Chicago Day 2
Welcome back friends!
We continue following our Little Piano, Big Mouth Tour Chronicles it's March 1st and we just had an early morning escaping from our disappointing lodging and decidedly homeless off to Whole Foods, hoping to hear from my friend Ariel seeking a new place to stay after our show at The Elbo Room!
Minority Report
The morning started with a snowy walk and a freezing morning bus ride through some of the more poverty stricken areas of Chicago. One new experience that these travels taught me with was that of being a minority. I come from a relatively white area and an upper middle class family. Most of the people in my schools were white, we didn't even have many people of Middle Eastern, Asian or Spanish decent. Here and Atlanta were two times in my life where I had been in the minority and I was getting looks for standing out and looking different just because of my appearance. It was a powerful lesson and I really took it in. Admittedly, sometimes I felt uncomfortable and it made me really reflect on how immigrants live their lives, imagining what it would be like if I couldn't speak the same language as those I was obviously foreign to, was eye opening and reawakened an empathy I perhaps took for granted in my homogeneous complacency. The diversity of the people we befriended throughout this trip was vast and I felt beautifully enriched for the opportunity. I believe living in the heart of an area that is culturally varied for part of or all of your life is incredibly important for every person. One can truly be given the chance to see the oneness of everyone despite all race or creed differences. It is also a reminder of how different everyone is and how much there is to learn from the world and how much there is to see and different perspectives from which to interpret life and the universe we inhabit! Anyway, off the soapbox, off the bus, and into whole foods...
Die-t-oury Habits/Whole Foods
After the or we stopped near a Whole Foods supermarket and decided to post up for a few hours, get some food, take in some warmth, charge phones and window shop. With only a week left of the tour we decided to splurge and buy some tasty good food for the remainder. Some touring advice to anyone on a trip: try to spend as little money on everything, but food especially. If you can tighten the belt and deal with some hunger pangs, the people you're staying with will often lend you some food. Nothing worse than spending your day's money on a meal somewhere and then arriving at your hosts' house and being too full to turn down a delicious free home cooked meal. Also, as is the case with some venues, try to get a free meal for performing there! That being said, if spending money buy as much on sale as you can. Go to grocery stores and get things that are more bang for your buck that is easy to carry(cans of tuna, peanut butter, produce, powdered meal drinks even!).
We spent several hours at whole foods, I bought a loaf of bread and a bunch of apples. I ended up buying probably 5 pounds of chocolate covered almonds and espresso beans. I went a little crazy and spent a stupid amount of money. I embarrassingly liken this to the phenomenon that most accidents happen within 10 miles of your house because you get lazy on the final stretch of the trip. By now we had heard from Ariel and she graciously invited us to stay at her home and said she'd accompany us to our show at Elbo room that night, we just had to kill some time waiting for her to get out of work! They had places we could charge our phones and sit and read or hang out after shopping. They also had wi-fi so I was able to update this blog. I ended up writing an essay about all of the supporters I have in my life. I have an overwhelming feeling of support, love, encouragement and I elaborate on my mission in life and what I hope to do through music and what it means to me to attempt to fuse those things and what how much it means to me to have you folks believe in this. Feel free to click this sentence to read that entry. I spent my time reading and writing online, making funny faces to the pudgy jovial child of a gay couple, admittedly eavesdropped on an interview a girl was doing to acquire a babysitting job with the family of the interviewers, and interacted with passerby when I got the chance. Amazing how many people there are in the world and how each of them has so much to observe and learn from, this is also one of the most important aspects of nutrition you intake on a tour! Socialization, the inspiration that new knowledge or a personal story can give you is paramount to feeding your muse, as Ray Bradbury says, in his book (which I recommend) Zen in the art of writing.
Ariel and our new lodging, The Cat and The Hat, The Elbo Room
At last,Ariel called us, and we took a bus to meet up with her after her shift at work had finished!
