2012 Riot Fest Single Day Tickets

Find out when your favorite band is playing at Riot Fest and get tickets here: http://www.riotfest.org/chicago-tickets/.  Additional bands have been named including The Adicts, Hot Water Music, and Pegboy.

RIOT FEST & CARNIVAL 2012 Lineup Announced!!

Joe's Seafood and Prime Steak

Bone-in New York Strip
Green Beans - probably the best I ever ate
Mac n Cheese - definitely top 10 and maybe top 5

Matilda

After dinner, I had a night cap at the bar at The Hyatt.

 The trifecta - buffalo chicken, prime rib, and pork shoulder.

The Many Sides of Marilyn

CHI-RISH

I wish I could like this beer.  The logo is very cool.

Orlando Trip

I went to Orlando this week for a work trip.  I managed to get to BB King's Blues Club for dinner one night.  The green beans tasted like they did 17-18 years ago when I first had them on Beale St in Memphis - WONDERFUL!!!  Only Chuck's Southern Comfort Cafe http://www.chuckscafe.com/ near our office is bettter.

Here are my pals Jake and Elwood (aka Lewdd and Earthdog) at the Midway Airport in Chicago.

Here are the pics of BB King's.  The mac n cheese ranks in my top 5 too.

#1 Dad's
#2 Qwen's
#3 Kuma's Korner
#4 BB King's
#5 Mastro's

First Big Snowfall

Here is a picture of the patio after the first big snowfall of the year.

Chicago Blackhawks v Detroit Red Wings 2012-02-21

Last Tuesday, I attended the Blackhawks game, and got to sit in the BMO Harris Club section for the first time.  It was an awesome experience.  It was also a great game.

Chicago Buildings

Here are some pics of buildings in Chicago along Wacker Drive.

Packers v Bears 2011-09-24

Ok, I know this will come as a shock.  Let me clarify.

My next door neighbors from my years in Memphis, Tim and Tanya, came to town this weekend so we could go to the football game.  If you haven't figured it out yet, they are Packers fans not Bears fans.  Oh, I forgot to mention, I have not seen this crazy couple together in almost 10 years.  Well, I am extremely glad to report, they have not changed.  It was an even better weekend than I could have imagined regardless of the fact that we were not watching a Steelers game.  To my long lost brother from another mother, Tim - it was my pleasure for us to spend a few days together again.  I'm not sure the world could handle us living next to each other again ;) as much as I would welcome the challenge.

O'Hare Mural

When I was heading from the plane to the parking garage, I passed this cool mural hanging on a wall in the O'Hare airport.

The Damned, The Metro, Chicago - 2011-10-25

Last night, I went to The Metro in Chicago to see The Damned for the first time since I saw them there 10 years ago.  This time was their 35th anniversary tour where they played Damned Damned Damned and The Black Album in there entirety.  By the time the band hit the stage at 9:10pm, the place had a full house.

They tore into the first album after the Captain welcomed everyone to 1977.  The Captain managed to break a string on two different guitars early on.  Monty was a dancing fool most of the set as there was not much of a reason for keyboards.  I was a little disappointed in the vocals as they seemed too low in the mix and Dave Vanian seemed to use his more goth vocal style.  I have the same complaint about seeing the Sex Pistols reunion shows as Johnny Rotten uses his PIL Johnny Lydon vocal style.  Guys, this is punk rock.  I don't care if you can't actually sing.  Belt out the vocals like you did when you were 20!!

The band took a 10 minute break between albums, and changed up their costumes.  The Captain was proud to announce he was sporting his 1980 New Romatic look.  It was great to finally hear some tracks from this album as I am not sure I have every heard anything live other than "Wait for the Blackout" before.  Of course, I had only seen The Damned 2x before.  A lot more keyboards during this set.  Monty managed to play the intro to "History of the World" one song too early.  The rest of the band busted his balls for that.  Captain and Vanian traded laughs during songs.  The band truely looked like they were having fun and appreciated the crowd being into watching them.  I could have done without "Curtain Call" and the Captain and Monty trading keyboard sounds, but hell, this was a show for completist so I can say I saw them play the song live.

After a few minutes, the band came back on stage to play a 3 song encore.  "Love Song" and "Antipope" drew the most excitement from the crowd the whole evening which was saying something considering people were enjoying themselves all night.  I must say that I was probably the average age person in the audience.

All in all, the band played about 2 hours.  It was well worth getting home after midnight.  I am glad I witnessed this tour, and got to see them play songs they normally do not play.  It was worth the price of admission alone to see them play "Drinking About My Baby".  Many in the crowd appeared to enjoy it as much as me much to my surprise.  I ran into MXV before the Damned came on stage.  He then went behind the barrier to take pics.  You can check his story out at http://www.punkvinyl.com/.  I also ran into Daghouse/Riot Bill who low and behold was standing not too far from me the entire first album.  It took me until about the last song to realize it.  Good to see the young man again.  Below are a few pics and a video.  There are more pics on Flickr and more videos on youtube.

Damned Damned Damned Set
01 Neat Neat Neat
02 Fan Club
03 I Fall
04 Born to Kill
05 Stab Your Back
06 Feel the Pain
07 New Rose
08 Fish
09 See Her Tonite
10 1 of 2
11 So Messed Up
12 I Feel Alright

The Black Album Set
13 Wait for the Blackout
14 Lively Arts
15 Silly Kids Games
16 Drinking About My Baby
17 Twisted Nerve
18 Hit or Miss
19 Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
20 Sick of This and That
21 History of the World, Pt 1
22 13th Floor Vendetta
23 Therapy
24 Curtain Call

Encore Set
25 Eloise
26 Love Song
27 Antipope

Chicago During October

I had the privilege of spending a few nights in Chicago lately for work events.  Here are a few photos of some scenic sites and of my steak from David Burke's Prime, the Southside Filet.

Photos from my room at the Hyatt on Wacker.

Marilyn Monroe statue on Michigan Ave.

Photos from my room at the Sax Hotel (formerly the House of Blues Hotel)

The Southside Filet at David Burke's Prime.  This pic does not do it justice.