The Pritzker Machine, O’Hare Madness, and Loose Eggs

0:00I don't know about y'all, but I could do it a little rewind, a little look back, a little nostalgia right about now, and I can always go for some quality time with beautiful art. So it's a good thing, the other art fair is back in Chicago, April 9th through the 12th. This year's theme is nostalgic core, so you can find a curated selection of interactive artist layer projects that celebrate those memories that make us, you know, a little misty eyed, support 115 plus independent artists and meet them in person at artifact events and Ravenswood tickets start at just $20 booked them now at the other art fair dot com today on city cash Chicago rumors of a Pritzker presidential run only grow louder following the primaries airport traffic doing spring break, cook your real bad out there y'all, and we're checking in on what y'all had to say about our breakfast, Sammy, March Madness bracket, it's Monday, March 23rd, I'm Jacobi Cochran, and this is what Chicago's

1:06talking about, I am joined today by executive producer Simone, Alisa, back in the building, how you feeling today? I'm okay, Jacobi. How are you? You know, another day, another day. We've also got contributed Lee John Greco in the building with us. Lee, how you doing? I'm good. I'm good. I was ready to, you know, be rid of this election, and now you got me talking about the primaries again. Right. We got to tell I try to get out and you keep pulling me back in. We live talk. We honestly, we honestly lie to ourselves. Yeah. We were like, we need a break. We need to stop. And as the dust settled, the stories was coming out, right? You have a post game analysis, right? Right. True. And I tried to see what, see what's going on. I see a break. Because we, we're not out of here just yet, right? Lieutenant Governor, Juliana Stratton's win in the Senate primary was historic.

2:07It sets up a general face off against Republican nominee Don Tracy. But a lot of the headlines I've been seeing over the last few days have been really focused on her former running mate, Governor J. B. Pritzker, a lot of the national headlines are inside J. B. Pritzker's power play. Pritzker's gamble to become a king maker. Pritzker's big night. And many ways it seems like maybe he's consolidating his power in the Democratic Party, Lee. What do you think? Are you, are you buying into this new Pritzker machine? Yeah. I mean, it's interesting because I wrote about this for MS now the day before the primary about, you know, what's going to happen with Pritzker's endorsement with Stratton. If he loses, is it going to be a huge embarrassment for him? If he wins, does it make him a king maker? And at the time, folks that I interviewed like Bill Daly, for example, were saying, yeah, if he wins, it'll probably cement him as this king maker.

3:09It'll be good for him. But if he loses, I won't be that bad, which is interesting because a couple years ago, when I wrote about what the DNC and Chicago meant for Pritzker, people were saying the same thing. They were like, oh, if the DNC is great, Pritzker gets all of the credit. And if it goes badly, all of the blame goes on Mayor Brandon Johnson, which is kind of lousy. What is that? What is driving kind of Pritzker's like Teflon nature here? Like why does it seem like these potential losses? Because I think I think back to the early in his tenure and the loss of the graduated income times right at the ballot, that was sort of seen as a really big like, oh, man, you're really kind of, oh, like you got outspent in a place that it felt like your advantage was you got the money. Yeah. It felt like the other billionaire is outspent him on that one. So it was like, you lost politically and it seemed like you lost financial. But since then, it seems like he takes these big swings.

4:09He dropped like $11 million in 2022 during local midterms for Illinois Democrats. It seems like he's taking these big swings, but it seems like the sort of general thought as even if he loses, it maybe won't be that bad. Like why? How does that even work? I don't know how that works because to be honest with someone who would cover his ill and white politics, I don't understand how, because when you look at Johnson, for example, when you look at, you know, we're going through this right now with the, the tip minimum wage, right? It was a huge win for him, a huge legislative win. And now that that's been rolled back, it's like, oh, man, what does this say? I'm going to employ another veto. It's like that, which is like a lot of videos for a recent mayor, you know what I mean? Yeah. He said what? I think three majors, this is a third, I think. Yeah. So, you know, when that happens, it's like, oh, he's really weak going into the next mayoral.

