#cheezborgers

happy sunday imaginary constructs and may all your burgers be bacon cheddared

 Have you ever heard angels sing?

 LOLLAPALOOZA DAY 1

Family Reunion

Met up with two family friends who have recently moved away to San Angelo, Texas. 

Feels good to be home, in my second home. Chicago.

While we were flipping through our wallets, thinking, wondering, panicking, about what train we should take, a young couple that was leaving the city gave us two free train passes and we saved some "sense." Kindness.

We took the CTA Blue Line and the Brown Line and all these other color lines and finally made it where we needed to be. We underestimate ourselves a lot of the time. We are getting older, now.

Navy Pier Chicago

First stop we made, and what our mouths have been watering about for the last couple of months, was Billy Goat Tavern - Cheezborger, Cheezborger, Cheezborger. No Pepsi, Coke. No fries, Cheeps.

I asked for a single borger, and the chef simply said "No, a double. It's better," And I says "yeah ok das good." And so it goes.

Since we were all giggly and bubbly from our reunification, we decided to climb the city, see it from above. What is it about seeing things from above that fills our voids? We hopped the Ferris Wheel, took pictures, feared about falling out, reminisced about Mighty Joe Young.

My monkey friend.

Things are changing, and it's scary and painful. But it's also beautiful and life can be beautiful sometimes.

Das me and Lake Michigan, wazhappenin

We had some time to kill before checking in to our hotel, so we hit up an Urban Outfitters and a comic book store in the city before we skidded to a stop at the John Hancock Observatory. Another plane to see the city from above. Always watching from above.

We made it to our hotel and had some time before our long-awaited aftershow, so we went to eat at Pizzeria Due, a delicious deep-dish disaster diner where two pizzas waited patiently for us. We met two more friends there, and the pizzas became history.

deepdishedgoodness

With bellies dangling out the front of our pants, we took a cab to:

Schubas Tavern

Now, this was my kind of place. It was teeny, intimate. The aftershow was by ATLAS GENIUS and SAN CISCO. I couldn't keep it in my pants. Doors opened at 8pm and we were a bit fashionably early, so no one had arrived yet. When I say fashionably early, I mean early enough to walk in on all of San Cisco having dinner at the bar. I recognized them right away, but morphed into EXTREME SHY MODE and didn't approach them. 

One of my biggest regrets in our "Regret nothing, Yolopalooza" campaign.

I paced in front of the bar, making sure it was them - it was, it was. No one else seemed to recognize them. 

After much deliberation, thinking and thinking, considering and considering, I did nothing and now I feel so dumb. What could have been a slightly comical, slightly awkward, slightly underwhelming experience of snap-shooting, turned out to be nothing at all. It's okay, I tell myself. It's okay... It's not okay.

When the place started filling up, the band slid out of the booth and walked onto the stage. The stage that was 5 feet in front of me. Now, now, now, San Cisco. Let me tell you something.

Scarlett's drumset

I was so stoked to see them, and when I saw how close the stage was, I was basically singing hallelujah. This was probably one of the bands I was most excited for, and my frown and knuckles dragged the floor in disenchantment. The energy meter was tapping naught the whole time as they sang song after song - hardly pulling me in. Why aren't you making me dance with your cutesy sounds? Why am I not fangirling right now? I was upset because I wanted them to live up to my expectations, and I wanted my friends to fall in love with them as much as I was in love with them.

I coulda just reached my hand out and pinched Jordi's cheek. So precious.

Funny thing about being in love is that you don't just let it die in your hands. I still listened to their entire album that night, and felt very lucky to have been in the room with them. Maybe they were just slipping into food comas. Maybe they were tired (at 8pm HEY). I'll give it to them, the benefit of the doubt. They were so teeny and young-lookin, reminded me of my own group of friends that are just trying to make it. They didn't lose a fan, they just made me pout all night. I know how good they are though, I know that in here.

 -taps sternum-

On the other hand... Atlas Genius came, delivered, conquered, destroyed, and conquered again, and made the room swoon for Keith. All eyes were on Keith. My eyes, and my hands (were almost) on Keith.

What awaited us when we walked in.

I stood about 6 feet away from him, and he sang and sang and made dreamy eye contact with me. Alright, listen here. Who cares if he could even see me because of the spotlights, but it had me smoldering all night and simultaneously cooling me off from my disappointment in San Cisco. It made me fall in love with live music all over again. Falling in love all over again is what life is all about, so thanks for that Keith.

sing it for me baby blue

Can't give him all the credit. The whole band swayed with confident swagger - with a passion for their music that was most remarkable. You can feel that they were enjoying every minute of our company and of their talent, and we reciprocated just as strongly. The crowd was surprisingly receptive, and it felt good. I was grateful for that performance, it ended the long day on the highest note possible on the fretboard.

  Things I learned today:

-The Curse of the Billy Goat on the Chicago Cubs

-"People are just people, they shouldn't make you nervous." If you meet a celebrity, idol, someone you actually want to talk to - talk to them. That's it, what's going to happen?

Day 1 of Lolla coming soon.

Rock on rock stars,