First and foremost...hehehe...69.
Secondly, you probably noticed how I cheated and didn't really do any entries for a whole week. I know I promised 101 days but it is really hard. And this last week I got sick. Plus I was saving my energy for this monstrous weekend. But here are a few details. On Sunday I went to see Neil Diamond...probably the thing I feel the worst about not blogging about. Maybe I will do a review of that after Lollapalooza is over. On Monday one of my students blew snot literally in my eyes. On Tuesday I got sick (surprise, surprise.) On Wednesday I left work early and I'm pretty sure I had a fever but I was too scared to take my temperature because I didn't want to know. On Thursday I felt better and in the evening I went to Navy Pier with Krissy and Paul and Carin and it was beautiful outside. And that brings up today...
I woke up at 7 AM because I was SOOOO excited. And then I was bored. So I talked to Erica on the MSN Messenger. She is an instant cure for boredom. And my blogs "get her going" apparently. I had previously thought them to be average at best.
I left my house at about 9:45. I figured this would be plenty of time to get inside in time to see K'Naan...who took the stage at 11:30. But the place was MOBBED. I arrived at Grant Park at about 10:45 and the line was down the street. Luckily I found some friends toward the front of the line otherwise I don't know when I would have gotten in. As it was they opened the gates twenty minutes late and I wasn't inside till 11:45, thus missing the first 15 minutes of K'Naan.
The remaining half hour of K'Naan's set was really good. He seemed to do a LOT of new music...or at least songs that I was not familiar with. But they were great. The songs I did recognize were "Smile" and "What's Hardcore", which K'Naan brought to a halt at the words, "If I rapped about home and I got descriptive/I'd make 50 Cent look like Limp Bizkit." K'Naan's home is of course Mogadishu. Black Lips were running a little late so K'Naan was allowed to tack on "Soobax" at the end of his set, but his sound was cut halfway through. He saluted the crowd and then stuck his middle fingers in the air. He did get an extra five minutes so he didn't have a whole lot to complain about there...but I can understand that he was probably pissed that the gates opened late meaning that there was hardly anyone in attendance for the first half of his set.
Black Lips were great. It was nice to see such a high energy rock band so early in the day. They played a whole bunch of songs in their hour. But they didn't play "Veni Vidi Vici" (sort of surprising) or the song about telling a child that someone has died (somewhat less surprising.)
Butch Walker was okay. I'd been expecting a little more from all the rave reviews. He had a tiny crowd. He made a joke about how he was going to play covers because nobody had any idea who the fuck he was. And he did. He and his band covered James' "Laid" and Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart". And those were the only songs of the set that I knew.
Then it was time for the Go! Team. I got right up front for them as they were one of my most anticipated acts of the day. And they of course delivered a great set. I thought that they left out some of their best songs...including "Huddle Formation"...but they had so much energy and they were a blast just like last time.
And that's when I hit the wall. As I said, I've been sick all week. I was feeling okay today, but the heat really hit me hard. I was alone at this point in the day and I just sort of wandered across the park toward the south end, which I hadn't seen yet. This is the third year I've been to Lolla and I always like the north end so much more. But I wanted to get down there and see Gogol Bordello at 4:15. On my way I checked out Perry's Stage. It's a nice shaded area. I think I'll spend a little more time there tomorrow afternoon.
I got to the south end about the time The Kills were wrapping up on the Myspace Stage. They finished their set about twenty minutes early. This is silly to me. If bands aren't going to use their full hour they should let someone like K'Naan who wanted more time take the hour slots. Anyway, they didn't sound terrible from the couple songs I heard.
Gogol was good. But I was just way too hot and tired to get into it. Maybe if I was down front where the crowd was having a good time I could have. But just standing in the sun, with a headache, it was really difficult to enjoy. I left about halfway through and found...
RAP! Leave it to C3 to find a rapper I had never heard of to play Lollapalooza. Dude's name was Free Sol or something. He played with a live band and he wasn't half bad. But he was on some "real hip hop" this and that...and that gets old quick.
I bought some guacamole.
I watched about half of Mates of State. I wasn't feeling it, even though I really like them. Once again...just too hot to enjoy. So I wandered over to Grizzly Bear when they started. I listened to three songs and left after "Knife". They sounded really good but I don't think this is the ideal venue for them. And they really should have been on one of the main stages because it was PACKED. That's what we have to look forward to at Girl Talk I suppose.
I ended up over at the BMI Stage for Cadence Weapon. Met up with Joe and Max (or Cloud and SixTimes), my new business partners at BeatsPerMil.com. During Cadence Weapon's set (which was AWESOME and HILARIOUS) we did a little marketing. Which means we threw fliers into the crowd in the form of paper airplanes. And it was shady. And his DJ was insane.
And the Cool Kids came out after a very quick set change. They tore through their set, playing most (if not all) of The Bake Sale. They also went into a stretch where they did a bunch of covers including Snoop, ODB (I think ODB may get more love nowadays than BIG and Pac), and the Pharcyde. At about 8:00 they said, "Now is the point of the show where we are going to play some new stuff." That's when I headed for Radiohead. Cool Kids will probably play Chicago ten more times this year.
And Radiohead was just beautiful. And not just Radiohead...everything surrounding the show. They started in the twilight and everything was perfect. The heat gave way to a cool breeze. Radiohead played a set made up of lots of new stuff, but a bunch of gems in their as well, including "Airbag", "Lucky", and "No Surprises." By far the best moment of the day (and quite possibly my concert-going career) came during "Fake Plastic Trees". For the third year in a row the festival was complemented by fireworks at Soldier Field for Bears Family Night. Anyway, the fireworks went on for a while and it was all very nice. Then, during "Fake Plastic Trees", right when Radiohead hit the part of the song where it gets loud the fireworks went into a spectacular finale. It could not have been purposely synced up better than that.
Anyway...they played two hours and were every bit as good as they should have been. They closed the set with "Idioteque" and we danced and were happy. Then went home. And what a clusterfuck getting out of there! It took me 45 minutes to get out the Loop.
A few notes...
- I like how they hid all the porta potties on the North end of the park this year. They are all back in the trees. But the kicker is that there are TWO of them right out in the middle of the field, and throughout the early afternoon there was a HUGE line for these two porta potties while a wall of about fifty of them sat empty back in the trees. Man...when 75, 000 people get together you really realize how stupid people are.
- I continue to be impressed with Lolla's food prices. A lot of people bitch about them, but comparing them to other festivals and concerts they are not bad at all. Four dollars for a slice of pizza? That's nothing by concert standards. And they have a lot of decent food too.
- Come on. Open the gates on time.
Anyway...I need some sleep. That was just one day. And tomorrow I will also be attending the Broken Social Scene / Yeasayer aftershow at the Metro. So I'll talk at you later.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Day 63
Saturday was nice. Went to a black church in Kankakee that had a killer choir. They were great. Did a little swimming in the afternoon. Went to the driving range with the Bishop at night.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Day 60
When I was in first grade there were two African-American girls in my class. One was named Joakima and the other was named Michelle. One day, being a first grader who did not know any better, I made the casual comment that Michelle and Joakima were both black, but Joakima was blacker than Michelle. To my utter astonishment, Joakima broke into tears and ran to tell the teacher, who gave me a very thorough scolding on the matter. I was surprised and embarrassed and I still had no idea what I had done wrong.
This incident was probably my first conscious experience with race relations. I lived in middle-class Frederick, Maryland at the time. I knew black people, but not very many. I really did not think of them any differently; some people were black, some people were white, some people were short, some people were tall, and we all had different hair and eye colors. This didn’t seem like that big of a deal. (In fact, now that I am thinking about this incident, it occurs to me that I may have received similar flack one time for pointing out another seemingly mundane detail about the world: there are more white people than black people, but there are a lot of black people in Washington, D.C.) I knew about slavery and the Civil war; living on the Eastern Seaboard I had been to several battlefields. I had probably heard of Martin Luther King and had a vague knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement. But it had never crossed my mind that racism (or whatever my six-year-old mind would have called the concept of racism) still existed. And it certainly had never crossed my mind that Joakima, a fairly friendly acquaintance of mine, would get so bent out of shape because I simply pointed out the shade of her skin.
Of course, today I can see why Joakima reacted the way she did. I attended a discussion last year on racism in the public school system and Alex Kotlowitz, author of There are No Children Here, commented that black kids in the city deal with the effects of racism on a daily basis, while white kids in the suburbs think racism is something that ended in the ‘60s. This is more or less true. I could not have been held responsible for my comment to Joakima because I had no idea that I said anything wrong. I did not realize how much African-Americans were discriminated against and I certainly had no idea of the stereotypes that accompany darker and lighter skin-tones. Joakima, meanwhile, was probably all too aware of these things, even at her young age, and even living in our fairly tolerant town. I had never seen any of the white kids tease her for being black, but it must have weighed on her mind constantly to be in such a minority. Furthermore, outside of the classroom, living in a predominantly white (and somewhat rural) community, her family surely faced their share of racism, be it malicious or subtle or, such as in my case, naïve. And judging by her reaction, even at her young age she was familiar with the stereotypes of skin-tone.
I was six-years-old at the time so her reaction and my naivety do not haunt me. This was simply the first in a long line of lessons I have learned on race relations in our country. What does still bother me a little is the reaction of my teacher. I had a class last quarter where we were instructed to think of a negative moment, involving a teacher that stood out in our minds. This was not the story I related, but it could have been.
My teacher’s reaction was to simply give me a stern scolding. I also remember that there was another teacher present at the time and she also put in her two cents. There was no explanation of why my comment could have been misconstrued as offensive. Instead they simply yelled at me and left me confused.
Setting aside the shoddy teaching strategy in place here, I think that the teacher’s reaction is indicative of the way many in our country deal with race relations. There is rarely an effort made to open a real dialogue on racial issues. The only time the media really addresses race is when a public figure lets an ignorant or malicious comment slide. When this happens we simply vilify this person, or sweep it under the rug as a relic of a past age of racism. The discussion centers on a word instead of the attitudes and emotions behind it. If we hope to truly confront the racial divide in America we have to be willing to confront the subject on a deeper level, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us feel.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
This incident was probably my first conscious experience with race relations. I lived in middle-class Frederick, Maryland at the time. I knew black people, but not very many. I really did not think of them any differently; some people were black, some people were white, some people were short, some people were tall, and we all had different hair and eye colors. This didn’t seem like that big of a deal. (In fact, now that I am thinking about this incident, it occurs to me that I may have received similar flack one time for pointing out another seemingly mundane detail about the world: there are more white people than black people, but there are a lot of black people in Washington, D.C.) I knew about slavery and the Civil war; living on the Eastern Seaboard I had been to several battlefields. I had probably heard of Martin Luther King and had a vague knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement. But it had never crossed my mind that racism (or whatever my six-year-old mind would have called the concept of racism) still existed. And it certainly had never crossed my mind that Joakima, a fairly friendly acquaintance of mine, would get so bent out of shape because I simply pointed out the shade of her skin.
Of course, today I can see why Joakima reacted the way she did. I attended a discussion last year on racism in the public school system and Alex Kotlowitz, author of There are No Children Here, commented that black kids in the city deal with the effects of racism on a daily basis, while white kids in the suburbs think racism is something that ended in the ‘60s. This is more or less true. I could not have been held responsible for my comment to Joakima because I had no idea that I said anything wrong. I did not realize how much African-Americans were discriminated against and I certainly had no idea of the stereotypes that accompany darker and lighter skin-tones. Joakima, meanwhile, was probably all too aware of these things, even at her young age, and even living in our fairly tolerant town. I had never seen any of the white kids tease her for being black, but it must have weighed on her mind constantly to be in such a minority. Furthermore, outside of the classroom, living in a predominantly white (and somewhat rural) community, her family surely faced their share of racism, be it malicious or subtle or, such as in my case, naïve. And judging by her reaction, even at her young age she was familiar with the stereotypes of skin-tone.
I was six-years-old at the time so her reaction and my naivety do not haunt me. This was simply the first in a long line of lessons I have learned on race relations in our country. What does still bother me a little is the reaction of my teacher. I had a class last quarter where we were instructed to think of a negative moment, involving a teacher that stood out in our minds. This was not the story I related, but it could have been.
My teacher’s reaction was to simply give me a stern scolding. I also remember that there was another teacher present at the time and she also put in her two cents. There was no explanation of why my comment could have been misconstrued as offensive. Instead they simply yelled at me and left me confused.
Setting aside the shoddy teaching strategy in place here, I think that the teacher’s reaction is indicative of the way many in our country deal with race relations. There is rarely an effort made to open a real dialogue on racial issues. The only time the media really addresses race is when a public figure lets an ignorant or malicious comment slide. When this happens we simply vilify this person, or sweep it under the rug as a relic of a past age of racism. The discussion centers on a word instead of the attitudes and emotions behind it. If we hope to truly confront the racial divide in America we have to be willing to confront the subject on a deeper level, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us feel.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Day 57
Sunday was the final day of the Pitchfork Music Festival. And it was a GREAT day.
It started with me dragging myself out of bed at 10 AM. After a long day yesterday and getting home at 12:30 it was sort of tough. But I gotta be a rock star on Pitchfork weekend. And there is Sparks at Union Park!
So I was up. And I was going to fix a big breakfast. But there were no eggs in the house for just about the first time ever. So I ate these little link things that come in a can and taste good. Then I left the house at about 11:20.
I got down to the park a little after noon. Met up with friends and acquaintances and chatted and told everyone how awesome Rock the Bells was yesterday and how terrible the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre was. Then the show started.
I listened to the first few bands of the day from afar. I was just too tired and too hot to hang out up front for bands I am not really all that into. The first band to play was Times New Viking. I recognized one of their songs. Next was Dirty Projectors. They are those ones who do all those Black Flag songs all slow and quiet like. They sounded okay. Then was Boris. They played some Japanese metal and then they blew a speaker or something so the show ended early.
The first band that I actually got up and went to see was Apples in Stereo. This is a great band and they made me happy on a sunny afternoon. They opened their set with "Can You Feel It" and ended up playing quite a bit from that album, which is nice because it is the only one I have.
I decided to check out a little bit of King Khan's set. I listened to a couple songs and they were really fun. Then I left to go see Les Savy Fav, who were really high on my list for the day. For some reason I had a really tough time getting into them, which was odd because they put on a real energetic show. I guess I was probably just a little bit too far back to really appreciate it. I ended up going back to camp and wishing I had stayed at King Khan.
So after a little more chillaxin' it was 6:00 and time for the Ghostface and Raekwon set over at that small stage. Ghost and Rae were supposed to be on a main stage but for some reason they ended up having to switch times and stages. Biggest shock of the day was that they went on stage right at their scheduled start time. And they were predictably awesome. They played a TON of Wu-Tang stuff, mostly off 36 Chambers, along with a bunch of Only Build 4 Cuban Linx and solo Ghostface. And the sound was SO much better than any of the sets I saw yesterday. Plus, they played a FULL HOUR!
And they got done just in time for Spiritualized! I really thought I was going to end up missing Spiritualized but the stars aligned and thank goodness because this was probably the best set of the day. I had assumed they were going to do an artsy fartsy acoustic set like they did at Coachella, but instead they played with a full band with back up singers and everything! Full sound, very tight set. Just awesome...
And then I killed more time. Ate some food. Chatted. Listened to Dinosaur Jr. from afar. Then Spoon went on. I wandered forward and then wandered back because ONCE AGAIN I was not feeling Spoon's set. They just don't do it for me in a live setting. Then I walked through some mud. Then I decided to go check out the end of Cut Copy.
When I got to Cut Copy's stage I realized that Cut Copy was not on stage. Instead it was Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, King Khan, and Jay Reatard playing a bunch of rock songs all sloppily in their best superjam form. Turns out Cut Copy was stuck at the airport and these guys were filling in.
But then Cut Copy showed up. And holy hell did they ever show up! They ended up only getting twenty minutes but in that twenty minutes they melted everyone's faces. The whole crowd was jumping and dancing and singing, every single hand in the air.
LIGHTS AND MUSIC!
And then it was home.
It started with me dragging myself out of bed at 10 AM. After a long day yesterday and getting home at 12:30 it was sort of tough. But I gotta be a rock star on Pitchfork weekend. And there is Sparks at Union Park!
So I was up. And I was going to fix a big breakfast. But there were no eggs in the house for just about the first time ever. So I ate these little link things that come in a can and taste good. Then I left the house at about 11:20.
I got down to the park a little after noon. Met up with friends and acquaintances and chatted and told everyone how awesome Rock the Bells was yesterday and how terrible the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre was. Then the show started.
I listened to the first few bands of the day from afar. I was just too tired and too hot to hang out up front for bands I am not really all that into. The first band to play was Times New Viking. I recognized one of their songs. Next was Dirty Projectors. They are those ones who do all those Black Flag songs all slow and quiet like. They sounded okay. Then was Boris. They played some Japanese metal and then they blew a speaker or something so the show ended early.
The first band that I actually got up and went to see was Apples in Stereo. This is a great band and they made me happy on a sunny afternoon. They opened their set with "Can You Feel It" and ended up playing quite a bit from that album, which is nice because it is the only one I have.
I decided to check out a little bit of King Khan's set. I listened to a couple songs and they were really fun. Then I left to go see Les Savy Fav, who were really high on my list for the day. For some reason I had a really tough time getting into them, which was odd because they put on a real energetic show. I guess I was probably just a little bit too far back to really appreciate it. I ended up going back to camp and wishing I had stayed at King Khan.
So after a little more chillaxin' it was 6:00 and time for the Ghostface and Raekwon set over at that small stage. Ghost and Rae were supposed to be on a main stage but for some reason they ended up having to switch times and stages. Biggest shock of the day was that they went on stage right at their scheduled start time. And they were predictably awesome. They played a TON of Wu-Tang stuff, mostly off 36 Chambers, along with a bunch of Only Build 4 Cuban Linx and solo Ghostface. And the sound was SO much better than any of the sets I saw yesterday. Plus, they played a FULL HOUR!