5:12Whereas, yeah, with Pritzker, it's, I honestly do not, I wish I had a savvy political-punted answer for you of like why it doesn't touch him. Also, it's not like Illinois itself is in amazing shape. Like we're in pretty dire financial straits right now, so honestly, I don't have an answer. I mean, I guess I would say nationally he does have this presence where he is the foil to Trump, right? Like, there's sort of two sides of the same coin, right? They're both super rich guys, but one is, you know, this egomaniac, and then the other is like, you know, a people joke that JB is like the people's billionaire, you know, like he is not only very progressive, but he's also the guy who shows up at the gay pride parade in Chicago and like takes a shot that's thrown at him from the crowd.

6:16You know, he just kind of seems like a normal guy. So, I don't know, I think maybe like outside of Illinois that has a lot of appeal. But yeah, in terms of like why he just keeps on winning, even when he loses, I don't really know. What I can say is that Tuesday night, obviously, he had a great night. I know everybody's talking about Julian Stratton, who obviously he not only endorsed, but poured millions into her campaign, but you know, Illinois controller, his endorsement for Margaret Croke. She also won. There was also an eaked out that way, though. That was pretty close. That's true. That's true. Also, one of those races that I think a lot of people aren't following that, right? It's kind of like the judges races as well. Those are like what we call low information races, right, which, you know, maybe Pritzker had the same effect that like an Irish last name has for a judge, right? People just think like, oh, okay, yeah, I know that Pritzker endorsed her.

7:20So let's go with that. I told some on that earlier this week, my mama said, if Pritzker is running to be a dog catcher, I'd love for him. And I use that. I do think there are a few things here. One, I think he's buoyed by consistency, particularly being the governor pre pandemic during it and post, whereas the city has had multiple mayors during that time. I think he has some really early big wins, some of which we are criticizing to this day, I think at the time coming in, codifying reproductive rights, major cannabis legalization, the safety act over time, getting gambling, uh, uh, the sports betting and the state. There have been some labor wins like guarantee pay leave is focused on childcare. Again, I do think your point about the way Mayor Brandon Johnson has taken a lot of criticism even similar to his predecessor, Laurie life, but I do think Pritzker, let's be honest,

8:21billionaire white guy walks this line where he is a Chicago supporter and stand and constantly is pushing back against negative narrative. But I do think his tension, like sort of contentious relationship with both Laurie life, and now Mayor Brandon Johnson. So he can still sort of live in some of shifting that blame on Chicago. That sort of focus on how Chicago isn't getting things done in sort of maybe contrast to the ways he isn't facing that much pushback in his legislature, but Brandon Johnson is seeing growing tension with the city council. And so I think from a local level, he has been able to walk the line where we say he's taking a lot of credit for the, the, the wins and what I would call some easy layups. And on some of those bigger concerns around, for example, the, the rise in migrants being sent to the city from the southern border, like there are a lot of questions around how the state

9:24funded that and the amount of money they did or didn't put up for, for local infrastructure in Chicago and in the surrounding suburbs. But who took the brunt of that criticism? Was Mayor Brandon Johnson? And I think Pritzker leaned in there in some ways. Oh, yeah, he wants to know the most possible time. There we go, right? He looked in there and tossed my man's every single bus that was coming up the street. And so I think that plays into it. And like when I talk to my mom, you know, she, another thing is she's like, this is about big money. And, and he has the money to, to, to sell for his campaigns. So he's pretty much a shoe in. He's not seen as big money himself. That's kind of what's wide about it. I think it's like in people's name is on everything. I don't know. I feel like, yeah, I don't know how he's walked the line in which people at this point, I think are as contentious with the billionaire class as they've been in my entire lifetime.

