Item #1:

That's my dad's car! I recognize the license plate in the background! Weird.

Item #2:

FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKK!!! That guy made my day. I remember the first time I ever saw him. I was still sort of getting settled in at my new place in Wicker Park and having breakfast at Earwax when he came up dancing in the window in front of me. At first I thought he was a random homeless man asking for change, and instead it seemed like he was in his own weird little iPod World.

Then one time I was locking up my bike, and a grey 2000-something Saab (with New York plates) comes up, out hops this guy, and he JUMPS OVER HIS OWN CAR to the sidewalk (it was an impressive feat of athleticism) and dances down the sidewalk toward Filter.

Anyway, I miss having one less weird guy in my neighborhood. Next thing you're gonna tell me is the quasi-creepy old guy with long hair that just parks his bike (with an orange tupperware lid in the spokes) near the newspaper boxes in front of B of A and watches traffic goes by has cancer or something.

Well it's weird that he's a medical school drop out. It's also very sad. He was harmless and good fun and also extremely young.

Sad.

Damn! He was a goofball, but was always so friendly and seemed like he was having a great time doing his thing. This is sad news.

Re: Spookhatespuppies' #2: I saw him do that too! Well, maybe not that exact "jump out of the car and run around" thing, but it gave me a good chuckle while riding home from work on the bus.

i still haven't managed to make it to new york, so i really don't know if this happens there, but one of the things i love about chicago is that it has everything new york has (i've been told that by native NYers) but we still manage to have the good part of a small town ethic.

i really like the fact that most of us recognize and have seen the 'characters' of chicago -- the pigeon man, gene (i didn't know his name), riverace, the jesus man, and various and sundry other pseudo-legends in their own time. we won't even go into wesley willis and thax. i like that we know who they are and appreciate them (most of the time) for adding a little bit of flair and oddity/spark/interestingness to our sometimes ho-hum, rat race days.

godspeed, joe and gene.

"Mess meeeeee!
I know you'll miss meeeeeee!
I know you'll miss me blind-hinnnnndd......!"

Some where in Enlightenment,Brotha Gene is singing those words, and you know he's dancing!
Cause that's how he be!

Dance in Peace

actually, joel, you might be missing/making my point.

i can't speak for NYC, which is *much* bigger and seems from here to be much more cynical, and therefore might not have the same dynamic.

BUT for a big city, it seems interesting to me that we have the same kind of recognition of said "characters" that would be found in a small town. people from all walks of life/neighborhoods know the person or have a story about them, etc.

it's very UNurban, which is what gives chicago such a beautiful and unique mix midwestern world class

what is jocelyn rambling about/?/

Simp. creature

More and more people are "clearly flying" in our society, but the question is what are they doing while they are "clearly flying"? Are they robbing, killing or stealing, skeaming or just being mean and narcissistic?

Or are they trying desperately to meaningfully connect, like Brother Gene, with others in this very f$cked-up and getting harder to connect society?

I’m sure the good folks at Myopic understood this.

We see you Gene, dancing, son, dancing!

It doesn't surprise me that he was once in med school.

Years ago I remember interviewing for a job at a local (in another city) mental health center. There was a young guy there that struck up a conversation with me.
Apparently he too had once been in med school and had a nervous breakdown.

I have since learned that there are many young men (for whatever reason, this affects males more than females) who are very intelligent and enter into stressful situations i.e. med school, and suffer nervous breakdowns.

I personally know a guy who this happened to when he was a senior in high school (he's never been the same since his breakdown, but he was valedictorian, very high IQ, etc.

There is a window from the age of 17 through mid 20's...men of high intelligence who are sensitive beings who can be victims of this kind of mental stress.

I am not from Chicago, and I have never seen Gene myself, I only know of him from some ramblings on Craigslist in the past.

I feel for him and his family...he must have been a sensitive soul who suffered from his demons.

Poor thing...at least he's not suffering anymore.

Haha. Hugh G Rection, true. I do live on the North Side (but not in any of the trendy hoods) and have never heard of this dude.

But like I said before...the mentally ill and drug-addicted are not here for our amusement. They are not "characters" that "add flavor" to the neighborhood. They are likely victims of the gutting of the mental health system in the 80s and 90s. Look it up.

These folks aren't cute and fun. They need help.

Why was he so amusing? Some of us find these idiots annoying and unnecesssary. It doesn't add color, it doesn't add character...it's the same as that guy on the train you don't give money to -- annoying. Sad, but, what death isn't to random people? Do you go to every single funeral home and grieve the multiple deaths they host every day? If not, why care about one of the more annoying ones? Congrats on the one you care more about than anyone else..