The cicada invasion is underway. The first 17 year cicada visit that happened in my lifetime was in 1973 when I was twelve years old. Our whole street was lined with huge Elm trees and those bugs were all up in them! The loud buzzing sound they made was one thing but so was the crunching sound that happened every time my blue suede Converse All-Star shoes walked on the cicadas and their leftover shells as well.
Those red-eyed bugs are back in town!
The next cicada tour stop was in 1990. Our Elm trees were gone thanks to Dutch Elm Disease but there were still lots of those red eyed buggers to see and hear. There was talk of people baking cicadas into cookies and my mom did this. We talked about it on the air as I was producing the Murphy in the Morning Show on Q-101. Our host, Robert Murphy even agreed to EAT one of those cicada cookies and did so! Murf was braver than I was.
Here’s a new tune from me and Al Flash as we celebrate the return of the cicadas.
The most recent tour of the cicadas happened seventeen years ago. Let’s look back on what was going on back then. Some of these events didn’t happen when the bugs were here but within the calendar year of 2007.
Richard M. Daley was elected in what would be his final term as Mayor of Chicago.
Illinois Senator Barack Obama announced his candidacy to run for President.
Down in Miami, the Bears lost to the Indianapolis Colts 29-17 in Super Bowl 41. Prince played the halftime show and while in a dressing room before the show, he was told it was raining hard. Prince smiled and asked, “Can they make it rain even harder?”
The Chicago Blackhawks landed two young kid players who would turn the team’s fortunes around in just 3 years; Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
The first I-Phone made its debut. Apple bigwig visionary Steve Jobs was still alive, not passing away until 2011.
The Eagles released their last original set of songs, the double album “Long Road Out of Eden.” Then they went on another of their big money tours to support it.
Speaking of concerts, The Who went on a tour to support their “Endless Wire” album. Since then, Pete Townsend and Rogers Daltrey and company have done 7 more world tours.
Taylor Swift’s debut album “Taylor Swift” was released late in 2006 and had amassed 5 top 40 singles by the end of 2007. In the coming years Tay Tay would take over the world in music sales and sell out stadium concerts.
Top grossing movies in 2007 included “Spiderman 3”, “Shrek the Third” and “Transformers.” Also, in the top 10 that year was, “Ratatouille.” My mom and I saw that fun film the first weekend it was out. Driving home mom said she’d like to try to make ratatouille for the first time ever. She went straight to Jewel, picked up all the ingredients and that night for dinner we were dining on the most delicious stew ever! That was my mom. Great cook and adventurous as she could be.
Also, in 2007- “Mad Men” premiered on AMC and would run for seven great seasons and “The Sopranos” ended its eight years of excellence with a controversial final scene. Was Tony Soprano whacked in that eatery? Hard to know but I’d say yes.
Famous deaths in 2007 included the passing of Anna Nicole Smith, Robert Goulet, Charles Nelson Reilly and TV mogul Merv Griffin.
I’m sure there are other landmark events that happened in 2007 but these mentions give a peek at where we were in our American lives. We were still mired in the Iraq War and eight years away from Donald Trump becoming a disruptive force in American politics.
Finally, for me back in 2007 I was out of radio and in my 5th year as a paraprofessional and substitute teacher at South East Alternative School. I was also finishing my part time studies at Roosevelt University to become a Special Education teacher. All that waited for me in September were stints of student teaching: Five weeks at Jefferson Middle School in Villa Park then ten weeks at Fenton High School in Bensenville which I wrapped up in December. After passing my final state exam I became an official LBS1 teacher. And what a ride that’s been since!
So where will we all be in 17 years when the cicadas return for another short visit of noise making and mating? Here’s hoping we’re all still above ground.
Next Blog- Summer’s Coming!