I created this blog to reminisce on my experiences with mewithoutYou. Included is a playlist of video I captured over the years. Also included is some other footage that captured important moments as far as I was concerned.
This weekend, mewithoutYou will finish off their "Farewell" tour with two hometown shows titled "The End of The End" which will thankfully be live streamed and available to watch for a month after. I am glad for the extended viewing time as not only can I not attend the shows, I have other shows I am going to during the time of the broadcasts! I will certainly be watching several times no doubt during the duration of having access to the live streams.
I was fortunate enough to catch the very first show of the "Farewell" tour at Thalia Hall in Chicago. I captured the opening song and the entire encore on video. They opened the set with "My Exit, Unfair" and the encore included "Torches Together," "In A Sweater Poorly Knit," and "Son Of A Widow."
My friend and mewithoutYou documentarian Paul Harrison was also at that show and captured the entire set! He has a lot of other good footage on his YouTube channel called "Christian Rock And Metal Nostalgia" including a lot more mewithoutYou content. It is interesting looking through his stuff and seeing so much that I also captured...sometimes from eerily similar angles!
I saw mewithoutYou for the very first time in the spring of 2002 I believe. They were on a tour with Norma Jean who had recently changed their name from Lutikriss. I recall stickers cut up and rearranged to spell out Norma Jean rather than Lutikriss. This show was in a garage in the back of a youth center called the Escape Zone (if I am recalling correctly) in Mount Vernon, Ohio where I attended Mount Vernon Nazarene University (I believe it was still a college that year). I also recall having been reprimanded at another show in that space for simply holding hands or having my arm around my then girlfriend as it was entirely too much PDA for such a setting! During that show, mewithoutYou were dressed in beatnik style and Aaron would jump between microphones because they were intermittently cutting out. Even with the technical difficulties, mewithoutYou stood out to me as something special. I bought the "I Never Said I Was Brave" EP that night and listened to it a lot. Toward the end of 2002, that girlfriend I mentioned ended up cheating on me with some other dude (or dudes?) and the lyrics of that EP and "A => B Life" seemed to echo how I felt in a way nothing else ever could.
I would catch mewithoutYou many times over the next few years when they would play in Ohio...quite often at the Lime Spider in Akron. I also caught a set at Purple Door Fest in Pennsylvania in 2003.
As healing came and I continued my trajectory toward ministry in the church, I found myself questioning things I'd see in the American church...along came "Catch For Us The Foxes" which again, lyrically, seemed to reflect the state of my life at the time.
I believe in the summer of 2004, mewithoutYou played Akron at the Lime Spider then in Columbus at a small venue whose name I can't recall in the Short North on a back to back nights on a tour with Noise Ratchet...I went to both shows, going back to Mount Vernon to work during the day in between.
2004 was also the first year I attended Cornerstone Festival in Illinois. I caught the mewithoutYou set there, of course. I brought a camera to record whatever I could but its battery lasted no more than an hour so I was unable to capture that experience.
I do have some footage from Cornerstone 2005 of mewithoutYou I captured on that old video camera. A neighboring camper had a converter so I could charge it up! I have footage of every Cornerstone performance after that until they stopped coming after 2010.
https://youtu.be/apvKxyR6Vzs One moment that really stuck out to me from a mewithoutYou show was the mainstage performance at Cornerstone 2006. I had captured three songs from that set...a song from each album. "Brother, Sister" was coming later in the year and they were playing new songs from it. I had done the same during their set on Tooth And Nail Day in an Encore Tent. The moment, however, was not one I captured but one that the Cornerstone media team captured, edited and put out. The entire set was something special. They ended it with "In A Sweater Poorly Knit" and invited anyone to come on stage to sing and dance if they wanted to. Timbre played harp (it was the first time of many since seeing her perform). Something about that song and that moment felt otherwordly...to me and my friend Greg who was there as well. When the song ended and the band left the stage, the usual murmur of the crowd seemed absent even as we left the area. It will always stick with me as a special moment. As great as that song is, nothing including other performances of that song has ever come close to that feeling of that moment. Some of that feeling returns each time I watch the clip!
https://youtu.be/IOXxdUa3G7w I captured Norma Jean performing Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste from their Cornerstone 2006 mainstage performance as well and included it in the mewithoutYou playlist because Aaron did his guest vocal. While I don't think it quite lived up to the video of the performance from Furnace Fest some years earlier, it was still a lot of fun! Josh Scogin also came out on that song to do additional vocals.
