(making) No Little Plans: Chicago 2015 pt 2

dan m, was it you who is really into Royal Headache? They're playing at the Empty Bottle on Aug. 19 with Sheer Mag opening, Sheer Mag is amazing. I probably won't go bc it's a Weds night but I'm tempted.

Ended up buying tickets for this! SUMMER VACATION DON'T EVER ENNNNND

(Also I figured it was time for a new thread.)

At last!

first chicago thread w/o roman numerals?

Link back to the old: ✶✶✶✶ Chicago MMXIV ✶✶✶✶

Cool. Still skeptical I'll make that show but maybe I'll toughen up for SHEER MAG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZg8ZJM1uBc

first chicago thread w/o roman numerals?

― gr8080, Monday, July 27, 2015 4:13 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm pretty sure there are lots more, mostly with Chicago pop culture reference titles.

Ahhhh Sheer Mag are friends of mine!! I just saw them on Sunday, they are so so fucking great! Go see them!!!

co-worker just showed me this little artifact:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhv3mj1UUKU

haven't seen dude in a while!

More on Homan Square, as ever not covered in Chicago:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/05/homan-square-chicago-thousands-detained

Also a good long piece on gangs in Back of the Yards:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-ismael-lopez-back-of-the-yards-20150729-story.html#page=1

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-chicago-katrina-financial-disaster-landrieu-new-orleans-mcqueary-emanuel-pers-20150813-column.html

what an awful, awful, awful, awful piece of writing this is

That is super gross.

Whoa there's an updated Walking Dude video from 2010. His hair is the exact same except white. I've never seen that guy. I wonder if he's still walking.

OMG at that Tribune column. I have to wonder if she was forced to shelve and ultimately rewrite a piece about the anniversary of 9/11 in order to make it more palatable for her editor.

someone else i know posted it and i;m not about to read it but can someone explain what is so terrible about it in 1-2 sentences?

The author wishes that Chicago would face a disaster on the level of Hurricane Katrina because Hurricane Katrina spurred New Orleans residents to fix their corrupt government and now the city is much better off than it was before the widespread destruction of property, loss of life, and displacement of residents.

It basically reads like she's hoping a wave of destruction passes over the city and kills all the inconvenient poor people and Rahm Emmanuel.

In addition to your irrational disdain for delicious Chicago-style "pizza", you all also failed to tell me that you have a magnificent regional popcorn blend that I had to buy from stinkin' TRADER JOE'S to experience and it is SO GOOOOOOOOD cheddar + caramel 4 lyfe imo

That stuff is pretty good.

I would never deign to dis Chicago-style pizza. I love occasionally plugging my foodhole with eight pounds of cheese!

LOL that is very well put.

Chicago-style piza: It plugs your foodhole!

Rank Chicago foods in order of your favorite:

Chicago Mix Popcorn
Deep Dish Pizza
Chicago-style Hotdogs
Italian Beef
Mother-in-law Sandwich
Jibarito
Saganaki

Chicken Vesuvio

Oh good one.

I'm hungry.

The author wishes that Chicago would face a disaster on the level of Hurricane Katrina because Hurricane Katrina spurred New Orleans residents to fix their corrupt government and now the city is much better off than it was before the widespread destruction of property, loss of life, and displacement of residents.

― carl agatha, Friday, August 14, 2015 8:33 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It basically reads like she's hoping a wave of destruction passes over the city and kills all the inconvenient poor people and Rahm Emmanuel.

― carl agatha, Friday, August 14, 2015 8:34 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

wow, ok glad i didn't read. that sounds like the work of a person whose thoughts i would rather not explore beyond these sentences. i appreciate the summary!

idk what some of those foods are but

hot dog
popcorn
jibarito
other

Oooh, chicken vesuvio. It's been a minute.

the hot dog is so weird! You put salad on your hot dog and that's GROSS

you have a funny conception of "salad"

also: Maxwell Street Polish is my #1, though I've not yet girded my circulatory/digestive systems enough to try the gym shoe

I brought a bag of Garrett's popcorn blend to my niece and nephew (ages 3 and 5, respectively) last time I visted them, and the looks on their little faces once they got past the brown + orange look of the stuff was priceless. We had to drag it away from them or they would have consumed it all in one sitting.

