john, yes, it is pretty gross, i’m not sure that i can consume enough alcohol to get me into a strip club now. at 24 things are different than 34.

I think I had a chance with one of the “Boys on the Bar” at a place in NO, but I figured I didn’t really, so I didn’t act on it. But now I think I did. But then again it was one of 2 bars that made up what they called the “financial district,” so I may have had a chance with him if I was willing to pay for it.

Kevin, I have grown very fond of you but can you please stop calling the women who work at strip clubs “the talent”? It’s kind of grating in a “totally dehumanizing” kind of way.

jon, message sent, let me know what else you need.

I think the talent at boy bars are WAY more likely to be interested in their clinetelle than at a titty bar.

xpost Ooops. Still not helping.

I think “talent” is no more degrading than “stripper.” What else can you call the dancing women?

Women?

Laurel, your explanation of “grok” makes sense. It still rubs me the wrong way somehow — esp. knowing that its origins are sci-fi/geek. I will continue to use “get” and expressions like “I feel ya.”

STILL NOT HELPING.

I recuse myself from the discussion.

xposterooni

jenny there are two groups of people who work at those types of establishments, “the talent” and “the staff”. not all women who work at strip clubs are talent.

JMC: And the world will go on.

Dancers?

Tits McGee?

interrupting strip club conversation to report: just got my hair cut by Jenny-recommended stylist. it is my favorite haircut evah! Jenny, whenever your done with your finals, I’m buying you a drink.

I’ll be staying off the Brown Line @ Paulina.... I should probably get a book since I’ll be solo a bit I think

i think “dancers” sounds kind of june taylor-ish but if that’s what jenny would prefer i have no qualms with that.

whenever you’re done with your finals, that is. haircut-delirium-induced spelling lapse.

I’ll be staying off the Brown Line @ Paulina

Isn’t this your hood, JMC?

jon, you’re better off asking anyone else on this thread about that part of town because i can’t remember the last time i took the brown line north of diversey.

oh, wait, i did get on the brown line this summer after going to laurie’s planet of sound to head back into the city. i remember it was really hot and instead of getting on the western ave bus and taking a 10 minute trip back to my sweatbox apartment i took the brown line back into the loop, then transferred to the blue line and took that out to damen just so i could stay in the air conditioned glory of the cta.

I’ll be staying off the Brown Line @ Paulina

This is a nice little neighborhood (Roscoe Village). This is my el stop twice a week, on days when I have band practice.

There’s a Whole Foods a block away from that el stop. Also a few blocks away from Hard Boiled, an indie record store and video outlet specializing in Hong Kong cinema, owned by a mild-manner British chap named Mark. And Victory’s Banner, a very good Buddhist vegetarian breakfast place.

(I live on Paulina and take the Brown Line, but the Paulina el stop is actually about 2 miles south of me.)

Ha! Anything east of Western and north of about Addison is still a semi-grey area for me.

sayjal is from the poon-job region of india

i met mark, the owner of hard boiled, at a party at joel’s place right after i moved to chicago a bunch of years back. it’s allllll related somehow.

Yay to HS for the good haircut! I’ll totally take you up on the beer offer. Isn’t Val B. the sweetest?

she is! she’s totally adorable. she picked out hair product for me, too. I am completely hair-challenged.

My managing editor is hilarious. Here is her take on my avoidance of catching the garter at weddings: “Don’t discount your chicks before they’re hatched.”

Managing eds are a rare breed!

People really throw garters at weddings?

I think the last garter-throwing I witnessed was in 1993, at some cousin’s wedding.

I’ve never seen a garter thrown. but I’ve mostly been to Indian weddings.

i would never want to catch a garter, i don’t care whose leg i get to put it on.

I think just about every wedding (reception) I’ve been to has had that.

xpost: Yeah, her first question was “Will you try to catch the garter, or avoid it like the plague.” I responded “Well, there are some pretty good hospitals here at the U.”