And they got done just in time for Spiritualized! I really thought I was going to end up missing Spiritualized but the stars aligned and thank goodness because this was probably the best set of the day. I had assumed they were going to do an artsy fartsy acoustic set like they did at Coachella, but instead they played with a full band with back up singers and everything! Full sound, very tight set. Just awesome...
And then I killed more time. Ate some food. Chatted. Listened to Dinosaur Jr. from afar. Then Spoon went on. I wandered forward and then wandered back because ONCE AGAIN I was not feeling Spoon's set. They just don't do it for me in a live setting. Then I walked through some mud. Then I decided to go check out the end of Cut Copy.
When I got to Cut Copy's stage I realized that Cut Copy was not on stage. Instead it was Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, King Khan, and Jay Reatard playing a bunch of rock songs all sloppily in their best superjam form. Turns out Cut Copy was stuck at the airport and these guys were filling in.
But then Cut Copy showed up. And holy hell did they ever show up! They ended up only getting twenty minutes but in that twenty minutes they melted everyone's faces. The whole crowd was jumping and dancing and singing, every single hand in the air.
LIGHTS AND MUSIC!
And then it was home.
Day 56
Day 56 was Rock the Bells. Here is the review I wrote for CoS. It isn't up there yet so you get to read it first!
Rock the Bells is generally considered the premier North American hip hop festival, pretty much by default. The tour kicked off at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL last weekend with a full day of beats, rhymes, and all the confusion and technical difficulties that have come to define the festival.
Guerilla Union, the company responsible for Rock the Bells, gets a lot of play out of the “real hip hop” mantra. Whenever I hear an artist or a DJ or a writer talking about “real” or “true” hip hop I can’t help but get a little queasy. I understand the importance of respecting the ideals on which the genre was originally built. But the “real hip hop” rallying cry has become a cliché, beaten to death by a particular subset that pines for a bygone era that can never be duplicated.
So year in, year out the folks at Guerilla Union stack the Rock the Bells lineup with classic backpacker favorites that peaked a decade or two ago. On the one hand this is great. I paid quite a large sum of money for a pit ticket for the chance to be so close to so many legendary artists. At the same time, too much of an over reliance on nostalgia acts plays right into the hands of those who claim that hip hop is dead. Today’s commercial rap radio may be extremely repetitive and watered down, but this is more the result of the state of commercial radio than it is of trends in hip hop. (It is worth noting that the venue hosting the show is run by Live Nation, a spin off of Clear Channel Communications, the company largely responsible for the current state of rap radio. So take that into consideration before accepting the idea that GU’s goals are completely altruistic.) There are plenty of new artists around who would have both complemented the existing lineup well, and sent the message that rap music is alive and well.
Most of the buzz for this year’s tour centers around the two big reunion acts, A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde. While Tribe is the festival’s overall headliner, The Pharcyde may actually be the more anticipated act since Saturday’s show was the first time all four original members performed together in eleven years. They did not disappoint the hyped up crowd, tearing through hits such as “Passing Me By” and “Ya Mama” with the assistance of a live band.
As for Tribe, they wore the headlining crown well, playing almost exactly what was expected of them. Despite an unfortunate decision to allow Q-Tip to spend the first fifteen minutes or so of the set performing his solo material (along with Tribe hits “Excursions” and “Sucka Nigga”), and a momentum-killing set change before the emergence of Phife Dawg and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, they were able to rebound nicely and work the crowd into a frenzy on “Scenario”, “Electric Relaxation”, and practically every other song they could have been expected to play. By the time the evening came to a close with a rollicking “Award Tour”, most of the baffling stage decisions and technical difficulties of the day had been forgotten.
None of the day’s artists embodied straight-ahead, no frills hip hop as well as Nas. Performing with just a DJ, on an empty stage devoid of musicians and hype men, the Queens rapper used his drastically shortened 25-minute set to hit some of the highlights of his prolific career, including “N.Y. State of Mind”, “If I Ruled the World”, and moving set closer “One Mic.” He also had time to open his set with two tracks off his new album, “N.I.G.G.E.R.” and “Sly Fox”, and give a shout out to his nemesis Bill O’Reilly.
But other artists who attempted to hold down the amphitheatre’s massive stage single-handedly did not fare quite as well. Mos Def certainly could have benefitted from an appearance by Talib Kweli, a live band, or anything else that may have perked up a disappointingly dull set that seemed to be made up almost exclusively of new songs. Time constraints affected Mos, as they did most of the festival’s marquee acts, and he had to beg the stage manager before being allowed to finish his set with a shortened version of “Umi Says.” Def Jux rapper Murs also suffered through a horribly disjointed set, though this was not necessarily his fault. During his set one of the turntables was not working and he was never quite able to get into a rhythm.
Never were the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre’s acoustical problems more irritating than they were during Rakim’s short set. The legendary Long Island emcee, known to many by the simple moniker of “God”, is known for being one of the most innovative and influential lyricists of all time. The fact that his words were nearly indecipherable was nothing short of the day’s greatest tragedy, and not even his and DJ Kid Capri’s stellar stage presence could make up for it.
Short sets and poor acoustics also sunk sets by usually great live acts De La Soul and Dead Prez. The former did a decent job moving the crowd, but had their set time cut nearly in half due to the time constraints. Dead Prez seemed to be lacking their usual stage presence, though it did come through on “Hip Hop.”
One act that was seemingly unaffected by the poor sound was Method Man and Redman. The show was stolen by the Wu-Tang emcee, who dove into the audience, crowd surfed, and even ended up at the back of the venue, bringing the house down on his signature hit, “M.E.T.H.O.D. Man.”
Also performing at the tour opening show were Immortal Technique, Jay Electronica, B.O.B., and Kidz in the Hall. With thirteen live acts on only one stage, it appears that Guerilla Union may have bit off a little more than they could chew for an eleven-hour festival. With all due respect to every artist on the bill, trimming the lineup a little would have allowed the festival’s higher billed acts to play their full set times. The introduction of a second stage, which GU advertised (and is continuing to advertise) on the festival’s website, would have also served to make the day a little more bearable.
Day one of the Rock the Bells tour was an eleven-hour day characterized by some very good sets by some of rap’s greatest artists. It was also characterized by shoddy clock management, technical difficulties, poor sound, and a whole bunch of self-congratulatory mumbo jumbo. I spend a lot of time trying to convince skeptical friends and acquaintances of rap’s musical and cultural relevance. All in all, as a hip hop fan I had an excellent time at this show, but I would not have felt comfortable recommending it to anyone still on the fence about rap music since it played straight into so many common, negative stereotypes of the genre. And this is a real shame because Rock the Bells has such a great opportunity to push positive hip hop forward.
Rock the Bells is generally considered the premier North American hip hop festival, pretty much by default. The tour kicked off at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL last weekend with a full day of beats, rhymes, and all the confusion and technical difficulties that have come to define the festival.
Guerilla Union, the company responsible for Rock the Bells, gets a lot of play out of the “real hip hop” mantra. Whenever I hear an artist or a DJ or a writer talking about “real” or “true” hip hop I can’t help but get a little queasy. I understand the importance of respecting the ideals on which the genre was originally built. But the “real hip hop” rallying cry has become a cliché, beaten to death by a particular subset that pines for a bygone era that can never be duplicated.
So year in, year out the folks at Guerilla Union stack the Rock the Bells lineup with classic backpacker favorites that peaked a decade or two ago. On the one hand this is great. I paid quite a large sum of money for a pit ticket for the chance to be so close to so many legendary artists. At the same time, too much of an over reliance on nostalgia acts plays right into the hands of those who claim that hip hop is dead. Today’s commercial rap radio may be extremely repetitive and watered down, but this is more the result of the state of commercial radio than it is of trends in hip hop. (It is worth noting that the venue hosting the show is run by Live Nation, a spin off of Clear Channel Communications, the company largely responsible for the current state of rap radio. So take that into consideration before accepting the idea that GU’s goals are completely altruistic.) There are plenty of new artists around who would have both complemented the existing lineup well, and sent the message that rap music is alive and well.
Most of the buzz for this year’s tour centers around the two big reunion acts, A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde. While Tribe is the festival’s overall headliner, The Pharcyde may actually be the more anticipated act since Saturday’s show was the first time all four original members performed together in eleven years. They did not disappoint the hyped up crowd, tearing through hits such as “Passing Me By” and “Ya Mama” with the assistance of a live band.
As for Tribe, they wore the headlining crown well, playing almost exactly what was expected of them. Despite an unfortunate decision to allow Q-Tip to spend the first fifteen minutes or so of the set performing his solo material (along with Tribe hits “Excursions” and “Sucka Nigga”), and a momentum-killing set change before the emergence of Phife Dawg and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, they were able to rebound nicely and work the crowd into a frenzy on “Scenario”, “Electric Relaxation”, and practically every other song they could have been expected to play. By the time the evening came to a close with a rollicking “Award Tour”, most of the baffling stage decisions and technical difficulties of the day had been forgotten.
None of the day’s artists embodied straight-ahead, no frills hip hop as well as Nas. Performing with just a DJ, on an empty stage devoid of musicians and hype men, the Queens rapper used his drastically shortened 25-minute set to hit some of the highlights of his prolific career, including “N.Y. State of Mind”, “If I Ruled the World”, and moving set closer “One Mic.” He also had time to open his set with two tracks off his new album, “N.I.G.G.E.R.” and “Sly Fox”, and give a shout out to his nemesis Bill O’Reilly.
But other artists who attempted to hold down the amphitheatre’s massive stage single-handedly did not fare quite as well. Mos Def certainly could have benefitted from an appearance by Talib Kweli, a live band, or anything else that may have perked up a disappointingly dull set that seemed to be made up almost exclusively of new songs. Time constraints affected Mos, as they did most of the festival’s marquee acts, and he had to beg the stage manager before being allowed to finish his set with a shortened version of “Umi Says.” Def Jux rapper Murs also suffered through a horribly disjointed set, though this was not necessarily his fault. During his set one of the turntables was not working and he was never quite able to get into a rhythm.
Never were the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre’s acoustical problems more irritating than they were during Rakim’s short set. The legendary Long Island emcee, known to many by the simple moniker of “God”, is known for being one of the most innovative and influential lyricists of all time. The fact that his words were nearly indecipherable was nothing short of the day’s greatest tragedy, and not even his and DJ Kid Capri’s stellar stage presence could make up for it.
Short sets and poor acoustics also sunk sets by usually great live acts De La Soul and Dead Prez. The former did a decent job moving the crowd, but had their set time cut nearly in half due to the time constraints. Dead Prez seemed to be lacking their usual stage presence, though it did come through on “Hip Hop.”
One act that was seemingly unaffected by the poor sound was Method Man and Redman. The show was stolen by the Wu-Tang emcee, who dove into the audience, crowd surfed, and even ended up at the back of the venue, bringing the house down on his signature hit, “M.E.T.H.O.D. Man.”
Also performing at the tour opening show were Immortal Technique, Jay Electronica, B.O.B., and Kidz in the Hall. With thirteen live acts on only one stage, it appears that Guerilla Union may have bit off a little more than they could chew for an eleven-hour festival. With all due respect to every artist on the bill, trimming the lineup a little would have allowed the festival’s higher billed acts to play their full set times. The introduction of a second stage, which GU advertised (and is continuing to advertise) on the festival’s website, would have also served to make the day a little more bearable.
Day one of the Rock the Bells tour was an eleven-hour day characterized by some very good sets by some of rap’s greatest artists. It was also characterized by shoddy clock management, technical difficulties, poor sound, and a whole bunch of self-congratulatory mumbo jumbo. I spend a lot of time trying to convince skeptical friends and acquaintances of rap’s musical and cultural relevance. All in all, as a hip hop fan I had an excellent time at this show, but I would not have felt comfortable recommending it to anyone still on the fence about rap music since it played straight into so many common, negative stereotypes of the genre. And this is a real shame because Rock the Bells has such a great opportunity to push positive hip hop forward.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Day 55
Opening night of the Pitchfork Music Festival...
I got there about 5:30 and chatted with some friends. Mission of Burma took the stage at 6PM. I really like MoB but I am not familiar with Vs, which is the album they performed tonight. But it sounded great.
Instead of listening to Sebadoh I elected to stake out a spot for Public Enemy. Sebadoh sounded all right. Not really my thing. I spent the time talking mostly.
Before Public Enemy came out their production crew, The Bomb Squad put on a DJ set. It was pretty tight and got the crowd hyped for PE. What bothered me was that when they finished their set the music died and we waited five minutes or so for Public Enemy. It just sort of seemed that they should have burst onto the stage and built on all the hype the Bomb Squad built. But that is just a minor complaint.
So Public Enemy...not much I can say. They were amazing. They were about a million times better than I expected them to be. Some may make fun of some of Flav's antics but I thought he was absolutely hilarious tonight. Chuck is a fierce rhymer but on stage he looks like he is having a blast. In general it amazes me how a group with so much political rage can be so unpretentious and happy on stage.
Well that's all for now...the full PE review is coming to Consequence of Sound pretty soon. As soon as I get my thoughts straight.
PEACE
I got there about 5:30 and chatted with some friends. Mission of Burma took the stage at 6PM. I really like MoB but I am not familiar with Vs, which is the album they performed tonight. But it sounded great.
Instead of listening to Sebadoh I elected to stake out a spot for Public Enemy. Sebadoh sounded all right. Not really my thing. I spent the time talking mostly.
Before Public Enemy came out their production crew, The Bomb Squad put on a DJ set. It was pretty tight and got the crowd hyped for PE. What bothered me was that when they finished their set the music died and we waited five minutes or so for Public Enemy. It just sort of seemed that they should have burst onto the stage and built on all the hype the Bomb Squad built. But that is just a minor complaint.
So Public Enemy...not much I can say. They were amazing. They were about a million times better than I expected them to be. Some may make fun of some of Flav's antics but I thought he was absolutely hilarious tonight. Chuck is a fierce rhymer but on stage he looks like he is having a blast. In general it amazes me how a group with so much political rage can be so unpretentious and happy on stage.
Well that's all for now...the full PE review is coming to Consequence of Sound pretty soon. As soon as I get my thoughts straight.
PEACE
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Day 54
Today begins a span of 18 days in which I will see the following bands:
A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar, Extra Golden, Fleet Foxes, Mission of Burma, Sebadoh, Public Enemy, Murs, Dead Prez, Meth and Red, Mos Def, De La Soul, Rakim, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Mahjongg, Times New Viking, Dirty Projectors, Boris, The Apples in Stereo, Les Savy Fav, The Dodos, Ghost and Rae, Spiritualized, Dinosaur Jr, Spoon, Neil Diamond, K'Naan, Black Lips, Butch Walker, The Go! Team, The Kills, Gogol Bordello, Mates of State, Grizzly Bear, Cadence Weapon, Cool Kids, Radiohead, The Gutter Twins, Devotchka, Explosions in the Sky, Okkervil River, Lupe Fiasco, Toadies, Rage Against the Machine, Yeasayer, Broken Social Scene, Ha Ha Tonka, Kid Sister, Weakerthans, Brazilian Girls, Chromeo, Iron and Wine, Saul Williams, Girl Talk, The National, Kanye West.
I'm so lucky...
But first things first. I had class this morning. So I had to wake up super early. And go to class. And then, instead of going straight into the city like I planned, I came home to pick up my car from the shop. 853 dollars later I headed downtown.
Today I parked in a parking garage. It was thirteen dollars. Much cheaper than I had anticipated. Good thing...what with the whole 853 dollars at the shop thing.
The first big event of the day was the panel discussion on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back at the Chicago Cultural Center. The panel was actually Keith and Hank Shocklee, Harry Allan, and Chuck D. There was also a moderator who seemed painfully out of place...but he IS working on a documentary on the history of sampling so he must know what he is talking about.
For the most part, Public Enemy were absolutely hilarious. The first twenty minutes or so were like a comedy routine between the Shocklees...then Chuck got goin' and serious knowledge was getting dropped. But it was all a great time. I'm going to expand on this a lot more by the end of the weekend in an article I am writing for Consequence of Sound. But the bottom line is that the discussion was entertaining and informative and one of the best free things I've ever been to. My only beef is that it started late (it is hip hop after all) and it was COLD AS SHIT in the theater. At first it was nice since it was 93 degrees outside, but by the time it was over I was thrilled to feel heat again.
After the discussion I had about an hour and fifteen minutes to kill so I went to Bennigans for some food and a drink. I had a black bean burger that fell apart. It was actually delicious but I ended up eating it with a fork.
So there is a new feature with the Pitchfork Festival this year. Tonight there was a free kickoff show in Millennium Park featuring four of the bands that are playing on Saturday. This was perfect because I will not be at the festival on Saturday. So going to tonight's show was a no brainer. Each band played 30 minute sets. There were VERY short breaks between sets and the show started at 6:30 and ended at 9:00.
The first band on stage was A Hawk and a Hacksaw. I listened to this band for the first time after I saw them on the Pitchfork lineup. They are probably the band I discovered on the lineup that I liked the most. I was disappointed that I was not going to be able to see them at the festival, but I ended up seeing them tonight. This band is made up of a mandolin, two violins, a trumpet, and an accordian. They come from Budapest I believe, but I'm pretty sure at least someone is American. Basically I don't know a whole lot about them other than the fact they put on a pretty good show, despite the fact that the crowd was still settling in and not all that into them.
But the audience definitely perked up for Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar. This is a seven piece brass band with two drummers and they owned the stage tonight. They were easily the most entertaining bands of the evening and they got the whole audience moving. To those who are going to Pitchfork on Saturday make sure you arrive early and catch these guys. You won't be disappointing.
