Some Sympathy For The Devil
Despite his love for the Rolling Stones, newly sworn-in Councilman Michael Powers will not be taking direction from Mick Jagger or Keith Richards. So he told the city council and audience Wednesday night. Over the whooping sighs of relief–just kidding, I could hear myself thinking, well, would it be so bad to take some advice from the world’s greatest living rock band? What might Mick Jagger have to say about how late a club on Chicago Street can be open, for example, or how many nights a week? What would he think about the prohibition against certain establishments serving cheap beer, or about a liquor commission that yanks a license over a few fights? If we told him it was our vision to create a “24 hour downtown,” a “city in the suburbs,” and then told him what we’ve actually been doing these past few years to discourage it, what would he have to say? In short, I think we could probably learn a lot from the Rolling Stones.
Powers initially worried me, because from what I read in the papers, it sometimes seemed he was not careful enough with the facts and statistics he would be expected to master as a councilman. And I was worried about his declaration that he was a “huge fan” of Ed Schock. Since such fans already constitute a majority on the council, I was looking for candidates that were more like Kaptain, who with their differing views could balance what would otherwise be a lopsided council. It may have been that he made the statement out of the calculation that riding in on the coattails of Ed Schock was better than riding in on a mysterious magic carpet. And if so, here comes a real whooping sigh of relief. I was also disappointed by his dismissive attitude towards illegal immigration issues, summed up by what he told audiences during the campaign, “Let’s not go there.” But in any election, we’ll never find someone who perfectly represents our views, and I have been encouraged recently by Powers’s position on the proposed concert hall, and, in all seriousness, by his love for the Rolling Stones.
What do the Rolling Stones have to do with anything? Well, if you’ve read this blog for a while, you know I’ve talked about Elgin’s storied history as a center for certain kinds of rock music. You’ve heard me talk about Slapstick, the Smoking Popes, Alkaline Trio, Colossal and other celebrated bands that have past and current ties to Elgin. You know about my desire for a music revival, and my call for a genuine effort, on the city’s part, to allow a “24 hour downtown” to emerge.
I don’t know what kind of music all of our councilmen or ex-councilmen typically listen to, but my guess is that it’s not rock and roll1. I think to some extent, you need to be a fan of something to support it. And if you have a fundamentally negative view of rock music, are you really going to be very supportive? Probably not. I think with Michael Powers’s election we do move one step closer to a 24-hour downtown, and that’s something we can all celebrate.
1I would be surprised if Brenda Rodgers, who constantly invokes the phrase, “my Heavenly Father,” plays air guitar to “Sympathy for the Devil.” But if so, we should start a band, because I play air drums.
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