(meaning I’d take my chances with the plague... stupid typing)

Jesse actually made me a bouquet so I would toss it at our reception, but I think he got drunk and forgot about it, which is good because I worked hard to avoid all that crap as much as possible.

I would rather elope than endure the garter toss.

one of the people I’m staying with works @ r3ckless r3cords....

oh then you’re fucked.

Reckless is down the street from our house.

Jon Williams, what do you like to do? Do you like to go to bars?

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH..........

Oh god, someone help me up.

unless it’s the reckless in wicker park. in which case it would be very far from your house.

and i suppose i should seperate my loathing for the store from the people who work there (with a few exceptions), i’ve actually known some very nice people who were employed there at various times. but the store sucks, and sucks hard.

I’ve been known to go to bars.

Okay, good because I never know what else to do with internet people who come to Chicago.

...except get them drunk and steal their wallets.

but the store sucks, and sucks hard

I saw you say this on another thread, and I forgot to ask you why you thought this. My only problem with it is that its dance section sucks, and it’s not really the place to go if you’re looking for something in particular (unless it’s a brand-new release) — but I’ve scored a lot of great used CDs there.

So who is actually going to be around Xmas weekend?

I like Reckless just fine, but I have much less specialized record store needs than most people. I’m happy as long as the clerks don’t openly mock my selections.

Woe be unto the record store clerk who does that. WOE I tell you.

I think that’s a myth borne out of people’s insecurities. I’ve never been openly mocked, or otherwise treated derisively, by a record-store clerk.

As a former record store clerk, I have openly mocked people’s selections.

So who is actually going to be around Xmas weekend?

Me. I don’t know what date we’re going to come to your show yet. On Friday (the 22nd) I’m arranging for Restaurant Club to go to Glenn’s Diner, a place a block away from Kr’s apartment that specializes in seafood and also serves cereal all day. It’d be v. easy to just come to the Gr Mill afterwards — it’s relatively close — but if that doesn’t happen for some reason, then we’ll def. be there on Saturday. Kr is v. excited.

they never have anything i want. if i’m lucky they will get in one copy of a new full length on in the red or sympathy for the record industry. and if you ask them to order anything for you they make it seem like it would only be slightly less difficult than painting the sistine chapel. my first option now is ordering from goner or passout or interpunk. but if i want something immediately, if i need instant gratification i don’t even bother going there, i’ll go to laurie’s. the only time i wind up at reckless now is if i’m bored with nothing to do. i’ll walk to wicker park, do some people watching, flip through the stacks, hit the book stores then get an iced coffee from half and half and sit in the park and smoke and drink and watch the people again.

xpost, i’ve never been mocked (to my knowledge but then i’m not very observent/don’t give a fuck) but god, if you ask anything of some clerks it’s like they are SO put out. THAT pisses me off, it’s just bad service. and on top of a crappy selection (for what i want) it leaves me with little reason to go there.

I was openly mocked by record store clerks at In Y0ur Ear, in Providence. for Kate Bush. motherfuckers.

i used to luuuuuurrrrrve in your ear in harvard square.

Doesn’t that make THEM the losers, Roz? I dunno anything about ‘er but the noize bored loves Kate Bush.

Glenn’s Diner, a place a block away from Kr’s apartment that specializes in seafood and also serves cereal all day.

...wow.

I mean, the one in Providence has a good selection, or did when I lived there, but I hated those dudes. (yes, they were all dudes.)

xpost: totally, Laurel. so I can feel superior about it. but at the time, I got all flustered.

Yeah, like I said — Reckless is a lousy place to go if you’re looking for something in particular. I don’t even fuck with new stuff there, I just flip through the “recent used” stack and see if I can find something I’ve always kinda-wanted for $7.99.

...wow

haha, I knew you’d have this reaction!

I want to have breakfast there. I’m gonna have all my meals scheduled (Fiesta Mexicana, Lawrence’s, Ashkenaz, etc.).

