GBS: Weekend in Chicago
Several weeks ago I discovered the band Great Big Sea was playing in Chicago at the House of Blues. prisonbitch introduced them to me last year and I thought they were great, so I jumped on the opportunity and planned a quick weekend to see them and visit mikiedoggie.
Friday: Drinks, jumping, singing, more drinks
Arriving a few hours before Mike was finished with work, I decided to stop by the Chicago Cultural Center to catch a short film at the first annual Chicago International Movies and Music Festival. My selection was It's In The Blood (trailer), a surprisingly enjoyable hour-long documentary about a Cajun fiddler named Leo Abshire and about a genre and tradition of music I wasn't all that familiar with.
From there, I weaved through an entourage of Segway enthusiasts to meet Mike and his co-workers at The Martini Bar, and was promptly introduced (to those I hadn't already met) as Mike's secret gay lover, and as "the girl" in the relationship. Nice! I tried poisoning his appletini but the bastard has a wicked tolerance for arsenic.
The House of Blues is a great venue I'd never been in before, and the concert did not disappoint. The opening band, Scythian, accurately describes themselves as "Celtic with an edge" -- energetic, enthusiastic, and amazingly fun. Out on the main floor, we were packed in pretty tightly, but nothing could have prepared me for the two or three sets of breasts that began poking my back and elbows as Great Big Sea took the stage. I had SO much fun singing and jumping around. The set was about half songs that I knew and half I didn't, but included all my favorites. Oh, and did I mention the eye candy? There was yum in every direction.
We were understandably pretty tired after all that. I dropped Mike off by the train so he could walk Boomer, and I continued to Lincoln Park to meet my friend Jason (from my News Record days at UC) and his fiancée Erica (who we BOTH met while working at TNR) at The Four Farthings. I brought them a lunchbox of goodies from home (Skyline chili and cookies from Graeters, of course) and we caught up for a bit over a few drinks.
I found my way back to Mike's and parked at a meter on Clark St. a short distance from his place. I checked the meter to make sure I'd be gone before it took effect (8am), and crashed for the night.
Saturday: "My car is gone"
Saturday morning we woke up early so I could follow Mike to his car appointment. I walked out to Clark and found my car missing. We didn't know if it had been stolen or towed. I knew I had parked at a meter, that there were other cars around, and that I had checked the applicable time on the meter, so I couldn't think of any reason it would have been towed.
Several phone calls and a few hours later, I left the city impound lot on Sacramento less $160 and my pride. Apparently there was a sign at the corner I missed -- a notorious overnight parking ban on Chicago's arterial streets between December and April. We don't have those in Cincinnati so my excuse is ignorance, but nonetheless, lesson learned.
Let's forget this ever happened
After that ordeal, I sure as hell needed a drink. Fortunately, there were some creative options as the lesbian-owned brunch spot Tweet, where we met Bob (aries470) and Joe (jbear70). I accompanied my tart "sassy bitch" cocktail with a heavy but delicious three-egg chicken sausage and goat cheese omelette (OMG I heart goat cheese) and the most buttery hash browns evar.
Saturday afternoon, we powernapped and trekked out to the Museum of Science and Industry, caught the "Fast Forward" and "Navy: Technology at Sea" exhibits, and inspired Mike's motion sickness watching Wild Ocean at the Omnimax, a documentary about sardine migration off the Wild Coast of Africa. It was more exciting than I'm making it sound ;)
Mike stopped to get his hairzcut, we picked up Joe, and met Aaron and Sean for dinner at Big Jones, a neat southern-inspired restaurant in Andersonville. I enjoyed a few bottles of Purple Haze, a healthy plate of jambalaya with chicken and andouille, and shared a slice of Mississippi Mud Pie with Mike, before heading to "bear night" at Touché.
It smells like poo in here
At this point it had been raining pretty much the entire day. Mike was kind enough to lend me his Fidel Castro hat (thanks Aaron!) since I didn't have an umbrella. The bar was ridiculously crowded, which makes it hard to talk or really do anything other than enjoy the scenery (which I admit was quite fetching at times). We did bump into leiny, which was a nice surprise. I think we left a little after midnight and I fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the bed.
All you gays ever do is drink and eat brunch
It seems to be tradition that my final meal in Chicago is brunch at m.henry (more than once is a tradition, right?). We met Jamie (usonianbear) there, another friend from Cincinnati. It just now occurs to me that I met up with five transplants from Cincinnati during this trip. Weird. I had a "latina omelette" and potatoes which I ended up tasting the rest of the day. At least they were good!
Watch out for funnel clouds!
johnskreet, who was also in Chicago this weekend, skipped his Megabus trip home and joined me for 90 minutes of torrential rain and another few hours of unbelievably strong wind. The weather most certainly was not my friend this weekend.
