When I decided to attempt to see fifty concerts this year, I was hoping that friends would either join me at shows or invite me to shows. So far both have happened and I could not be happier about that. I met the Silkaitis brothers while DJing in a bar over 10 years ago. Since then we have become friends and I dj'd both of their weddings. It is impossible to not enjoy a night out with them.
Jim trying to get comfortable on the subway.
Pat relaxing on the way up to Wicker Park.
We had dinner and drinks at a bar on Milwaukee Ave. The food wasn't any good so I forgot the name of the place...Sorry. Then we had a wide selection of craft beers across the street at a place where the bartender plays music with vinyl records. She put the Beastie Boys "Check Your Head" album on for us.
Eventually we made it to the Double Door. This place hasn't changed one bit in 20 years. I always joke that you can judge how good a shithole music club is by the bathroom graffiti. This place has lined the walls with posters of past shows...definitely a great place to see a show.
For the second time this year I saw the Turbo Fruits as an opening act. They play straight up rock and roll and sound pretty good.
We spent most of the night drinking by the bar in the back so I didn't get any good pictures but The Whigs put on a really good show. They sounded great and had the crowd singing along and sometimes even attempting to dance.
While Jim was entertaining the people around us, Pat & I were discussing how to describe The Whigs. He says they are a '90's band which does describe their sound. I called them a power pop band because many of their songs had a catchy groove. Pat hated that description because of the word pop. I tried to argue that power pop shouldn't be considered a negative description..Pat disagreed with the term but did agree the songs had a really good rhythm sound that made you want to dance.
I love bands with a sense of humor.
After the show we headed out to get a late night snack....
....while these two were trying to decide where to go...
....I bought a couple of donuts. We decided to go the Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick owned Piece for some pizza but the kitchen was closed. So we grabbed a few slices at another place down the street. To quote Sublime "that's when things got out of control". Jim didn't want to take the subway back to the south side, so we grabbed a cab on North Avenue. The cabbie was either more shitfaced than us or he kept falling asleep because he was swerving the entire ride...on the Dan Ryan he had cars and a truck honking their horns at him. Honestly we were lucky to live through that cab ride. So I'll end by telling Jim...I love you like a brother but next time, we are taking the subway. Even in a shooting gallery city like Chicago, it would have been safer than that cab ride.
You all will remember this night
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