I’m reading Chris Connelly’s new book Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried: My Life as a Revolting Cock. (If you know who Chris Connelly is that really long title makes sense.)
The book is great but it’s taking me a while to read. He writes a lot about the development and production of songs and everytime he describes a song or video I stop and find it online to see what he is describing. It’s very unintentionally but wonderfully multimedia.

It’s also funny to read his bitter descriptions of Al Jourgensen (Ministry frontman). From the beginning of the book, Al is described as an annoying, circus leader gone wrong, loudmouth character. I have a feeling that a lot of what he wrote is influenced by how he feels about Al today (hate) otherwise Chris would not have moved to Chicago to make music with this guy. But there were a lot of drugs involved so I could be wrong on that one.

Chris and Al were based out of Chicago (Chris still is) so there is lots of talk about Chicago clubs and bars back when they were cool. And Wicker park before it was hipster!

This weekend had a really good summer feel to it. I wrote about Saturday and my mini-reunion. Sunday I went to a big potluck with so much good (and mostly homemade) food. Krispy Kreme bread pudding returned and it was lovingly devoured. I was outside most of the day watching kids play in the dirt and I held a baby for almost 10 minutes before it cried. (new record)

Monday I went to International Mr. Leather convention (nsfw). I am not a Mr so I can’t be a gay leather Mr but I have been going to the vendor mart at IML since I worked at a GLBT health center that has a booth in the mart. I’ve been to Boystown in the summer plenty of times and the Pride parade but IML is way beyond anything I’ve seen on Halsted.
To start, the entire hotel is taken over by IML. Which is good because you can’t walk around in assless chaps in mixed company. There are signs reminding guests to cover their asses when they go outside but inside anything goes. I didn’t see any full frontal but there was plenty of booty. And booty in all sizes! I love that a big hairy gay man can walk around in a thong or jock strap and get his ass slapped as much as a hairless muscle boy. There are preferences of course, but there is a good split between shirtless sweater lovers and babyface pinchers. It’s different than women you see in the fetish scene. The women are mostly skinny and if they aren’t, they are crushed in with a corset. Reason # gabillion it is awesome to be a gay man.

Afterward I went shopping, had a rainbow cone in Millennium Park and then had more ice cream that night. This is my week to get back on track with dieting and exercise. And I signed up for an Intro to Buddhism class that starts next month. Maybe it will give my meditation some meaning beyond sitting and arguing with the noise in my head.

I predict good things for this summer.
Power of positive thinking, ya know?

I met up with a few high school friends today. We all volunteered at the same place in jr. high/high school and were a tight knit group of nerds for many awkward years. We all went our seperate ways after high school and I slowly lost contact with almost everyone. Around the time of my high school reunion I started thinking about having a reunion with people that I actually liked. Using my internet detective skills, I found some people online and today got some more names to hunt down. If I find more people,I’m thinking of planning a night out later in the summer.

Last night I went through my box o’ memories in the closet looking for pictures to bring. This box contains pictures, my short stories, notes written during class, old school assignments, cards, love notes, autographs, tickets stubs from concerts…a lot of dangerous emotional ammo. I also have a box like this of clothing. It’s full of school/class shirts, jerseys, brands/styles that were very in at one time but are now so out and my first (fake) leather skirt. Hipsters would love that box.

I found some pictures but got a few minor wounds along the way. Pictures of a deceased friend, cards from an ex, a packet of info about applying to grad school back when I thought grad school would be the key to my perfect career. I don’t even have to read or look at these things too hard and they start to hurt. I’m purging a lot of stuff from my apartment but these things will always have a spot tucked away in my closet.

And it sucks to be you!
Yes, I saw Avenue Q last night. It was pretty damn funny and there was puppet sex. I’m happy my brother went, he got to see what he has to look forward to when he finishes college (not the having sex with puppets part).
My boss asked how I like the show when I got in today. Good thing she didn’t ask what it was about. ‘Oh just being a recent college grad, hating your job, feeling like you have no purpose, being poor…oh you want me to file something for you? And we are not getting paid on time again? I love my job!’

Later my boss asked, possibly begged, me to stay at the agency. I never gave any indication that I was thinking about leaving but people around me have been dropping like flies due to the payroll mess. I think this is the 3rd major delay in payroll since I started and there have been at least a few more minor (under 2 days) delays.
I have the feeling I should get off the sinking ship but I’m always the type to fight/wait things out until the bloody end. My boss talked with me and she really wants me to get back to writing proposals soon. I would hate to leave the job without getting any real research experience. I need something to take away from this job! My clinical skills have gone unused and my research skills haven’t been developed..it’s like I never went to grad school, except for the debt.

