Back From The Windy City

I'm back from my thirty-hour trip to Chicago. After the show I caught the Blue Line to Washington, then transferred to the Red Line, which I took to 47th, where I took the #15 Bus to Hyde Park. It was an interesting trip, taking me through a variety of socio-economic regions. The neighborhood where the Congress is located isn't great, and I was glad to be amid a stream of departing concert-goers. I'm pretty comfortable on the trains, but the bus was a pretty intimidating place. I was the only white face of twenty or so people, and I was essential unable to understand the other passengers because of their South Side dialect. Eric, fortunately, had given me very good instructions to his place, and I got there without incident or even having to pause to get my bearings.

It was good to see Eric again, and I took him to a diner for breakfast this morning to repay him for the use of his couch and the hours of sleep I cost him. We said our goodbyes, and I caught the #15 to the Green Line, which I took up to the Loop. I met my freshman-year roommate Kyle and his long-time girlfriend Megan in Millennium Park. We spent our time together wandering through the starting grounds of an impressively-sized Polish independence parade, visiting the Shedd Aquarium, and eating stuffed pizza at my usual Giordano's.

My bus ride on Friday had been late due to a combination of the time needed to load a wheelchair-bound passenger and serious congestion in the Chicago area, but the return trip was quiet and speedy. Amanda and Leah, the two RAs on my floor, greeted me as soon as I walked in the door, asking how the concert went, and it felt good to be back.

Broken/Fixed

I saw Nine Inch Nails at the Congress Theater in Chicago on this evening. The venue was quite nice; although it needed to be repainted, it was good enough shape that it seemed "historic" rather than just "old." The audience of about twenty-six hundred felt just right. This was my first concert with general admission seating, and I was apprehensive about ending up in the back corner, but it turned out to be just fine. Actually, there were definite advantages to the approach. The head-banging, fist-pumping fans settled to the main floor, and the less active, lets-watch-and-listen fans drifted to the balcony. I was quite pleased with my seat in the second row, which allowed me to watch the show and the fans below. I was close enough to distinguish band members, but not see facial expressions.

The Dresden Dolls opened, and I found them to be as enjoyable live as in their studio release. I knew that vocalist/pianist Amanda Palmer put on quite the dramatic act, but I was surprised by the showmanship of percussionist Brian Viglione. An entire ballet was performed between his shoulders and the tips of his drumsticks. It was a joy to watch him (whenever I wasn't being distracted by Amanda's gymnastic, striped-stockinged legs, that is). I was quite pleased to hear "Coin Operated Boy" and "Half Jack," and I enjoyed both covers they performed.

Good Day
Gravity
War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
Missed Me
Coin-Operated Boy
Port Of Amsterdam (Jacques Brel)
Half Jack
Girl Anachronism

The NIN set was marred by technical difficulties. Reznor's microphone was the only thing properly miked, so the "The Frail" was all but completely lost, and "The Wretched" was pretty much drumming and vocals. I was disappointed that the songs were not repeated properly. I wouldn't be surprised if Trent Reznor had been screaming at people backstage, but to the audience he was humble and apologetic regarding the technical difficulties. I was also disappointed that the set included so few tracks from With Teeth, especially since I so enjoyed what few songs did make it into the show. Highlights of the show included the performance of "Home," the vinyl-only b-side for "The Hand That Feeds," and "With Teeth," during which Reznor actually played tambourine. "Piggy" had an enjoyable extended outro, and "Closer" included an instrumental which I believe may have been borrowed from "The Only Time."

The Frail
The Wretched
[remedial sound check]
Wish
March Of The Pigs
The Line Begins To Blur
Piggy
Terrible Lie
Burn
With Teeth
Closer
Home
Reptile
The Big Come Down
Gave Up
The Day The World Went Away
Suck
Hurt
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

The was no encore, but I understand this is normal for NIN.

In

Today was a day of good news.

I've been accepted to the Syracuse University School of Architecture. I've joked with people, that Syracuse has been my "safety school," and truthfully I have considered it to be my best chance, but I'm still extraordinarily happy. It's a fine school, and I'll be quite satisfied if I do end up there.

Also, I managed to snag one ticket to the Nine Inch Nails show in Chicago on 6 May. (I had been trying for two tickets so that I could go with Eric Rogers, who's kindly agreed to put me up for the night, but the competition on Ticketmaster.com proved too fierce. Perhaps we can find a ticket for him that night, since he only risks a forty-minute trip instead of a four-hour busride.) I'm quite excited about this show; I've heard NIN shows are quite spectacular, and I'm almost as excited about the support act, the Dresden Dolls, who have been earning quite a bit of attention in music circles lately. The ticket price was only $30.00, but I ultimately paid $45.58 after all the fees. I was hesitant about spending the money with grad school just around the corner, but I strongly suspect that I'll view this as money well spent twenty years from now, and I can't imagine a more tempting concert than this.

Tall Buildings

I attended a lecture on the history of architecture in Chicago. Covering 201 years in an hour and a half, it was extraordinarily brief, but the eighty-something woman giving the talk proved most lively and it was a highly enjoyable lecture. The lecture focused most heavily on skyscrapers, which are widely (although not universally) considered to be a Chicagoan invention. I sat next to Professor Buenger, who teaches my course in twentieth century Italian art. Professor Buenger, who I suspect to be about 50 years of age, and I were probably the two youngest people in the room, which was comprised mostly of friends of the library. A gentleman gave a brief introduction on the matter of the recent book sale the library held to raise funds, and he added a comment that they always encourage donations to the library, especially from young folks. Of course he was looking right at me as he said it, and we all had a good chuckle.