The good vibes continued with Extra Golden. This band has three members from Kenya and three from D.C. They have an Afro-beat vibe but they also can jam pretty hard, which they showed on their last song "Obama". This of course got a positive reaction from the overwhelmingly pro-Obama audience.
Fleet Foxes finished the evening. This was the band that I was most familiar with. I am nowhere near as pretentious as I used to be when it comes to music. This is good because I enjoy music more. On the other hand, it also means that albums don't grow on me like they used to. Back when I had more pretentious taste I would listen to albums over and over because they were albums I was SUPPOSED to get into. And sometimes they would grow on me. This doesn't happen much anymore, but it did with Fleet Foxes. I wasn't crazy about them the first time I listened, but I kept it up, mostly because of tonight's show, and now I REALLY like them. And they didn't disappoint. They were mellow...particularly after the previous three bands jammed so hard, but they were a perfect way to end the show. They have a really folksy sound beautiful harmonies and they went perfect with the twilight.
Anyway...I came home and swam. Tomorrow it really starts to get crazy. Day One of Pitchfork...Mission of Burma, Sebadoh, and of course PUBLIC ENEMY!
A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar, Extra Golden, Fleet Foxes, Mission of Burma, Sebadoh, Public Enemy, Murs, Dead Prez, Meth and Red, Mos Def, De La Soul, Rakim, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Mahjongg, Times New Viking, Dirty Projectors, Boris, The Apples in Stereo, Les Savy Fav, The Dodos, Ghost and Rae, Spiritualized, Dinosaur Jr, Spoon, Neil Diamond, K'Naan, Black Lips, Butch Walker, The Go! Team, The Kills, Gogol Bordello, Mates of State, Grizzly Bear, Cadence Weapon, Cool Kids, Radiohead, The Gutter Twins, Devotchka, Explosions in the Sky, Okkervil River, Lupe Fiasco, Toadies, Rage Against the Machine, Yeasayer, Broken Social Scene, Ha Ha Tonka, Kid Sister, Weakerthans, Brazilian Girls, Chromeo, Iron and Wine, Saul Williams, Girl Talk, The National, Kanye West.
I'm so lucky...
But first things first. I had class this morning. So I had to wake up super early. And go to class. And then, instead of going straight into the city like I planned, I came home to pick up my car from the shop. 853 dollars later I headed downtown.
Today I parked in a parking garage. It was thirteen dollars. Much cheaper than I had anticipated. Good thing...what with the whole 853 dollars at the shop thing.
The first big event of the day was the panel discussion on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back at the Chicago Cultural Center. The panel was actually Keith and Hank Shocklee, Harry Allan, and Chuck D. There was also a moderator who seemed painfully out of place...but he IS working on a documentary on the history of sampling so he must know what he is talking about.
For the most part, Public Enemy were absolutely hilarious. The first twenty minutes or so were like a comedy routine between the Shocklees...then Chuck got goin' and serious knowledge was getting dropped. But it was all a great time. I'm going to expand on this a lot more by the end of the weekend in an article I am writing for Consequence of Sound. But the bottom line is that the discussion was entertaining and informative and one of the best free things I've ever been to. My only beef is that it started late (it is hip hop after all) and it was COLD AS SHIT in the theater. At first it was nice since it was 93 degrees outside, but by the time it was over I was thrilled to feel heat again.
After the discussion I had about an hour and fifteen minutes to kill so I went to Bennigans for some food and a drink. I had a black bean burger that fell apart. It was actually delicious but I ended up eating it with a fork.
So there is a new feature with the Pitchfork Festival this year. Tonight there was a free kickoff show in Millennium Park featuring four of the bands that are playing on Saturday. This was perfect because I will not be at the festival on Saturday. So going to tonight's show was a no brainer. Each band played 30 minute sets. There were VERY short breaks between sets and the show started at 6:30 and ended at 9:00.
The first band on stage was A Hawk and a Hacksaw. I listened to this band for the first time after I saw them on the Pitchfork lineup. They are probably the band I discovered on the lineup that I liked the most. I was disappointed that I was not going to be able to see them at the festival, but I ended up seeing them tonight. This band is made up of a mandolin, two violins, a trumpet, and an accordian. They come from Budapest I believe, but I'm pretty sure at least someone is American. Basically I don't know a whole lot about them other than the fact they put on a pretty good show, despite the fact that the crowd was still settling in and not all that into them.
But the audience definitely perked up for Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar. This is a seven piece brass band with two drummers and they owned the stage tonight. They were easily the most entertaining bands of the evening and they got the whole audience moving. To those who are going to Pitchfork on Saturday make sure you arrive early and catch these guys. You won't be disappointing.
The good vibes continued with Extra Golden. This band has three members from Kenya and three from D.C. They have an Afro-beat vibe but they also can jam pretty hard, which they showed on their last song "Obama". This of course got a positive reaction from the overwhelmingly pro-Obama audience.
Fleet Foxes finished the evening. This was the band that I was most familiar with. I am nowhere near as pretentious as I used to be when it comes to music. This is good because I enjoy music more. On the other hand, it also means that albums don't grow on me like they used to. Back when I had more pretentious taste I would listen to albums over and over because they were albums I was SUPPOSED to get into. And sometimes they would grow on me. This doesn't happen much anymore, but it did with Fleet Foxes. I wasn't crazy about them the first time I listened, but I kept it up, mostly because of tonight's show, and now I REALLY like them. And they didn't disappoint. They were mellow...particularly after the previous three bands jammed so hard, but they were a perfect way to end the show. They have a really folksy sound beautiful harmonies and they went perfect with the twilight.
Anyway...I came home and swam. Tomorrow it really starts to get crazy. Day One of Pitchfork...Mission of Burma, Sebadoh, and of course PUBLIC ENEMY!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Day 52
Ok...I wasn't going to do another one today but this game just won't end so I will go ahead and get all the way caught up.
General Wedding Thoughts
The wedding weekend was a whole lot of fun. This didn't really come out in my blog entries too much but that is just because I was too tired every night to write everything down.
The nicest thing was seeing so many people. Since the wedding involved my sister and one of my best friends practically everyone I know was around for the weekend. Almost too many people because there were a lot of them that I did not even get to spend any time with. I spent most of the weekend hanging out with the Dudes...many of whom I have not seen in a LONG time. The weekend really was just one big party.
And the wedding was all very well done. It seems that all the ridiculous hours and money that went into it actually paid off. The reception hall was very nice. So was the service. The rehearsal dinner was one of the best meals I have eaten in quite some time.
I still don't necessarily understand why anyone would want to put so much time, money, and stress into a wedding. It seems like people would rather enjoy their weekend than run around stressed out about little last minute details. And I can't imagine why anyone would want to spend an entire year of their lives working on a wedding with all their spare time. I am all for a small destination wedding. But that's just me.
Anyway...everything has calmed down now. Everyone is gone. Except for Grandma and Grandpa. They are still here.
I had two hours of class today. Waking up was a bitch. But then I was home by 12:30 and had a nice laid back afternoon. I got a few things accomplished and then took a dip in the pool with my dad and my grandma.
And of course I watched the entire All-Star Game. Or I suppose I should say I am still watching the All-Star Game. It is now the fifteenth inning.
Oh yeah...Paul just called me from his honeymoon. It seems that he and Krissy are at a small bar in Door County and apparently they just missed Dusty Baker by a few minutes. Apparently Dusty is spending his All-Star break in Door County and he happened in to watch the game. So that is kind of, ummm, cool.
Anyway...big weekend coming up with Pitchfork and Rock the Bells. And big day tomorrow with eleven hours of tutoring.
General Wedding Thoughts
The wedding weekend was a whole lot of fun. This didn't really come out in my blog entries too much but that is just because I was too tired every night to write everything down.
The nicest thing was seeing so many people. Since the wedding involved my sister and one of my best friends practically everyone I know was around for the weekend. Almost too many people because there were a lot of them that I did not even get to spend any time with. I spent most of the weekend hanging out with the Dudes...many of whom I have not seen in a LONG time. The weekend really was just one big party.
And the wedding was all very well done. It seems that all the ridiculous hours and money that went into it actually paid off. The reception hall was very nice. So was the service. The rehearsal dinner was one of the best meals I have eaten in quite some time.
I still don't necessarily understand why anyone would want to put so much time, money, and stress into a wedding. It seems like people would rather enjoy their weekend than run around stressed out about little last minute details. And I can't imagine why anyone would want to spend an entire year of their lives working on a wedding with all their spare time. I am all for a small destination wedding. But that's just me.
Anyway...everything has calmed down now. Everyone is gone. Except for Grandma and Grandpa. They are still here.
I had two hours of class today. Waking up was a bitch. But then I was home by 12:30 and had a nice laid back afternoon. I got a few things accomplished and then took a dip in the pool with my dad and my grandma.
And of course I watched the entire All-Star Game. Or I suppose I should say I am still watching the All-Star Game. It is now the fifteenth inning.
Oh yeah...Paul just called me from his honeymoon. It seems that he and Krissy are at a small bar in Door County and apparently they just missed Dusty Baker by a few minutes. Apparently Dusty is spending his All-Star break in Door County and he happened in to watch the game. So that is kind of, ummm, cool.
Anyway...big weekend coming up with Pitchfork and Rock the Bells. And big day tomorrow with eleven hours of tutoring.
Day 50
So the day of the wedding.
I actually got to sleep in on Sunday. We all woke up around ten and we got some terrible breakfast at the hotel. Then I decided to go home and get some socks and a t-shirt to wear with my tux. Apparently while I was gone somebody came and took pictures of all the dudes and I missed it. That's okay. There are plenty of pictures of me.
So I changed and Will and Isaac and I drove over to the church. And we sat around for a little while. And took some pictures. But not too many. Mostly sat around.
The wedding was good. It was short and nice. Krissy cried.
We took a limo to the reception. It was a Bentley. So that was pretty cool. But really crowded. We stopped on the way to the reception to take some pictures.
The reception was very nice. The food was pretty good and a good band played.
After the wedding we just went back to the hotel and chilled. We were all pretty tired so we just ate leftover gnocchi and had a few drinks and watched Futurama. Then to bed.
And that is my stripped down, trying to catch up on my blog, story of Krissy's wedding day. So congratulations to her. And Paul.
I actually got to sleep in on Sunday. We all woke up around ten and we got some terrible breakfast at the hotel. Then I decided to go home and get some socks and a t-shirt to wear with my tux. Apparently while I was gone somebody came and took pictures of all the dudes and I missed it. That's okay. There are plenty of pictures of me.
So I changed and Will and Isaac and I drove over to the church. And we sat around for a little while. And took some pictures. But not too many. Mostly sat around.
The wedding was good. It was short and nice. Krissy cried.
We took a limo to the reception. It was a Bentley. So that was pretty cool. But really crowded. We stopped on the way to the reception to take some pictures.
The reception was very nice. The food was pretty good and a good band played.
After the wedding we just went back to the hotel and chilled. We were all pretty tired so we just ate leftover gnocchi and had a few drinks and watched Futurama. Then to bed.
And that is my stripped down, trying to catch up on my blog, story of Krissy's wedding day. So congratulations to her. And Paul.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Day 49
Saturday was not a bad day.
I went to church in the morning. With family and such.
We had lunch for all the family and relatives at Downers Grove church. Food was good. Though the meat eaters bitched a lot.
Afternoon was really laid back. We just sort of hung out at the house. Lots of people. It got boring after a while so I went in the pool. That was cold. It was actually a pretty cool day.
I ended up going back to the hotel with the dudes and we hung out for a little bit before we were supposed to be at the church.
We went to the church around eight and spent a little time decorating, but surprisingly little time. That was cool.
And then just about EVERYONE went out to Ballydoyle and we just set up a long table out on the deck and had some drinks and a great time for a few hours.
And that back to the hotel for more rabble rousing.
I went to church in the morning. With family and such.
We had lunch for all the family and relatives at Downers Grove church. Food was good. Though the meat eaters bitched a lot.
Afternoon was really laid back. We just sort of hung out at the house. Lots of people. It got boring after a while so I went in the pool. That was cold. It was actually a pretty cool day.
I ended up going back to the hotel with the dudes and we hung out for a little bit before we were supposed to be at the church.
We went to the church around eight and spent a little time decorating, but surprisingly little time. That was cool.
And then just about EVERYONE went out to Ballydoyle and we just set up a long table out on the deck and had some drinks and a great time for a few hours.
And that back to the hotel for more rabble rousing.
Day 48
And this is the beginning of the wedding weekend...
Actually it is over. And I have a lot of catching up to do.
I somehow managed to sleep in on Friday. Don't know how thrilled others were about this but I think it was the first time I slept more than six hours in over a week. So I enjoyed it.
The day was mostly just a bunch of getting ready stuff and the population of the house just sort of multiplied. To add to the confusion I seem to have a bad tire that I'm not supposed to drive on. So I had to borrow my dad's car and go to the airport and pick up Isaac right before the rehearsal.
We got to the rehearsal on time. Nothing was too painful. Two times through the service. Mostly we practiced walking. And standing. I can't see around Dan.
The rehearsal dinner was the best part of the day. It was at Maggiano's and it was amazing. The gnocchi was great. So were the stuffed mushrooms.
Afterwards all the dudes just hung out at the hotel. We are staying at the Residence Inn and we have two penthouse suites so lots of room.
To be continued...
Actually it is over. And I have a lot of catching up to do.
I somehow managed to sleep in on Friday. Don't know how thrilled others were about this but I think it was the first time I slept more than six hours in over a week. So I enjoyed it.
The day was mostly just a bunch of getting ready stuff and the population of the house just sort of multiplied. To add to the confusion I seem to have a bad tire that I'm not supposed to drive on. So I had to borrow my dad's car and go to the airport and pick up Isaac right before the rehearsal.
We got to the rehearsal on time. Nothing was too painful. Two times through the service. Mostly we practiced walking. And standing. I can't see around Dan.
The rehearsal dinner was the best part of the day. It was at Maggiano's and it was amazing. The gnocchi was great. So were the stuffed mushrooms.
Afterwards all the dudes just hung out at the hotel. We are staying at the Residence Inn and we have two penthouse suites so lots of room.
To be continued...
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Day 47
I don't feel like typing much.
I went to the Cubs game today with my friend Steve from class. They lost but we had a good time.
There was lots of rain and I didn't get to go swimming.
And there is lots of wedding bananas going on around here.
I went to the Cubs game today with my friend Steve from class. They lost but we had a good time.
There was lots of rain and I didn't get to go swimming.
And there is lots of wedding bananas going on around here.
Day 46
Nothing much to say about Wednesday. Long day of work. But I did go swimming when I got home.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Day 44
Another slow day. I worked five hours today, then came home and went in the pool for the first time this summer. That's kind of sad. Oh well. I will spend the second half of the summer swimming as much as possible. Tonight I just sat in the pool and read a book about Tupac.
Did I mention that I completed my review of G-Unit's new album? It should be up some time tomorrow on Consequence of Sound. I think.
I ate some watermelon today. Very refreshing.
Storms missed us.
Tomorrow I have two hours of class and then the rest of the day free. Swimming.
Big weekend coming up. Should be lots of fun.
Did I mention that I completed my review of G-Unit's new album? It should be up some time tomorrow on Consequence of Sound. I think.
I ate some watermelon today. Very refreshing.
Storms missed us.
Tomorrow I have two hours of class and then the rest of the day free. Swimming.
Big weekend coming up. Should be lots of fun.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Day 43
Pretty laid back day today...
I got up around ten. Vacuumed the pool. It was cold in the water. But it was hot outside. I got a sunburn.
I went to the library looking for a CD. They didn't have it. They should have. I think the guy who got there just before me got the one I was looking for.
Watched the Cubs game. They won. Two out of three from the Cardinals. Not bad.
Finished my G-Unit review. It should be up on Consequence of Sound sometime tomorrow.
I got up around ten. Vacuumed the pool. It was cold in the water. But it was hot outside. I got a sunburn.
I went to the library looking for a CD. They didn't have it. They should have. I think the guy who got there just before me got the one I was looking for.
Watched the Cubs game. They won. Two out of three from the Cardinals. Not bad.
Finished my G-Unit review. It should be up on Consequence of Sound sometime tomorrow.
Day 42
The day after Fourth of July was a lot of fun too.
After being up till 3 with JR and Jen on Friday, I got up at 9 on Saturday to go to church. Krissy and Paul came with me to my church in Lakeview so it was nice to have some company. We got there VERY late, but in time for the children's story. The children's story is one of my favorite parts of church at Lakeview because the church is a little lacking in children. It is usually a storyteller talking to about three babies. Then Jose preached. The end.
We went home and put some Boca Burgers and corn on the grill. Then people did wedding stuff and I took a MONSTER nap. Paul went home when I was sleeping. He is coming back on Tuesday for wedding stuff. And when I woke up I realized the Cubs blew a lead they should not have blown.
I spent the evening hanging out with JR and Jen and some other people. We ended up going to a bar called Orazio's right next to the train station in Naperville. Our old friend Michael showed up later in the evening and we ended up closing the place out at 2 AM. Lots of laughs.
After being up till 3 with JR and Jen on Friday, I got up at 9 on Saturday to go to church. Krissy and Paul came with me to my church in Lakeview so it was nice to have some company. We got there VERY late, but in time for the children's story. The children's story is one of my favorite parts of church at Lakeview because the church is a little lacking in children. It is usually a storyteller talking to about three babies. Then Jose preached. The end.
We went home and put some Boca Burgers and corn on the grill. Then people did wedding stuff and I took a MONSTER nap. Paul went home when I was sleeping. He is coming back on Tuesday for wedding stuff. And when I woke up I realized the Cubs blew a lead they should not have blown.