10:24But I, I do think there is some sense amongst the electorate that like, we go need money in this fight. Look how much is pouring into the elections. You know, money is the only thing that's going to fight money. And so I, he, he has never hidden it, right? He is clearly throwing millions into his, his own campaigns into, into his second and commands campaign. And so again, going for a record third term as a Democrat in a state, only one of 13 that doesn't have term limits, he can pretty much ride this if he wants to. And I think that will he won't he, I mean, it's the reason we're talking about it right now. Does this give him more momentum towards a potential presidential run? It's the reason we've been having this conversation for years now. I mean, it's, it's pretty clear that he's going to run for president the way that not only like, he sets himself up as a national figure, but also just like,

11:28everybody who works for him is clearly quite thirsty for it as well. You know, the, the fact that Pritzker's team put up such a fight for the DNC, they were, they were very aggressive on that. All of a sudden, I was like, from what I've heard from other people in the Democratic Party, too aggressive, like to the point of being annoying. Yeah, to your point on, you know, the whole like throwing Johnson under the bus, too. I mean, Pritzker's done that to Johnson. He's done that to Lori. And, you know, definitely, I think like the fact that like he's a white billionaire, you know, gives him an easier ride than those two mayors as well, who, you know, are both Black, Lori being a Black gay woman as well. But also, I wonder, especially when it comes to like Pritzker versus Johnson, I wonder if the reason that Pritzker has this more like Teflon reputation and somebody like Johnson doesn't is that I think Pritzker's communication team might just be better, you know, like,

12:29they're better at spending stuff, they're better at, I don't want to say like, I mean, I'm thinking- The people around you matter right now, American. Yeah, they do, yeah. They got deputy mayors like having a resign right now. Hearing people, yeah, and just got fired. Yes, I mean, so we're recording this on Friday. So this just happened Thursday. But yeah, so I think like communication really matters. And Johnson's team, frankly, hasn't done that. And he just lost one of his top cons folks to Zorong pretty recently. So, you know, he's he's going to be on the struggle bus for a little bit. The only thing, the only thing I want to add just in terms of any potential wrinkle into Pritzker's national platform or agenda here is congressional black caucus, you know, has come out criticizing Pritzker for his support of Stratton, right? So these are black congress members who really wanted Robin Kelly to to to to win in this primary and sort of felt like

13:32Pritzker throwing his muscle around was sort of a in a front to them. Like it was sort of like an insult to to that caucus and they kind of were like, okay, we'll remember this in 2028, you know what I mean? We're just kind of interesting. I looked into what some of them had to say, according to political Mississippi rep, Benny Thompson said, he has to justify what he did. I'm sure at some point if he decides to run, he'll have to come with that justification. Ohio rep joys BDC, keep in mind the Democratic candidate for president that prevails has to go through the CBC and we're very strategic. We'll lay out the framework. New York rep Gregory Meeks, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus PAC was asked if they'll reach out to Pritzker. And he replied, we don't need to reach out to the governor. Some were a little software. South Carolina Democrat rep Jim Clyburn said, pretty much we saw this coming. That was his second in command, also a black woman. He has to stand alongside them and he was free to support anyone.

14:33And so I do think there is room, especially when we're talking about who's going to be supporting who's campaign. If he's running for Democratic figurehead, there's going to be some push and pull here where, sure, he's going to need them and their constituencies. But also, they're going to be looking for their campaign call for us to be field as well. And as he's shown, as you point out some on, he can spread the money around Illinois. He clearly, clearly got the bad to spread it around the country. And so we see them fundraisers in New Hampshire, JB Pritzker. We see the annual steak fry in Iowa, those two events he's attended. New Hampshire in Iowa. Why would you, why would you be there? You know, just for fun, he just really wants to steak fry, guys. And so eventually, I understand at this moment, right after Congressperson Robyn Kelly finishes in third, you got to come out for your girl.

15:34You got to, you got to come out for a member of your caucus with a lot of steam. But I do think as the months pass, again, as Pritzker potentially submits himself for three-time governor, you know, I think their team might change a little bit, you know. So CPS Spring break starts today. The key is going to be outside. Obviously, the tour is going to be flocking to Chicago to take part in our 60-degree days. But Simone, what does that mean for the rest of us who trying to get up out of here, especially as we in the middle of another partial government shutdown? Which I'm going to be honest, I think this might be the first time we've actually said that on the body. We haven't talked about this one, but we have not talked about this one. What does this mean for our airports? I think I was right after the last one shut down. I flew out to Houston. It was a little backed up, but the one delayed, I called decent day. What is it looking like right now? Um, yeah, it's not amazing.

