September 30th, 2003 11:45 hours CST currently listening to: "Swiiming Through Us" by airiel

Well, after the giant campaign of email bullshit yesterday, Cory and I are moving the gear into a new practice space tonight. It's free, but it's out in the burbs, so I'll be dealing with traffic, gas money and toll. But at this point, I'm glad to be out of the old one. Here's a friendly reminder folks: don't rent a practice space to your friends without checking with the other tenants in the building if it's alright for a band to be practicing in the basement. Basically they were just looking to get $150 out of me a month and entertain the idea that it might also be fun, which it wasn't when it's a giant hassle.

I chatted with one of them last night and we kept things on a friendly level. I don't really want to make waves here since I think they're still fun to hang around, but it's obvious that we should have nothing more than a basic friendship relationship, as anything else quickly turns into a marriage from hell. I'm 26. I don't need to feel like I'm still in high school, ok?

September 29th, 2003 09:35 hours CST currently listening to: "Swiiming Through Us" by airiel

Nice weekend. Friday I did what I set out to do, except that the cheap ass Blockbuster store near me only had the first and forth Phantasm movies, so I just got the first on DVD. It had the greatest opening segment hosted by Angus Scrimm about how the director wanted him to play and "alien". It cracked me up. Also rented Lost Boys, which I loved as a kid, Men in Black II, which I need to buy and The Core, which was predictable but Delroy Lindo was really damn good. Ordered a pizza and stayed in. I needed it. I also rented F-Zero X which I'm glad I didn't buy. It's fun, but without roommates or someone to play it with, it would get boring really fast. I got the hang of it and was kicking some serious ass.

Saturday was pretty laid back. I picked up my scooter. I actually have a working break light now. I froze my nuts off though. It was ok in the sun, but once the clouds blocked it, it got cold really fast. I can't believe I'm already wearing sweaters. Ben was sick, so I gave my extra BRMC ticket to Mark. I met up with him at Clark's around 9. The show was supposed to start at 11:30, so we went up to the Metro just before 11. There was already a line around the corner of The Gingerman bar, so I got out and Mark found a parking spot. Gradually Kerry, Michael, Erica and a few of their friends got in line with us. We waited forever. They Metro people came out to say that the Stratford 4 were going on 2nd and that BRMC was going on 1st. While we were waiting, some huge, drunken guy tripped over a trash can and fell headfirst onto the street and banged his head on the fender of a car on his way down. I seriously don't think that he even felt the impact., but he left a dent! He got back up after a few moments with the help of someone in the line, and then stumbled off.

They let us in at 12:30. At this point we were all freezing and I even had a coat on. BRMC played a great show. Nice and loud and rockin. There were these three people (2 guys and 1 girl) who pushed their way in front of us and danced the whole time. H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T this was funny. Most everyone that caught a glimpse of these idiots laughed out loud. I mean, I don't mean to sound like a total snob or something, but judging from the 80's metal outfits they were wearing, I think these guys think that Corey Haim and Corey Feldman are still staring in movies. One guy looked like Sammy Hagar. Seriously. Nasty hair and bandana to match. The other guy actually had a pony tail. Their hair went well with their black leather jackets. The the thing that weirded me out was that they danced like the Backstreet Boys or something. I'm not even sure how to describe it, really. At least they were having fun, but of course they bailed once BRMC finished. Stratford 4 came out and I think at least half the crowd stayed for them. They put on a really good show. I think I got home around 4 AM.

Sunday was super lazy. I was wearing a sweater all day because the damn heat wouldn't come on in my apartment. Well, it did for about 5 seconds, but that was it. I broke out the space heater after a while. I just hope my cat isn't freezing. I've got a pretty busy week coming up. Taking Stella to the vet tonight. Tomorrow I'm watching An American Werewolf In London over at Seals' place, then probably hitting Neo. Wednesday is our first practice with John, who's gonna play drums for airiel. Hopefully that will go well, because I really like the guy.

