plans I make

I'll be inChicago for 2 more days. Wednesday I'll be out, meeting up with people and saying goodbye.

Thursday I'll be heading to New Jersey to see one of my favorite people get married.

Sunday I head back to China, arriving Tuesday afternoon (time difference and a long trip).

Wednesday Isee the girl who wants to make me forget that today I divorced someone I thought I'd be with until I died. I was wrong. I was fortunate to be with The Bear for 8 years, and I'm fortunate I'm with Karen now.

FAQs

1. Are you and The Bear getting a divorce?
Yes

2. When did you decide that?
November

3. Is there any chance that will change?
no

4. Are you two still friends? Do you still love her?
yes. Yes

5. S0...you and Karen...?
yes

Lollapalooza-Sunday

Me "We have a lot of time to get there"
Bear "We are not missing the Cribs. I'll leave you if we do"

Ok, maybe too soon.



I had never heard of Mumford & Sons until I was flying home and heard them on the plane. I guess they have a hit (of sorts) but this is the song I heard, and it blew me away. Everything else was godo too. One of the best surprises of the weekend, and not just because it gave me an excuse to say "Mumford" a lot.



Always wanted to go to the dj part, and my nondancing spouse never wanted to. She made an exception for a few hours, in part because there was no one else she really wanted to see, and partially because she's a wonderful person. She seemed to really enjoy it.



Going to see MGMT, we had to make a choice; fight through the massive crowd to try to get somewhere that the 4'11 Bear could see, or head across the field where the sound was terrible but where we would be right in front for the National. We chose the latter, but tried to enjoy MGMT.



The National were way better than expected. We thought they'd be good, but they blew us away. Definitely the right decision about where to stand. The singer was right in front of us at the beginning, before climbing a wall and heading out into the crowd.



Finally, the arcade Fire. Simply put, one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Words fail me. The video doesn't quite capture how awesome it was, but you get the idea.

Lollapalooza-Saturday

I'm not sure what is wrong with me, but I keep showing up to watch Canadians. I only encourage them. Still, I really like the new Stars album, so what could I do?



Against Me was good enough to make us leave The stars early. Might be my favorite album fromt his year. Might not. But maybe. The Bear was perplexed by the decision to do this song and "babe, I'm an Anarchist" as I guess it seems inconsistent. She did approve of the idea of fires.



Any chance that arises to see Gogol Bordello should be seized. Amazing again.



man, we walked a lot on saturday. We darted acroos the park to catch the beginning of Metric. One of the bands I didn't expect much from, but we almost stayed for the whole thing. really good.


Instead we went back to the South side to catch Social Distortion, and our lives are richer for the experience.



then darted over to catch Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic eroes. I never heard of them, which made me in the minority. We're somewhere in the midst of this giant crowd which was singing along like maniacs. it was unreal. Bittersweet to hear the Bear sing this, as home is apparently not wherever I am



Then went back over to see green Day. What can I say? they were huge. They were great. Wish we could have seen Phoenix too, but definitely the correct call was made.

Lollapalooza-Friday

Lollapalooza, probably for the final time for me. A great chance to smell your fellow man and take in music.

The walkmen underwhelmed me. Hearing the new songs was ok, but when they did their old stuff, it just showed why I've lost interest. Still, it was worth coming to hear the Rat.

Rapahel Saadiq was the first of many pleasant surprises this year. Had heard good things, but neither of us had ever heard a song by him. Enjoyed every second.


The Drive By Truckers weren't really a surprise. We had high expectations, and they were met. Really not the sort of band either of us would like, but they are too good not to be liked.


We had left the south side of the fest to hear the New Pornographers. 4 years ago, they blew us away, and had made 2 really good albums since. This was the first act we saw that had excellent whistling and the first one that left with us wanting to ehar a lot more. Damn, I have been forced to say good things about a bunch of Canadians.




I'll admit, I had no desire to see Matt & Kim, and no real idea who they were. I wouldn't say they were the most fun to watch, but it was clear they were having the most fun out of everyone we saw that day. It would be tough not to enjoy them, since they clearly were thrilled to be there. The decision to stand on the crowd and dance is to be applauded.


Hot Chip, on the other hand, we both wanted to see. They were a bit more energetic than expected, though they did not dance on the crowd. Halfway through their set, we became obsessed with whether it was the guy from the Eurythmics and the singer from the Hold Steady going undercover. Doesn't sound like either band, but the resemblance was uncanny. we may have had heat stroke.


Chromeo was our dinner break. We were sitting dowen far away kind of watching, and thus kind of enjoyed them. Probably more fun up close.



Ok, going to see Lady gaga was a mistake. Not enough of a trainwreck to be entertaining in a bad way, and way too slow and drawn out to be entertaining in a good way. Should have gone to see the Strokes. The video clip below features a long, pointless break before she starts, which gives a good indication of what it was like. Still, it's one of my girlfriend's favorite songs, so I kind of enjoyed it. the Bear enjoyed it much less.