34 posts tagged “chicago”
Show us your favorite landmark in your current hometown.
This is Jess and I humping the bean in Chicago's Millennium Park. It's crazy, when this was taken, we weren't even dating.
I love the bean. The second time they were over, I made sure to take my parents there... it's not all cracked up as it was when this picture was taken.
I wish I *could* feel better, Tylenol Sinus, believe me.
I have a cold. I'm not one of those men who somehow turn into the walking wounded when they get a minor sniffle. More than anything, being ill just pisses me off. I can barely breathe properly at the best of times with my stupid allergies, but this just exacerbates the problem and makes me snippy. And tired.
Then to make matters worse, I had to wear a scarf to combat the cold weather this morning. While in the summer, buses are air conditioned to freezing point here in Chicago, in the winter, the heat is full blast and you're too packed in to successfully remove and replace clothing. Scarf plus cold plus heat... ugh. Hate, hate, hate.
Other than my immune system coming under fire, this weekend was quiet. We spent most of it packing things up ready for our move (if it ever happens, we're still waiting for our mortgage nonsense to be signed off); I finally completed Tales Of Vesperia - an effort that took over 50 hours of play time, all in; and Josie came to see as us it's been a billion years.
After my last move (across an ocean, no less) I have definitely gotten more ruthless about throwing things I don't need away. Not that my brother Ricci can agree with this, seeing as his attic is half full of guitars and CDs and books.
Anyway, this week, we are crossing things that our mortgage and all that come through so we can just worry about being ready to move on 22 November. Yes please.
UPDATE: We are clear to close, we are definitely moving!
Tonight is the final night of Coheed & Cambria's four night Neverender event in Chicago. Jess managed to beat hundreds of emo kids to get us VIP passes, so we've been allowed early entrance, decent seats, and tonight we'll also get to attend an acoustic set and meet and greet with the band.
Rock fucking on. We've had guitar techs playing generic, wimpy emo; stories about kidney stones and being compared to Rush and forming bands in school; we've had Iron Maiden covers; we've had their videos on repeat for hours before they came on stage... it's been great.
As a farewell, I thought I would post my favourite songs from all four albums.
The Second Stage Turbine Blade
In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume I: From Fear Through Eyes Of Madness
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume II: No World For Tomorrow
What are your plans for the three day weekend?
Ahem, FOUR day weekend, thank you very much.
I have spent my morning playing demos of new Xbox Live Arcade games, Photoshopping pictures of co-workers, talking to a jerky cat and bumming around.
I'm going to shower and head out to take back some DVDs and trade in Too Human for Tales Of Vesperia. I might wander down to Reckless Records or something. Other than that, today is Lazy Times.
I'm not sure what we're doing for the rest of the weekend. I know Jess wants to get out of the city, so maybe we can rent a car and go places. Failing that, I'll try and get her to get out of bed before the day's half over (she's a sleepyhead) so we can check out some of the things we wanted to check out in the city, like the farmer's market, museums and so forth.
Well, it's over. I meant to post a recap of who I saw on Saturday yesterday morning, but I got sidetracked; and I've been in bed feeling like rubbish all day today. Not sure whether Lollapalooza's to blame or some other source of lurgee, but I can at least see straight now.
So, Saturday. We got to Grant Park in time to see a snippet of Foals. I had no opinion on them either way, which is odd considering they're one of the many "saviours of rock n' roll" that get trotted out by the NME every year. I also caught a little snippet of The Gutter Twins, featuring the inimitable Mark Lanegan. I wasn't paying too much attention, but they sounded alright.
The first band proper for me was MGMT, whose weird Bowie meets dance sound was perfectly suited to the festival vibe. I really enjoyed them, and their guitarist's shredding all over 'Kids' was fantastic.
