Sep. 22, 2006 - The People And Places Of Metropolitan Square

I have written about Metropolitan Square before. That is name given to the redevelopment that is on going in Downtown Des Plaines. It is really turning into a nice place. The shops are beginning to open up and the people are coming. It's walking distance from my home, so I am there pretty often The eateries are my favorites. You can grab a bite to eat and be entertained at the same time. I can even tap into the wi-fi hot spot connection at Panera Bread with my laptop and work if I want to. Let's talk about the eating and being entertained at the same time part of it, shall we?

I remember ranting about Cheeseburger In Paradise when it first opened up, calling it Cheesy Version Of Paradise. Allow me to take this opportunity to admit that I was sadly mistaken. I was wrong in my assessment. I had just returned from Florida I believe, and I was still missing the smell of salt water in the air. Having not been in Florida for a few months now, I have grown sort of fond of the "island theme" atmosphere. Not only that, but some of the entertainment is really damn good. In fact, there is a story to be told about the first entertainer I saw there.

Some friends of ours from the south side came to visit and my wife and I wanted to show them how Metropolitan Square was shaping up. It was a very nice day so we decided we would eat outside at Cheeseburger. We ordered up and began chatting the way friends chat when they are waiting for their food to arrive. The live music, coming from inside, was in the background, and was weaving in and out of my consciousness. One time, upon weaving into my consciousness, it struck me as a very familiar voice. I had to check it out. Low and behold, it was Bobby Dunne. I had not seen Bobby for many, many years. Not since open stage nights at places up and down 63rd Street, place like The Speakeasy and The Upstairs Downstairs Lounge. Bobby was, and still is, a masterful singer songwriter. I was a so so bass player. Bobby has a few very good Cd's out, which you can check out by clicking on the link up above, and he is still making his living playing music. He is at the Des Plaines Cheeseburger on Sunday afternoons, but his complete itinerary is available on the Sopro website.

The next treat Cheeseburger offered up was Matt Scutter. I hear tell he is appearing as part of a duo in the future, but when we met him, he was a one man band. Scutter can play all three guitar parts; lead, rhythm and bass, proficiently. Through the miracle of digital looping he is able to seamlessly put together the middle breaks to a number of fine tunes and make you believe you are listening to an entire group. This talent alone should be enough to entice you to one of his shows. The bonus is, he sings extremely well also, so if you aren't dazzled by guitar playing ability, like I was, you will still be glad you searched him out.

This bring me across the square to Potbelly Sandwich Works. It was there that I had the pleasure of running into Tony Berry. Tony entertains the lunch time crowd with his unique cover of an extensively eclectic repertoire of popular tunes. I have heard him play everything from the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix, from "Happy Trails" to the "Banana Splits Theme". Potbellys is a sufficiently wacky kind of joint, with hyper-happy people taking care of you and good old Tony fits right in. I am always pleased when I walk through the door and Tony is in the house. I have been apologizing to him for not getting him into my blog as I told him I was going to do, but that stops today. Unfortunately, he does not have a website that I know of, so I can't give you a link, but I am sure If you e-mail him, he would e-mail you back telling you where you might catch his performance.

With all of this good stuff happening in Downtown Des Plaines, you might just know someone who wants to move here. If so, tell them that you know a really good REALTOR® and give them my number, e-mail address, URL, whatever. I'm not hard to find.

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