Chicago: customers are advised to allow extra travel time

Max was telling me about some bullshit where Sh4rks had booked a show months in advance, only to get an irate phone call from MPShows saying that they had planned on booking the place (too late, as it turned out) and that Sh4rks would have to cancel or something. They didn't, and words were exchanged.

Something to that effect. Anyway, the way Max and Fong tell it, the dude that runs MPShows is a grade-A asshole.

Farm fresh?

ahahaha music promoter? asshole? srsly?

He put South Union Arts together, so he's OK in my book.

I've met Brian a couple of times, and he seems like a reasonably nice guy, but Dan is pretty much OTM. It's kind of a cutthroat business, and when you're below a certain level, you need them way more than they need you, so they can afford to be assholes.

Having only played in bands in the middle of nowhere where there are no booking agent types, it was kind of shocking to witness the amount of asskissing mickey-mouse that the first group of dudes I played with here had to go through to get booked. They were going for kind of lousy venues, though (M@rtyr's, for example).

Btw, Webster's also shows

POSTSTIMULATION
POSTSTIMULUS
POSTSTRIKE

"Post-structuralism" has a hyphen.

"Foster beach will be closed for the remainder of the day due to the high levels of hipster scum in the water"

ew. Sticky.

One of my dad's colleagues gave him the following brain-teaser:

MALAYSIAN MAN : AMOK :: ESKIMO WOMAN : ?

I spent about 15-20 minutes on this, rearranging letters, translating into rot-13, etc., but could not make heads or tails of it.

I just googled to see if it existed anywhere online and found that "amok" is a mental disorder known among Malaysian tribes. I don't know if this is a coincidence or is key to solving the puzzle.

(To me, it made more sense if it was ESKIMO WOMAN : AMOK, since the word AMOK is embedded in ESKIMO WOMAN, if you read it backwards.)

It's not something simpler like "inuit"?

pibloktoq?

nope. it's "Piblokto"

from this page, thanks to google

http://anthro.palomar.edu/medical/med_4.htm

or what kenan said.

i found some other page with my spelling on it.

Yeah, I saw that, too. I thought it was a word game, though.

it's the eskimo word for "hysteria"

http://www.deutsches-filmhaus.de/filme_einzeln/f_einzeln/fassbinder/fassbinder_t-z/warum_pl2.jpg

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=4049004&dopt=AbstractPlus

A man is found dead in a room with 53 bicycles: what happened?

The Onion crossword this week was pretty fun.

Oh man Eazy, that one killed my 5th grade class.

Wanna hear a CTA story? You do?? GREAT!

I was riding the red line last night at around 11:30 and the lights kept going out in the car. Not even the lights over the doors stayed on, so it was very dark (the trains are running above ground now, so we had some light from the streets). There was a group of 3 teenage kids, including a girl who every time the lights would go out, would scream at the top of her lungs until the lights came back on. The lights went out maybe 4 or 5 times, and at some point the kids found a dirty rag on the floor and every time the lights would go out they would throw it up in the air and then when they came back on they would pick it off the seat or person it landed on.

The train stopped at Wilson, and before exiting one of the guys picked up the rag and threw it in the face of an old lady who was sitting in the seat by the door. Then they stood outside the train car and laughed and pointed.

http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/images/Lp1037.jpg

I got the bicycle puzzle from Dynamite magazine in about fifth grade.

I know the answer!

xp ....before kenan's "hint"

kind of a big hint, i admit

i just wanted you guys to know that i am not just another big-titted blonde

ha

i just got this huge pang in my heart to move to nyc.

like, all the sudden.

Did I read it right that there is some kind of Labor Day party going down in Minnesota? 'Cause I'd go to that.

Why, K?

BIG labor day party

Eric beat me to it! It's the GREAT MINNESOTA GET TOGETHER. You can eat fried foods on sticks. It's excellent.

S, I have no idea! I think I am just having bigger city cravings & I feel like I may have missed my opportunity to live in nyc b/c Leaf will probably never want to move there. It just seems like such an exciting city & I'm craving that kind of energy right now. Sometimes Minneapolis feels so small...which is ironic b/c I grew up in a truly small town.

omg i miss the state fair so much

I've been to the MN state fair twice, but not since I was like 13 or so. I haven't been to the Cities in a while, either, and it's been a while since I took a trip solely for fun...

If anyone wants to venture up here, we'll get you tickets!!

pizza on a stick!

We weren't able to go last year, but we did go the year before & I was completely star struck. The only fairs I had been to were smaller "free fairs" in the next county over. Next weekend we're going to an agriculture-heavy county fair & we'll probably hit the state fair on labor day weekend.

The man in the room was playing solitaire, and then someone with a Schwinn came in and ran him over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-5Lr2IhB_o

it's 52 foods on a stick...

it's not really worth watching all the way through, mind you.

Also: PRINCESS KAY OF THE MILKY WAY!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/MNStateFairButterHead2005.jpg/483px-MNStateFairButterHead2005.jpg

I would eat all this stick foods.

(except the huge penis "Jurassic dog")

My friend Adam is a big fan of the walleye on a stick.

I think you'd be a blast to go to the state fair with, Jordan. I suspect you could be convinced to eat a lot of the stick foods...

butter sculpting: A++

I have had lots of people tell me about bad dealings they have had with MPShows, including Sh@rks and @leks and the Drumm3r, and I believe them, but I have to say that most of our dealings with them have been as easy and pleasant as with most other booking people. They also seem to have different booking people assigned to different venues, and the woman we dealt with for SUA was very nice. Finally, they are pretty much the only Chicago booking co. left who is actively offering us shows without us having to nag them, so that's cool. The only issue we had with them was after we played two shows at R0nny's that both sold out, they asked us to headline a third show, and we asked for a guarantee, and they wouldn't give it to us. But maybe we were out of line.

I want something on a stick. My healthy lunch (grilled salmon with potato and veg) is not going to see through till 11 PM. Such a long day!