16:35So there's a couple of things going on. Number one, you have this partial government shutdown, which just is probably mean staffing shortages, both for TSA, so like security line stuff. But also, we worry, you know, everyone worries about staffing shortages for, you know, safety people as well, right? People directing flights and things like that. And so that can lead to delays like we saw in the fall. On top of that, as you said, it's spring break. It's spring break season. Lots, it's a big kind of travel moment, particularly for O'Hare Airport. And, you know, I think, I think it was someone from United told Axios like, this is going to be a stress test, like, you know, doing navigating this season along with the government shutdown or the partial shutdown. And so like if, you know, you are a CPS family, that is, that has just traveled or is on the way back. I wish you patience. I think a lot of people saw, you know, video out of Newark, New Jersey recently, where there were like security lines like out the door.

17:38And, you know, there are worries that things like that could happen here. And then of course, on top of that, the erratic weather doesn't help. We already had a bunch of cancellations and delays, you know, last weekend because of storms, you know, I think the forecast is looking pretty okay for now. But it's March that could change. And then on top of on top of on top of on top of all that is O'Hare is already struggling with how busy it is. In fact, the FAA is expected to cut hundreds of flights because it's just too many. It's too much already historically known for being delayed. I think right now, 70, only 75% of flights are maybe going out on time. It's really rough, particularly those domestic flights. Like those like, and like those domestic flights are really where you're going to be feeling those delays. And it's interesting because it was like, you know, at the start of the year, O'Hare was named for the first time in a while, reclaimed busiest airport in the US.

18:41But it was sort of like as a result of that. And then of course, you had united announcing, you know, we're going to be doing this many more flights. This summer, American, you know, Lee, you were on talking about the way United and American are competing for gate space. And they're doing so by being like, well, we're going to fly you to more places. And then the FAA is like, well, actually, how are you going to do that? How are you going to fly all those places? There's not enough room. There's not enough gates. What do you do? And they're afraid of it becoming a new work situation. Like that's why the FAA is saying, you guys got to roll this back. And then also, you know, I talked about this a bit in that last podcast. O'Hare is also undergoing massive construction. I'm talking about the top of the top of the top of the top. They can afford to spruce the place up. There was a lot of a lot of tape out there. A lot of dirt, a lot of construction going on. I was like, hey, y'all, maybe clean some of this up. Maybe get some of this out the way. Yeah. First, what I am really upset by is, so during the last government shutdown, I had international travel scheduled during that shutdown. I once again have international travel coming up.

19:43So I'm going to be at O'Hare later in April. And like, I don't know that I have faith that Congress is going to reach some kind of deal on Department of Homeland Security funding. We're not increasing funding to Homeland Security. Not sure how confident I am that that's going to come together. And so I guess the moral of the story is, I shouldn't plan travel because that's when the government shuts down. I don't know. That's the only conclusion I guess I can take from that. I do think the, yeah, I just say home. I do think though, for people who are genuinely concerned about like, funding DHS and, you know, whether we should give any more funding to ICE and CBP. When you do think about it, I get it like, it is a huge panel in the neck for all of us in Chicago who fly in and out of O'Hare. But overall, like, it's kind of a small number of Americans who fly. So I almost feel like this is a pretty small pain to have to go through to put pressure on

20:47members of Congress to like not fund CBP and ICE. So not that that makes it any better for all of us who have to fly. It's a huge, huge pain in the butt, but it's not the pressure point it may look like. Yeah, it's not like it's not like snap funding was like snap funding had like everybody across the board all across the country. Whereas this is like, okay, probably affecting, you know, a relatively small number of Americans. But I do think the economic effects are maybe the ones that that people are watching, right? When it comes to like, you know, the airports airports, right, there's a reason we care so much about the business of O'Hare. And it's because it brings in money for the city, both in terms of tourists, but right, it is the entry point for the massive convention. Like if we want to have the DNC in in 2028, God forbid, the airport is the gateway for stuff like that. When we talk about, you know, revenue, you know, it's just another way for

