Chicago Slices, episode 9309

Episode 9309 of the show featuring everyday Chicagoans.

0:04Copy video clip URL Kimberly Harrell, flight attendant and model, breaks into song on Michigan Avenue.

0:46Copy video clip URL Chicago Slices opening. “It’s not the news, but sometimes no news is good news, like the rodeo cowboys of Wauconda, Wanda and Lilli, who have been friends for over 80 years, the three very special Chicago policemen called the Slick Boys, their weapon for reaching young people in Cabrini Green, their own music.” (Nate Herman)

1:33Copy video clip URL The Slick Boys. Local police officers and former Cabrini Green residents write rap music aimed at providing positive role models for inner city youth. As Eric Davis (aka “21”) explains, “Basically, we started the whole Slick Boys thing because we wanted to give back to the community, other than just being the police.” He and partner James Martin (aka E-Murph) tell their histories, both starting in the projects. “We’re giving it all back,” says Mike Merrill, Assistant Manager. Cabrini Green residents tell what they think about the Slick Boys. We also see footage from their music video “Ain’t It A Shame.”

5:17Copy video clip URL Footage from a donut factory in Chicago, ca. 1956.

6:02Copy video clip URL Commercial hole.

7:02Copy video clip URL The Look Alikes. People on the street are asked who they resemble. The answers: George Steinbrener, Judd Nelson, Wayne Gretsky, Jessica Lange, Al Pacino, Sam Sheppard, Tom Cruise, Murray, Tony Bennet and special guest Walter Jacobson (the real one).

8:01Copy video clip URL Graffiti Artists: Castillo Perez, Greg Penrice, Chris Silva, Anthony Lewellen, and Jesus Rodriguez show off a mural that includes self-portraits that they painted in Logan Square. This mural won them first prize in a CTA sponsored graffiti contest.

8:45Copy video clip URL Rodeo Cowboys: Arthur Stoner and Manuel Neale talk about the life of a rodeo cowboy from the corrals of the Wauconda Rodeo. Rusty Rudsell Latting defends their sanity, “Just because you ride a bull or a bucking horse doesn’t mean that you don’t have both oars in the water.” And some young fans tell why they like the rodeo.

12:02Copy video clip URL The Slick Boys at Chicago Police Dept. Public Housing North Unit introduce an officer who is their own in-house James Brown look-alike.

12:35Copy video clip URL Commercial hole.

13:35Copy video clip URL Here’s My Story. “Hi, my friends and I pick up girls…literally. We are college cheerleaders. We can throw girls ten to fifteen feet in the air.” Matt Johnson and friends do some stunts at North Avenue Beach.

14:35Copy video clip URL Skokie 60076. Elizabeth Cheetham, museum supervisor at the Skokie Heritage Museum, gives Joe Cummings a tour of the oldest house in Skokie. “We’ve tried to recreate the feeling of an 1858-type log cabin. We’ve recreated the rope bed, which they slept on. The phrase “sleep tight” comes from tightening up the rope before you climbed into bed…” Meanwhile, across the street… John Grossham, who is building the newest houses in Skokie, designed as residencies for merchants on street level, “What we’re trying to do is revise some of that charm when people used to live above their shops and thus were able to essentially work at home. What we are finding is people are extremely interested in that type of lifestyle now.”

17:15Copy video clip URL Kiki, Heather, Alisa, and Marcie talk about what it is to be best friends.

17:47Copy video clip URL “Wanda and Lilli”: Over lunch at the Walnut Room at Marshall Fields, Wanda McLenighan and Lillian Bender reminisce a little and talk about how they met and how their friendship has developed through almost 80 years. Wanda talks about the problem she faces with aging, “I just feel so inadequate. I was so independent. I could do anything really, but I can’t now.” Lilli gives some hard advice: “So, just accept it.”

21:50Copy video clip URL The Game of Life: Ben Hollis plays chess with Scott Padiak at North Avenue Beach and asks, “What’s the best move you’ve ever made in your life?” His answer: “Marrying my wife.” Hollis also asks Dottie Ruisard and Jennifer Lucas, “Are you a pawn in the game of life?

24:24Copy video clip URL Commercial hole.

25:24Copy video clip URL Credits w/ takeoff from Meigs Feild