"Shame on Wheaton!"

"Shame on Wheaton!" exclaimed the four ederly Ladies in the row behind me at Memorial Park in Wheaton. The Ides of March band had just finished playing "Vehicle", their #1 hit from 1971 that propelled them to national fame, and touring with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Led Zeppelin. This fastest selling record in the history of Warner Brothers records also ignited a storied career for Jim Peterik, who went on to also create multiple hit records for groups like .38 Special, and Survivor, including his ultimate smash hit, "Eye of the Tiger".

Jim Peterik and the Ides of March play all of the tunes that Jim has written, and always ends their concerts with the rousing, hopeful, overcoming adversity song "Eye of The Tiger". Last night, as the thousands in the audience gave a standing ovation as the Ides finished Vehicle, everyone was excited to experience the perfect ending to a beautiful summer concert night in Wheaton, Illinois, with their final song, "Eye of the Tiger". This song has been played in hit movies, used in hundreds of TV Shows and commercials, played all over the world, downloaded over a billion times on Spotify, and we all were going to hear it live, played by its creator. BUT - instead an institutional sounding voice came over the loudspeaker and said something like - "THE CONCERT IS OVER...EXIT MEMORIAL PARK...". I looked at my phone. The time had just clicked to 9:31 PM. Someone decided that the curfew was here. No exceptions. Please stop having fun and go home.

The Wheaton Facebook page lists the Ides of March as "True Legends", which is most assuredly correct. These 4 high school age boys, Jim Peterik, Larry Millas, Bob Bergland, and Mike Borch, from Berwyn, Illinois formed the Ides of March, and off and on, have played together, with the Wheaton concert being their 60th Anniversary show. They took us back to the mid 60's with their first hit, reaching number 7 in Chicago, "You Wouldn't Listen", and the 70's with a great rendition of touring in California and missing their Chicago home, "LA, Goodbye". Also performing Jim's hits with Survivor and .38 Special, singing a beautiful rocker turned ballad, "Is This Love?", and a fun "Rockin Into The Night" which took us up to the famous opening horn riff of "Vehicle".

When the 9:30PM curfew came crashing down on this beautiful summer night of music and the Band looked at each other and at the audience in confusion. Jim Peterik stepped to the microphone, and maybe was going to say good night? Or thanks to everyone for 60 great years? Or sorry that they could not finish? But no sound came out of the microphone. The power was cut. It felt to me like the scene from the movie "Meet John Doe", where Gary Cooper was trying to reach out and explain, but the establishment silenced his thoughts.

Could The Ides and the audience been given a few more minutes to finish the night? I have worked years ago for a municipality, and I know that government mostly has a one dimensional blind spot with "a rule is a rule", "that's our policy", "no exceptions", "blah, blah, blah". However, this does not have anything to do with the fact that the Ides of March and the audience were treated shabbily last night. Could the administration of the park walked up to the Ides and offered these "True Legends" 4 minutes to close the evening in a beautiful way? Could the local residents tolerate 4 more minutes of waiting for their curfew?

After I walked to my car, I heard the words of the 4 Ladies resonate in my head. "Shame on Wheaton!". Right now, I really don't care to go to Wheaton to eat, or shop , or even walk down one of the streets. When I got home last night, I told my daughter what happened, and all she coud say was, "Dang! That's harsh!"

The 4 ladies can go home and listen to the Ides of March play "Eye of The Tiger" live on their streaming service of choice, or they can even visit Wheaton Warrenville High School on Friday afternoons, as the song is played every Friday as the students are dismissed, or they can come to my house, where I plan on sitting on my deck tonight, and listening to the Ides of March play on YouTube "Eye of The Tiger", where no Wheaton curfew police can interrupt my fun.