Adventures in Boystown and More
Yesterday, went to Chicago. Meghan, Namita and I drove up. We got there pretty early, and so we went to Ed Debevick's for lunch/dinner (it was 3-ish). Namita is from Pennsylvania and had only been to Chicago a few times, had NEVER been to Ed's, so that was fun. For the uninitiated, Ed's is a 50's/60's/70's diner where all the waiters and waitresses are professional actors, they wear costumes, they're rude to you (in a good-natured way) on purpose, and they get up and dance on the counters. It's a FUN place to eat, in my opinion, and they have good food. Since we were early, there was no wait (thank GOODness... it can be hours if you hit there at the wrong time of night). Got my butt smacked by a waiter. Lol.
I was so proud that I was able to navigate us from McCormick Place (south) all the way to Ed's (north), and back again. Go me! We didn't even get lost.
So after dinner, we were headed to Fusion, the Indian-American cultural show Aarti danced in, at McCormick Place. They (Aarti's group) did Like I Love You mixed with an Indian song (think it's called Sharara? Probably not spelled like that?). It was AWESOME. They were excellent. ::claps proudly for Aarti:: Two other groups ended up using LILY in their routines. By the third group (whose male dancers were also wearing almost exactly the same costume as Aarti's group's male dancers) it was almost humorous. Aarti's dance was the best of the three, and not because I'm biased.
The whole show was very good. Most of the dances were pretty American, with some Indian influences in about half of them. Only two or three were actually traditional Indian dances. And they had two a capella groups. The one, Chi-Town (men's group from U of IL), was really good.
After the program, we went to Nocturnal, a new club that I wasn't entirely impressed with (take me back to White Star, thanks), and then we decided that 2:00 in the morning is the PERFECT time for Taco Bell. The one Neha knew about was in Boystown. I'd been there before, namely in high school while attending Mr. Greene's plays, but apparently I hadn't really noticed stuff. Or else it's new. Or else I was 17 and just plain oblivious.
So, streetlights. Phallic symbols? I think so. They were these large grey structures with rainbow rings about halfway up. Very interestingly shaped. There were signs with rainbow penises on them. There was one club, Manhole, whose sign read "Encumbent Manhole Wins Erection." I laughed at that. I really didn't know having all of that blatant signage and whatnot out and about on the streets of Chicago was allowed. But, you know, it put a little color into my night. I was amused.
I also may have scared Neha (who knows NOTHING of nsync) with my random babbling about JC. She turned around (while driving, mind you) and said "Who is JC? Your boyfriend?" ::snort:: Dude, I was just sharing the information that he'd shaved! Lol. And when I went back to Smita's apartment (Smita is a JC fan), and Neha shared the how funny it was that I talked about the man like I knew him, Smita exclaimed "He SHAVED?!? WOOHOO!!" Lol. See, I'm not the only nutty one!