Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution)
I just got back from seeing Lee Roy Parnell at the Chicago Blues Festival. (Check out the capsule review that I did of Parnell’s Hits and Highways Ahead.) No promises but I will try to write more about this show.
I saw one woman at the concert with a shirt reading in a playful font, “I Survived The Cincinnati Riots And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.”
To which, I composed the following response in my head, “You know we all have problems. But I don’t tell everybody at public events about my over indulgence in sesame sticks and I would prefer if you did the same with your inability to acquire a DVD player.”
Of course festivals in downtown Chicago always inspire driving that may both explain and problematize the popularity of NASCAR. When I see some indecisive driver putting along and tying up a crowd of pedestrians that but for a lack of organization and will would control the streets, I can’t help but think of Bill Hicks’ line, “Step on the fucking gas, man.” (You can hear that line and much other good humor on Arizona Bay as well as Philosophy: The Best of Bill Hicks. You can also probably download as an MP3 through a search for "step on the fucking gas" without all that much effort.)
Seriously one thing I love about Chicago is the great music I can hear live. Last year on June 23 I saw Fugazi, The Ex and Shellac perform at the Congress Theater. (I was hipped to the concert by my friend fivestring who I last mentioned on May 22 while discussing Fugazi.) Six days later I saw George Clinton perform in the late afternoon and then in the eveingthe trio of Fred Anderson, Harrison Bankhead and Robert Barry at the Velvet Lounge –some notes on that concert are found in the review of Anderson and Barry’s Duets 2001 that I did for jazzreview.com- and the day after that I saw (the now) late Waylon Jennings perform what I believe was his last show in Chicago in Grant Park. posted by micah holmquist at 6/01/2002 05:53:00 PM
