On How A Photo Set Makes Me Want To Rock Again

[thekingoftoday]

I woke up this morning and looked at the top of my left hand. Underneath the hair I've grown there in the last ten years, I noticed a list of numbers written in blue ink, the result of a 12-hour inventory marathon yesterday that began at 4:00am. Many people became upset and infuriated by the end of the day, being asked, nay told to stay until

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[soul_spider]

As a reader of Maximumrocknroll for years, the Fireside Bowl was one of those places that seemed to always be mentioned as the epicenter of awesome shows - like Emo's or ABC No Rio or the Middle East or 924 Gilman. I was a huge fan of 8-Bark and Los Crudos as well as some of the older Chicago punk bands like Articles of Faith and Naked Raygun, so the Chicago scene always seemed really fucking cool.

In 2002, when my friends The Hudson Falcons and The GC5 ended up playing there with their friends, Callaghan, I took a 13 hour train ride from Syracuse to Chicago to see that show.

I surprised the hell out of them when I walked up to their vans in front of the bowling alley a few hours before the show started. I remember they were listening to Andre Williams' album "Silky". Then we went to an anarchist bookstore near the Fireside and the most amazing pizza I've ever had in my life. I don't remember where I slept that night, but I got to hang out with Tommy Callaghan the next morning while waiting for my train and he taught me about Chicago's underground hip-hop scene.

The most amazing thing about venues like the Fireside is the really wonderful experiences that they make possible just by being there. I was sorry to hear that they stopped putting on shows.