Doing things solo #4
I won’t count the improv show I went to on Sunday as part of the solo tour since I rode bikes with a friend to io (he went to the upstairs show, I went to the downstairs show) and because I’ve taken classes there, I always seem to run into someone I know.
Last night the solo tour took me to see a friend from college play with his band.
Good Things
1. Someone you know in a band
2. Musicians who can play multiple instruments – Paul had the keyboard/guitar/singing thing going
3. Taking the El – since I started working from home five years ago, I’m not on the El much. I love it for its people watching, its gritty urban feel, its no need to deal with parking, its allowance of me daydreaming out the window
4. A place I’ve never been – Weeds is a divey-type bar which I love
5. Cover songs – I’m fine with you singing other people’s songs, especially if they’re songs I like!
6. Bad dancers – fascinating to watch and I love that they’re just grooving to the music regardless of whether or not they have rhythm.
7. A Brit! – there was a Brit at the bar and a couple of them on the Fullerton platform. Listening to their heavenly drawl temporarily calmed my CTA-hate.
Bad Things
1. The neighborhood – Weeds is near North/Clybourn which isn’t the most horrific area, at least it was a short walk from train to bar, but am not the biggest fan. congestion, commercialization, the Weed Street scene of Schaumburg-ites and douchebag twenty-three year olds in Miami hats
2. Taking the El – what should’ve been a twenty-minute trip was a sixty-minute trip! Construction on the tracks so both the red and brown lines were on a single-track. After waiting forever at Fullerton for a red line, finally one in the distance! Oh crap, what’s it doing? The sign is changing… from 95th to Express, nooo! Of course when it got to Fullerton, the train decided to go Express and would skip my stop. Begin the wait again. A Tolstoy book later, a red-line arrived. But for some reason, the CTA decided to only be running 1/2 a car instead of the usual six, seven, eight. So everyone was corralled like cattle.
3. The bar – Not conducive to live music, horrible sound system, tiny “stage” area, no place to stand or sit without getting in someone’s way or being hit upside the head. I was hoping for a low-key, everyone sit down to watch the band, not too loud type atmosphere. I stood awkwardly, crunched between chairs, the bar, people going to the bathroom and people ordering shots. I have no patience for the jostling, screaming, annoying Drunky McDrunkersons.
4. People who sing along to songs but don’t know the lyrics
5. Rain – rain and curly hair = frizz. Frizz = my nemesis.
6. A gaggle of very very very short men – the bar was packed with short men. Has less to do with how I view a guy and more about how I feel about myself. I felt like an amazon.
So all in all, it was an ok night. The negatives had nothing to do with going alone, more with me liking things a certain way and getting in a stink if they don’t happen according to Saya-law. Oh well, at least I continued the solo tour.