9.30.2009

whatever happened to?

My last post was a Jim Carroll song. And now Jim Carroll has passed away. Sad.

If I were superstitious, I would refrain from mentioning anyone in this post... OR I'd refer to some rather troubled people that have been in my life lately. Haha. But I'm not that cruel. Or am I?

Life hasn't exactly been the greatest lately. Got laid off, had to move back home, got my heart pretty much torn out, repeatedly. Dated someone I didn't even like and didn't treat him well at all. Kept going back to the one person that has my heart only to find out he's just passing the time with me.


You think you've hit your lowest point and then it just gets worse. But you know what? I'm sick of pining over things and people that don't care and/or matter. I'm sick of wasting my time.

7.09.2009

not my bit, but still good.

You want an update?

"Teddy sniffing glue, he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-nine
Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
On 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

G-berg and Georgie let their gimmicks go rotten
So they died of hepatitis in upper Manhattan
Sly in Vietnam took a bullet in the head
Bobby OD'd on Drano on the night that he was wed
They were two more friends of mine
Two more friends that died

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room
Bobby hung himself from a cell in the tombs
Judy jumped in front of a subway train
Eddie got slit in the jugular vein
And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others
And I salute you brother

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Herbie pushed Tony from the Boys' Club roof
Tony thought that his rage was just some goof
But Herbie sure gave Tony some bitchen proof
'Hey,' Herbie said, 'Tony, can you fly?'
But Tony couldn't fly, Tony died

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Brian got busted on a narco rap
He beat the rap by rattin' on some bikers
He said, 'Hey, I know it's dangerous, but it sure beats Riker's'
But the next day he got offed by the very same bikers

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Teddy sniffing glue, he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-nine
Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
On 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

G-berg and Georgie let their gimmicks go rotten
So they died of hepatitis in upper Manhattan
Sly in Vietnam took a bullet in the head
Bobby OD'd on Drano on the night that he was wed
They were two more friends of mine
Two more friends that died

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room
Bobby hung himself from a cell in the tombs
Judy jumped in front of a subway train
Eddie got slit in the jugular vein
And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others
And I salute you brother

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died"

Special thanks (and apologies?) to Jim Carroll.

4.12.2009

Okay everyone talks about how awesome Wil Wheaton is... and he is, don't get me wrong. But all everyone seems to swoon over is his turn as Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

But what about Stand by Me??? Have you nerds forgotten how great that movie is?! ;)

4.09.2009

strings of death

Lately I've become obsessed with Chicago disasters. Flight 191, The Iroquois Theatre fire, Our Lady of the Angels, the Eastland... you name it. Call me morbid but at the very least, in the case of the fires it did change how we look at building safety. And being that I work in insurance, I'm assessing shit like that every day.

But whatever.

Mark Your Calendars!

April 18 is International Record Store Day, according to Greg Kot. So awesome!!!

To find participating stores, go here.

4.08.2009

dance dance dance to the radio

This girl's blog is amazing. She posted a picture that brought me back to my youth and it just brought a giddy smile to my face. It really made me miss growing up in Chicago.

I still want my Joy Division tattoo. I know it's a fashionable thing now, but I don't care. I love the design.

I know I promised more blogging, but I really haven't had the time. Between work and attempting to move, I haven't had much to say.
Oh, so much for blogging every day, like I planned.

This spring/summer will hopefully be different though. Once I move and things settle down. Sheesh.

3.22.2009

2.4.6.8 Motorway



I came across this cute place on my ride home Saturday morning. The Esquire Motel, located at 6145 N Elston, isn't quite the place I'd like to end up staying at now, but I'm sure in it's heyday it was just a quaint little stop for young travellers, or maybe a handsome businessman or two.



I don't know what fascinates me about places like this. I love imagining what it was like in the fifties or sixties, which I'm assuming is around when it was built. What kind of people stayed there, what the walls could tell you...



...but I guess I'm just weird like that.

3.20.2009

geek love!

Last night I got a Facebook friend request from none other than author, blogger, and all-around smartypants Phil Plait. Yes, the Bad Astronomer. And HE sought ME out. Mostly because I commented on his blog, but still. That made my DAY!