She and I met at Cool Beanz where we both began performing poetry, and we have been friends ever since. Seeing her was a great pleasure, as it was the first time seeing people I knew from home since Heather and her sister Alyssa generously came to visit me in Memphis, and a familiar face sprinkled into all the strange adventure is always welcome! Ariel's apartment, while smaller, was certainly much cleaner and more homelike. She offered us food, which was politely declined as we has spent the day languidly gorging ourselves on foods. She had plenty of gourmet hot chocolate...which, If memory serves, I only rejected because I felt bad eating such royal cocoa goodness! We played with her cat Bumpkin, (pictures below) and had a few hours before going to perform at our show. After Ariel and I caught up, she showed Alexa and I around a bit, Ariel and I took a stroll and happened upon an incredible haberdashery the likes of which I'd never seen, and was immediately drawn into, The Gorrin Brothers. The company has been around since the twenties, and they communicated that old feel into their marvelous little shop. The ambiance and smell and all the old fashion hats were delightful. Ariel and I tried a few on and eventually I fell in love with a navy pork pie hat with a gold band, that I've been wearing ever since. It was a little pricey, but for a hat I'd be wearing for the rest of my life, and as my birthday was a few weeks away, I figured I'd buy myself a rare and early birthday gift! There are pictures, of course, below. Ariel and I then went to a vegetarian/vegan shop and had a nice hot meal, soups and sandwich, and retrieved Alexa to head off to the Elbo Room! This venue was in a really cool little spot, there was a battle of the bands going on in the basement and Alexa and I played on this little stage upstairs. Alexa went on and got a great response, I've enclosed a picture or two below! I performed and there were a few hecklers, which is always interesting. We both sold a few CD's afterwards and met some kind people. Headed back to Ariel's apartment, exhausted and slept deeply. We woke up early and got ourselves ready, then shipping on our Megabus to Detroit!
We spent several hours at whole foods, I bought a loaf of bread and a bunch of apples. I ended up buying probably 5 pounds of chocolate covered almonds and espresso beans. I went a little crazy and spent a stupid amount of money. I embarrassingly liken this to the phenomenon that most accidents happen within 10 miles of your house because you get lazy on the final stretch of the trip. By now we had heard from Ariel and she graciously invited us to stay at her home and said she'd accompany us to our show at Elbo room that night, we just had to kill some time waiting for her to get out of work! They had places we could charge our phones and sit and read or hang out after shopping. They also had wi-fi so I was able to update this blog. I ended up writing an essay about all of the supporters I have in my life. I have an overwhelming feeling of support, love, encouragement and I elaborate on my mission in life and what I hope to do through music and what it means to me to attempt to fuse those things and what how much it means to me to have you folks believe in this. Feel free to click this sentence to read that entry. I spent my time reading and writing online, making funny faces to the pudgy jovial child of a gay couple, admittedly eavesdropped on an interview a girl was doing to acquire a babysitting job with the family of the interviewers, and interacted with passerby when I got the chance. Amazing how many people there are in the world and how each of them has so much to observe and learn from, this is also one of the most important aspects of nutrition you intake on a tour! Socialization, the inspiration that new knowledge or a personal story can give you is paramount to feeding your muse, as Ray Bradbury says, in his book (which I recommend) Zen in the art of writing.
Ariel and our new lodging, The Cat and The Hat, The Elbo Room
At last,Ariel called us, and we took a bus to meet up with her after her shift at work had finished!
She and I met at Cool Beanz where we both began performing poetry, and we have been friends ever since. Seeing her was a great pleasure, as it was the first time seeing people I knew from home since Heather and her sister Alyssa generously came to visit me in Memphis, and a familiar face sprinkled into all the strange adventure is always welcome! Ariel's apartment, while smaller, was certainly much cleaner and more homelike. She offered us food, which was politely declined as we has spent the day languidly gorging ourselves on foods. She had plenty of gourmet hot chocolate...which, If memory serves, I only rejected because I felt bad eating such royal cocoa goodness! We played with her cat Bumpkin, (pictures below) and had a few hours before going to perform at our show. After Ariel and I caught up, she showed Alexa and I around a bit, Ariel and I took a stroll and happened upon an incredible haberdashery the likes of which I'd never seen, and was immediately drawn into, The Gorrin Brothers. The company has been around since the twenties, and they communicated that old feel into their marvelous little shop. The ambiance and smell and all the old fashion hats were delightful. Ariel and I tried a few on and eventually I fell in love with a navy pork pie hat with a gold band, that I've been wearing ever since. It was a little pricey, but for a hat I'd be wearing for the rest of my life, and as my birthday was a few weeks away, I figured I'd buy myself a rare and early birthday gift! There are pictures, of course, below. Ariel and I then went to a vegetarian/vegan shop and had a nice hot meal, soups and sandwich, and retrieved Alexa to head off to the Elbo Room! This venue was in a really cool little spot, there was a battle of the bands going on in the basement and Alexa and I played on this little stage upstairs. Alexa went on and got a great response, I've enclosed a picture or two below! I performed and there were a few hecklers, which is always interesting. We both sold a few CD's afterwards and met some kind people. Headed back to Ariel's apartment, exhausted and slept deeply. We woke up early and got ourselves ready, then shipping on our Megabus to Detroit!
Comments
Post a Comment