The All American Rejects Concert
Tuesday was possibly the perfect day. I woke up late around eleven fifteen and got ready. Uncle Stevie was over, and my mom was busy doting on NIck, as he was in bad pretty shape after his nose surgery. Ian called around noon and said that he called the Woof Wash and that Dawn (in reality Janet who probably wasn't serious) said that we could come over and help Miles dry dogs so he would finish sooner. I told Ian to give me fifteen minutes, but he never showed up. It turned out he actually forgot about having to pick me up and never went himself. At 1:30 I came to the Woof Wash to pick Miles up. I got to meet Dawn, his boss, and Crystal, who were both really nice. Oh, I also met Kyle, Dawn's grandson who was two, cute, wore cowboy boots, and called me Miyuz (Miles). After being bugged by Miles to leave and speaking some shapbby Japanese, I actually said ”でありうます” when I should have said "にいます”, I drove Miles home. After a shower, some phone calls, and a half an hour, I was on the road with Ian (driving). Merika, Mike, and Miles.
We ate snacks and rocked out to "The Cure" and Justin Timberlake during the car ride. After an hour we arrived at a parking lot near Ian's dorm. From there we took Monroe street to Michigan Street to get to the Art Institute. Mike wanted to go to the gift shop to get a present for Gabby, and I found my white elephant gift (アンディ ワーハルのプリント）. We took some pictures outside of the museum and then boarded the El. After some initial trouble where we ended up in three different cars, we were off for the concert. We rode for about twenty, twenty-five minutes. We talked and took some photos on the train. None of us had traveled so far north in Chicago before, it really didn't look like the Chicago I knew anymore. The ride really made Chicago more enticing for me. Ian talked about how he'd like sometime during college to maybe get an apt. in the farther out areas of the city. It really made living in the city next year and maybe ditching NCC seem very doable.
We got off the El, took some pictures of the Aragon Ballroom from the tracks and walked to dinner. We chose a cozy pizza joint. We all sat in a snug corner by the front window. It was really enjoyable. After dinner we encountered the tremendously long line for the concert. It went up one wall, then turned a corner and kept going. We didn't even see the end...because Ian saw a friend of his from college (Tony?) and we managed to slip in to his part in line. After about ten minutes of waiting, we were in the theater. That's when we find out Miles couldn't find his ticket. So, we all started worrying and checking bags, pockets, etc. Eventually we told Miles that he would just have to turn back. We all entered the theater feeling bad, but Miles caught up with us after a few seconds. It turned out that the security guard who we'd briefly told our situation to had just shoved Miles in! He was a lifesaver!
Soon we walked up some stairs and got into the ballroom. The sides looked like castles from Europe or Disneyland. They were definitely approaching the line between majestic and gaudy. I guess the ballroom was Spanish themed and Aragon is a region of Spain. We headed upstairs to find seats. We wanted to be in the mosh pit, but needed somewhere to put our things. Luckily, there were five seats open in the front center of the balcony. There was already a 25-year-old girl there who looked out of place. She was there with her little sister and sister's friend. We talked to her a little; She was nice. The first band was "Boys Like Girls" who I'd only known from the newspaper. I was still able to sing along a little to the chorus of "Hero/Heroine", though. We were all anxious for All American Rejects to come on, so Miles and Ian went and checked out the concert paraphernalia. The five of us took turns going down into the mosh pit, which became more and more crowded. The second act was The Format, who none of us had heard of. We were all impressed with them by the end of their run, though. They were really good! All of the bands were extremely loud. We could feel the base in our bones.
Motion City Soundtrack came on next. I knew one of their songs, but not more than that. They asked the audience who was a fan and to raise their hands if they hadn't heard of MCS, to which the 25-year-old held her hand up. The lead singer was strange. He said things like, "Girls are cool...cupcakes are cool...jogging shorts too". The keyboardist constantly played the keyboard like he was on something. I thought it was going to tumble into the audience the way he kept tipping it.
Towards the end of MCS, I headed down to the mosh pit with Ian and Miles. Miles stayed for a bit and left after a song or two. Ian and I waited for about 15 minutes for AAR to get on stage after MCS wad done; They kicked off with "Dirty Little Secret". Their stage set up was different from the others. The other bands had had the curtain closed and had played among a messy array of speakers. AAR drew the curtains and had a giant screen in the background as well as two giant televisions sitting on either side of a stairway that led to the drummer. I went back up to get Mike and Merika after a while. Mike and I went back up and sat with Miles for the rest of the show. They played really well, and it was really a blast. The lead singer was strange, though. He told a completely nonsensical story at one point about a magic man coming from the sky and bestowing the name "All American Rejects" upon a group of babies six years ago...the babies being the AAR. Later in the concert, he threw a blow-up sex doll named Nancy into the audience, saying that whatever girl could clothes the doll the most (with herown clothes) could come up on the stage and dance.
The concert ended with the encore "Move Along". We met up and headed over to the El station. I fought through the crowd to get an El ticket (everyone else already had theirs), and ran into the tall, Asian-American kid who I was supposed to go to Denmark with (something Toy). I had to make up some cock-and-bull excuse of why I didn't go, but whatever. The five of us crammed onto the El and rode back to the downtown. On the train I talked to a 13 year old girl, her 16 year old friend Erika, and their two mothers, the hip, scarlet-haired one, and the tipsy one (who I think had a speech impediment, instead of a lack of sobriety). They were all really cool/funny. Erika had never heard of Aurora, though she was from the south suburbs, and said that Miles and I were "sexy sexy".