I spent the evening hanging out with JR and Jen and some other people. We ended up going to a bar called Orazio's right next to the train station in Naperville. Our old friend Michael showed up later in the evening and we ended up closing the place out at 2 AM. Lots of laughs.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Day 41
So Fourth of July actually turned out pretty enjoyable despite the fact that we ended up staying home. It didn't start out so awesome. There was a lot of boredom early on, though I did go to Borders and buy the Fleet Foxes album. I am going to see them the night before the Pitchfork Festival begins at a free festival preview show at Millennium Park. This works out nicely because I'm not going to be able to catch them at the festival itself since I will not be attending Saturday.
Here are the people who came over to my house on the Fourth of July: Paul and Krissy (obviously), my old friend JR (who I hadn't seen in four years) and his fiancee (who I had never met), my cousins Ken and Erin, and my friend Jose. Most people showed up between five and six. We fixed some corn and hot dogs on the grill and also had potato salad, and deviled eggs, and pickles, and olives, and chips, and salsa, and the like. We also drank Dr. Pepper like we were in high school. I was all jittery after awhile.
It was especially nice to see JR. He is getting married in September and his wedding should be a lot of fun since there will be a lot of old friends together. His fiancee seems really cool and funny. She told a story about her pet pig that went on for about ten minutes and made me laugh so hard I cried. They ended up hanging around after everyone left until about 3 AM. We talked about all the devious things we did in high school. It was just like old times.
The fireworks were also very nice. They fire them off right behind my house. Usually I watch the fireworks in the pool but this year the water in the pool is just too cold since we just opened it last week. And the air was pretty cold for that matter as well. Ty Warner puts on our fireworks display and it is always much nicer than you would expect for Westmont.
And the Cubs won.
Here are the people who came over to my house on the Fourth of July: Paul and Krissy (obviously), my old friend JR (who I hadn't seen in four years) and his fiancee (who I had never met), my cousins Ken and Erin, and my friend Jose. Most people showed up between five and six. We fixed some corn and hot dogs on the grill and also had potato salad, and deviled eggs, and pickles, and olives, and chips, and salsa, and the like. We also drank Dr. Pepper like we were in high school. I was all jittery after awhile.
It was especially nice to see JR. He is getting married in September and his wedding should be a lot of fun since there will be a lot of old friends together. His fiancee seems really cool and funny. She told a story about her pet pig that went on for about ten minutes and made me laugh so hard I cried. They ended up hanging around after everyone left until about 3 AM. We talked about all the devious things we did in high school. It was just like old times.
The fireworks were also very nice. They fire them off right behind my house. Usually I watch the fireworks in the pool but this year the water in the pool is just too cold since we just opened it last week. And the air was pretty cold for that matter as well. Ty Warner puts on our fireworks display and it is always much nicer than you would expect for Westmont.
And the Cubs won.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Day 40
So today Paul called me in the morning and we decided to go up to Milwaukee tomorrow and go to the Brewers game and see the Roots at SummerFest and hang out with Ellis for the Fourth of July. AWESOME! So we called Ellis and made all the plans and I spent the afternoon going to the bank and looking up parking information and tickets and all and being generally excited about a REALLY fun Fourth of July.
So then apparently after this whole day of excitement Krissy decided we can't go because Paul has to do wedding stuff all day ON A FUCKING HOLIDAY! Apparently when she had told him he could go she was "assuming that he would do the right thing and not go." And people in my house continue to say things like, "Mike, how come your little sister is getting married and you are still single? Isn't it about time for YOU to get married?" Well in all honesty the whole last year has set my desires to get married back about ten years.
So anyway...we went to Taste of Chicago tonight. It was extremely crowded. And there was a lot of animosity in the crowd. Saw a couple fights break out and gang signs get thrown up. And apparently there were four shootings in the Loop.
The fireworks were pretty good. I thought they were better than the last few years.
I watched No Country For Old Men with my dad but I think I fell asleep.
So then apparently after this whole day of excitement Krissy decided we can't go because Paul has to do wedding stuff all day ON A FUCKING HOLIDAY! Apparently when she had told him he could go she was "assuming that he would do the right thing and not go." And people in my house continue to say things like, "Mike, how come your little sister is getting married and you are still single? Isn't it about time for YOU to get married?" Well in all honesty the whole last year has set my desires to get married back about ten years.
So anyway...we went to Taste of Chicago tonight. It was extremely crowded. And there was a lot of animosity in the crowd. Saw a couple fights break out and gang signs get thrown up. And apparently there were four shootings in the Loop.
The fireworks were pretty good. I thought they were better than the last few years.
I watched No Country For Old Men with my dad but I think I fell asleep.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Day 39
Today I went to a wake. I do not like wakes. And I do not like when people die.
Beth Langley was the special education teacher I worked under in Naperville. She was a good teacher and a good person to work for. My last year there I had a very stressful job and I used to just go to her room to chill at the end of the day. She'd be all, "Mike, you look like you had a tough day." Then I'd bitch about stuff or just lie down on the floor for a while (that was the year I decided I just don't give a shit about germs any more.) Then she'd tell me to go home and drink and make sure I come back tomorrow. And I always did. She was only 56.
People say some of the strangest things at funerals. Like, "Oh, it was so sweet of you to come!" I never know what to say to this. "Thank you...it was sweet of you to come too." I mean, she was my friend too. I'm not just here because I want to be supportive of her other friends.
But I guess I kind of get where they are coming from. Wakes are awkward times when nobody is really all that sure how to start conversation and I guess this is as good a way as any. Everyone seems to be striving for the most appropriate things to say.
Which brings me to my next point. I actually had a delightful time. Yeah, it was sad, but no sadder than sitting at home thinking about it. And I saw a TON of people that I haven't seen in ages. And we all just talked and laughed and talked about work and stuff. (I realize that talking about work is not fun to most people, but it is when you work with autistic kids.) And I got to talk to Becky, who is the first teacher I worked with in my district, and she is going to contact National-Louis and request that I student teach for her. So it was even a productive time! Beth would be very happy.
But then there is the whole business of observing the body. I find this unnecessary and morbid. I guess it is done because people want to say good-bye last time. I guess that is fine and if it makes people feel better I shouldn't complain. But I personally don't find any emotion at all in that. I just think, "Ew...a dead body." It's not her. It's what she used to live in. Now it is just an empty shell. I don't want THAT to be the way I remember the person. I would rather just have a bunch of pictures or something...they are far more indicative of the person they were and they are no less a representation of the real person than the body.
But that's just me.
Anyway, that is what I did tonight. I also worked eight hours with kids. One of my kids got sad. He said, "Is Mrs. Langley dead? Does that mean she's never coming back? Never?" That was probably the most emotional I got.
So it goes.
Holiday weekend. Let's have some fun!
Beth Langley was the special education teacher I worked under in Naperville. She was a good teacher and a good person to work for. My last year there I had a very stressful job and I used to just go to her room to chill at the end of the day. She'd be all, "Mike, you look like you had a tough day." Then I'd bitch about stuff or just lie down on the floor for a while (that was the year I decided I just don't give a shit about germs any more.) Then she'd tell me to go home and drink and make sure I come back tomorrow. And I always did. She was only 56.
People say some of the strangest things at funerals. Like, "Oh, it was so sweet of you to come!" I never know what to say to this. "Thank you...it was sweet of you to come too." I mean, she was my friend too. I'm not just here because I want to be supportive of her other friends.
But I guess I kind of get where they are coming from. Wakes are awkward times when nobody is really all that sure how to start conversation and I guess this is as good a way as any. Everyone seems to be striving for the most appropriate things to say.
Which brings me to my next point. I actually had a delightful time. Yeah, it was sad, but no sadder than sitting at home thinking about it. And I saw a TON of people that I haven't seen in ages. And we all just talked and laughed and talked about work and stuff. (I realize that talking about work is not fun to most people, but it is when you work with autistic kids.) And I got to talk to Becky, who is the first teacher I worked with in my district, and she is going to contact National-Louis and request that I student teach for her. So it was even a productive time! Beth would be very happy.
But then there is the whole business of observing the body. I find this unnecessary and morbid. I guess it is done because people want to say good-bye last time. I guess that is fine and if it makes people feel better I shouldn't complain. But I personally don't find any emotion at all in that. I just think, "Ew...a dead body." It's not her. It's what she used to live in. Now it is just an empty shell. I don't want THAT to be the way I remember the person. I would rather just have a bunch of pictures or something...they are far more indicative of the person they were and they are no less a representation of the real person than the body.
But that's just me.
Anyway, that is what I did tonight. I also worked eight hours with kids. One of my kids got sad. He said, "Is Mrs. Langley dead? Does that mean she's never coming back? Never?" That was probably the most emotional I got.
So it goes.
Holiday weekend. Let's have some fun!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Day 38
Today I started school again. I only have one class this summer and it meets on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It is Critical Literacy. It looks pretty interesting. We're going to talk about things like prison art. The professor can't be much older than me. He's got long hair and a lip ring so you know he's pretty cool. I'm also about 65 percent sure he was stoned. This is the only class he teaches. His real job is at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center where he teaches kids how to write and record music. Which is great.
I also worked this afternoon with one of my kids. That wasn't so great. I don't think we really got anything done at all today. So it goes.
I just started watching a new show on DVD. It is Mad Men. So far I like it. But mostly I just like watching TV shows on DVD. I don't ever care to rent movies again.
Cubs lost. So sad.
I finished my review of Tha Carter 3. It's really long. I'll post it on here once it is up on Consequence of Sound. Actually, screw that, I'll post a link to it. I want as many hits as I can get on there. Name recognition, bitches. I also discovered a side effect of this gig that I had not thought of today. I stopped at Best Buy after work and saw a bunch of albums I've been meaning to buy, including the new Sigur Ros. I looked in my wallet. Forty dollars. Not very much and I should put a little gas in the tank. I better only buy one album. I begrudgingly walked to the new release aisle and picked up the new G-Unit album. I have to write a fucking review.
Peace.
I also worked this afternoon with one of my kids. That wasn't so great. I don't think we really got anything done at all today. So it goes.
I just started watching a new show on DVD. It is Mad Men. So far I like it. But mostly I just like watching TV shows on DVD. I don't ever care to rent movies again.
Cubs lost. So sad.
I finished my review of Tha Carter 3. It's really long. I'll post it on here once it is up on Consequence of Sound. Actually, screw that, I'll post a link to it. I want as many hits as I can get on there. Name recognition, bitches. I also discovered a side effect of this gig that I had not thought of today. I stopped at Best Buy after work and saw a bunch of albums I've been meaning to buy, including the new Sigur Ros. I looked in my wallet. Forty dollars. Not very much and I should put a little gas in the tank. I better only buy one album. I begrudgingly walked to the new release aisle and picked up the new G-Unit album. I have to write a fucking review.
Peace.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Day 37
I went back to work today. But it was a pretty good day.
So I landed a gig as the hip hop writer for Consequence of Sound. So that's kind of cool. Apparently they get between six and eight thousand hits a day. I'm currently working on my first article. It is a record review of Tha Carter 3. In it I plan to define a subgenre of rap. Lil Wayne is a "post-gangsta" artist, as are most of the rappers currently getting mainstream airtime.
Lots of wedding stuff seems to be going on around here.
So I landed a gig as the hip hop writer for Consequence of Sound. So that's kind of cool. Apparently they get between six and eight thousand hits a day. I'm currently working on my first article. It is a record review of Tha Carter 3. In it I plan to define a subgenre of rap. Lil Wayne is a "post-gangsta" artist, as are most of the rappers currently getting mainstream airtime.
Lots of wedding stuff seems to be going on around here.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Day 35
So my first day home. What do I do? I jump back in the car at 9 AM and go to Michigan. I had other things I considered doing today like going to church, going to a barbecue, or seeing Stevie Wonder at Taste of Chicago. But I have not seen my grandparents in quite a while and the next few weekends are packed so I decided it would be a good time to go.
The real story was that Dzia Dzia wanted to go out on the boat with the Coast Guard. Yes, my 76-year-old grandfather is the one keeping the coasts of Michigan safe from an Illinois invasion. And Babcia can't stay alone, what with the dementia and all. So I was going to spend the day with her so that he could do the whole Coast Guard thing.
I actually picked Babcia up at Krissy's house in Kalamazoo. We went and got some food at Olga's. Of course anywhere with Babcia is an ordeal. Everything is about money. "We can't do that. It costs money. Don't waste your money on me. I don't have any money to give you. Gas!"
And then we sat for a while. We took another ride. We sat. Babcia talked about eggs. Etc.
I stayed at Krissy's house. She wasn't there. So I had the place to myself. That was nice.
The real story was that Dzia Dzia wanted to go out on the boat with the Coast Guard. Yes, my 76-year-old grandfather is the one keeping the coasts of Michigan safe from an Illinois invasion. And Babcia can't stay alone, what with the dementia and all. So I was going to spend the day with her so that he could do the whole Coast Guard thing.
I actually picked Babcia up at Krissy's house in Kalamazoo. We went and got some food at Olga's. Of course anywhere with Babcia is an ordeal. Everything is about money. "We can't do that. It costs money. Don't waste your money on me. I don't have any money to give you. Gas!"
And then we sat for a while. We took another ride. We sat. Babcia talked about eggs. Etc.
I stayed at Krissy's house. She wasn't there. So I had the place to myself. That was nice.
Day 34
So Friday was spent driving home. Nothing too eventful. Sat in a traffic jam outside of Columbus because the lake flooded the road. That was about it. So here is where I choose to end the narrative of my trip.
Instead I think I am going to summarize the trip a little. Here is a list of the top five memorable moments of the week (in no particular order):
1) Horatio Sanz seeking me out to give me the Cubs score.
2) Ken Griffey's home run.
3) Tie between being the last ones admitted into Seinfeld's club and being the last ones admitted to Asssscat.
4) QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!
5) Sitting on the balcony at Growler's with Isaac.
Instead I think I am going to summarize the trip a little. Here is a list of the top five memorable moments of the week (in no particular order):
1) Horatio Sanz seeking me out to give me the Cubs score.
2) Ken Griffey's home run.
3) Tie between being the last ones admitted into Seinfeld's club and being the last ones admitted to Asssscat.
4) QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!
5) Sitting on the balcony at Growler's with Isaac.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Day 33
So it turned out that my dad was in Washington for some reason. So he canceled his plane ticket home and I canceled my train and we decided to drive his rental car home. This worked because it meant I did not have to wake up at 6 AM to drive to NY to return my rental car and then sit on a nineteen hour train ride. So that’s good. The less I have to deal with those Amtrak bastards the better.
But I still had a full afternoon to haul luggage around. My dad was about three hours away from D.C. and would not be able to pick me up until seven. I had to drop my car off at National (I refuse to call it Reagan) Airport by noon. This gave me seven hours with my luggage and not a whole lot to do in Washington, D.C. I took the Metro to D.C.’s gallery stop.
So what to do…it was a few minutes before one and I decided I might as well check out another movie. I was worried that they wouldn’t let me in with all my luggage but they did not seem to mind. So I went all the way to the top of the theatre where there is a lot of leg room in the corner, put my luggage down, and watched Hulk. It was great. Much better than the first one. Especially the ending.
So then it was three. And I only had four hours left. I decided to go for a walk. This was probably a bad decision but I also probably lost about ten pounds carrying my backpack all over the city in the ninety-degree heat. I was sort of half-heartedly looking for a sports bar that would be showing the Cubs game. I didn’t see anything of the sort. But I did find a library. I went inside for about 45 minutes, checked my e-mail, the score (not good news), and paid some bills. I also used the bathroom. And goodness sakes…I think there was some kind of homeless convention going on up in there. There were like eight of them in there, brushing their teeth, shaving, washing their underarms, etc. They probably saw me with my suitcase and thought I was a new recruit. “No recession my ass.”
And then I started walking again. I went to Chipotle and got myself a good meal and some cold water. Then I decided I might as well go see another movie. I decided to see Get Smart. And it was about what you would expect. Won’t win any awards but it was pretty funny.
My dad picked me up on the corner in front of the theatre at about seven. We drove up to BWI to exchange rental cars. By the time we got out of there it was about 8:30. We stopped in Frederick at a Cracker Barrel. This was nice because we used to live in Frederick. Then we drove until about two in the morning and spent the night in Morgantown. And that is all.
But I still had a full afternoon to haul luggage around. My dad was about three hours away from D.C. and would not be able to pick me up until seven. I had to drop my car off at National (I refuse to call it Reagan) Airport by noon. This gave me seven hours with my luggage and not a whole lot to do in Washington, D.C. I took the Metro to D.C.’s gallery stop.
So what to do…it was a few minutes before one and I decided I might as well check out another movie. I was worried that they wouldn’t let me in with all my luggage but they did not seem to mind. So I went all the way to the top of the theatre where there is a lot of leg room in the corner, put my luggage down, and watched Hulk. It was great. Much better than the first one. Especially the ending.
So then it was three. And I only had four hours left. I decided to go for a walk. This was probably a bad decision but I also probably lost about ten pounds carrying my backpack all over the city in the ninety-degree heat. I was sort of half-heartedly looking for a sports bar that would be showing the Cubs game. I didn’t see anything of the sort. But I did find a library. I went inside for about 45 minutes, checked my e-mail, the score (not good news), and paid some bills. I also used the bathroom. And goodness sakes…I think there was some kind of homeless convention going on up in there. There were like eight of them in there, brushing their teeth, shaving, washing their underarms, etc. They probably saw me with my suitcase and thought I was a new recruit. “No recession my ass.”
And then I started walking again. I went to Chipotle and got myself a good meal and some cold water. Then I decided I might as well go see another movie. I decided to see Get Smart. And it was about what you would expect. Won’t win any awards but it was pretty funny.
My dad picked me up on the corner in front of the theatre at about seven. We drove up to BWI to exchange rental cars. By the time we got out of there it was about 8:30. We stopped in Frederick at a Cracker Barrel. This was nice because we used to live in Frederick. Then we drove until about two in the morning and spent the night in Morgantown. And that is all.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Day 32
Ok...now I'm way behind. Still I think I am only going to do one tonight. Never fear. I plan to be caught up by Sunday.