3.19.2009

crash courses in catastrophe

Argh. So why haven't I truly blogged recently? It's not for lack of time, I can tell you that. Beyond the random poor-me posts and the whoring out of my friends.... I just haven't had anything to say. About anything.

Honestly, I feel like I'm losing my mind. But not necessarily in a terrifying way. Everything has just become a blur lately.

3.10.2009

"lane, would you mind if i took beth out?"

I try not to make this blog so personal but sometimes it just comes out that way.

So let's see... what have I learned recently? They say that after a tragic or at least life-changing event you have to just assess the damage and get on with it, right? So what have I learned?

Hmm. For one, if someone's willing to give up that easily, they didn't really care that much in the first place.

Two. Postcards and letters and poems are beautiful, but they're just words. Meaningless really.

Three? You can't expect anything. Things change. Situations change. People change.

And boy, does that suck.



But on the other hand, one situation ends and a million doors open. So that's been kind of awesome.

And if I think about it, I'm pretty much in the same place I was a year ago, at least in a certain sense. And last spring was pretty amazing. So I'm looking forward to another one of those.

SUCCESS!!

We are back online, people.

But unfortunately, it's time for bed.

Suckaaaaaaas

2.19.2009

Hey Glenn Danzig,

I know that the rumors about a Rock of Love featuring you aren't true, but if they were... sigh.

(then again, I'm sure he doesn't look anything like this anymore)

2.18.2009

Vintage Clothing Show!

Feb. 27 & 28, 2009
Hemmens Cultural Center, Elgin, Illinois

Friday 5pm-10pm - admission $10 (Good for the entire weekend. $2 off Friday admission if you dress in vintage! Early buying is available at 3 pm for $60)

Saturday 10am-5pm - admission $6

Free parking!
Cocktail Bar, Vintage Clothing Contest
& Live Band Friday Evening!
Gourmet café all weekend-Demonstrations Saturday!

Go here for more details. Unfortunately, since I'm broke, you probably won't see me at this event.

2.05.2009

update?



Okay, so I STILL don't have a computer. But fear not, dearies. I'll be back up soon.

1.21.2009

emac FAIL!

So my home computer is dead. Sniff. I'd be a lot more pissed if it didn't run a lot longer than I had expected... and if I had paid anything for it in the first place. Then again, nearly three years with a lousy boyfriend might be payment enough. Ba-zing!

Oh, I kid. But what does this mean for my site? Could this be the end of my blogging career?! Tune in tomorrow. Same bat-time, same bat-channel!

1.16.2009

more queen.

There's something really comforting about catching the end of We Will Rock You on the radio knowing that We Are The Champions will follow. When did that start? What DJ decided that those two go hand it hand, and how did it become tradition?

I guess I could just wikipedia it.

But I digress... it really makes me wish that iTunes had that feature. Like, if I put my library on random, it wouldn't know to put those songs together. But it should.

1.14.2009

holy hilarious!

Hot off the craigslist presses.....

1000 dollar karaoke! If you're willing to make the trek to McHenry, that is...

1.13.2009

escape velocity!

By now you all know my love for Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer. Below is a video from another smarty-pants type that I admire, Neil deGrasse Tyson:

i flipping hate that don mclean song.

This coming February marks the fiftieth year of The Day The Music Died. For you uncultured types, this was the day that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper died tragically in a plane crash. To mark this anniversary, there are a slew of events going on in the midwest, some even at the original venues they played for the Winter Dance Party tour.

Buddy impersonator John Mueller is heading the Winter Dance Party tribute tour, along with Ritchie impersonator Ray Anthony and Jay Richardson, The Big Bopper's son. Tour dates can be found here, but I would act quickly because they're selling fast.


Fifty years... it really makes you wonder how things would be different if they had survived. If the weather wasn't so treacherous, if they'd had a more experienced pilot. I really believe Buddy Holly would have had a great career and an extensive catalog of work. Ritchie too (No offense JP). I don't doubt that Holly would have continued in music, and continued making hits. But maybe that's just the fangirl in me.

1.12.2009

"You're welcome!"

Last night I was fortunate enough to catch the live premiere of sketch comedy duo Sausage. Playing to a sold out crowd at the Theatre Building Chicago, Sausage managed to blend pop culture snarkishness and self-deprecating humor, with a dash of ridiculousness.

