Thursday, August 30, 2018

Tom Petty "You Don't Know How It Feels"

During a rainy summer night last year my phone buzzed with a text from my friend Allison. She asked what I was doing. "Nothing," I responded. "Great, then get your ass to Wrigley Field. We're going to the Tom Petty show," she quickly shot back. Allison didn't have tickets to the concert, but instead planned to hear the show from our friend's Wrigleyville rooftop. "You're going," she quickly responded before I could drop my excuse for not wanting to go.

As I boarded the CTA train 45 minutes later, the rain fell heavier and faster. This didn't help my cause as I already didn't want to go, but there was no turning back That stormy evening, Petty sounded sharp as I stood under an umbrella on a rooftop deck less than a block from where Petty performed on Wrigley's soggy outfield grass. A couple months after Petty's Wrigley show, he was dead. The former gravedigger turned rock legend died from cardiac arrest, and all I could think about was how glad I was for Allison's text urging me out of my comfort zone.