Wednesday.
So after several days of having fun with friends, this was my first day of the trip (aside from Friday) that was spent mostly in solitude. It was also the first day of the trip with very few solid plans. I really had no idea what I was going to do. I just knew I was going to go to Washington.
I ended up sleeping till about ten. I called John because we had talked about getting some lunch. He was unable to make it because he was swamped at work. It happens when you work for the government.
I didn't end up leaving Isaac and Lauren's place (they live in the suburb of Gaithersville) until after eleven. I went to the Shady Grove Metro station and boarded a train. I ended up getting to D.C. a little after noon.
So what did I do? Not a whole lot. I saved money. I have done mostly every site in Washington before so I did not feel too stressed out about seeing a lot. I mostly just walked. And walked. And snapped pictures of buildings and monuments. I sat for a while at the World War II Memorial, which is very nicely done. Thank you Tom Hanks. There were a lot of old WWII vets checking it out. Of course none of them cry because WWII vets are real men. They know how to keep their emotions bottled up inside. Also, a lot of them were wearing shirts that said, "If you can read this thank a teacher. If you can read this in English thank a vet."
I also spent some time at the Lincoln Memorial. I think this may be my favorite place in Washington, D.C. When I was little and we went to Washington for the fireworks we would always sit out on the big stone at the base of the memorial starting at about 3:00. It was a perfect spot, looking out of the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument. It also feels very cool in the shade of the memorial which is nice. And I went around back where there was nobody else and looked out over the Potomac. It was all very peaceful.
There was also something called the Folklife Fair put on by the Smithsonian. The themes were Bhutan, Texas, and Space. Manatees. It was okay. But it was hot and not very interesting.
So after several hours of this I was hot, tired, hungry, and extremely thirsty. I wandered off the mall and into downtown D.C. searching for some food. (There is of course absolutely nothing of interest to eat on the mall.) I finally stumbled upon a Chipotle. And right next door was a movie theatre. A sign across the street told me it was 91 degrees out. I literally said, "Fuck it. I'm going to eat some Chipotle and watch a movie."
So now I know my limit. Four days of walking around hot cities looking at buildings and then I hit the wall. I had a great lunch. I filled my Mr. Pibb three times. And I saw Iron Man. I loved it. Especially the ending.
I caught the Metro back to Gaithersburg at about 6:45. I ended up getting back to Isaac's place at about eight. Isaac, and Lauren, and I headed across the street to Isaac's local brew pub. It is called Growler's and Wednesday nights are $2.50 draft nights. Lauren stayed and had supper with us. Then Isaac and I went out onto the balcony and hung out for a few hours enjoying the night. It was a great time...maybe the best time of the trip, albeit the most relaxed.
Wednesday.
So after several days of having fun with friends, this was my first day of the trip (aside from Friday) that was spent mostly in solitude. It was also the first day of the trip with very few solid plans. I really had no idea what I was going to do. I just knew I was going to go to Washington.
I ended up sleeping till about ten. I called John because we had talked about getting some lunch. He was unable to make it because he was swamped at work. It happens when you work for the government.
I didn't end up leaving Isaac and Lauren's place (they live in the suburb of Gaithersville) until after eleven. I went to the Shady Grove Metro station and boarded a train. I ended up getting to D.C. a little after noon.
So what did I do? Not a whole lot. I saved money. I have done mostly every site in Washington before so I did not feel too stressed out about seeing a lot. I mostly just walked. And walked. And snapped pictures of buildings and monuments. I sat for a while at the World War II Memorial, which is very nicely done. Thank you Tom Hanks. There were a lot of old WWII vets checking it out. Of course none of them cry because WWII vets are real men. They know how to keep their emotions bottled up inside. Also, a lot of them were wearing shirts that said, "If you can read this thank a teacher. If you can read this in English thank a vet."
I also spent some time at the Lincoln Memorial. I think this may be my favorite place in Washington, D.C. When I was little and we went to Washington for the fireworks we would always sit out on the big stone at the base of the memorial starting at about 3:00. It was a perfect spot, looking out of the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument. It also feels very cool in the shade of the memorial which is nice. And I went around back where there was nobody else and looked out over the Potomac. It was all very peaceful.
There was also something called the Folklife Fair put on by the Smithsonian. The themes were Bhutan, Texas, and Space. Manatees. It was okay. But it was hot and not very interesting.
So after several hours of this I was hot, tired, hungry, and extremely thirsty. I wandered off the mall and into downtown D.C. searching for some food. (There is of course absolutely nothing of interest to eat on the mall.) I finally stumbled upon a Chipotle. And right next door was a movie theatre. A sign across the street told me it was 91 degrees out. I literally said, "Fuck it. I'm going to eat some Chipotle and watch a movie."
So now I know my limit. Four days of walking around hot cities looking at buildings and then I hit the wall. I had a great lunch. I filled my Mr. Pibb three times. And I saw Iron Man. I loved it. Especially the ending.
I caught the Metro back to Gaithersburg at about 6:45. I ended up getting back to Isaac's place at about eight. Isaac, and Lauren, and I headed across the street to Isaac's local brew pub. It is called Growler's and Wednesday nights are $2.50 draft nights. Lauren stayed and had supper with us. Then Isaac and I went out onto the balcony and hung out for a few hours enjoying the night. It was a great time...maybe the best time of the trip, albeit the most relaxed.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Day 31
Okay. I'm going to do this now. I probably should wait til morning but I'm already a day behind. So don't blame me if there are a bunch of typos or if I forget some key points from yesterday. After all. It is yesterday.
I don't know if I mentioned this yesterday but I decided to rent a car and drive to Washington. Once I made the decision to rent the car I was torn between Boston and Washington. Since I was unable to get a Red Sox ticket and the sites in Washington are more centrally located I went with D.C. The kicker came when I talked on the phone Monday night with my friend Isaac (who lives in D.C. and was in NY for the weekend with us.) It just so happens he landed four free tickets to Tuesday night's Nationals game. So that settled it.
I slept late on Tuesday. Jose left early in the morning, leaving me as the last one left in New York. I packed my stuff up, called a cab, and checked out about 11:15.
My taxi ended up costing 42 bucks. Another fee I can thank Amtrak for. It took me to the Avis in Midtown Manhattan. And this is where I experienced driving in Manhattan for the first time. That was a blast. Now I drive in Chicago all the time and have no problem. Now granted that may have something to do with the fact I know the city much better. But in New York the general rule seems to be just don't hit anyone or anything. Other than that it is a free-for-all. Luckily I didn't hit anyone and continued on my way.
I exited the island through the Lincoln Tunnel. I was in New Jersey. And the first thing I did in New Jersey was blow through the EZ Pass on the turnpike. You aren't supposed to do this in New Jersey. And thus I did not have a ticket for the turnpike. Regardless, my drive through Jersey was very pleasant. People like to bitch about New Jersey but it didn't seem so bad to me. Of course, when I got to the border they charged me full fare for the toll road, but it turned out to only be $6.70 so I can live with that.
An interesting thing about this drive was that I had no way of plugging in my iPod. So I was stuck listening to the radio for five hours. Now I listen to the radio for time to time to keep up on what is being played, but I can't remember the last time I listened to the radio for such an extended period of time. Pretty much I heard about three songs over and over. It was that new Usher song, that "she's my little hood thing" song, and "Lollipop". Now I don't really hate any of these songs but the fact that I heard each one over five times in this time span is proof that the radio is a dead art. It is ClearChannel's fault. Every station is exactly the same. Oh well.
Delaware was quick. And seven dollars. Amtrak.
I ended up getting to my destination, the Shady Grove Metro station, at about 5PM. I got on the Metro into Washington and arrived at the Nationals Stadium at about 5:30. I was ridiculously hungry and thirsty by this time. And I wasn't meeting Isaac and Lauren, who had the tickets, until 6:45. So I planned on finding a restaurant or bar to hang out in for a little while. Well guess what...there are none. There are lots of signs for restaurants and bars that are going to open in 2009. That doesn't help me much. I walked all the way around the stadium. Finally I found a lady with a cart. She sold me a Dr. Pepper and a bag of Doritos for two bucks. That worked for the moment.
Isaac and Lauren showed up right on cue. The fourth ticket went to my friend John Gagnon who I had not seen in quite some time. So basically it was a great group of old friends for this game, which was great. With such good company I even decided not to keep score. Which was a little bit ironic considering this was the first park I have ever been to that provided free score cards to all the guests.
What I will say about Nationals Park is that it is magnificent. They pulled out all the stops in this ballpark. Absolutely beautiful. Apparently if you go upstairs you can see all kinds of monuments and such. Which makes sense. I was too tired to go up there though.
My favorite thing at Nationals Park was that it was the first ballpark I have ever been to that sold a veggie hot dog. Of course I had to buy one. It was 5.25 and it looked like crap. But you must understand...in all my years of going to double digit baseball games every year I have never had the privilege of eating a hot dog at a ballgame. That all changed Monday night. It wasn't bad. Not great. But I enjoyed it anyway.
I also ate some cheese fries.
The game was terrible. The Angels scored six times in the top of the first inning, so it was never even remotely close. But we all had some good conversation and a few drinks and had a great time.
The trip is coming to a close. Just a little while longer. But a little more fun. And there is lots of fun stuff coming up this summer. So rock on.
I don't know if I mentioned this yesterday but I decided to rent a car and drive to Washington. Once I made the decision to rent the car I was torn between Boston and Washington. Since I was unable to get a Red Sox ticket and the sites in Washington are more centrally located I went with D.C. The kicker came when I talked on the phone Monday night with my friend Isaac (who lives in D.C. and was in NY for the weekend with us.) It just so happens he landed four free tickets to Tuesday night's Nationals game. So that settled it.
I slept late on Tuesday. Jose left early in the morning, leaving me as the last one left in New York. I packed my stuff up, called a cab, and checked out about 11:15.
My taxi ended up costing 42 bucks. Another fee I can thank Amtrak for. It took me to the Avis in Midtown Manhattan. And this is where I experienced driving in Manhattan for the first time. That was a blast. Now I drive in Chicago all the time and have no problem. Now granted that may have something to do with the fact I know the city much better. But in New York the general rule seems to be just don't hit anyone or anything. Other than that it is a free-for-all. Luckily I didn't hit anyone and continued on my way.
I exited the island through the Lincoln Tunnel. I was in New Jersey. And the first thing I did in New Jersey was blow through the EZ Pass on the turnpike. You aren't supposed to do this in New Jersey. And thus I did not have a ticket for the turnpike. Regardless, my drive through Jersey was very pleasant. People like to bitch about New Jersey but it didn't seem so bad to me. Of course, when I got to the border they charged me full fare for the toll road, but it turned out to only be $6.70 so I can live with that.
An interesting thing about this drive was that I had no way of plugging in my iPod. So I was stuck listening to the radio for five hours. Now I listen to the radio for time to time to keep up on what is being played, but I can't remember the last time I listened to the radio for such an extended period of time. Pretty much I heard about three songs over and over. It was that new Usher song, that "she's my little hood thing" song, and "Lollipop". Now I don't really hate any of these songs but the fact that I heard each one over five times in this time span is proof that the radio is a dead art. It is ClearChannel's fault. Every station is exactly the same. Oh well.
Delaware was quick. And seven dollars. Amtrak.
I ended up getting to my destination, the Shady Grove Metro station, at about 5PM. I got on the Metro into Washington and arrived at the Nationals Stadium at about 5:30. I was ridiculously hungry and thirsty by this time. And I wasn't meeting Isaac and Lauren, who had the tickets, until 6:45. So I planned on finding a restaurant or bar to hang out in for a little while. Well guess what...there are none. There are lots of signs for restaurants and bars that are going to open in 2009. That doesn't help me much. I walked all the way around the stadium. Finally I found a lady with a cart. She sold me a Dr. Pepper and a bag of Doritos for two bucks. That worked for the moment.
Isaac and Lauren showed up right on cue. The fourth ticket went to my friend John Gagnon who I had not seen in quite some time. So basically it was a great group of old friends for this game, which was great. With such good company I even decided not to keep score. Which was a little bit ironic considering this was the first park I have ever been to that provided free score cards to all the guests.
What I will say about Nationals Park is that it is magnificent. They pulled out all the stops in this ballpark. Absolutely beautiful. Apparently if you go upstairs you can see all kinds of monuments and such. Which makes sense. I was too tired to go up there though.
My favorite thing at Nationals Park was that it was the first ballpark I have ever been to that sold a veggie hot dog. Of course I had to buy one. It was 5.25 and it looked like crap. But you must understand...in all my years of going to double digit baseball games every year I have never had the privilege of eating a hot dog at a ballgame. That all changed Monday night. It wasn't bad. Not great. But I enjoyed it anyway.
I also ate some cheese fries.
The game was terrible. The Angels scored six times in the top of the first inning, so it was never even remotely close. But we all had some good conversation and a few drinks and had a great time.
The trip is coming to a close. Just a little while longer. But a little more fun. And there is lots of fun stuff coming up this summer. So rock on.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Day 30
Monday...
Gotta tell you guys. I'm getting a little tired of writing these. It's mostly just because I have been so tired by the time I actually get to work on them. But I am already behind so I need to just keep cranking away at them. So here we go.
Monday. Monday was easily the most relaxed day of the trip so far. Isaac left last night and Jeff woke up at the crack of dawn to catch his flight. That left Jose and me. And we had sort of plans to get up early but that didn't pan out of course. We ended up sleeping till after ten and didn't leave the hotel till about 11:30. Sure is a good thing we got a hotel with free breakfast, seeing as we missed it just about every day.
The best thing about today is that the 7 line running into Manhattan was open. It was closed all weekend and this was one of the key sources of all our travel difficulty. But now it is open. We got on the 7 and in about ten minutes we were in midtown Manhattan. It was that easy.
We didn't have a whole lot on the agenda. It was mostly just walking around and seeing what we saw. But first we were hungry. We stopped at a place called the Great American Health Bar or something along those lines. Don't let the name throw you. It was really good. I had some sort of pasta with sundried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, etc. And some great falafel. And a real fruit smoothie!
Next we walked through Central Park. I am actually quite blown away by the sheer magnitude of Central Park. And the fact that it is a sanctuary set in the middle of one of the busiest hubs of humanity in the world is astounding. We only touched the tip of the iceberg in the park, sticking to the southeastern corner. They had a cool little carnival for the kiddies set up on the ice skating rink so that was cool. It is nice that a parent living in a surrounding neighborhood can just up and walk their kids down to the carnival in Central Park. And I bought a map and a postcard from a homeless guy who asked me to take him back to Chicago to take Michael Jordan's place or something of the sort.
Then we walked some more and some more. We passed Radio City Music Hall and came to Rockefeller Plaza. We decided to drop the twenty bucks and take the ride to the top of the Rock. At this point I realized how little I know about John D. Rockefeller (aside from the fact that he died, thus ending his chapter, and that THIS is the guy Sean Carter chose to name his company after.) There was a very small exhibit on his life and the history of the building. He seems like a fascinating individual. I think I am going to read a biography before the summer is over.
The elevator to the top was fun. We got up there in just a few seconds and there was some kind of sensory show on the ceiling of the elevator. And the roof was great. It is open air and it is literally the roof of the building. Unfortunately it was a little hazy out and we couldn't see all that far. But it really put the city in perspective. It also made the park look even more incredible. You can really tell the size of it from up there. It is stunning.
Afterwards we went into the NBC shop. I got to talking to the host. Actually, he got to talking to me. He saw my Cubs shirt and that got him going. He lives in Brooklyn and he showed me on the map. We talked about the Cubs, the Bears, the Bulls, Yankee Stadium, the Coney Island Cyclone, food, WBBM, sporting goods, and on and on like that. It was kind of funny. He was just this kind-of old retired guy who I'm sure does this all the time. At one point in the middle of all this a big black guy in a suit (presumably the manager) walked by and touched him on the arm and he snapped back into work mode, so I'm assuming this is what no out of the usual. His name was Donald. Remember.
Now we were ready to eat again. We ate pizza. It was yummy.
And the 7 was working. So we made it to Shea in about twenty minutes. The subway was sort of crowded with people, including a group of young people from New Zealand. One of the guys was a scary looking fellow with all kind of tattoos and piercings and he kept taking deep sniffs of a newspaper and staring people down on the train. Then we got to talking to them and it turned out they are a Christian rock band. This floored me. Then they got really defensive about how Christian rock is not a genre and Jose got really excited because he tells me that all the time and I don't understand what he is talking about and I still don't. Genres are useless anyway, but Christian rock fits the description of a genre as much as anything. But they were very nice. They were called The Parachute Band.
I found Shea Stadium incredibly relaxing. After the hustle and bustle and stress of Yankee Stadium it was nice to just sit back and enjoy a game with a sparse crowd, leg room, and no lines at the concession stands. And I don't think it is a terrible looking ballpark. It's not that interesting. There is nothing that really makes it stand out. It is the definition of a cookie-cutter park. But there is nothing terrible about it either. I found it a delightful place to watch a ballgame.
The game wasn't terribly exciting. Felix Hernandez, the Mariners' pitcher, hit a grand slam and that was the most eventful thing. Then he got injured, which annoyed me because he is on my fantasy team. The Mariners ended up winning 5-2, but the Mets made it interesting, bringing the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. So we got the chance to hear the Mets fans make a little noise.
We sat with a father and son who seem to specialize in sports themed vacations. They live on Long Island and are Mets fans. The father seems to have been to practically every stadium in existence. He gave me a few tips on the Washington Nationals' stadium (where I will be tomorrow.) He also says that he will not cry to see Shea go at the end of the year. They were fun, probably among the most enjoyable company I have had at ballgames.
After the game we caught the 7 back. We made it in no time and walked to the hotel. Another day is over. I am going to Washington next.
