once again i find myself home on a sunday night...trying to stay in..save some money and stay out of trouble...watching adult swim...in the middle of the winter and my mind is drifting to last summer. i had a pretty cool adventure in chicago this year and wrote about it on my stupid myspace page....so for your entertainment and because i never write much on this site...i figured i would repost the story. here it is (ha i think i originally wrote this on a boring sunday night such as this)
a lot of different elements are comming together right now that have put me into story teller mode (i think that's why i wrote zines back in the day). it's probably the combination of my anticipation of going to california in a couple weeks, which makes me think about going to chicago and the fact that i never wrote about it + listening to thievery corporation, who rocked my ass off at lollapalooza last year + i have 56 blog views this week, so i must be entertaining someone + i slept way too much today and am wide awake at 3 am so.....
lets see...i told this story to a few people and they loved it...so i figure what the hell....my drunken adventures, although they are now more few and far between always seem to be scriptworthy so here goes....
none of my adventures will probably ever be as crazy as the one i had at the double door two years ago in chicago....but i believe this one comes up as a close second.....
it was day 2 of the music festival in chicago this year....it's been so long now that i forget what bands i saw that day....just remember i definately danced to the thievery corporation which put me in the mood to do something that night when the concert was over. i remember it was VERY hot that day....the day started off on a real neat note as i met wayne from the flaming lips just standing on a corner waiting for a shuttle to the fest...i thought "wow that was neat...good timing!" anyway...i saw a lot of really good bands that day, made friends with 2 girls from somewhere down south (they had a thick drawl y'all), made friends with a guy from england who had recently moved to chicago...i can't remember but he had a really funny word for girls that he kept using (maybe it was birds)....and most importantly to the origin of my adventure i ended up drinking a real lot of crappy beer (all they had was bud, bud lite and bud select) with these people!
now the night before i had gone to the vhs or beta deejay's set over seeing death cab for cutie because i had such a fun time doing shots of jameson with them and seeing them spin at the double door the year before at an afterparty. this year they got an actual spot on the festival and didn't dissappoint. they spin together new underground indie dance stuff with like acdc for example...it works really well and i had a fun time. so i asked them when they were done if they were playing any clubs in town over the weekend....they said yes but i couldn't make out the name of the place...just that it started with a T
so now we're back to day 2 of the festival....the concert is over....but i'm ready for some chicago nightlife! so i get back to my hotel room and decide that i should try and find the club where they were spinning. after 10 million bud lites that day i decided that i would just open the phone book and pick a club that started with a T and see what happened! yeah....so i picked a place called the Transit, got the address and got a cab.
so i was off! i believe it took about 30 to 35 minutes to get to the place but as soon as i got there i kinda knew i was definately in the wrong spot. not to judge the people in line or anything....i just knew....i mean c'mon they had a red velvet rope and everything! when i got to the door (i wasn't on a guest list this year...haha) i had to pay like $25 to get in. i basically just laughed my ass off to myself and went in. yeah...it was a total "club" club...vip sections and all that garbage! if i wasn't sooo buzzed up i may have been really dissappointed...but what the hell...i was on vacation....i was in chicago...i was going to have some fun! so i go to the bar and get a captain and coke....that will be $9 sir! holy crap! after a few though it didn't really matter and i was actually starting to have some fun...for some weird reason i fit in as i think every guy in the place was wearing a black striped shirt and jeans....and everyone who knows me...knows that i basically wear that to work everyday! so things were starting get fun...sahara (my drunk dancing alter ego) represented for a little while with various ladies on the dance floor...i was having a good time!
i decided to take a break and head over to the bar for another captain when i noticed a VERY drunk VERY short older (40's) asian man who was with what appeared to be with a large birthday party. this guy was all over the place! now's when i'll mention the candles that were lining the walls that separated a table section and the bar. well this very drunk man sat down in a chair and put his head right back into one of these candles!!!
