©2009 Chicago Tribune/Alex Garcia
“HI OPRAH, OVER HERE, IT’S ME! The photographer who wasn’t going to get caught into your celebrity tractor beam..Over HE-ERE!” Yes, although I was going to post a different photo today, you just can’t ignore someone who closes down Michigan Avenue. For the record, I wasn’t assigned to shoot Oprah’s kickoff show since we had enough people covering the event. But I joined other curiosity seekers from the newsroom who gravitated over to the Tribune editorial board room to get a view of the hoopla – and it was a decent office view. In case you missed it, the big robotic figures on stage weren’t the bodyguards of the Oprah invasion of Michigan Avenue – they were part of the opening act. As I left the building that day, past the police command post set-up in our lobby, a security guard shook his head and said mail delivery did not occur today in our building…As he said, bemusedly, “Only Oprah…”