Unrelated, I have four wedding coming up in the next few months! I know, it’s wedding season so I shouldn’t be surprised. I am going to be a jealous bitch, watching all my friends getting Cuisinart mixers. Also, bad time to be newly single.

What I did over the weekend:

Played in the City Museum in St. Louis. Chicago needs something like this. It’s a huge indoor/outdoor play/art/museum/aquarium space that kids and adults can enjoy. Ya, most stuff is geared toward kids but they have nights where the museum is just open to adults. They sell beer! They have slides and tunnels leading to mysterious places! They have some rusty bolts!
I liked playing in the caves

and inside of the giant fish

There were lots of slides and tunnels. This slide was awesome because it was really long and all of the bars are handpainted and spin when you run your hands along them. It almost forces you to go down the slide in the hands above your head “whee!” position.

There were lots of random exhibits and I think what I liked best is that there are little or no descriptions on them. Do you really need the history of an object to enjoy it? Is it a little better to make up the explanation yourself?

Inside of a safe door:

After the museum, we went to the Arch.

You can go inside the arch in a frighteningly small tram car. 5 people get squished into one car and in a few minutes are pulled up to the top where there is an observation deck.

I observed East St. Louis and clouds.

It was a good weekend overall. St. Louis is a much better town than I had previously thought. And I finished my tattoo! Yay!

I came back to no boss at work (she is out for the week) which is nice. I came back to a cat pee smelling kitchen which is not nice. Does anyone want a cat? She doesn’t really smell bad/act bad if you do crazy things like clean her litterbox and pay attention to her. She is indoor only and probably would not be good with small kids.

I started watching The Sopranos since I’m the last person in the US that has never seen an episode. I’m really liking it and the random Italian curse words thrown in make me feel like I’m talking to my guido brother. The show may also explain one of my annoyances.

At my last job, I referred people to mental health practitioners- counselors, psychologist, psychiatrists, social workers. Often people would demand a psychiatrist. I would always ask if they were looking for a medication evaluation/monitoring or talk therapy. Most of the time they just wanted therapy but they were stuck on having a MD. I would try to explain that psychiatrists just do quick visits, med monitoring and that’s all. (Most psychiatrist visits we authorized were for 15 minutes). It’s hard unless you are a child or severely mentally ill to find a psychiatrist that will do therapy and meds. (especially with the rates most insurances pay).

So why does everyone think the nice psychiatrist will spend time with them? Because every week for 8 years, Tony Soprano sat down and talked to his psychiatrist. (Well, I’m not sure of this because I’m still on the first season but I know the psychiatrist is in all of the seasons.) She did therapy and med monitoring. And Tony has money so he can afford to have a psychiatrist do both. I’m sure he has excellent benefits through the waste management company.

People are stupid for a lot of reasons, it’s just nice to be able to guess that they were misled by a TV show and not their own damn arrogance about needing a Ph.D. because a masters level counselor just cannot handle their complex problems!

I didn’t just watch TV this week. Otherwise the post title wouldn’t say Mixed media, it would say ‘I wish I had cable’

On Monday I saw Tokyo Police Club at The Metro. The 2nd opening band, Smoosh, was a trio of girls that were too young to even get into the 18+ event. Despite their instruments being comically larger than them, they did well. They are adorable little hipsters in the making!
Tokyo Police Club was damn good. I didn’t recognize a lot of songs and since the band only has 1 full length album and a couple EP’s I’m guessing that means they played a lot of new stuff. The new album was released a few weeks ago but the audience knew a lot of the songs already. I was just happy to hear the line about robots blowing up my heart.

Tonight I saw Local Hat the Beat Kitchen. They are playing shows all week at the Beat Kitchen, 1 album per night, one night dedicated to B sides and rarities,the last night their yet to be released album. This is such an awesome idea. I can tell a lot of people in the audience bought tickets to all of the shows because when the main show ended, no one budged or did any of the ‘will he do an encore?’ wavering. They knew he would come back out and play a ton of encores because that’s what he did the night before.
The audience was mostly guys. I felt very short and wasn’t brave enough to go into the moshing up front. I hovered around the middle and moved around so I could check out the stage between shoulders and flailing bodies. Scott Lucas is still looking pretty good, too. Chicago bands have some cute vocalists. (Chris Connelly and Billy Corgan being the other two examples that come to mind.)

Tomorrow is hustle hustle with M-I-A!

I almost missed Looptopia this year. I didn’t see a single ad for it or any buzz on the Chicago blogs. I was annoyed with Looptopia last year and blogged about my experience. Last year was the first year for the event so I hoped they learned from their mistakes and decided to give it another try.

My fellow Looptopia goer suggested I make this post as a series of conversations. OK, I will try.

