Venetian Night cancelled

Hey guys, I just logged on to the Metromix site to find out where to be for Venetian night and it turns out it's been cancelled. Yay mayor Daley for screwing up our budget. Oh well. New plans for today include a nice little Saturday at Home Depot.

Also, Ribfest in Uptown. Yuck.
:)

What: Ravinia Festival
Where: Ravinia, Highland Park
How Much: $27 for lawn seats, really expensive for real seats
How to get there: Metra North Pacific line to Ravinia Park or Braeside

It was a beautiful night at Ravinia. I'm including it in the blog because technically it's called "Ravinia Festival". Check out the calendar of events here. Ravinia is a Chicagoland summer staple. Trying to ride the North Pacific Metra line in the evening pretty much any day of the summer is an exercise in patience. It's guaranteed that everyone on the train is drunk. And most of the time I am the one sober person just trying to get home.

But not last night! I got to be one of the slightly tispy passengers! The Swell Season was playing, a truly remarkable band. Made up of two primary musicians, Irishman Glen Hansard (of the Frames) and Czech pianist/vocalist Marketa Irglova. You may remember them from the film "Once," and their single Falling Slowly won an Oscar.

If you decide to sit on the lawn at Ravinia, you pay a lower price but you can not see the musicians. The sound system is awesome so you will be able to hear them fine. Most people bring ridiculous setups that include tables, chairs, blankets, candles, wine, umbrellas....
We brought two small coolers and some afghans. That's the stadium seating you can see under the lights, and the other people are seated on the lawn. Seats on the lawn are first come, first served, and it gets PACKED.

I was lucky enough to attend this excellent concert with some great friends, all of whom I have known for years. The purpose of attending was to say goodbye to Jenny, who is going off to grad school in Washington, D.C. at George Washington University. We will miss you, Jenny! Good luck in all your endeavors!













Lookin' good, Matt. Jenny, Matt, Kim, and Brian wearing my sunglasses.

I'm going to try for the Edgewater Arts Festival and Venitian Night on Saturday and the Chinatown Summer Fair on Sunday this weekend.

ramblings

What the hell, Chicago? It is crazy hot here. Ridiculously hot. So hot I am running the air conditioning even though I am poor and considering locking the dog in the bedroom so he will stay in said air conditioning. Otherwise he insists on sitting under my desk panting and looking like he is going to die. I brought him to the dog park this morning but there were no other dogs there and after a while he just came over and laid down next to me. Be forewarned, this weekend I need to take some time out from festivals and bring him to the beach. Speaking of the beach, I went to there with Nicole yesterday and I am SOOOOOO sunburned. I had a bottle of SPF 30 with me, why didn't it make it onto my body? I did have some on my face, but nevertheless I have some pretty freakin awesome sunglass tan lines.

Speaking of being poor, I eat the same breakfast everyday. What does that have to do with being poor? Well, my breakfast is a powerhouse of berries and greek yogurt and chopped walnuts. By my calculations I eat at least $40 worth of berries and $35 worth of yogurt a month. That is RIDICULOUS. But it's just so good, I don't know if I can stop. I think that I will give up cable TV at my new place in order to keep eating my yogurt berry nut goodness.

This just in: 2010 officially the hottest year on record according to NASA. Read all about it.
Ravinia tonight!

Folk and Roots festival and West Fest

What: The Folk and Roots Festival
Where: Lincoln Square
How Much: $10 donation
How to get there: Brown line to Western
Do not drink the water in Lincoln Square. There is something in it that makes all the ladies pregnant. Seriously I saw more pregnant women at the Folk and Roots festival than I thought was possible. Apparently this is an awesome place to raise a family. Its also a great place to get your groove on.

Hosted by the Old Town School of Folk Music, the Folk and Roots festival exists to raise awareness of traditional and world music styles. Everything from the Midwest Fiddle Championship to the "Wiggleworms 25th birthday party" had a spot on the main stage. When the music is pumping, Welles Park fills with people swaying gently to the beat. Last year I sat for a while and watched the acts, but the people watching is just as good.

Having signed a lease for our new place in the Ukrainian Village (3 bedrooms!Dishwasher! In-unit Laundry! Oh my!) that morning, Bart and I headed over to the fest early. $10 is a hefty donation, and were it later in the day and we wanted to stay for a while, I would have gladly paid it. As it was, I knew there wasn't going to be a lot I didn't see last year, or at every other festival this year. So we entered about a half hour early and perused the merchandise without having to pay. We did end up eating these delicious foccacia we bought at the farmer's market down the street from the festival.

Sorry for the crappy iphone pics, I forgot my camera at home.




What: West Fest
Where: West Town/ East Village
How much: $5 donation
How to get there: Red line to Clark/ Division, Division St. bus to Damen, walk to Damen and Chicago

It feels like I have been in this area of the city a lot lately! I am starting to see patterns of which neighborhoods hold festivals that are worth attending.

The draw of West Fest was supposed to be the music, but rain around 8 pm left the DJ stage pumping and the main stage bare. Dogs were certainly welcome here, and I saw countless bulldogs- lots of larger breeds in this neighborhood. Go to a fest in Lakeview and everyone is toting their chihuahua, but here it seems they prefer dogs with some muscle.The people here are equally as interesting as their dogs- you probably don't fit in if you're not covered in tattoos.

The best part of West Fest, for me, was a booth manned by a little old lady that sold nothing but vintage ads. I bought three- Niblets corn, Corn Flakes, and Grape Nuts. The Grape Nuts one is all about how wives have the duty to feed their husbands nutritious food. because men are incapable of feeding themselves correctly. Actually, based on my personal experience, that's kind of true.


Good news! Remember that awesome pizza I had at the Green Music Festival? Well, they were here too! Turns out it's from Beat Kitchen. I talked it up so much that Eric and Nicole decided to try it, and both had good things to say! They tried both the Goat Cheese that I loved so much, and the Thai pizza.

All in all, West Fest scored a solid B+. Had the weather cooperated, I am sure they would have scored even higher. After the fest closed at 10 pm, we made our way over to Cleo's for some golden Monkey and free buffet from 11pm-1 am! if you can beat 2 hours of free barbecue chicken pizza and quesadillas, let me know, because I want to go to there.

I had every intention of making it to the Roscoe Village Burger fest to see the Gin Blossoms and eat some Bad Apple, but it rained and I had to study for a midterm.

Speaking of which, I am off to take said midterm. Wish me luck, I am abysmally bad at math.

This week, the Swell Season are playing on Wednesday at Ravinia. I'll be there bidding adeiu to my friend Jenny, who has been living with me for a few weeks and is off to grad school in DC.

Tonight is Halsted Tastes better from 6-9. The Pitchfork Music Festival is all weekend, be prepared to shell out a lot of money. There's also Taste of River North, Venetian Night, the Edgewater arts fest, and the Chinatown Summer fair on Sunday. Dragon parade at 12:45! Who's coming with me?