21:47for the city to get money, but also just just shifting revenue around getting money being spent in Chicago. So I think that economic pressure, you know, even though it might only affect a, a, a directly a small percentage of people who are actually traveling, like there's, I think the powers that be are also concerned about just what kind of, what will this do more broadly to, to, to the economy as well. Very true. We're not all primary post game and airport delays over here, y'all. We are also in the middle of our very own March madness tournament right now. And I hope to crown Chicago's best breakfast sandwich. We recently put our readers and listeners. Simone, where are we at right now? Right. So I had I think 16 potential breakfast sandwiches now to down to eight. And now I am

22:47pleased to announce the final four and the final four top breakfast sandwiches as voted on by our readers and listeners as selected by us and some of our guests are the breakfast wrap from goddess and grocers various locations, the breakfast sandwich from build coffee in wood lawn, the sausage egg and cheese sandwich from low flange and avidale. And of course, although in a fourth place here, the cassava breakfast sandwich, of course, the subject of many and insta, an Instagram foodies video, I would say, and much, much hype. Like I need to try each of these days wait this week. I have not yet had the cassava breakfast sandwich when I finally went there, I had just like the regular breakfast plate. I don't know, I was like at eggs and like the like sausage and everything. I will say the cassava, like baked goods, like the pastries and stuff,

23:50those blew my mind. They have this like truffle, um, croissant with like this sugar on top that was kind of gray look at, which doesn't that doesn't sound good, but it really was watching you describe it though, like watching you go back to that moment was perfect. Yeah, yeah, it's for people who are just listening to this and not watching clips of it. I did the little like salty thing with my hands, but um, but overall, like I kind of felt like the cassava breakfast. Again, I don't know the sandwich, but I was like, okay, this is like just as good as the Filipino food that I've had it, like buy on co, which I feel like everybody talks about cassava and I'm like buying I feel exactly the same way Lee. It's, and you know what, the only reason I don't talk about buying co's because I don't want to blow it up so much that there's a line. It's already hard enough to go in for brunch on a weekend, to be honest. Yeah, but um, yeah, the, I, I haven't had the other breakfast sandwiches. Were there any breakfast burritos? There are breakfast burritos on, oh, on this

24:54bracket, we have the breakfast wrap from goddess and grocer, but no, no, I don't think there's anything on this list that had burrito in the name, because what's so bizarre to me is Chicago has a huge Mexican population. And yet I have, I have yet to have a good breakfast burrito. My white whale breakfast burrito was in Homer, Alaska. That was the best breakfast burrito I've ever had. And yet why? Why? You should try the breakfast burrito at buy on co. They have three different ones. They do. Yeah, they're overly tasty. They're very good. Okay, great. There we go. Problem solved. Yeah. Yeah, I need to go. I've had, I want to say three of the four of these. I don't think I've had the loaf lounge. So I need to go have each one within the next week or so. So my wind is just wrapping up so I can set myself a date to have all four that I can make my vote very much informed. Hopefully before March, can I say one last thing? This is not about any of the restaurants on

25:59this list, but this is just like a general beef that I have. People need to stop making in their breakfast sandwiches, the egg into a patty. You know what I mean? When it's like a square or round patty? Hard. Just agree. Yeah, I'm like, what do you want to just like? Yeah, you want to do what do you? No, no, no, I want scrambled eggs. Like when you mix scrambled eggs and they're like just like kind of mashed up and loose and they're chopped and then you just throw them on a breakfast sandwich. Hard to say. Yes, exactly. No, no, no, no, no, listen, listen, listen. Okay. Maybe you want to scramble hard or do you want to like scramble medium scramble? I like it a little, I like a loose, slightly wet scramble and the thing with the patty is people. These, okay, these patties taste like rubber. Remember when you were a kid and you had a toy kitchen and there were and like you had like patties like that and they were rubbery. That's what it tastes like.