Gotta tell you guys. I'm getting a little tired of writing these. It's mostly just because I have been so tired by the time I actually get to work on them. But I am already behind so I need to just keep cranking away at them. So here we go.
Monday. Monday was easily the most relaxed day of the trip so far. Isaac left last night and Jeff woke up at the crack of dawn to catch his flight. That left Jose and me. And we had sort of plans to get up early but that didn't pan out of course. We ended up sleeping till after ten and didn't leave the hotel till about 11:30. Sure is a good thing we got a hotel with free breakfast, seeing as we missed it just about every day.
The best thing about today is that the 7 line running into Manhattan was open. It was closed all weekend and this was one of the key sources of all our travel difficulty. But now it is open. We got on the 7 and in about ten minutes we were in midtown Manhattan. It was that easy.
We didn't have a whole lot on the agenda. It was mostly just walking around and seeing what we saw. But first we were hungry. We stopped at a place called the Great American Health Bar or something along those lines. Don't let the name throw you. It was really good. I had some sort of pasta with sundried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, etc. And some great falafel. And a real fruit smoothie!
Next we walked through Central Park. I am actually quite blown away by the sheer magnitude of Central Park. And the fact that it is a sanctuary set in the middle of one of the busiest hubs of humanity in the world is astounding. We only touched the tip of the iceberg in the park, sticking to the southeastern corner. They had a cool little carnival for the kiddies set up on the ice skating rink so that was cool. It is nice that a parent living in a surrounding neighborhood can just up and walk their kids down to the carnival in Central Park. And I bought a map and a postcard from a homeless guy who asked me to take him back to Chicago to take Michael Jordan's place or something of the sort.
Then we walked some more and some more. We passed Radio City Music Hall and came to Rockefeller Plaza. We decided to drop the twenty bucks and take the ride to the top of the Rock. At this point I realized how little I know about John D. Rockefeller (aside from the fact that he died, thus ending his chapter, and that THIS is the guy Sean Carter chose to name his company after.) There was a very small exhibit on his life and the history of the building. He seems like a fascinating individual. I think I am going to read a biography before the summer is over.
The elevator to the top was fun. We got up there in just a few seconds and there was some kind of sensory show on the ceiling of the elevator. And the roof was great. It is open air and it is literally the roof of the building. Unfortunately it was a little hazy out and we couldn't see all that far. But it really put the city in perspective. It also made the park look even more incredible. You can really tell the size of it from up there. It is stunning.
Afterwards we went into the NBC shop. I got to talking to the host. Actually, he got to talking to me. He saw my Cubs shirt and that got him going. He lives in Brooklyn and he showed me on the map. We talked about the Cubs, the Bears, the Bulls, Yankee Stadium, the Coney Island Cyclone, food, WBBM, sporting goods, and on and on like that. It was kind of funny. He was just this kind-of old retired guy who I'm sure does this all the time. At one point in the middle of all this a big black guy in a suit (presumably the manager) walked by and touched him on the arm and he snapped back into work mode, so I'm assuming this is what no out of the usual. His name was Donald. Remember.
Now we were ready to eat again. We ate pizza. It was yummy.
And the 7 was working. So we made it to Shea in about twenty minutes. The subway was sort of crowded with people, including a group of young people from New Zealand. One of the guys was a scary looking fellow with all kind of tattoos and piercings and he kept taking deep sniffs of a newspaper and staring people down on the train. Then we got to talking to them and it turned out they are a Christian rock band. This floored me. Then they got really defensive about how Christian rock is not a genre and Jose got really excited because he tells me that all the time and I don't understand what he is talking about and I still don't. Genres are useless anyway, but Christian rock fits the description of a genre as much as anything. But they were very nice. They were called The Parachute Band.
I found Shea Stadium incredibly relaxing. After the hustle and bustle and stress of Yankee Stadium it was nice to just sit back and enjoy a game with a sparse crowd, leg room, and no lines at the concession stands. And I don't think it is a terrible looking ballpark. It's not that interesting. There is nothing that really makes it stand out. It is the definition of a cookie-cutter park. But there is nothing terrible about it either. I found it a delightful place to watch a ballgame.
The game wasn't terribly exciting. Felix Hernandez, the Mariners' pitcher, hit a grand slam and that was the most eventful thing. Then he got injured, which annoyed me because he is on my fantasy team. The Mariners ended up winning 5-2, but the Mets made it interesting, bringing the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. So we got the chance to hear the Mets fans make a little noise.
We sat with a father and son who seem to specialize in sports themed vacations. They live on Long Island and are Mets fans. The father seems to have been to practically every stadium in existence. He gave me a few tips on the Washington Nationals' stadium (where I will be tomorrow.) He also says that he will not cry to see Shea go at the end of the year. They were fun, probably among the most enjoyable company I have had at ballgames.
After the game we caught the 7 back. We made it in no time and walked to the hotel. Another day is over. I am going to Washington next.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Day 29
Sunday...
Today was the centerpiece of the trip. When we decided to come to New York it was to see Yankee Stadium before it is demolished. And today was the Yankees game. We bought the tickets before the season started for thirty bucks on Stubhub. Sunday morning I checked Stubhub and tickets to today's game, in our section, were going for $120. So it sounds like everyone wants to see the Stadium one last time. Or first time in our case.
Jose flew in this morning. He was kind enough to send me a text message and let me know he was getting on his flight at 5:30. I had been sleeping about an hour and a half. And I went back to bed. Then he called from the airport at ninish and woke us all up again. And I went back to bed. I ended up getting up a little before ten when Jose got in and we all started getting ready for the game. Kind of grumpily because we were all up so late the last two nights and were all so sleepy. But we got out the door a little after eleven and started walking to the train. That's when Isaac started bitching about being hungry but we didn't stop and eat because we wanted to get to the game.
We had no significant subway problems and we arrived at Yankee Stadium at about 12:15, approximately 45 minutes before game time. We stopped at a pizza joint across the street and Isaac was happy. The area outside Yankee Stadium is quite unique. I didn't even realize that the building I was looking at was the stadium. It just sort of looks like a big metallic wall. There are some bars across the street but nothing like Wrigleyville. And of course lots of people selling stuff.
The first minor annoyance of the day was that Isaac was not permitted to bring his backpack into the park. Something about...you got it...9/11. Furthermore, for whatever reason the park has no bag check. So some of the local bars saw a market and began offering bag check. So we crossed the street and Isaac checked his bag for five bucks. This was actually a pretty interesting bar because it was also a bowling alley, not exactly what I had expected. We went into the stadium (and found that we had to all show our phones at the gate...something about 9/11.)
Our seats were all the way the hell at the top of the ballpark. They were right behind home plate though and I kind of liked this. It was nice to have a broad view of the whole place. And the projects too, for that matter.
So my impressions. Once I sat down I started to feel the ghosts in the building. Just taking a moment to reflect on all the baseball history that has taken place in this building was overwhelming. That said, I can understand why they are replacing this park. Anybody who has ever complained about the hallways at Wrigley Field should take a trip to Yankee Stadium and compare notes. I think the hallways in my house may be wider. The seats are ridiculously far away from the field. Most aspects about the park are dingy and old, but unlike Wrigley (and presumably Fenway) there just do not seem to be enough redeeming elements to justify staying. But it is still a fantastic park that has housed a lot of historic moments and I am sure many Yankee fans will shed a tear on its last day.
The Yankees ended up winning this game, 4-1. Andy Pettitte pitched very well. But the highlight was definitely seeing Ken Griffey hit a solo home run. I was very impressed with the Yankee fans reaction to this. Most of the stadium gave him a standing ovation. In this, and in other circumstances, Yankee fans proved themselves to be one of the classiest crowds I have witnessed. They are very loud...when they are supposed to be, not when the scoreboard tells them to be. They are knowledgeable of the game and the players. So kudos to you, New York.
We also had a rain delay during the game. In fact, we had a very impressive thunderstorm. There was all kind of crazy lighting and it was raining cats and dogs (I can't remember the last time I used that phrase.) Luckily, our cheap seats worked in our favor and we did not get wet. Also, the Yanks have one of the most ghetto tarps I have ever seen. Makes sense I guess. It was just like a sheet of white plastic that didn't even have a logo on it. They held it down with a bunch of wooden planks.
Isaac had to leave after the eighth inning to catch his bus. So Jeff and Jose and myself left after the game and caught the subway into Manhattan. We had our typical troubles with the system but finally found Times Square and the Heartland Brew Pub. Unfortunately there was not a whole lot for me to eat there as a vegetarian. I got some chips and dip and a couple drinks and I was happy. Then Jose bit into a staple or something in his food and they gave us the meal for free. So good things keep happening!
After dinner we took a taxi down a few blocks to Chelsea and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre for a show called Asssscat. This is a sketch comedy/improv show started by Horatio Sanz and Amy Poehler. The show was at 9:30. It was free. We got in line at about 8:00 behind a load of other people. At about 8:45 the word drifted back that this was the standby line and there was very little chance we were getting in. At this point the friend we made, an aging hipster who claimed he saw us at Coney Island and dropped one of the greatest one liners I've ever heard about breasts on us, decided to leave. But our stretch of good luck continued and we somehow made it in.
And it was awesome. Amy Poehler was not there but Horatio Sanz was, along with four people I had never heard of. A couple of them were not very funny but the rest of them carried the show. Basically the concept is that one of the audience members shouts out a word (in our case it was "fire house dog") and the comedians go into sketch comedies involving this word. Then they sort of shoot off from this into other topics. It's pretty great and the best part is that it is all off the cuff so you know you will get a new show every night.
So we were among the last people in the theatre and we were kind of sitting off to the side, on the floor, next to a curtain. Not an ideal spot by any means. Now I was wearing my Cubs hat and Jeff his Sox hat, since the teams were playing each other tonight. All of a sudden, about halfway through the show, Horatio Sanz burst through the curtain right next to us and goes, "Hey guys", and I thought he was going to tell us that we weren't allowed to sit there. But instead he said, "The Cubs are up 6-1." So that was great. Not only were the Cubs winning but Horatio Sanz became the most famous person ever to seek me out to let me know that. Thanks Horatio!
We got out of the show a little after eleven. Since we saw a free show and ate a free dinner we decided to reward ourselves on all this saved money by taking a taxi back to the hotel. It didn't cost too much and it was so nice to get back at a reasonable hour. We watched a little tv, I wrote Saturday's blog (still a day behind), and headed to sleep.
Another great day...
Today was the centerpiece of the trip. When we decided to come to New York it was to see Yankee Stadium before it is demolished. And today was the Yankees game. We bought the tickets before the season started for thirty bucks on Stubhub. Sunday morning I checked Stubhub and tickets to today's game, in our section, were going for $120. So it sounds like everyone wants to see the Stadium one last time. Or first time in our case.
Jose flew in this morning. He was kind enough to send me a text message and let me know he was getting on his flight at 5:30. I had been sleeping about an hour and a half. And I went back to bed. Then he called from the airport at ninish and woke us all up again. And I went back to bed. I ended up getting up a little before ten when Jose got in and we all started getting ready for the game. Kind of grumpily because we were all up so late the last two nights and were all so sleepy. But we got out the door a little after eleven and started walking to the train. That's when Isaac started bitching about being hungry but we didn't stop and eat because we wanted to get to the game.
We had no significant subway problems and we arrived at Yankee Stadium at about 12:15, approximately 45 minutes before game time. We stopped at a pizza joint across the street and Isaac was happy. The area outside Yankee Stadium is quite unique. I didn't even realize that the building I was looking at was the stadium. It just sort of looks like a big metallic wall. There are some bars across the street but nothing like Wrigleyville. And of course lots of people selling stuff.
The first minor annoyance of the day was that Isaac was not permitted to bring his backpack into the park. Something about...you got it...9/11. Furthermore, for whatever reason the park has no bag check. So some of the local bars saw a market and began offering bag check. So we crossed the street and Isaac checked his bag for five bucks. This was actually a pretty interesting bar because it was also a bowling alley, not exactly what I had expected. We went into the stadium (and found that we had to all show our phones at the gate...something about 9/11.)
Our seats were all the way the hell at the top of the ballpark. They were right behind home plate though and I kind of liked this. It was nice to have a broad view of the whole place. And the projects too, for that matter.
So my impressions. Once I sat down I started to feel the ghosts in the building. Just taking a moment to reflect on all the baseball history that has taken place in this building was overwhelming. That said, I can understand why they are replacing this park. Anybody who has ever complained about the hallways at Wrigley Field should take a trip to Yankee Stadium and compare notes. I think the hallways in my house may be wider. The seats are ridiculously far away from the field. Most aspects about the park are dingy and old, but unlike Wrigley (and presumably Fenway) there just do not seem to be enough redeeming elements to justify staying. But it is still a fantastic park that has housed a lot of historic moments and I am sure many Yankee fans will shed a tear on its last day.
The Yankees ended up winning this game, 4-1. Andy Pettitte pitched very well. But the highlight was definitely seeing Ken Griffey hit a solo home run. I was very impressed with the Yankee fans reaction to this. Most of the stadium gave him a standing ovation. In this, and in other circumstances, Yankee fans proved themselves to be one of the classiest crowds I have witnessed. They are very loud...when they are supposed to be, not when the scoreboard tells them to be. They are knowledgeable of the game and the players. So kudos to you, New York.
We also had a rain delay during the game. In fact, we had a very impressive thunderstorm. There was all kind of crazy lighting and it was raining cats and dogs (I can't remember the last time I used that phrase.) Luckily, our cheap seats worked in our favor and we did not get wet. Also, the Yanks have one of the most ghetto tarps I have ever seen. Makes sense I guess. It was just like a sheet of white plastic that didn't even have a logo on it. They held it down with a bunch of wooden planks.
Isaac had to leave after the eighth inning to catch his bus. So Jeff and Jose and myself left after the game and caught the subway into Manhattan. We had our typical troubles with the system but finally found Times Square and the Heartland Brew Pub. Unfortunately there was not a whole lot for me to eat there as a vegetarian. I got some chips and dip and a couple drinks and I was happy. Then Jose bit into a staple or something in his food and they gave us the meal for free. So good things keep happening!
After dinner we took a taxi down a few blocks to Chelsea and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre for a show called Asssscat. This is a sketch comedy/improv show started by Horatio Sanz and Amy Poehler. The show was at 9:30. It was free. We got in line at about 8:00 behind a load of other people. At about 8:45 the word drifted back that this was the standby line and there was very little chance we were getting in. At this point the friend we made, an aging hipster who claimed he saw us at Coney Island and dropped one of the greatest one liners I've ever heard about breasts on us, decided to leave. But our stretch of good luck continued and we somehow made it in.
And it was awesome. Amy Poehler was not there but Horatio Sanz was, along with four people I had never heard of. A couple of them were not very funny but the rest of them carried the show. Basically the concept is that one of the audience members shouts out a word (in our case it was "fire house dog") and the comedians go into sketch comedies involving this word. Then they sort of shoot off from this into other topics. It's pretty great and the best part is that it is all off the cuff so you know you will get a new show every night.
So we were among the last people in the theatre and we were kind of sitting off to the side, on the floor, next to a curtain. Not an ideal spot by any means. Now I was wearing my Cubs hat and Jeff his Sox hat, since the teams were playing each other tonight. All of a sudden, about halfway through the show, Horatio Sanz burst through the curtain right next to us and goes, "Hey guys", and I thought he was going to tell us that we weren't allowed to sit there. But instead he said, "The Cubs are up 6-1." So that was great. Not only were the Cubs winning but Horatio Sanz became the most famous person ever to seek me out to let me know that. Thanks Horatio!
We got out of the show a little after eleven. Since we saw a free show and ate a free dinner we decided to reward ourselves on all this saved money by taking a taxi back to the hotel. It didn't cost too much and it was so nice to get back at a reasonable hour. We watched a little tv, I wrote Saturday's blog (still a day behind), and headed to sleep.
Another great day...
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Day 28
I realize I am running late. But I've been going like crazy. This is Saturday's entry. I will try and get caught up by tomorrow night.
OK. So I put the Amtrak stuff completely out of my mind and set out to have a great Saturday in New York City. We were up until after three on Friday and so we slept a little longer than we anticipated. But we were up by nine and dining at the hotel’s free breakfast. It was pretty lousy. But free. And free.
Out the door by10:15. And on our first trip to the subway we had our first problem with the subway. The train we needed to take into Manhattan was not running. So we had to take the train east instead, and then transfer to another line, which added confusion to our lives. But we finally made it to Manhattan and our first stop of the day.
And that stop was….Ground Zero! And it was one of the most awkward tourist experiences of my life. Hundreds of tourists with camera all hyped up with absolutely nothing to see. Which should not surprise anyone…after all, the whole point of this site is what is missing. But mostly the masses were just kind of standing around not sure exactly what they should be doing. So they took pictures of the hole in the ground. And so did I, but only because they were. I can’t picture myself ever looking back through my pictures and thinking, “Oh yeah! We saw this hole in the ground and not the World Trade Center!” Also, the whole time I was standing with this crowd of people watching construction workers dig in this hole in the ground (seriously, if anyone has any idea what exactly they are doing down there I would be really interested) I kept picturing Peyton Manning in the crowd yelling encouragement.
And of course there were the vendors, hawking their wares for the crowd. 9/11 necklaces. 9/11 snow globes (how fucking sick is that?) 9/11 postcards. Yes…they have postcards that are just pictures of the buildings crumbling. What do you do with these postcards? Do you send them to your friends saying, “Greetings from New York!”? Do you frame them? Who buys this shit? Apparently someone cause these guys are all over the place.
9/11.