After that lecture, we swept over to the Elvehjem Art Museum to catch the end of a lecture on Xu Bing, a Chinese artist who is currently being featured in the Elvehjem with a gallery of his work and a special year-long installation in the main room. This makes two evenings in a row with the good professor: a new record for a non-major undergrad perhaps?

Pizza and Pissarro

I spent today in Chicago, once again visiting the Art Institute and Giordano's. Once again, I had an excellent time. There was no special exhibit this time, Seurat was done and Toulouse-Lautrec hasn't yet begun. I did take enjoy Japanese Art from the Alsdorf Collection, which was small but appealing. One piece included a poem in beautiful Japanese calligraphy:

If you want to live
Until your beard becomes long
And your back is bent,
You must not eat too much food,
And you'd better sleep alone.

Professor Buenger showed us a half dozen pieces that fall into our domain of Twentieth Century Italian. A half dozen pieces was really all they had. America seems to have thoroughly ignored all Italian art produced in the past three hundred years.

I walked with Nat, who sits next to me in lecture, in search of Giordano's. The one closest to the Institute was closed, so we went to the one I visited last spring. The pleasant surprise was that the area was much nicer with constriction on Millennium Park completed. We even went for a stroll over to Cloud Gate while our pizza was baking to utilize our time effectively. It was a very cool piece, even unfinished.

On the way back, Nat and I edited some short stories written by his classmates in Creative Writing. Neither story was good, but one was so unbelievably terrible that we were in tears. I'll try to get the exact text, but for now I'll reproduce the first two lines as best I can from memory:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful kingdom that was always sunny, with the sky a perfect shade of blue, never any clouds, and the grass was always green. Unfortunately, because it was always sunny, the plants withered and died, the grass turned a lovely brown, then fell to dust and blew away, and all the flowers bloomed no more.

¡Ay, ay, ay!

Trouble in Chicago

I went to get my hair cut today, and the cheap place closed at noon, so I went to a nicer place that is actually much closer. I believe it was called "Nogginz," and I'm not sure if it's a chain or a single store. I had a half hour wait, but my chair was very comfortable and the magazines were new. I finally got called by a heavily tattooed and pierced young woman. After we established how I wanted my hair (an exchange which made me feel very ignorant), I tried to make small talk with her. I found out that she had been living in Seattle during 2003, but hated it because "all the people were so stupid." Seeking more along that vein, I learned that she had lived in Chicago briefly before that and loved it. I asked her why she left, and she said she got into too much trouble there. "Trouble?" I asked. "Yeah. If I stayed I'd probably be dead with a needle in my arm," she answered matter-of-factly. "Ah," I replied.

Chicago (after)

The trip to Chicago went well for both Kyle and myself. Transportation worked out okay, although with 6 busses and 3 trains, it was more complicated than I expected. The show was great, and the poncho that was on our front-row seats was most handy in protecting us from mashed banana, half-chewed Capt'n Crunch, and a small bit of paint. Our excellent host Eric Rogers gave us great directions and bought us lunch at a nice little restaurant on the University of Chicago campus called The Medici. It was really great to see Kyle again.

Chicago (before)

I'm off to the Windy City tomorrow to reunite with my old roommie and see the Blue Man Group's Tubes show. I'm taking a Vangalder Bus back and forth between Madison and Chicago. I won't be back until around midnight. Hopefully there will be much to report on Monday.

Pizza and Picasso

I had a long but rewarding day yesterday, as I traveled to Chicago as part of an Honors Student Organization activity. For twenty bucks I got a round trip bus ride, admission to the Art Institute of Chicago and the special Rembrandt exhibit, and dinner. The Rembrandt exhibit was truly amazing. Due to the small size of most of the pieces on display, the usual special-exhibit space was filled with about 200 works. It took me just over ninety minutes to make it through, although I think I was more meticulous than most. The final two galleries were fairly empty, as people grew tired and sped through to the end. Upon exiting I met up with a fellow member of the HSO film society, and we adventured out into Chicago for lunch. We decided on a restaurant called Giornano's, and had quite an adventure looking for the place. We encountered a lot of misleading signs, locked doors, and mysterious courtyards. We found the place though, and boy was it worth it. I think I had the second-best pizza of my life (after MC's 2002 St. Patrick's Day gastronomic delight); Les and I split a stuffed pizza with spinach and sausage. I ate my half with difficulty, and Les had leave one of his pieces behind, much to our mutual despair.

Back in the museum, we toured for a few more hours, taking in Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon in the Island of La Grande Jatte, a handful of Monets, some interesting pieces by Hedri de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa set in the Moulin Rouge, and some more modern art, most notably a substantial number of paintings by Tanguy Yves. When we met-up with our group, we drove over to Ed Debevic's for a quick dinner. The place was loud, and their intentionally rude waitresses were less funny that they could have been. I can't really judge the food, since we, as a group of 45, got a fixed meal dinner, with a choice of hamburger, cheeseburger, veggieburger, grilled cheese, or grilled chicken. I had the chicken, and it was a simple, but tasty sandwich. The bus ride back was long (since I didn't want to nap so late in the day), but I through about 50 pages of Art History reading. All in all, it was a well-spent day.