left to his own devices / world destruction

harumph. chicago hasnt been as i thought it would. i was thinking that since i grew up around here there would be more people excited upon my arrival. but, my old friends, many of whom i have made ungracious departures from over the years must just be tired of my face. and the older friends that have found me on facebook, i guess social networking via the internet doesnt automatically translate into making people real. oftentimes i just miss the friends i have in portland.

anyway, on tuesday night, alex ended up coming back to the city and with nick and a host of other people we went to a place called the liars club. this was my choice, i wanted to meet up with my old friend rachael, whom i met in boston at the dnc. she was the media liasion for the dnc 2 rnc march and the person i stay with last time i visited chicago. we got to the club and it wasnt what we had expected at all. it was two floors, the bottom was dancing to very loud dance music, and the top floor was a very poor dj that tried to mask his talent by making the music even louder than the loud stuff from downstairs.

the folks that we were there with quickly became unhappy with being there, and decided to leave. i wanted to find rachael, but also didnt really like the place so i decided to do one more pass through and then set off with them to the next bar. well, on that pass i saw her sitting at the bar downstairs, she immediately recognized me and that was nice. we tried to chat for a bit, but the music was way to loud and a caravan of the people i came with had already left. we yelled in each other ears for a few more minutes, making plans for the weekend.

thankfully nick had waited for me and with him we went to find the rest of the crowd at a neighborhood bar near where i have been staying. the bar called g and l, i think, is a firemans bar and when i got there it was very low key. as we progressed to close the bar down the key only got lower. at one point i was the only person in the bar except for this lady who had just gotten off the plane from england. i tried chatting her up to make the situation less uncomfortable, but she just kept looking surprised at the things that i was asking her and gave shitty answers i was thankful when everyone we were with came back in from smoking.

shortly after that i was ready to just rest and started back to my truck. however, alex said that he was going back to indiana and gave me the key to the apartment so i could sleep in his room! what a blessing. i had parked my truck in front of his bar so i could pick up on their wireless, but that bar wouldnt close for another hour or so, and i was kind of dreading trying to rest or be in there with a bunch of people just outside talking and smoking. it makes me nervous when there are people just outside my truck, i cant see them so i only wonder if they have any idea i am in there.

so, i went upstairs, no sign of the irishmen. i went into the bedroom, locked the door and slept. for a good long time. the next day when i woke up i didnt want to get out of bed, so i laid in bed watching shows on my computer for most of the day. just the kind of lazy day i had been missing. eventually i got out of bed and decided that i should accomplish something. so i got dressed and went outside. i didnt really want to drive around the city and look for things to do, parking is expensive and hard to obtain plus i like where i am parked and there is pretty good mass transit here.

the el train

so i walked to the el train and bought a 7 day pass for the cta. i got an explanation from the person how to use the card and he gave me some maps and told me where to get off for where i wanted to go. where i wanted to go was the musuem of books and paper or something. i had read about it online and it looked interesting. it was inside a college, so i tried to roam around more like i did in columbia, but this place wasnt having it. all the doors were locked and i only had access to the little museum. it wasnt as grand as i had imagined, so after walking around there for awhile i left. i went out to grant park and there they have an organic vegetable garden.

however, it doesnt appear that anyone is harvesting the vegetables! so, i helped myself to some carrots, some peas, and a zucchini. they had tons of greens (kale, chard, lettuces) that were just growing and dying right there. the carrots had never been thinned and needed it badly. it was a nice garden, at one point a lady asked me if i tended the garden, she asked it in a way that made me think she had been looking for someone that tends it for awhile and has never seen anyone in there. i told her no, but that many of the things were ready for harvest. she looked a bit disgusted at the idea of taking something that she wasnt given permission to have first. oh well.

i walked around grant park more and i saw the building of a large stage, it looked like some sort of festival was going on. i thought about going over to it, but i wasnt really up for it, so i walked back into the city. i saw some banners for lollapalooza 2009 in grant park and decided that must be whats setting up there. i didnt know lollapalooza was still a thing.

i walked around the city streets for awhile and then i just wanted to go back to the apartment and watch more shows. so i did that and by the time dark rolled around i was hungry, so i set off on foot looking for something for take out. i found a little area about ten blocks up from me and got some chinese food. and at that moment i felt that i was city living. and if i were to live in a big city this is how i would want it. then i went back, watched more shows and went to bed.

next day i still didnt want to be motivated early. it was almost noon when i got on the train to downtown. this time, however, i didnt have any sort of agenda. i was just going to get off and walk around again, maybe ride the el trains and get to places i have never been before. who knows. i ended up back near grant park and got a sandwich that i wanted to eat. i walked around looking for a nice place to sit and eventually i was at the gates of lollapalooza. it wasnt set to start until tomorrow, so there was a bunch of activity going on behind the fences they had constructed.