Glenn Fahlstrom, one of the original partners of Evanston’s Davis Street Fishmarket, has opened this diner in the former Andalucia address in Ravenswood. Fahlstrom tells us he’s “reinventing the diner,” adding subtle twists to classic items for better flavor profiles (like adding chives and red onions to the potato pancakes and a slice of maple honey ham to the burgers). All-day breakfast includes buttermilk pancakes and about 25 varieties of cereal poured tableside, just like mom used to do (BTW, the cereal is all-you-can-eat, you just pay for additional milk or fruit add-ins). Lunch offers sandwiches like a steak sandwich and carved-to-order chicken sandwich. Dinner offers about a dozen fresh fish specials; check out the large blackboards on the dining room’s walls. Fahlstrom toned down the former vibrant-hued dining room; look for white walls, dark cherry tables and wainscoting, plus a cubbyhole wall stocked with cereal boxes.

My 9th grade English teacher (in Australia) was a HUGE Kate Bush fan. He made us analyze a bunch of her lyrics most everyone hated it. I thought it was better than reading some shitty anthology.

I am really making a play for the Shit Typing Award today.

In my snooty record store clerk defense:

1. I was 18—21.

2. My open mocking was reserved for people with no musical imagination, ie “I need a song for my daughter’s wedding. Do you have the one about kissing butterflies?”

3. During my second record store clerk stint at 27 I openly mocked no one.

aw! sometimes I think it might be fun to assign song lyrics if I were to teach high school, but I imagine it’s always more fun for the teacher than anyone else.

John, you’re making me hungry.

xpost: oh, I get why people do it. I’m sure I’d do it in my head if I worked retail at a bookstore. I was easily intimidated by indie rock boys at that point in my life anyway. I’d be able to handle it if it happened now.

There was a lot of behind-the-back mocking, but this was at the HEIGHT of the ska/“electronica” era so I dare anyone to have done any better than I.

if i were in your shoes jenny i’m sure i would have lost my job for refusing to sell that type of filth.

My seventh grade sociology teacher asked us all to bring in song lyrics once class and read them aloud. I brought “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel but had never really read them before and totally got the giggles during the “drive off in my car” part, which comes across kind of dorkalicious when read by a seventh grader. My friend Karen read “Add It Up” by the Violent Femmes and got up to “I look at your pants” before he stopped her.

Perhaps not the most well thought out lesson plan....

I never mocked anyone openly as a record store clerk and I was working there during the TEEN POP EXPLOZIONE. Our staff had a really wide range of interests though, which was a relief.

I saved my energy for following people I thought would buy things I liked and trying to see what they were looking at. It was more positive stalking than negatively-charged derision.

Man, when I was living out in the burbs the guys at R3cord Br3ak3rs in Hoffman Estates were always harassing people about their purchases. Thing was, they had like the shittiest taste ever and were always arguing about what screamo band was better. The vinyl selection was great for a suburban store, but man, I fucking hated shopping there.

I’m guessing people bought Chemical Brothers and Cherry Poppin’ Daddies just because they were next to each other in the bin.

someone was telling me about using Biggie’s “Warning” in an English class. which seemed like it would really work as long as everyone could handle the “adult language.”

We had an assignment in 12th grade AP English to bring in a song that exemplified a “ballad” (we were doing a unit on lyric poetry)and talk about it. But we got extra credit if we wrote/performed a song ourselves. I may have been the only one who took the teacher up on this.

I read the lyrics to “Loser” in 10th grade English as “poetry” (not as my own, but I introduced it as being the the work of B. Hansen). The teacher, a complete dumbass if there ever was one, totally let it slide.

I’m guessing people bought Chemical Brothers and Cherry Poppin’ Daddies just because they were next to each other in the bin.

You’d think but NO! We created special Ska and “Electronica” sections and became well known for having the best selection of both genres in lower Delaware (damning with faint praise for real). Chemical Bros was exactly the right era. It was the summer of Block Rockin’ Beats, which I actually still think is a pretty catchy song.

