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Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Thursday, March 28

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Steve / June 7, 2004 11:55 AM

It appears that this Morrissey-palooza thing has been geared to appeal to me, a gentleman of a certain age, with Sonic Youth, Polly Jean Harvey, Flaming Lips, and other vets scheduled to appear. They'll be at the not-so-lovely Jeff Tweedy Center on July 29-30, but I won't be, nope.

"And when I'm lying in my bed
I think about Moz
and I think about Beck
But neither one
part-i-cular-ly appeals to me...."

jennifer / June 7, 2004 12:00 PM

I'm so excited to see Spoon at the Metro in a few weeks, and I haven't yet decided if I really want to go to day one of lollapalooza yet, otherwise I got all my show-going in this spring.

Oh--there is that Cure tour also featuring Mogwai, Interpol and The Rapture that sounds interesting as well, also at the Tweeter Center in August I believe.

Craig / June 7, 2004 12:13 PM

June seems to be the strongest month: A hearty second on Spoon... and the Magnetic Fields the next day. The next week John Vanderslice and !!! slide through in the same 7 days. Dabrye also has a show in July. Other than that, I got nothing until RJD2 in September. Well, except for that Cure/Mogwai/other-indie-trendy-bands thang-- how do you find tickets for that?!

jenny / June 7, 2004 12:22 PM

Well, it's the tail, tail end of summer, but THE MAMMALS (www.themammals.net) are coming to the Old Town School of Folk music on September 12. The kicker? I'll be away on business. So go, and stomp your feet on my behalf. They're the best thing to happen to old-time music in a long, long time.

Naz / June 7, 2004 12:27 PM

I love all the above and yet can't bring myself to either pay a large sum of money and/or see aforementioned artists in large un-intimate venues. It's been years since I've been to anything bigger than the Metro.

Like Jennifer, I got most of my show-going out this Spring and late winter. It seems that most of my favourite bands tend to tour then - maybe it's the emo/hardcore/indie schedule. Summer can be brutal in a space like the Fireside or the Bottle.

On that note however, the one band I'm looking forward to seeing again, for the second time is Decibully (they are neither bullies or particularly loud) who have been playing non-stop since Fall last year in my rotation. I CANNOT GET SICK OF THEM. July 16 at the Bottle with Steve Burns no less (he of Blues Clues fame!) - quite a pairing.

Also, Pelican is real good though they've been whoring themselves out everywhere in Chicago lately.

But Decibully, go!

Louis / June 7, 2004 12:41 PM

Representing for all the neo-hippies: Medeski Martin and Wood at Ravinia!!!!!!!! This Week!
PHISH's five show run at Alpine and Deer Creek later this month!
Seriously though, even if y'all hate Phish (and I know many of you do) and other jam/improv acts, you must go see MMW. They are three of the most talented musicians playing these days, especially Billy Martin, perhaps the tightest most tecnically proficient drummer out there. If you think you would like jazz tinged with psychedelia, don't miss MMW at Ravinia.

Eamon / June 7, 2004 1:21 PM

The Pixies will be in town this November, but they're already sold out. The tickets, I mean-- not the band.

I'd love to see PJ Harvey, but I'm absolutely in Naz's camp: I won't go to a show at any place larger than the Aragon. No way no how.

Jen / June 7, 2004 1:22 PM

Pixies, yay, yay, yay!

Joseph J. Finn / June 7, 2004 1:47 PM

Nope - sadly, Rush is playing at the awful Tweeter Center. You get the best drummer in the business, and you book at the place with the worst audio. Sigh.

Carly / June 7, 2004 2:11 PM

Most of my favorites have passed over the spring (Death Cab, Pinback), but Iron & Wine is playing on Friday, July 2nd at Abbey.

I'm also thinking of seeing Pedro The Lion, also at the Abbey on June 28th or 29th.

And I'd like to see Jet...but not at the House of Blues.

shylo / June 7, 2004 3:15 PM

I, too, will be cheering for Morrissey at Lollapalooza, and in the fifth row!

But really, my shit is all about local neighborhood fest whores Mr. Blotto and Underwater People. Psyche!

Dawson / June 7, 2004 5:58 PM

Just saw Scissor Sisters on Friday, so I'm set for the summer. Maybe Goldfrapp will come again this year though... that would be great.

A lex / June 7, 2004 7:43 PM

I have tickets to see The Pixies in November! Other than that, all the summer stuff is in grody gigantic venues that don't interest me at all...

Kris / June 8, 2004 8:34 AM

I'm hot for the Curiousa tour: The Cure? Interpol? The Rapture? and sometimes Muse? C'mon people, that's gold.

Sadly it hits on a night I have a show. And at the Tweeter Center. Eww.

robin.. / June 8, 2004 9:16 AM

the pixies. november is far from summer, yes, but i do occaisionally take my tickets out of their envelope and smell them, snuggle them, talk to them...i expect i will do this all summer, so that kind of counts.

Louis / June 8, 2004 9:37 AM

Man, you gen Xers with your Frank Black. Is it 1995? Am I the only one still caught up in the 60s? The Dead are coming!

Steve / June 8, 2004 11:33 AM

Ah, Frank Black. I'd grown so used to the way he looks these days that I was shocked to see what a cherubic little angel he was back in the late '80s when I popped my Pixies DVD in over the weekend.

It's the evil of snapshots -- we grow used to people's appearances as they age with us, then feel surprised to see how they looked a decade ago. Until we look at pictures of ourselves from the same time, and feel a rush of empathy....

