Chicago: Interesting to Type, but Perhaps not to Read

Oh hi! What's this thread about?

I don't remember coming up with the thread title btw. http://c33.statcounter.com/3032343/0/0ed6af50/0/

New thing I learned yesterday: not only do Eric and I both know nearly every lyric to every song on Billy Joel's The Stranger album, but after a few beers we are not shy about singing them on the street.

I wrote a song the other day with a bridge that goes Am-G-C-D7, and Matt P. said the D7 sounded like a "Billy Joel chord."

I took this as a compliment, even though I'm not sure he meant it as one.

Elton John chords are better, imo. :)

New thing I learned yesterday: not only do Eric and I both know nearly every lyric to every song on Billy Joel's The Stranger album, but after a few beers we are not shy about singing them on the street.

wow. that's..... just wow. i don't know what.... singing on the street, huh? wow.

The rest of the song I wrote uses a chord progression that sounds like the Beatles' "Something," TLC's "Waterfalls," and Lenny Kravitz's "It Ain't Over Til It's Over." Maybe a touch of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," too.

xpost Next time I think we'll do An Innocent Man, full on doo-wop style, standing on a corner.

xpost Next time I think we'll do An Innocent Man, full on doo-wop style, standing on a corner.

-- kenan, Tuesday, October 9, 2007 11:26 AM (Tuesday, October 9, 2007 11:26 AM) Bookmark Link

kenan, for your own sake and as a public service to the residents of chicago and cook county, i'm going to beat you to death with a tire iron.

Seventh chords always sound like Beatles chords to me.

The rest of the song I wrote uses a chord progression that sounds like the Beatles' "Something," TLC's "Waterfalls," and Lenny Kravitz's "It Ain't Over Til It's Over." Maybe a touch of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," too.

I have yet to hear this song, but from this description you sound like a HIT MACHINE. Man, just lay back and watch the royalty checks roll in.

Please don't beat me to death, Kevin. Here is my solemn vow: whenever we are in each other's company, with or without beer, there will be no singing. None. At all.

The rest of the song I wrote uses a chord progression that sounds like the Beatles' "Something," TLC's "Waterfalls," and Lenny Kravitz's "It Ain't Over Til It's Over." Maybe a touch of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," too.

I have yet to hear this song, but from this description you sound like a HIT MACHINE. Man, just lay back and watch the royalty checks roll in.

-- kenan, Tuesday, October 9, 2007 11:29 AM (Tuesday, October 9, 2007 11:29 AM) Bookmark Link

see, to me this sounds like something the cia would use on me if i ever found myself interned at gitmo.

it's the billy joel, kenan. i have no choice in the matter.

Billy Joel is one of those guys where you could go see him in a three-hour concert and know every single song.

Also, "Let 'Em In" by Wings.

no, i really couldn't go see him for three hours.

Yes, but then you'd have to kill yourself. hahah xxp

And what can I say, I bought The Stranger LP when I was 8 or 9 and learned all the songs then. But Kenan and I pwned "Scenes".

See, now you know that my drunken exploits are just as shameful and nasty as all of yours, just in a different way.

I don't think I've actually heard that much Billy Joel, but one of the reasons why I am eager to get a stereo system is so that I can finally listen to the copy of The Nylon Curtain I apparently own on vinyl.

I think I probably only know like 3 or 4 Billy Joel songs: "We Didn't Start the Fire," "Piano Man," "Uptown Girl," and uh probably one or two more I've forgotten.

it's the billy joel, kenan. i have no choice in the matter.

I do not love Billy Joel. This was discussed last night. Eric and I both know that record by heart because when you're a young'un, stuff like that sticks in your head. I have no choice in the matter, either.

That said, "Piano Man" is half of a great, sad song about pathetic drunks. (The other half is self-congratulation.)

kevin OTM

Anyone who saw my WDYLL post yesterday saw my friend @d@m (aka the President of Minnesota), with whom my friends and I have had a long-running inside joke/diatribe about Billy Joel being "punk rock". @d@m is fervently convinced of Mr. Joel's punk rockingness while the rest of us pretty much think he's crazy. That's what growing up in the middle of a field in far western Minnesota will do to you.

I actually like Uptown Girl, I'm ambivalent about WDStF, and I hate Piano Man with a burning burning passion.

so that I can finally listen to the copy of The Nylon Curtain I apparently own on vinyl

oh noes, is Klosterman responsible for this purchase?

I saw Billy Joel in concert back in high school. Hated him then, ambivalent now, but he did put on a pretty entertaining show.

I am all jaymc when it comes to Billy Joel. I know maybe 2.5 songs. Elton John, less than that.

