......do you know what happens when your boyfriend and two of his siblings move on the same day with one van between the 3 of them? you get really really sore...



...we had to do two trips to move teddy's stuff...i guess when you own 2 drum kits, that tends to take up a lot of space...we moved him from the 3rd floor to his NEW 3rd floor apt...i didn't count how many stairs were involved, but it was a lot from the way my leg muscles are burning today...



...12 hours of moving w/ a half hour grandaddy's sub break...i am having a very hard time ambulating this morning...



...well, it's over...



...so bill's show on sunday...well, there was a matinee show before bill's show @ schubas which means a 7pm show, and that band didn't finish until like 9:15...so soundcheck went way over...and 10pm on a sunday night is hard to get bill's fans out for a show...the audience was surprisingly young...i guess these were the folks who don't mind staying out late on a sunday, either cuz they have no jobs to be at 9 on monday morning, or cuz their bodies can handle it...



...it was good to see bill & jake & brandon again...i got to meet the new drummer, john, who turned out to be really tight, which is cool...he has this really beautiful drumkit...



brandon really looked like a college english professor, kinda like michael douglas in the wonder boys...he had on the preppy intellectual looking spectacles AND a tan corduroy jacket with the elbow patches...and then at one point he straightened out his papers on his keyboard in such a proffish way, i had to laugh to myself...



the one drawback of the show was that they had set up chairs, since the opening act was an acoustic solo singersongwriter set...i thought people would get rid of the chairs for bill & the band, but they didn't...i just don't see how you can sit through a rock 'n' roll show...oh well...



bill didn't do silver transparent, but he did do this really cool version of shirts and skins which was totally worth it...



speaking of bill, monica kendrick of the reader gave a favorable spot check for bill in last week's edition, which you can read right here...



after the show, ted & i helped debbie bloom who was working merch pack away bill's stuff...eventually, it was just the band, schubas staff and deb & tim of wildwood and me & ted left...we sat around a couple tables in the bar as the boys smoked cigars, and we talked about stuff until we got kicked out of the bar...bill & the boys will be on the road for quite some time...but i'm sure they'll be back in chicago soon...it's always so good to see them...



...well, the countdown is on for new york...i leave in 10 days for josh's wedding...



...oh, and i talked to jesse yesterday, FINALLY...he & ryan are going to come visit me the beginning of november on their way to dansville...i'm gonna try to get a couple shows for jesse to play at...i'm not sure where...if there's anybody out there who would be willing to pay decent money (couple hundred) for an acoustic set by jesse sprinkle of poor old lu & the world inside, please let me know...and ryan beatty of serene can play too...ryan's got some lovely acoustic songs...their trip will go from seattle to dansville (rochester), ny around the beginning of november...it doesn't have to be just chicago...anywhere near that route would be cool...



been listening to--

photo album--death cab for cutie

sound of confusion--spacemen 3

postcard stories--jenny choi

ghost of fashion--clem snide

ok..really quick now cuz ted's expecting me @ his apt to help him move @ 10am...

...saturday was the fundraiser event w/ the asian american leadership council, which is part of the chicago foundation for women...i had gotten jenny choi, a local indie artist, to come and play the show, since she's a) a woman and b) asian-american...i had sent her this long email about how i was a big panda panda fan (miss mia's band) and how i'd heard some of her songs and really liked her music, and when i met her saturday, she told me that when i'd said i was a panda panda fan, she was expecting me to be some 17-year old, and was therefore surprised by the rest of my indepth and impassioned email, which went on to iterate my feelings on the lack of awareness on the part of asian-americans regarding the indie scene, and how her playing this event might help to change that...i thought that was funny because when i posted about the panda panda show in august, i said, and i quote "the average age there that night was probably 17 or so..." i guess i was right...

anyways, my friend miki (cathy) song who coordinated the event seemed very happy about it, and i thought it went great as well...jenny played just w/ her keyboard, although her drummer phil was there to help out w/ sound, moral support, merch, etc...it was great to see this little asian girl singing her heart out...she's got lungs, man...i mean, her lungs must take up most of the organ space inside her rib cage...i got to see some old friends like connie & jae and met some new people like joyce of the asian social network and mae of CFW who's also on the asian american leadership council...and nanette was there too and she made some good connections too i think...

more later...

so after that event, i went to see old no. 8 w/ ted...old no. 8 is my friend pat buzby's band...he's the drummer...the lead singer was actually roommates w/ my friend steve elliot's sister's, and that's how i got to know of the band, cuz they played a book reading party for steve like almost 2 years ago...these guys play some really awesome rock'n'roll that's very whiskeysoaked...their musicianship is excellent, and they write some really catchy songs...they recorded an album w/ jay bennett's help @ his studio, and i know jay really liked their stuff from what pat told me...i really think these guys should be touring for a band like drive-by-truckers...