September 26th, 2003 10:50 hours CST currently listening to: "Your Imagination" by All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors

Holy shit, I'm hung over. Advil, work your magic, please oh please oh please. Tonight, I'm staying in. Gonna rent the first few Phantasm movies, order a pizza and make my couch into a fort or something.

Practice last night was great. I'm very happy with airiel right now. John, the drummer from Streamliner who is a friend of Cory's that I met a week or so ago, stopped by practice last night to listen. We offered him the drummer slot and he accepted. He's just as funny as Cory and they both make me laugh a lot. It's great. What was really crazy was this bitch who yelled at us last night. See, the practice space is in the basement of an apartment building, and was at some point in the past, a small studio. There are two separate rooms and the walls are all carpeted. However, that doesn't mean it's the worlds most quiet practice space. (ok, I'm in hell. I just had a wicked sneezing fit.) Anyway, around 8:30, this chick comes into the space asking (nay, demanding) that we turn everything down. The dialog went like this:

27 year old with an axe to grind: "um, can you turn that down? When did the band move in?"
me: "yeah, I guess. Well, about 2 weeks ago"
27 year old who needs to get laid: "do you live here?"
me: "no"
27 year old who wants someone to give a shit: "do you KNOW someone who lives here?"
me: "yes. the girls who live above this room rented this space out to us."
27 year old in need of a pity party: "well, thank god I'm moving out on Tuesday!"

Ok, first off, it's like 8:30. BIG DEAL. Now, sure, she has a right to complain. But, it's 8 friggin 30. She's like MY age and she's acting like she's living in a dorm and has a final the next day, so she's screaming at everyone to shut up. Second, she's MOVING OUT ON TUESDAY. I can understand simply asking us to keep the noise down, but don't smack us upside the head with an attitude like that. Chill the fuck out, lady.

John and I went over to the Black Beetle to meet with Griffin and Hope. Some girls were spinning some great 80's songs. They were playing 33's at 45 speed though, and figured it out during the middle of "Don't Stand So Close To Me" by The Police. Had a few beers and a turkey burger, then we went to Club Foot. Saw Mark right away and got a big hug from him. I miss that guy. Lots of people showed up. Hope arrive with Ben and then Cory showed up as well. Kerry and Michael were there as well as Annette and Kim, who were very sweet when they came up to talk to me. I had another beer and decided I was too full to keep drinking beer, so I opted for a shot of jack, followed by a jack & coke. Cory and I had some great band conversations and I sort of mingled around the place for a while. Had another jack & coke and then had another beer. While I was talking to Kerry, I got this REALLY painful spell of hiccups. I made my way to the toilet so that I could try to get rid of them. I guess my friends all saw me go in there with this horrible look on my face, so they sent Cory in to check on me. He laughed when he realized I was sitting on the toilet, just trying to get some peace and quiet to get rid of hiccups. I'm high maintenance or some shit. I dunno. They just fuckin hurt. We took off and I got rid of them in the car, much to my relief.

I'm feeling a bit better since I started writing this entry because DJ came over and did his normal morning "go over and make Jeremy and Dave laugh" routine. Bless that boy. He managed to snag Catherine's extra Eddie Izzard ticket for next Saturday, which I'm thrilled about. He really needed to be there and now he's gonna be.

Fall is officially here and I'm loving this weather. Hopefully I'll get my scooter back from the shop sometime this century and get some riding in before it gets too cold.

Oh, and Glade Plug-ins are the absolute best invention in the world. Completely covers up the litter box and cat food smell that has been taking over my apartment. These things kick ass! So yeah, people, you can come over again now. I'm no longer embarrassed by the smell of my own living space.

