Fine music at restaurant evokes memories of simpler times

I enjoyed reading the Viewpoint by Patrick Reardon in the Sunday Sun- Times about McDonald’s in Chicago being a microcosm of America. Here’s something about a McDonald’s in a Chicago suburb that is also part of “Americana” from not that long ago.

A few years ago I stopped at the McDonald’s in Countryside ( near La Grange) for coffee during a thunderstorm. I felt cozy sitting there sipping my coffee when all of a sudden I felt like I was in a movie or even another reality in time and space. I heard gorgeous- sounding “100 violins” and recognized the old song “Laura” from the movie of the same name.

Then I heard a trumpet playing and realized it was Jackie Gleason conducting a huge orchestra with the jazz legend Bobby Hackett playing his cornet. It was a “magical moment.”

At almost every restaurant in the country, you hear mindless “pop” music that often doesn’t resemble what musicians and much of the general public call music. But I was hearing the finest musicians and musical arrangers in America. When the song ended, I next heard a tinkling piano and recognized the song was “As Time Goes By” from the movie Casablanca. Now I really felt suspended in time and space, another “magical music moment.”

You still hear the finest music at that McDonald’s that can evoke memories of a simpler time when musical quality was at its peak. Steven Cooper, La Grange Park

Deceit and hypocrisy

There has always been a degree of deceit and hypocrisy in politics. It seems, however, that Gov. Bruce Rauner and his cohorts appear to be taking this to higher degrees almost daily. Earlier this week Rauner attacked his prospective opponent come next November about his shielding money in an effort to avoid taxes. Pritzger fired back that Rauner makes his money by putting people out of work. And that is where the hypocrisy comes in. Rauner has said he knows how to bring thousands of jobs to Illinois, yet this action again shows what he thinks of workers rights to earn a livable wage. Unions may not always do what’s right, but one has to ask where many workers in this country would be without them.

This latest example of Rauner’s anti- union agenda would greatly affect unions’ abilities to earn decent salaries and working conditions for its members and put them at the mercy of businesses to pay whatever they deemed appropriate to them. Along with his anti- union stance, Rauner has shown how he feels about the citizenry of this state. During the budget stalemate he refused to pay tuition grants to eligible recipients in the state, cut funding to charitable organizations serving the poor and needy, and others similar to them. The idea that he would want to weaken, if not kill unions is just another step in that direction. And therein lies the hypocrisy of Rauner, Trump and all the other millionaires/ billionaires who seek only to increase their personal wealth.

This is once again shown by Rauner, who has endorsed the Trump tax legislation that favors those like him and penalizes virtually everyone else. Governor,, it’s time for the lying,, deceit and hypocrisy to end. So far you have done virtually nothing to better the lives of people in this state.

Daniel Pupo, Orland Park