Running myself ragged with AWESOME

So much has happened lately I barely know where to begin.

Last weekend (two weekends ago?) was good; Mike R1ng stayed with us on Friday night. Mike and I went to Cafe Gelato and the Hopleaf and played some Scrabble, and had a nice time. Saturday I worked all day and then went to Pete's birthday party in Hyde Park with lots of U of C kids. It was a good party, on the rooftop next to their apartment. The window only fell on my once as I was climbing through it, drunks wrestled in a disgusting puddle that had been gathering atop the roof all summer, Pete drunkenly demanded we all pay attention as he stood above us, reading from the Great Gatsby. We ran into a girl from Tosa West who knew Jesse from theater stuff. Crazy. Sunday Ben and I got to sleep in, ate an egg scramble, got some Italian ice, went to see Once to enjoy the air conditioning, red lined it to Duke's for a Baba show. The band that has been playing with us on Sundays is not there anymore, and in their place is a comedy troupe called Bruised Ornge Theatre that does this piece called "I Saw You," based on personal ads from the Reader and Craigslist. I wrote a song once based on a Craigslist Missed Connection, so I played it during their show. It was a big hit; it fits the style of their schtick perfectly. Good times.

It had been very hot, so on Monday after my classes, Meredith came over and we went to the "swim pool" a block away from my apartment. There were the two of us, and 3 other hipsters, and 100 chubby 11-year-olds playing Thow-The-Thing-And-Then-Race-For-The-Thing. After about 20 minutes in the water, the black clouds were getting awfully ominous and a strong gust of wind convinced the lifeguards to stereotypically scream "EVERYONE OUT OF THE POOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!" We got home before the storm stormed, and then we made snickerdoodles, which kicked ass. Meredith is excellent. She is Taavo's girlfriend. Taavo is moving to Boulder at the end of the month, along with Alex and Kiki and Ben Stubr. They will live together and go to grad school for theater. Except Alex, who will find some kind of job and take lots of pictures. Meredith will stay in Chicago, which is a bummer. Except it means that she and I will get to hang out more, which is an exciting perk of a not-so-hot situation.

"Third Half" at the bar on Tuesday night was especially fun. A funny guy from Toronto was visiting the school, and he came along with his mandolin and a raunchy drinking song to share. I belted it out, laughed a lot, sang hard through a string of Beatles songs and capped it off with I Will Survive. I hurt my voice. Haven't done that for a long time. But everyone was egging me on, and it was super fun, and I went with it. And then spent the next several days nervous and guilty for not taking better care of my moneymaker.

The rest of the week was full of rehearsals, because Folk & Roots was coming that weekend. It's always fun to see groups of staff members trying to meet up and find rooms to rehearse in, getting ready for the big festival. I had many rehearsals, because I was singing with three different bands!

Thursday night Ben and I had dinner at Handlebar, and then we wanted a little sweet something, so we decided to go to Filter. It was Filter's last night. Closing to make way for a stupid Bank of America. It was the most depressing place I've ever been. Still felt like Filter, people studying, hanging out, and the whole staff was there, in dresses, seated on the little counter around the side. But the cases were empty, and the beautiful chalked menu was covered in smears and cross-outs as they ran out of ingredients. While we were there someone yelled from the kitchen, "That was the last strip of bacon!" And the barista said, "No more bacon at Filter!" and stood up on the counter to scratch out the appropriate items. There was a sign under the register that said "I am sad and trying not to think about it. Please don't ask about us closing." Next to it was a sign that said, "Here is where our new address would be posted if we had one." This is the tipping point for the neighborhood. The most central corner, Wicker Park study hall, where artsy folks and hipsters meet and hang out, always full. The hub of the neighborhood, socially and physically. Another bank.

That night the Pitchforkers started trickling in. Just like last year, many out-of-towners were coming in for the festival, and once again we made our floorspace available. This year we had five guests: Ryan Hagn, Jeff Behrns, Ryan's friend Katie, Chris Kon1eczka, Chris's friend Levi. We joined them for a late dinner at Pizza Metro Thursday night, but then I didn't see much of them because I had my own festival to consume me.

Friday while they were all seeing Sonic Youth, the desk staff had our annual reading of the F&R manual, and then I biked to grab dinner with Taavo before we went to see a crazy butoh show at the Spareroom. Taavo is way into butoh; I went just to check it out. I don't know if I like butoh but it was interesting if nothing else. I was nervous for my big tomorrow and headed home to get all my stuff ready and give my voice a solid night's sleep.

Saturday morning: stepped over the sleeping bodies and biked up to Lincoln Square to open the festival. I was working at the Montrose gate all morning. The weather was lovely and we only had to crack down on a few people trying to bring in bikes and dogs. I wore my big hat.


That's me and Julie, who is a Tuesday night student. The Tuesday night crowd was well represented, and it was awesome that they all came out to see the various staff members they knew doin' their thing. On my break from the gate I sang harmonies in the kids tent with Stacymus1c, a band of one of the other WW teachers. Then when I was done, I played the staff stage with Andre@ Bunch and Friends, which was basically Congress playing different tunes. We covered Boys of Summer and Fuzzy Freaky, and played Andrea's new song and Aerin's new song and my new song. My song was Telling Time, and Aerin played drums and Erin E from the desk played bass and Andrea played piano, and it was SUPER AWESOME!!!!!




After that set, and a 30 minute break, I was back on the staff stage with Baba Man0uche, which was another INCREDIBLE set. Both had huge crowds, and drew in a lot of passers by. Baba played one of my originals for the first time, a song called Kissin, which fit into our set so well that somebody in the audience said she was sure it was an old standard. There are pictures of that set which I don't have yet but which you can check for on Erin's site. Once she uploads them they'll be at the top of page.

It was a big deal for me because there were so many people who I knew, students and staff, who knew I was a singer/songwriter/musician but had never seen me perform. I was playing for a group of very talented peers, and they really enjoyed what I had to offer. I was flattered. And also I was having the most fun I have had in a long long time.

Also, Ben came.



Spent the rest of the festival in and out of the VIP tent, drinking and eating for free, and seeing other people perform their awesomeness. When it was over I did some cartwheels in the office and then ate a giant burger at Latitude with Andrea, Aerin, Erin, Melissa and Meg.

And then the next day I went to Pitchfork.

By the time we had our giant breakfast of pancakes, bacon, coffee and juice set out on our backyard table for Ryan, Jeff, Katie, Chris, Levi, Ben and myself, the next round of guests were arriving: Meara and her boyfriend Alan will be moving back to Chicago in the coming months and they also needed a place to stay. Out with the looking-to-rockers, in with the looking-to-renters. So the suitcases and sleeping bags were swapped, Pitchforkers loaded their cars, Alan and Meara went apartment hunting and we set out for the festival.

It was another beautiful day. I only got gently sunburned on a couple of missed corners of skin. We stayed hydrated and ate well. We saw Menomena, The Ponys, Sea and Cake, Jamie Lidell, Steven Malkmus, and Of Montreal. Among others. And then Ben and I managed to get way up front at the end of the night to see The New Pornographers. About 8 people from the front, standing atop the thing over some cords to keep people from tripping, so we were a few inches higher....

THEY WERE TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME!

There is no way to overstate the awesomeness of seeing one of your most favorite bands rocking out up close. The giddy, excited, uncontainable joy. And when they were done, the sound guy tossed out their set list, and I caught it.

And then we ate tacos back at our house with Meara and Alan.

The times. They are good.