I've only had a few but Chicago dogs are legit. And I'm not crazy about having a lot of salad on my junk sandwiches (and yes, a hot dog is a sandwich).

I still have never had a beef (outside of ILX).

I forgot about the Gym Shoe. That's a hellacious looking sandwich. The South Side is OTM with their crazy Chicago sandwiches.

Is the Gym Shoe a variant of the Horseshoe?

Chicago style dog is #1 but I've gained a deeper appreciation for deep dish over the years.

Chicago mix popcorn is so addictive but I don't get Chicago's claim to it is exactly. Like caramel corn and cheese popcorn both already existed and were frequently already sold together in tins (albeit in separate compartments) so did someone just mix them together in Chicago?

Chicago dog, Italian beef, and Maxwell Street polish are all amazing. Deep dish pizza is not really pizza, but it's alright.

a 1-gallon tin of Garrett's popcorn is $33

tears emoji tears emoji tears emoji

In addition to making me hungry, this thread is also making me frustrated at the lack of availability of any of these foods anywhere on the east coast (you can do mail-order for the hot dog and related meat items, but it's expensive, and no substitute for a hot dog/Polish place on every block. And deep-dish does not exist outside of Chicagoland).

Chicago-style giardiniera
Everything else

Well, Escape Goat, I often miss many delicious east coast foods such as real and delicious subs on the correct style of roll and proper thin crust pizza that doesn't taste like it's been cooked on a greasy cracker that's had all of the flavor sucked out of it* and scrapple.

*Homeslice and Piece here in Chicago do pretty well, though, so my frantic homesick pizza cravings have subsided somewhat.

We need to work out some kind of exchange program where I overnight you an Italian beef and you send me a scrapple sandwich.

I'm in.

WILL TRADE GROTTO 4 GIORDANO'S

I wanna try the UNO chain bcz even though I know it won't be "real" Chicago "pizza", I am sure that it will still taste great (kind of like how Olive Garden breadsticks taste great even though they're not real food)

WILL TRADE GROTTO 4 GIORDANO'S

― Y Kant Max Read (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, August 14, 2015 7:45 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

DEAL

1. Chicken Vesuvio - never had it but it sounds amazzzzingg
2. Malort
3. Italian Beef
4. Chicago-style Hotdogs
5. Deep Dish Pizza

6. Chicago Mix Popcorn

Saganaki - Is this a Chicago specialty?

Jibarito - Fuck a plaintain

The Parthenon claims to have invented it, yeah.

*Homeslice and Piece here in Chicago do pretty well, though, so my frantic homesick pizza cravings have subsided somewhat.

LaRosa in Skokie has great thin-crust...or they used to, years ago, when it a restaurant and not just a tiny carry-out place (I'm astonished it's still around).

when it *was a restaurant

Oh wait - chicken vesuvio doesn't sound THAT amazing now that I know those are peas and not capers.

xxp re saganaki huh I had no idea. I thought I had it in NC, but who knows.

Oh, it is widely available elsewhere. Nevermind.

The most unavailable important regional food to me is the sno-ball, which inexplicably hasn't left NOLA, especially the ones made w/ evaporated milk. It is like delicious actual snow.

hahaha i'm p sure gr80 kept trying to give me Malort but it never seemed to pan out

I did too but the bartender didn't even know what it was! I think that was at the Manhandler?

Chicken Vesuvio was kind of underwhelming when I tried it, tbh. And the place I got it was supposed to do it pretty well.

Also Jeff makes a pretty compelling case.

I used to work in Italian restaurants when I lived there and omg, I miss vesuvio.

Hey Chicago folk, you should listen to my friend's new music podcast where he plays records for Chicago musicians and chats with them:

http://cast.now-is.org/

Ep 1 features Fred Lonberg-Holm. It's interesting, heady, and will expand your out music knowledge while giving you enough time to clean your entire apartment.

Cool, thanks. Looks interesting. Me and La Lechera just saw Lonberg-Holm play this past weekend.

i've seen him a zillion times. i think he has played with literally everyone.
i don't really understand the concept of the podcast though -- he records musicians reacting to recorded music?

