Guest List

I moved into this one bedroom apartment in December 2006. My first "guest" up here later that month I'll call the Italian Princess, an old friend from the mid-90's who I was reacquainted with in December 2002 (on my first birthday sober and the day Joe Strummer died, no less). She even brought me a plant as a housewarming gift. This of course lasted barely two weeks.

At the end of 2006 and into 2007 I was visited by the future DLB, on what were primarily platonic hangouts; we never very good at keeping our hands to ourselves.

February 2007 comes along and is memorable for a variety of reasons. My first two "guests" (on separate occasions) were again old friends who I had coincidentally shared a mutual admiration with. That was fun. Later that month I met Veggie (as my co-workers coined her), and for the better part of the next 3-1/2 months she was the only guest up here, 3.5 months of the the kind of roller coaster ride that made you so nauseous, you'd swear you'd never ride it again (but ride it I did).

I can't recall any other visits in between the Veggie breakup and "reconciliation" that August, save for a surprise visit or two by her. Boundaries were crossed or blurred, choose your own term. Frustration, sexual and otherwise, played a huge role.

By late September, I was single once again and occasionally hooked up with a rather unstable woman-let's call her Red. That hookup was all sorts of dysfunctional-I made a conscious decision to stop going to meetings and she was in desperate need of more (note: contrary to the Vegan Blogosphere, these encounters-or any other encounter-never took place while in that previous relationship and unhealthy as the time with Red may have been, it never sank to the depths that the Sober Peanut Gallery alluded to).

One awkward visit from Seattle this past December made me realize that I was still searching for companionship just to have it. It was also at this time that some-hell all-of my repressed feelings for D. came back to the surface. She had set the bar so high during our relationship that any other woman I ended up with was destined for failure. Our talking began again in earnest right around Christmas last year.

Nashville paid a visit earlier this year and it was during her time here that I admitted-out loud and to her-that I was still very much in love with The Woman Now Known As DLB. The rest is well known to my loved ones.

I feel truly blessed today, and I am more than ready to leave this place. There has been a lot of selfishness, laziness (I never once had a family member over save for The Boy, though that was a favorite excuse to gain some free time last Spring and late Summer) and just plain negativity here but it has been my home for 1-1/2 years. I had plenty of Me Time here and though such time will have shifted in a matter of weeks with my son's (and subsequently my wife and stepdaughter's) arrival, such compromise is one that I am more than happy to allow.

Pitchfork Day 3 and then some

Eight hours at Union Park Saturday was enough to convince me I didn't need to spend as much time there on the final day of the festival. Having dogsat again in River Grove, I headed back to the apartment yesterday after a stop at Borders and napped a few hours before leaving the car near the Empty Bottle. Minutes later, I met up with McFlakesalot and we took the Ashland bus down to the fest.

Walked in just as M. Ward was starting and it only took a few minutes of that bland dreck to convince us that a walk to the merchandise area was in order. One Spiritualized shirt procured, we caught a bit of a rescheduled Ghostface and Raekwon before deciding that not only did we not want to throw our hands in the air, we truly did not care for that matter. A few texts from my old pal Minnesota and the 4 of us (now with...er, Goluckate? Graete? Come on, work with me) had a primo spot for Spiritualized. Until their set I would have laughed loudly in your face if you were to describe any music to me as "face-melting"; one hour and a killer Spacemen 3 "cover" (Spiritualized's leader's former band) later, not only was my face melted, my jaw had to be lifted from the mud. A. Maze. Ing.

Dinosaur Jr. had to have known that they'd be hard pressed to follow up such an electrifying set and though I heard some surprises (2 songs from the Lou Barlow-less lineup), I made my way out of the park after just a few songs and split a cab back to Division and Western. Upon exiting the taxi, my phone dropped on the floor and the driver bolted before I could stop him. Dammit.

My night was not over, however, as I headed into the Bottle and bore witness to the screaming psychedelic beast that is Nachtmystium, followed by some "thunder pop", courtesy of the increasingly amazing Torche. I regrettably headed out before Boris began for fear of turning into...The Narcissistic Pumpkin!

*******************************************************************************

This weekend's Wicker Park Fest looks amazing and seeing as I managed to blag my way on as a plus one for the Isis show at Subterranean, this coming weekend will be a long and loud one indeed.

PItchfork Music Festival: Days 1 & 2

Got to Union Park Friday night and met my cousin just as Mission Of Burma were finishing up their performance of Vs. Having seen them play most of that album last year at the Double Door, I was ok missing them. Up next was Sebadoh, performing Bubble and Scrape in its entirety. Never one of my favorite Sebadoh albums, I enjoyed hearing them nonetheless. Only stuck around for a few Public Enemy songs (playing It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back). I was a tired puppy.

I "worked" a few hours today (server was down the entire time I was there and I didn't care to wait around) and then headed over to the park with a few minutes to spare before the always incredible Caribou played. Met up with K. and my cousin toward the end of their set and headed over to the adjacent stage to catch Fleet Foxes. After a few songs, K. and I headed over to catch Fuck Buttons whose album I love but had yet to see live (also plan on catching them again next month when they open for Mogwai. Oh yesss...!). I do like me some abrasive electronic music, the more tribal the better. Passed on Vampire Weekend and did some walking around the merchandise areas before heading over to !!!, my runner up to performance of the day. Up next was a few songs by The Hold Steady before heading over to catch Atlas Sound. By this point, humidity and fatigue set in and I spent a good portion of their set sitting down. Stayed put for a few songs by No Age (whose album debut is quite good) and then headed out to catch the one, the only, the highlight of the festival so far, Animal Collective. Holy fucking shit were they phenomenal. AC are a notoriously unpredictable live act from what I've read and their insistence on playing primarily new, unreleased songs was a testament to that. That having been said, new songs, a few of their "hit" songs and even a tune selected by a member's solo album, combined with a stunning light show made for a thoroughly enjoyable performance. I cannot recommend Animal Collective enough.

