My supervisor at work offered me a “guest pass” to the Wilco show at the riv, the last in a series of 5 shows where they played their entire discography – it was incredible! Front row balcony seats, plus a backstage tour after the show helped! 🙂
I’ve been really busy… too busy it seems! More on that soon…
Una amiga me dijo que Gary Jules venÃa para un concierto en vivo aquà en Chicago. TenÃa que ir. Y sabÃa, sin duda, si tocaba Mad World tendrÃa que grabarlo para Miguel. Aquà lo tienes – me impresiono mucho.
Mel and Mike invited us to see The Fray last night at Charter One Pavilion on Northerly Island (aka Meigs Field). I had been wanting to go to Northerly Island since Mayor Daley had Xs bulldozed into the runway in 2003. (Google Maps still shows Meigs Field untouched!) It has since been handed over to the Chicago Park District and is now home to Charter One Pavilion. I remember first hearing a concert at Northerly on the boat that Mark and Dana had chartered for their rehearsal dinner! (anybody remember who was playing?!) The venue itself was fairly nice – I’m glad we had seats as the general admission was on runway pavement! Its quite amusing how much older one feels when going to a show like this!
OK Go had a ton of energy and was a lot of fun! No treadmills in their live show, I’m afraid. (just noticed that their YouTube video has 18.4 million views!) The Fray was fantastic! I had sort of written them off as “those guys that did the song for Grey’s Anatomy“. But I left the show quite impressed and with a hankering to purchase their CD! They did a fantastic rendition of Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie – friggin hilarious! (why I didn’t take a video is beyond me!) Oh, and Dave, its called a Melodica. Overall a great night with good friends, good tunes, and beautiful weather in a fantastic city!
As predicted, this weekend was non-stop! Thursday night I walked over to Bluesfest, took pics of the Mark di Suvero sculptures, and soaked in some Chicago Blues. Greg and Mila picked me up and we went to the Fireplace Inn for some grub and to watch the first of the NBA finals games. Had a great time even if the Cavs didn’t do as well as we had hoped!
Friday night TK and I went to Sound-bar for a party, open bar from 9-10:30 – suffice it to say I took full advantage! As it turns out, I had actually heard of the DJ that was playing that night – Christopher Lawrence. I ended up staying way later than anybody else and closed the place at 4am. Probably a solid 4 hours of dancing! My leg muscles paid dearly for that the rest of the weekend. You can actually just make me out in the pictures on Sound Bar’s website (pics 39 & 41 on June 8th)! As I didn’t have much cash on me, I was determined to get home using public transportation. When I got to Clark, I realized that it was one-way the wrong way and that I had to catch the bus on LaSalle. It wasn’t until 3 blocks later that I realized that LaSalle was a block before Clark! I ended up walking to the red-line at Chicago and waited for a good 30 minutes for the train. By the time I got to Addison, I decided to take a cab home as the sun was already coming up!
I took it easy the next morning, nursed my hangover, and ran some errands. I headed up to Andersonville for a BBQ that the “guy that used to have my job” (Jason) was hosting. He lives about a block away from Midsommarfest so the location was perfect! I didn’t know anybody and was totally exhausted from the night before. Nothing a plate-full of food and a few beers couldn’t cure! A few hours later we walked over to the festival with cups full of beer and cans on reserve in our pockets! Hilarious! We hung out for about an hour and then went back to Jason’s for refills. Christine and Becky met up with us at the festival and joined us for the last two “pit-stops” (fire pit and all!) at Jason’s. The festival was huge! Far bigger than I had expected. It had three stages and stretched half of a mile! We caught the last part of Funkadesi’s set – self described as “Chicago’s Indo-Afro-Caribbean Band” they were fantastic!
Sunday I had a meeting for YTC in the morning about the upcoming trip to Mexico and then I headed to Ribfest in Northcenter. The ribs and curry fries were delicious! The festival itself didn’t compare to Midsommarfest – I would say about half the size and about half the crowd, but I’m glad I went! Got to bed at a decent hour the last two nights, and now my legs are back to ~80% usefulness. I guess I’m getting old after all!
One of the best things about living in Chicago is that there is always something going on! A friend told me about Paulinho last week and that he was playing for free at noon at the Chicago Cultural Center. I decided to go check it out – it was fantastic! Brazilian Jazz fused with folk and contemporary! Can’t imagine a better way to spend my lunch hour! As it turns out, the Cultural Center has “LunchBreak” events almost every day of the week! “Classical Mondays” “Music Without Borders” – I’ve been working here for almost a year, and I feel like I’m just discovering the city!
[audio:Foo.mp3]
(press play)
I am a one way motorway
I’m the one that drives away
then follows you back home
I am a street light shining
I’m a wild light blinding bright
burning off aloneit’s times like these you learn to live again
it’s times like these you give and give again
it’s times like these you learn to love again
it’s times like these time and time againI am a new day rising
I’m a brand new sky
to hang the stars upon tonight
I am a little divided
do I stay or run away
and leave it all behind?it’s times like these you learn to live again
it’s times like these you give and give again
it’s times like these you learn to love again
it’s times like these time and time again-Foo Fighters