Lola the Cat’s 15 Minutes of Fame

 If you are new to this blog, and are starting to read it from this blog entry, then you know nothing about Lola the Cat.

She is the Official “Midnight In Chicago” Studio Cat.  Her full name is Maria de los Dolores and which, when translated means Mary of Sorrows.  The name is usually shortened to the more colloquial form of Loli, Lolita or Lola.  Lewis, who adopted Lola from the Peterborough Human Society back in March 2006, decided the cat’s name was Maria de los Dolores and then he announced she would be called Lola, for short. 

Now getting back to this story about Lola the Studio Cat, I can assure you that if we were to let you listen to the outtakes from our podcast recordings, you would be privy to her meows in the background or her scratching at the studio door as she tries to get in or tries to leave.

Lola has always seemed determined to make her own inroads, niche and special place in the Midnight in Chicago project, so when I painted the front and back covers for the first “Midnight In Chicago” CD, I obliged her by putting her in one of the paintings that appears on the back cover.

That particular painting also appears on the back of the “Countdown to Midnight” CD. (It’s the one with the Canadian flag on it, in case you are curious as a cat). In the picture, Lola is looking out the window at the Peterborough, Ontario clock tower. You can see that she is a gray and white tabby, although I have streamlined her fur a little in the painting. In reality, she is long-haired, and on dry days she is as static–y as a shorted out electrical transformer.

Hang on a second.  I think I may have forgotten where I was going with all of this.  Any time you see an MIC painting appear on the front or back covers of the CD, there is usually something in it that pertains to the project, or to my life, or to Elyse’s life, or to Lola the cat’s life.  You get the picture.

Just as this blog details some of the “inner secrets” about what drives the Midnight In Chicago initiative and its Creator and Co-Creator, the paintings and art cards give additional clues to who we are and what we do.

Regrettably, I cannot send out the “Midnight in Chicago” and “Countdown to Midnight” CDs to each and every one of you, but you can order the CDs online if you want to see the paintings close up. Plus, the same paintings that appear on the CDs are available as art cards and prints. The paintings appeal to both Canadians and US citizens alike.  (There are also ringtones available for download, by the way, in case the paintings on the CDs leave you wanting a portable momento to carry around with you all day long).

Anyway, I just thought that I would write this in case any of you were wondering if the cat in the painting on the CD is real or inspired. The answer is, Lola is real, and she, herself, is VERY inspired.

Thomas D. Taylor
Co-Creator
MIDNIGHT IN CHICAGO

A Little Insight Into My Own Culture and Tourism Initiative

It’s a little late to be writing about a vacation I took over a year and a half ago, but then again, we didn’t have the MIC blog back then.  Now that we have a blog, it seems only fitting that I should talk about things that have long passed but that impact on MIC and me. 

In December of 2006, I acted as a tour guide for Elyse and her son Lewis – who as we all know has AS – when I took them out of their home country (Canada) and into mine (the US) for a long awaited and much needed vacation.   Actually, Elyse and Lewis flew out of Toronto International into O’Hare and I took them around the U.S. from there, but all my grand talk of the U.S. was the impetus for getting them to fly into O’Hare.  So, in a way, I was the reason they came to America.  You get the picture, right? 

 

The trip was pretty extensive. We went from Chicago to Mammoth Cave (where a then 11-year-old Lewis enlightened the Ex-Marine Drill Sergeant who was guiding our cave tour that the White House was burned to the ground by people coming down from Canada in 1812). Then it was off to Great Smoky Mountain National Park (TN), Diamond Cave near Mammoth Cave (KS), Granite City State Park (IL), Metropolis (IL) to see all things Superman (where Lewis again enlightened us that it took a Canadian to bring attention to truth, justice and the American way), Springfield (IL) where we saw Lincoln’s Tomb, up Route 66 and then to Starved Rock State Park (IL).  And then Elyse and Lewis flew back home to Canada.

 

Somewhere in the midst of all, that we had started another Midnight In Chicago Art Competition that was going on in a suburb of Chicago.   How that happened, only Elyse knows (she’s the powerhouse behind all of this).