Anyway, we got out of there and walked southwards. We snapped a few pictures of the bull at Wall Street. He has huge testicles. Then we stopped and got some great pizza. There was a party of 9-year-old kids watching the Yankees game in the restaurant and just going nuts about it. They kept making comments like, “Jorge Posada is only hitting .294 but he is hitting .321 with runners in scoring position and less than two out on Saturday afternoons.” Damn, I loved those kids. And then some kid saw my Cubs hat and announced to me that he used to live in Oak Park. So that was cool. And there was also a kid in a Sonic Youth shirt. Damn, New York breeds their hipsters at a young age. We finished our food and moved on, despite the birthday boy’s father’s insistence that we stay for the forthcoming birthday cake.
So we headed for the Staten Island Ferry. This is a ferry that takes you to Staten Island for free. There is nothing all that exciting about Staten Island but the ferry is known for having some of the best views of the city. And it did! The south skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island were the highlights. And the Brooklyn Bridge. Great photo opportunities of sites that we didn’t feel like paying for.
And then we were in Staten Island. We sat for a while because we were tired of all the standing and such that we had been doing. And it was so beautiful out. Then we devised a plan of how we could get to Coney Island quickly and painlessly. It was about a twelve step plan. The first step was taking the Staten Island Railroad (no, New York does not respect Staten Island enough to run the subway down there) a few stops down. And so we saw a bit of Staten Island. What did I take away from this experience? Shaolin sucks ass. That Wu-Tang Clan is full of shit. I saw nothing interesting the whole time I was there. I certainly did not see any cool Wu-Tang sword style shit. In fact, the best thing about Staten Island is that it has some good spots to view the other boroughs.
So the train took us to a bus that took us to Brooklyn, New York City (where they paint murals of Biggie.) We got off the bus and onto a train to Coney Island. Except we went the wrong way. So we turned around and went the right way. It was an ordeal. But we eventually got to Coney Island right around the time the annual Mermaid Parade was ending. So the Mermaid Parade is basically just an excuse for people to dress up in ridiculous costumes and act bizarre. And it was perfect.
Coney Island was perfect too. It was filthy and hot and beautiful and kitschy. It was as big a slice of Americana as I could have imagined it would be. Though some traditionalist is sure to disagree with me here. Our goal was to ride the Cyclone but we didn’t care to stand in line so we didn’t. Instead we just walked the boardwalk, had a drink, and watched people. And people are so fucking weird! Coney Island had close to the perfect mix of hipster brats and blue collar folks who must have been absolutely baffled by some of these hipsters and freaks. But everyone seemed to be having a great time with it! Isaac and me struck up a great conversation with a really friendly guy with a live boa constrictor around his neck and two teardrops tattoos. But he was so nice and he was enjoying Coney Island with his family!
Anyway, we eventually left Coney Island and headed up to Brooklyn Heights. After the noise and chaos of Coney Island, Brooklyn Heights was an excellent break. It was incredibly quiet and peaceful. We ate at this restaurant with all-natural and organic everything. It got to the point where we prefaced everything with all-natural. Can you pass the all-natural mustard please? You get the picture. They even had organic beer. Which tasted a lot like regular beer. This leads me to believe that somebody got the brilliant idea of slapping the word organic on their beer and marketing it to hippies. Hooray capitalism!
After dinner we went up to the bluff at Brooklyn Heights and watched the sun set over Manhattan. It was gorgeous. The lights came on all over the city. New York is a truly incredible town. It is just so enormous. There is so much to see and so much going on. So we headed back out and tried to see more of it.
Our next stop was Times Square. I think we had a few more subway troubles at this point. But then we got there and stepped out into the bright lights of the square. It is a sensory explosion to be sure. People everywhere. As bright as daytime. So many things to watch. And I don’t know what could be more American than this. Millions of people come here every year to look at advertisements. This is a complete tourist site built around the act of tourists being told what to buy. And it’s not that people are too stupid to realize this. I think they realize it completely. It is that they don’t care. It is fun and why should we have to think about it? The lights are pretty.
So while walking Times Square a fellow approached us with some passes to Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy club. They were ten dollars apiece. It reeked of a scam but he told us that Charlie Murphy was performing and so was one of the girls from The Office so we took him up on it. We took the subway up a few stops and found the club. And the line. And the announcement that we probably wouldn’t be able to get in, regardless of the fact that we paid for tickets. We also found out that Charlie Murphy was not schedule to perform, nor was the chick from The Office, nor was there any evidence that they were ever planning to. Then it looked like we would get in after all. Then a bunch of attractive ladies showed up and it looked like we wouldn’t. Then the manager pulled some strings, rearranged some chairs, and told us to enjoy the show.
And the show was great. Despite the fact that there was no Charlie Murphy, we got put through a runaround outside, and the two drink minimum drinks were eleven dollars, we were all very happy that we chose to attend this. One of the comedians, Jay something, was being taped for Comedy Central and he was just hilarious. I literally cried a couple times. And my sides hurt. Maybe I will talk about it later. Most of the other comedians were pretty funny as well, but the last guy was just horrible. All in all, despite the ridiculously overpriced drinks and the scam, this was an excellent way to end a very eventful day.
Except the day wasn’t over. We still had to have one of the worst train experiences of all time. All kinds of different routes were closed. I can’t give precise details because I still don’t really get it, but the bottom line is that it took us well over two hours to get back to the hotel. We were all fairly grumpy by the time we got back, at about 3:15.
Of course, I snapped out of it pretty easily once I got my shoes off, took a shower, and sat down at the computer for a few minutes. I mean…it was just an awesome day. Why let some train difficulties ruin it? Tomorrow is another one. And then more.
There is so much left to be done!
OK. So I put the Amtrak stuff completely out of my mind and set out to have a great Saturday in New York City. We were up until after three on Friday and so we slept a little longer than we anticipated. But we were up by nine and dining at the hotel’s free breakfast. It was pretty lousy. But free. And free.
Out the door by10:15. And on our first trip to the subway we had our first problem with the subway. The train we needed to take into Manhattan was not running. So we had to take the train east instead, and then transfer to another line, which added confusion to our lives. But we finally made it to Manhattan and our first stop of the day.
And that stop was….Ground Zero! And it was one of the most awkward tourist experiences of my life. Hundreds of tourists with camera all hyped up with absolutely nothing to see. Which should not surprise anyone…after all, the whole point of this site is what is missing. But mostly the masses were just kind of standing around not sure exactly what they should be doing. So they took pictures of the hole in the ground. And so did I, but only because they were. I can’t picture myself ever looking back through my pictures and thinking, “Oh yeah! We saw this hole in the ground and not the World Trade Center!” Also, the whole time I was standing with this crowd of people watching construction workers dig in this hole in the ground (seriously, if anyone has any idea what exactly they are doing down there I would be really interested) I kept picturing Peyton Manning in the crowd yelling encouragement.
And of course there were the vendors, hawking their wares for the crowd. 9/11 necklaces. 9/11 snow globes (how fucking sick is that?) 9/11 postcards. Yes…they have postcards that are just pictures of the buildings crumbling. What do you do with these postcards? Do you send them to your friends saying, “Greetings from New York!”? Do you frame them? Who buys this shit? Apparently someone cause these guys are all over the place.
9/11.
Anyway, we got out of there and walked southwards. We snapped a few pictures of the bull at Wall Street. He has huge testicles. Then we stopped and got some great pizza. There was a party of 9-year-old kids watching the Yankees game in the restaurant and just going nuts about it. They kept making comments like, “Jorge Posada is only hitting .294 but he is hitting .321 with runners in scoring position and less than two out on Saturday afternoons.” Damn, I loved those kids. And then some kid saw my Cubs hat and announced to me that he used to live in Oak Park. So that was cool. And there was also a kid in a Sonic Youth shirt. Damn, New York breeds their hipsters at a young age. We finished our food and moved on, despite the birthday boy’s father’s insistence that we stay for the forthcoming birthday cake.
So we headed for the Staten Island Ferry. This is a ferry that takes you to Staten Island for free. There is nothing all that exciting about Staten Island but the ferry is known for having some of the best views of the city. And it did! The south skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island were the highlights. And the Brooklyn Bridge. Great photo opportunities of sites that we didn’t feel like paying for.
And then we were in Staten Island. We sat for a while because we were tired of all the standing and such that we had been doing. And it was so beautiful out. Then we devised a plan of how we could get to Coney Island quickly and painlessly. It was about a twelve step plan. The first step was taking the Staten Island Railroad (no, New York does not respect Staten Island enough to run the subway down there) a few stops down. And so we saw a bit of Staten Island. What did I take away from this experience? Shaolin sucks ass. That Wu-Tang Clan is full of shit. I saw nothing interesting the whole time I was there. I certainly did not see any cool Wu-Tang sword style shit. In fact, the best thing about Staten Island is that it has some good spots to view the other boroughs.
So the train took us to a bus that took us to Brooklyn, New York City (where they paint murals of Biggie.) We got off the bus and onto a train to Coney Island. Except we went the wrong way. So we turned around and went the right way. It was an ordeal. But we eventually got to Coney Island right around the time the annual Mermaid Parade was ending. So the Mermaid Parade is basically just an excuse for people to dress up in ridiculous costumes and act bizarre. And it was perfect.
Coney Island was perfect too. It was filthy and hot and beautiful and kitschy. It was as big a slice of Americana as I could have imagined it would be. Though some traditionalist is sure to disagree with me here. Our goal was to ride the Cyclone but we didn’t care to stand in line so we didn’t. Instead we just walked the boardwalk, had a drink, and watched people. And people are so fucking weird! Coney Island had close to the perfect mix of hipster brats and blue collar folks who must have been absolutely baffled by some of these hipsters and freaks. But everyone seemed to be having a great time with it! Isaac and me struck up a great conversation with a really friendly guy with a live boa constrictor around his neck and two teardrops tattoos. But he was so nice and he was enjoying Coney Island with his family!
Anyway, we eventually left Coney Island and headed up to Brooklyn Heights. After the noise and chaos of Coney Island, Brooklyn Heights was an excellent break. It was incredibly quiet and peaceful. We ate at this restaurant with all-natural and organic everything. It got to the point where we prefaced everything with all-natural. Can you pass the all-natural mustard please? You get the picture. They even had organic beer. Which tasted a lot like regular beer. This leads me to believe that somebody got the brilliant idea of slapping the word organic on their beer and marketing it to hippies. Hooray capitalism!
After dinner we went up to the bluff at Brooklyn Heights and watched the sun set over Manhattan. It was gorgeous. The lights came on all over the city. New York is a truly incredible town. It is just so enormous. There is so much to see and so much going on. So we headed back out and tried to see more of it.
Our next stop was Times Square. I think we had a few more subway troubles at this point. But then we got there and stepped out into the bright lights of the square. It is a sensory explosion to be sure. People everywhere. As bright as daytime. So many things to watch. And I don’t know what could be more American than this. Millions of people come here every year to look at advertisements. This is a complete tourist site built around the act of tourists being told what to buy. And it’s not that people are too stupid to realize this. I think they realize it completely. It is that they don’t care. It is fun and why should we have to think about it? The lights are pretty.
So while walking Times Square a fellow approached us with some passes to Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy club. They were ten dollars apiece. It reeked of a scam but he told us that Charlie Murphy was performing and so was one of the girls from The Office so we took him up on it. We took the subway up a few stops and found the club. And the line. And the announcement that we probably wouldn’t be able to get in, regardless of the fact that we paid for tickets. We also found out that Charlie Murphy was not schedule to perform, nor was the chick from The Office, nor was there any evidence that they were ever planning to. Then it looked like we would get in after all. Then a bunch of attractive ladies showed up and it looked like we wouldn’t. Then the manager pulled some strings, rearranged some chairs, and told us to enjoy the show.
And the show was great. Despite the fact that there was no Charlie Murphy, we got put through a runaround outside, and the two drink minimum drinks were eleven dollars, we were all very happy that we chose to attend this. One of the comedians, Jay something, was being taped for Comedy Central and he was just hilarious. I literally cried a couple times. And my sides hurt. Maybe I will talk about it later. Most of the other comedians were pretty funny as well, but the last guy was just horrible. All in all, despite the ridiculously overpriced drinks and the scam, this was an excellent way to end a very eventful day.
Except the day wasn’t over. We still had to have one of the worst train experiences of all time. All kinds of different routes were closed. I can’t give precise details because I still don’t really get it, but the bottom line is that it took us well over two hours to get back to the hotel. We were all fairly grumpy by the time we got back, at about 3:15.
Of course, I snapped out of it pretty easily once I got my shoes off, took a shower, and sat down at the computer for a few minutes. I mean…it was just an awesome day. Why let some train difficulties ruin it? Tomorrow is another one. And then more.
There is so much left to be done!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Day 27
This one picks up with the end of Day 26.
So after I blogged last night I headed to the Metra station in Hinsdale. I bought one of those big cans of Foster’s at the wine store across the street and got on the train. It was just a beautiful ride into the city. The sun was going down and I listened to Feed the Animals for the second time. This album is amazing. Greg Glllis mixed the best rapper alive with the best rock band alive; “Roc Boys” over “Paranoid Android”. It is just amazing. The Metra ride felt too short. But then I was at Union Station.
Oh yeah…the other thing that happened in Hinsdale…before getting on the train I got a message from Amtrak. It seems my train from New York to Boston, and my train from Boston to New York, have been cancelled. So that’s a pain in the ass. Now I have to call them sometime tomorrow and reschedule. So when I went to get my ticket to New York the lady seemed really confused by all this. I told her that I’m going to try and get on another train and she still seemed confused. But she gave me my ticket and that was that.
And then I went to the bar. I checked the Cubs score when I was on the train and they were up 3-1 in the seventh inning. This seemed good. I figured Marmol in the eighth, Kerry in the ninth, go home. But when I got to the bar it was 8-3 Devil Rays in the eighth. What the fuck? That was the final too. So that was no good. The Cubs continue to be not so good on the road.
Anyway…I went and got on the train and it departed at ten o’clock sharp. As soon as we got moving I headed over to the lounge car. It was only open forty minutes so I had to take advantage while I could. I had a couple Coronas and got to talking with a few guys about this and that. Then they closed the bar and everyone started bitching untl this one dude said he had some vodka. So he went over to the bar, asked for four cups of ice, and then went back to his seat and came back with the bottle. We all filled our cups, he made a toast to Nancy Reagan (sarcasm) or some shit like that, and we ended up hanging out there for probably another hour and a half. Turns out the dude works on an oil rig in Louisiana. So he talked about that and he made mention of something called the 3 F’s: Fur, Flesh, and Fluid. I can’t remember what the hell he was talking about but it had something to do with drug tests (hence the Nancy Reagan toast.) One of the other guys there is in the military and going to Syracuse to visit his buddy from Afghanistan. He kept talking about how the Afghanistanis (Afghans? Afghanis?) are “just like us.” Never quite figured out what that meant. But it was a nice time.
So finally I said goodbye to them and retreated to my seat. I popped in a Six Feet Under and ate some of the food my mom gave me for the trip. She packed a bunch of stuff for me because she did not want me to spend any money. Which is good but I am going to spend money anyway. And the bag broke so now the food is annoying me.
And then I typed this. Tomorrow evening I will type more and it will all be part of one big blog entry. You’ll see.
So sleeping on the train was not as pleasant as I had hoped it would be. I think it would have been better with the window seat. That way I would have had something to lean against. But as it was it was very fitful. I woke up many a time. Before I knew it the sun was coming up, which is never a great thing. I think we were somewhere around Cleveland when there was a full-blown sunrise. I just remember being stopped right next to the Cleveland Browns’ stadium for what seemed like an hour and not being able to sleep. But then after we took off I was actually able to get some of my most productive sleep of the night. I probably could have continued sleeping if some Homeland Security douche hadn’t woken me up to ask me if I were a US citizen. I still have no idea what the fuck that was all about but he methodically woke every single person on the train up to ask them the same question. We were in Erie, Pennsylvania I think. So I was kind of hungry so I decided I may as well get up and get some breakfast.
I went to the dining car at around 8:30. I ran into the military kid from last night and sat down with him. He was wearing an Afghani Freedom shirt just to make sure everyone knew that he did, indeed, fight in Afghanistan. I thought he should have written something on the back of it about them being just like us. I kid. He was actually a really nice guy. He bought me breakfast. I ate scrambled eggs and hash browns. And there were vineyards and Lake Erie everywhere we looked. It was very scenic.
After sitting in the dining car for awhile I decided to try and get a little sleep. When we got to Buffalo my seatmate got off the train, which allowed me to spread out and lean up against the window. I was able to sleep for a couple hours. It was very restful and nice. I woke up in Rochester.
The rest of the day was more of the same. Some nice scenery. I did not really do as much reading as I had planned. I was a little too enamored with the scenery. The train cruised alongside the Erie Canal for quite a while and ducked through some forests. I made a trip to the lounge when I needed to plug in my computer. Then we got to Albany.
In Albany I found out about something called “slack time.” This is when the train has been making such good time that you actually have to wait for an extended amount of time at a stop. In this case we waited for an hour and a half in Albany. This was good and bad. It definitely beats running behind. It was kind of annoying for me because I had just plugged in my computer and my phone and they shut off the power in the train. On the other hand, it was a nice opportunity to get out of the train for a little while and walk around the station. Not much to see there but I bought a much needed Dr. Pepper and stretched my legs. I also used a real bathroom which was nice.
I am writing this en route from Albany to New York. So far I can say that this has easily been the nicest stretch of the trip. The train track winds alongside the Hudson River and there are mountains to our west. I sat at my seat for a little while watching Six Feet Under but then my computer ran out of power again so I came back to the lounge where I am now. And I decided I may as well get caught up on my blogging. Also, I followed the Cubs/Sox game on my phone. Aramis Ramirez hit a walk-off homer for a 4-3 Cubs win. Rock.
So I arrived at Penn Station right on time. And I was a little confused about what to do and where to go. But I went outside and found the taxi stand. My driver wasn’t sure exactly where the Holiday Inn Express was so I had to call the place up and get directions. I was so sure that she was going to run up my fee. But she didn’t. We got there and it was only eighteen bucks so I gave her a big tip.