Billy Idol > Billy Joel

and uh probably one or two more I've forgotten.

"Just the Way You Are," "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me," and "River of Dreams" are the only other ones I know, I think.

i have vague (repressed?) memories of the glass houses and streetlight serenade lps and the 52nd st 8-track being in my parents collection. i've hated him for at least 27 years.

Oh I know "Just the Way You Are," it was the demo track on my first keyboard. It's pretty awful. The other two, I don't think I know.

I just threw out that keyboard this past week, I'd had it since I was like 12.

I do not love Billy Joel. This was discussed last night. Eric and I both know that record by heart because when you're a young'un, stuff like that sticks in your head. I have no choice in the matter, either.

Aye. Up to and including knowing all the words to The Stranger. Except I hate the song Piano Man and think it's all crap.

"Just The Way You Are" -- I mean, the guy wrote a Timeless American Standard in the old school Tin Pan Alley sense.

oh noes, is Klosterman responsible for this purchase?

Note that I said "apparently own." Meaning I have no idea where it came from. Most of my vinyl is inherited from either my grandma (Martin Denny, Frank Sinatra, etc.), my parents (Miles Davis, Chuck Mangione, etc.), or one of my mom's old co-workers, who gave me a couple boxes of classic-rock albums. I'm guessing it came from that stash.

Also, wasn't Glass Houses the one that Klosterman championed?

How much money do you think Casio paid Billy Joel so they could use "Just the Way You Are" as the demo track on what seems like all their consumer-level keyboards produced in the mid-'80s?

My guess is SERIOUS money.

Also, wasn't Glass Houses the one that Klosterman championed?

Both, actually. He is a small, small man.

I just threw out that keyboard this past week, I'd had it since I was like 12.

Oh noes, I was looking to get a super-cheap thrift-store keyboard to keep at home, in addition to the one I cart back and forth from rehearsal. Guess I'll hit the pawn shop.

http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Late_Night_with_Conan_O

I write a new verse of "We Didn't Start the Fire" every few years. Right now, I'm up to -- "A-Rod, Ipod, Jacko's Free, There's No God."

When people tell me they love the song "Just the Way You Are," I tell them I wrote it about a transvestite hooker I picked up on night in the village. Sure, it's not true, but it never fails to ruin the song for them.

1982, I was riding my motorcycle when a car ran into me. it really opened my eyes. I realized -- of course, car accidents.

Elton John and I became really good friends. I don't mean "good friends" in that sense. I just mean we slept together.

I don't like the song "Piano Man". Kenan and I were debating whether Paul was a real-estate novelist in the sense of writing about real estate (a la Richard Ford's Independence Day) or if he was a realtor who still worked on his novel at night and drank a lot too.

KLosterman championed a song on The Nylon Curtain - some song I don't think I've ever heard (from that album I only know "Allentown", "Pressure", "Scandinavian Skies" and the Vietnam Vet one).

I've got a tiny, super-cheap Casio keyboard at home. I keep meaning to get a bunch of effects pedals to make it sound all nasty.

oh man I love the secrets bit

This keyboard was pretty crappy, it was only two or three octaves with small keys and some of the keys were snapped off. Plus I think some of the wiring was fucked. So I don't think it would have been much use, John. It was part of a general wave of getting rid of crap that I don't use anymore.

Ah. Yeah, a few years ago I had to get rid of the keyboard I used exclusively from 1990-97 because it was busted. I'm just upset that the Casio I used for the next seven years was in the trunk of my car when it was stolen. That was a decent keyboard.

So "never had time for a wife" Paul is talking with "Navy for life" Davey at a piano bar. Hmmm.

Vietnam Vet one

goodnight saigon? the one with the really over the top chorus of "we will AAAAALLLLL go down together"?

at the claddagh pub, in lawrence, ma this song was in the jukebox for a brief period of time, i'd always change the lyrics to "they will all go down on kevin" but it never quite caught on.

If any ILXors are called for jury duty on this case they'll have to disclose these conversations.

the defendant will settle if he's smart!

Any details of it I'd rather talk about over a beer than over the Internet, but, fellas, watch it with those verbal compliments in the workplace! Sarah should go after the deliverymen in her office.

if past behavior is any indication, he really really isn't.

xpost true that.

colette - you'll want an even better & bigger tv after you buy a wii and your initial tv to play it on. leaf is on a mission for something better now that we have the wii. i told him to wait until we have a house.

Kevin and I walked on a block I'd never been on before, on Jackson just east of Ashland -- full block of beautiful row houses.

Also, the bar we were at today has 40 beers on tap and "tastes" for $2.

did you get my email about surly beer coming to chicago?