We got off the train at the same stop as the four of them, and I missed my chance to take their picture, as my camera ran out of batteries. The five of us walked to Walgreens, where I bought ice cream, then walked for about twenty minutes back to Ian's car. Our ears were ringing because of the lack of noise. Ian drove back to my house where everyone slept over on the couches in the basement. We watched some TV, and chatted a bit until maybe one something in the morning.
All in all it was the most fun day I've had in a really long time. Everything went perfectly.
We ate snacks and rocked out to "The Cure" and Justin Timberlake during the car ride. After an hour we arrived at a parking lot near Ian's dorm. From there we took Monroe street to Michigan Street to get to the Art Institute. Mike wanted to go to the gift shop to get a present for Gabby, and I found my white elephant gift (アンディ ワーハルのプリント）. We took some pictures outside of the museum and then boarded the El. After some initial trouble where we ended up in three different cars, we were off for the concert. We rode for about twenty, twenty-five minutes. We talked and took some photos on the train. None of us had traveled so far north in Chicago before, it really didn't look like the Chicago I knew anymore. The ride really made Chicago more enticing for me. Ian talked about how he'd like sometime during college to maybe get an apt. in the farther out areas of the city. It really made living in the city next year and maybe ditching NCC seem very doable.
We got off the El, took some pictures of the Aragon Ballroom from the tracks and walked to dinner. We chose a cozy pizza joint. We all sat in a snug corner by the front window. It was really enjoyable. After dinner we encountered the tremendously long line for the concert. It went up one wall, then turned a corner and kept going. We didn't even see the end...because Ian saw a friend of his from college (Tony?) and we managed to slip in to his part in line. After about ten minutes of waiting, we were in the theater. That's when we find out Miles couldn't find his ticket. So, we all started worrying and checking bags, pockets, etc. Eventually we told Miles that he would just have to turn back. We all entered the theater feeling bad, but Miles caught up with us after a few seconds. It turned out that the security guard who we'd briefly told our situation to had just shoved Miles in! He was a lifesaver!
Soon we walked up some stairs and got into the ballroom. The sides looked like castles from Europe or Disneyland. They were definitely approaching the line between majestic and gaudy. I guess the ballroom was Spanish themed and Aragon is a region of Spain. We headed upstairs to find seats. We wanted to be in the mosh pit, but needed somewhere to put our things. Luckily, there were five seats open in the front center of the balcony. There was already a 25-year-old girl there who looked out of place. She was there with her little sister and sister's friend. We talked to her a little; She was nice. The first band was "Boys Like Girls" who I'd only known from the newspaper. I was still able to sing along a little to the chorus of "Hero/Heroine", though. We were all anxious for All American Rejects to come on, so Miles and Ian went and checked out the concert paraphernalia. The five of us took turns going down into the mosh pit, which became more and more crowded. The second act was The Format, who none of us had heard of. We were all impressed with them by the end of their run, though. They were really good! All of the bands were extremely loud. We could feel the base in our bones.
Motion City Soundtrack came on next. I knew one of their songs, but not more than that. They asked the audience who was a fan and to raise their hands if they hadn't heard of MCS, to which the 25-year-old held her hand up. The lead singer was strange. He said things like, "Girls are cool...cupcakes are cool...jogging shorts too". The keyboardist constantly played the keyboard like he was on something. I thought it was going to tumble into the audience the way he kept tipping it.
Towards the end of MCS, I headed down to the mosh pit with Ian and Miles. Miles stayed for a bit and left after a song or two. Ian and I waited for about 15 minutes for AAR to get on stage after MCS wad done; They kicked off with "Dirty Little Secret". Their stage set up was different from the others. The other bands had had the curtain closed and had played among a messy array of speakers. AAR drew the curtains and had a giant screen in the background as well as two giant televisions sitting on either side of a stairway that led to the drummer. I went back up to get Mike and Merika after a while. Mike and I went back up and sat with Miles for the rest of the show. They played really well, and it was really a blast. The lead singer was strange, though. He told a completely nonsensical story at one point about a magic man coming from the sky and bestowing the name "All American Rejects" upon a group of babies six years ago...the babies being the AAR. Later in the concert, he threw a blow-up sex doll named Nancy into the audience, saying that whatever girl could clothes the doll the most (with herown clothes) could come up on the stage and dance.
The concert ended with the encore "Move Along". We met up and headed over to the El station. I fought through the crowd to get an El ticket (everyone else already had theirs), and ran into the tall, Asian-American kid who I was supposed to go to Denmark with (something Toy). I had to make up some cock-and-bull excuse of why I didn't go, but whatever. The five of us crammed onto the El and rode back to the downtown. On the train I talked to a 13 year old girl, her 16 year old friend Erika, and their two mothers, the hip, scarlet-haired one, and the tipsy one (who I think had a speech impediment, instead of a lack of sobriety). They were all really cool/funny. Erika had never heard of Aurora, though she was from the south suburbs, and said that Miles and I were "sexy sexy".
We got off the train at the same stop as the four of them, and I missed my chance to take their picture, as my camera ran out of batteries. The five of us walked to Walgreens, where I bought ice cream, then walked for about twenty minutes back to Ian's car. Our ears were ringing because of the lack of noise. Ian drove back to my house where everyone slept over on the couches in the basement. We watched some TV, and chatted a bit until maybe one something in the morning.
All in all it was the most fun day I've had in a really long time. Everything went perfectly.