Cornerstone performances were all pretty awesome! I already mentioned the collaborations that happened...but often Aaron would get scheduled to speak on another stage. Usually he'd say something about how he's inadequate to speak on anything...or he wasn't aware of being scheduled but here we are. At least one occasion became a potluck jam session. You never really knew what you might be getting at these events!
When "Brother, Sister" was released, once again the lyrical content seemed to be relatable to where I was in life. I'm not so sure the albums after that necessarily were as relatable however, I still really enjoyed each one. Even with the albums I like the least, I still like them a lot! There are very few artists that I feel can achieve that!
As the years went on, I kept going to mewithoutYou shows where ever I could whenever I could. Through 2012, it was usually somewhere in Ohio. From 2007 through 2012, often it was in the vicinity of Cincinnati. The Mad Hatter in Covington, KY was host to a good number of shows...some occurred at the Madison Theater. I recall at least once travelling to Columbus because I wouldn't be able to attend the Cincinnati area show of that tour due to work.
From 2012 until 2015, I lived in Pittsburgh I believe I only caught one show in Pittsburgh which was the Catch For Us The Foxes Anniversary. I traveled back to Cincinnati at least once for a mewithoutYou show during those years because of a scheduling conflict either with work or possibly with Audiofeed. Marco Castro and I traveled up to Detroit for the Underoath farewell tour and saw mewithoutYou there as well. I caught at least one mewithoutYou show in Chicago while still living in Pittsburgh. I happened to be in town visiting with Elphie prior to our marriage.
In 2015, I moved to Chicago and consequently most mewithoutYou shows I have attended since that time were in the Chicago area. I went to a show in June 2015 in Chicago at the Abbey Pub then had to leave for Cincinnati immediately after for our wedding and preparations ahead of time! I did travel to Indianapolis for a show due to scheduling conflicts with the Chicago date on the A => B Life Anniversary tour. Often Paul Harrison would be at those shows as well and it would give us a chance to hang out a bit. While at these shows I typically only would capture a song to share, he'd capture the entire sets!
MewithoutYou is a band that seemed to transcend typical genre boundaries and friends from so many different "scenes" liked them. It was something I could share with most people I knew. I am grateful for the time they have given us. They gave us many years...more than most! I will hope for a future where they play again, however, if they don't...I am thankful for what they gave.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCAA69C0A61832935 I compiled all the footage that I captured over the years into a playlist organized newest to oldest. The Cornerstone footage is all broken up by song. At the time, I wasn't able to upload video longer than 10 minutes so I decided the best thing was to break up full sets I had captured by song. I hope it is still in order of the set list for these full set shows.
Looking back at the playlist I created from the footage I captured of them over the years, it is much less than I thought I captured. I guess a lot of the time when they were most active was before I had an iPhone on me to be able to use if any moment felt it should be documented. While I brought a camera to Cornerstone, I was less likely to be burdened by one at regular shows. The idea of even capturing the Cornerstone experience on video was prompted by the "Ladies And Gentlemen: The Chariot" DvD.
These days it's commonplace seeing phones up to capture a moment and as such these moments captured digitally is likely over saturated. Nonetheless, I hope to share these moments with friends still, even if I'm one of many doing so. I am glad to have done so with part of the time that mewithoutYou was present.
Once again, thank you, mewithoutYou! You have given so much!
Spring living in Chicago in 2022 included a couple trips, a bout with COVID-19, celebrations for birthdays and anniversary, some new local Atlas Obscura discoveries and a bunch of shows. I created the intro once again using Motion 4 taking some photos that highlighted the various things we did...adding in title text on the last photo as well.
04.04.2022 During lunchbreak on Monday April 4th, 2022, a leak developed in the ceiling right outside my office! It was an unexpected and strange occurrence.
04.05.2022 Driving into work on Tuesday April 5th, 2022, it was extremely foggy...more so that I recall happening previously. I decided to capture it with my CrossTour CR-900 and sped up the footage of the drive into work that morning.
