Pamplona, Spain, has its running of the bulls, and now Chicago has a motorized version tooling down Michigan Avenue every day.
It`s the Bulls Bus, complete with a three-dimensional head featuring horns, ferociously furrowed brow, and flared nostrils.
Artist Ron McAllister was hired to decorate the double decker bus. The big challenge was coming up with the bull`s head, since McAllister had never sculpted before.
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”That was the first time I`d done anything like that,” he explained,
”But I`m a `don`t say no` person. I figure if you`ve never done something before, don`t say that you can`t do it. Try it.”
Working from an image of the Bulls` logo, McAllister created a foundation of papier-mache, cardboard and wood, which was then covered in fiber glass and mounted above the windshield.
McAllister also painted on 14-foot images of John Paxson, Bill Cartwright, Horace Grant, Scottie Pippen and Will Perdue, who seem to be playing as if the Blazers were still in town.
Conspicuously absent: the Michael, pointing up a shortcoming of corporately funded ”art.”
”The reason Michael Jordan is not on it,” said Jim Nikitas, chairman of the Chicago Motor Coach Co., ”Is that Cocoa Cola is a co-sponsor (along with American Airlines) for the bus, and Michael has a contract with Gatorade.”
One-hour city tours depart daily between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. from several downtown locations. Admission: $7 for adults; $5 for children and seniors. For more information, call 312-922-8919.