My summary so far? Pitchfork 2008 was an improvement sound-wise over last year; still not nearly enough porto-potties, and drink tickets for bottled water? Come on now.

A great case of the Mondays

Today was semi-productive, in the sense that I registered my license plates with my new address (no sense in paying $80 for a Chicago city sticker when I'll only be a resident for roughly two more weeks); I also did some more consolidating here in the apartment and arranged for some movers for 7/28. In a perfect world, I could get some stuff moved in the weekend before (and then head to the Wicker Park Fest) but it's out of my hands-if it's meant to be it will happen.

Confirmed plans with my cousin to hang out at the Pitchfork Music Festival this coming weekend. I always felt bad we didn't hang more last year; then again, my mind was on...other things. The plan is to get to the festival in time for Sebadoh on Day 1 and as I'm working that Saturday, haul ass back there in time to catch Fleet Foxes (what old school My Morning Jacket fans wish they still sounded like, with added Beach Boys-style harmonies). Though I am still sans player, I did download iTunes to my laptop and have managed to snag quite a few releases (through Soulseek) from artists playing Pitchfork that I had a passing interest in (No Age-now that is some good shit; Cut Copy was a surprise as well). Take those artists combined with new releases from the bands I already planned on catching and I have one helluva mix). I also am nerding out to a "shuffle" of Boris, Torche and Nachtmystium, all who are playing a Pitchfork aftershow next Sunday.

The countdown until husband and wife are together for good has begun; this time next month, D. and I will make you all very, very ill with our adorable displays of affection. You've been warned.

Thinking about doing something

My apartment has a lot of crap. A LOT. While I'm really not all that anxious, I do know that this weekend will be spent tossing/packing the place. When I moved out of my dad's, I took so many things that I thought I needed for nostalgic reasons. I will keep the photos and woodwork my grandpa made; what I don't need are the clothes, the boots and most of his books.

On The Boy's last day here before heading back up to MN, we made it a point to rid ourselves of all unnecessary toys. We ended up tossing everything save his books and Xbox. All the toys of years gone by-Max Steel, Monsters Inc., Toy Story...shit, even GI Joe-trashed. Yeah, I do wish I hung on to the GI Joe stuff, but what the hell-it's not as if I'd play with them (ok, maybe every once in a while...). With all that I plan to discard, the move should be relatively stress-free...or at least not half as stressful as the move from Dad's to here.

ZTS has a show Saturday, quite likely our last for some time. A friend has expressed some interest in an official release of our EP. There's talk of issuing it on vinyl and throwing a CD-R in each sleeve. Either way, it will be nice to see the thing formally out there.

Soulseek has been very very good to me: Deerhunter-Microcastle; Nine Inch Nails pre-With Teeth discography; Beck-Modern Guilt (already a top pick for Album Of The Year), among others.

USA! USA!

Had to get that out of my system. There. ZTS played a show tonight just over the border in Salem, WI and turnout notwithstanding, I had a fairly enjoyable time. The backyard we played in-yes, you read that right-was pretty damn big. We were fourth out of five bands and by the time we went on the temperature had cooled enough that I broke out my hoodie. We've been playing a new song, officially named "Epic Epidemic", that's fun as hell to play and a bit of a departure for us.

Of course, an Independence Day show would not be complete without fireworks and while my pyro bandmates lit some off, I took the time to call my wife. Anxiety has set in with her, with the preparation and actual move and all that entails. Boy, can I relate. D. will be home August 10th, if not before. Wow, she's really moving home!

Liam is basically all registered for junior high as of this past Thursday. All that remains is a few utility bills to show proof of residency. The condo owners believe their current tenant will be out by the end of the 3rd week of this month, at the very latest that last week. I'd love to be moved in by the start of Lollapalooza weekend, but if I need to miss the first few bands on my list (Black Lips, Yeasayer), then so be it.

Random word generator

Oh yes, it is official: effective August 1st, father and son will be in a spacious 2br condo in Park Ridge, not two minutes from the Metra stop and just over a mile from the jr. high The Boy will be attending. The couple I am renting from (their son technically owns the unit) are amazingly gracious, going so far as to suggest making payments on the security deposit as well as being incredibly understanding about my...er, less than stellar credit. They're also being kind enough to tweak the lease so that I can get the little man in district and registered for school in a timely manner. Commuting to work by train will naturally save me a shit-ton of money, though it may bring me home 30 minutes later than I'd prefer.

Roughly midway into The Boy's trip home. Monday and Tuesday, Precison, along with his girlfriend and her kids, took lil' man out and about. Today he will be home alone and yes, I'm worried slightly. Man, I need to relax-dude is almost 13! Thursday we'll more than likely head downtown for something and Friday is (nerd alert) the 2008 Chicago Comicon. I can't wait to play "spot the Klingon".

Mrs. B. was bumming over the fact that she'll be missing most of the Chicago summer festivals this year. While I'd love to take her to Lollapalooza and Pitchfork, she'll be back in time for this year's Hideout Block Party. How nice that will be-my beautiful wife with 0% drama (and no drama-induced migraines either!).

Summer 2008 is shaping up to be the best one on record. Whew.