i was the only one who saw this.....ran over and put the fire that was burning his hair out!!! one of his friends saw at the last minute and thanked me. okay that doesn't happen every day. i was pretty drunk but not on autopilot....so i even suprised myself on how fast i reacted to the situation. i thought to myself....okay i've had a real fun time...i'm pretty bombed and all by myself tonight maybe i better leave before that happens to me.
okay...so i spent A LOT of money that night...but had just enough to catch my cab and get back to my hotel room....that was until i smelled the hot dogs! there was a hot dog vendor right outside of the club...wow did they smell good....hot dogs....cab ride....hot dogs....cab ride....
it was at that time that i decided a couple of hot dogs were way more important than a cab ride back to the hotel! so i gave the guy the rest of my money....man they were good! so it was time to get back to my hotel...in a moment of complete brilliance [did i even spell that right
] i decided that i would navigate my way back to my hotel by using the tallest building in the city....the sears tower!
man....i walked through some really really scary sections...and saw some really shady people...but not a one said or did anything to me! all in all i think it took me about a 2 hours to get back....but you know what i didn't get lost once!
so i'm back at my hotel....it's like 3 am....i get inside just in time to catch an elevator with coheed and cambria!!! haha what a perfect way to end the night....the 2nd by chance meeting i had with band members that day...that i would've had to have perfect timing to meet! it was funny because at the time...i was completely bombed...knew they were in a band but couldn't remember which one. i said...hey you guys are in a band...i saw you today. at first they were like...band...no...we're not in a band and laughed to each other. i think i responded with c'mon guys i know you're the drummer for a band i saw today...which one is it? the one guy said something like...just tell him man he's no groupie (i'm not).....i said...c'mon man i just walked around the ghettos of chicago for 2 hours, tell me what band you're in. they were like...why did you do that? my response was simple and to the point. TO SEE IF I COULD! Everyone laughed their asses off....and gave me high fives and hand shakes....told me i rocked etc. then they got off on a floor lower than mine. in the end they said a different band name as they were getting off...something really stupid....but when i got back to my room i looked in the festival program and it was definately the drummer and guitarist for coheed and cambria.
all in all it was such a weird funny night....if i woke up maybe 5 minutes later....the timing for the entire day would have been thrown off and i wouldn't have such a funny story to tell.
a lot of different elements are comming together right now that have put me into story teller mode (i think that's why i wrote zines back in the day). it's probably the combination of my anticipation of going to california in a couple weeks, which makes me think about going to chicago and the fact that i never wrote about it + listening to thievery corporation, who rocked my ass off at lollapalooza last year + i have 56 blog views this week, so i must be entertaining someone + i slept way too much today and am wide awake at 3 am so.....
lets see...i told this story to a few people and they loved it...so i figure what the hell....my drunken adventures, although they are now more few and far between always seem to be scriptworthy so here goes....
none of my adventures will probably ever be as crazy as the one i had at the double door two years ago in chicago....but i believe this one comes up as a close second.....
it was day 2 of the music festival in chicago this year....it's been so long now that i forget what bands i saw that day....just remember i definately danced to the thievery corporation which put me in the mood to do something that night when the concert was over. i remember it was VERY hot that day....the day started off on a real neat note as i met wayne from the flaming lips just standing on a corner waiting for a shuttle to the fest...i thought "wow that was neat...good timing!" anyway...i saw a lot of really good bands that day, made friends with 2 girls from somewhere down south (they had a thick drawl y'all), made friends with a guy from england who had recently moved to chicago...i can't remember but he had a really funny word for girls that he kept using (maybe it was birds)....and most importantly to the origin of my adventure i ended up drinking a real lot of crappy beer (all they had was bud, bud lite and bud select) with these people!
