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laurainlimbo at 10:28pm on 04/06/2006
laurainlimbo at 10:28pm on 04/06/2006Wow - I can't believe I haven't posted on here since Tuesday, and it's already Sunday... where did the week go? Last I remember, I was going to write some movie reviews, and I was planning to post something on my cat community, but I just have hardly been online at home all week! I can't even remember what was happening on Wednesday night, but Thursday night we went out to meet Nigel Mack, a Canadian guitarist who Masahiko used to play with. He had just gotten back from a tour of Europe, and he was playing an acoustic set at the Kingston Mines, where M is playing a lot these days. it's one of the biggest and most famous blues clubs in Chicago and is famous worldwide. here's their site: http://www.kingstonmines.com/
and here's the site for Nigel Mack, who Masahiko played with this weekend, and used to tour with: http://nigelmack.com/
Anyway, we met Nigel and chatted with him for awhile, and heard about how disastrous his European tour was. His drummer couldn't leave the country since he owes child support, so Nigel had to pay for his ticket (which had already been book: $750.00!), and then their van driver, who was supposed to drive them around Europe (Holland and Germany), was a totally crazy druggie, who was driving so dangerously that they had to fire him! So Nigel drove his own tour van around Europe, without an international drivers' license! While we were at the Kingston Mines, Nigel's girlfriend, Lise, came to meet us. She's very cool; she's a high school music teacher here in Chicago, and she plays sax and flute with lots of local jazz groups. She said that she might try to help M get some extra jazz gigs - maybe he can play schools or weddings or parties. Might be interesting... plus she mentioned latin jazz, which would be very cool! We ended up going down the street to another blues club called B.L.U.E.S. and saw J.W. Williams' band - he is a very cool bass player and phenomenal singer. M played with him a few times when we lived in Chicago previously. We stayed until a bit after 11 p.m. so I was not in bed until after midnight - I was tired the next day at work.
Friday at work was super crazy. I ended up working more than an hour overtime because we had a rush on all of these backgrounds for United Airlines. The people are supposed to start working on Monday, but we were just told to start rushing these backgrounds on Wednesday, so by the end of the day Friday, the managers were all freaking out! I stayed late trying to get a lot of loose ends tied up (but left with some things unresolved because I was just too tired to care). By the time I got home, it was nearly 6 p.m., and I was so tired. thankfully, my wonderful husband had prepared a nice, healthy dinner, so I ate, and then just relaxed! Masahiko went out for awhile that night to get a CD from Nigel, who he would play with on Saturday night (he had to practice), so I watched an episode of "Six Feet Under" and called my sister.
Saturday we went out for tons of errands: we had to get our license plates, our city sticker, go to the bank, and then go to Home Depot to get a shower head. After shopping, we grabbed a hotdog at the stand outside of the Home Depot, and we both enjoyed it - the quintessential "Chicago Hot Dog" with all the works. It was very yummy (even though I know how unhealthy Hot Dogs are - all the best food in Chicago is very bad for you)
That evening, my good friend Sarah came by so that we could watch a crazy Japanese movie called "Versus". It's apparently a cult classic, a science-fiction/horror film about yakuza fighting against zombies in a weird forest that is some kind of other dimension, a portal to the "other world" (which means the afterlife, I guess). Please don't ask me to explain the plot - neither of us really understood much of what was going on, and that wasn't because of the language. It was just a very weird movie. But it was very fun! We ordered Chinese take-out, and then sat down and got totally caught up in this violent, incomprehensible zombie film. It was such a hilarious movie and probably one of the most entertaining evenings I've had in awhile! After the zombie movie, and after M had gone to the Kingston Mines to play with Nigel, Sarah and I watched yet another film, "Troy" with Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. I don't want to do a full-on review of this film, but suffice to say we had our own Mystery Science Theater in my apartment while watching this overly dramatic, overly long epic. I had never really wanted to see this movie when it came out, because I was worried that it would be a bit too melodramatic and overacted - and I was right. Visually, it was very stunning - the sets, costumes, war scenes, photography, etc. were all great. But the story was totally wrong - anyone who has read The Iliad, or just knows a bit about Greek Mythology would see all of the mistakes in the story. And yes, Brad and Orlando are gorgeous to look at, but they were totally silly to watch in this movie. It was too much like a Greek soap opera, and too much emphasis on Brad's muscles (which are impressive). We did have a great time making fun of it, though!