Josie went off to see DeVotchKa, who are like a Hispanic gypsy folk take on The Smiths, while Jess and I hung out waiting for Brand New to come on. We saw them live already, but in a terrible venue full of teenyboppers, so we were hoping they'd be better at a festival. Not so much. The highlight of their set was the dudes brawling a few metres away from me. It's a shame, because on CD, they're great.
At least frontman Jesse Lacey was as disappointed as us, at one point telling the crowd "You should all be watching Explosions In The Sky."
Somehow, there was a big gap for us, until we ended up watching Okkervil River while waiting for Broken Social Scene to come on. They weren't what I expected (the name conjured up rootsy blues, but they were more folky and upbeat). I liked them.
Then Broken Social Scene... Broken Social Scene were my second favourite band after Radiohead. For a band with such an inconsistent line-up, they manage to be consistently awesome, and played some of my favourites including '7/4 (Shoreline)' and 'Farewell To The Pressure Kids'... and they had Amy from Stars with them, awesome.
We caught the tail end of Toadies' set (apparently they were big in America, never heard of them... and gladly so), then sat patiently waiting for Rage Against The Machine. I had chosen them over Wilco as I don't know that I would get to see them again.
I was... kinda non-plussed. While musically, they were tight, it sounded exactly the same as the CDs. To me, part of the appeal of seeing a band live is seeing how they mess with their arrangements. Add to that the fact they *kept* stopping so Zach could lecture the moshpit, and it wasn't all that entertaining. A massive shame. I wish I had seen Wilco now.
Sunday was the least action packed of the three days, reflected by the fact we were able to head down so late (not helped by The Weakerthans pulling out).
As we arrived, we could hear Iron & Wine and decided against them as they would be a bit of a Debbie Downer. So, our first act of the day was the brilliant Saul Williams. The girls weren't fans, but he did put on an energetic performance.
We caught snippets of Blues Traveller and Love & Rockets, but the next band proper was The National. Having seen them in the colossal United Center supporting REM, I wanted to see if their sound fared better in a relatively smaller environment... and I am pleased to say it did. I love them.
After they left the stage, the girls went over to catch the start of Kanye West's set while I watched Nine Inch Nails. I'd seen them before and really enjoyed them, but for some reason, the magic just wasn't there this time around... I think mostly because they decided to kill the mood a short way into their set by playing some of the instrumental pieces from Ghosts I-IV... which, while great to listen to when you're chilling out, is not really much fun when you're stood in a field.
They did play an awful lot of material from The Downward Spiral, though, which sort of made up for it. Especially 'Closer'.
Overall, it really was a good weekend, marred only - really - by feeling horribly ill today.
It's hard to believe that it's already August, and odd that I'm attending my second Lollapalooza since moving here. Crazy!
Yesterday, after an oddly productive morning at work, I left the office to meet Jess for lunch then headed to meet our friend Josie. She's in town to join in with the shenanigans.
When we dropped her stuff off and endured the slow buses down to the festival grounds, we had missed the first few songs by Gogol Bordello, the band she wanted to see. Their music wasn't really my thing, but their gypsy punk was at least entertaining to watch.
We started to watch Mates Of State, but live they're very difficult to endure - the already ear-damaging vocals do more damage when they're out of key - so we went to wait for Jess by the merchandise stand, hearing little snippets of what I think was Grizzly Bear, judging by the schedule.
With Jess now a part of the gang, we went on down to see Bloc Party. Last year, we bought tickets to see them but didn't think we knew them well enough to justify going. They're really great live, so naturally I regret that decision. They didn't play their best song, 'Little Thoughts', but they busted out 'Helicopter' and 'Like Eating Glass', so I was happy.
After hemming and hawing about whether to stay in place for Radiohead (who were over an hour away), we decided instead to go get food. This had the added bonus of putting us in line with the stage CSS were playing on. I feel bad that I didn't give them my full intention, they sounded tight live, and were obviously far more entertaining than the annoying-sounding Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks they were competing against.
