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....





Chicago was great! I'm really gonna miss Brian and Bradiy and everyone else I met, bu I have a feeling Milwaukee's gonna be great too...

ALL THINGS GO ALL THINGS GO

Yes, I am not above a Sufjan Stevens reference... remember this video?

The weather in Chicago is fucking incredible right now, like high 60s, I kind of wish it wasn't so nice so I'd remember that it's too cold to actually live here.
Chicago actually got off to a rocky start. After another uneventful Greyhound ride I arrived in downtown Chicago and was unable to get in touch with any of my friends that live here. I was getting really worried, cursing humanity, etc, when my buddy Brian (who I know through Terminal Boredom) sent me a text message. I walked over to his school to meet up with him and we took that Chicago subwayish thing to his house in Logan Square. Brian told me that Logan Square is kind of like the Bushwick of Chicago and I really like it. Very pretty, everyone has a stoop.


I was re-introduced to Brian's roommates, BradIY and Alex, and we all piled into BradIY's car and went to some "hip" bars, Rainbo Club (which was full of people that looked like they were from Brooklyn) and then Easy Bar (which had $2 beers for a special). I also met some other Chicago peeps and we just drank and had fun and then went back to Brian's place with a 30 pack of PBRs.



I woke up the next morning and went for a run around Logan Square, it was a beautiful day and really a nice way to see things. I didn't go far, less than 2 miles, because I was scared of getting lost, but somehow I survived.
After my run I was doing some g-chatting with my buddy Andrew, who grew up in Chicago and asked him to recommend some deep dish pizza. He told me to go to the original Unos downtown, and I didn't know any better so I left to explore.
I started just walking towards Wicker Park on Milwaukee, and only made it about a mile and a half before I realized it was really far and I was really hungry, so I hopped on the Blue Line. I saw a couple of cool things on my walk though...


I made it to Unos and got an individual pizza with a ton of toppings and a seltzer water (cuz I'm a JEWWWWWW). I'm sorry to be a bitch, but it was straight up GROSS, like inedible. The crust was like a rock, there didn't seem to really be that much cheese... the toppings were dry and undercooked... the sauce was good though I guess. In general it was a disappointment and I was kind of bummed that I ate it.
After that I took the train back to Wicker Park and looked around for a minute but didn't know where the "cool" stuff was and didn't feel like hanging out at America Apparel, so I just walked back to Brian's house.
I had very important business to attend to: My mom had called me to tell me how good the newest ep of Glee was so I had a date with Hulu. Watching Glee is totally punnnnk.
Eventually I tore myself away and went to dinner with BradIY and his friend Casey at this stupid restaurant called Boiler Room. I mean, they have Jameson on tap, which is cool, and a PBJ special, which is a slice of pizza, a beer, and a shot of Jameson for $7, and if you use their ATM you get a free shot of Jameson. But I didn't get the PBJ, I didn't want pizza again, so I ordered the "grilled Cesar," and I mean it was good but it was $7 and was the size of like a tiny little side salad. BULLLL SHIT. Also, for some reason their bathrooms look like subway cars? Doesn't really fit with the theme. Stupid.


I then met up with Brian and one of his co-workers to watch the Blackhawks game... I'm gonna level with you... I had no idea who the Blackhawks were and even asked if they were a football team... if it's not baseball or autoracing I am clueless. The bar we were at was called Two Way and it was pretty cool.
Our ultimate destination for the night was Beauty Bar Chicago where Todd from Hozac Records was DJing. I've been to my share of Beauty Bars, we have two in just New York even, and this one was no different... a little cleaner I guess. Todd played really good music, including my recent faves Myelin Sheaths (by the way, I was reading a really good book, A Civil Action starring John Travolta, and there was this part where a doctor was talking about the myelin sheaths in a patients brain and I was like "wow." True story!!).
Then this band Outer Minds played. The people I was with weren't that into it, but I thought they sounded pretty good... but I'm a sucker for an organ (that's what she said).






This morning I had the extreme pleasure of finally meeting up with my friend Matt Kimmel, the genius mind behind Acid Marshmallow, and his lovely gf for breakfast. The waitress kind of freaked out when I asked for poached eggs, but I just like them like that, okay!