I have never been able to figure out what he says in “Loser.” Whores over Canada? Scores of what else is new?

yeah, it was during a poetry unit that this person had used “Warning.” the motivation being to try to make poetry more relatable.

I wrote some stupid sea shanty. The only song I remember someone else bringing in was a deep cut off Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

I have never been able to figure out what he says in “Loser.” Whores over Canada? Scores of what else is new?

“Soy un perdidor.” = “I’m a loser” en espanol.

soy un perdedor. i’m a loser in spanish.

man, I hated Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

horeshoe OTM.

i have a hard spot in my heart for the smashing pumpkins.

I’ve never heard the whole album, but “1979” is pretty choice.

That song is okay and I liked Gish.

MOCK ME THAT IS FINE I CAN TAKE IT.

“1979” is the exception to my hatred of that album. it was THE album of my high school and I could not get away from it. god. HATE.

xp: I have nothing against the Pumpkins except Billy Corgan seems like a douche. “1979” is super-pretty, but all my friends were obsessed with that album and I blame it for making them boring.

i heart hard-boiled

THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY

gish was good, lull was ok, but i saw them once and that bald fuck came onstage and said “sorry, i know we really suck tonight.” AND THEN WENT RIGHT ON SUCKING.

fuck you, billy. and fuck me for spending $15 dollars on tickets to that 12 years ago.

but all my friends were obsessed with that album and I blame it for making them boring.

Point taken.

except Billy Corgan seems like a douche.

I’ve prob mentioned this before (although not to you, Horseshoe) — but my friend Katie worked as BC’s personal assistant for a year. She says (of course) that he’s “misunderstood.”

HAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA MISUNDERSTOOD

I appreciate that kind of honesty! I’ve heard that he has a lot of trouble, how you say, singing, live.

I was never a big fan, but I still like most of their singles. I owned Siamese Dream for a minute when it was de rigueur. Great drumming.

2x, that guy was an eye-opener back in the day.

Yeah, it’s not even my usual thing, but Siamese Dream is pretty awesome.

owned Siamese Dream for a minute when it was de rigueur. Great drumming.

yeah, in a studio where they can wait and wait and wait until his brain is clear of junk to get a decent take. lousy fucking singing, a drummer who was too fucked up to count to four, open hostility between bandmates on stage.... great show.

Jeff just sent me this link and it made me LOL for some reason: http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/009158.php

HS OTM w/r/t the many ways that other people ruin probably perfectly reasonable music. And Billy Corrigan’s douchery. Probably Michael Stipe, too, but I was such a massive fangirl back in the day that I’ll forgive MS for nearly anything except maybe buying sex slaves and torturing cats.

LR: Pavement had some nasty lyrics about you on one of their albums. Did the groovy, indie scene turn on you when you got popular?

BC: Sure. But my whole thing is that people don’t fall in love to Pavement, people don’t get up in the morning before they go to school and put on Big Black. They put on Smashing Pumpkins or Hole or Nirvana, because these bands actually mean something to them. It’s the difference between music you put on to take drugs to, and music you put on to live your life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavement_(band)

Billy Corgan, leader of The Smashing Pumpkins, threatened to drop The Smashing Pumpkins from the 1994 Lollapalooza Festival if Pavement was allowed to play. The Smashing Pumpkins were headlining Lollapalooza that year.

hee, Jenny, you just reminded me of the time my sister borrowed a vampy lipstick of mine to go see R.E.M. in concert. she had intentions of seducing Michael Stipe. I didn’t have the heart to point out how that totally wasn’t going to work out for her. she lurved him.

lol @ rock dudes

“smiling politely”

did i hear SM in an old navy commercial last night? the voice sounded familiar but the song wasn’t.

how about lol @ drama queens, especially out-of-touch ones

It kind of reminds me of like Zsa Zsa Gabor or something: “I used to be the most beautiful woman in the world. I used to be in pictures.”

xpost