04.07.2022 Driving home from work on Thursday April 7th, 2022, there was a car with a Batman emblem and modified brake lights. A poor man's Batmobile I guess.
https://youtu.be/7Xde_fevFRA On Friday April 8th, 2022, I encountered an accident on the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive. A little bit further south, there was a police car that was a bit late arriving and stuck in the subsequent traffic. I received the Canon BG-E18 battery grip for my Canon Rebel T6s which I purchased more for the reason of being able to put two batteries in the camera and extend the time I can shoot live band footage. It also allows for shooting sideways easier with the additional grip. I have been quite pleased with this purchase and definitely recommend it for anyone trying to shoot video for long periods.
Later that evening, I went to see Richie Ramone play Reggies. I decided somewhat last minute to attend this show. Kyle Bawinkel was there as well. I captured "Teenage Lobotomy" with my iPhone 8 early in the set while Richie was playing drums. He fronted the band most of the rest of the night while going back to the drums for a few songs later. This is likely the closest I'd get to seeing a Ramones set. They played a number of Ramones songs and a few other covers along with some originals. Public Nature, The Reaganomics, and Capgun Heroes were the opening bands.
https://youtu.be/u-rx0uKZvsk On Saturday April 9th, 2022, we went to Cabela's so I could use a coupon that they sent in the mail. I bought a few more broadheads and bolts for my crossbow as well as another replacement string to have on hand in case of another break. On the way back home, we encountered another accident.
That evening, I went back to Reggies for the D.R.I. show. There was a trend of older punk and hardcore bands coming through Chicago in the early part of this year and this was another one of those shows. None of them were excessively expensive either. There was quite a bit of stage diving, including a young girl that looked a bit like Little Jessie Dills. Intent, The Suffering, and Battle Royale also played. I got a talking to from one of the security guys for capturing a clip with my iPhone, stating that no photography or video is permitted and if he saw me do it again, he'd throw me out. After talking to someone else as well, he then went somewhere else for a minute then returned to apologize as he had a misunderstanding of the camera policy for the night. I respected that...no real issue in the end.
04.15.2022 We drove to Pennsylvania to spend Easter weekend with my family on Good Friday April 15th, 2022. Along the way, we made a stop at Albanese Candy Factory. The Easter bunny was there. We took a bit of a detour heading back to the interstate and found we could have paid 10-15 cents less on gas than we did as well. The drive was pretty typical...nothing out of the ordinary happened along the way.
04.16.2022 Elphie wore her bunny ears that she got from her mom last year. My parents cat, Charlie, was intrigued by them...Elphie ended up hitting the cat with the ears causing her to jump a bit on Saturday April 16th, 2022.
04.17.2022 On Easter Sunday April 17th, 2022, we had dinner with the family and my mom gave out Easter baskets. We made one for her as well! I decided to walk into the woods in the evening. I wanted to set up some wood around a spot I tried to hunt last year in hopes it will be more fruitful for me this next hunting season.
04.18.2022 On Monday April 18th, 2022, we drove back to Chicago. It was rainy but otherwise uneventful drive. We captured some nice footage as the sunset as we neared Chicago.
04.20.2022 On Wednesday April 20th, 2022, I decided I wanted to see the ruins of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church which was destroyed by a fire on Good Friday. It was to be torn down so I wanted to see it before it was gone. I also figured I'd check out the Pilgrim Baptist Church as well...it also had been destroyed by fire. Both started during restoration work on the roofs of the buildings. We drove to Pilgrim Baptist Church first. Two of its outer walls remain standing with scaffolding to support them. There's a sign about it being the future home for a National Museum of Gospel Music. We then drove over to Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and got to see it though demolition had somewhat begun. I captured this footage using my Canon Rebel T6s but hadn't charged up the batteries so my video capture was a bit more limited than I planned. I didn't want to hang around too long or be disrespectful to the situation but I definitely wanted to see it and capture it if I could.
04.22.2022 On Friday April 22nd, 2022, I captured some sort of demonstration going on at McKinley Park. I also captured the clouds sitting a bit low covering part of Chicago as I made my commute home.
https://youtu.be/iAoEPRH7pZQ On Saturday April 23rd, 2022, we headed to Joliet a bit early for a show. We stopped at the Joliet Prison and walked around the outside of it. It was on Atlas Obscura. We were too late to take a tour. Part of the prison is used as a haunted house. We drove to the Joliet Iron Works site (also on Atlas Obscura) that has been turned into a forest preserve. I didn't realize where the entrance was on a one way street and tried to turn around to get to it only to raise the ire of some of the other drivers. We walked around it for a bit and even found a piece of iron to take with us. I captured some footage of the former steel mill remains.