One last thing here. I got an incredibly nice email from an airiel fan:

Jeremy, I decided to write just to let you know how utterly COOL Airiel is, at least to me. I first heard your tunes when David of Sonic Syrup sent that CHRISTMAS COLORS cd3 out to his mailorder customers. I thought your name was funny (because i don't know whether to pronounce it Air-ee-ell or aerial)... up to this point i have been voraciously looking for "shoegaze" that had the melodies i was looking for -- don't get me wrong i love some of the newer dreampop bands but a lot of them just don't have the melodic sense of such bands like Lush, MBV, early Chapterhouse, etc. That Christmas Colors CD blew me away. I don't know if you remember a label called Bedazzled that existed in the 90s but it reminded me a lot of their stuff...and i was head over heels in love with that label and their bands. You have the awesome guitar sounds, the drum machine coolness and icy washes that i've missed in music. AND THOSE MELODIES! Perfect mix of style and substance, I say.... Glad to see that Clairecords is picking up where 90s dreampop left off and releasing EPs of yours....just like in 'those days' where the EP was a killer format. Although these Winks and Kisses EPS make me want to hear more, always. truly a tease, man..... out of all the new music i've received in the past few months i always come back to Airiel. just wanted to say thanks for creating this stuff... you've hit one person -- i GET it. Thanks. :D --Thor ps. do you have any copies of the split with Sunflower Conspiracy or that synthpopcomplilation? heh i was reading your journal "Airiel are going to be huge" .. i certainly hope so

That made my day.

September 24th, 2003 14:10 hours CST currently listening to: "Alltogether" by Slowdive

Ever notice how people walk differently when they're not wearing shoes? I know I do it. Hell, I walk weird when I'm wearing anything lighter than a Doc Martin. But seriously. I noticed a guy in my office, as we were both heading to the toilet. He looked like he had either strained his back, or was holding in a fart or something. Then I realized he was just wearing socks and that explained it all. It's weird, isn't it? How we're so used to having weight on our feet that we walk funny in our "natural" state. I also usually wear shoes all the time at home. That's because I poor circulation and my feet get cold really fast. That's also why I can't stand to have my feet sticking out from the bed sheets. They freeze off, I swear. People really walk funny when naked, too. We're a weird species, people.

Practice last night was great. I'm gonna give more songs to Cory for him to learn. The guy is a sponge for this stuff. I love it. We've got a good lead on a drummer, though he's admitted that he's not very up on the idea of touring. We'll have to work on that. Cory also knows of a guy that is "dying to play guitar for airiel". While I have messed with the idea of having a second guitar player (because there are parts available), I'm a little reticent to add another one just now. This is still pretty much my thing, since the songs are still all mine and Cory and I haven't written anything together. I wonder if my ego will drive me insane if we were to add a 2nd guitarist this early. Who knows. It's all still up in the air. Nice to know that the option is there and waiting, though.

September 22nd, 2003 15:25 hours CST currently listening to: "Thoughtforms" by Lush

This is gonna be a long one. I really need to update this more than once a week. Sheesh.

Tuesday: first band practice with Cory and I was fuckin' blown away. He's really damn good. I couldn't be happier with the way that turned out. We played NINE songs at our first practice. WTF? Nine god damn songs. It made me feel like my stuff is too easy. Cory really went out of his way to get this job, and baby, it's his. We ran through Kiss Me Slowly, Liquid Paper, Rainflower, Halo (yes, all of it), Stratosphere, This Is Why I Can't Sleep, Jeanette, In Your Room and he demanded that we play Firefly. I think we may actually play that one out with me singing, even though I hadn't planned on us doing it because Stella made that song what it is. We might look for a local female vocalist for that song. We're definitely going to look for a live drummer. Cory is already working on that one. God DAMN it's nice to have somebody who's motivated!!!!!!!

I picked up Ben and we went over to Neo for this alleged Brit-pop night. We walked in as they were playing "Fools Gold" by the Stone Roses. I was a happy boy. Finally got to meet Jennifer, who Ben and I are staying with while in London next month. She's rad and that girl can do some drinking. Also ran into Liza, who I'd known in my later high school/early college years. We both hated each other back then. Can't say there's really anything to keep me interested in hanging out. Who knows. Cory showed up with his friend John and I'm really glad he came out. I'm already feeling a cool friendship developing here.