27:01They're not nailing it. I reached out to like one of my favorite places where I used to get this like amazing breakfast sandwich on a really good bagel and then and they used to do the loose eggs. And I reached out to them yet. We can't have you, you can't be making an argument for something and make it sound so out of healing. Okay, like I'm sorry, but like what a close to scramble the eggs like they should be messy. They should. I have this argument with our team. I love, I love the medium scrambled egg for sure. And I'll take a piece of toast and a puss on my bagel and put a little bit on it. But I don't know if I want to open up a wrapped sandwich and have to hold. See what I like, I like, I think if I want a scrambled egg on a on a on a breakfast sandwich, I think it should be folded. You know what I mean? Like a like a kind of almost an omelette. Where it's okay. Yeah, a folded egg I can get behind because like I like an omelette and omelette is good. The problem I have with these patties that are creating is all of the moisture is sucked

28:06out of it, which makes it rubbery. It's like when you put meat or an egg in the microwave, that's the most disgusting thing ever. I can't, I can't go with you on this one. You make a solid, you make a solid case. I, but I point me to the loose. I was going to say point me to the, I was going to say point me to these loose booty eggs on a sandwich that's doing it right. And I, I think you get like, let me see because places used to do it and now they're doing it to like cut corners financially and what really grinds my gears is when I reached out to this place that I used to go to, they were like, it's more environmentally friendly to make it this way and cost effective. I was like, don't give me this. It's just easier. I do think a breakfast sandwich and this was my take is I think a breakfast sandwich should be portable. I think it should be something that you can easily eat while walking or even on the train and on people's feelings about eating on the train. Don't eat on the train. Man, I got, I got time for this. I don't have

29:11time for this. Yeah. Again, at home, loose scrambled egg sandwich. Yeah, it might own with my own plates where I'm going to do the dishes. Yeah. Yeah. Here's, here's another reason why actually get the breakfast burrito is as much as I love bagels. A breakfast burrito is like the best vehicle because you can have a loose egg and everything is in there. I think you're maybe not wrong. I think you're maybe not wrong. Yeah. Yeah. I can't see that. And not leaves loose booty burritos. Well, that makes us sound like I have a loose booty. No, no, the loose booty. Listen, if anybody in Chicago is listening to this and they own high restaurants, Chicago is listening to this. Well, no, no, no, but if anyone in Chicago is listening to this and they also own a restaurant that makes a breakfast burrito or a breakfast sandwich with a loose booty egg, call me up. My DMs are open. I will come. I will eat, I will eat it and I

30:14will sing your praises. I don't know what you would argue about. Yeah, I'll do, well, no, I'm not going to do it. I can't do burrito on camera because I'm not going to eat anything on camera that is like that is like pipe shaped. Do you know what I mean? The moon just went like behind your desk for a bit. No, I appreciate your pause in there like because it was not clear what was coming next. I knew I was coming next. No, I knew what was going to be. Exactly. I just think I was worried you were going for an adjective that was that was both accurate and appropriate. So I don't don't ask me to come and review your popsicles or I don't know frozen bananas, hot dogs, anything like that, but a sandwich, I'll do that. If you catch Lee at the pickle fest, don't keep your osmosis. Pickles. Pickles. Keep your kgs to yourself. Yeah, get it, get away from me.

31:17You shake out your camera. I will, I will throw hands. Look at me, you used that cue to our guest today. Executive producer Simone Ali, say, thanks to Kobe. Thank you so much. Contributor Lee John Greco. Thank you for having me. I appreciate you making the time playing along. If you are still listening to the episode at this point, please head over to Chicago.citycast.fm. That is where you can subscribe to our daily newsletter. You can check out our events calendar. And if you really love this episode so much that you're thinking, I want to pay these people for this experience, for this information. Hey, visit membership.citycast.fm. And for ten bucks a month, we are going to throw in an addition to all of this hilarity. We're going to give you a free listening access to neighbors only events. And every week we'll send you some of our favorite things happening in and around the city. Again, that's membership.citycast.fm. I was going to say, if you donate to citycast

32:18today, maybe I'll send you a video of me eating breakfast burrito. So promise anything, you're not willing to deliver on Lee. If the toe bags and the beanies ain't got them pulling out all the stops here, y'all. Actually, our executive producer is hanging around for a little bit longer, because we got a quick conversation sponsored by the other art fair. Hey, it's executive producer Simona. They say I hear it. And I'm here with Nicole Garten, the other art fairs global fair director. Hi, Nicole. Hi. Great to be here. We're really glad to have you. Thanks for joining us. So what can folks expect from the other art fair? And how is it different from traditional arts bases? So the other art fair was founded really with the idea of bringing artists and direct connection with art lovers all over the world. We were founded in London in 2011 and then opened in the US in 2017 first in Brooklyn and then expanding into LA Chicago and now Dallas. Chicago's