Sunday, today (for about one more hour), was also very busy. I got up early because my cat wouldn't let me sleep, and I caught up on my emails to friends and family. It had been awhile! And then around 11:45 we drove out to this cool Brazilian cafe called Cafe 28 in Ravenswood, a hip neighborhood on the East Side. We went there to see this brilliant jazz guitarist named Bobby Broom, who plays there every Sunday with a Brazilian singer named Sergio Pires. The music was fantastic, Brazilian bossa nova with two nylon string guitars and amazing vocals. We ordered a sandwich and coffee and enjoyed the music until 2 p.m. Also, we had a chance to chat with these two awesome musicians; I love an atmosphere like that which is so intimate so that you can get to know the musicians and meet them. Bobby Broom is very famous here in Chicago, and also he is very well known in Japan. Masahiko and I had seen him with an organ trio (they play every Tuesday night at The Green Mill, a famous jazz club in Chicago) a couple years ago. Bobby is probably one of the best jazz guitarists alive today, and he lives right here in Chicago. We found out today that he teaches private lessons, so M is planning to get a job and save some money and take lessons with him - then he can really become a great guitarist!!
So it was a great day today since we got to hear awesome music and meet some great local musicians. Here's Bobby's website: http://www.bobbybroom.com/
and Sergio's website: http://www.sergiopires.com/
We came home in the afternoon and took a nap, then went to Office Depot and ended up buying a fax/printer/scanner. M wants to be able to send and receive faxes from his parents. It was quite cheap, and seems to be very good. Unfortunately tonight I have a terrible stomach ache, and I'm very very tired, but I had to update on here before a whole week would go by!
Ah - tomorrow I have to go back to work - I need another day to recover from my weekend!
I hope everyone is doing well. Especially I hope thatdawnie1970 has recovered from her flu. I've been very worried about her!
*kisses*
and here's the site for Nigel Mack, who Masahiko played with this weekend, and used to tour with: http://nigelmack.com/
Anyway, we met Nigel and chatted with him for awhile, and heard about how disastrous his European tour was. His drummer couldn't leave the country since he owes child support, so Nigel had to pay for his ticket (which had already been book: $750.00!), and then their van driver, who was supposed to drive them around Europe (Holland and Germany), was a totally crazy druggie, who was driving so dangerously that they had to fire him! So Nigel drove his own tour van around Europe, without an international drivers' license! While we were at the Kingston Mines, Nigel's girlfriend, Lise, came to meet us. She's very cool; she's a high school music teacher here in Chicago, and she plays sax and flute with lots of local jazz groups. She said that she might try to help M get some extra jazz gigs - maybe he can play schools or weddings or parties. Might be interesting... plus she mentioned latin jazz, which would be very cool! We ended up going down the street to another blues club called B.L.U.E.S. and saw J.W. Williams' band - he is a very cool bass player and phenomenal singer. M played with him a few times when we lived in Chicago previously. We stayed until a bit after 11 p.m. so I was not in bed until after midnight - I was tired the next day at work.
Friday at work was super crazy. I ended up working more than an hour overtime because we had a rush on all of these backgrounds for United Airlines. The people are supposed to start working on Monday, but we were just told to start rushing these backgrounds on Wednesday, so by the end of the day Friday, the managers were all freaking out! I stayed late trying to get a lot of loose ends tied up (but left with some things unresolved because I was just too tired to care). By the time I got home, it was nearly 6 p.m., and I was so tired. thankfully, my wonderful husband had prepared a nice, healthy dinner, so I ate, and then just relaxed! Masahiko went out for awhile that night to get a CD from Nigel, who he would play with on Saturday night (he had to practice), so I watched an episode of "Six Feet Under" and called my sister.