Yeah, as a jumping off point. It's not unprecedented -- Downbeat magazine has had a feature for decades where they play records for an artist and ask them to talk about their reactions to them. Although IDK if I've heard it done as a podcast before (which is actually better, since you can hear the music). I think other music mags do similar things as well.

Didn't Wire do that?

Yeah I was going to say that's where I've seen it, Wire's Invisible Jukebox.

Sorry THE Wire

I get my wires crossed.

yeah I was trying to remember who had Invisible Jukebox, it is indeed the Wire

maybe i've seen that before? idk. i'm glad more people know fred l-h now thanks to it!

I was told the second ep is Olivia Block

ooh she's cool
i wonder if i would recognize this person?! i've probably shared air with him at least once.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2pra1oy.png

Ha!

Stupid Oak Park schools don't start until Aug. 31st, so it has been two solid weeks of Camp Dad. I think we've run out of things to do. The other day we hit the Surgical Museum. Today, because every waterpark and lazy river is closed for the season, we're hanging at 31st street beach.

xpost both The Wire and Downbeat have similar features.

CPS doesn't start until Sep. 8!

My high school in NC started the 1st week of August, which is awfully early.

That's really early.

I always went to school in a resort area so classes never started until after labor day since just about everybody old enough for working papers had some kind of a tourism industry job.

will inspire lots of "Cubs sleepover" fanfic

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/08/30/jake-arrieta-no-hitter-mustache-pajamas

i wondered why it smelled smoky when i stepped outside this morning)...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-extra-alarm-fire-in-lincoln-square-20150830-story.html

r.i.p. lincoln lanes!!! ;_;

Everything is burning! I didn't see any mention upthread (and haven't read much in the way of news about it), but Second City caught fire last week, as well.

"OK, we need an event! Anyone, just shout it out."

"Fire!"

"Good, good! Now, we need an occupation."

"Fireman!"

"Hmm, OK, a little on the nose, but we'll go with it. Now quick, a place!"

"Second City!"

"Second City? Not a terribly creative bunch tonight, are you? Fortunately, we're pros. So, the stage is set. The curtain rises. A fire, and firemen ... at Second City."

I used to live about a block or so north of Lincoln Lanes -- the ground floor was an Ace Hardware, and there never seemed to be anyone in the bowling alley.

Holy crap, has that neighborhood changed. So many massive new condo developments!

slippery slope's new upstairs bar looks so awesome:

http://www.timeout.com/chicago/bars/the-heavy-feather

hasn't it been about a year since our last outing there?

Yeah, I've been wanting to go to Heavy Feather for a while. My brother went a few weeks ago and said the drinks were so-so but the vibe was dope.

NB: He did not actually say "the vibe is dope."

That would not seem out of character.

Up for going back to SS/THF anytime.

The North Korea Perspectives exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Photography is great!

jaymc: do you know if there is a DJ booth inside heavy feather?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern_bar

The first fern bar was the original T.G.I. Friday's on the corner of 63rd Street and First Avenue in a neighborhood on the Upper East Side where many single young women lived. The founder. Alan Stillman, with a few thousand dollars borrowed from his mother, leased a saloon and remodeled it, converting the ambience to one attractive to young women. It opened March 15, 1965 and was soon copied by other restaurants in the neighborhood.

Not sure about a DJ booth.

Related: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-t-g-i-fridays-helped-invent-the-singles-bar

^^Related, hot singles bar R.J. Grunts has just re-opened after a remodeling.

And going into this weekend, hope this is sensational and not a problem:
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150603/north-lawndale/riot-fests-move-douglas-park-puts-concert-near-drug-markets-gun-crimes

I've got no opinions on the location of the fest, but the stuff that Konkol churns out is mostly garbage. He once put up a piece that decried red light cameras because he likes speeding.

Good to know - I'd never read anything by him before.

He's probably most famously known for breaking the JRW story.

There's going to be a huge police/security presence at Riot Fest, I would wager it's going to end up being pretty safe.

When I went to Lagunitas on Friday, it was the first time I had ever been in the area. The area I walked through was very neighborhoody and at least seemed safe at the time. I guess that is the safer end of the park though.

