were still alive, he'd be walking towards the table on my left, having just palmed a large tip to the maitre d'hotel.
This was the Chicago I had read about in books.
The next day, I left my apartment and walked north on Michigan Avenue toward the Prudential Building, where WFYR-FM was located. On top of the structure, a large white antenna reached into the sky. I stopped for a moment and stared at it. A slow panic began to consume me. I suddenly realized in just days, I would be pushing my voice through that big stick. It is very easy to feel insecure and inadequate when you are about to work in the same city where brilliant talents like Steve Dahl, Garry Meier, Jonathon Brandmeier, Fred Winston, Larry Lujack, John “Records” Landecker and so many more legendary talents have spent time. (continued)