Saturday we went out for tons of errands: we had to get our license plates, our city sticker, go to the bank, and then go to Home Depot to get a shower head. After shopping, we grabbed a hotdog at the stand outside of the Home Depot, and we both enjoyed it - the quintessential "Chicago Hot Dog" with all the works. It was very yummy (even though I know how unhealthy Hot Dogs are - all the best food in Chicago is very bad for you)
That evening, my good friend Sarah came by so that we could watch a crazy Japanese movie called "Versus". It's apparently a cult classic, a science-fiction/horror film about yakuza fighting against zombies in a weird forest that is some kind of other dimension, a portal to the "other world" (which means the afterlife, I guess). Please don't ask me to explain the plot - neither of us really understood much of what was going on, and that wasn't because of the language. It was just a very weird movie. But it was very fun! We ordered Chinese take-out, and then sat down and got totally caught up in this violent, incomprehensible zombie film. It was such a hilarious movie and probably one of the most entertaining evenings I've had in awhile! After the zombie movie, and after M had gone to the Kingston Mines to play with Nigel, Sarah and I watched yet another film, "Troy" with Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. I don't want to do a full-on review of this film, but suffice to say we had our own Mystery Science Theater in my apartment while watching this overly dramatic, overly long epic. I had never really wanted to see this movie when it came out, because I was worried that it would be a bit too melodramatic and overacted - and I was right. Visually, it was very stunning - the sets, costumes, war scenes, photography, etc. were all great. But the story was totally wrong - anyone who has read The Iliad, or just knows a bit about Greek Mythology would see all of the mistakes in the story. And yes, Brad and Orlando are gorgeous to look at, but they were totally silly to watch in this movie. It was too much like a Greek soap opera, and too much emphasis on Brad's muscles (which are impressive). We did have a great time making fun of it, though!
Sunday, today (for about one more hour), was also very busy. I got up early because my cat wouldn't let me sleep, and I caught up on my emails to friends and family. It had been awhile! And then around 11:45 we drove out to this cool Brazilian cafe called Cafe 28 in Ravenswood, a hip neighborhood on the East Side. We went there to see this brilliant jazz guitarist named Bobby Broom, who plays there every Sunday with a Brazilian singer named Sergio Pires. The music was fantastic, Brazilian bossa nova with two nylon string guitars and amazing vocals. We ordered a sandwich and coffee and enjoyed the music until 2 p.m. Also, we had a chance to chat with these two awesome musicians; I love an atmosphere like that which is so intimate so that you can get to know the musicians and meet them. Bobby Broom is very famous here in Chicago, and also he is very well known in Japan. Masahiko and I had seen him with an organ trio (they play every Tuesday night at The Green Mill, a famous jazz club in Chicago) a couple years ago. Bobby is probably one of the best jazz guitarists alive today, and he lives right here in Chicago. We found out today that he teaches private lessons, so M is planning to get a job and save some money and take lessons with him - then he can really become a great guitarist!!
So it was a great day today since we got to hear awesome music and meet some great local musicians. Here's Bobby's website: http://www.bobbybroom.com/
and Sergio's website: http://www.sergiopires.com/
We came home in the afternoon and took a nap, then went to Office Depot and ended up buying a fax/printer/scanner. M wants to be able to send and receive faxes from his parents. It was quite cheap, and seems to be very good. Unfortunately tonight I have a terrible stomach ache, and I'm very very tired, but I had to update on here before a whole week would go by!
Ah - tomorrow I have to go back to work - I need another day to recover from my weekend!
I hope everyone is doing well. Especially I hope that
dawnie1970 has recovered from her flu. I've been very worried about her!*kisses*
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