Pretty dramatic (no violence, etc.).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=790&v=rznw_VMnXnE

Wake up, thread! There's tons of protests afoot.

this is ugly

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/2015/12/01/10177/cubs-new-images-of-wrigleys-brand-plaza-are-just-as-depressing-as-that-sounds/

will the area still be full of wandering swarms of bros making aggressive drunken gestures? probably

My student who just took a second job in that area left my class at 12:30pm and took some food w him bc he wasn't going to be on his way home til 4am. He also said "last night I cleaned two vomits" :(

yeah, leaving a weekday game there last summer was less fun than it's ever been; i ran to get outta W'ville.

Wrigleyville should be caged. Such a gaping orifice of a neighborhood.

(Last time I was briefly there, I saw a young woman lean out of a cab and vom in the street. At, like, 5 PM.)

I mean I've barfed in public before but not bc I was drunk and not in Wrigleyville. It was a trash can at Clark/Lake.

Barfing in public is by no means a danmable offence but one might be forgiven for thinking the air in Wrigleyville was a natural emetic.

danmable

speaking of wrigleyville, vomiting: https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151130/wrigleyville/tbox-bolsters-security-staggers-crowd-keep-bar-crawl-calm

i've been at a bar when a santa bar crawl came through in a much smaller city. i can only imagine the hell on earth that would occur with 20k people

it's really kind of shocking that people still feel entitled to act that way in public
like the world is their vomitorium

and then a hardworking young person named carlos comes along to clean up their vomits
i mean do they think it disappears?

unfortunately I bet most of them think a hardworking young person, possibly named carlos, but certainly with some common hispanic name, and they also probably think this is that hardworking young person's lot in life, the way things are "supposed" to be

is it just me or were all of these posts made months ago? i'm having weird deja vu.

things on these threads do tend to get circular

dan m, was it you who is really into Royal Headache?

Yeah, enjoyed their album quite a bit and saw them at the Bottle during the summer.

if you have an unfortunate incident in a bar someone should hand the bartender cash as a "tip" on the way out and that should make its way to carlos imo

Ha, that was a joke on my part.

things on these threads do tend to get circular

― pratt truss it (dan m), Tuesday, December 1, 2015 10:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dan m, was it you who is really into Royal Headache? They're playing at the Empty Bottle on Aug. 19 with Sheer Mag opening, Sheer Mag is amazing. I probably won't go bc it's a Weds night but I'm tempted.
Ended up buying tickets for this! SUMMER VACATION DON'T EVER ENNNNND

(Also I figured it was time for a new thread.)

― ive reddit all your posts and I want a crowdfund (dan m), Monday, July 27, 2015 9:09 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought so. Hilarious!

Anyone else seeing Chappelle this week? It's a PIA, but I like the strict no cell phone policy.

costs too much

I would never go to a show with a no cell phone policy.

Especially one in a fairly unfamiliar area. OK if you drive but for CTA or even cab riders it's burdensome.

The system looks intriguing, actually. They give you a little pouch that locks automatically when you enter the performance space. Then it unlocks when you leave the room, hit the bar, go the bathroom, outside, etc. So you have the phone on your person, you just can't use it in the performance space.
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/02/dave-chappelle-cell-phone-pouch-yondr-chicago

I'd bring in a burner for the pouch.

Oh that's interesting. Worth thinking about. I want other people to have to use it.

Wow, those things should be compulsory in a myriad of situations.

otm

Lucked into some VIP treatment for Chappelle, so my phone went unmolested, but the night seemed really well run. It's also kind of fascinating, googling around, that a major comedy star playing 15 or so sets over the course of one week could generate so little in the way of social media. Totally on the money that more events should try this. Makes it feel more special.

BTW, Chappelle had a film crew shooting Friday night and last night, so maybe that's another reason he didn't want stuff leaking out.

chi-folx: my lil sis goes to school in Chi and I want to get her something thoughtful and Chicago related for xmas. She is into fashion (like designers and stuff), intellectualism, theater, and feminism/lgbtq stuff. Are there any great bookstores or like places to get her a gift cert? Museums? Cool local institutions? halp

a bottle of Malort?

gift cert to Myopic or Quimby's and if so which one?