anyways...here are photos from that show...i made these black & white @ ted's suggestion, and he was right...the lines are much clearer in b&w...i knew this theoretically, but had been hesitant to do it...i think i'll do that more for shows where the lighting wasn't optimal...it's all red & orange lights anyway...if it were a metro show where the colors are absolutely gorgeous, i'd keep it color, but most other places just use mostly red & yellow & orange, so b&w is just fine...

well, i don't really have time to post about bill's show now, so i'll have to do that later...

i'm really excited about the new d-brothers' flat...teddy says it's nice & big, and it's like 2 blocks away from flo's, this really yummy restaurant that we ate brunch @ w/ nanette...

ok...that's it...bye...

i found a new park in my neighborhood...it's like a block south of the metra station on marshfield, just north of wabansia...it looks like a brand new park...all the equipment is new and modern and sturdy...teddy and i went there today after lunch...it was fun! i have to say that they've come a long way in park equipment...they even had this slide that was made up of all these rollers, and you slid down the rollers and got a butt massage at the same time...like how awesome is that?!



...teddy & his brother jason are moving into their new apartment on monday...i haven't seen it yet, but teddy's really excited about it...he's been living in the same apt. since he moved out on his own, so this will only be his 2nd apt in 6 years...his oldest brother greendeeve will probably move in the end of december once his lease expires...the apartment's in the river west area, i think, near chicago & milwaukee...it's one of those up & coming neighborhoods...still affordable and kinda on the edge safetywise...but the boys will be fine...



...i feel like there's a new season in life that i'm entering...you know how you sometimes get the feeling like you can't stay where you're at anymore? that things have gotta change? that you can't go through life doing the same damn thing day in and day out? that's how i've been feeling, and i think teddy feels it too...the times they are a'changin'...i don't know how or what, but i can just feel the winds blowing, and when that wind blows, you can't help but get your hair messed up a bit...



you know what i love about teddy? we can have these long hard conversations where i'll cry or whatever, and then an hour later, we're laughing and flying on the swings, carefree and having fun...teddy is the repository of the entire gamut of my emotions...and he evokes in me the whole colorful spectrum of feelings inside me...one day, i'll be so mad at him i could skewer him and roast him on an open flame, and then the next i can't help telling myself i am the luckiest girl in the world...thank goodness 90% of the time, it's the latter emotion...



and i am learning that love is powerful...it is fragile...it is silken like belgian chocolate...it is as rough as the open sea...love will make you do things you never thought you could, like swallow your pride...and like anybody else, i am human and i need to be loved...but i need to love just as much as be loved...



and i'm convinced that in the end, it'll be worth all the tears, sweat, time, confusion, fears and doubt...



been listening to--

ghost of fashion--clem snide

perfumed letter--bill mallonee

V.O.L.--VoL

rock action--mogwai

so last night, after my 12 hour shift, i came home and looked on my yahoo concert calendar and saw that the detholz! were headlining @ the abbey...for some reason, i thought that show wasn't until october...thank god they were playing last, which bought me some time to take a shower...i'm really glad i went cuz this show was different from the past detholz shows i've gone to...new stuff...it was awesome! they're playing their annual halloween show @ the bottom lounge this year...it should be awesome...if there's one thing that'll cheer me up, it's a detholz show...and besides, i knew derek would be there, and it's always good to catch up with him...and then of course there's the boys themselves...i admit i'm rather intimidated by jim the leadsinger cuz i think he's totally awesome...frontmen scare me...unless they're like way mellow and totally nonthreatening like ryan beatty of serene...although i suppose some folks might be a bit put off by his height...6'7" is kinda overtowering for most, i suppose...anyways, the show was totally awesome...and joel was there too...he's been living w/ the boys during his "visit" to chicago, which i guess is going on 15 months now...he's moving back to montreal in a week or so, which is sad cuz he's really cool...and he's a photographer too...

i must be really dense...i've listened to bill's song silver transparent like a million times, and it wasn't until i listened to it today for the million & oneth time that i realized the song was about bill's friend dying of cancer...the realization hit me like a ton of bricks when i heard the lines "morphine drips beside your bed/it's the only way to take off the edge" and it sank in cuz i saw in my head a picture of my dad in a hospital bed w/ his morphine drip...



...pain is an awful thing...seeing someone you love in pain and being helpless to do anything about it could drive a person mad...cancer really really sucks...



...on that happy note, i encourage...no, i URGE any and everyone in the chicagoland metro area to come out and see my favorite rocker in the whole wide world, bill mallonee w/ his band the tiny silver hearts, @ schubas on sunday night 10pm...david wolfenberger of the original harmony ridge creekdippers (e.g. victoria williams) will open...there are a lot of great shows coming up, but this is THE ONE SHOW that i have full confidence will not disappoint you, especially if you love good rock'n'roll & meaningful beautiful songwriting and you've never heard bill's music before...