Chic - a - go (AKA Smelly Onions)

Oh Janette, we love you.

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The flight to Chicago went pretty hassle free, despite the increased security at the airports. You now can't take any kind of liquid or gel in your carry on luggage - my solar powered backpack, which contains a large battery with numerous wires coming out of it didn't attract much attention thankfully. I was embarrassed enough explaining it's purpose on BrainTeaser.

On arrival at Chicago we went to try and get some food having missed breakfast in the rush to get to the airport early. The only place we could find was a small hotdog fast food place just inside the airport. It was there we met the lovely Janette. I've heard there are novelty restaurants in France were you pay for the privilege of being insulted by your waiter - I've never been but I'm fairly confident they have nothing on Janette. It's hard to place the most memorable aspect of our visit, perhaps it was the way she seemed so bitterly put out by each and every food order she received. I particularly liked when she tried to initiate a fight between two customers who were politely jostling to let the other go first.

Giant silver bean.

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Man: "I'll have the er.. oh hold on I think this lady was before me"
Janette: "NO, she was NOT!"

The food was also crap.

We only had a few days in Chicago as well and so we had to cram quite a lot in to the 3 days. The first day was just spent wandering around and walking off the hangover of the previous night's excess. Rick found the energy to goto another gig (Dirty Pretty Things) with Pete, a guy from levenshulme who was staying in our dorm. They both ended up backstage and the rest of the story I'll leave for Rick to elaborate on as I wasn't there. But I'm not at all bitter about this, it's fine.

The next day we went on a bike ride tour of Chicago which sounds pretty good on paper, but was in actual fact a bit boring. It was all a bit slow and dull and I knew we were in for trouble when our guide explained that we use the bell on our bikes 'for making friends with the people we meet'. I don't think mine worked.

Seriously? Yes.

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In the evening Pete recommend a place called Wrigleyville (I suspect named after the great Zabrina Wrigley of Didsbury). There's loads of bars and comedy going on. We went to an improv night where they would read a news clipping from the day's news and then performed some skits around it. Top stuff! It was also here we discovered Peter's second name was Sutcliffe, no really. Literally a month or so after his birth, the famous Sutcliffe was caught and convicted of 13 odd murders. At least, I hope is was after, otherwise his parents are a bit sick.

On our final day in Chicago we went to the contemporary arts museum and saw an exhibition by photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. His work is described as "internationally recognized for its richly evocative and stylishly intimate reflection on the often overlooked objects and moments in everyday life.". Some of his photos were genuinely thought provoking. I struggled a bit to fit the aforementioned description to his picture entitled "Man pissing on a chair" however.

The evening meal was provided free of charge by a troop of Girl Scouts from Kansas who offered to cook spaghetti in sauce for any members of the hostel who would be willing to sit and chat with them. The conversation was surreal and the food was, well, let's just say they should stick to cookies.

More Chicago pictures here:http://www.flickr.com /photos/miketong/sets /72157594238058374/