Could Chicago Play The Wooing Game?
By Karl Klockars in News on May 20, 2010 7:00PM
Break Media's Mike Polk loves Cleveland. He loves the Cavaliers, and he loves all the things that Lebron James' presence in the city has done for its citizens and its national profile. In that spirit, he managed to gather numerous "famous" Clevelanders into one room to sing a song of togetherness, community, and love - oh, and to beg Lebron James please please please not to leave the Cavs. (But with the rumors about Lebron doing some house shopping in the 'burbs, the Lebron-to-Bulls fire is only heating up.)
This got us thinking - could we Chicagoans ever pull something like this off? Would anyone be able to wrangle all the egos and politicos and newstalkers and artistes into one room and get them to basically sing for a gag video aimed at convincing someone to stay? What if LeBron does sign with the Bulls but in another few years explores leaving us for another destination? Is there enough civic pride around our fractured, cynical, self-depricating town to get a few dozen of our local "celebrities" to throw together a "We Are The World" parody? (We know a thing or two about parody ourselves.)
We may not recognize Otto Orf or Marc Brown, but would the Empire Carpet guy or Eagleman be high-profile enough? We'd like to think that someone could pull it together - this could be one instance where Billy Dec could bring back some of that "Back The Bid" magic - but honestly, we have our doubts.
After the jump, a short list of people who we think would make up the necessary cast of Chicago characters. Who are we missing?
Chicago "Celebrities" Who We Either Want To See Show Up Or Think Might Do It:
(We're assuming the mayor, President Obama, and Michael Jordan have better things to do.)
Todd Stroger
Rahm Emanuel
Jesse Jackson
Blago
Bernie Stone (who would sleep through it)
Jeremiah Wright
Father Pfleger
Carol Marin
Bill Kurtis & Walter Jacobsen
Lynn Sweet
Ron Magers
Mark Giangreco
Rick Bayless
Sue the Dinosaur
Empire Carpet Guy
Bozo the Clown with Cuddly Dudley
Hardrock, Coco and Joe
Ronnie Woo Woo
The Victory Auto Wreckers guy
Mancow & Eagleman
Mike North
The Luvabulls
Someone dressed up as the Magikist sign
Anyone else? We've gotta be missing a few.