Highlights? The shooting of Pete Wentz bit was pretty goddamn hilarious.

Also, unbeknownst to me, I was featured in one of their sketches, via old footage from an audition tape. Huzzah!

1.11.2009

wouldn't it be nice?

From jezebel, this great question is sure to make you think: What was the album that made you love music? Says blogger Hortense:

This is Paul McCartney's favorite album," my father would say before putting the record on, as if Beatle-street cred would keep me in the room long enough to hear every song. It wasn't necessary: as soon as Brian Wilson's songs started playing, it was all over. This was not a dumb Beach Boys surf album. This was something beautiful and sad and sweet; a strange and lovely album that showed me a side of my somewhat emotionally distant father that I'd never seen. Some fathers like to give lectures, some like to give hugs, some like to play catch. My father liked to listen to Pet Sounds, and he wanted me to like listening to it, too.


While Pet Sounds IS amazing, it seems to be one of those generic hipster answers.. If you read the comments in the post, you'll find a plethora of even more hipster-ish responses. Cat Power? Really? I doubt you were listening to Cat Power ten years ago. Were you shopping at Urban Outfitters then too?

But I'm not knocking this chick at all. Pet Sounds is truly a great record. And I was raised the same way as a child, only my mother was the one obsessed with music.



But if you really want to know what record totally opened my eyes and made me "love" music (as if I didn't love it before), I'd have to say it was Devo's Freedom of Choice. Sure, I loved my mother's fifties and sixties gems, as well as my brother's bad eighties metal/early hip hop, but Freedom of Choice was the first record that I found, that I discovered on my own.

I bought it at a very early age... I must have been ten or eleven. I was digging through the discount bins at the old Rose Records on Schaumburg Road... and I found it for something like a couple bucks, which I'm sure was a fortune to me at the time. Something about the cover just made me want to check them out. The red dome hats and silver suits, the nerdish glasses...

...anyway, I put the record on and loved it from side a to side b. They may be dismissed as a one-hit wonder, a novelty eighties group, but it really was a great album. It made me buy their other records, and in turn it made me want to check out other bands.



And that, actually, is what I think makes a record like that so important. When it makes you want to track down similar artists, similar genres; when it makes you branch out and check out the artists that influenced them, and the artists that they influenced themselves, that's when a record really makes an impression.

So thanks, Devo.

1.07.2009

cheap cologne and that damn song too.

Something about seeing/hearing Naked Raygun on a jukebox makes me ridiculously happy. Sunday I was at Schuba's for an open mic, and not once, but TWICE, I heard the sweet sounds of Raygun. I was so giddy about it, I not only expressed my squealy girly excitement to my long-suffering boyfriend, who barely batted an eye, but I also explained it to his brother, who had no idea what I was talking about.

It's gotta be the Chicago pride thing. It's the same reason I have the Wax Trax! power lines tattooed on my arm. At any rate, here's a couple of the local bars with halfway decent jukeboxes:

● Inner Town Pub: 1935 W Thomas Street

If I remember correctly, they have Throb Throb and All Rise on the jukebox, which is my favorite album anyway. It's a little bit hipster, but the bar is neat and old. They've got Iggy and The Dolls on the box too, and pool tables. Overall, it's a cute little place.

● The Gingerman Tavern? 3740 N. Clark

Well, considering I was drunk the last time I was here, I could be completely wrong on the name and location. BUT, I know it's right next to the Metro, and it has a really great jukebox. As far as the Raygun goes, it only has Understand? on it, but that has the classics Treason and Wonder Beer, so that's good enough for me.

I'll post more when I remember.



Next week: A list of the best Mexican restaurants in the area that still have the game Burgertime.

oh lenny.

1.05.2009

just because.




I'm pretty sure that if heaven were to exist, Freddie would be playing sold out shows every night.

1.04.2009

Whee 2009!

Unfortunately, I didn't know that we could smuggle our cameras into the Metro on NYE, otherwise I would've posted some really gnarly Dandy Warhols photos.

Best part of the entire night though was buying bottles of champagne from the bar... and walking around the venue, dressed to the nines, swigging from bottles of bubbly.

Oh, and the band... I'm sure the band was good too.



I'm stoked about oh nine though. Got some ideas a'cookin... or something to that extent.