HIGH RISE LIVIN' IN CHI-TOWN

So we set up camp in Chicago for a few days to play our annual "ML Birthday Weekend" at Joe's Bar. We checked in on Halloween and the nice folks at the Westin on Michigan Ave upgraded me to a corner deluxe suite overlooking Watertower Place and adjacent to the John Hancock building (where Chris Farley died). The room, including the King bedroom not shown, was about 1200 SF and amazing. It came complete with a Murphy King Bed built into the wall of the den, but I opted for the "Heavenly Bed" in the bedroom. The room had to 40' flatscreen TV's, perfect for watching weekend football.

Travis Howard and I steered away from any Halloween activities, opting instead to shop early in the day and then later that night catch his buddy Levi portray Jerry Lee Lewis in "Million Dollar Quartet", a play about the one day that Elvis, JLL, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash all met up at Sun Records in Memphis. Levi stole the show with his amazing piano skills and brash portrayal of Jerry Lee's infamous ego. After the show, we hung around for the cast party for little while before I retired to my aforementioned accommodations in the Windy City.

After an early load in at Joe's, I ran over for a quick lunch at Uncle Julio's with my buddy Troy Johnson who popped in for the weekend. It was GREAT to have a return to yellow cheese. The show that night was sold out and when we were done I headed back for some much needed rest. I awoke Sunday morning to the church bells across the street. Since it was a light day at the office (we didn't have to load in again), I rallied the troops for some morning coffee and then a jaunt into WaterTower mall for some soup at Food Life. I had the shrimp and crab bisque, a bowl of the butternut squash soup and a bowl of the lentil. Yes, I do realize I'm a fatass. I headed over to the venue shortly after lunch and got the day underway. Sunday night's show was not quite sold out, but was even more fun than Saturday. We had a bunch of special guests like Travis, John Eddie, Blake, Adam Hood and Matt Powell get up and play. We did a two hour, 45 minute show of nothing but cover songs. A good time was had by all. I capped the night off with a Blue Moon (and allegedly, possibly, a shot) with Ed (the greatest club owner in the world), Troy and a couple of the guys. I woke up this morning very sad to have to leave my suite and Chicago behind. Travis and I hopped a cab to Midway, enjoyed a breakfast sandwich from Potbelly and made it home at lunchtime. I feel a nap coming on.