Done

Done to malort.

jesus malort

Quimby's is more of a sure thing wrt the areas of interest you mentioned but Myopic, while more of a grab bag, is well worth it if she's willing to make multiple trips (as their stock is in a constant state of overhaul).

did we drink malort when I was in town at the same time as Stevie? I don't remember, so that might be a strong indication that we did

It might also depend on where she lives/goes to school - like if she goes to U of Chicago, Seminary Bookstore would probably be good?

Quimby's or Women and Children First for books/zines/LGBT stuff. Or, you know, buy her a punch card for King Spa. Does she have a car? Do you want a gift she can enjoy close to home/campus?

we def did not have malort bcz fuck malort

uuggghhh I was so set on Quimby's but W&CF looks so fn rad!!!!

she goes to school at Columbia so I mean Andesonville is more of a hike but it and Wicker Park are both only a train ride away.

Is this really the most recent Chicago thread...?

I'm going to be in town and with a free night 7/20 or 7/21 - anything cool happening around then?

I think there's another thread, but it's been weirdly quiet.

Have you been here before, or even recently? Always new stuff to explore. We could probably point out a few new places you're more likely to be shot.

the last time I was there was a few years ago and lol we were tasked with "escorting" my nephew to Lollapalooza, an experience I do not want to relive (not cuz of my nephew, he's great, it was lollapalooza that was gross)

but yeah my wife's aunt is gonna put us up in a hotel for a night so we can go out and do city stuff sans children.

I would like to avoid being shot tho, yes.

Drinkers? Got a budget? Want it packed or just want to chill?

I drink, my wife does not. would just be curious to see some music in a non-huge/lame venue.

btw do you guys still allow smoking in bars? that shit is gross

would be down for a FAP too of course, if ppl were interested

No smoking in bars. Looked and didn't see any interesting music that night (or at least nothing that caught my eye). Ooh, I take it back, there's this:

https://www.grantparkmusicfestival.com/2016-season/a-journey-through-time

Free, Millennium Park. Great place to hear some music/have a picnic.

I like Philip Glass, wife is devotee of NG photography, sounds like a win/win

thx buddy!

No smoking in bars anymore, that was squashed years ago.

I think there is a ST:TNG showcase playing those days we could go enjoy together.

I would like more details on this TNG showcase

like a public screening of TNG? I might go to that

if there's weed involved

I made it up!

Also I don't have any weed. Chicago continues to disappoint.

how can you crush my hopes like that

I'd FAP too, perhaps others as well. Calendar is clear now, but let's touch base in July.

my wife would welcome the opportunity to argue about Star Trek :)

Jeff thrives off of being a constant disappointment

So did we determine if this is the most recent Chicago thread? Anyway, I would like to talk a little bit about gun violence (not that we sadly don't have enough threads on that subject). Last year my wife had a co-worker whose husband was shot and killed at a bus stop in Roger's Park, around 5pm, by some asshole gang member who drove by, thought he recognized an enemy and decided to open fire. More recently a 6-year old was accidentally shot in a friend's Palmer Square neighborhood, and last night/yesterday there was a chase and shooting on the lakefront, up north, around Waveland :

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-lakeview-lakefront-park-shooting-20160612-story.html

While not occurring at the same rate it does within a couple of specific neighborhoods, the gun violence here is clearly not self-contained. What should the city be doing?

FWIW, I live in Oak Park, and it looks like a couple of weeks ago some dude walking back to Berwyn from the train in the middle of the night got in a fight with some guys in a parked car and was shot in the gut, just a few blocks from my house. Police called it an "isolated incident," but it does not make me any more comfortable.

I don't know what the latest Chicago thread is, I should start a new one.

Chicago 2016: Our credit rating is lower than your credit rating

I'm in yr airport, it's ok. Drinking a beer, I know it's what Jeff would want.

I used to greatly prefer midway, but southwest using it as a hub meant it was so packed the last time I was there that there was nowhere to sit!

I'm at o'hare, it still sucks but my plane is supposedly on time, so it's ok