Went out with Rachel for dinner the next night for her birthday. She came over and met Stella (my cat) and then we walked over to Lula. Ate outside and gossiped about stuff and just did a general catch-up session. Came home and packed for my trip to Columbus, Ohio, the worlds most boring Midwestern city. I arrived on Thursday around 11 PM. Dad picked me up at the airport. Everyone was already asleep at the hotel, so I kind of sat there with nothing to do. The room they had me in was larger than the living room of my apartment. I felt like I should do gymnastics or something just to use the space. I turned on the radio and listened to somebody play (surprisingly) a few Lanterna songs.

Friday was a busy day. I met up with mom and Rusty and we had breakfast. We went up to Jenny and Jeremy's condo out in who knows where and proceeded to shop for things needed at the wedding reception. I then played taxi driver for the rest of the day as I had to pick up my sister and take her to a salon, and then her friend Christie from the airport. Christie I hadn't seen in years. She used to go scuba diving with us. I tried on my tux and decided that when I go to London, I'm going to buy myself a god damn suit. I've never had one and I really want one. The rehearsal went pretty well. The dinner afterwards was insane. We went to this freaky Italian place called Buca di Beppo. This was utterly nuts. The place was packed and had 3-4 other rehearsal dinners going on in addition to ours. We had our own room and about 4 waitresses assigned to us, who all had the energy level of high school camp councilors on speed. One of them pulled out a wine bottle that was about the size of my chest. I thought it was a joke, but sure enough, it contained some rather good Chianti. I can't really remember how many glasses I had. Several of us made it down to the sports bar at the hotel and got even more hammered. I can't be sure, but I think I watched Men In Black II in my hotel room later. That, or I was dreaming about Lara Flynn Boyle with tentacles. Maybe it was the wine and calamari messing with me.

I spent the majority of the next day in bed, nursing a hang over. I made it down to the restaurant in the hotel right before they stopped serving breakfast and had some fantastic, undercooked pancakes. Went back up stairs and crawled back into bed, jeans still on and everything. Got into my tux and met up with David and Rusty downstairs and went to the church. The pictures seemed to take forever, but oh my word, my sister looked absolutely fucking gorgeous. She needs to get a side job modeling bridal gowns. She looked perfect. The wedding went very well. I think I cried the entire damn time. I'm sure I was the only one of the five groomsmen who kept wiping tears off his cheeks. We had to take more pictures afterwards. I don't know how I'm getting mine. I'm sure dad will email me some soon and then we'll get the official ones later.

The reception was really fun. The room was beautiful. The top floor of a 6 story building, with a view to the east, south and west. There was a jazz trio playing that we really liked. Then after the dinner, the DJ took over and pretty much crapped on the whole thing, musically (in my opinion, anyway). Never in my life would I ever imagine seeing my mother dance to "Baby Got Back". Oh, the humanity. Even my dad danced a few times. There was a woman from my dad's office who kept insisting on making me dance with her. Dad described her as being "between marriages" right now and jesus fucking christ, she was acting like it. I've had 40-year old hoochie rubbing up against my thigh, people. And no, I wasn't aroused, even in a perverted way. The music sucked all over, but I danced for a bit. Once again, we ended up in the hotel sports bar afterwards. All the gifts were in my room, so it was a weird scene to wake up to the next morning.

Everyone had to leave relatively early except for me. David, Rusty and I went to some huge mall close to the airport. This way I had something to do until my 9:20 PM flight back to Chicago. We had lunch and walked around a bit. Got my bag out of their car and they took off for Atlanta and I went back to wander the mall for several hours. Saw Underworld while I was there. Despite the mixed reviews that I heard later, I really enjoyed it. Kate looked fucking amazing, as did every other woman in this damn movie. I mean, seriously! And the would-be-queen vampire on the train in the white corset? Shit, she's hot as hell and is only in the movie for 30 damn seconds. Unfair. Anyway. I wandered around and got some magazines, found spot of grass an sat around and read for a while. Managed to get a free shuttle ride to the airport by pretending to be a guest at the nearby Hilton. Hehehe.

