i simply cannot wear my puffy north face coat any longer.

‘oh, but its so beautiful and charming! and you can make snowangels and snowmen!’

you can also lose all confidence in your ability to walk.

i guess it’s lovely sometimes.

at least half of that is frank gehry, though.

also millennium park is much improved with sunshine, live music, and a bottle of wine.

but sometimes you’ve just gotta make spring come to you. during a particularly freezing and miserable weekend a few weeks ago, i just happened to go to this odd shaped building not far from my apartment and stumbled onto the happiest place i’ve ever been: the lincoln park conservatory.

it was about eighty degrees and horrendously humid inside.

just. like. home. 

today i had brunch outside wearing a blazer… so it’s spring.

but… it’ll probably snow like fourteen inches tomorrow.

dammit.

because of winter.

but actually because of a lingering knee injury that requires a cortisone shot. as if i’m a real athlete. but i really forgot how intense winter is… even though it hasn’t even REALLY started. yikes. and all of football season happened and i never even talked about it – probably because i was too busy going to football games and perfecting the morning tailgate (i.e. pregame mimosa parties).

suffice to say: more to come on all of that.

#pancakes

no, this is about music. anywhere you go in this city, people are listening to music; on the train, in the street, in a museum, while talking to someone in real life (the ability to carry on a conversation while maintaining your playlist’s integrity through one earbud seems to be a point of pride to most… but really SO rude), and especially when they’re trying to ignore someone.

#clipboardpeople

my biggest nightmare is that i’ll leave my apartment with a half charged ipod and a long day ahead of me…. and you know, the typical thing, like house centipedes. yeah, we don’t have those in texas and they are terrifying, godless creatures that seem to feed on wintertime and my screams.

google at your own risk.

but i digress. music is such a big part of the lifestyle here that when i got on the bus the other day on my way to work and the man next to me did not have earphones in, i was so confused that i had to take the opportunity for a laugh. so obviously i turned the music up, put on ignition, then a little luke bryan, and then some yo-yo ma. he soon exited the bus, and surely, thought i was crazy.

mission accomplished.

anyway, in an effort to mix it up and avoid a playlist rut, i’ve started leaving my ipod on shuffle and letting it cycle through on its own… which is pretty much a risky little game because bands like b*witched exist(ed). but heres what i heard on my latest commute…

yes, i referenced yo-yo ma and 90s irish girl bands in the same post.

get on my level.

more to come soon.

if you aren’t completely preoccupied with winning… and sobbing in front of your tv

during every medal ceremony for the next two weeks…. you’re wrong.

mostly because nirvana in NO WAY belongs in my otis redding radio station.

keep trying, spotify.

but, yesterday, i heard that there is another music website that might actually be winning the game. it’s called songza and its not just about finding music by artist… its about mood. so, for example, its like ‘oh hey. its monday night, did you want to listen to music for unwinding? reading? work or study? bedtime? or listen to new music?’ and you’re like oh damn, i think it’s bedtime. and then it plays some crazy music from blade runner and you’re like wait – thats an intense movie! harrison ford just spend two hours hunting down replicants and… oh wait, this is nice. zzzzZZz

its. awesome.

and there aren’t any commercials. WHAT.

anyway, through my monday morning: just waking up playlist i realized that i love fleet foxes and i’ve never done a music monday segment about them. now, i’m not entirely sure what there is to say about them. i was first introduced to them through a pandora playlist about like iron and wine or something standard, i probably wrote down the name in one of my notebooks and promptly forgot about them. then i was looking at album art on another station and saw that their cover art for their album fleet foxes is actually a pieter bruegel the elder work. its like the where’s waldo of semi-religious, semi-horror, 100% god fearing paintings from dutch renaissance art that we all know and love.

right?

[image via.]

but that didn’t even stick. it wasn’t until i got some sage advice from a friend of mine that this was one of the bands that i certainly needed to know. and dammit, she was right.

also, they’re characterized as baroque pop on wikipedia.

what in the hell is that?

jan van goyen, fishing boats off an estuary, 1633.

because no one gets light and clouds like the dutch.

el greco, st. francis kneeling in meditiation, 1595/1600.

because how creepy must these paintings have been when he adopted this style.

virgin and child with the young st. john the baptist, agnolo bronzino or follower, 1527/1530 or later.

and then just as you are admiring such an incredible example of a renaissance photobomb. you turn the corner….

and there’s his damn tooth. ew.

‘great pictures this week, cor.’

shut up.

look how damn casual.

[image via.]

so yes, this post is a little last minute, and i apologize. but life happens – and really… what can you even say about duke?  he’s just a musical and cultural giant that has influenced countless artists. and i can’t even begin to describe him tonight. so instead i’ll just say that in his music, there never seems to be a moment of rest, instead there’s just so much movement in the notes.

just like my life lately.

and with that… i leave you with the far east suite.

psh.

i wouldn’t say that i have strong feelings towards any one team, but i feel good about baseball as a whole, i especially love kids playing baseball because of the skewed head size: helmet ratio, and obviously kenny powers.

disclaimer: that link has strong language and content.

but its hysterical.

anyway, i usually just cheer for whoever is the home team…. except that time i cheered against the astros. oops.

but wrigley is wonderful because it is beautiful and old, and its casually in the city and you don’t have to go to the middle of nowhere, south chicago to get there.

yes, i’m hating on you, sox.

also because this guy.

and the other guy i like there… the one that makes the best bloody marys.

but we had great seats right by a huge group of rowdy, questionably new york gentlemen who kept yelling TAKE YOUR TAWP OWFF…

don’t worry… not to us.

it seems to be a baseball thing that we couldn’t figure out??

and by a pair of sleeping guys (perhaps newly 21?).

disregard the pole.

and, of course, the cubs didn’t disappoint.

‘what happened?’

‘oh did you miss it? he hit a home run!’

‘oh, good! … what is that?’

so damn charming.

we did, however, have to leave after the seventh inning stretch, which, by the way, isn’t followed by a charming song about chicago. unlike texas, where we sing deep in the heart of texas. duh. but we had to leave because it was approximately a degree outside and none of us were dressed appropriately.

mostly, on account of it being JUNE.

but cooler temperatures, of course, warrant warm drinks. so obviously we caught the end of the game at a bar across the street, enjoying irish coffees and beat all the traffic out of the field.

sheer perfection.

nailed it.

[artwork by shane harrison.]

i’m not being pretentious or lofty in any way, shape, or form. i genuinely love mozart. although it did take me a little while to get there… see when i was a kid my dad made some offhand comment about doing schoolwork while listening to mozart would make you smart.

obviously i tried it.

‘daddys girl.’

shut up.

anyway, i was NOT a fan. but it might not have been the music… it was probably the doing homework that i was having an issue with. because things like sunshine and gymnastics and girltalk. now don’t get all judgmental on me – clearly, i turned that around right quick and learned how to write in cursive or whatever. so calm down.

but really, more often than not, if you see me walking down the street, or loitering in a museum, or wearing quite the bitchface while waiting on a late train, i’ll be listening to mozart.

but like… sometimes it is jay-z.