Airport realities

The United Airlines Terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, designed by Helmut Jahn and completed in 1987, has two parts connected by a tunnel that goes under the tarmac. The first time I went through the tunnel, I stood on the “moving sidewalk”, watching the neon light sculpture overhead, and then I heard a rhythmic chanting. I thought, “Wow! How amazing! They’re playing Laurie Anderson!!”

In fact, the recording said, “The walkway is ending. Please look down.” The echoes and reverberations made it sound Anderson-like.

But to this day, I wish they really used Laurie Anderson. It would have been so much better.

The video above is closest to what I experienced that first trip (there are several videos on YouTube; the video enters the tunnel around :25 or so). The times I used the walkway, they had a female voice making the announcement, which led to the Anderson illusion, but the video gives you the general idea.

The video below is what I imagined I was hearing.