My apartment smells like cat. Seriously. Stella was freakishly starved for attention. I kicked back on the couch with an MST3K episode (Cavedwellers) so we could play around for a while. I'm going to scour my apartment when I get home tonight. It could use it.

September 15th, 2003 10:28 hours CST currently listening to: "Nothing" by Depeche Mode

Lots of stuff going on. Well, kind of. First off, airiel's Winks & Kisses: Dizzy EP comes out tomorrow. The folks at Tonevendor did a really nice write-up on it.

"Winks and Kisses" is an ambitiously planned project of 4 EPs, strategically released 3 months apart (give or take) over the course of a year. The idea hearkens back to the late '80s / early '90s, when bands like Lush, Chapterhouse, Ride, Slowdive, and My Bloody Valentine were creating the whole dreampop/shoegazing genre by each bursting onto the scene with a staggering number of EPs every few months. The trend was hard to ignore, and was in fact rather brilliant, as it gave the listener a taste, a breath of this fresh air, while seeming like a tease, leaving the listener craving more. It's with this intent we bring you "Winks and Kisses" by Airiel. "Dizzy" is the second EP in the "Winks and Kisses" series. It continues the series in excellent style. "Stratosphere" kicks things off fantastically - don't bother with the whole launching bit, it just places you smack deep into that layer of atmosphere and hovers there for the entire 6 minutes, all the while massaging your ears with gently tremeloed guitars. "ri" is a pastoral instrumental gem of a song. "...sleep" ushers in early-90's era Lush-style guitar melodies, and features the backing vocals of Krissey Bailey from Chicago-area band Whimsical. Each release in the series will feature an epic closing track, and "500 Deep" does the job nicely, rounding off at a full 10 minutes, beginning with a lovely syncopated chiming pop song that gives way to an altogether different song of pure atmosphere. "Dizzy", as well as each of the other releases in the Winks and Kisses series, is limited to just 750 copies. In addition, the final release in the series will include additional packaging and booklet to make a complete box-set.

I'm going to be doing web updates for the Clairecords site once I get the account information from Dan. Cory and I start practicing tomorrow and I can't fucking wait. Airiel is going to be huge and we're going to play out everywhere.

For some reason, it doesn't feel like Monday at all. My weekend was rather laid back. Ended up staying in on Friday and watching Blade Runner, which is a movie that (surprisingly), I've only seen once. DJ was really surprised when I asked to borrow his DVD. I took my Vespa up to Scooterworks to have them look at the brakes and also my rear brake light. With any luck, those will both be fixed today so I can take Rachel out tonight. It was her birthday on Saturday and I was gonna take her out to dinner. I'm thinking the Twisted Spoke would be in order.

Picked up Ben around 7:30 and we caught up on stuff. Went to the Hungry Brain for a few beers and then to the Empty Bottle to see Mark Gardner. The show was 50-50. The first band, Charlene, was surprisingly good. A Boston based shoegazer outfit that had an amazingly cute bass player, who I didn't have the guts to talk to. I need to look them up and email them so airiel will have someone to play with in Boston. The 2nd band was pure crap. It was 7 cliché's in the same band. Goldrush came on third and were rather mediocre. Mark came out and played a few tunes by himself and then was backed up by Goldrush. It felt weird to hear a band doing RIDE cover songs, but the stuff that they had written together was pretty good. Got home around 3:30 and passed out.

Sunday I did close to nothing. Woke up at 9 because my cat wouldn't leave my feet alone. Ate a bowl of cereal, watched the first half of Empire Strikes Back and then went back to bed for three more hours. Didn't do much else besides web updates on the airiel site. Oh, I also got my hair trimmed on Saturday. Glad that I was able to sneak that in before my sister's wedding on this weekend.

