Court, Cops, Concerts
Today was my first experience ever with a real courtroom.
I went to take care of a ticket I got for having the wrong insurance card in my car that time I got pulled over thrice in two hours. I showed up, proved that I was insured when the ticket was given, and the judge dismissed it. The court part was fine, and it's very helpful when you smile and thank everyone who talks to you.
What made me nervous was the large quantity of cops in the building. I've been to Maywood courthouse before, multiple times (I got convicted for a speeding ticket a year ago because I never got my traffic school info and it didn't occur to me to follow up). Apparently, none of those times were traffic court day. I've been reading a lot about 80s hardcore and all the brutal things that cops did to them, and that in combination with getting pulled over four times in 2 days for not really doing anything wrong is enough to make me nervous around cops. I felt like they were all staring me down.
This post will serve as documentation of the beginning of my slow descent into paranoia.
in other news, I've seen some amazing shows this year so far. Here's my top 3 sets (I'll count CoT's best set at the end of the year since they're always good and i will be seeing them infinity times) :
1) Les Savy Fav
The show was in a church called Epiphany Episcopal, right next to Union Park. The Empty Bottle is booking the occasional show there. I'm in love with the place. Tim Harrington is the most charismatic frontman this side of Iggy Pop, and he made good use of the venue. Tim spent about a third of the set in the crowd, screaming with and at his adoring fans. I counted five costume changes. At the end of the set, Tim was staggering through the crowd, and he got to the back of the venue and said "bye" and just walked out the doors. They pulled his mic back up to the stage by the cord. The funniest part for me: Eric Lindholm from SoundWorks, the folks who do our sound at Colonnade Room, brought out their light rig for this show, and during the encore, Tim removed several thousands of dollars worth of lights from their post and dangled them out over the crowd. Eric was going apeshit.
2) Cursive
It's been a few years since I've seen Cursive in a small venue, and the only other time was a secret show at Beat Kitchen in 05. I forgot how much better they are indoors. It was Cursive's first time at Schubas, although Tim Kasher has played a lot of times with The Good Life. They opened with Sierra, one of my faves, and a really overlooked sing-a-long. They lost me for a little bit in the middle, but it was a long set, so that's bound to happen. By the time Art Is Hard started, I was all the way back on board. The new stuff sounds really different (mostly softer, some of it Good Life-ish), but I'm intrigued. New album drops next month.
3) Ludo
I have seen Ludo a bazillion times, and they're always entertaining onstage. They're one of my favorite bands. But since their album release show early last year, I haven't seen them live, save a very short set opening for The Spill Canvas. I HAVE seen them on milk cartons at elementary schools. I HAVE seen them on Taco Bell cups. I HAVE heard Love Me Dead everywhere, and as a result, I HAVE seen a whole lot of annoying children jump onto the bandwagon. So after missing their shows at Warped Tour, Columbia College, the Relient K tour, and A Very Ludo Christmas (with Chicago's baddest-ass synth rockers Oh My God), amidst the wave of hollow marketing of Ludo as the next big all-ages band, I kind of forgot how awesome they are as a band. This Metro show brought me back to my senses.
This was the longest setlist I've seen Ludo play since Last Fast Action's first show with them at Schubas in... 06, maybe? (Tasha or Laura Bu, helppp) As a headliner for the first time in a while, they had room to play some deep cuts like Hello My Name is Your TV and Part III: The Lamb & The Dragon, along with trying out some stuff from the new album that they've never done before. Andrew's solo performance of The Horror Of Our Love is my favorite song performance of 09 so far (in that category, Dustin Kensrue's cover of Round Here by Counting Crows is a VERY close second, and his cover of Hospital Beds by Cold War Kids is a VERY close third).
Which brings me to honorable mentions:
4) Dustin Kensrue (of Thrice), The House
5) Thunderheist, Schubas
6) The Jai Alai Savant, Epiphany
7) Last Fast Action, Beat Kitchen
8) Colourmusic, Schubas
9) Par Avion, Beat Kitchen
10) Chris Conley (of Saves the Day), The House
That's all for now.