On Occasion I Will Attend a Music Festival

Hello readers. I am recently returned from a Chicago/Utah combo trip and I would like to now begin reporting on this little vacation I had. First up: On my second day in Chicago I went to the second day of the Pitchfork Music Festival. I thought I'd lighten the Chicago-post photo load by looking at this day on its own.

I arrived at Union Park an hour'ish after the festival gates had opened. The weather was perfect: sunny, a little hot, no humidity, occasional refreshing breezes. 

Not much was popping at that time. Kevin Morby, the first musician I planned on watching, was doing his sound check

Over in a corner at the Blue stage Chicago footwork producer RP Boo had drawn a crowd. Up to this time, I had found Chicago footwork music practically unlistenable and just Did Not Get It. But RP Boo had his speakers turned up loud and a group of dancers taking turns on stage and Now I Get It. 

Lost in a Pokemon hunt

At the Red Stage this band called Girlband was giving it all they got and making a magnificent racket, but this photo conveys none of that. Singer was screaming himself hoarse but this photo doesn't tell you that.

Over at the Green Stage, Kevin Morby started his set. His music sounds just like he looks, and I wasn't there out of any tremendous Kevin Morby fandom

I was there because Katy Goodman of La Sera, the band whose concert in June brought me back to rock n roll life, was one of his back up singers.

Oh and guess who else was at the Green stage? Chicago resident Sarah, too long not seen for the past five years. Turns out loud music festivals aren't the best place to fully catch up on 60 months gone by, but we did our best.

Post-Kevin Morby, caught Royal Headache for a moment. Didn't realize they were such old dudes. I like this one song of their's called Honey Joy, though.

Back over to the Red Stage, where we'd spend just about the whole rest of the day, for Digable Planets. The view mostly looked like this the whole time. 90's Hip Hop reunions really get people throwing their hands in the air.

When Digable Planets were done a lot of the crowd left so we were able to move up closer to the stage for Blood Orange, who was basically auditioning for the role of "New Prince" with his set.

The crowd thinned out again when the Blood Orange fans headed for other stages, so our spots got even better for Brian Wilson. He and his band actually started about 10 minutes early, which was a fine surprise. All the musicians (there were about 13?) were on stage and looked ready and then someone walked Mr. Wilson out to his piano and it was time to go! 

Brian didn't sing the high parts and didn't sing a lot of the low parts and wasn't playing the piano most of the time but he did introduce most of the songs and you know what, it was great having him. His band was excellent and fellow Beach Boy Al Jardine helped with a lot of the heavy lifting. It was great fun singing along to all the songs (He was there to play Pet Sounds, start to finish, and followed it with 5 or 6 other Beach Boy classics—considering Beach Boys songs were the sing along songs of my early early childhood, it was actually much more than "great fun" to sing along, more of an "absolute treasure") and making Beach Boys jokes/puns. If I had a bucket list, I think I checked off a big box that evening.

I wanted so bad to get a good pictures of this classy lady in white and pink while she was living it up to the Beach Boys music but she was too quick for me.

There were still a number of bands left after Brian Wilson but I had gotten what I came for, so I didn't really care too much that the crowd was shifting to the other side of the park for Sufjan Stevens. So I photographed strangers, ate a chicken sandwich (you'll have to trust me on that), checked out the record and print fair (again, please trust me), caught a minute of Anderson Paak, and called it a (great) day before the entire festival population swarmed the El station.

I walked home from the Ridgeland stop in Oak Park talking with Jeff on the phone, but by the time I got to OPRF I was like "Eh, maybe I should've called for a ride?" It was a long day on my feet! I felt like my leg bones were going to fall through my heels by the time I got home.

June Stuff that Wasn't California or Camping

I kicked June off with a victory of maturity by not bringing this portrait I saw in the curbside trash home with me. Sure, when I look at this picture of that picture I feel a little bummed that I don't have it, but also proud that I've progressed beyond bringing trash from on the street into my home.

One of my first noteworthy meals of June: Mission Cantina with Viviana for fish tacos, General Tso's chicken, and super-garlicky pea shoots.

Then we dipped into Morgenstern's for the first night of Kanye West Week 2. Viviana had the awesome chocolate and peanut butter "You Left Your Fridge Open" ice cream sandwich. I had the cute coconut ice cream with ash cookies Panda cone.

The next day I had lunch at this place Soho Tiffin Junction in the Village to check out their chicken tikka masala burger...this picture doesn't show it, but it features a patty of chicken tikka masala held together by meat glue (don't worry, that's a technical name) and it's actually real nice.

There was a Monday night where a bunch of church friends traveled out to Union City (so quick and easy!) to check out Mariano's ice cream shop. It was great! And then we walked over to the river to have a look at Manhattan and the spot where Alexander Hamilton got shot.

And then there was this other day where I went out to Sunset Park to eat tacos with Leanna. No pictures of tacos, though. Sometimes I forget!

There was this one Saturday where I went to Bushwick to meet up with Chaunte and Jeff at this barbecue place called Arrogant Swine. The space was great, the walk over was interesting, the food was ok. Favorite dishes on that platter were the garlic cheese bread and one of the cole slaws. The meats? Fine.

During some of my less-exciting times last month I would play video games. Last of Us was awesome, just like everyone said it was. Loved visiting Salt Lake and seeing the animals escaped from Hogle Zoo.

Here's some at-home cooking from the month, featuring further attempts to perfect tacos of cauliflower, broccoli, and steak. And also roast vegetable salad.

Right before I went to LA I met up with Jeff to try out the hot chicken at this new place Carla's Southern Kitchen ("Carla" being some TV food celebrity). The flavor was there, I liked how oily it was, but the heat was weak...I got the absolute spiciest chicken they had and I'd say it was a Prince's medium. Also: This drumstick and little cup of potato salad? $7. Sheesh.

