The Great Posts #1 - Chicago

I've compiled here some of my favourite posts of the last few years from some forums I've visited, starting with Slim's epic trip to Chicago in 2006


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Started this last night with:

"before my second dose of melatonin kicks in completely i need to write a few of the fading memories down.."

it kicked in alright ( - good gear that!), so had to abandon to complete today:

After being locked in an audio conference in evanston (leafy suburb north of chicago) for two days i finally had the chance - just a day - to go and see some of the city. it was cold and windy, as per its reputation, but the previous two days' rain had thankfully ceased. First, some web crawling had unearthed '2nd hand sounds' record store local to me, so had a trundle down to there. got a fair amount: jean-luc ponty, chicago, herbie, bohannon, blakey, jarret, silver, lateef, davis, cs&n, modern jazz piano rca camden comp, john mclaughlin, mahavishnu, cannonball, evans, mccan, harris and some other old jazz comps. all in all 25 odd slabs for less than 40 quid. get. in. Then headed halfway towards town in search of gramaphone. not a bad shop. great for house, disco, & tech classics. wasn't in much of a mood for buying though so listened to quite a few & prob left with about 5 records, despite being in there for a couple of hours. wish i could return in a different frame of mind now!

So finally hit downtown at dusk, and as i'd been told i NEEDed to have the chicago deep pan pizza experience i queued for 45 minute to get a seat at the bar in Gino's - the place to go i was told. well it was another 15 minutes before a waiter finally came, and upon ordering, told me it'd be another hours wait for the 'pizza'(! - that ain't no fast food). on an empty stomach too! when it finally came i forced about a quarter of it down before deciding it was truly truly disgusting: manky sausage, undigestible 'cheese', tasteless crust. truly 'a deep dish disappointment'. gimme a pizza express with parma, rocket, parmesan and capers - anyday! Now worse, my only company there at the bar was the guy next to me. a duran duran fan (greattt) who'd come all the way from kentucky only to miss them through flight delays. now he polished his 'pizza' off! - where do these people get their stomachs?! 

So i hit michigan ave and by this time it was getting late. popped into macy's to see if i could find some kids clothes/toys but it was 9 by this time and closing, so didn't have time to browse very long. exiting out of the back there, i was at my planned destination > i was right outside the entrance to the john hancock centre. a few minutes wait in the 'line' for the lift & it was whooosh > up to the 95th floor, ears popping, followed by the eye popping view. I spent a while up there in the bar, stretching my malibu & taking in the 360 night time view or the city - truly awesome! From there it was time to hit some nightlife. admiring all the effort everyone had gone into dressing up for pre halloween parties (they don't mess about in the US!), i take a short trip on the L red line train up to north clarke and hit the sm@rt bar. now, i knew madlib/pbw/j-roc were playing in town that night but hadn't realised the venue was the same building! i paid my money into the club and then snuck upstairs, to find that the show was still happenning. 

Must say, i thought the crowd were quite muted, and expected to see alot more brothers in the space considering the city's racial profile, but it was a proper buzz seeing them do their stuff for half an hour or so. highlight was hearing the folk intro, complete with rewind, merging into 'the red' - simply beautiful - i.d. sample spotters please! ? On my way back down into the club i meet madlib on the stairs(!) hello again sir. respec'

So the guy playing house downstairs miles maeda - was supposedly rated, but did very little for me. one of his entourage was the huge figure of 'acidman' - shame he didn't play. someone told me also that farley jackmaster was playing an afterhours not far away, but i lost him before i could get the venue name - another shame. still, peeps were all very friendly (makes a big change from the uk - even the bouncer guy on me asking him if he'd cleared my drink, admitted his error & got me another! - now any london barman/ bouncer in the same situation would have told me to feck off, i have no doubt at all) and the girls were gorgeous. (this was the same pattern i found troughout my time there: friendly approachable warm people without hang-ups or attitude - very very refreshing). so got talking to some folk, and ended up leaving with them and hitting an underground house party happenning a short ride further up the road. it was anarchy in there! - complete mayhem. no bad vibes. but no air either! the dj was called "overkill" & that was appropriate. - i'll say no more... then, it seems, this guy not far from where we're sitting had passed out cold. cue a great deal of commotion and about 6 people lifting the guy out and presumably onto the street. i'm guessing that was the trigger for the law, as ten minutes later the party was shut down, and we were all turfed out by about 40 cops.

it was 5 am. having walked all day, and with no chemical ammo back-up i was shot to bits. my new hosts kindly drove me all the way back to the comfort of my hotel room, with me satisfied that i'd had a good little 'taster' of some authentic chicago.

 A short sleep later, i got in a bit of shopping and then strolled down to the lake. it was a beautiful warm day, the wind had gone and the beach empty. again the view was breathaking. lake michigan so large you couldn't see the other side, with a horizon sharp as a blade, and the city rising up on the south. just had time to nip back to 2nd hand sounds to see how much cash i could spend in 10 minutes (where i purchased most of above listed) followed by some truly disgusting veggie food - big mistake (damn, still no burger!!), then purchased of a pair of new balance waterproof boots/shoes, and back to the hotel for my ride to the airport. my 'mans' Charles the doorman, as i'd found out days earlier, makes hiphop & house, and will be geting in touch. as a passing gift for our healthy music exchanges he sorts me out a stretch limo ride to the airport > schweeeeet!

In the departure lounge are a couple from lincoln - the guy has a placcy bag full of soul lp's he'd picked up in haight, sisco. immediate rapport, and it turns out they have the seats adjacent on the flight, so a great reintro to the uk - his comic dry wit genius having me in stiches whilst i was awake, the melatonin taking care of the rest..

arrivals lounge heathrow terminal3 > not pretty. welcome to the uk, yanks > get a load of this

ahh the Windy City. i miss it already & wouldn't hesitate to return. next time i'd spend a few weeks. there were line ups to die for all over the city in the run up to xmas.

bar the food,

highly highly recommended