Resurrection Sunday

Another refurbishing project, this time I found some $10 old wooden chairs at a Howard Brown resale shop in Oak Park. I spent Sunday sanding them down and restaining them.

These beat up chairs had paint all over them. I think the smaller ones had been previously painted and then stripped. I'm curious how old these are or in whose homes these have been. This is the "Before" shot.

Again, I listened to Neko Case while doing this. In Middle Cyclone, she collected six unwanted, free pianos from Craigslist to record "Don't Forget Me" I dunno, something in her music makes you want to restore furniture.

Left stained. Right sanded.


Bandanas and ripped up jeans (not pictured)

The "After" shot.

They are still a little creaky, but usable and maybe just a little better lookin'

Restoration Chicago

Bringing back an old chair to glory on a Tuesday night while drinking wine.

A new seat for Maggie and Ollie to tear up.

The SXSW Gravy Train

I made the journey to the rock music mecca, SXSW down in Austin, TX this past week. Whitney and I partied until "4 4 4" straight days. (until 4am for four days is what's that's supposed to mean) First meals at 6pm, booze all day, Texan sun keeping us warm. There was nothing restful at all about this, but I think it was like my adult Spring Break. Instead of beach, rock bands. In place of college boys, we had crushes on drummers and bassists.

Scotty and Seth Avett play a very short, unsatisfying set at Stubb's

Elvis Perkins

Mesmerized by Mr Perkins.

Perusing the vintage shops on South Congress

Spacegirl and tortilla chip are paralyzed by dippin' sauce choices at Guero's

Yard Dog BBQ

Fresh salsa para ti

Dan Auerbach is on the prowl at the Mean Eyed Cat

Two very non-VIPs at a VIP party

This was about two seconds before we saw Patrick Pestorius ride by on a bike.

My favorite shows of the week:

The Annuals

Camera Obscura

The Heartless Bastards

Blind Pilot

Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears

Okkervil River

Dan Auerbach

The Jayhawks

Janelle Monae

Blitzen Trapper

Delta Spirit

Exquisite City

I trekked downtown on this snowy Sunday to check out an exhibit, call the Exquisite City (http://www.exquisitecity.com/). This was an entire exhibit dedicated to interpretations of Chicago and city life in general, done entirely in cardboard. There were some of my heroes who submitted their work, including songstress Neko Case and gig poster artist extraordinaire, Jay Ryan. Seeing this diorramas reminded me of the cardboard tiki hut I made for my cats to hang out in. Great whimsical fun. My favorites included Neko Case's burning house, an exact replica of my favorite bar, the Hideout, and watercolor paintings by local artist/ornithologist Diana Sudyka.

Lakeview H.S. students submitted this cool building

Neko's contribution


Through a little peep hole in a cardboard highrise. These sketches look like the one's used to identify a criminal, based on the victims memory. Creepy.

Neko is in a mood to burn buildings.

The "smoke" and flames made of cotton and cellophane actually rose up and filled a big part of the ceiling in this exhibit.

Indeed.

I love subways