Afterwards, we headed to The Forge to see Wednesday 13, Grave Robber, Leper, and Nystrodamus. I took a bunch of photos as well as video using my Canon Rebel T6s. I captured "Cadaverous" by Wednesday 13, "The Beast Within" by Grave Robber, and "13 Peilearan Airgid (13 Silver Bullets)" by Leper. It was a good show and a great crowd. I think the footage I was able to capture turned out pretty well too.
Later, we went to Metro for Nocturna. We ended up sitting in the balcony for most of the time that we were there.
04.25.2022 On Monday April 25th, 2022, Elphie and I drove all around the southside into the south and southwest suburbs to try to find the litterbox supplies for Stein's Breeze Litter System. We also hit a car wash because I had a free one on my Speedway App. After that, we tried to hit a Taco Bell to get my free birthday Baja Blast Freeze. The first one I tried wouldn't show up to let me order on the app. The next one was closed. We found a third one and placed the order and got the Freeze.
04.28.2022
On Thursday April 28th, 2022, I noticed a lot of police activity, media, and bikes near Lake Shore Drive. I'm not sure what the situation was. When I got home, Elphie had baked some chocolate cherry brownies and bought some birthday balloons to celebrate my birthday!
https://youtu.be/ZwYtu_VSJuE Friday April 29th, 2022 was my 42nd birthday. On my way into work the Buckingham Fountain was on! How nice of the city to turn it on for my birthday! Skot and Rachel Shaw gave me a small print of the Swanson Pyramid Of Greatness which I hung at work. I got a Falco's Deep Dish pizza, Hawai'ian style for dinner and taste tested the Flamin' Hot Mountain Dew. It was ok. It sort of reminded me of Mexican candy with the chili pepper added. It also reminded me of Orange Slices candy but with extra spice. That evening I watched the last game of the season for the Pittsburgh Penguins - a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets!
https://youtu.be/QVqPuGHQPRE Saturday April 30th, 2022, Elphie made pancakes to continue to celebrate my birthday! They were good!
That night I went to Save The Rock-N-Roll Fest at Liar's Club to see Flatfoot 56 with Splatter Pattern, Squared Off, and The Rip Ups. I tested the limits of the battery grip on my Canon Rebel T6s as well as the recording limits during the Flatfoot 56 set by trying to record the entire set. I found that the recording limit is 30 minutes at which point one must hit the record button again. I reached that limit in the middle of the song "Hoity Toity." Everything seemed to work out fairly well. I noticed that somewhere around the 18 minute mark, the camera would blink a lot. I'm not sure what that means but it didn't seem to have too much of an effect on the files. During the editing process, I had to run one of the files through a second time as it stopped at around that 18 minute mark but whatever that issue was seemed to resolved when I processed it the second time. Again, there is a separate blog for the footage I captured at the Save The Rock-N-Roll Fest with some more details.
05.01.2022 I didn't feel particularly interested in any of the bands on the bills for Save The Rock-N-Roll Fest on Sunday May 1st, 2022, so instead of going to those shows, Elphie and I took Kaylynn and Tim driving around the Chicago to various spots that seemed they may be interesting dependent on what they said they wanted to see. While picking them up at the hotel, there were news crews outside and we wondered what may have happened. I think someone joked about a murder...unfortunately, that's exactly what had happened inside the hotel that where they were staying.
We drove on Lower Wacker due to its use in The Dark Knight and Blues Brothers then stopped by the ruins of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church before heading to the 95th Street Bridge where the Blues Brothers jumped their car. It's is also where the Calumet Fisheries are and both are Atlas Obscura sites. We got out and walked onto the bridge here.
Next, we stopped by Reckless Records on Milwaukee then got lunch at Devil Dawgs before going to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We got to see the lions in their new exhibit as well as visiting the apes and monkey houses. We also got to see the Polar Bear before closing time. We did not get to see any of the birds...we would find out later it is due to the birds being in quarantine due to the bird flu.
