Green Music Festival

What: Green Music Festival
Where: Ukranian Village
How Much: $5 donation
How to get there: Red line to Clark and Division, Division Street bus

After a nice afternoon watching the Pride Parade, Kim and I headed to the Green Music Festival to see a band we're both quite fond of, Cloud Cult. We arrived a few hours early and walked around the neighborhood. Kim had a sore spot on her foot from her sandals so we stopped at a Walgreens for a bandaid. After purchasing the bandaids, we were standing outside the store so that Kim could apply it and a Walgreens employee came outside. He asked if either of us had an iphone and I said yes, thinking he was going to ask us to look something up. Instead, he held one up and asked, "Like this one?" People never cease to amaze me. Awesome.

He was going on a break, so we asked him his name (Devon) and he headed over to the fair with us to have some dinner. We found a stand with delicious goat cheese, sundried tomato and artichoke pizza. Those are pretty much my three favorite things, so even though I wasn't hungry, I ate my whole slice. Deeelicious. I would say this was the best fair food I have had so far, and I really wish I had taken a picture of the name of the restaurant so that I could talk it up.

After 20 minutes, Devon had to go (after getting Kim's number) and Kim and I explored the booths. I bought a necklace with three different kinds of metal and a deck of restaurant cards. I am pretty excited about these cards. Each one describes a different independent restaurant in the city and entitles the bearer to $10 off a purchase of $25 or more. There are 52 cards in the deck, a savings of $520 if you used every one. The deck sells for $20 and pays for itself in two visits. The point is to get the word out about interesting, "niche" restaurants in the city. I can't wait to start trying them!

The festival was smaller than most, so we had some time to spare after visiting the booths.We tried a new beer, Peak Organic, as we sat around waiting for our band to take the stage. Finally it was time and we made our way over to find a spot in between the hippies and drunken teenagers. The boy standing in front of Kim was more drunk than anyone has any right to be, let alone the underage. He had trouble standing for the entire concert but managed to smoke about 15 cigarettes and remember the words to every song.





Cloud Cult took the stage at 8:45. The band consists of a cello, violin, keyboard, french horn, guitar, bass, and drums. There are also two artists that paint in the back while the band is playing. At the end of the concert, they auction off the paintings to the highest bidder. The painter on the left is the wife of the lead singer.
Kim and I have seen Cloud Cult once before, and just like last time I was entranced by the violinist, Shannon. She has this same serene look the entire time she is playing or singing.

Despite the drunken teenagers and the smoke, I was thoroughly entertained. If you ever have the chance to see this band or pick up an album, do it. You will listen to nothing else for weeks.

Those were the only two festivals I made it to this weekend. My mom is turning an important number on Thursday (which I won't disclose here) and her friends organized an incredible surprise party for her on Saturday. Somehow we all managed to keep the secret for months and she walked in with spacers between her toes from a pedicure. I have never seen someone so completely shocked. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Next weekend I will be out of town, but if you have the time, the Taste of Chicago is still going on.
May your lives be long, and may your wishes all be simple, and may your hearts stay strong.

Pride parade

What: Pride Parade/ Pridefest
Where: Lakeview
How Much: Parade is free, fest $5
How to get there: Red line to Belmont, walk to Ohio and Broadway

In the case of the Pride parade, a picture is worth a thousand words. So enjoy! Overall, I was disappointed in the general lack of depravity in this year's parade. I know it's a family affair, and for the sake of the little girl across the street (whose parents I could not identify), I suppose I am glad there wasn't more T and A present. This might have had something to do with the fact that I watched the parade from pretty much the end of the route, and most of the walkers were half unconscious from heat exhaustion before they reached my vantage point. I did see one boob and lots of mostly naked bodies.
I am lucky enough to have a friend whose apartment faces the parade route. So while others sweltered on the sidewalk, my friends and I watched the goings on from the air conditioned comfort of her bed. The parade officially kicked off at noon, and it reached the apartment at about 1:30. It ended at 4:00. That's right, two and a half hours of parade. I would say about half of it was politically oriented and the other half was just for fun.

Every major group I can think of was represented, from the Jewish to the Egyptian. Some of the floats featured crazy club dancing and others chose to emphasize unconditional love. I saw countless "I love my gay (insert relative here)" shirts, signs, you name it. The floats handed out stickers, wristbands, and condoms. One thing that captured the attention of my company was these two girls, who decided it would be prudent to remove their shirts and put stickers over their nipples. Only, it was about a thousand degrees on Sunday and the stickers kept falling off due to sweat. Here they are asking someone from the parade for new stickers. He seems happy to oblige.

On my way to my friend's apartment I passed some crazy street preachers. These people make me angry in a way that few things can. I just don't understand the religious need to force one's beliefs on other people. Those of you who know me are snorting because I happen to be quite opinionated about more than a few topics. I think the difference lies in what happens to those who disagree with me. At the worst, you'll make a bad decision. At the best, I'll be completely wrong and you will attain great wealth, happiness and success. Compare this to evangelists. At the worst, you're damned to an eternity in hell. In addition, the police surround these negative nellies and protect them from the dangerous, body-flaunting crowd.

One of the best things I see happening from my little festival experiment is that it is really helping me remove some layers of shell. I haven't had a free weekend moment in the last month and that's ok with me. I can tend to be the friend that waits for you to call. Now, I find myself asking friends out more and more, and I feel so enriched.

That's Sarah in the middle, it was her apartment. Sarah's brother is on the couch and his girlfriend Robin is in the back in the pink. Kim is leaning over and Sarah's boyfriend Mike is in plaid. Sarah's friend whose name I can't remember is on the bed.

Thanks for having us over, Sarah! Kim and I also went to the Green Music Festival, post to follow.