"Thank You for Chicago, Mr. James"

where do i start, now that the trip has ended and a few days have passed...??? i'll just do this all mostly chronologically...

Thursday: [yawn...ugh] Jacques is telling me to wake up 'it's 6:45'" ugh...[waking up after maybe 2 hrs of sleep almost thinking "damn, we were supposed to wake up at 6...a lot of good it did brining in David's alarm clock"...almost...] we hit tha road at like 7 or so...everything was gathered...David was left behind...(he couldn't make it after all, due to potential job stuff...but he gave Brad his share of the money since he had said he was going to go and we had made plans around his word...he's quite the great guy, that David)...we drive...and drive...and drive...it's a 9 or so hr journey to Chicago...Chi-town...as some hipsters might call it from time to time...i brought the video camera...had lots of fun filming the drive up...the drive up: we constructed a fake David to fill-in for the real David...it was made from Brad's pillow, Brad's jacket, and an empty Cherry Coke bottle of mine...we had a small amount of fun making "David" say stuff...nothing too eventful about the actual drive and the stuff going on outside the car...just a lot of fun and stupid banter happening inside, due to extreme sleep deprivation on all our parts...we get to Chicago...Brad got the directions online, so the bit getting around the city was slightly faulty...we had to take a crummy toll road...(which was even prob'ly a little more out-of-the-way than other routes...but we didn't know 'til later...) we check into our Motel 6 (as i kept thinking of Yo La Tengo for the obvious reasons...(see "From a Motel 6")) shortly thereafter, we went to this record store (Record Surplus) where i bought the following cds:
The Cure: Concert
Zos Kia/Coil: Transparent
we then found the Low show...mmm...Low...it was great...the place the show was at (i forget the venue's name) was real nice-like...they requested that everyone be quiet and if the need to talk arised, to go outside or to the restaraunt/bar thing (the club is part of a restaraunt/bar thing...) the opening band was Darling...they were quite good...the first half of their set was very good...then he said "no more of that slow stuff, the rest of the set is going to be pure prog-rock...you laugh, you think i'm joking..." the next two songs were a bit cheesy...but the two or so songs after that were pretty good...the last one was really good...then, Low...it was great...Alan Sparhawk even got some guy that shouted a request ("Immune") to stand on stage while they played the song..."don't do anything to distract from us..." they also did a really good cover of "Surfer Girl"...Zak even emberassingly (for him, he's shy...) did the "wah-wah-woo" backing vocals towards the end...it ruled...after that i purchased the following cds:
Low: The Exit Papers (a soundtrack)
Darling: The Floating World
and the following shirt:
Low (w/ a submarine on the front...it's grey too...)
this girl even talked to us afterwards, overhearing Jacques say stuff about not being from here or something...she went to see Low in Memphis, coincidentally...that was cool...there was also this attractive girl (short, short black hair, glasses...) behind us...was she looking at me? i don't know...i was sort've freaked out...afterwards we went to go back to the hotel...we stumbled upon Milwaukee Ave. (the road our hotel was on...although it was in Glenview, a suburb that's a bit far out from the town...) Brad got frustrated w/ the wet road and traffic so he handed me the wheel...i started going north, the direction of Glenview, i believed at the time...but when we got a long way out Brad mentioned that the address was 1500something or whatever and we were in the 6000s or whatever and the numbers were increasing...doh! we turned around...after going for an even longer while the other direction i remembered "wait...our hotel is in a different city...the address numbers would reset for Glenview and not just continue from Chicago's addresses..." this was almost when we got to the street number we were aiming for...doh! but right about this point we had just spotted Reckless Records (keep a mental note of this, as this fact will play a huge role for the duration of the information of the trip...) back the other way, again...once we get to a part of the street we recognized from earlier (we went a different way to get to the show...) we stopped at a White Castle to get some food...(this was VERY close to the point where we had turned around...wackily enough...) White Castle (for those of you from Memphis or any other place w/out White Castles) is just like Krystals, except a lot better...as a side note...) when we got to the hotel...SLEEP...

