2nd Wind for the 2nd City

July 28, 2012

On the blue line coming back from O'Hare, I am blurry eyed, having only an hour long sleep the night before, and a power nap on the plane coming in, I explain to Andrea that we will have about an hour before we actually get downtown. I try to make conversation with her in the crowded 'L' train but what I am saying is probably something resembling gibberish or mediocre small talk at best.

Once we get downtown, we are far too early to check-in at our hotel, so we check our bags and put our name in for the next available room. They say they'll call us...right. We look up places to eat on wi-fi but realize nothing opens till 11:00am. We kill a bit of time roaming River North until Lou Malnati's opens up, in hope of grabbing some deep dish pizza as soon as they open. The service is great, and we get a tasty house salad to start followed by some personal size deep dish. I get "The Lou", which is a vegetarian pizza while Andrea gets a meat pizza. The only downside is that they give her extra garlic instead of olives by mistake. I've been told by quite a few people that most Chicagoans regard Lou Malnati's as the best. It was definitely up there but it is the Pizza Uno style of Chicago deep dish not the stuffed variety that you find at Giordano's or Gino's East. I personally am partial to the "touristy" Giordano's but that's just me.

After lunch, we headed over to Grant Park and Millennium Park, which were already getting ready for Lollapalooza at the time, so you could not walk everywhere you wanted to. It was hot and humid, making it perfect weather for getting cool under the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park. Apparently, throngs of children had the exact same idea, but I second guessed it when I realized I was still carrying my camera. From then on, I got uneasy whenever some menacing mist approached. At "the bean" or Cloud Gate as it is really called, scavenger hunt participants were dressed in tutus and other crazy costumes jumping up in front of the art in hopes of getting a perfect photo.

We dashed into the Art Institute of Chicago's courtyards for some shade, and to relax a bit. It is very beautiful in there, it's easy to forget that Michigan avenue is right beside you. We took some photos, and then were on our way back to our hotel near Merchandise Mart (Holiday Inn Chicago Mart) to check-in. I sent off a quick message to my friend, Maya, who had invited us out to her drummer's b-day party near Wicker Park. Considering we were stopping for a nap in the hotel room, we would not be able to make it. She reminded me that Wicker Park Fest was going on, and I found out that I got the day wrong, and the band, Kill Hannah was playing that night instead of Sunday. We compromised and decided we would meet here there and have some street eats. Andrea and I crashed in the hotel room until it was time to go.

Andrea and I met Maya at Damen Blue Line near the Double Door, and at first I did not recognize her, it had been a few years and it is just one of those things where you are not sure of yourself- especially when half asleep.Once identities were confirmed, paid a meager $5 donation, and we made our way through the crowds to grab some empanadas and beer, and explored the area before the show started. It was tough to hear each other but we made the most of it.

When Kill Hannah finally took the stage, I noticed how small it was compared to some of the stages that I had seen them on. The most notable being at Metro when they played Act 4 over a decade ago. This was a homecoming of sorts for the band, they rehearsed and lived in this area for many years. The lead singer, Mat Devine had come back from living in New York the last couple of years, and the set was a mix of new and old.Reaching back to "Hummingbirds The Size of Bullets" all the way to a version of "Strobe Lights".  The crowd went wild went the band broke out a well rehearsed rendition of the Smashing Pumpkins, "Cherub Rock" while beach balls bounced around the audience. It reminded me a lot of that Act 4 night in July 2001, except their version sounded a lot better this time around. Fittingly, the last song of the night was "Welcome To Chicago".

Next blog.... "It's a Zoo Out Here"