I wasn't feeling the best...I was beginning to have a bit of a cough and congestion. I was thinking it was likely some allergies but would find out a week later, it was COVID-19. Not realizing it, I worked through the week while having the worst of the symptoms.
05.03.2022 On Tuesday May 3rd, 2022, after three overtimes and losing their backup goaltender to injury and having to use their third string goalie, The Pittsburgh Penguins won the first game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Unfortunately, things didn't continue to work out quite so well and the Penguins would lose the series to the New York Rangers in seven games.
https://youtu.be/h7IfUQ8Tk0Y On Mother's Day, Sunday May 8th, 2022, I went to Cobra Lounge to see Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All, and Crown of Thornz. Agnostic Front always puts on a great show. Sick Of It All was ok, however the vocal seemed a bit off. I captured "For My Family" by Agnostic Front. I tried to be careful at this show as I had a nasty cough all week, in case of it being COVID-19 but the cough was mostly gone by this point. Once again I saw Kyle Bawinkel at the show!
05.09.2022 Despite having no more symptoms, I tested positive for COVID-19 at work and was sent home to quarantine for the next 10 days. I had unfortunately spread it to one of my co-workers as well. As I was feeling better, Elphie had her symptoms occur which were different than mine. Both of us felt fairly good on Monday May 9th, 2022, but nonetheless I was not permitted to be at work. It was a nice day so we hung out in McKinley Park to feed squirrels and geese We kept our masks on if any people came near us to do our best to not spread it to anyone else. Some military helicopters flew overhead.
https://youtu.be/hyQT-b5zKis On Tuesday May 10th, 2022, mewithoutYou kicked off their "Farewell" tour in Chicago at Thalia Hall. I did not want to miss this likely last chance to see one of my favorite bands so I decided wear my mask and keep my distance as much as I could from any friends who would be at the show. I did end up seeing a few such as Kyle Bawinkel and Paul Harrison. I captured the first song of the set, "My Exit, Unfair" and the encore, "Torches Together", "In A Sweater Poorly Knit", and "Son Of A Widow" from their set. The Opening band was Tiger's Jaw and I captured "Cat's Cradle" from their set. It has been a pleasure seeing mewithoutYou every time I saw them over the entirety of their career. I hope it wasn't the last time to see them live in person, but if it was...Thank You!
05.11.2022 I drove to work on Wednesday May 11th, 2022, to let a copy of my office key be made so that some of my responsibilities could be dealt with while I was in quarantine. On the way home, Elphie and I decided to drive around Graceland Cemetery and see if we could find the glass encased statue of Inez Clarke and so Elphie could see Eternal Silence. Just as we got to the cemetery, I got a call that the copied key wasn't working...I had apparently given the wrong key! I returned so another copy could be made then we returned to the cemetery to see these sites from Atlas Obscura. During my previous visit to the cemetery, I had not seen the Inez Clarke statue so we made a point to find it first. I knew generally where the Eternal Silence was to be able to visit it after. We did find the Inez Clarke statue. We also encountered a headless statue along the way...apparently damaged somehow. After visiting Eternal Silence, we decided to just drive down Western Avenue to get home. We also decided to stop by a Meijer to get some groceries we would need since we'd both be home a bit more. Along the way, we captured footage of the giant Puerto Rico flags near Humboldt Park near the intersection of Division and Western. I got another call from work to take care of some documentation before I was able to get home which was frustrating.
05.13.2022 On Friday May 13th, 2022, Elphie celebrated her birthday. I gave her a card I drew and brought in the balloons that were still floating from my birthday. I apologized there wasn't much more we could do. We got food at Chop Suey City as well to celebrate.
https://youtu.be/UuuM4172nIw On Saturday May 14th, 2022 we went to Metro to see Front Line Assembly with Rein and Choke Chain. On our way, we saw a Divvy bicycle leaned against the divider in the median of Lake Shore Drive. It was a strange sight. We masked up and tried to keep distance at the show again though we figured to be mostly clear of COVID-19. We chose to go to the balcony and because we got there so early, we were able to secure spots on the railing and it made for an interesting view different than what we usually get there.