I think it was that same day that I finally checked out Nishi, the new (7 or 9 months old?) Momofuku in Chelsea with Bryndee. Thumbs up on the scallops in tiger's milk, chickpea sauce pasta, and clams and noodles...very meh on the spicy beef dish. Potatoes were good, too bad they came out at the very end of the meal, pound cake was fine.

Here's some miscellaneous walking around pictures

When I got back from LA I met up with Julie, who published me in her music 'zine and was in town from LA, at Roberta's. The only picture I got of Julie was her hand, but look at that green tomato salad!

Another night I went and saw some chamber orchestra play a whole lot of Beethoven, but what I'll never forget about that night was watching the woman in front of me dredge her sushi through a dozen packet's worth of ketchup and mayonnaise.

A few nights later I went down to Madison Square Garden to see the Stone Roses. I'm glad Ticketmaster sends reminders because I had bought the ticket so long ago. I think I'm a Stone Roses fan, or at least I respect them for making one of rock n rolls A++/10 out of 10 perfect records, but the stadium was packed with people, all 5 to 10 years older then me, that LOVED the Stone Roses. Merch lines were gigantic, like, probably bigger than at a Katy Perry or Taylor Swift show and 60% of the audience wore their new Stone Roses t-shirts/sweatshirts/soccer jerseys they had just bought. My seat was down on the floor, a fluke of good clicking, and my favorite part of the show was when a security guard put this drunk who had been falling onto me and my neighbors and causing all sorts of nonsense throughout the show in a headlock and punched his lights out.

One afternoon a van crashed into a tree on my sidewalk going the wrong way on a one way street and somehow missed all the parked cars and people.

Ok, thank you for scrolling down so far...here's our Grand Finale, heading down to the Brooklyn Bridge Shake Shack to meet up with the Clarks and meet young Silas. And try the white cheddar bacon burger. That, too.

I Went Went, Back Back, to Cali Cali, pt. 4: Conclusion.

Wednesday, my last full day in California, felt like my first full California day. I headed out in the morning to check on the Broad Museum, saw that the rest of the city had the same idea, and headed towards the Beverly Center to try what would be my #1 NEW LA FOOD DISCOVERY* OF THE TRIP, a Taiwanese-ish sandwich shop called M. Con. (*Except it's not like I really discovered it. Other people did. I just went because I saw their Instagram pictures and stuff). 

First of all, look how charming and well-designed, right? So much good tile. And that's just the rear dining area.

From an understated selection of sandwiches, all coming on what I'd describe as a house-baked scallion pancake English muffin, I picked the porkbelly. There was a ton of belly on their and it was lip-smacking, finger-kissing delicious.

I also ordered a "Bird's nest", a fried egg served on top of a tangle of what I initially took to be fried onions, but as I progressed in my eating began to suspect was a tangle of onion and cabbage and maybe some other things? A keen discerner of ingredients I not always am, but I know what I like, and I liked this.

But here's the M. Con top-secret MVP, their house sambal oelek, which stands above most in-house spicy offerings with its clever inclusion of heavy amounts of cilantro and green onion. At first I used sparingly so as to not clutter the chef's vision for my sandwich, but then I gave in and went full on and ended up basically eating a sambal sandwich with a little pork belly.

Then I did a little Beverly Hills-adjacent exploring and lead on the salespeople at the Leica store a little asking to see the electric viewfinder and a few straps but had the decency to not ask them to unlock any lenses for me.

We're all just proud of Greg for even trying to open a fancy store. It's tough business!

Good promotion.

After being out and in that car for hours, I headed back to San Marino but made a final stop in Chinatown to pick up a little second lunch or early dinner from Howlin Ray's, a new Nashville Hot Chicken joint. I ordered their spiciest possible chicken, of course, a move which lead me into conversation with the chef/owner. It was nice to talk a little hot chicken shop with someone, compare notes on other establishments, swap opinions...makes all my previous chicken suffering worth it. A whiff of the chicken in shop let me know it was serious business and once I got home I had to yell a warning at my mother as she almost opened the oil-soaked box with her bare fingers.

Here is that chicken. It was very mean. The spice was just caked on it all over, like a second skin. You could probably snap off pieces of the spices and be left with crispy fried chicken skin to snap off beneath. I made quick work of the leg, ate a bowl of ice cream, and left instructions that Greg eat the thigh when he came around.

I also brought back food for Mom and Grandma: A Top Round Roast Beef on Weck, a Top Round Fried Chicken sandwich, and a Steak In the Heart sandwich from Chego.

That evening I traveled west to meet many good people at the new Chego Taqueria. So good was the gathering that it felt like my trip was really beginning on its last night. I'll spare you the food photos except for one, but know that many tacos and even more blackjack quesadillas were eaten.

Our man Keith, recently arrived from family trip to Utah.

Then we went back to Brandon and Lindsey's house for some interactive video party games that were actually, me proved wrong, pretty fun.

So sad that in a room full of people we're all just looking at our phones. Sigh. Just kidding! That's how you played the game.

Thursday. So sad to see the trip coming to an end. But let's end it right with a porch portrait.

I took the edge off a little (or maybe just rubbed salt in the wound?) with a family lunch at Night + Market Song, my last trip's Food MVP.

The spread. We ordered all the good stuff.

But here's a close-up of their fried chicken sandwiches. Everyone's got a fried chicken sandwich now and I am ok with that!

Asked Mom to pose with this mom

She, in turn, asked me to pose with this photo. Ok. Fair.

Look at this store how it matches the utility box out front to its clothes. Do they repaint with each season?

Ok. And that was it for my LA trip. It was a good time and I hope I was a little useful. I look forward to returning soon, or soon-ish. We'll see.