bay area by way of boston

The other weekend my buddy and Boston roommate, Geoff, came in for a visit from San Francisco. Amazingly, his presence in Glenview did not involve any sort of computer repair.

On Saturday, we took Geoff for the obligatory lunch at Hot Doug's before heading over to one of the millions of street festivals that take place in Chicago from May through September. In this case, it was the Belmont Arts and Music festival, or BAM!

Arriving on the early side, we wandered through the various vendor stalls, and Geoff even purchased a new stylish hat. There was a rock band playing on one end of the street, but we thought it would be a bit loud, so we meandered in the opposite direction.


Kenny loves his first street festival and the nice balloon lady who decorated his stroller.

By the time we got down to the opposite end of the street, there was a band playing on that stage as well. However, this band was a bit more kid-oriented, and featured songs about digging in the sand and pulling on your pants. While Geoff teased me about this being the future of my iTunes, I launched into my well-practiced spiel about not letting Kenny get too immersed in the dangerous world of The Wiggles, and their ilk. I talked at length about making sure he learned about The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and learned to appreciate the differences between P-Funk and Prince. Of course, as I rambled on with great sincerity and intensity, Kenny was transfixed by the band and their song about saying "Hello" to your neighbors with "a great big wave." Game on.


Kenny can't turn away from the nice lady singing about bubbles.

When we made our way back to the middle of the festival, we ran into my friend Chris Glynn, who Geoff knew from our days in Boston. We asked Chris what he was doing at the festival and he explained that his band had just finished playing their set. D'oh. Yes, the band we kept Kenny from featured my good friend, Chris.


Chris forgives us for blowing off his band. Notice the empty cup in his right hand. This was the 18th of 345 free steak samples. The cup in his left hand was refilled often too.

After a bit, Overboard decided to take Kenny home while Geoff and I drank, I mean, hung out, with Chris. We were eventually joined by Grant, who lives nearby, and decided to stick around for the long haul and see Bob Mould, who was headlining the event.

Much beer and free steak samples were ingested, and a very long and drony Bob Mould set was saved when Geoff disappeared from our spot near the stage, only to reappear with a 12-pack of El Pacifico and some Red Bulls. Good man, that Geoff.



This made standing on my feet in a big crowd listening to Mr. Mould rage on about things that bothered him a bit more tolerable.

The aforementioned Mr. Mould and his guitar of woe.

Sunday was much more relaxed, as we mainly hung out and ran a few errands. Not really the exciting stuff you tell your friends back in San Francisco about when recounting your adventures in Chicago, but it was nice nonetheless.