- 15 Step
- Airbag
- There There
- All I Need
- Nude
- Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
- The Gloaming
- The National Anthem
- Faust Arp
- No Surprises
- Jigsaw Falling Into Place
- Reckoner
- Lucky
- The Bends
- Everything In Its Right Place
- Fake Plastic Trees
- Bodysnatchers
- Videotape
- Paranoid Android
- Dollar And Cents
- House of Cards
- Optimistic
- 2+2=5
- Idioteque
Highs:
- 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi'!
- The awesome radio sampling on 'The National Anthem'
- 'Idioteque' (even though we heard it from outside of the venue as we didn't want to be crushed by the rumoured 75,000 people as they left)
Lows:
- 'The Bends' was played way too slow. There are awesome guitar lines on the verse with the line "The planet is a gunboat on a sea of fear", but the build-up to them didn't work.
- We were too far to see Thom's crazy dancing, boo.
- NOTHING from Pablo Honey? Boo!
I think 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' is a strong contender for my favourite song of all time.
How do you travel to and from work - personal vehicle, bus, subway/train, pedal power? What does it cost you per week in gas or fares?
Submitted by Jan.
I always travel by bus. I am a strong believer in using public transport. I'm not the most ecologically sound person on the planet, but it's a very simple way to help the environment *and* my wallet.
I pay $75/month for unlimited travel around the city of Chicago - £37 at current exchange rates. That's only just over 1/3 of the price of a zones 1 and 2 Oyster card in London (and it doesn't come with complimentary black bogies).
This was a good weekend. I am going to mention a bunch of people's names - they're mostly co-workers, don't worry.
We had wanted to see WALL-E on Friday, and even arranged to do so with our friends Jason and Brad, but two things transpired to prevent us. First, the showing we wanted to go to sold out right before I could order tickets online. Then Jason had to stay late at work because of a production issue. In the end, we just ate at Chili's (mmm, bacon and beef in a bun) then watched an entire disc of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
Saturday was chores day, so we tidied the crap out of the house, got lunch then Jess went home while I got a haircut. My mane was growing increasingly impossible to deal with and horrible to look at, so it had to be removed. We didn't get long to bum around before we met Doug, got in a cab and headed to Lindsay and Laura's surprise birthday party... at WHIRLYBALL!!!
Whirlyball is awesome. You're in a dodgem car that has a foot pedal and a crank for steering. While steering with one hand, you hold a plastic lacrosse-style net and attempt to throw a small ball at a circle of mesh on a baseball backboard with the other. As well as Jess, Doug, Lindsay, Laura and myself, there was Jeff, Lindsay's husband Doug and a ton of their friends and family. I felt slightly odd crashing into a cousin or brother in an attempt to get the ball, but it was wicked fun. I think I have found my "sport".
Also, for the record, Lindsay's dad owned.
From there, we headed to a bar called Schoolyard for the drinking. More and more people came along as the night progressed - Kristian, Jason, Brad, Brandon, other Jason, Mike and Betsy, and more of the birthday girls' family and friends. Everyone seemed to get along, and we were out till after midnight, at which point we turned into (very drunk) pumpkins and made our way home.
I woke up feeling as fit as a fiddle, possibly aided by drinking piss weak Miller Light all night, but Jess seemed mucho hungovero. Despite that, we managed to get our shit together and walk on up to the corner near Jason and Brad's place to watch the Chicago Gay Pride Parade. The parade had only just started when we got there, and it turned out to be a long old haul. People joined us - Kristian and his brother Kristopher, Jason and Brad's friend Karen, Doug and his friend Jess, another girl called Shelly... I have no idea who she was.
Several hours and two rain-induced interuptions later, we headed to get food, eating at a pizza place called Purgatory Pizza. We were ravenous, and after waving other people's food by our faces for what seemed like forever, they finally brought our pizza out... except they got it wrong. In the end, they gave us the wrong pizza, a smaller version of what we actually ordered and all our drinks for $6. We felt bad, though, and left a huge tip. The pizza itself was tasty... with a really crispy base.