September 11th, 2003 10:28 hours CST currently listening to: "Newton" by Helen Stellar

Thanks to Caro, my night last night turned out 8 billion times better than it started. I swear, one of these days I'm gonna have a blood pressure induced stroke, just like my aunt Janet. We're watching Dune over at DJ's tonight. This time it's me, Dave and John. Full moon tonight. I'm sure they'll bust out the weed early on. Means more beer for me. I'm not going to Wisconsin to visit family on Friday night. Not sure what my plans will be. Saturday night is the Mark Gardner show at the bottle. Can't wait to hear him play Vapour Trail. Hope might be having a small BBQ if the rain holds off. I also have to get my Rally into scooterworks to get the brakes worked on. Blah. Not much else going on right now.

September 9th, 2003 13:07 hours CST currently listening to: "Roygbv" by Boards of Canada

You know, even when served in a nice bowl with a good set of chopsticks, Ramen is still Ramen.

September 8th, 2003 10:15 hours CST currently listening to: "Outside" by The Heart Throbs

I've got a massive headache. I met up with Cory last night and hadn't eaten in about 6 hours, so over 2 pitchers of beer I had a huge plate of chips and salsa and I feel like I've eaten nothing but bricks of salt. Went to a couple parties with Mischa on Friday night. The first one was kind of bland, but the second one, while much more fun, made me feel really, really old. I think the average age there was 19. It was some loft in Wicker Park. This girl, Cara, was playing some pretty good tunes off her laptop. Hope was there and she and I stayed a bit longer after Aric and Mischa took off. We both went to the Dark Room at 2, but they were closing as we got there. At least I know where that place is now.

Saturday was sort of funny. Despite me being right on time as always, I had to wait about 2 hours for Celeste to wake up so I could pick her up to haul my old entertainment center over to her place. Of course, it was too heavy for her to lift, so we got Maria over there to help bail us out. It was discovered (though it's not much of surprise) via a NPR show that Celeste was the mean girl in high school. I took a much needed nap and then got ready to go see the Dandy Warhols at the Metro.

This was a fantastic show. They played for THREE STRAIGHT HOURS with no opening act. The crowd was a bit lame at first and then gradually warmed up and became really fun. The songs they played off the new album sounded more normally "dandy" than the album versions. The electro sound of that album is barely there live, and the guitars are all over the place (as they should be). I don't remember the exact set order, but here's what they played off of each album:

The Dandy's Rule OK:
• Grunge Betty
• Fast Driving Rave-up
• Genius

Dandy Warhols Come Down:
• Be-in
• Boys Better
• I Love You
• Courtney sort of did a one person version of Every Day Should Be A Holidy
• Pete International Airport
• The Creep Out
• Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth
• Cool As Kim Deal
• Minnesoter
• Good Morning (just Brent and Courtney)

13 Tales of Urban Bohemia
• Godless
• Mohammed
• Horse Pills
• Country Leaver
• Solid
• Shakin
• Bohemian Like You
• Get Off

Welcome To The Monkey House
• We Used To Be Friends
• I Am Over It
• You Were The Last High
• (You Come In) Burned

They played two songs that I had never heard before. It was really fucking cool to watch Peter play that John Setzer-esque guitar solo in Grunge Betty. My fingers can't move that fast, man. He also had these perfect Pete Townsend arm swings on Boys Better that had me grinning from ear to ear. Courtney and Zia really got into the crowd. They were chatting it up and asking for weed and beer and such. During the breakdown in one of the songs, Courtney went into this Jim Morrison routine. "Father? Yes, son. I want to BURN ONE." It was cute. Also during the breakdowns for Be-in and Fast Driving Rave-up, he would sing lyrics to "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths. Brent and Courtney ended the show with the two of them doing a duet for Good Morning, which was amazingly good. It was a rather touching way to end the set.

Sunday was pretty laid back. Did laundry. Went to the grocery. Played with my cat. I met up with Cory last night at Holiday Lounge over on Milwaukee. Hopefully he'll say "yes" and be my bass player."