now the night before i had gone to the vhs or beta deejay's set over seeing death cab for cutie because i had such a fun time doing shots of jameson with them and seeing them spin at the double door the year before at an afterparty. this year they got an actual spot on the festival and didn't dissappoint. they spin together new underground indie dance stuff with like acdc for example...it works really well and i had a fun time. so i asked them when they were done if they were playing any clubs in town over the weekend....they said yes but i couldn't make out the name of the place...just that it started with a T
so now we're back to day 2 of the festival....the concert is over....but i'm ready for some chicago nightlife! so i get back to my hotel room and decide that i should try and find the club where they were spinning. after 10 million bud lites that day i decided that i would just open the phone book and pick a club that started with a T and see what happened! yeah....so i picked a place called the Transit, got the address and got a cab.
so i was off! i believe it took about 30 to 35 minutes to get to the place but as soon as i got there i kinda knew i was definately in the wrong spot. not to judge the people in line or anything....i just knew....i mean c'mon they had a red velvet rope and everything! when i got to the door (i wasn't on a guest list this year...haha) i had to pay like $25 to get in. i basically just laughed my ass off to myself and went in. yeah...it was a total "club" club...vip sections and all that garbage! if i wasn't sooo buzzed up i may have been really dissappointed...but what the hell...i was on vacation....i was in chicago...i was going to have some fun! so i go to the bar and get a captain and coke....that will be $9 sir! holy crap! after a few though it didn't really matter and i was actually starting to have some fun...for some weird reason i fit in as i think every guy in the place was wearing a black striped shirt and jeans....and everyone who knows me...knows that i basically wear that to work everyday! so things were starting get fun...sahara (my drunk dancing alter ego) represented for a little while with various ladies on the dance floor...i was having a good time!
i decided to take a break and head over to the bar for another captain when i noticed a VERY drunk VERY short older (40's) asian man who was with what appeared to be with a large birthday party. this guy was all over the place! now's when i'll mention the candles that were lining the walls that separated a table section and the bar. well this very drunk man sat down in a chair and put his head right back into one of these candles!!!
i was the only one who saw this.....ran over and put the fire that was burning his hair out!!! one of his friends saw at the last minute and thanked me. okay that doesn't happen every day. i was pretty drunk but not on autopilot....so i even suprised myself on how fast i reacted to the situation. i thought to myself....okay i've had a real fun time...i'm pretty bombed and all by myself tonight maybe i better leave before that happens to me.
okay...so i spent A LOT of money that night...but had just enough to catch my cab and get back to my hotel room....that was until i smelled the hot dogs! there was a hot dog vendor right outside of the club...wow did they smell good....hot dogs....cab ride....hot dogs....cab ride....
it was at that time that i decided a couple of hot dogs were way more important than a cab ride back to the hotel! so i gave the guy the rest of my money....man they were good! so it was time to get back to my hotel...in a moment of complete brilliance [did i even spell that right
] i decided that i would navigate my way back to my hotel by using the tallest building in the city....the sears tower!
man....i walked through some really really scary sections...and saw some really shady people...but not a one said or did anything to me! all in all i think it took me about a 2 hours to get back....but you know what i didn't get lost once!
so i'm back at my hotel....it's like 3 am....i get inside just in time to catch an elevator with coheed and cambria!!! haha what a perfect way to end the night....the 2nd by chance meeting i had with band members that day...that i would've had to have perfect timing to meet! it was funny because at the time...i was completely bombed...knew they were in a band but couldn't remember which one. i said...hey you guys are in a band...i saw you today. at first they were like...band...no...we're not in a band and laughed to each other. i think i responded with c'mon guys i know you're the drummer for a band i saw today...which one is it? the one guy said something like...just tell him man he's no groupie (i'm not).....i said...c'mon man i just walked around the ghettos of chicago for 2 hours, tell me what band you're in. they were like...why did you do that? my response was simple and to the point. TO SEE IF I COULD! Everyone laughed their asses off....and gave me high fives and hand shakes....told me i rocked etc. then they got off on a floor lower than mine. in the end they said a different band name as they were getting off...something really stupid....but when i got back to my room i looked in the festival program and it was definately the drummer and guitarist for coheed and cambria.
all in all it was such a weird funny night....if i woke up maybe 5 minutes later....the timing for the entire day would have been thrown off and i wouldn't have such a funny story to tell.