Pop Jew Bus Tour: The rest of Chicago, seriously

After Bradiy and I dropped off Casey after Kuma's we met up with Brian and (my future husband) Baker at Rocking Horse. They got veggie burgers and Bradiy and I got beer.

We then stopped by the house before heading out to a Hozac show at the Empty Bottle, a bar/venue that a million people I met in Chicago work at.
The show was fun... we missed the first band but saw The People's Temple, Philadelphia's Reading Rainbow and Radar Eyes. I really liked Radar Eyes, but the show was really loud, I need some ear plugs.
At the bottle my BFF Ryan, who moved to Chicago not too long ago, came to hang out, along with Kimmel, and my buddy Shayde (of Fresh & Onlys fame) came by after his show. He told me that I'm the most "talented shithead" he knows, which was sweet.

After the show we had a crazy after party at Brian and Bradiy's, and I learned about "big timing" (a cool Chicago phrase for dissing someone) and realized I'm way good at it. Baker and I confirmed our marriage plans (he has to start eating meat first!).
The big event was the next day: Kimmel taking me to the famous Hot Doug's, the awesome sausage emporium that I fell in love with when it was featured on Hot Dog Paradise on the Travel Channel. We waited on line for about an hour, but it was cool cuz Kimmel and I had a serious convo about our ska pasts, serious reminiscing. Bands that were lovingly discussed included Big D and the Kids Table, Edna's Goldfish, The Pilfers, The Slackers, The Pietasters, The Toasters, and the legendary Chris Murray. Usually, when I talk about my rude girl days I do it with some degree of regret... but talking to Kimmel about it was so great... ska was the best... I loved going to those shows, and ska was pretty devoid of a lot of the indie rock bull shit, it was just about having fun and dancing and loving the world. I kinda wanna go to some ska shows now, I miss that phase of my life.
Anyway, the cool thing about Hot Doug's is that the guy who started it, a man with a real passion for encased meats, is actually working the register and is super nice and let me take a picture with him... I was hoping maybe he would recognize me from Food Network, but no dice. Kimmel needed to make sure that the things he was getting weren't encased in pork, and he was nervous to ask, but Doug was so nice about explaining everything to him. Jewzzz rule.
I got the "Elvis" (a basic polish beef sausage) and the Foie Gras Duck Sausage. The Elvis was incredible, and the Duck was good but a little too intense, too much Foie Gras. We also go the Duck Fat Fries. Great day!
Then Claire and Aaron picked me up to take me to Milwaukee....