Early Friday, while I am supposed to be working:
Me: Whoo! Looptopia! Let’s check out their site and see where I should meet my friend at tonight.
Looptopia site:Loading…
Me: Wow, my Angelfire page in high school loaded quicker than this.
Site: Loading…
(10 minutes later)
Me: OK, site is kind of loaded. I will just print a schedule of all events like I did last year. Oh wait, I can’t. This year events are listed by hour and since not all events start on the hour, that’s not terribly useful. One big grid schedule would have been much more efficient.
Site: Look! Now I have just changed into a schedule instead of an actual website. Except the schedule is super low quality, small and almost impossible to read.
Me: Well, I think that says DJ and Macy’s. I will go there. I hope this is not DJ Music Your Mom Likes but I will have to just go and guess since I have no details.

Some texting occurs with my friend and I go downtown. I stop by Daley Plaza to get a schedule and get an after midnight bracelet. This after midnight bracelet is new this year. It’s a special bracelet that says it’s OK to stay out past bedtime but doesn’t actually guarantee admission to events. It’s secret purpose is either to keep track how many people plan on staying out past midnight or it allows you to be arrested for loitering.

First event:

Macy’s DJ dance party
Macy’s had a DJ, some random stuff for kids, cheap drinks, food, ping pong, belly dancers, chocolate and wine samples. The most awesome part of Macy’s was not even Looptopia sponsored (sound like last year?). The DJ was doing his thing and encouraged people to dance. I noticed a circle forming in the crowd and that means one of two things: fight or dance off! Either way you have to look. A group of kids were showing off their break dancing skills. They seemed to be challenging two other guys in the crowd. I felt like I was in a movie with sassy black cheerleaders and Julia Stiles. They went back and forth for a while until a couple attention whores busted into the circle and started booty shaking. Not even good booty shaking. The crowd broke up and we wandered to other floors.

There were monsters.

Next we went back to Daley Plaza to see if they had anymore after midnight bracelets. They did not.
We looked over the schedule to decide what to do next.
Me: Fire!
Friend: Ooh fire!
Us: walking toward fire dancers

We liked the fire dancers.
Next up:

Me: I’ve never been in that church. Let’s go!
Friend: You will burst into flames.
Me: Possibly. Let’s go.

Inside was a guy playing hymns on a super huge organ. We stayed for one song and quietly left. Also, Church of Science is not Scientology.

Up next:

New Millennium Orchestra (I don’t know why their URL is just an IP. I swear I am not Rickrolling you.) This orchestra was really good. They have a turntable! And Hotel Monaco was nice for letting them play inside so they didn’t get rained on.

We tried to see the fire dancers again but the crowd was too big and we are too short.

Next up:

Midnight Circus! (No, it was not yet midnight)
They performed in Daley Plaza and we were about 5 people deep in the crowd.
My view for most of the performance:

So it went something like:
Me: (peeking between shoulders) They’re running around and there is smoke.
Friend: (staring at someone’s back) Can we go?
Me: There is a guy and a wheel doing..something.
Everyone else in front of us: Oh my god! That’s amazing!
Drunk guy next to me: I like your glasses.
Me: Oh, look! High up things! Yay!
Friend: Yay!
(2 minutes later)
Me: Uh, there is a knife juggler and..a shoulder.
Friend: Can we go now?
Kids in front of us: I can’t see anything! I will angrily drink my beer and smoke pot!

Next:

Some random art along the way. A girl stacking sugar cubes and something with lights inside of it. Both made me miss my grandma’s candy dish.

Next:

Lauren Maul sings Songs for Children(Not for Minors)
This is actually one of her MySpace pics because the pics I took had someone’s head right in the middle of them. And as you might be able to tell from other pics, I need a new camera. I’m not trying to artsy photos. That’s just how they turn out now.
This chick was great and sang songs that everyone could enjoy, even the crazy woman in front of me that raised her hand when Lauren asked if anyone has herpes. I want her at my birthday party.

After that we went home because Friend didn’t have an after midnight bracelet, there was only one interesting thing starting at midnight and I’ve already seen lines building up around venues. So it seemed like it would be just as bad as last year.
Some advice for Looptopia 3:
Elevated stages. I couldn’t see three events because of the crowd and I am not a midget.
Grid schedule. This by hour stuff just annoyed me.
More stuff after midnight. I looked at the schedule and could identify one thing per hour that I might be interested in.I bet everyone else is interested in that one thing,too. And what’s with all the late night movies? We are trying to stay awake! How about a dance party? Games?

Macy’s did the best job with events but that is kind of their business and they are desperately trying to make Chicagoans love them. Maybe Looptopia should just give up on trying to go all night and focus on lots of events from 5pm-midnight.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are coming to town in September! I don’t even care that they are playing at a sucky venue. I want to stroke Nick’s greasy mustache.