September 4th, 2003 10:35 hours CST currently listening to: "Save A Prayer" by Duran Duran

I drove my scooter into work today. My hair is so fucked up. I slept with my contacts in last night, so I'm wearing my nerd specs. I really was regretting not having sunglasses this morning as I was driving east down Diversey for nearly half my trip. Stupid sun.

My cat, Stella, completely kicks ass. She's adorable, and super friendly. Here are a few pics of her. When she arrived on Monday, she wasn't really nervous at all. She checked out every room in my apartment one by one. Found the litter box and the food bowls all by herself. THAT was a relief. I wasn't prepared to have to show my cat where to shit, and luckily I didn't have to. She's a smart little girl. I took her to the vet on Tuesday and she did so well. She never even cried while in the pet carrier. I cannot recommend highly enough Higgins Animal Clinic if you're a dog or cat owner. I'm not sure if they take care of other pets. This place is on the southwest corner of Paulina and Belmont. They were great! Amazingly nice and everyone there seemed to be around my age. Dr. Greer was very cool. Stella never cried at all during the exam. She's perfectly healthy. No fleas or nuthin. We're guessing she's about 6-7 months old. She already has her adult teeth. I'm super happy to have her.

I hardly slept at all Monday night because she was running around and playing with the squeaky mouse toy that I got for her. I slept like a rock the next night, however. Tuesday night I made a quick trip down to Maria and Celeste's to drop off rent for the practice space. I had to wear a sweater. September 2nd and I'm already wearing a sweater. That's awesome. Last night, Jeff came over to watch Battle Royale. He loved it, just like I thought he would. He lent me his copy of The Two Towers. I'd been dying to watch that since I saw it at the theater. I didn't buy the normal version because I'm waiting for the big, 4 disc version in November. I knew Jeff would have the normal version though.

What to do for lunch today? I think DJ and I are gonna head over to Marshal Fields to get some taco salads. Awwwwww yeah.

September 1st, 2003 11:20 hours CST currently listening to: "Mayor of Simpleton" by XTC

Yay for Labor Day!!!! Not working rules. It's about 10:30. I'm in my pj's with a cinnamon candle burning. It's raining outside and I'm super relaxed. This was one amazing weekend. Here goes:

Friday night was the start of the Slaughterhouse 9 scooter rally. I met up with Mischa, Christian and Linsey over at Happy Village, which is a weird little mom and pop bar in the Ukrainian Village. It's pretty much right in-between Club Foot and Rain-blow. The scooters were collecting out front but it was nothing compared to what I would see the next morning. We all registered for the event and I had some conversations with other scooterists about this and that, mods to my bike, getting a trailer for my car, etc. It was a little low on entertainment, so we briefly went to Club Foot. After maybe one beer there, we went to Lava Lounge, which I swear had moved locations. I hadn't been there in about 2 years, so what did I know? I ended up driving Linsey back to her place and that was that.

Saturday was one of the best days of my entire life. I think this ties if not beats the 60 mile ride Mischa and I did with Maria up in Evanston. First off, here's the pictures of the gathering. Scooterists of the Midwest UNITE! We were all meeting at Jinx for breakfast but upon discovery that Jinx does little more than bagels for breakfast, we went next door to Milk & Honey for some real food. The weather was perfect. Chill in the air, warm sun, beautiful sky. I hadn't seen this many Lambretta's before, so that's why there are so many pictures of them. A lot of them were from Indiana, my home state. I should have taken pictures of license plates, but oh well. I felt like my head was going to spin off. There was just too much to look at. There was a married couple from Detroit there that I had met the night before. They are the ones behind the matching Vespa P200's.

