Co-ed Prison Sluts is back at the (new location of the) Annoyance Theatre! The web site said it last ran in 2000 which makes me feel old and surprised that I can still remember he lyrics the classic song “Shit, Motherfucker.”
(I’m going to get great hits/spam comments from this post!)
This weekend is sold out but I want to go soon!
Is there a 4th of July in England?
This whole patriotism thing can suck me but I was loving the backyard fireworks this weekend. I stayed out late Thursday and Friday so instead of cursing the 2am fireworks in the alley, I was on my back porch watching them. Due to a technical failure (listening to a boy) I could barely see the city’s fireworks show on the 3rd. North Ave beach may be crowded on the 3rd but there are a bunch of goddamn buildings in the way between you and the fireworks. A ton of other people didn’t seem to know this either so I don’t feel too stupid.
Boxing boot camp is almost finished so I need something new to keep me active. Jabb boxing gym has similar classes that I might go to. I like boxing but I really want to run away and join the circus. OK, it’s not quite that kind of trapeze training but it’s still trapeze! My upper body strength has got slightly less sad since starting boxing but it’s still pretty pathetic. I’m hoping the aerial training class will help me work toward the awesome back I want. (Awesome back=showing off tattoos)
I didn’t do a pictorial like I usually do with new recipes but I made some really good granola just now. I’m taking spoonfuls while waiting for it to cool. I’m concerned how its going to clump when it cools. I used my friend’s family farm honey and expensive Irish oats that come in a tin. I didn’t use the wheat germ suggested in the recipe and my fruit is raisins, dried cranberries and dried cherries.
(Answer to the title is Yes. And there is a 5th,6th and 7th of July, too. Haha! Egocentric Americans!)
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!
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.
Some advice for whoever designed Chicago’s parking meter pay boxes:
I’m already annoyed that I have to park my car, go to the pay box, give it money, print out my ticket and then go back to my car to put it on the windshield. Get something like an I-Pass for parking already.
It’s also nice that you can use a credit/debit card to pay for parking if you don’t have any change. But how about some directions for the card reader? I don’t like shoving my card in the slot beyond my reach and not knowing if it will come back out. I especially don’t like this when I’m running late for a hair appointment (btw, hair is highlighted red and looks awesome). Directions come on screen when your card is all of the way in but by that time it’s too late! The evil parking meter may have swallowed your card.
Things that I kind of like about Chicago transportation:
I went to my alderman/ward’s site and I’m signed up for email reminders when there will be street cleaning. Signs are posted but I always forget if it’s the 3rd or 4th week of the month. No more tickets this summer!
And the bus route by my house just got GPS bus tracking. I can tell that 5 busses are bunched up 20 minutes away! Now they just need to make a text number for the bus tracker for those of us without web enabled phones.
Unrelated, I made an entry filled with old pics I found at my parents’ house on my MySpace page. I figured it’s best to keep personal posts like that off this blog.
More unrelated, a coworker is out injured, not sure when she will return, and I have been stuck doing her job and mine. My boss talked about getting a temp but we are having all sorts of financial problems so that won’t happen. Today my boss sent me an email saying that if she needs to change my duties while the coworker is out, let her know. Nice of her but I don’t want my primary assignments changed, I want someone else to do these secondary, not my job, assignments. I wish I could combine the finances of a for-profit with the awesome of a non-profit.
Last time we were attacked by the Roman Army and I got a face full of mystery water balloon. You think that is going to stop me from doing it again?
It was insanely cold today, I think my eyeballs were freezing as soon as I stepped outside so I didn’t go to the Lunar New Year parade in Chinatown. Luckily, Chicago being the wonderful city it is, there are 2 parades! The parade in Uptown is smaller than the one in Chinatown but so much fun. We were there for the parade kick-off so I stood way too close to a row of firecrackers and kids were standing on a float to get a better view of the dancing dragons (and an early start on hearing damage). The dancing dragons were a couple people long but there was a small hand held dragon that about 8 people held up on a stick. They were supposed to spin and weave the body of the dragon around itself but some of the dragon holders were a bit confused and the dragon leader alternated between yelling at the people behind him and smiling for the crowd. We got some yummy Vietnamese food afterward and saw the dragon again. I want a dragon.
My mom was sad that it was too cold to go to the parade today so I brought some pastries from Chinatown to my parents and we ate bad suburban Chinese food.
While we were out picking up the food she told me that she had been talking with my dad about my desire to get my tubes tied. She said “as much as we would love to see you walk down the aisle or see you pregnant, your health is most important and getting pregnant isn’t worth the risk.”
Yes, exactly. Well, kind of. Hidden in that reassurance is “We don’t think you’re going to get married because you’re not having babies.” Mom, I have so much to teach you! She will be the first to get a copy of my yet to be written book.
