okay met daniel (holycrap, that guy lives in chicago now.) at the bottle. free mondays at the bottle can't be argued with. $1.25 pbrs end up delicious. they make $2 pbrs at club foot tolerable. then laura showed up at the foot. daniel quit his job and laura just got a cool job. whoa. we drank pbrs (uh laura drank pbrs, wtf?) and then tamale guy showed up and life was good, fuck life is good. oh and we gazed upon the shit fountain. then daniel and dan and zelda and I watched the CHiPS tape. I just need to buy that I guess. Worst game of Mario Party EVER.
I think I must tell you all about today, because if I don't get it all down, it will diminish my memories, and you're probably not going to be believe a lot of it, but I will have the satisfaction of knowing it is real and accurate.
Sooz, Paul and I went to Six Flags specifically for some water sliding. I do not have a bathing suit, but managed to piece something together from Wal-Mart using an actual bathing suit bottom and a "racerback camisole" which managed to keep my bazoombas in place. Score!
The water park was what we had hoped for: FUN! Thankfully we all agreed on the best ride which accommodated the three of us perfectly: the Tornado! "Experience the ultimate fun storm when you ride Tornado—a thrilling, family-friendly water slide that stands six stories high." We went on that one 4 times! I personally enjoyed lame kiddie friendly Skull Island.
We decided dining at Golden Coral was a grand idea... The food is plentiful there. And somewhat warm. I'll be DAMNED though if a real life Tom Goes To the Mayor scene didn't take place: This spikey red-haired boy in some loud printed shirt FILLED UP HIS TRAY... not the plate that was on the tray, BUT THE ACTUAL TRAY ITSELF! with french fries, potato wedges and popcorn shrimp and was just shoveling it the fuck in his mouth. The kind waitress brought him a few plates and explained that wasn't what he was supposed to eat off of. He went and got a PLATE FULL OF MACARONI AND CHEESE which he DUMPED ON THE PLATE OF POPCORN SHRIMP and the proceeded to USE HIS HANDS TO SCRAPE THE REMAINING MAC AND CHEESE INTO HIS MOUTH!!! He seemed to only be accompanied by more kids, I don't know where the adults in his life were hiding. It was pretty amazing.
Back to "civilization" where I made my way to the AMC/Loews (how do you spell that) at 600 N Michigan for a showing of the Simpsons Movie! I met up with Gabe and Jeff outside and we proceeded to sit ourselves in the second to front row! The commercials were intolerable, and the trailers? I couldn't believe three of the movies were real actual movies. If you do not care about trailer spoilers, then by all means click here to see what I mean. Hooray! The movie started! As a Simpsons fan since their crudely drawn days as bumpers from the Tracey Ullman show, I was pretty excited!! Lots of clapping and laughter suddenly turned to shouts of "BOOOOOOOOOOO (urns)!" not because of the content of the film, but because right at the start of what promised to be a really great scene...Yes of course! The film stopped! It managed to get restored RIGHT at the climax of said scene! Perfect timing! Like a built in deleted scene! Can't wait to see it on DVD, or maybe at the AMC 21 with my free ticket we were given, after surrendering our ticket stubs. So much for that memory in the scrapbook! Anyhoot, not to give anything away, but I was very happy with the movie. It managed to take everything you loved about the Simpsons 10 years ago and make it all BIG!
Oh, but it doesn't end there, my friend. I take the red line to North and Clyborn for a $10 cab ride home, and end up in the cab of like the Indian cab driver version of Fox Mulder!! He was very friendly and chatty. which normally I'm not that excited about in a late night cab ride, but he was telling me all about his favorite conspiracy theories and how suicide bombings are all remote controlled and even gave me some literature but not before he scrawled out some people and things for me to google! He was real cool though, he insisted on taking me to my door, off the meter, and turned on that giant spotlight for me! Oh and what was happening at Damen/North/Milwaukee? A shitload of cops, a sharp dressed man eating french fries talking to them, and a bunch of people. Movie shoot? Actual crime?
I know lack of updates. I have been ill since p4k. now I have a fever, I am sore all over, I am tired. I am lying in bed drinking a ton of water and taking stuff. My grandfather died yesterday, so, hey, at least I am still alive. (He was much older than me. 90-something? I guess longevity is on that side of the family, as long as the lung cancer doesn't get you.) I went out and had a few cheap beers in his honor, at the Bottle. Cairo Gang played which along with underapreciated guitar god emmett kelly (not to be confused with the emmett kelly clown family) included leroy and jim from califone!
What else? Oh, Paul and I had a great time at the Decemberists in the park show. The songs with the orchestra were alright, but then the Tain was fucking awesome! The weather was all kinds of menacing with amazing real thunder during Mariner's Revenge and thankfully Lou drove us home in the ensuing storm. the people watching was top notch too.
The first Marvin Tate CD release show was at Rainbo sunday. I bet you missed it, he's gonna have another at the Hideout next month. I will command thee to go. The CD will be available at the store tomorrow I believe.
Not that I left anything needing to be wrapped really. Asian Paul and I started the pre-fest kick off with lunch at Hot Dougs. HOORAY! We got super lucky and got on one of the last Ashland buses to fill up with hipsters to get us to the park right in time for Slint. It did indeed sound like Spiderland. I wasn't quite down with GZA but Kris was enjoying him and giving me a smidge of insight into what was going on. We reunited with Paul to listen to Daydream Nation which made me have high school flashbacks. We met up with non-asian Paul who dropped us at the blue line to make our way to the Abbey Pub for Mucca Pazza!! Man, they really were perfect for that room!! Er, we also made two White Castle stops (Adam is obsessed since we watched Harold and Kumar).
