Chicago MMXII

I have been enjoying David Simon's Homicide: Life in the Killing Streets. It might be big, though (I'm reading the ebook).

i've read that. it is good.

I read Patti Smith's Just Kids and Edmund White's City Boy in tandem, and they both cover the same era of bohemian/eccentric early-70s NYC.

Nice -- when you mentioned the White to me the other day, I thought it would be a good companion piece to Just Kids.

I think I'm going to reread The Great Gatsby.

think i might get one of the ned sublette music/history books

James Wolcott's Lucking Out and Will Hermes' Love agors to Buildings on Fire also cover the same 70s NYC ecosystem, so I'm tempted to head to them next.

Love Goes, that is.

I keep recommending to people lately:

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

Not sure about length, though–read it as an e-book.

Love that book! It always looks creepy sitting on the shelf too ;)

I'm reading a super depressing book about Blackwater. It's called BLACKWATER (by Jeremy Scahill)

Hey all will read through thread tonight but does anyone know anything about the Conrad hotel? Found a good price and it's ranked as #5 in the city so should be OK, right?

I mean I'm sure the hotel is nice but location and stuff? I guess if it's on the mag mile it's fine from what you were saying earlier.

Another contender was The River Hotel which I guess is also on the mag mile.

i have no idea about hotels since no one ever comes to visit me, but when they do, they stay here, at the super 8 around the corner, or a few miles north in evanston.

The Conrad is really swank and hip, kind of like the W, and it's attached to a swank mall (North Bridge) and you can walk all over from there.

^^ Hotel social-media guy

^^ he's not lying.

^^ i just want to play too

Location-wise, the Conrad is great. Actually they both are. So I'd go for swank and hip.

The super 8 around the corner from my apt is p gross, but it's spitting distance from the beach/lake.

which is why its p gross, what with all the spitting towards the beach and lake

http://elitechoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/conrad_hotels.jpg

^^ENBB in Chicago

Be careful. There's a lot of spit in that water.

no don't worry, there are no people like that anywhere near my apt

boy lake michigan looks way different with all that spit to frolic in

Barefoot in the Spit

catch the spirit, catch the spit

After my unfortunate experience with Spirit airlines on Friday, it was recommended that I vandalize their signs in the above manner. I considered it.

Dare I ask what your experience was? I've never heard anything positive about Spirit, but I booked a Spirit flight to NYC later this month because it was so cheap. I figured ORD>LGA was short enough that it couldn't be too terrible.

that's what i thought too, but it was friday night, they were backed up from earlier in the day, and my flight was delayed delayed delayed CANCELLED. everyone who works there, when you could find someone who worked there, was like 14 years old. i missed a full day of my trip, kinda sucked.

the way home was ok though, and i can advise you not to worry about bringing an extra bag (mine was a bag of records i was worried about shoving into my cramped backpack) -- no one was paying attention to ANYTHING.

Bummer, sorry to hear it.

ugh that sounds awful, but i've yet to hear a good experience with spirit.

i also got nothing in return for their cancellation of my flight
basically, if you want to fly spirit, you can do that just don't count on everything working out as you planned.

i had a great trip though!!

Hey everyone thanks so much for the advice. I might have a couple more questions in the next couple weeks. We'll definitely need to try to arrange a get together either Sat or Sunday evening. :)

hey guys
i want to orchestrate a small may day/walpurgisnacht/floralia/beltane celebration

would it be better to do this the weekend before or the weekend after? it's a Mon/Tues (depending on which one you want to celebrate)

this is the year -- i've been meaning to do this forever!

I personally have a slight preference for the weekend after, but the weekend before is not a dealbreaker.

Exciting!

Hey, speaking of podcasts, the most recent Radiolab, "Guts," is fascinating and disgusting. I wish it were twice as long. As someone with an occasionally hostile relationship with my own guts, I am very interested in the topic. Also completely repelled by it.

I am leaning toward the weekend after as well, because it seems wrong to celebrate prematurely. I guess unless there's some kind of huge distracting Chicago event going on 5/5, that will be the chosen day.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Praetorius_Blocksberg.jpg/220px-Praetorius_Blocksberg.jpg

Will people be invited to Cinco de Mayo stuff then? I feel like there are a lot of 5/5 themed events around here.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Sandro_Botticelli_040.jpg/99px-Sandro_Botticelli_040.jpg

xp - I guess that's possible, but I was thinking about doing something day/early evening?

I would totally be down for hanging with some witches.

festive dress will be optional, though clothing will be required

I don't feel like Cinco de Mayo is too big of a deal around here?

Festive dress! YES.

Will there be a Maypole?

If making this happen is "raising the maypole", then I guess it was my responsibility to do that since this is a leap year. We can also take a few minutes to celebrate our rights as workers who enjoy a 5 day work week.

Germany

In rural regions of Germany, especially the Harz Mountains, Walpurgisnacht celebrations of pagan origin are traditionally held on the night before May Day, including bonfires and the wrapping of a Maibaum (maypole). Young people use this opportunity to party, while the day itself is used by many families to get some fresh air. Motto: "Tanz in den Mai!" ("Dance into May!"). In the Rhineland, May 1 is also celebrated by the delivery of a maypole, a tree covered in streamers to the house of a girl the night before. The tree is typically from a love interest, though a tree wrapped only in white streamers is a sign of dislike. Females usually place roses or rice in form of a heart at the house of their beloved one. It is common to stick the heart to a window or place it in front of the doormat. On leap years, it is the responsibility of the females to place the maypole, though the males are still allowed and encouraged to do so. All the action is usually done secretly and it is an individual's choice whether to give a hint of their identity or stay anonymous. May Day was not established as a public holiday until 1933. As Labour Day, many political parties and unions host activities related to work and employment.

http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/andmymouthisanhourglassofblood/2107435118/1/tumblr_lcym00Bjhu1qzd7qp

cinco de drinko morelike

yeah, i mean that doesn't really touch my life at all

i'll start a facebook event for this so long as i know at least three people are interested! (carl, i will keep you abreast of plans since i know you don't use fb)