Friday: although not quite enough for me...i got a good amount, but towards the end i woke up and couldn't go back to sleep because my back was hurting...we dilly-dallied around for a bit...then, business: we went back to Record Surplus...i got nothing this time...the others got something...then was the godhead of Reckless Records...our whole misadventure last night was actually an ironic stroke of luck, seeing as how we otherwise would not have discovered the brilliant record store that is Reckless Records in Chicago...to make a long story short i got the following cds:
Thurston Moore/Wally Shoup/Toshi Makihara: Hurricane Floyd
Lee Ranaldo: Scriptures of the Golden Eternity
Loren Mazzacane Connors/Jean-Marc Montera/Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo: MMMR
New Order: Power, Corruption & Lies
Nico: The Marble Index
Disco Inferno: D. I. Go Pop
and the following 12":
various artists: Speed Trials - this is my most prized item obtained from this trip, as it was released in '84 on Homestead and contains performances from a 5-day festival in NYC in '83...the high-point: a Sonic Youth "song": "Dig This!" it's actually a collage of different songs from the show cut and stuck on top of each other and arranged quite wonderfully...thus making my SY completely one step closer...(although all the solo-stuff helped for that too...but this is true-blue SY, baby...) it also has two Fall songs, onevery early Beastie Boys song, Live Skull, Lydia Lunch, Carbon, Swans, and Toy Killers...
hrm...what's this...OOPS! we all spent WAY too much money on cds! "let's skip the second Low show..." it was reluctantly agreed upon...we then ate at this Burger King less than a block away..."woah! that's a Wesley Willis painting on the wall!" it was...according to two guys Brad talked to in the restroom as we were leaving (!?) he lives right around the corner...it was quite rad eating at a Burger King w/in the presence of Mr. Willis' artwork...(incidentally, it was a picture of that very Burger King and the surrounding street-scene...) back to the hotel! we got alcohol (*i* even got some...just some Jack Daniels watermellon coolers thingies...they were quite tasty...kind've like Jolly Ranchers...) then we sat around playing the video games we brought...(i *promise* we're not nerds...if i could, i would...) Brad brought his nes, super nes, and dreamcast...next: sleep...(oh, p.s. Chicago also has a Korean channel, (as well as the Spanish ones...but the Korean thing was especially interesting, as i had never seen such a thing...and never expected to in such a setting...)