And that was our weekend.
A couple of weekends ago, we went to Sparta's Butterfest. Sparta is Jess' home town, and being a small city in Wisconsin, it was only natural that its annual fair be named after a dairy product.
While the fair itself was mostly rained out, the sun was out for the parade on the Sunday. Being my first real parade in the good ol' US of A, I was not fully prepared for the Shriners (aka Freemasons) in their little cars; the barage of sweets and chocolate milk; or the local Republican candidate handing out flyers that just said his name and that he's Pro-Life. I kid you not.
It was actually pretty fun, sitting on the pavement in little chairs, clapping and watching the assorted floats, vintage emergency services vehicles and marching bands go by. The only similar thing I can really recall enjoying was Lewes Bonfire Night back home.
This weekend in Chicago, we're getting a different kind of fest - Chicago Pride - and Jess and I are going to the parade on Sunday. Of course, having been to another parade, I am wondering what the gays could possibly do to top fez-wearing go kart drivers and one-note, Right Wing politicians. Will they throw condoms and arseless leather chaps into the throngs of spectators? Will they have the characters from The Wizard Of Oz driving little penis-shaped go karts? I can only hope.
While I do jest, it's still amazing to me that Chicago is such a gay-friendly city. I always assumed the US was still very homophobic based on their reluctance to endorse civil unions and so forth.
After saying goodbye to my parents and having a two-day work week, I didn't expect to have the energy to do much this weekend. Somehow, though, we did a fair amount.
I had to get up really early on Saturday morning as I had a biometrics appointment with US Immigration. Unlike the last time, where they fingerprinted every single digit and took multiple photos, I was in and out. One fingerprint, a signature and a photo. Done and done. Exactly two years before, I had proposed to Jess in Paris, so it was pretty surreal to be living in the same country.
During the day, we got lunch, did some shopping, talked to AT&T about our pending migration from T-Mobile, then Jess had a nap. She then made a very healthy dinner before we went out drinking with co-workers. Mike, the guy who started the exact same day as me, was turning the exact same age as me - 28 - so we were going to surprise him. We left at midnight, everyone else kept drinking. It was a fun night.
Our plan for Sunday was simple:
- Do laundry
- Get brunch
- Head to Best Buy when it opened to get Wii Fit and/or Guitar Hero On Tour for DS
- Go home and bum around
Best Buy hadn't received any copies of Wii Fit (meaning, basically, the game Nintendo have spent fucktons marketing hasn't been available for purchase since its release date). I'm pretty much resigned to the fact we're not getting it. Instead, we both picked up a copy of Guitar Hero On Tour with the free stickers, and then noticed that they had the standalone Rock Band drum kits.
I've been hemming and hawing about the game for a while. We have Guitar Hero II and III and thus two compatible guitars, and neither of us would want to sing. That ruled out the big bundle. Then there's the pending release of Guitar Hero IV with its own snazzier drum kit. I decided to go for it, though, as the drums looked very appealing to play. So we went home with the disc-only Rock Band game, the drum kit and two copies of GHOT.
We spent a lot of time playing Rock Band, in which time I realised how much fun drumming is. After that, Jess tried the drums while I opened my copy of Guitar Hero. Due to the high potential for hand cramping, the shitty list of songs, and the fact we would likely never play the multiplayer modes, we decided to take the second copy straight back for a refund. It's fun, but not twice the price fun.
And that was our little indulgence.
We have an interesting few weeks coming up.
- We're about to receive our economic stimulus cheque from the government. We're splitting it between four charities - one of which is our savings account, the other three are actual good causes.
- I supposedly get a bonus I've been promised for a few months next week, so that has been earmarked for a new iPhone each (hence the aforementioned AT&T migration) and more savings.
- There's some little thing called the fourth of July.
- We're seeing the excellent Wolf Parade at House Of Blues (having seen the also brilliant Dethklok there last week).
- I have my interview for my green card application.
It's all go, go, go.
