Chicago

left nice and early on friday...we were like a mile from my house when i remembered i'd forgotten to put my new sticker on my license plate...so we turned around and luckily avoided possibly calamity...the drive up was alright...some snow and bad weather a little outside of the city...maybe 30 minutes of normal driving time...it was a little treacherous for a short while...but not too bad as we made it and all...traffic/driving in chicago is pretty ridiculous...which i knew but each "reminder" seems to top the past...we finally made it to our hotel then a night on the town...oh yeah and chicago is really fucking COLD...we went to Reckless...alas it was just before closing, but in the short time i managed to pick up:
Cluster: 71
then we went to Myopic the bookstore which is open crazy late, 'til 1 am...i got some used books:
Flying Home and Other Stories by Ralph Ellison
Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner
Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
The Decapitated Chicken & Other Stories by Horacio Quiroga (which i'd been looking for!!!)
All the Names by José Saramago
Annihilation by Piotr Szewc (never heard of, but as with my discovering several months ago the last author i'll mention, saw the name then the book looked cool to boot...)
The Broken Betrothal by Gao Xiaosheng (edit: at the store, i saw this and was like ooh it's an older version so the spelling is different, you know how languages with a different alphabet can have slightly different spellings...so i was thinking it was Gao Xingjian, but now i'm home and looking at his name and looking this book up the spellings are CLOSE but with key consonants missing as well as information i've looked up uh clearly a different dude completely...oh well, maybe he'll be good anyway...)
The Fourth Circle by Zoran Živković
Impossible Encounters by Zoran Živković
Seven Touches of Music by Zoran Živković
The Book/The Writer by Zoran Živković
we'd had to park quite a number of blocks away and it was very cold...this number of blocks may come into play in the continuation of the saga on the next evening...on the way back we ate at this rad place called Gyro King (i think)...it was rad...

the next day aka saturday aka yesterday we went to this Ukrainian buffet Amber found and it was awesome...very awesome...the borscht was sublime...then to Reckless to actually spend some time there...this time we get a parking spot very nearby...more on this later...i got a lot of cds, mostly used:
The Dead C: Vain, Erudite and Stupid
Public Image Ltd.: Paris in the Spring
Autechre: EP7
Gastr del Sol: Mirror Repair
John Zorn: First Recordings 1973
John Coltrane: Live in Seattle
Alice Coltrane: Ptah, the El Daoud
Cabaret Voltaire: The Drain Train & The Pressure Company Live in Sheffield 19 Jan 82
Fela Kuti: Roforofo Fight/The Fela Singles
Pinebender: Working Nine to Wolf
John Cale: Dream Interpretation: Inside the Dream Syndicate Volume II
Echo and the Bunnymen: Crocodiles
Wolf Eyes with John Wiese: Collection
all fine and dandy, go back out to my car and gee it's not there anymore...it's been towed...keep in mind this is right before the Silkworm tribute show which we're going to be playing one song at...yes, fuck...we call the number on the sign (which was misleading and why we parked where we parked to begin with)...okay, backing up...this is the parking lot to a burger king that is closed down...huge padlock on the door...the sign is on the side of the building...we parked in the spaces opposite the wall...i figured that had something to do with parking against the building since there was nothing by the spaces we were at...and gee this burger king is closed down and why would anyone bother with AN ABANDONED LOT NOT CONNECTED TO ANYTHING WHERE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE ANY NEED TO USE IT FOR PARKING OR ANY OTHER FUCKING PURPOSE AT ALL? well, obviously i didn't think of the obvious answer which is to set up a trap simply to steal $150 from people...i'm sure this fucking towing company bought the lot or something to that effect after the place closed and just run a fucking auto theft mill that's legal because they let you buy your car back for a "small" handling fee and put up signs kind of near where you're parking...we go get a taxi to the place and get my car back...at least that part went smoothly (aside from giving them $150) because i'm sure they've got this whole setup down pat...you have to pay standing on the sidewalk out in the cold to some guy throught bars and (presumeably bullet-proof) glass...he called me a "smart ass" too...and the guy in front of us cussed him out as he went to get his car...

so we still manage to make it to the show just in time in spite of all that and getting slightly lost in chicago's fucked up streets coming away from the towing yard...the show was pretty nice and made up for all that...there were a bunch of bands and all...Jacques and i played our cover of "Oh How We Laughed" somewhere in the middle...there were a good number of people there...and we did pretty well in spite of playing on other people's instruments...and the people there actually seemed to generally like it...so that was nice...we met people from the message board that Jacques mostly talked to...i got some merch:
Silkworm: It'll Be Cool
Silkworm: Chokes!
and a show poster...on the way back we ate at the Gyro King place again and it was spectacular again...

so today Mary Beth and i headed back home after not enough sleep and left Jacques and Amber to enjoy chicago a few more days...now we're back home, obviously...i'm sure i forgot some crap but if so i'll probably mention it later...oh, Mary Beth got some mail including a present for me!: a bumper sticker saying "My Other Car is a Pynchon Novel"! lovely and nerdy! it's swell! i will put it on my car after it gets a much needed warshin'!