Oh, I did and more importantly

I JUST ATE KELSEY'S GINGER-N-MOLASSES COOKIE nom nom nom nom nom

they came!!

did they last okay through the mail?

that means that hopefully julia got her vegan cookies today!

nom nomnom

Yes, arrived just fine - thanks for the sweet note too!

you know it's really just a bribery for your friendship, right?

Aw, this is probably the first time I've gotten handwritten correspondence in a year or two (other than the other note you sent earlier this year).

are you serious?! well, that's going to change, mister.

I'm all over the handwritten correspondence. I love letters.

TAKE THAT, JORDAN!

eric, i don't know if you ever went to the north country c0-0p or not (near the west bank of the U) but it's closing next sunday for good. it made me so sad i used an EMOTICON in an email about it. that's the form my grief has taken.

haha

I don't think I ever went to that one, only went to the wedge and the co-op in downtown St. Paul near where I lived in high school.

the wedge just bought a farm!

Whereas the N0rth C0untry Co-Op, it sounds like, bought THE farm.

does that work in print? i don't get it.

I need to go prepare for a presentation i'm giving tonight. also, i need out of this 'ell 'ole.

You know, bought the farm, kicked the bucket, croaked, etc.

I loled jaymc.

Do we no longer rofl in 2007?

http://a886.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/104/l_607af5dbaf0c748b37591abfd2ba39a5.jpg

ok guys i have a costume
it's not great but it's something

ps costume shop on howard east of clark = pretty good and full of totally weird shit. well staffed by attractive people as well.

Hmmm, what kind of "weird shit"?

like piles of jewelry, 300+ costumes, every latex/plastic animal mask you could imagine, $0.95 stuff selling out front, many varieties of wings, chain mail shirts, etc

i mean, it's standard for a halloween store, but this place is open year-round and is on howard in the middle of pretty much nowheresville* (where i live)

*compared to ragstock, which is in the middle of a bustling shopping zone.

ok guys i have a costume
it's not great but it's something

ps costume shop on howard east of clark = pretty good and full of totally weird shit. well staffed by attractive people as well.

-- La Lechera, Thursday, October 25, 2007 5:39 PM (Thursday, October 25, 2007 5:39 PM) Bookmark Link

Hmmm, what kind of "weird shit"?

-- jaymc, Thursday, October 25, 2007 5:40 PM (Thursday, October 25, 2007 5:40 PM) Bookmark Link

the difference between me and john in a nutshell: john reads amanda's post and thinks "hmmm, what kind of "weird shit"? and i read amanda's post and think "hmmm, how attractive?"

i suppose that could also (accurately) be read as "which chilxor is getting laid?"

Heh.

only one of us can laugh at that ;_;

ok guys i have a costume
it's not great but it's something

These would be great opening lines to a song.

anyway, i'm going to go out and nurse a CAN of beer at a bar so i can watch the first half of the bc/virginia tech game before they switch over to the world series. looks like i'm gonna miss that show at reggies, food is a more attractive option than an eight dollar cover, even if it is to see out of town friends for the first time in a while.

cococoma/magnetix at cobra lounge is free free free however so if anyone finds themselves on the near west side (ashland & lake) come on out. hometowners go on around 11-ish, frenchies go on at midnight.

only one of us can laugh at that ;_;

It was an xpost. ;_;

I've got Scrabble at the not-unique game bar.

It was an xpost. ;_;

yet still appropriate!

those are my favorite kind of xposts.

tonite is my first dance recital since...1987?

wish me luck, chicago. i put a clip in my hair and am wearing mascara for my "return" to the "stage."

I hope it will be on YouTube by tomorrow morning.

uhhhhhhhh doubt it

Tell your bartenders to switch to ESPN2 for the Fire game at 7:30! Annoy the shit out of random baseball fans!

KEVIN I AM NOT LAUGHING I AM SYMPATHIZING

....THOUGH I WOULD HAVE BEEN LAUGHING TWO WEEKS AGO ;_;

xp who they playing, dan? i am out of touch

DC United. It's the first round of the playoffs. I didn't get tickets in time AGAIN but I will be watching it at home.

As long as there isn't a crowd, I bet the Underground Lounge will be showing the Fire game (league soccer players bartend there).

The Globe Pub, too. It gets incredibly crowded in there for all kinds of futbol, so I hear.

Katie said she stopped by there on some errand last weekend and it was full of drunk, sad Brits who had gone to watch their country lose at rugby.

oh what's the one over on ashland....near irving park rd. sure that'll be heaving, too.

i'm watching baseballs over at my friend's, on the HD teevee, maybe they will tolerate the futbol as well

Chicago: Ceci n'est pas une thread

I did the best I could.