So here is where I experienced the worst part of my day. I mentioned the whole rescheduling my train to Boston thing earlier. Well once I got to the hotel I called Amtrak. After sitting and waiting for half an hour I finally got an agent. It turns out every train to Boston is completely booked. So I tried to reroute and go to Washington instead. I can get a train to D.C but I can’t get one from D.C. to Chicago. So that option is out. So basically there is nothing Amtrak can do for me. It’s just, “Hey. We messed up. Sorry, now your vacation is ruined.” I don’t know how they get by on this kind of customer service. So now I have no idea what I’m going to do from Tuesday on. But I’m not going to let it spoil my week.
So I took a shower. It was a great shower. But I broke the soap holding thing. I put my foot up on there to wash my leg and the whole fucking thing fell down. And then the toilet was all clogged up but that wasn’t really my fault. It was that way when I got here.
Isaac and Jeff arrived within two minutes of each other. Isaac was supposed to get here at the same time as me but his bus was oversold. Jeff’s flight was delayed. So they both got here after eleven. And we went out. What else were we gonna do?
Long Island City had no idea what was about to hit it. The first spot we hit was some blue collar bar that reminded me about the bar Isaac and me went to in Dodge City. But people were friendly. We were actually just looking for some food and they didn’t have any so we kept walking.
After walking several blocks we found a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant where nobody spoke English. I bought some rice and beans for three dollars. And a Corona for a dollar seventy-five. There was a three dollar disco ball for some reason and a song that went, “QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!” And the waitresses laughed at Isaac and me when we were bobbing our head to the QUACK music. FUN!
And then we headed next door to the Irish pub. It was a very nice little pub. They had something called Brooklyn Lager. Or something. We each had one. And talked about good times and prepared for more to come.
We got back to the hotel a little while ago. It is 3:05. We are watching American Beauty and having all kinds of difficulties plunging the toilet. SUMMER!
More tomorrow…
So after I blogged last night I headed to the Metra station in Hinsdale. I bought one of those big cans of Foster’s at the wine store across the street and got on the train. It was just a beautiful ride into the city. The sun was going down and I listened to Feed the Animals for the second time. This album is amazing. Greg Glllis mixed the best rapper alive with the best rock band alive; “Roc Boys” over “Paranoid Android”. It is just amazing. The Metra ride felt too short. But then I was at Union Station.
Oh yeah…the other thing that happened in Hinsdale…before getting on the train I got a message from Amtrak. It seems my train from New York to Boston, and my train from Boston to New York, have been cancelled. So that’s a pain in the ass. Now I have to call them sometime tomorrow and reschedule. So when I went to get my ticket to New York the lady seemed really confused by all this. I told her that I’m going to try and get on another train and she still seemed confused. But she gave me my ticket and that was that.
And then I went to the bar. I checked the Cubs score when I was on the train and they were up 3-1 in the seventh inning. This seemed good. I figured Marmol in the eighth, Kerry in the ninth, go home. But when I got to the bar it was 8-3 Devil Rays in the eighth. What the fuck? That was the final too. So that was no good. The Cubs continue to be not so good on the road.
Anyway…I went and got on the train and it departed at ten o’clock sharp. As soon as we got moving I headed over to the lounge car. It was only open forty minutes so I had to take advantage while I could. I had a couple Coronas and got to talking with a few guys about this and that. Then they closed the bar and everyone started bitching untl this one dude said he had some vodka. So he went over to the bar, asked for four cups of ice, and then went back to his seat and came back with the bottle. We all filled our cups, he made a toast to Nancy Reagan (sarcasm) or some shit like that, and we ended up hanging out there for probably another hour and a half. Turns out the dude works on an oil rig in Louisiana. So he talked about that and he made mention of something called the 3 F’s: Fur, Flesh, and Fluid. I can’t remember what the hell he was talking about but it had something to do with drug tests (hence the Nancy Reagan toast.) One of the other guys there is in the military and going to Syracuse to visit his buddy from Afghanistan. He kept talking about how the Afghanistanis (Afghans? Afghanis?) are “just like us.” Never quite figured out what that meant. But it was a nice time.
So finally I said goodbye to them and retreated to my seat. I popped in a Six Feet Under and ate some of the food my mom gave me for the trip. She packed a bunch of stuff for me because she did not want me to spend any money. Which is good but I am going to spend money anyway. And the bag broke so now the food is annoying me.
And then I typed this. Tomorrow evening I will type more and it will all be part of one big blog entry. You’ll see.
So sleeping on the train was not as pleasant as I had hoped it would be. I think it would have been better with the window seat. That way I would have had something to lean against. But as it was it was very fitful. I woke up many a time. Before I knew it the sun was coming up, which is never a great thing. I think we were somewhere around Cleveland when there was a full-blown sunrise. I just remember being stopped right next to the Cleveland Browns’ stadium for what seemed like an hour and not being able to sleep. But then after we took off I was actually able to get some of my most productive sleep of the night. I probably could have continued sleeping if some Homeland Security douche hadn’t woken me up to ask me if I were a US citizen. I still have no idea what the fuck that was all about but he methodically woke every single person on the train up to ask them the same question. We were in Erie, Pennsylvania I think. So I was kind of hungry so I decided I may as well get up and get some breakfast.
I went to the dining car at around 8:30. I ran into the military kid from last night and sat down with him. He was wearing an Afghani Freedom shirt just to make sure everyone knew that he did, indeed, fight in Afghanistan. I thought he should have written something on the back of it about them being just like us. I kid. He was actually a really nice guy. He bought me breakfast. I ate scrambled eggs and hash browns. And there were vineyards and Lake Erie everywhere we looked. It was very scenic.
After sitting in the dining car for awhile I decided to try and get a little sleep. When we got to Buffalo my seatmate got off the train, which allowed me to spread out and lean up against the window. I was able to sleep for a couple hours. It was very restful and nice. I woke up in Rochester.
The rest of the day was more of the same. Some nice scenery. I did not really do as much reading as I had planned. I was a little too enamored with the scenery. The train cruised alongside the Erie Canal for quite a while and ducked through some forests. I made a trip to the lounge when I needed to plug in my computer. Then we got to Albany.
In Albany I found out about something called “slack time.” This is when the train has been making such good time that you actually have to wait for an extended amount of time at a stop. In this case we waited for an hour and a half in Albany. This was good and bad. It definitely beats running behind. It was kind of annoying for me because I had just plugged in my computer and my phone and they shut off the power in the train. On the other hand, it was a nice opportunity to get out of the train for a little while and walk around the station. Not much to see there but I bought a much needed Dr. Pepper and stretched my legs. I also used a real bathroom which was nice.
I am writing this en route from Albany to New York. So far I can say that this has easily been the nicest stretch of the trip. The train track winds alongside the Hudson River and there are mountains to our west. I sat at my seat for a little while watching Six Feet Under but then my computer ran out of power again so I came back to the lounge where I am now. And I decided I may as well get caught up on my blogging. Also, I followed the Cubs/Sox game on my phone. Aramis Ramirez hit a walk-off homer for a 4-3 Cubs win. Rock.
So I arrived at Penn Station right on time. And I was a little confused about what to do and where to go. But I went outside and found the taxi stand. My driver wasn’t sure exactly where the Holiday Inn Express was so I had to call the place up and get directions. I was so sure that she was going to run up my fee. But she didn’t. We got there and it was only eighteen bucks so I gave her a big tip.
So here is where I experienced the worst part of my day. I mentioned the whole rescheduling my train to Boston thing earlier. Well once I got to the hotel I called Amtrak. After sitting and waiting for half an hour I finally got an agent. It turns out every train to Boston is completely booked. So I tried to reroute and go to Washington instead. I can get a train to D.C but I can’t get one from D.C. to Chicago. So that option is out. So basically there is nothing Amtrak can do for me. It’s just, “Hey. We messed up. Sorry, now your vacation is ruined.” I don’t know how they get by on this kind of customer service. So now I have no idea what I’m going to do from Tuesday on. But I’m not going to let it spoil my week.
So I took a shower. It was a great shower. But I broke the soap holding thing. I put my foot up on there to wash my leg and the whole fucking thing fell down. And then the toilet was all clogged up but that wasn’t really my fault. It was that way when I got here.
Isaac and Jeff arrived within two minutes of each other. Isaac was supposed to get here at the same time as me but his bus was oversold. Jeff’s flight was delayed. So they both got here after eleven. And we went out. What else were we gonna do?
Long Island City had no idea what was about to hit it. The first spot we hit was some blue collar bar that reminded me about the bar Isaac and me went to in Dodge City. But people were friendly. We were actually just looking for some food and they didn’t have any so we kept walking.
After walking several blocks we found a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant where nobody spoke English. I bought some rice and beans for three dollars. And a Corona for a dollar seventy-five. There was a three dollar disco ball for some reason and a song that went, “QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!” And the waitresses laughed at Isaac and me when we were bobbing our head to the QUACK music. FUN!
And then we headed next door to the Irish pub. It was a very nice little pub. They had something called Brooklyn Lager. Or something. We each had one. And talked about good times and prepared for more to come.
We got back to the hotel a little while ago. It is 3:05. We are watching American Beauty and having all kinds of difficulties plunging the toilet. SUMMER!
More tomorrow…
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Day 26
Here we go...
I spent most of today getting ready for the train. I went to the bank and got some cash. Went to the library and got Idlewild on DVD for the trip. I also got another disc of Six Feet Under. I think I have six hours worth of that show so that will help. I do have 48 hours in trains over the next week. And I went to Best Buy. I was looking for four albums. The Hold Steady (which may not be out yet), Silver Jews, King Khan and the Shrines, and Wolf Parade. They had none of those. So I bought the first K'naan album. I've never listened to him before but he is the first act that I plan on catching at Lollapalooza at 11:30 Friday morning, and seeing as he is one of the few rap acts at the festival I'm going to try and get into him.
And then I just kind of packed and sat around and such. Oh yeah...the new Girl Talk album was released today on his record label's site and it is free. Unless you are a sucker and you pay for it. So I downloaded it and listened while I ran errands. It is awesome. Very similar to the first one (or the first one people actually have.) There is a great Weezy/Sinead mash-up near the beginning.
Anyway, now I am just chilling, listening to Broken Social Scene (who is incidentally playing a Lollapalooza after-show with Yeasayer the Saturday of the festival), and being generally happy. I'm a little anxious about the whole getting on the train ordeal. And a little more anxious about the finding my hotel ordeal. But mostly I'm excited.
Also, my telephone rang about six times before nine o'clock this morning. Apparently somebody who doesn't realize that nobody in my house goes to sleep before 2 AM really wanted to talk. So that was cool. But I finally did fall back asleep and slept till quarter to eleven. Which was good. I got eight or nine hours each of the last two nights to help catch me up from about ten straight days of six or less. And it's probably a good thing cause I'm not sure how well I will sleep on the train. And I don't want to be TOO tired to begin my vacation.
Ah well, either way, I'll shake it off like a rock star!
And that's it. Tomorrow night I will have a full report on my 21-hour train ride. It should be good reading.
I spent most of today getting ready for the train. I went to the bank and got some cash. Went to the library and got Idlewild on DVD for the trip. I also got another disc of Six Feet Under. I think I have six hours worth of that show so that will help. I do have 48 hours in trains over the next week. And I went to Best Buy. I was looking for four albums. The Hold Steady (which may not be out yet), Silver Jews, King Khan and the Shrines, and Wolf Parade. They had none of those. So I bought the first K'naan album. I've never listened to him before but he is the first act that I plan on catching at Lollapalooza at 11:30 Friday morning, and seeing as he is one of the few rap acts at the festival I'm going to try and get into him.
And then I just kind of packed and sat around and such. Oh yeah...the new Girl Talk album was released today on his record label's site and it is free. Unless you are a sucker and you pay for it. So I downloaded it and listened while I ran errands. It is awesome. Very similar to the first one (or the first one people actually have.) There is a great Weezy/Sinead mash-up near the beginning.
Anyway, now I am just chilling, listening to Broken Social Scene (who is incidentally playing a Lollapalooza after-show with Yeasayer the Saturday of the festival), and being generally happy. I'm a little anxious about the whole getting on the train ordeal. And a little more anxious about the finding my hotel ordeal. But mostly I'm excited.
Also, my telephone rang about six times before nine o'clock this morning. Apparently somebody who doesn't realize that nobody in my house goes to sleep before 2 AM really wanted to talk. So that was cool. But I finally did fall back asleep and slept till quarter to eleven. Which was good. I got eight or nine hours each of the last two nights to help catch me up from about ten straight days of six or less. And it's probably a good thing cause I'm not sure how well I will sleep on the train. And I don't want to be TOO tired to begin my vacation.
Ah well, either way, I'll shake it off like a rock star!
And that's it. Tomorrow night I will have a full report on my 21-hour train ride. It should be good reading.
Day 25
Another half-ass blog entry for Day 25.
One quarter of the way through. But now it's going to start getting more interesting. My train leaves tomorrow night at 10 PM. I think I will try and post before then.
Meanwhile, didn't do a whole lot today. I worked and I watched the Cubs game and I ate Chipotle. That's about it.
So sorry...
One quarter of the way through. But now it's going to start getting more interesting. My train leaves tomorrow night at 10 PM. I think I will try and post before then.
Meanwhile, didn't do a whole lot today. I worked and I watched the Cubs game and I ate Chipotle. That's about it.
So sorry...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Day 24
Once again posting in the morning. Not ideal, not ideal.
I finished two classes yesterday. Now I am done with everything. I did two presentations and the professors seemed to LOVE them. So that was cool. In the morning I did my presentation on the assessments I did. I wasn't sure how I was going to do in this class since I did on of my assessments, well, the day before. But I'm pretty sure I nailed the presentation at least. Then in the afternoon I did an impromptu presentation revolving around Dead Prez' "They Schools" which set off a huge class discussion...so that's always a good thing. My point was that whether we agree with individual bits of the song, or the language they use, the point is that they are representing the views of a sizable population that deserves to be listened to, which made the teacher happy. And she even talked about the importance of rap for awhile after that and pointed out to the class that there is lots of great philosophical writing about rap music (which always amazes me that people are amazed by this.)
Anyway...I think it went well. I finally got my first grade back. It was a "B". My first one. But that's okay because it was the class that I thought I did terribly in.
I came directly home after class and just chilled. Watched the Cubs, read for awhile, not much. Now it is off to work just four hours today, then get ready for the trip!
I finished two classes yesterday. Now I am done with everything. I did two presentations and the professors seemed to LOVE them. So that was cool. In the morning I did my presentation on the assessments I did. I wasn't sure how I was going to do in this class since I did on of my assessments, well, the day before. But I'm pretty sure I nailed the presentation at least. Then in the afternoon I did an impromptu presentation revolving around Dead Prez' "They Schools" which set off a huge class discussion...so that's always a good thing. My point was that whether we agree with individual bits of the song, or the language they use, the point is that they are representing the views of a sizable population that deserves to be listened to, which made the teacher happy. And she even talked about the importance of rap for awhile after that and pointed out to the class that there is lots of great philosophical writing about rap music (which always amazes me that people are amazed by this.)
Anyway...I think it went well. I finally got my first grade back. It was a "B". My first one. But that's okay because it was the class that I thought I did terribly in.
I came directly home after class and just chilled. Watched the Cubs, read for awhile, not much. Now it is off to work just four hours today, then get ready for the trip!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Day 23
You may have noticed that I did not post this yesterday and it is now actually 4:30 on Day 24. I have been busy. But now I am DONE!
So yesterday I worked ten hours on top of all the homework I had to finish. But it turned out to be a pretty good ten hours. It didn't get off to a good start. I left my house late, not because I was sleeping but because I was trying to do too many things. Then it turned out my first student's mom had to take his sister somewhere so I had to HAUL to their house and still got there late. But it got better. I had good sessions with all three kids. And I went to Wendy's with one of them. So...food. And while we were there I gave him an assessment on addition and subtraction for a class. So it was productive and ice cream at the same time!
And then I got a birthday card from one family with fifty bucks and more awesomely a raise! Yay summer!
So then, at the time I am typically going home on Monday I instead had a team meeting for one of my kids. But that is okay because meetings aren't too bad. Basically we just sat around the table and talked for a couple hours. And of course ate Gardetto's.
But the down side was that I didn't get home till after 8 and I still had quite a bit to do. And then when I got home I ended up screwing around on the internets for a while. And then I got to work and finished remarkably quickly. I triple checked to make sure I had actually done everything. And I had. So now I'm done.
I was going to type this up last night. But I watched Six Feet Under. Then went to bed. So here we are. And here we'll be later tonight for Day 24.
So yesterday I worked ten hours on top of all the homework I had to finish. But it turned out to be a pretty good ten hours. It didn't get off to a good start. I left my house late, not because I was sleeping but because I was trying to do too many things. Then it turned out my first student's mom had to take his sister somewhere so I had to HAUL to their house and still got there late. But it got better. I had good sessions with all three kids. And I went to Wendy's with one of them. So...food. And while we were there I gave him an assessment on addition and subtraction for a class. So it was productive and ice cream at the same time!
And then I got a birthday card from one family with fifty bucks and more awesomely a raise! Yay summer!
So then, at the time I am typically going home on Monday I instead had a team meeting for one of my kids. But that is okay because meetings aren't too bad. Basically we just sat around the table and talked for a couple hours. And of course ate Gardetto's.
But the down side was that I didn't get home till after 8 and I still had quite a bit to do. And then when I got home I ended up screwing around on the internets for a while. And then I got to work and finished remarkably quickly. I triple checked to make sure I had actually done everything. And I had. So now I'm done.
I was going to type this up last night. But I watched Six Feet Under. Then went to bed. So here we are. And here we'll be later tonight for Day 24.
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