chicago: without a face, jonas sees in color, windsor drive, and state & madison

so remember that one time i went to chicago to see my besties in state and madison at their CD release? ...no? yeah, me neither. that's how fucking long ago the show was. and of course, because of the apathetic procrastinator that i am, i'm just now getting around to writing about it. (are you sensing a slight pattern here?)

since the show was on a sunday, and since my good friend meesh had just moved into her new apartment in oak park, i decided to go up a day early to hang out. i left around noon, made really good time, and got there a little before five. meesh and i got some dinner in downtown oak park and wandered around peeking in cute little shops and stopping for a while in this really neat bookstore. she had to work early the next morning so we opted for a chill night in, where i downloaded about half of her CD collecton.

the show was an early one at beat kitchen on sunday, and there was a street festival happening on belmont. so we left in plenty of time to pick up sam and stephanie, and hung around outside the venue for a while when we got there (and stuffed our faces with festival-esque potato skins... YUM.) without a face opened the show and there weren't too many people there are first, but we still had a good time. henry is the one and only member of without face, and let me tell you. he's hilarious. without a face isn't really the rock n roll kinda band, but if you're looking for some lighthearted comedy, henry's your man. jonas sees in color played next and it was quite fortunate that they did. the band was in a really bad van accident the night before the show - their van flipped three times and everything was totalled. fortunately, besides some cuts and bruises and sore muscles, everyone escaped harm free. they put on a good show and the blood running down the lead singers arm made it all the more bad ass. they were really good - not exactly my type of music, but i bought a CD anyway. i mean they almost died and still made it to chicago to play the show. the very least i could do was offer up ten bucks to help them get back on the road. windsor drive played third and were just as wonderful (and attractive) as i remember them being. they played a wonderful set and it was over all too quickly.

state and madison was up next but before they played, there was a surprise in store. little did you know, tony is an ordained minister in the state of illinois (i couldn't make this shit up if i tried) and he MARRIED a couple on stage. and then they played the show. so random, but i would expect nothing less from state and madison. their set was one of the best i've heard them play, and that's saying a lot since this was number eighteen or something crazy like that. i say it every time, but they really do blow me away every show they play. they're so. fucking. good. it was also really cool to see jesse (ex-cavashawn, now south jordan drummer) play with them. the friendships and love in this music scene never get old for me, i love seeing bands helping other bands. we all hung around for a while after the show and i said my goodbyes to everyone moving away. sad times. benton just moved to LA, jesse's going to nashville, chelsea's going to LA as well... boo hiss. also talked to tony and gossiped about new drummers... times are certainly changing and i'm trying my best to keep up. craziness i tell ya! but all worth it.

the four of us got dinner and meesh and i went back to her place and passed the hell out. she had work in the morning and i had a long drive back to st. louis ahead of me. i stopped in la grange for dinner with the always entertaining silver siblings, and was on my home home by around three. all in all, a very successful weekend.

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.