Saturday saw us getting in RIGHT in time for the opening notes of Califone. Dang I love that band! I was completely okay with watching them in the back of a field because I've had some amazing Califone experiences. That sounds funny. Anyhoot. Whilst I love Califone, I am a little skeptical of the new direction some of the members of said band (and a someone who shall remain nameless) took Iron and Wine in. I'm not saying anything at all. (I am enjoying Tim Rutilli's mix CD though ;)
Whoa, what else happened Saturday? Battles was "so fucking awesome" as were Mastadon... Kris, Paul and I barely avoided the Dan Deacon riot... Oh shit, Yoko Ono!! We flashed our Onochords and Yoko belted out the hits! I spent a little quality time with Tim (Tuten) and Robert during her set, which was interesting getting insight from people on all sides of the fest. Then we went and ate at Kuma's, but I couldn't taste it because I had a beast of a cold.
Sunday! Missed Deerhunter (boo!) and I really could care less about anything til of Montreal! Okay, not quite true... made the rounds of people I know and then Paul and I got in position around 4pm for oM at 7, but we both wanted to see Jamie Lidell who was SOOOOO GOOOD! Adam has been playing his CD a bunch, and it's really good, but live I was just captivated! A lot of people are bitching that he didn't have a band, but when you can build up a song by looping your own voice, who needs a fucking band? Sheesh! Sadly, we could not hear Malkmus's (sp?) acoustic solo set (though I saw on the screen he was joined on drums by Bob Nastanovich. And was that Nasty dancing with David Berman at the end?
Oooh the anticipation for of Montreal was getting unbearable as people started crowding in and banners depicting various sports were placed on the stage (I was correct in my assumption that the middle one was to block our view from Kevin Barnes changing costumes. If only I knew what that was going to entail, but I was not ready for it. Back to that soon)
There was a three headed thing on the stage then OMG I just don't really remember it entirely! I wonder if Paul got a setlist? I remember singing along to everything I think I wanted to hear. Then there was the costume change and "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" and it was all holy shit! I mean it's one thing for a guy to wear a black leather corset and fishnet thigh-highs, but the turquoise slouchy boots just took it to a whole 'nuther level. Then there was the Kinks encore and apparently at some point he ended up in just a thong!!!
Oh yeah, New Pornos, De La Soul. Thongthongthongthongthong.
(ps - pictures I linked to were not taken by me. There was no way on earth I was going to try taking pictures.)
Mmmmm... Ib. After work today Sooz, Paul and I went off on an adventure into the basement of Oz. This woman is totally gonna get her parking friend to walk us into the White Stripes show. Sure, why not? Then we had Ethiopian food and wine and it was all soooooo good. Then we went to this place that was like Toys 'R' Us but with beer.
I hope Paul gets here in time so we can all go have Hot Doug's before P4k. I am kinda getting a cold or something, but have ingested many herbs and chemicals so I'll totally be fine this weekend, right?
I forget how much I love Scout Niblett's voice. I just listened to the 7" I got a few weeks ago, and I'm all "She's on my favoritist album ever!"
we went to the Kwik-E-Mart. They were out of Buzz and Krusty O's but the Woo Hoo! Blue Vanilla Squishy is kind of a modern classic of high fructose corn syrup. We detoured home by the spike with the cars on it (As seen in Wayne's World yet not in Aurora) via the White Castle.
Paul Williams is the musical entertainment at a Grand Canyon Paranormal Convention. I cannot fathom this. Like when I heard Bonnie "Prince" Billy was playing I See A Darkness, I had to go. Like when Sloan played for free in Central Park, I had to go. Paul Williams is playing a GHOST CONVENTION!!!!!>!m!,111 I!! HAVE!! TO!! GO!!!
You want your friends to enjoy themselves and are willing to expend an extraordinary level of energy to accomplish this goal. This can be a very social day, so make the most of it by doing something different. Your approach is more unconventional than usual, which can be quite exciting. Shine your light of love and the good feelings will reflect back.
The one film I thought I would ever see is on its way to me. Oh sure, you've seen him in Matewan. You saw him naked in Old Joy. But soon, I will get to witness Will as Baby Jessica's dad in Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure. That's right. The lil' baby who fell down a well back in the 80s. Will Oldham plays her Dad. I think there has to be a showing this weekend.
Not much happening. Pitchfork Fest is this weekend. Looking forward to seeing Yoko Ono! Sonic Youth! of Montreal!! Iron and Wine! New Pornographers! Dan Deacon! Battles! Deerhunter! Sea and Cake! Califone! Jamie Lidell! Malkmus! Phew!
And of course next Wednesday... Decemberists... with an ORCHESTRA!!
The thing at Hideout this past Saturday was sooo good and another characteristically lovely evening at that place! Swoon.
Geeze, I haven't really caught up from NY. There were a couple Wilco shows, I really loved the Warsaw in Brooklyn. Sooz and I spent a day in the airport and finally made it home. I played a lot of Pokemon at Islip. Errr, surely I've done something since I've been back... The 4th of July was nice! Looking forward to Pitchfork fest. Ummm.
