Chicago, part 1
Luke warms up behind the $30 fruit plate
Our flight to Chicago was early but uneventful, aside from Israel getting profiled as a potential terrorist due to his name and dark complexion. We stood on the inside of security and watched the TSA agents swab his guitar with explosive detection pads. Upon arrival at O’Hare we were picked up by a car service Escalade and driven to our borrowed apartment in Ravenswood on the ritzy north side of town. Luke, Kati and I explored the neighborhood for a bit including a walk through the immense Graceland Cemetery, and then our car arrived to drive us to the private Rhapsody Music/Coors Light Party at the Double Door. This event had financially justified buying airline tickets, so we were curious to see how glamorous it was. The answer was not very glamorous at all. We played in the middle slot between Henry Clay People and Peter Bjorn and John on rented instruments that Rhapsody had also provided. Our sound was awful on stage and we were turned down so low in the house PA that Sara couldn’t even hear us from her merch booth in the back of the room. People ignored us for the most part and we could hear conversations in the audience better than ourselves. It is always strange to be paid a lot for a gig where the music goes completely unnoticed.
Afterwards, we retreated to our lavishly appointed green room, drinking Coronas and munching from a fruit tray with a $30 price tag still attached. Coming out to watch Peter Bjorn and John, I was appalled at the low quality of their music. Here were three Scandinavians seemingly parodying a combination of hair metal and new wave dance music. The American music press thinks that they are geniuses, but I couldn’t swallow it.
