"This Next One Goes Out To The Guy In 15A!"

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 5, 2005 6:19PM

In a city as big as Chicago, you can’t expect all the various aldermen and city departments to be in close contact with each other. Still, you’d think that the folks at the Department of Aviation might have wanted to give a heads-up to Alderman Natarus’s office before they released information on their holiday music program at O’Hare.

When we’ve been drinking too much holiday hateorade, it’s the music of the season that makes things a bit more bearable. And since Chicagoist will be one of many traveling through the world’s busiest airport this year, we smiled when we read the news that holiday carolers, barbershop quartets, blues musicians and ballet dancers would be gracing O’Hare’s terminals this year. The program is designed to showcase an aspect of the city’s culture to a captive audience and to make the inevitable delays more bearable; a similar SummerDance program in September taught tourists and travelers how to dance.

With news that Alderman Burt Natarus wants to place restrictions on noise levels of street performers, we wonder if this will be the last year that you’ll see holiday performers at O’Hare. Surely, the city wouldn’t think of selective enforcement!

Ironically, this story was filed as a “Qualities Of Life Scene” which seems to suggest music IMPROVES the quality of life in a community—an issue close to Natarus’s heart. Perhaps with the holiday music at O’Hare this year, said heart will grow three sizes this season and he’ll ease up on the folks with saxes and guitars downtown.

Non-grinches can expect to enjoy music in O’Hare’s halls of holly from December 13th to the 15th and again from the 22nd to the 23rd.