My office building currently resembles a moon bounce due to roof construction.

Picked up a Chicago Public Library card today. Friggin exciting. Checked out Television “Marquee Moon,” MBV “Loveless” (needed a better copy), Peter Gabriel “1″ and American Psycho (will be my fifth book since I moved here a couple months ago). Thank you, public transportation.

Blogging on my phone. This could be cool. Right? I suppose we’ll see. As cool as me in Cobra Kai gear? Doubtful.

Be on the lookout for next week’s (4/19) Beep/Daily Herald.  You’ll see…

A conversation I had on the phone with a customer today:

You’re in Illinoise, right?

Yeah.

Did you ever work in California?

No, I haven’t before.

Oh, I used to work with a Walker in the ’70s who moved to Illinoise.

I’m 24.

Oh, you’re a young kid.

Yup.

Wow, this is good stuff.  Wish I was there, but this will do.  Thanks SamHain 35.  Enjoy.

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As you may or may not know, on the side I review bars for a well known newspaper in the Chicago area.  Some quick digging through my site answers the question.  Oh, who cares, it’s the Daily Herald.  Over the past two years, I have been sent to countless bars all over the suburbs.  I have been to plenty of pubs, sports bars, lounges, regular ol’ bars and even a wine bar.  But as you can see, clubs are obviously missing from this list.  I’ll admit, clubs kind of scare me.  Unless I am dressed to the nines, with a good group of friends and have had a few beverages, I have little to no interest in going to club.  I’m not a big fan of the atmosphere, and some, not all, of the people that go there.  Hey ladies, how’s it going?  Hey dudes, with button down shirts with no shirt underneath, I hate you.  Seriously, what do I know about clubs?  The DJ was awesome, he spun the new Kanye!  The dance floor was large but welcoming!  The drinks were overpriced, watered down and delicious!  The $15 cover was sooooo worth it!

So when my editor assigned me to write a review about a club in Bellwood, I’ll admit it, I was scared.  It was a club, sure, but it was also a club in Bellwood.  No offense to Bellwood, my mom grew up there.  Respect.  But, going into this review, I knew I would be the only white guy in the place.  Thankfully I managed to sucker some friends into coming to the bar/ultra lounge/club with me (Thanks John and Crystal!  Do you even read this?  If so, hello!).

We arrived at the bar, my friends got there earlier than me and were already frightened to go in.  After much hesitation in the parking lot, we sucked it up and walked on in.  Upon entrance, we were greeted by a group of about 10 people huddled around the bar watching boxing on the televisions, it was still quite early in the night.  I wandered around the place, checking out the back room and such.  That is where I ran into the bouncer and who I am guessing is the manager.  They were both overwhelmingly friendly and greeted me with handshakes as well as encouraged me to check out their place.  Mind you, they had no clue I was reviewing their bar.

I checked out the place and it was pretty cool.  Sort of a clubby/loungey/neighborhood bar.  I was no longer scared, instead I was quite comfortable.  I headed to the bar to purchase some beers for me and my friends.  I gave the bartender my order and she handed me my beers and then wrote something down on a sheet of paper.  I asked her how much the drinks came out to and she looked at me confused.

“I thought you were with him,” she said as she pointed down the bar.

I looked over and saw a lone older white guy with slicked back hair looking at me.  I realized that the bartender had put me down on his tab.

“Nooooo, I’m not with him,” I said, hoping not to anger the white guy for whatever reason.

“Don’t worry about it!  It’s on me!  Just give her a tip!” said the guy to me.

I threw a few dollars onto the bar and sat down with his friends while trying to hide my laughter.  My friend had been standing behind me the whole time and did not realize what happened.  I told them and we had quite laugh as we enjoyed our beer.

Sure, it’s a goofy story, and you might not get a kick out of it as much as I do, but a bar review I was dreading turned out to be one of the more amusing and enjoyable experiences.  So hey, I think I am getting over my fear, one bar at a time.  And three beers for three dollars didn’t hurt either.

Received this fortune over the weekend. Sorry, my phone cannot quite focus close up.

(Everyone agrees
you are the best)

Can fortune cookies get any better?

Via popular request, here’s my top 10.  Now, discuss.

1. Menomena “Friend and Foe”
2. Spoon “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”
3. Radiohead “In Rainbows”
4. Queens of the Stone Age “Era Vulgaris”
5. New Pornographers “Challengers”
6. The Hives “The Black and White Album”
7. Of Montreal “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?”
8. LCD Soundsystem “Sound of Silver”
9. Klaxons “Myths of the Near Future”
10. The Cells “Mayday”