Despite the shoddy weather and the vehicle drama, I had a great time as always. Many many thanks to Mike for his rational thinking and hospitality! Well, everything except calling me old the entire weekend :)
Friday: Drinks, jumping, singing, more drinks
Arriving a few hours before Mike was finished with work, I decided to stop by the Chicago Cultural Center to catch a short film at the first annual Chicago International Movies and Music Festival. My selection was It's In The Blood (trailer), a surprisingly enjoyable hour-long documentary about a Cajun fiddler named Leo Abshire and about a genre and tradition of music I wasn't all that familiar with.
From there, I weaved through an entourage of Segway enthusiasts to meet Mike and his co-workers at The Martini Bar, and was promptly introduced (to those I hadn't already met) as Mike's secret gay lover, and as "the girl" in the relationship. Nice! I tried poisoning his appletini but the bastard has a wicked tolerance for arsenic.
The House of Blues is a great venue I'd never been in before, and the concert did not disappoint. The opening band, Scythian, accurately describes themselves as "Celtic with an edge" -- energetic, enthusiastic, and amazingly fun. Out on the main floor, we were packed in pretty tightly, but nothing could have prepared me for the two or three sets of breasts that began poking my back and elbows as Great Big Sea took the stage. I had SO much fun singing and jumping around. The set was about half songs that I knew and half I didn't, but included all my favorites. Oh, and did I mention the eye candy? There was yum in every direction.
We were understandably pretty tired after all that. I dropped Mike off by the train so he could walk Boomer, and I continued to Lincoln Park to meet my friend Jason (from my News Record days at UC) and his fiancée Erica (who we BOTH met while working at TNR) at The Four Farthings. I brought them a lunchbox of goodies from home (Skyline chili and cookies from Graeters, of course) and we caught up for a bit over a few drinks.
I found my way back to Mike's and parked at a meter on Clark St. a short distance from his place. I checked the meter to make sure I'd be gone before it took effect (8am), and crashed for the night.
Saturday: "My car is gone"
Saturday morning we woke up early so I could follow Mike to his car appointment. I walked out to Clark and found my car missing. We didn't know if it had been stolen or towed. I knew I had parked at a meter, that there were other cars around, and that I had checked the applicable time on the meter, so I couldn't think of any reason it would have been towed.
Several phone calls and a few hours later, I left the city impound lot on Sacramento less $160 and my pride. Apparently there was a sign at the corner I missed -- a notorious overnight parking ban on Chicago's arterial streets between December and April. We don't have those in Cincinnati so my excuse is ignorance, but nonetheless, lesson learned.
Let's forget this ever happened
After that ordeal, I sure as hell needed a drink. Fortunately, there were some creative options as the lesbian-owned brunch spot Tweet, where we met Bob (aries470) and Joe (jbear70). I accompanied my tart "sassy bitch" cocktail with a heavy but delicious three-egg chicken sausage and goat cheese omelette (OMG I heart goat cheese) and the most buttery hash browns evar.
Saturday afternoon, we powernapped and trekked out to the Museum of Science and Industry, caught the "Fast Forward" and "Navy: Technology at Sea" exhibits, and inspired Mike's motion sickness watching Wild Ocean at the Omnimax, a documentary about sardine migration off the Wild Coast of Africa. It was more exciting than I'm making it sound ;)
Mike stopped to get his hairzcut, we picked up Joe, and met Aaron and Sean for dinner at Big Jones, a neat southern-inspired restaurant in Andersonville. I enjoyed a few bottles of Purple Haze, a healthy plate of jambalaya with chicken and andouille, and shared a slice of Mississippi Mud Pie with Mike, before heading to "bear night" at Touché.
It smells like poo in here
At this point it had been raining pretty much the entire day. Mike was kind enough to lend me his Fidel Castro hat (thanks Aaron!) since I didn't have an umbrella. The bar was ridiculously crowded, which makes it hard to talk or really do anything other than enjoy the scenery (which I admit was quite fetching at times). We did bump into leiny, which was a nice surprise. I think we left a little after midnight and I fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the bed.
All you gays ever do is drink and eat brunch
It seems to be tradition that my final meal in Chicago is brunch at m.henry (more than once is a tradition, right?). We met Jamie (usonianbear) there, another friend from Cincinnati. It just now occurs to me that I met up with five transplants from Cincinnati during this trip. Weird. I had a "latina omelette" and potatoes which I ended up tasting the rest of the day. At least they were good!
Watch out for funnel clouds!
johnskreet, who was also in Chicago this weekend, skipped his Megabus trip home and joined me for 90 minutes of torrential rain and another few hours of unbelievably strong wind. The weather most certainly was not my friend this weekend.
Despite the shoddy weather and the vehicle drama, I had a great time as always. Many many thanks to Mike for his rational thinking and hospitality! Well, everything except calling me old the entire weekend :)