Chicago MMXII

Those ads are awful. I don't always buy Mitchum (any on sale unscented antiperspirant is fine with me), although it does work really well.

hi guys. it's so freezing in my office today.
we're going to wisconsin for "camping" (in a cabin) this weekend. ready for a vacation.

Hey, Michael Shannon has a band playing at Schubas this coming Monday.

Opening for a tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.

i want to have a new band. but i don't want to write any songs.

Wall of Voodoo cover band.

I've been obnoxiously productive today.

I would kind of love to be in a cool cover band

yeah. as long as we cover songs with pretty easy guitar parts.

If there is gbv cover band you must let me be the bob

I have energy and know all the songs

Guided by joyces, who's in

i want to go see serengeti, one of my favorite oddball rappers, at logan square monument next saturday if anyone else wants to go
http://do312.com/event/2012/06/23/summer-sessions-on-the-square-%E2%80%94-featuring-serengeti-las-guitarras-de-espana-the-sweats

J3ff did I see you running West on Balbo yesterday around 6:00 pm or do you have a running doppleganger?

K8E and manfriend are going camping this weekend, too. In KY. But I think it's really camping - in a tent - not "camping."

I might go to NYC next weekend to escape the horrors of Pride. Strangely enough, if I do, I will be involved in a sort of camping, too. Brain Zeg**r is going to be doing some art thing on the LES about Arab-Americanism involving some kind of "weird modular house" where I would be a docent.

R and I went camping in WI last weekend. Tent camping, that is. It was fun but the ground was a little lumpy, I need a better bedroll.

(Come see the future General Zod with me Monday.)

I must have a doppleganger, yesterday was my gym day, no running.

I miss tent camping.

I would like to go tent camping again if I had porters to set everything up, prepare food and clean up, and break everything down again.

Yeh, I'm wondering if I would still enjoy it. The labor is not the kind of stuff I particularly enjoy and I'm not sure the pay-off would be worth it anymore. Especially without being drunk. And also since camping areas are not just a few miles up the mountain like they were in NC.

Still, I would like to sit beside a fire and roast hot dogs and lay out by the lake.

That last sentence is what I'm talking about. I like sleeping outside, too, although I'm too old and creaky to sleep directly on the ground (or even with a Thermarest or whatever) these days.

You know what's really freaky? Giant jellyfish.

Bet they'd make a nice foundation for a bedroll.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/photogalleries/giant-jellyfish-invasion-japan-pictures/images/primary/090729-01-giant-jellyfish-invasion_big.jpg

Squishy.

the ocean is fucked up. so scary.

There was one time when I had the opportunity and the will to eat jelly fish, but the restaurant had run out. I think that might have been my one window.

Like the time I ordered brain tacos one drunken evening and they were out. Probably not going to do that again!

I was there w/ you. And I think you might have been w/ me when I tried to eat jellyfish. I think it might have been when you, Jeff, and I had Xmas dinner in Chinatown.

jenny are you aware of the improvised star trek podcast?

http://www.theimprovisedstartrek.com/

Jesse, you were definitely there on brain taco night. I think I remember Xmas in Chinatown and Christ's miracle that they were out of jellyfish.

I am unaware of this podcast but I am kind of excited about it now!

i haven't listened to it but the av club highlighted it this week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33zPlnhymCU

I love this because I love Triumph

ha i was JUST watching that, impressively filthy

i totally recommend watching it at work with the volume way up

My chat w/ Comcast is going a lot like this hilarious classic from Jeff

Chicago: Singing Italian Songs

which I found by searching for "Caby."

Please do yourself the favor of reading that transcript.

That may have been my comedic pinnacle.

haha Caby

lol

Jerry!

when did the hideout turn into comedy central?

well it's the "just for laughs" fest across chicago right now

lineup at the hideout last night looked pretty insane

aha
i just noticed that they are hyping tons of comedy shows and not much else

do you mean that benefit thing for the eggers tutoring center? that did look grade-a bananas. i wonder how much the fundraiser cost?!

i dunno about that but this was the lineup
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/s720x720/270851_10150837213037093_645580717_n.jpg

"just for laughs" (ugh) seems like CMJ or something where at first it's like oh shit there's so much awesome stuff happening then you get stressed out about what to see when and then you realize how much it's all going to cost so you don't do any of it

I'm listening to Dots and Loops in an attempt to make one last push to get this case done before the weekend (and posting on ILX lololbarf) and this is a really good album. I mean, you all knew that, but it really holds up nicely.

"just for laughs" (ugh) seems like CMJ or something where at first it's like oh shit there's so much awesome stuff happening then you get stressed out about what to see when and then you realize how much it's all going to cost so you don't do any of it

Yup. Plus a lot of the stuff I'd want to see is at late o'clock (like Scott Adsit/Jet Eveleth tonight at iO ... at midnight).

^^ lol old

speaking of iO, what should I see there July 4th week? This seems like one of the more intriguing shows.

http://ioimprov.com/chicago/io/shows/tj-and-dave

Yeah, that show is generally recognized to be the ne plus ultra of Chicago improv. I saw it once, years ago, and enjoyed it, but I'd need to see it again to offer a more-informed opinion. I have seen TJ perform with other groups, though, and he's really sharp.

You're here first week of July, right? Of the teams performing then, the only ones I know well are Cook County Social Club and Carl and the Passions. I'd recommend both. The former is a small group of three or four guys who excel at fast-paced, quick-witted long-form flights of fancy. The latter is generally a looser experience, but its members are some of the most-experienced improv performers in Chicago. One nice thing about Carl and the Passions is that they headline the free show on Wednesday nights, though in my experience the opening groups (who rotate from week to week) can be hit-or-miss.

Fwiw, I also saw The Reckoning once, and they really impressed me.

That said, you probably also can't go too wrong with the Armando Diaz Experience or Whirled News Tonight. Both entail large-ish groups of performers, generally made up of whichever iO mainstays show up that night. (Armando Diaz follows basically the exact same form as ASSSSSCAT at Upright Citizens Brigade, if you've ever seen that.) You're not going to see anything too formally out-there, but it'll probably be funny.