Saturday: (after the same sleep/back problem) back to Reckless Records...i got the following book:
Thurston Moore: Alabama Wildman
i almost got two cds of Painkiller (John Zorn) for $8, but the book was almost $20 and my fanboy drive was too strong...we ate at some McDonalds somewhere (i was disappointed that we didn't eat any "real" Chicago food...we kind've did...i forgot to mention the pizza (cool d00d!) we ordered the night before...but oh well...) we then found the club of the Godspeed You Black Emperor! show...firstly, Pan American...eh, i wasn't too impressed...secondly, Bardo Pond...very good, aside from the fact that we were right in front of one of the guitarist's amp and could barely (if at all) hear the other guitarist...(did i mention we were right up front? no? well, we were...) lastly, Godspeed You Black Emperor!...! wow! this was *probably* the best non-Sonic Youth show i've ever seen...wait, i'm just remembering Unwound...that'd be the only non-SY show to have competition...but their set was amazing...one side note: while they were setting up, Buzzcocks (Singles Going Steady, to be exact) started playing on the overhead...i couldn't resist the urge to sing along (as i know almost all the lyrics, sadly enough...) at first, i started to feel stupid (though this was no deterrent for me...) but then i looked up and one of the chicks setting up (roadie? club employee?) was singing along too...she was attractive...glasses...i think i fell in love w/ her for those pathetic few minutes...sharing the common bond of singing along to some Buzzcocks...but THEN, Godspeed(...peror)! god this was just SOOO good...i can't go into how good it was...very intense...better than on album, i'd say...but i'm gonna go back and listen to their cds more now, prob'ly...i keept looking (staring like a psychopath?) at the violinist (Sophie, i believe her name is...) then she'd look back at me and i'd turn away so as she might be fooled into thinking i wasn't gawking at her...but once i didn't and she smiled...i think this smile was directed at me...that freaks me out...i think i might start obsessing over her and stalking her and whatnot...(fun things to do when you're a pathetic music nerd...) the band stopped playing and left stage...i clapped so hard for that encore, my hands were quite red...i had to urinate VERY badly...but i didn't care...the set was so good...i had to have more...the encore happened and my bliss was sustained a while longer...towards the end the guy that looks like a cross between David, Frank Zappa, and John Knapp (owner of Cafe Apocalypse, a sucky place here in Memphis...) [his name is Afrim...(maybe it's Efrim, the writing is a bit scrawley where i read it...he said it too to some ppl who asked him what "his real name" is before the show who were standing right next to me...)] stumbled offstage looking very sick (prob'ly on his way to vomit) he even bumped into the celloist and she laughed a little...then she show, unfortunately, ended...i got the following cd:
A Silver Mt. Zion: He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms
(this is a Godspeed(...peror)! side project thingie...i had $9 in my pocket at this point...i had to borrow $1 from Jacques for this, so i couldn't get the $15 Godspeed(...peror!) new double cd thingie...but i shall have it soon enough i guess...back to the hotel...back to sleep...oh yea...it was snowing when we got out from the show...Jacques was wearing a mere short-sleeved shirt...but "it didn't bother" him...the cold was destroying me in my jacket, however...(also, the place was in front of Wrigley Stadium--home of da' Cubs...i mention this only as a segueway to mention the barrage of stupid "da' bearsh", "da' bullsh", "da' cubsh", "white sahksh", and "black hacksh" jokes we stupidly couldn't stop making troughout the trip...)

Sunday: going to sleep the night before, *someone* was going to call for a wake-up call...no one did...but Jacques managed to half-awaken us a little before 10:30 (check-out is at 11, like every other hotel i've been to...) then a few minutes later i drug myself awake and finished waking the others up...we got out of there and proceeded the long and winding road back home...well...i've driven longer...and it's not very winding...i just like bad allusions...i actually fell asleep for an hour...Brad and Jacques were going on and on w/ the always funny King Diamond jokes...but after a while the impossible began to happen...i was almost approaching not finding King Diamond to be funny...[gasp!] i know...but they kept repeating the SAME jokes so much...oh well...i won't think about that too much, as i would like to continue finding the massive amounts of humor contained w/in King Diamond...we made it back home...High Fidelity was watched...great movie! then a bit of some bad horror movie that i forget the name of...but Brad went home and we went to sleep...i stayed over here The Apartment last night...

Monday(today): took Jacques to get his check cashed...OOPS! Colombus Day! no bank! we went to his mom's house but she was at work...he was quite angsty...David lent him $20 for food...David went to work, we went to the Sub Shop...we then tried to work out and record our cover of "I Don't Want to Push It" by Sonic Youth(again) but it got to be too late...i think that brings me up to here...if not, i'll mention whatever later, since this post is REALLY long now...and i am quite sorry for that, those that have actually read ALL of this painfully long post...Jacques and Brad have posts about the trip that are a lot shorter...oh well...i guess someone had to put in those stupid details...oh! one more Chicago tidbit of information: the roads suck...the speed limits are 30 mph in the city...that's slow...although you're damned lucky if you can make it that speed...be it traffic or the pothole-ridden delapidation of the roads keeping you from a decent velocity...and they tend to be too narrow...that's all i can think of for now...(there seems to be an undertone of understatement w/ that last remark...) nope...i just remembered: we barely made it back having spent all our money...i mean we literally barely made it back...BUT WE HAVE LOTS OF CDS!!!