So we set out on a journey last thursday night to make way to the windy city. Along for the ride was myself, Josh, Nick, Samantha, and Karen. The drive was like driving into the abyss (driving through the night is not fun), but was entertaining with the constant yelling and laughing coming from the back seat. Me and Josh took the helm for most of the driving, and left the craziest part of our driving to Nick when we entered the city. Poor Nick. 36 hours of no sleep and thrown to the wolves of Chicago’s morning rush hour traffic. We made it to our home in Hyde Park, thanks to Nick’s cousin Olivia, and basically fell apart into a million pieces onto our air mattresses. But for some reason I kept dreaming of myself sinking, and when I would wake up, I would find myself on the floor due to my air mattress deflating. This happened many times throughout the weekend. When we all came to, we took a stroll through beautiful Hyde Park, stood up a pizza place due to a bitch waitress, and ate some awesome asian food down the way. We were playing our show at The Double Door that night in Wicker Park downtown so we left a little late getting there: Big mistake. Chicago’s rush hour traffic is probably the worst I’ve ever seen. What a cluster of madness. No wonder they have awesome public transportation! The driver’s are insane! And the bicyclists are even crazier! Needless to say we made it to the venue and met up with our friends Josh and The Empty Pockets. Those guys are just great. We had a good show, sold lots of merchandise, and made new friends. Luckily Nick, the production manager at The Double Door, wanted to know if we wanted to play a 200$ paying gig out in the suburbs the next night, and of course we accepted. That money right there paid for the gas the entire trip. The venue was on Milwaukee Ave., and the whole strip was toe to toe with hipsters, show ponies, jockeys, and punk kids of all sorts. It was nothing like Memphis. So after all of us only having 2 to 3 hours of sleep a piece, we decided to get back to the apartment. Sunday was filled with adventure of all sorts. We all ended up at The Museum of Science and Industry. Let me tell you, this place was incredibly overwhelming. There was too much to take in at once. Anxiety was bound to take me on this particular journey. My heart goes out to Karen and Sam for putting up with the 3 of us this weekend. We probably would of been robbed and dead if it wasn’t for them. The Whispering Gallery was the coolest thing in that museum that I saw, minus the awesome Idea Factory that looked like Willy Wonka’s factory in the original movie with Gene Wilder! But unfortunately we couldn’t enter because it was for ages 10 and under. Boo! After the museum we ran like jack rabbits across lake shore drive, and enjoyed Lake Michigan for a while. It seriously looks like an ocean. The weather by the way could not have been better the whole weekend. That evening we followed the GPS out to Glendale Heights to play at a place called Shark City, where we played another gig which went over pretty well. Even if we were background noise to most, there were a handful of people that really enjoyed us. That night after we got back, Nick and Josh set out for food at 3 in the morning, only to find a dunkin donuts and Calvin the Ghost (that is a story that they would have to disclose with you, since I did not have the experience). Sunday was off into downtown Chicago. Vacation day! We took the Metra Train into the heart of downtown and started out on foot. We experienced the Giant Bean, the awesome water towers, and a chinese ceremony. Well Karen was going to the Art Museum, the rest of us set out to find the Sear’s Tower. Albeit exciting at first, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Well we found the damn thing, only to find out it would take 45 minutes to get our tickets, then another 45 to get to the top. The whole time we were having second thoughts until it was too late. Sam was the lucky one. She got out just in time and left us three guys to succumb to having our spirits broken for the next 2 hours. We waited in line for security, then for tickets, then for a stupid movie, then to get to the DAMN elevator. By then I was so mad I couldn’t even see straight. We got to the top finally only to be so disappointed upon arriving. All this build up for nothing. It would of been cool if we didn’t have to wait so long. It felt like I was looking out of an airplane. Whooptie do. Then we had to wait to get out of the freakin building! AAAAAAHHHHHHH! After losing 45 dollars and waiting for almost 3 hours, we felt the day was completely wasted. It was rejuvenated once we got back to Hyde Park and enjoyed a Chicago Deep Dish pizza and some Newcastle. Well it was time for us to depart back to our homeland, so we packed up shop, said our goodbyes and thanks to Olivia, and set Uncle P on course to Memphis. After many 5 hour energy shots, paranoia, scary gas stations in podunck towns, a particular fun house gas station, and Michaela Shcmit’s Cd, we made it back to Memphis. Oh sweet home, Chicago, how we will miss thee. We took lots of video and pictures so it will be up soon. Thanks for reading this too long of a description of our travels. Take care.
Ge-off Smythe