007 Now Where Was I

...oh yeah, Chicago.

The WLUW record fair was better than I ever imagined. 2 huge rooms filled with booths of local vendors. Not only records, but posters, crafts, food, and perhaps my most favorite booth: Shawnimals! Homemade stuffed animals with crazy back stories. Check out the website and search out Son Of Moustachio, Junky Trunky, and the Rampy's. So... yes, thank you to WLUW for asking me to play. It was a blast. Plus I was finally able to witness the intense beauty that is Unique Chique. Seriously, you need to check out some of their songs here. It's really amazing stuff. Think Jeff Buckley singing for The Sea and Cake. Yeah, it's that good... and their new cd, which is even better, comes out next month!

Afterwards, we just had to hit up Earwax for a quick meeting and quick eating. I dined on a scrumptious mushroom swiss veggie burger. Since i abstain from cheese a good week before a block of shows, I tend to binge as soon as the last note is hit. Ditto for ice cream, and i have a soft creamy delicious spot in my heart for Coldstone. I go for the coffee ice cream and have them smash graham cracker pie crust into it. Oh man, that's great. Heavenly!

I was a mess last night. For some reason, as I was working on some recording stuff, i downed about 4 cups of coffee like they were water. By the time I arrived at the State Theatre for the Jimmy Eat World / Taking Back Sunday / Format show, I was a shaky quaky mess. And it really didn't help that the staff there were so overly UNfriendly. We pulled up, got our passes, and then walked in. Jimmy had already started which made conversations impossible. I needed to get backstage and no one could help me find out how to do that. Given my state of mind, I was a total mess. I wanted to enjoy the set while hanging out with my friends, drinking their free beer, you know, taking advantage... and i was being thwarted at every turn. Finally someone from the back comes out to smuggle us in and things are better.

Al from Rescue hands me a beer and things are good. Doctor Hottub himself, my old friend, and Format's tour manager comes down to hang out and things are getting really great. Marco from The Format is the coolest guy ever... so after Jimmy heads offstage, we hit the backstage. Everyone is psyched to see each other and it's the class reunion that I predicted. And pretty soon, I get a little jealous. I'm having such a great time. I want to be on this tour. Seriously, I'll wave flashlights at The Format during their set. Just let me in the van!

Ah yes, but it is not meant to be. Patience, grasshopper, right? Tour is coming soon enough. And actually much sooner than i thought! It seems like new shows are popping up like moles in the whack-a-mole machine. May 1 in Dekalb, May 6 in Normal, May 7 in Detroit, May 13 in Springfield IL, May 28 in DC... This is crazy.

Tonight... it's yet another show: The Fiery Furnaces. Now, i love me some Fiery Furnaces on record, but I've heard that their live shows are fast and frenetic and completely different. So i can't wait. And yeah, i can't wait to write about it either.

Clog in the torso shoot: Sayrah.net, frat parties, hard drives, Sideways, Screeching Weasel, Monk, Lil vodka bottle, Miss Congeniality, Photos of Louisville, Stuffed artichokes and cheesecake...