 

When I come to Canada to visit Elyse and Lewis, it’s the same thing. We see a lot of interesting sights together (who would have thought Elyse knew so many neat places hidden in and around Peterborough?) but we also work hard on Midnight In Chicago.

 

I know, I know. Never mix business with pleasure … or so they say.  What I have been finding out since Elyse started this initiative is that, though the work is hard, it’s very rewarding and sometimes moreso than a vacation could be.

 

- To see many artists congregated in an art venue for a unanimous and good purpose makes me feel good.

- To see yet another autism organization link up to one of our podcasts in order to spread the facts on autism makes me feel good.

 

 - To connect and communicate with people and autism organizations who are all working hard to raise awareness and funds, as well as create services, for autism makes me feel good.

 

And so, while it is good to get away from people – and everything – every once in a while, sometimes getting as close as you can to people is the most rewarding thing.

 

That is what I have learned from my OWN culture and tourism initiative.

 

Thomas D. Taylor

Co-Creator

MIDNIGHT IN CHICAGO

Journeying from pathetic to poetic

Most of you don’t know this, but in addition to being a podcaster and an artist, I am a published author. If any of you should happen across an issue of Towers, a college literary magazine with two stories in it entitled “The Interview” and “A Grasshopper Cerebrates Humanity”, they are both mine. (And yes, it is “Cerebrates” – not “Celebrates.” I was very cerebral in those days before I realized I was not Mark Twain.)

 
When Elyse decided to create the “Countdown to Midnight” CD, I got that arrogant head on my shoulders again, this time believing myself to be Neil Diamond’s twin brother. With an ego already inflated by the success of my “Late Night in the Borough” song, which is simply a re-shuffling of Elyse’s “Midnight In Chicago” song, I thought I’d try my hand at another song.  

This song was to be entitled “Somewhere in Detroit” and unlike “Late Night in the Borough” where Elyse’s songwriter’s hand came down heavily, and “How Do I Begin to Believe” where I helped her write a couple lines, “Somewhere In Detroit” was to be all mine.

 

Of course Elyse had no idea that this song was going to appear on her album. This was to be a surprise, and because it was going to be such a great song, I thought she would be more than willing to jettison one of her awesome hits off the album to make way for the hit that I was writing.

 

The inspiration for this song came from the video for Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” where this auto mechanic guy dreams of starting a relationship with a rich customer after he drops her car off at her house.

 

I thought to myself that I wanted to make my own song about a different guy driving around, mostly directionless, contemplating his life and wondering what he can do to improve it.

 

Why? Because this is something that guys do.

 

Springsteen’s guy was “on fire” for a woman, as far as I could see. I wanted to make a guy that fizzling out on life, even though he had all his needs met. There are plenty of songs like Springsteen’s, but this new song would be entirely new and entirely unique.

 

I thought and thought and thought about what I wanted to write, and poured every drop of sweat I had into the song, crossing out words and entire stanzas and re-writing them numerous times, imagining the music I wanted for it, trying to write sentences that Elyse would be able to sing. And I pictured the money rolling in.

 

Boy did I.

 

This whole process took about eight and half minutes.

 

Well, ok, maybe half an hour, truth be told.

 

At any rate, with nary a second glance, I proudly e-mailed what I considered to be the finished version to Elyse.

 

“This guy is absolutely pathetic” she said, after a cursory examination of the lyrics. “Although the song does have potential.” This was in a chat-room conversation to me. (Or maybe it was in an e-mail. I can’t quite recall.) I got some ice cream while she gave the lyrics a re-read. Obviously she would come to her senses after a second reading.

 

She came to her senses alright…by making me come to mine. ”Somewhere In Detroit” as I originally wrote it, was both pathetic, but salvageable, which is why I want to surprise Elyse on this blog by telling her how thankful I am that the finished song is successful mostly because of her revisions.

 

Thanks, Dear.

 

Meanwhile, click HERE to listen to “Somewhere in Detroit” and tell me what YOU think of it.

 

Thomas D. Taylor

Co-Creator

MIDNIGHT IN CHICAGO