The Ogilvie Transportation Center was built in 1987 to replace the Renaissance Revival style Chicago and North Western Terminal which was built on the same site in 1911. This station is the terminus for three Metra routes operated by Union Pacific, the UP North, Northwestern and West lines, which handle over 40,000 passengers and operate 200 trains in and out of the city each weekday. The station has sixteen tracks and eight island platforms.

Constructed above the new Ogilvie Transportation Center, the Citigroup Center is a 42-story, 588-foot skyscraper designed by the architecture firm Murphy/Jahn and constructed between 1984 and 1987.

Ogilvie Transportation Center - Excerpt

Over Memorial Day, we took a backcountry camping trip to the hauntingly beautiful but remote Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Clinging to the southern shore of Lake Superior over forty miles, the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore hosts dramatic sandstone cliffs, numerous waterfalls and idyllic forests overlooking the vast waters of Lake Superior.

Among the attractions is Chapel Rock, a unique geological formation created thousands of years ago by the slow erosion of Cambrian age sandstone. There was once an arch connecting the formation to the mainland but this collapsed in the 1940’s leaving a solitary tree standing high above the water.

The recording was made standing on the beach just west of the Chapel Rock formation with the surf crashing against the shore where Chapel Creek meets Lake Superior.

Chapel Rock Lake Superior - Excerpt

This recording was made down underneath the Michigan Avenue Bridge (now named the DuSable Bridge) next to the Chicago River along the pedestrian walkway on the south bank. Once used primarily for shipping and other commercial activities, the river is now more often used for tourism and pleasure – especially on warm summer afternoons.

The sounds of sight-seeing boats passing by (along with their tour guides) can be heard sporadically throughout the recording along with occasional voices, laughter and cars overhead. Because the road surface of the lower level of the bridge is made of steel grating, the sound of the automobile tires on the bridge is more resonant than on concrete. This distinctive sound (like a mechanical roar) is used as a structural device triggering changes or new sections of music.

Listen for another structural moment which occurs with a loud, deep metallic bang around halfway through the recording. This sounds almost like the massive weight of the bridge suddenly shifts under the load of an especially heavy truck or bus. This moment serves as an abstract mirror to the previous four minutes of the piece.

Michigan Avenue Bridge - Excerpt

Looking west from Millennium Park down East Washington Street, the street lights and automobile headlights blur shortly after Michigan Avenue. We walked west slowly into the light recording the street sounds from about Michigan Avenue to State Street. The time was late evening and the street traffic was fairly heavy, giving us an interesting assortment of footsteps, passing conversation, laughter and street noise. At about a minute and a half, the music quiets down to reveal creepy distant laughter, a couple police car barks, a woman’s voice speaking “Spur of the moment, like…” and “all these horrible things…”. Following this, the music changes for a bus lumbering by. About three minutes into the recording, we passed under the elevated tracks at Wabash Avenue just as a train was passing overhead. The sound of the elevated train cars nearly drowns out the music and as the train departs, the music dissolves slowly. At the four minute mark, a snap and woman’s laughter shift the tone of the music. The sound of street traffic picks up as we approach State Street.

East Washington Street At Night - Excerpt

The remote and picturesque Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has innumerable waterfalls and many higher and more dramatic than the one pictured here. But fewer perhaps have such a halcyon setting; located just west of Chapel Rock, Chapel River empties through this waterfall and over the beach into the aquatic vastness of Lake Superior.

Standing on the bridge pictured here over the falls, I faced out over Lake Superior while recording, watching the water from Chapel River meet and join back with the lake.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore - Excerpt

Located at the southeast corner of Madison and Wacker in the Chicago Loop, 1 S Wacker Drive was built by Helmut Jahn for Murphy/Jahn Architects between 1979 and 1982. This forty story building stands 550 feet / 168 meters high. Departing from the more ordered and staid tradition led by Chicago architecture grandfather Mies van der Rohe, Jahn brings a more flamboyant and theatrical style to his design. Though panned by some critics who describe his style as sleek, glittery even cheap, Jahn’s work is at best inventive, eclectic and original.

One South Wacker Drive - Excerpt

Café do Monde is a coffee shop in New Orleans that was established in 1862 and is famous for its beignets and traditional style café au lait where the coffee is blended with chicory. The café is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week except for Christmas Day and anytime a hurricane gets too close.

Located on Decatur Street, formerly known as Rue do la Levée, the street runs between the Mississippi River and the French Quarter. Across the street from the outdoor café is Jackson Square, or formerly the Place d’Armes. Declared a national landmark in 1960 but existing at least since 1815, the park is surrounded by a host of historic buildings including the St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo and the Presbytére. A variety of characters inhabit the area around the park including painters, musicians, jugglers, various other kinds of street performers and of course tourists.

Café Du Monde - Excerpt

Looking north down one of the eight island platforms located in the Ogilvie Transportation Center, a series of Metra coaches wait to depart downtown Chicago. This station serves three Metra commuter lines, the Union Pacific/North Line, the Union Pacific/West Line and the Union Pacific/Northwest Line. The UP North Line terminates in Kenosha, Wisconsin and serves an average of 36,400 passenger trips over 27 stations every weekday in 2010. The UP West line terminates in Elburn, Illinois and serves an average of 29,400 passenger trips over 19 stations every weekday in 2010. The UP Northwest Line terminates jointly in Harvard and McHenry Illinois jointly and serves an average of 40,900 passenger trips over 23 stations every weekday in 2010.

Prior to 1984, this station was called the Chicago and North Western Terminal and served the C&NW trains to Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis - St. Paul and other cities of the upper Midwest. Prior to 1955, this was the Chicago terminus of several Union Pacific trains including the Overland Limited, the City of San Francisco and the City of Los Angeles.

Ogilvie Transportaion Center Platforms - Excerpt

The oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, the French Quarter, was part of the original city design harking back to 1721 when the French colony was initially planned. The neighborhood was named to pay homage to the French ruling family, the House of Bourbon – not the ubiquitous American spirit now served throughout the neighborhood. After the Seven Years War in 1763, New Orleans was given to the Spanish and in 1803 was taken over by America as part of the Louisiana Purchase. This unique heritage, spawned by the city’s possession by both the French and Spanish, created the unique Creole culture centered historically in the French Quarter.

Later, in the early 1900’s, the neighborhood began to change with the construction of the Storyville Red Light district nearby on Basin Street. Prostitution, gambling and jazz spilled out into adjacent neighborhoods and by the 1950’s, Bourbon Street was the central red-light district of the city.

Bourbon Street - Excerpt

Crossing the main stem of the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, there are ten bridges between Lake Michigan and the river’s confluence with the North Branch at Wolf Point. The largest of these is the DuSable Bridge, a double leaf, bascule bridge which carries Michigan Avenue over the Chicago River. Built from 1918 through 1928, this bridge is unique in the city for providing passage for vehicles and pedestrians on two levels.

The found sound for this audio recording was made while walking on the lower level of the DuSable Bridge slowly from the north landing to the south landing then finally up the stairs to the upper level of Michigan Avenue. A listener will hear the sound of passing automobiles and pedestrians overhead, the sound of boat traffic below and the sounds made by cars and trucks using the lower level of the bridge crossing the underground portion of Wacker Drive. At the end of the recording, the sounds change as I walk up to the street level of Michigan Avenue and the sounds of footsteps then conversation appear.

Chicago River Bridges - Excerpt

Luminescence Records is an independent label founded in 2005 dedicated to presenting creative music in jazz and new music genres. The label is made up of two catalogs: Luminescence Records and the Luminescence Live imprint.