Seven Red

Yesterday we tried to go to Whole Foods Flavor Fest in Jonquil Park. Unfortunately, the rains of the last few days had made the ground very wet, so combine that with the booth set-up and thousands of people traipsing through, and you get the Whole Foods Mud Fest in Jonquil Park. I’m a little embarrassed (but not really) to have gone to Woodstock 94, which is at least less embarrassing than Woodstock 99. Ninety four was the scene of the Green Day mud-slinging video, if you remember – a rainy, pissy, mud-soaked extravaganza, if a gigantic vector for the spread of hepatitis C can be considered an extravanganza. If the music and chemical modification wasn’t so good (Droppin’ science like Galileo…dropped an orange…*), it would have been an absolute three-day nightmare. So I knows me some mud.

This wasn’t as bad, but we took one look at the people coming out of the park with mud three inches deep on their feet and decided that sandals and stroller would not be a good idea.Instead, we just took a stroll around the Lincoln Park neighborhood (it’s like Ramadi, I hear…), checking out stores and stopping in for tapas and some red sangria. Sunshine and chemical modification. babygirl got her first taste of tapas, including ham and cheese croquettas (yum yums), onion and potato omelette (boo!), and meatballs in sauce (eh…). If you think I was giving up even one bite of my chorizo, you got it twisted, kid.

Since we were doing some sight-seeing, here’s the Original Gangsta shot of the Biograph theater, where John Dillinger bought it. I love the scene, I think it’s in Pynchon, that has the crowds in Chicago massing to dip their hankerchiefs in Dillinger’s blood (dip a napkin in his sacred blood…and bequeath it as a rich legacy unto their issue…). The scene yesterday, somewhat different, led me to wonder whether there is any greater indignity than having your spot in history supplanted by a fucking Qdoba.

* No, the Beastie Boys weren’t there. I was referring to the chemical modification part…On the other hand, despite the presence of the Red Hot Chile Peppers, Metallica, and Green Day, the best live show of Woodstock 94 was definitely Cypress Hills’ set early on the Friday afternoon, although my estimation may have to do with the onset of said chemical modification, a theme here. I know what all the purists say about commodification, but I gotta tell you, once the fences came down on that Saturday morning, Woodstock 94 was as close to Temporary Autonomous Zone as I think I’ll ever get.

And here’s a bonus track that I came across searching for the above. I just love it for the crowd movements, which is my thing, I guess…

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