Happy 80th Birthday Grandpa F

It's his 80th birthday today.

Happy birthday Grandpa!

Pitchfork 2009 (Saturday)

Went to Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday. Saw a bunch of bands.

Bowerbirds - they were okay.
Ponytail - weird. Band plays fast paced music while their lead "singer" lady does chirps, beeps, and other odd sounds into the mic instead of actual word lyrics.
Lindstrøm - guy played electronic dance music off a mixer board and a laptop. Good grooves but sometimes way, way too much bass.
Matt & Kim - The band I came to the festival to see. I only got to see half their set since they went on 20 minutes late, but it was pretty great. Infectious energy and cool, fast paced songs.

The festival seemed more crowded this year, which wasn't a good thing. I was probably due to the cool temps. The two previous years the temperature was in the 90s and that must have kept people away. Between this and the Pritzker Pavilion I've sampled enough outdoor concerts this summer. Which means when I go to Lollapalooza in a few weeks, I'll try to stay relatively away from the stages so that the crowds don't get to me.

~~~

PS. Friday was another Phase 10 Friday. That's 4 in a row!

Sears Tower

The name change of the Sears Tower became official. But like most Chicagoans, I'm bitterly against the name change.

It will always be the Sears Tower to me.

CSz National Tournament in Milwaukee

Went there to see the last night of the tournament. I went up there with Chrissy, Jessica, Tamara, and Natalie - all in one car. I got to see CSz Chicago battle CSz LA and we won! It was cool being up there to see what tournament is like but it was also a little odd because everyone else there had been there for several days. They had all bonded and I felt like the odd man out; looking in from the outside. The ladies I traveled with felt the same.

I'm glad I went but I learned an important lesson as far as tournaments go: either go for the whole thing or don't go at all.

Phase 10 Fridays

3rd Phase 10 Friday in a row.

Two weeks ago Erin, Tamara, and I were done with a 10pm CSz show. Some building mates of Tamara's were having a party in the backyard of her building. So we all biked down there and played two games of Cornhole before retiring to Tamara and her roommate Alison's porch. We started playing Phase 10 around 1am and didn't get done until about 5 or 6 (I can't remember) in the morning. One thing I am sure about: the sky was light and the birds were chirping.

A week ago it was Tamara's BBQ party and after helping to clean up the backyard area of party things, Alison, Tamara, Erin, and I again started playing Phase 10 around 1am. This time I think Erin and I left around 4am.

This Friday was another round of Phase 10. It's now being called Phase 10 Fridays. And I love it. This Friday was the first time I lost the game. It was also the quickest game: Erin and I leaving around 3am I believe.

Back Pain

I have back pain. This, coupled with seeing a friend of mine who has lost a lot of weight, makes me body conscious. I need to get healthy.

Now.

3rd of July BBQ

Fun times at Nolte's BBQ.

Hipster Indifference

I got my friend Mikaela's prank letter (above) in the mail today. I first heard about this from my friend Marla back at the outdoor Dirty Projectors concert at the Pitzker Pavilion. Marla pulled out a letter she received in the mail. It was simply a picture of some weird, ugly person; the type of picture probably only found on odd Google searches. She had no idea who it was from. I asked to see the envelope's stamp - the USPS puts a stamp over these indicating which zip code the letter was mailed from. In this case it was 60606, which is the same zip code my work's building is in. I told Marla the person who sent it was probably working down in the Loop. This produced a light bulb above Marla's head: Mikaela.

Mikaela apparently has been doing this prank quite a bit lately. She's done similar things to a number of our mutual friends. About a week later I ran into her at a Chipotle near my work and told her about finding about her weird pranks. She's bored at work sometimes and likes doing it.

It was only a matter of time, I guess, before I got mine in the mail. And it made me smile and feel included.

Bullitt & The Edge

Went over to my friend Ben's house to hang out after work. We were supposed to ironically watch "A River Runs Through It" with our friend Bill but he couldn't make it and we decided to watch two other movies ironically instead. Before I go on, the reason it was going to be ironic was because three dudes sitting around watching a sweepingly dramatic movie that stars good looking actors is hilarious. The three of us did this once before - actually going to the movie theater to watch Brokeback Mountain together.

Anyway, we watched Steve McQueen in "Bullitt" and then Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins in "The Edge." Both were perfect for the evening. I won't go into what I thought of the movies (you can ask me about it in real life and I'll be sure to bore you with my reviews) but I will say the chase sequence in "Bullitt" is the best car chase sequence ever filmed. I've seen a ton of car chases and this one is by far the best.

Better than "The French Connection?" Oh yeah.
Better than "Ronin?" Yep.
Better than "The Blues Brothers?" Yes. Though "The Blues Brothers" one is much funnier.
Better than "The Bourne Identity?" Sadly, yes.

The car chase in "Bullitt" is pure muscle, pure adrenaline, pure amazingness. There is no underlining soundtrack to make you feel the energy of the chase - just sound effects; the most amazingly real sound effects out there. If this sequence doesn't make you feel the power of those muscle car engines, then I don't know what will short of actually riding in one. You feel the speed too. The cars sometimes wobble a bit due to the high speeds they are going and you can feel the danger. Man it is so good.

Though I'm not sure just watching it on Youtube will help you understand it. You need to see it on a TV with quality speakers. And you need to be primed first - you have to sit through half of the really slow, really odd movie before you get to the chase scene.

Fun Dancing Guy Video

Dancing guy at Sasquatch Music Festival 2009 during "Unstoppable" by Santigold.

It's neat how you can discover a new band in the most odd ways. I saw the above video posted on Facebook. I loved it and watched it over and over again. Then I found other videos from this festival with the same dude dancing like this during other bands. And then I found that the event above was caught from three different angles! Was this planned? My research has made me come to the conclusion that no, this was not planned. The artist he's dancing to in the video is Santigold, who performed on the 3rd day of the festival. Another video he's dancing to NIN who played on the 2nd night. In another video he's dancing to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who played on the 1st night. So this dude had already made a name for himself during the first two days of this festival. By the third day I'm sure many people had become aware of this guy. The Dancing Guy. So I think it was just lucky that three people happened to be videotaping this guy when this event occurred spontaneously. It's pretty cool.

Anyway, I liked the song playing in the background of the video so I bought it off of iTunes. Then I listened to more of her songs online and really dug them. So I bought the whole album. It's become one of my favorite albums that I've discovered this year. [Note: her album came out in 2008] She'll be at Lolla this year and that's good. I'll definitely check her out live at the festival.

Check her out online if you get a chance.

Pre-Wedding Party

My friend Rex is getting married in September. So what better time than late June to have a pre-wedding party, right? Yeah, I don't get why it's months before either, but a party's a party and I like parties.

It was at the Grafton in Lincoln Square and it was quite nice. A lot of friends to talk to and some old friends who I haven't seen in awhile. Levin flew in from LA and it was great to see him. Rex and his bride-to-be, Jen, looked great and it was nice to see so many of their friends gathered to celebrate their upcoming nuptials.

At first I was quickly feeling the affects of my age - getting tired early on in the party, but I stuck it out until the end. And I got a second wind at 1am. From the Grafton it was on to the Tiny Lounge and from there it was the goth dance club Neo. I didn't plan on staying out until 4am but that's what happened. And it's especially noteworthy since I stayed up until 6am the previous night. I haven't done that in years.

Newly Painted Room

Soon-to-be-roomie had her room painted.