We took off about 1:30. The smoke was insane. 10 minutes prior to the take off, people started up their scooters one by one and the noise level got louder and louder. We basically made traffic come to a halt, but nobody seemed to mind as most drivers and ALL of the pedestrians sat there with either huge smiles on their faces or a look of complete shock. I met a pair of elderly couples who used to ride scooters back when they were younger and they came back for the start of the ride and waved. It was adorable. We went up Damen to North and I had a permanent grin on my face. This was just too cool. I was mentally sending thoughts to Rachel, thanking her for getting me into this. We traveled east on North until we hit Wells and went south. Wells takes you straight downtown, where the tourists were cheering us on. Christian made a comment as we road through Old Town about how it would suck to be eating outdoors as we drove by. "mmmmm these eggs taste great with two-stroke oil smoke." We made a left onto Illinois and then a right onto Lower Wacker driver, where we all stopped and waited for the rear of the group to catch up. We revved our engines and waited for the green light, then we peeled out and screamed the entire way through. We came out into the sunlight and made a right onto Harrison. This took us into Greek Town and Little Italy. A quick left on Halstead and a right onto Taylor and we stopped at a little Italian Ice shack on the side of the road. I met a couple of other guys who had Rally 200's just like mine, though both had new paint jobs. We stayed here for about an hour and then went back down Taylor and north on Halstead to Lake, where we drove under the L tracks until we hit Ogden and then went up it to the Twisted Spoke. We all parked in that abandon lot across the street, which I know you're not supposed to park, but I doubt the owner could have done anything about 80+ scooters in his lot.

At this point, some weird crap happened. I kept hearing people talking about an accident that happened and it involved "the blonde haired guy on the red T5." Shit, that's Mischa. Apparently it was scooter vs. pedestrian and the scooter won. I didn't find out the facts from Mischa until he finally called me back an hour later, while I was worried as all hell. What happened was, he had run out of gas right after we left the Italian Ice place, which is why I couldn't see him from the front of the pack at all. He got gas and then hauled ass to catch up with the pack. once he got in front of the rear pack, a parking valet walked right out onto the street without ever looking and Mischa plowed into him, since he had nowhere to go and couldn't stop in time. Mischa got off his bike as the other scooterists also stopped and the guy the valet was talking to jumped on Mischa, wrestled him to the ground and put him in headlock. The other scooterests calmed the situation down and an ambulance we called. Mischa got cited and he's going to win the court case since there were over a dozen witnesses who saw the idiot walk right out in front of Mischa. He's got some scuff marks on the front of his T5 and he's a little spooked, but he's ok.

He stopped by my place and we went to Maria's to pick her up to go to the Hideout for the party there. Maria was all dolled up and wearing a skirt, so she opted to drive herself there. The scooters were once again all out front and the PBR cans were everywhere. We watched a band play a bunch of Clash songs and I crushed a beer can on my forehead. Spirits were high. Forest gave me some bulbs for my bike and I now have a working running light, though my break light still doesn't work. But at least I have a working running light that isn't burning out! Mischa and I drove downtown to Super Lounge. Once I realized what club this was, I decided to skip it and just ride. I went up Clark and took a roundabout way of getting home, just loving the night air.

Sunday was very laid back. It was raining and Mischa and I had decided the night before to skip out on the ride out to the forest preserve out in Evans Field. So I took the time I had and cleaned up my apartment and went to Pet Smart to get cat things. Oh yeah, I'm getting a cat! There's this cute as hell orange cat with a long haired tail that has been hanging around our building for weeks. Friday night, I had a dream that I took him in, so that was my cue to do it for real. Erin, who lives on the ground floor had some friends that were going to take him for the weekend, just so we all knew he would have food and a warm dry place to stay. I should be getting him in a couple hours. The sooner the better, as I want him to feel comfy in my house in case I can't get vet appointment tomorrow. I'm going to have to have him de-clawed, as my couch will not survive. Anyway. Mischa came over around 6 and we went for a quick beer run and then to Amanda and Logan's apartment for a back porch BBQ. I made some of my veggie kabobs and Mischa grabbed some Italian sausages from Dominick's. We met some pretty fun people and I ate like a pig. It was grand. 4 beers, one huge piece of chicken, two kabobs and some bruchetta that was to die for. That pretty much sums up my weekend. I'll have pictures of Scooter soon once he's here.