Hey Nelson Algren! The New CHICAGO thread

[Ignatius]

Did you know there's a girl who lives down the street from me and she's never seen a raccoon? Are there other people who live in the continental united states like that?

[Andrew_TSKS]

To be honest, I've never seen one in real life either. Seen plenty of (o)possums, but never any raccoons.

[Thermofusion]

Used to live in a heavily-wooded neighborhood that was basically controlled by a syndicate of possums, gangs of 'em descending on the trash bins daily, futile efforts to keep them at bay proving ineffective. It's incredible how big those fuckers get.

[YojimboMonkey]

I saw a raccoon in my driveway a few days ago.  Bob and I were sitting in the garage drinking beers and the little fucker came around the back end of my car like he owned the place, stopped, looked at us like "Oh, you're there," regarded us for a minute, and then sauntered off. 

blucas how often do you change phone #s 'cause damn, I have had 2 different ones for you already.

[andronicus]

Blucas uses burners to keep the feds from coming down on his shit.

[YojimboMonkey]

where does he buy them?  goddamn, brother need a subpoena to get this bitch out drinking

[dieblucasdie]

haha, I had a burner for a while, then I had a real cell phone, now I have no cell phone. My home # is the same, though!

Also, last minute, but if Lincoln Sq people wanna take the ol' Western Bus, there's a street festival in my hood at Armitage/Western.  Vanderslice is headlining!  $5!

[girl]

I really need to update my lptj phone list, you know, in case we need to drunk dial people from Beerfest.

[diesel_powered]

And I'm back on the train again with fond memories of our epic LPTJ chicago meetup. The art institute was awesome, Jim, Lucy, Brian, and Almanzo kick so much ass they should be soccer players, and the whole thing pretty much convinced me that moving there is exactly right. Now I just have to figure out how to finance the whole thing. And figure out how to get Blucas out. Not sure when I'll be back out again, but with Amtrak being pretty cheap from Dee-troit, it shoud be soon.

[Almanzo]

I saw a raccoon in my driveway a few days ago.  Bob and I were sitting in the garage drinking beers and the little fucker came around the back end of my car like he owned the place, stopped, looked at us like "Oh, you're there," regarded us for a minute, and then sauntered off. 

blucas how often do you change phone #s 'cause damn, I have had 2 different ones for you already.

I love the completely ballsy insouciance of urban animals. I heard a crunching sound coming from our back porch the other night, and when I went out there a huge possum was digging through our trash and munching whatever he could find. He looked up at me, chewed indifferently, and went back to his work. 

[diesel_powered]

We have wicked raccoon problems in my neighborhood. Basically, everybody in my little building keeps their trash inside until trash day. At one point, I came home to find a raccoon staring at me from the side of the tree, so I ran at it clapping the trash can lids together. It just stared.

[Ignatius]

urban animals get to a point where they're shocked by nothing short of contact or shortening traps.

[dumbfish]

We have wiccan raccoon problems in my neighborhood.

All sacrificing fish heads to the new moon, chittering to the trees.

[Antero]

I would like to make you Chicago cats aware of the existence of Union Rock Yards. 

There will be crazy action here.

[DCDave]

Hey y'all.  I'll be staying at the Hard Rock this weekend and covering Pitchfork.  I'd like to do additional coverage on Chicago nightlife in general.  Anything you can suggest as go-to places for food/drink for a yipster budget?

[Lucy]

So the places I texted you: http://www.whistlerchicago.com/ and http://www.theviolethour.com/menu.php

[DCDave]

Thanks for the line/recommendations.  We'll see what's up when there's time to spare? 

[Antero]

http://www.theviolethour.com/menu.php

This one is important to visit!  I would suggest trying to land Michael, the head bartender, as your guide; if he's not around, Mike-who-has-bacon-tattooed-on-his-arm also always set us up right.

[DCDave]

Should I namedrop there y/n

[Antero]

It's definitely worth asking if Michael is working the bar, because he is a fucking genius.

[DCDave]

How tough would it be for 4 people to get in at like 10:30ish PM on Sunday?

[Antero]

Doable, I'd imagine.  There'll probably be a little wait but nothing extreme.  I don't think I've ever gone there on a Sunday, though.

[DCDave]

Made it to Chicago. What what. Staying on the Magnificent Mile (duh).

[Lucy]

I am on the Mag Mile right now. Where you at?

[DCDave]

Just chilling in the hotel but about to take off for Pitchfork :-/ The Lady is harried due to lack of sleep (she got home at 3:30 A.M., packed and did laundry til 5:00 A.M., slept until 6:00 A.M. and since then we've been traveling) so today might not be the best day to spring "internet folks" on her, unfortunately.  I'll holler! I got yer #.