chicago: sixth annual fall formal

featuring: south jordan, super happy fun club, tommy and the high pilots, and state and madison


ohh, fall formal. it didn't go quite as planned this year, but it was a fun time nevertheless. as always, i spend thanksgiving with family and head to chicago early friday morning; i drive five hours while the crazy shoppers shop. this year was even more perfect because urbanites were playing friday night, and formal was on saturday. two shows in one weekend!

but then i got sick. like, really sick. it started a couple hours after thanksgiving and i pretty much spent the next twenty four hours crawling from my bed to the toilet and wimpering and crying the whole time. not a pretty sight. there was no way i could have driven anytime on friday and i felt awful because molly was riding with me. i didn't know when i'd start feeling better so i had to play it be ear and listen to my poor body. we left as late as we could on saturday and while i was nowhere near one hundred percent, at least i could hold food down. we got to meesh's, put on fancy clothes, and headed down to a sold out beat kitchen. south jordan played first and they were lovely. my good friends jesse and benton, formerly of cavashawn,  play drums and bass respectively and i hadn't seen them in aaaages. so it was nice to catch up. super happy fun club just got back from touring europe for a month and this was their first show back in the states. they were lively and hilarious as always. next was tommy and the high pilots who i am absolutely enamored with. they blow me away every time i see them and i just can't get over how. damn. GOOD. they are. and finally was state and madison. i probably sound like a broken record talking about them as much as i do, but they're wonderful. wonderful people who make wonderful music.

we hung out for quite a while afterwards and shenanigans were had with very drunk noise fm brothers, and eventually meesh, sam, molly and i ended up at the traditional big top for a late dinner. meesh made an amazing brunch the following morning and sean and pete (of the heyday) came over to eat and hang out for a while since they flew in from denver for the weekend. i had to head back to school and the seven hour drive was looming over me, so i bit everyone farewell and headed south.

i can't believe i was in chicago for less than twenty four hours. it was nuts, but i'd do it again in a heartbeat.

chicago: fifth annual fall formal

featuring: the phoenix philosophy, the aesthetic, the heyday, and state & madison





nothing like fall formal to be a milestone show. number twenty for state and madison! fall formal is a wonderful tradition that's been happening at beat kitchen in chicago the past couple, all thanks to my friends. it's always thanksgiving weekend, which gives me plenty of time to rest up before a wild weekend out of town, and leaves me energized and still on a hapy music high when i head back to school a few days post show. so i made the trip to chicago, stayed with my friend meesh, and we had ourselves a lovely weekend full of great people and shady shenanigans.



my favorite italian was in town from LA playing guitar for brand new band the aesthetic, the heyday was in town from colorado, and all of my friends with the most remote of musical connections were at beat kitchen. i couldn't have been happier. plus, who doesn't love dressing up for no reason at all?






the phoenix philosophy opened. they were alright. the aesthetic was really great, and played some bad ass covers, the heyday was solid as always, and state and madison brought the house down. chicago shows give me warm fuzzies, and this night did just that. it couldn't have been more perfect.

<3

chicago: fourth annual fall formal

featuring state and madison, urbanites, windsor drive, and koo koo kanga roo

what a perfect way to end thanksgiving break. a trip to chicago! [seriously, what else were you expecting?] it was the fourth annual fall formal, but this was my first year in attendance. it's been a slowly building tradition, but everyone treats this show as a sort of prom, and gets all dressed up and ready to party. in the words of mike racanelli, "what do girls like to do? get dressed up and dance." lights, streamers, balloons, confetti, a photo booth... my oh my, was it a good time.

i left around ten on saturday and made good time; arrival time in chicago = around three o clock. it's amazing how the absence of traffic can literally shave an hour off of that commute. meesh and i met sam at her house, but decided to go to liz's house to get ready instead. sam's mom was in "a mood" and nobody wants to intrude on those treacherous mom moods. sam's car had been overheating so i braved the chicago streets with great success. we got dressed and primped and fussed until everything was perfect and headed down to beat kitchen.

koo koo kanga roo was up first and i'll have to admit we were all a bit skeptical from what we'd heard prior to the show. they're not exactly a band. i'd call them more "entertainers" or "performers" maybe. rappers, as opposed to musicians if anything. but they were hysterical, and i enjoyed their set. lots of break dancing in the middle of the dance floor, lots of yelling and chanting and crowd participation, and lots of silly dances. it was a fun way to start the night. windsor drive was up next and they played a solid set. i really enjoyed their music and ended up buying two EPs after the show. nice guys, and all very nice looking as well. up next were urbanites who BLEW MY FUCKING MIND. i've said it before and i'll say it again: every time i see them they have improved ten fold. they just finished recording an album and it'll be out in early 2010. i highly suggest you pick it up. i swear to you, these guys are gonna blow up soon. they only played one old song if i'm remembering correctly, but all the new stuff was great. two of their new songs involved a mini orchestra and it was epic. i had goosebumps. can't wait for them to play some more shows in the future

and finally, last but certainly not least, was state and madison. i'm usually good at taking mental notes but i was having to much fun and didn't really care to keep track of anything. i don't remember much of the set list, but i remember it being awesome. i believe there were four covers thrown in there; i love rock and roll being the last song of the night and involving members of treaty of paris and cavashawn swarming the stage for a jam session with the entire crowd dancing and screaming "i love rock and roll." it was pretty bad ass. i also remember being severely worried about jonah's health at one point. he makes strange faces all the time and he falls off his stool all the time, but this time i was just hoping he would make it through the set without passing out or throwing up. he made it though, and all was well.

we all made our rounds afterwards. i bought some merch, talked to windsor drive, part of treaty, part of cavashawn and said hurried goodbyes to mike and most of state and madison. being underage, we were all shooed outside and proceeded to stand around for another hour. chatted with various people, took some pictures, met a few band boys' girlfriends who know me as "girl with the bear in her basement", and gave some hugs. we left at last and a whole slew of about thirteen girls and one guy went out for dinner. stephanie so graciously let meesh and i stay with her, so we eventually ended up crashing over there. and i was on my way back to columbia by eleven the next morning.

thanks to everyone for such a fantastic weekend. i can't even begin to describe how much i love all of those people. there are just too many of them. they're seriously my family away from home and i feel like i can say that i feel like i belong more in chicago's music world than i do in st. louis's. but thanks to sam, meesh, liz, stephanie and nikki most of all. and molly, andrea, sonja, veronica, alex, and everyone else i only sort of know, and everyone i met for the first time, and all the band guys who i'm not about to list. you make feel warm and fuzzy inside. love youuuuu.

p.s. congrats to sonja on her 81st state and madion show. fuck yeah.

p.p.s. i'll try and add some pictures when i get the chance.