i figured i would find something worthwhile in there, so i found a weak area and sneaked right on into the grounds. it was amazingly easy to do so. i found myself backstage, behind one of the main stages. there were a number of workers setting up lighting and sound equipment, i just looked as if i belonged there and walked in a clear line towards some other tent. once there, i looked around and made a bead on another place to walk towards as if i belonged there. this happened to be to lollapalooza lounge area. not bad. i found a tent and sat inside to eat my sandwich.

after sitting there awhile a crew came by and started working near me. i didnt want to get caught just yet so i packed up and let toward somewhere else. that else place happened to be the wine bar, and there wasnt anyone around guarding it...at least no one that could see me. i helped myself to a bottle and scampered away lest i be seen. i walked clear across to the other main stage. i popped into the playstation tent, but there were a number of people in there. i looked around and nodded as if i were inspecting the place. when i left i slapped the person nearest the door on the back and told him that things were looking good, good job.

ah, the refreshment

then i was outside and laughed hysterically to myself for a minute and realized i needed to get out of the open just now. i saw some tents that were on stilts so they would have better vantages for the two stages on this end, and i made my way up there. these turned out to be cabanas that companies rented for their guests. i found one i liked and sat in there for awhile drinking my bottle of wine and writing postcards. some people would pop their heads in but quickly pop out so as not to disturb me, because apparently i belong there.

after awhile, a lady showed up and asked me who i was with. luckily i had texted a friend and found out at least one band that was playing...bassnectar. i told her i was with bassnectar and her eyes lit up a little and started rattling things off about them, she seemed a bit starstruck, but i didnt know anything about the festival or bassnectar. i was happy when i got a phone call from an unknown number, so i didnt have to keep pretending my way until i got kicked out as a fraud. it was my friend ricky in san diego and he read off a list of bands that were playing and told me that it isnt a touring festival this year, only this one in chicago this weekend. i was happy to know some things about this fest and through our phone call, the lady left.

i was pretty much done there anyway, i had planned to drink the whole bottle of wine, but it wasnt going down so easy. the lady did pass on a tidbit to me. she asked me if we (bassnectar) were staying across the street with all the other bands. i took this and walked across the street. there was the chicago hilton, a very fancy hotel and my next adventure.

i went over to the hotel and walked in as if i knew where i was going. always, i look for stairs first to get me out of the lobby quick. i dont want to be standing and waiting for an elevator looking like an idiot for awhile. when i take the elevator i want to be getting out on the main floor so it looks like i already belong there. the stairs i found led up the ballrooms which were occupied by a college convention. i found some elevators on that floor and rode them to the top. the elevators i had didnt go all the way to the top, you needed a key card to get to the penthouse levels. so i went as high as i could and made my next move.

the spiral staircase

that was into the service area of the 25th floor. in the service area are service elevators. the service elevators generally go to all of the floors, and do not require a card. this one got me to all four of the penthouse levels. i went to the top one and there was a north and south penthouse with a grand piano in the waiting room between them. i found the stairs and looked for roof access. or something better. i found a bunch of locked doors, a spiral staircase that went between all the penthouse levels and a few other service areas.

i looked around for awhile and eventually decided that i needed to employ my very poor lock picking skills if i was getting on the roof. i made it through two locked doors, but i couldnt get the third to open for me. i was in a very dark room with a bunch of equipment, some alarms and a computer. it was really eerie. i tried for about ten minutes on the lock, not really caring about the damage i was doing, and gave up. there was no light under the door, so it didnt lead directly to the roof, and i didnt want to be caught breaking and entering at the chicago hilton when a number of high profile guests were there, you know?

so i went back down the spiral staircases and through all the rooms i had acquainted myself with. i found the 25 th floor again and decided to go back down. i went to the 24th floor and there i found the executive lounge. there was soda, coffee, tea, fresh fruit, pretzels, a computer and some tvs. i sat in the lounge for awhile drank some tea, had an orange. i was waiting for the guy to get off of the computer so i could post an update from the 24th floor of the chicago hilton. but no luck. it was starting to get on in the evening and i had wanted to go back to the house to shower before i went on my next adventure.

so i found the el and made it back to the house, had a shower and then was off. my next adventure was first thursdays in chicago. i saw it online and it was close, on superior ave between wells and orleans. i took the el there and started walking around. the first thing that struck me was that there werent any people milling about for the art walk. then i started going into the galleries, the first one had wine, and pottery for $22,000. i went through more galleries, but there werent many and eventually i fond one where the guy talked to me. he told me that this was more upscale and not all the galleries participate in it. then he said that there was one more to what i was seeking down in pilsen.

ah, pilsen. i used to live there for about three months in 1998. he told me how to get there on the el, and i set off again. brown line to the pink line, pink line get off at 18th. but thats all he told me. so when i got off i had no idea where i was going. for the next hour i radiated through pilsen searching for an art walk. i saw a white kid on a bike with a painting and tried to go where he came from but then i saw another going in the opposite direction. i was a little bit lost and getting tired from walking, so i decided to just go back to the el and go home. it was getting dark anyway.

today, i am going to try to sneak into lollapalooza for real.