Wild Chicago, no. 410

Wild Chicago Episode #410. Host Ben Hollis meets Muddy Water's son at the famous Checkerboard Lounge, imbibes wheatgrass, visits ice hockey doctors in Oak Park, plays war games, and indulges at a medieval-themed banquet hall.

00:14Copy video clip URL Production credits displayed.

00:40Copy video clip URL Ad for the Illinois Lottery, a corporate sponsor of the program.

01:16Copy video clip URL Clips of the episode’s subjects shown over carnivalesque music. A narrator briefly gives depictions of each.

01:42Copy video clip URL Opening to Wild Chicago, montage of Ben Hollis’s introduction and fragmented clips of eclectic scenes across the Chicagoland area.

2:44Copy video clip URL “King’s Manor.” Hollis visits Kings Manor (2122 W Lawrence Ave.), a medieval themed banquet hall. Staff dress in medieval style clothing. The banquet’s interior has fabricated appurtenances approximating a scene within a royal court; a man with an elongated trumpet sounds the entrance of guests. Long rectangular tables decked with red tablecloth stretch the length of the hall’s interior. Hollis interviews various characters who role play figures of the royal court. A stage is set at the head of the tables where staff give performances.

05:47Copy video clip URL “Healing Earth Store.” Healing Earth Resources sells environmentally conscious products and run a small juice bar and cafe. Several types of quartz crystals, amethysts, and other stones that help customers attune their higher self. Books covering environmental issues as wells compact discs containing nature and new wave sounds allow customers to get in touch with inner and environmental healing. The store grows natural grasses like wheat grass and sunflower sprouts, along with alfalfa and buckwheat for consumption in juice form or as part of soups, salads, and sandwiches. Greenpeace calendars are for sale. 

10:04Copy video clip URL “Emperor’s Headquarters.” Emperor’s Headquarters (5744 W Irving Park Rd.) lets customers scheme and manipulate a war room of miniature replicas and painted lead soldiers to re-enact wartime scenes from history. Battle scripts govern multiple battle scenarios to let participants strategize and deploy their war game skill. Many of the scenarios and characterizations of war time scenarios are drawn from popularized portrayals seen in movies or historicized games.

14:01Copy video clip URL “Blues Hall of Fame.” At the historic Checkerboard Lounge (423 E. 43rd. St., renamed Muddy Waters Dr.), Hollis meets Ben Hampton who shows him inductees to its blues hall of fame. Hollis also meets a man who claims to be Muddy Waters’s son.

17:10Copy video clip URL “High Tech Wargames.” Immersive reality virtual war games at Battletech, an emporium located in the North Pier terminal. A staff representative calls it the world’s first computer interactive sport that covers a virtual space of 100 square miles.

21:17Copy video clip URL “Finger Nail Art.” Artist Alfonso Segovia designs fingernails at Chicago Hair Design (2408 N. Lincoln Ave.). Segovia has recently been named a world champion of fantasy nail art. Segovia is an immigrant from Colombia, arriving in the U.S. in 1983. He shares a favorite poem “My Father Said”  for the camera.

23:43Copy video clip URL “Great Saves.” Hollis visits a sporting goods repair shop (404 Lake St., Oak Park, IL). The shop repairs equipment for teams like the Chicago Blackhawks, the Cubs, White Sox, local collegiate programs, and little leagues.

27:36Copy video clip URL Scenes from the next Wild Chicago episode.

28:17Copy video clip URL Ad spot for “Wild Wear.” A short commercial by Hollis for viewers to buy official Wild Chicago merchandise.

28:51Copy video clip URL Main credits shown.

29:12Copy video clip URL Wild Chicago closing graphics.

29:23Copy video clip URL Illinois Lottery advertisement.