This month's CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) Historical Calendar photo, as seen above, brought back a flood of memories to me yesterday. It is of the Argyle "L" station, taken back in 1910. And no, I do NOT remember it as it was back in 1910. I am not THAT old, although some days it feels like it. What the photo did was bring back memories of Tom Dundee's song "The McBride Argle Station Furnished Rooms," which I listened to back in the 1970s on WFMT's Midnight Special during one of its Chicago music and humor broadcasts. I recorded that 3 hour show on an 8-track recorder and played it over and over again until the tape wore out. It wasn't until the advent of the internet that I was able to find that song again. Yesterday I looked up Tom Dundee on the internet, and it mentioned he was a principal member of Chicago's folk music scene, along with Steve Goodman (City of New Orleans), John Prine, Mick Scott, and Bonnie Kolac. And that led me to see if Bonnie Kolac was the one who wrote another Chicago song on that show called "Rainy Windows." I googled that, and it turns out she wasn't. But just below that was listed Bonnie Dobson, who was indeed the writer and performer of that song. It took years to find that out, and all because I had googled Bonnie and Rainy Windows. The internet can be an amazing thing. And now I intend to tune in next Saturday night to WFMT and listen to the Midnight Special once again, which is still being broadcast after all these years. Thanks for the memories, Chicago Transit Authority!
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