YAT 23 - Chicago edition!
Year of Awesome Things - in which I do at least one Awesome Thing every week.
Chicago - This weekend, Glennis and I went to Chicago to perform in the Around The Coyote Festival. I had never been to Chicago, so I feel it easily qualifies as an awesome thing. Our shows were fun, and we got to see lots of new and old Chicago friends. Sadly, Frank and Travis couldn’t come (due to broken legs and babies, respectively) so we played with a couple of very talented Chicago-based musicians - Dan Wessels and Mike Descoteaux - who were aces all around. But this trip was about so much more than just playing some shows!
- Accomodations - Our friend, the lovely and talented Cynthia Castiglione, invited us to shack up with her for the weekend. Not only was her apartment big and cute and comfy, it was also home to Tess the dog. Tess is the kind of dog who’s a little fat but pulls it together enough to wear a jaunty bow, and won’t stay mad at you for pretending to have a treat in your hand when you don’t. Good times.
- Entertainment - If there’s one thing you can say about I Eat Pandas, it’s that we wholly squandor any and all sight-seeing opportunities when we travel. Instead, we find the local mall and see a movie. This was true in the windy city where we listlessly ambled around H&M and Forever 21 before settling down to watch Why Did I Get Married. Which, by the way, is the movie of the year (more on that later.)
- Karaoke - If there’s anything else you can say about I Eat Pandas, it’s that we fucking love karaoke. In fact, we’ve karaoked in every city we’ve ever visited - including Chicago. On Sunday night we piled in Cynthia’s rented mini-van and found the diviest, most broke down karaoke bar ever. Divey, broke-down karaoke bars are my favorite - especially when they have a drunk Russian man trying to sing along with all your songs and pick up your friends.
- Food - I didn’t eat the pizza, but I DID have a hot dog. So, at least I ate one of the signature Chicago Foods. And I give it a thumbs up! (Unlike the tacos, which were hateful abominations. Glennis still has not recovered, and may well be turned off of Mexican food forever.)