On the morning of September 11, Gowing and his friend James Cole were returning to their home in New York from San Francisco, on an ATA flight headed toward LaGuardia Airport. "It didn't look like a plane crashed into it, it just looked like a big black splotch," continues Gowing. When their airplane passed the World Trade Center towers, only one was burning. By Cole and Gowing's estimation, they flew past approximately ten minutes before the second tower was hit.

"I don't know if the pilots knew and just didn't disclose it," says Cole, "but there were no reactions at all on the plane to the smoke or anything. Everything was business as usual, the same old 'Welcome to New York' crap."

It didn't take long for the news to get to the passengers. "Once we landed, a lady got a cell phone call and she just started talking out loud. That's when we found out," Cole says.

But even then, it didn't yet seem like disaster. "We got off the plane, and everything was normal in the airport, except that my cell phone wouldn't work," says Gowen.

But soon thereafter, it was evident that something was very wrong. "We got a cab, but it would only take us as far as the Bronx—Manhattan was already shut off," says Cole. "We had to walk across the bridge right into the heart of Harlem. We were able to get a bus that was going as far south as Fourteenth. On the bus, everybody was speculating. One guy had headphones on and was giving a play-by-play. A lady kept saying, 'This is it, this is the war.'"

Upon arriving home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the nature of the disaster became clearer. "It is as surreal as you've heard on the news," says Cole as he looks out of his apartment window. "There are people carrying water, all the ATMs are jammed. We can see a giant plume of smoke from my place, I'm not even in line with [the financial district]. Since we got home, there's been a steady stream of business people moving north on the sidewalks, like a modern-day Trail of Tears."

Cole and Gowing spent the better part of their morning trying to contact family members, but the two attempted to go donate blood as well. "The lines were out of control," says Gowen. "In fact, we even saw a fight break out in one of the blood lines."

"To think that I was one of the last people to see the World Trade Center before the second plane hit, it's amazing," says Cole. "This is going to be the 'Where were you when Kennedy was shot?' of our generation."

Also by Dave Chamberlain

RAW MATERIAL
Pinetop Seven, who first appeared in Chicago's music scene when it released an eponymous record in 1997, has gained increasing critical notoriety with each of its four records.
(2001-09-06)

RAW MATERIAL
For three years, the Hideout has been the site of Chicago's Finest Hour, a monthly event held on Wednesdays. For the Finest Hour, bands (or a few members from bands) take the stage to cover other local band's songs—the catch being that the other bands/artists are usually on the bill as well.
(2001-08-30)

CONTINENTAL REPAST
Devon Street doesn't offer something for everyone—beef, for example, can be hard to find. But it does offer a singular glimpse of Indian expatriate culture, along side a spate of the most authentic Indian cuisine this side of the Subcontinent.
(2001-08-30)

RAW MATERIAL
It's hardly the major-label frenzy of the early nineties, but Chicago has had a run of bands hopping on board with non-Chicago based majors over the course of the last year. The latest to take the plunge: The Baldwin Brothers.
(2001-08-23)

RAW MATERIAL
(2001-08-09)

RAW MATERIAL
(2001-08-02)

RAW MATERIAL
(2001-07-26)

DISCOVERIES
(2001-07-19)

RAW MATERIAL
(2001-07-12)

RAW MATERIAL
(2001-07-05)

RAW MATERIAL
(2001-06-28)

RAW MATERIAL
(2001-06-21)