Chicago (my kind of town)

I'm a huge fan of Chicago. Every time I come here I feel like staying for a week, but I can never manage it. My first visit to Chicago came in the summer of 2002, just after I had graduated from high school. I was working as the lowest rung on the crew ladder for Linda Rondstadt (sp?), who ended up being a total diva B-I-T-C-H. It was a great experience for me, because i got to meet some great people, travel the country, and get some experience on the whole touring phenomenon. I remember having a day off, during which I had a chance to walk around quite a bit.

The second time I passed through Chicago was during my cross-country solo drive. I only took 5 days to make it from LA to NYC in my blue volvo, listening to the entirety of the Iliad on audio tape and stopping once every 4 hours to take some pictures. The first night I made it all the way past Salt Lake, followed by stops in Lincoln Nebraska, and then onto Chicago. I treated myself to a nice hotel room that night, and even went to see some blues downtown. I remember getting a bit tossed at the bar, taking a cab to the hotel, and chatting with the funny cab driver the whole way. I don't remember what was funny about him, but I do remember finding it amusing.

We played Chicago on the tour with the Decemberists in April, and had a lot of fun as well. When we arrived at the Lakeshore Auditorium, we had a mini dance party by the dumpsters behind the venue, jamming out to Frank Sinatra's smokin' oldie "My Kind of town." (MYYYYY kind of town chicaaagooo)......This visit to chi town was special for me, though, because my brother Ian was able to come. He moved out here with his family in the early part of the Summer, and it's the first time I've seen him in his new city. He came to meet us during sound check, and afterwards we had a nice bro-bro dinner at the chicken hut across the street. It was literally called "chicken hut". The oddest thing about dinner was that at one point i looked over my brother's shoulder to see one of the employees of the hut reading a gay porno mag on his break. I mean, I guess that's ok...but seriously? PORN AT WORK???? Ian explained to me that we were technically in boytown of chicago - the equivalent of LA's West Hollywood or NY's Chelsea - so wasn't as random as I had first thought. After dinner we ate some ice cream and drank some hot apple cider, talking all the while about life, love, family, and careers.

The venue itself must have at one point been a movie theatre (perhaps a gay porno theatre?), judging by the vibe of it, with a sloped floor and the 3 sections of red seats. Tim Fite rocked his thing around 9, and even managed to get everyone out of their seats and up to the front of the stage. I think the Lakeshore Auditorium is primarily a venue for comedy acts, and the audience certainly got their laughs in during Tim's set. Every time I watch Tim and his brother on stage I get a huge smile from ear to ear.

Our set started at about 10:05, but we soon ran into some serious technical issues with Shara's line 6 unit, forcing Shara to scramble for about 5 minutes in order to figure out a contingency. The crowd was extremely respectful and forgiving of our minor disaster, and seemed to find Shara's stalling banter incredibly charming. After the show we drank some of our free whiskey and tried to laugh off the night's shortcomings. Of course, we still rocked the f*ing house, so it's no biggie. That's how we roll.

Back at the hotel, Brian and I ordered burgers at 1:40am and stayed up watching Ricochet for a good hour. The best line in the movie is when my pops says to Jesse the "Body" Ventura, "FUCK YOU CREAMCAKE" just before smashing his face into the sink. Way to go Dad. I also realized that he has the best bad guy name of any bad guy ever: Earl Talbot Blake. Of course, there's Eric Qualen, too.....but that's a whole nother story. (nother?)

We had to leave Chi town the next morning at 8am for our drive to Louisville, which we are now about 40 minutes from finishing. We stopped in Indianapolis for lunch with Mike Kaufman, the brains of MBD's label, Asthmatic Kitty. We talked SNL fake commercials, new music stuff, and mused on some heavy business topics. Good times were had by all, and I will say that Mike has a couple of the cutest kids in the known universe.

Tonight, I hope to drink some bourbon, for Louisville is the bourbon capital of the world. I can't wait.