Slow motion Monday

Day 2 of Riot Fest yesterday was pretty good. The Boy and I headed down to the Congress around 11:00 am, received our all access passes and didn't do much until doors opened at noon. I forgot to point out that a friend of mine had a gallery of old punk fliers, pictures and vinyl (many featuring yours truly) open next door to the venue. What fun that was reliving some memories and sharing some of them with my son.

As people began making their way in, we made sure our merch area looked presentable and while we made sure to have plenty of ZTS stickers on the table, we also had the "band kids" pass them out at various points during the day. L. was shut out of the dressing room once the beer arrived and thankfully had friends there to keep him occupied. The Riot Fest folks offered the band plenty of food and drink (sadly, no Red Bull) to which I took advantage of. We hit the stage a little after 3pm and aside from D.'s guitar acting up I thought we played pretty well. I certainly got a kick out of the huge stage and judging by L's huge grin from the VIP balcony, he got a kick as well. After we played I ran up there and he said, "you still got it, Dad".

Just like last year, Riot Fest was a chance to catch up with some old friends and make new ones so I didn't catch a whole lot of the bands I really did want to see (The Bollweevils, Dillinger Four, and Sludgeworth, though I did catch at least 1-2 songs of each). Day 2's headliners the Bad Brains were an utter letdown, thanks to their perma-stoned singer. I had not caught the band live since 1989 when they blew my then 17 year old mind. This time around HR stood there, arms folded or behind his back with his parka on, racing through the lyrics and basically not giving a shit about the mass of people there who came to see the band. Booo!!!

Today we had planned on hitting the Museum Of Science and Industry's Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit but my absent-mindedness forgot to purchase tickets online ahead of time and as a result, no MSI for 2 more weeks. Instead, L. and I rested all morning and headed out this afternoon for lunch, followed by a trip to Quake Collectibles.

Though we left Lincoln Square by 3pm, it ended up taking us 90 minutes or so to get out to Romeoville. From there, it was another 45 minutes to West Chicago where I was treated to an awesome dinner courtesy of some old and brand new friends.

Looking forward to a mellow and brief work week and a hopefully drama-free Thanksgiving-I did end up confirming my attendance at my uncle's country club. Just need to dust off that sportcoat now.