Designated Driver by CoreyBlack
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Description
This picture is one of many made at D'Arcy's birthday party last summer. Everybody in the local gay community knows D'Arcy, and everybody loves him. He's just that kind of guy. His birthday parties are friendly, festive occasions and last year's was no exception. But that has absolutely nothing to do with anything else on this page.
It was only when I started to prepare this picture for posting that it occurred to me how much it vaguely resembled a public service announcement about the perils of drink. So, keeping with the PSA theme,( and because I don't know what else to do with this photo), here's where I remind you not to drink and drive. And, while we're on the subject, walking while you're drunk isn't such a hot idea either. While considerably less dangerous to those around you than driving, walking while fully gassed is still fraught with personal peril. For instance, you could do something like trip over a curb, fall down and badly sprain your left wrist. Thus forcing your equally inebriated friend to take you to the emergency room and then not speak to you for 6 whole days afterward because you threw up all over his brand new, terribly expensive, and ultra trendy black jeans as well as the interior of his equally new Chevy Cavalier. Don't ask me how I know such things, but there was that Valentine's Day evening back in 1990...
Photographed at "Cocktail" bar on Halsted and Roscoe streets in the Lakeview/Boystown area of Chicago on July 21, 2010. (Chip's arm and book are in the foreground.)
Comments (15)
Chipka
Hey, I remember that night, and you caught my glass of Pilsner Urquell--a taste of home! I'm glad they have Czech beer in Chicago; that means I can enjoy it without having to make that long and expensive trip to Earth in order to get some. HA...and you have a tiny part of Cryptonomicon in the shot as well. Any book big enough to barge into a non-book related photograph is pretty big, indeed...It was a big and juicy, hilarious book! I love it when SF writers turn their SF writer's eye to the alleged "real world." They turn reality into something funny! Okay, enough of that. Onto the picture! What a shot. It's moody as all get-out and I love the golden light filtered through the window, through the beer itself, and off of the little counter-top running along the window itself. Cocktail is such a nice bar: well, a nice expensive bar, and this shot does it justice, even though it's focused more on Halsted Street. I love the looming bus, the Number 8 (not nearly as interesting as the Number-8 Train that goes elsewhere but that's a rant for another comment.) This is really nice work and I love the dominance of the gold hue. Yeah, and D'Arcy is somewhere in this shot too...okay, out of camera range, but undoubtedly enjoying a copious flow of Jack Daniels, which should flow copiously on anybody's birthday. I really like this! It's great work, and hey, it's immortalized a Czech beer! What's not to like about that?
KatesFriend
Hmmmmm, you seem to speak from experience. Tell me, was this gassed person also foolish enough to sit on top of a heat register for half an hour? Oh, wait, that was me. Indeed, this is a good juxtaposition of drinking and transit. The only way this could be better is if this was a streetcar pulling up instead of a bus - but that's just me. Save a life and stick it to Rob Ford at the same time.
kgb224
Superb capture my friend.
Bothellite
And sometimes it's NOT your fault... too.
durleybeachbum
A fascinating read to go with this curiously interesting shot.
jmb007
bien vue!!
annie5
Interesting capture..cool idea! :)
flavia49
great shot
sandra46
GREAT URBAN STORY IN WRITING AND IMAGE
beachzz
I guess I can tell about someone having a margarita or two too many, walking back to her friend's house and getting her camera, then returning to the train station to take fotos she remembers nothing about. Apparently, phone calls were made as well. Have no idea who that someone is. I love this shot for so many reasons, but your narrative is just as good--and oddly familiar!!!
NefariousDrO
I love the warm golden glow that everything has. You've kind of simulated that "beer-goggle" effect where everything is golden and you love all your friends, and then stumble and, well you did kind of sum that part up quite well. Not that I've ever been there, nope! (cough cough) I like the way you relate the story, a nice balance of humor and a touch of wisdom that comes with time and looking back. Well done!
auntietk
Ah HA! I know who Marilyn is talking about, because I'm the one she called FOUR TIMES in the middle of the night to talk about the proper procedure for photographing moving trains while drunk. Of course I have no stories of this sort. Well ... none that I can share in a comment in public! :P Excellent capture of the ultimate in designated driver-ing. At least the person in your story (and I have NO idea who that might be) didn't toss their cookies while riding the bus! It's a bit disconcerting for the other passengers.
KateBlack10
Great shot and narrative Corey - made me laugh out loud - I wonder who that could have been?
bmac62
Super shot Corey. And a first rate story too. Wow, this posting has really encouraged show and tell (about close friends doing strange drink related things). I knew a guy once who liked the taste of gin so much that he decided as a young twenty-something to return to his room and see how much of an entire bottle of gin he could drink...pure experimentation. He got all the symptoms of being totally wasted and never finished the bottle. Later he heard people were known to die doing such tricks. Roy Roger's son for one. He told me he has hated anything with gin in it since. But has nothing against other spirits. Now, if I could just remember which friend of mine told that story...
minos_6
I like this, and am also grateful for the reminder not to drink and drive. There's also a risk of spilling it when you go round corners......