ah Chicago

Ever since, in Helena, MT, I did that project (4th grade?) on Illinois, one city has captured my heart. Heart? That doesn't sound like me. . . . Whatever, the city rocks me--how's that?

It's been great to be so close this year, and hopefully Seattle will charm us. In the meantime, though, before we go, we've been trying to enjoy this city from tip to tail.


Well, or at least we saw some friends, drank some Goose Island beer, and danced to some "elite" music (the New York Times' term, not mine (see below)). (And I hope you can tell that, as we enjoyed the Pitchfork Music Festival, the Sears Tower graced the skyline, as shown above . . .)


More on the festival in a moment. First, some suburban fun. (Did that sentence just come at the cost of my soul? Oh well, no help for it now.)

Small Mimi and Mom, with flowers, on the Fox River in Geneva IL (right near, actually, the spot of the rehearsal dinner for our wedding . . . but I digress)



Um, a chipmunk on the door of Emily's parents' house



Okay, a brief Quad-Cities detour: We had a great 4th of July out at Jamie (special collections librarian) Nelson and her husband Eric Anderson's place, and got to hang with their newborn son Wythe. No denying that there are many things we'll miss here in IL. . . .

Eric with young Wythe



Mimi, Jamie, Wythe, and the blanket made by library staff for Jamie (well, for Wythe, really) (Mimi did the yellow squares)


What else? Well, we spent an evening with Dave & Diana recently (and, I cannot lie, I ordered some Grand Marnier when I should not have, and so I have no photos).

But Emily did get a cool bag that Diana made--if you're interested, she has a store on etsy.com, Pravina. Emily's (in case you didn't follow that link) is a pretty neat one-of-a-kind thing, made from a Chicago neighborhood banner.

And Dave introduced us to a pretty good group, called Battles. Here's a fun video:


And then we had a great brunch at the 3rd coast cafe with Chris and Carrie. (Worth noting, perhaps: that's where their rehearsal dinner was . . . weird . . .)
Shall definitely miss being so near such cool "cats." Glad we had this year, though . . . sigh . . .


Anyway, Pitchfork! That was pretty damn cool. And only $35 for two days!

Many bands, including Battles (see above), who put on a pretty good live show, and Iron & Wine, and Cat Power (good music, sound trouble), and that guy from Pavement (not so great), and Junior Boys (fun), and Jamie Lidell (double fun), and Clipse (they're ready for a re-up!), and De La Soul, even Yoko Ono . . . great eclectic, perhaps even elite line-up.

Fun stuff. And fun to people-watch with all those hipsters everywhere (though it's too bad we were there for the year of skinny-leg jeans and t-shirt dresses (from a recent fashion column: "the sack is back"); at least they're not hippies, though, right?).

In any case, easily the best outdoor music thing I've seen. Some cell-phone pics:

Short and clever; brava



New Pornographers. For us, at least, the highlight of the weekend. My current favorite of theirs is Now Playing, above, right.



Closeup (?): Look, Neko Case!



The two of us. (Yes, that's a Kansas hat. I said Chicago was the one city, not place.)



How Chicago, right? Like, double-parked bikes and that tower in the background . . . oh yeah . . . I had a job in that tower, you know, how cool is that? (tele-marketing calling from a broom closet, but come on, the Sears Tower!)

Now, I could give you links to local coverage of the festival, but as much as I may "dig" Chicago, no place does newspaper like New York: I recommend the review of the festival in the Times.


Okay, this post has gone on long enough. Hope you're well, reader.

Thanks also to Deron, my mom, and the rest of the well-wishers out there. And I'll take a tipsy person's word for just about anything, just for the record