The summer is, in our opinion, among the hottest times of the year. Our beat-the-heat tips do not include performing in the middle of the afternoon on a stage constructed on blacktop, but that’s frequently where we found ourselves before and after this day in 1995. (They do include air-conditioned movie theaters, which is why on a night off in Columbus we went to see Smoke, passing up Darryl Strawberry in a rehab game with the Clippers.) Nineteen years ago today, we’re in Chicago, in the midst of a lethal heat wave, though I don’t recall it standing out weatherwise. The baseball obsessive in me loved the ritual of the Lollapalooza shows, comparable to getting to the park hours before the game. We’d drink water and avoid the sun as much as possible until it was time to set up our gear, which was our opportunity to choose the music heard over the p.a.–we always selected The World of Willie Restum at the Dream Bar in Miami Beach. If you know the Trish Van Devere episode of Columbo was well as I do (and I hope you do) then you’ll recognize how every song on that record became our personal countdown to our tasks at hand. We played an encore in Chicago–according to my notes we found a way to turn “Tired of Waiting for You” and “Speeding Motorcycle” into a medley. You’ll have to ask Aadam Jacobs just how.
