Beware the Ides of March

Just west of Chicago lies the suburb of Berwyn, home to the world's largest laundromat and "Spindle", a sculpture featured in the movie Wayne's World. It can best be described as a stack of cars on a large skewer. A Car-Kabob, if you will. If you grew up in the Chicago area, you very likely watched a sf/horrow show called "Svengoolie" then "Son of Svengoolie" which featured it's titular comic host cracking wise about the gem they happened to be screening that night. One of their running gags was to repeatedly utter "BERWYN" with dismay. To this day, I can't hear the name of that town without repeating it in the same tone. Berwyn is also the location of FitzGerald's, a music house that is most notable for hosting the open mic night where one of my former bands, map of july, first played to an audience. Maht, lead singer, lyricist and cofounder has written a partial history of the band at his blog. The chapter that includes our appearance at FitzGerald's can be found here.

And Berwyn is also notable for one of it's native sons. Jim Peterik, founder of the band "The Ides of March" is a Berwynian. Maybe they played at FitzGeralds... The Ides of March is probably best known for the song "Vehicle" which was released in 1970. The band was on an extended hiatus (kind of like map of july...maybe it's the Berwyn connection) between 1973 and 1990. Peterik took the opportunity during that time to co-found the band Survivor and bring us such timeless classics as "Eye of the Tiger", "The Search is Over" and "I Can't Hold Back." You may recall that in my second post, I mentioned playing in a "band" that covered "Eye of the Tiger." Wheels within wheels...

In 1990, at the behest of the city of Berwyn, the Ides reformed for Berwyn's Summerfest. The concert was well attended. Sensing an opportunity to cash in on nostalgia...sorry...to recreate the magic...the band has been touring ever since. I presume they close the show every night with "Vehicle". I can't imagine it any other way.

So Beware. The Ides of March. Coming soon to an outdoor village festival near you. Again.