It's the End of the Year as we Know it... (photo edition) Part 1

 
 How i spent my summer vacation:  Chi-town, posed as a consultant, went to some type of industry convention thing, scored lots of free food and hunted down the haunts of Nelson Algren, one of my hero's, Lottie's was a hangout of his that still had the old coolers with the big old silver handles and glass doors and they were cool as fuck... the rest of the place sucked and no one knew who the hell Nelson even was, it would be his worst nightmare now, no character whatsoever...

The Rainbo, ah yes i know, it's a hipster bar but it reminded me of home and the place was empty in the late afternoon and they played shit on vinyl, which for a vinyl nerd like me scores points (The Kinks to boot), the booze as cheap and the people were swell and the guy who struck up a conversation with me was a huge Algren fan...

Apparently the place was once a burlesque theater and i once knew all these facts about it but the cheeb has blurred the memory, the place was old enough that the doors to the toilets were so low i had to duck, a lot, in order not to knock myself out, proper joint, i fucking liked it...

Chicago skyline from Lake Michigan

Museum of Modern Art? I can't remember i just really dug this sign...

beer, local, fancy, decent.

Beer, summer, cheap, what i drink when i'm not drinking Guinness

FLAG: Bill, Dez, Keith, Chuck, Stephen, ah yes former members of Black Flag tearing through the music of my youth? why yes i'll have some, this was taken right before i made my way into the pit, what? you're asking what a 42yr old man is doing in a pit? In my case that would be fucking shit up, early on i took a beer to the side of the head (half full, plastic glass, didn't hurt but made a mess) i gave myself a swell hairdo and did my best Long Beach Strut, oddly enough people seemed a bit reluctant to engage me, when i happened to mention this to a friend of mine, she smiled and snapped a photo and said, "look at yourself, you look like a lunatic", good fookin time.

Montego Bay, Jamaica - the artist shanty's where they sell art and crafts and Red Stripe and uh other things, i couldn't walk 5 feet without being offered gear, i've got a face every dealer loves...