33:25been an amazing city. Obviously such a creative city, so many artists, museums and art lovers. So what's amazing about the other art fair and the name is a little bit of a clue. It's a place where you can meet the artists directly in person. They're there presenting their own work. So, you know, you come out to the fair, you'll meet over 100 artists from all over the world. Half of them are typically local to the city that we're in. So you'll definitely find tons of artists from the local community as well as across the Midwest, the US and further afield. They're there to explain their works, their journey, share their culture, their background. And it's important to us that people feel comfortable. So all of our prices are listed upfront. They're next to the artwork. There's no mystery. You don't have to feel dumb or, you know, this isn't for me. You can see clearly, oh, actually, this original artwork is way more affordable than I would have thought. So that kind of just sets the tone of like, hey, we're here for you. And we hope you have

34:26fun while you're here. Well, and I kind of want to dig into that because I think there's a perception that art collectors, right, are these super wealthy elite types. Art collection is really only if you have that kind of cash to spend. But it sounds like you're trying to reach audiences who maybe wouldn't immediately think of themselves as the art collector type. So much of art is very expensive. And we hear these crazy auction prices. But what's amazing about our fair and particularly working with emerging artists is it's kind of the the beginning end of the market. You're getting them before they've been snatched up by galleries. And so they're still very affordable. All of the works that our fair are under $10,000. And really the sweet spot is between about 100 to 2000. So you can find something amazing that, you know, next year maybe that artists will be presented by a gallery and their prices will double. But you can find them first and get them when they're still, you know, relatively inexpensive. A speaking of,

35:27you know, an artist you might see one year versus what you see the next year. At the other art fair, are people generally seeing the same artists year after year or how do you get new talent? Yeah. So for us, it's really important to be a champion for artists coming up as well as to help mid-career artists. So we get people at different points in their journey. We have an open call for artists twice a year in each of our markets. It's free to apply. And we just welcome people, whatever stage of your career or your artistic practice, we're very open-minded and supportive of people working in newer mediums. And we really want to encourage breaking down barriers, whether it's age barriers, language barriers, you know, things that the traditional art world might sort of turn its nose up. We're always looking for new artists. And in order to keep it fresh, we have a fresh new selection committee with each edition of the fair. So there's going to be people weighing in, you know, evaluating the caliber of the work, the quality, the potential really. There are some popular artists who like coming back year after year, but typically it's about

36:3250% brand new every time. So every time you come, it's going to be a different fair and a different group of artists. I love that you mentioned bringing in new up and coming artists as someone who has been spent the past few years learning to paint myself. It's a nice little piece of encouragement. And of course, always great to see that kind of art. I believe in Chicago, the dates for the other art fair, April 9th through the 12th. And what is this year's theme? So this year, we have an exciting theme. It's called Nostalgia Core. And it's really about, you know, we're so inundated with digital technologies, the rise of AI, relegating humans to sort of the background. For us, it was kind of like, how can we celebrate artists who are reminding us why we're here walking around doing what we do and how the materiality of felt experience, you know, grounding emotions and memories in a physical space, connecting with people through tactile, tangible objects, and sort of just the comfort that comes from reflecting on childhood. So rediscovering the past

37:38with the new eyes and maybe new applications for what they mean in our current context. Well, that's beautiful. I love that. Nicole, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. It's been a real pleasure. Again, the other art fair in Chicago, April 9th through the 12th, you can find out more at theotherartfair.com. We're also going to have that link in our show notes as well. You know, we can't shut this thing down without some good news. You can catch professional women's hockey league coming to the all-state arena in Rosemite. This Wednesday, when the New York signers take on the Seattle Torrent, also taking place up at Martin Stadium in Evanston, the Chicago stars face off against Orlando FC. We're going to drop links to both games and our show notes again. Head to our website, check out our events calendar. Most importantly, please, be back here bright and early tomorrow. We'll talk to you then. Peace.