Alice / June 10, 2004 12:50 PM

It's funny because I was actually approached by a security guard when I was taking photos this past February for my Detour article about the Pedway. I was in the lower level of the Cook County Administration building when I was taking a picture of the shuttered Secretary of State Express Facility office. As I was walking away, I heard someone shouting behind me. I turned around, and a security guard was walking towards me. He told me photography was not allowed in the building. I expressed my ignorance of that fact and made a show of turning off my camera and putting it away in my bag. He seemed satisfied by this, but he still followed me a ways as I left the area. And, I still have the photos. :)

pat / June 10, 2004 1:13 PM

It's crap. I think it has more to do with setting a mindset, and making a veneer of security. But clearly if someone wanted to take pictures of a building they could easily do it by covert means. Buildings in the Public view should be just that; public, and free for everyone to enjoy.

Benjy / June 10, 2004 1:38 PM

If anyone really thinks that photographing buildings is the only way a terrorist is going to get the info he needs to carry out an attack, they're pretty naive. And even so, banning photography of public places because of the threat of terrorism would be like banning the growing of wheat because it could be distilled into liquor that underage minors could consume.

paul / June 10, 2004 1:56 PM

I was told I couldn't photograph on the grounds of Aon Center, but that I could photograph from across the street.

This is slightly a different case, since the could consider it private property if you're on the grounds, but the swiftness and agressiveness with which it was done was done (two guards ran out of the building towards me, sheilding my lens) was a little absurd.

Steve / June 10, 2004 2:01 PM

Word to Benjy -- I think that, say, architectural blueprints would be far more valuable to an evildoer than any stinking photographs.

Man, just by posting this I'll probably end up on a watch list. Gonna have to go listen to some more Massive Attack now.

The Patriot Act is neither patriotic nor actionable. Discuss among yourselves.

Paul / June 10, 2004 2:10 PM

I've only been asked not to photograph anything once, and that was on the Jeff Park Blue Line platform. A person told me it wasn't allowed, I begged to differ (per the stuff at Chicago-L.org) but she insisted. I just didn't want a larger confrontation, so I said, "Okay."

In my trip to Chicago last month I had no problem taking pictures of the Pedway, El stops, or Richie Daley himself. I think that disallowing personal photography in the name of terrorism is one of the dumbest things ever. Ever.

sarah jane / June 10, 2004 2:39 PM

when i took some photos at an anti-war demonstration a year ago, the cops were nice and some even posed for my photos...i guess times have changed since then...i think that prohibiting people from taking photos of public places will bring us yet another step closer to the quasi-totalitarian state this country's been headed towards ever since the tragedies of september 11th...GW and his cronies think they're doing God's will...the terrorists think THEY'RE doing God's will...and those of us caught in the middle suffer the consequences of extremist fundamentalist worldviews gaining too much power...i, for one, refuse to give up capturing for posterity the flood of images of the world around me...

"Audrey" / June 10, 2004 4:15 PM

I was standing outside one of the Mies condos on LSD two nights ago taking some photos. A security guard ran out toward me and I thought for sure he was going to raise hell and tell me to either leave or surrender my film. But it ends up that he was a camera buff and was fascinated by my tripod and camera. How sad that that isn't my first instinct anymore.

I agree with the other posters here who suggest that Homeland Security is acting naive in thinking that if they limit photographing of buildings they'll limit terrorist acts against them. But, then, this is an organization that sent a memo to airport security in December warning them to look out for people carrying dictionaries and encyclopedia with them. Apparently, HS is under the impression that we can stuff knowledge that has been free and open for centuries into a closet at this point and that that would make us safe.

Archie / June 10, 2004 4:44 PM

Photography is my love. And it seems to get harder and harder each day to just go out and shoot creatively. Sometimes I feel like carrying a camera gives people the impression that I am carrying a loaded firearm. I've had several run ins with building security people, never with cops though. I always comply and put away my camera and go on my way. No use in making things worse by giving them attitude. However I feel that its ridiculous that many spaces out in the open cannot be photographed, especially when thosands of photographs probably exist of the same thing in publications and peoples personal collections already.

Although I think its lame that I should even have to come up with this idea, I think it would be interesting if the city had some sort of cool "leave me the fuck alone" pass that you could buy from the city that would give you permission to photograph public spaces in the same manner that the media is able to. Like they would do a background check and see that "hey maybe he doesnt wanna blow the shit out of the city." I'd probably buy it just to stop being harrased.

Carrying a big SLR camera also seems to draw lots of supsicion. Why on earth would I be taking photos inteded for mischief with a camera that can easily be seen?

A couple of days ago there was a protest in NYC by a bunch of photographers standing against that law or pending law that you cannot photograph in the subway system. Im not sure how effective it was.

I'm gonna take up a new hobby like painting on canvas. Maybe If i stand up close to the daley center making a painting of the place Ill get arrested for espionage.

Archie

Naz / June 10, 2004 4:56 PM

It hasn't happened to me. Yet. It's are for me to go take photos of the more public and downtown areas - buildings, etc. The ones I have taken have been from across the street or on Sundays when downtown is dead and it's like a ghosttown. Which I love.

It is pretty ridiculous however because a lot of photos are already out there (as many have mentioned) in the public realm. And if people were really going to be sneaky about it, why would you do it so obviously and in plain view? It's pathetic.

I've thought that a good tactic would be to play dumb - pretend to be a tourist from out of state or something. And for the most part, you don't really know if you can or cannot take a photo of a particular building. Maybe if you're on actual grounds as Paul mentioned, but how about across the street? Or from another building?

Sal / June 10, 2004 6:11 PM

^ I agree Naz, its so arbitrary, I'll keep taking pics 'til they snatch that camera out of my hands, until then, snap away.

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