Geneva man's music shows you can go home
Pat Schiller provided the singing voice you may have heard on some radio or television commercials in the 1970s, but the Geneva resident eventually set aside his musical talents to focus on steadier work, getting married and raising a family.
With his family life on solid ground and after building his own excavating business, Schiller was in a position to be talked back into entering a recording studio in 1999.
"A friend of mine, who was actually a former roadie on some of the music jobs, built his own recording studio, and one of his first projects was to record some of the songs I had done before," Schiller said.
"He sent me this CD, and I was wondering where the songs came from, but he used it to talk me into recording some new songs."
His first compilation of songs in 20 years came out under the title of "Living a Dream," but his most recent work, an adult contemporary rhythm and blues set titled "When I Go Home" has special meaning for Schiller.
"It is reminiscing about childhood and the fact that you can go home," said Schiller, who grew up in Elmhurst. "I felt it had some meaning for the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina because 50 percent of the residents there have not returned."
Schiller sent a copy of the CD to the governor and mayor of New Orleans in hopes "they would listen to the CD's title song, share the message and recover some people who for whatever reasons have not been able to return."
With that goal in mind, Schiller is sending several copies of the CD to New Orleans. Soldiers in Iraq also will get the same message, as Schiller is going to send 100 copies overseas.
A football twist
While Pat Schiller is enjoying recording music again, he also likes to keep tabs on his son, also Pat Schiller, a freshman at Northern Illinois University who plays football on the Huskies scout squad.
A teammate and friend of the younger Schiller at Geneva High School has a hand in the elder Schiller's new CD. Colin Olsen, who is a freshman at Southern Illinois University, did the photography work on the CD cover.
Beating the heat
Matthew Bartindale beat the heat and had plenty of water before supplies dwindled last Sunday. Bartindale, a 2006 graduate of St. Charles East and now a sophomore at Notre Dame, finished the Chicago Marathon in 3:07 to place third in his 16-19 age group and qualify for next year's Boston Marathon.
"I ran several 20-plus mile runs in July and August in the heat so I felt somewhat prepared for hot weather, but I was not expecting heat as intense as it was during the race itself," Bartindale said of his first marathon.
Like all of the other runners in the event, Bartindale was hoping for a cool October day.
Bartindale said there was plenty of water at the aid stations he went through, but he felt he was lucky to finish the race before 11 a.m. because the heat became more intense and water supplies less plentiful.
Bartindale said he was encouraged by the St. Charles East girls cross-country team that was cheering him on and "my girlfriend, who ran the last 5 miles with me to help me through after hitting the wall."
Forgotten art
I hadn't seen this form of communication since my father did it in his 1956 DeSoto.
A fellow driving a beater car was in front of me traveling north on Route 31 in Batavia and stuck his arm outside his window. It took a moment, but it clicked for me that he was signaling a left turn.
Surprisingly, I was able to recall all of the hand signals. Would you know what the driver in front of you was intending to do if he stuck his arm out in an upside-down L shape?
Here's a hint: It would probably mean his brake lights don't work.