05.15.2022 On Sunday May 15th, 2022, we went to Andy's Custard to further celebrate Elphie's birthday. We weren't able to go bowling as originally planned...we didn't want to potentially infect anyone else even though we both figured we were clear of COVID-19. On the way back home, we encountered a wreck on Archer Avenue.
05.16.2022 We officially both tested negative on Monday May 16th, 2022. I was still regulated to quarantine from work but we decided to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo for the day. While we were there, we learned that the birds were in quarantine due to the bird flu. It explained why there weren't birds out on our previous visit a couple weeks before. We were able to see pretty much everything else though! We learned we had just missed a show with the seals. We did see the lions eating.
As we left the zoo, we ended up driving passed Oz Park. We figured we should come back to see that sometime! We ended up in Lincoln Square visiting with The Castros as they finished up some work at Oromo Cafe then headed up the street to Barba Yianni for Greek dinner! We hung out there for quite a while. We told The Castros about Atlas Obscura and found that Merz Apothecary was nearby. It was basically across the street! Elphie and I got a shot of it before heading home for the night.
05.17.2022 On Tuesday May 17th, 2022, after Elphie got done with an appointment, we stopped at Home Depot to get supplies to fog our apartment. We then decided to find a couple southside Chicago Atlas Obscura sites. To get there, we passed the Garfield CTA station we had visited a couple years ago. We also passed a M*A*S*H vehicle as we got near University of Chicago. At the University of Chicago, we found three Atlas Obscura sites all relatively close to each other. After taking a minute to get parked, we began to look for the first I had marked to find. It was a couple of Cosmic Ray Detectors that had apparently been in space! The address listed was a bit off so we made one wrong turn into the wrong alley trying to find it before going the other way and finding it behind a day care center. I think it was listed well enough on the site, I just didn't take the time to read it thoroughly enough. Part of what helped piece together where to go was the buildings in the background of some of the pictures people posted from their visits to this site! We visited a monument to Nuclear Energy next...again using the pictures as a guide to find exactly where it was as the street address was a large building. Our final Atlas Obscura site in this area was a car encased in concrete called Concrete Traffic. It is parked at street level in a parking garage which also houses a bowling alley where the Obama's apparently would go on dates.
We left the University of Chicago to see a couple sites along Lake Michigan but not too far away. One of those is the Shipwreck of the Silver Spray. Unfortunately where it is located, there wasn't a spot to pull off or park. We continued to Oakwood Beach where we walked to the Secret Mermaid. Elphie wasn't with me when I found it in 2021 as I had gotten up early to shoot the sunrise on the Summer Solstice last summer. While we were there, we walked closer to the lake. While the water was quite clear, there was debris collecting near the seawalls which had an interesting look. We decided not to walk to the shipwreck site and headed back home at this point.
05.19.2022 I captured the hazy city on my way in to return to work on Thursday May 19th, 2022. Coming home that evening, I captured a street preacher with a sign near Buckingham Fountain along Lake Shore Drive.
05.20.2022 On Friday May 20th, 2022, I captured the Buckingham Fountain at full flow as I returned from work.
05.21.2022
https://youtu.be/vLLmaegw7Xg On Saturday May 21st, 2022, we went to the Aragon Ballroom to see The Offspring. I captured "Gotta Get Away" from their set. They played a good mix of songs and it was a good show. We intended to get Poke at Pokiology but it was closed so we got Sonic instead.
Afterwards we went to the building where the Double Door is meant to be, eventually...possibly. The Castros tipped us off that there was a show going on in there. Apparently it was something that's been happening regularly but on the down low. We got to see the inside including the basement where there is a vault and some apparent tunnels underneath. The building is an old bank. It reminded me a bit of when we first began renovating Top Cats to become The 86 (before it became Top Cats, again).
After this, we visited The Castros van called 'Remmy' and got to see how they are living these days. They made a comfortable space, it seemed. We also hung out at J.P.U.S.A. for a while that evening.
05.25.2022 On my way into Uptown to go to work on Wednesday May 25th, 2022, I captured a sign in protest of Cedar apartments not paying a standard wage to construction works while raking in massive profits.
05.26.2022 On Thursday May 26th, 2022, as I left the neighborhood to go to work, I captured a burnt van loaded up on a flatbed.
05.27.2022 On Friday May 27th, 2022, we headed south because Elphie had nephews graduating from high school! We captured the usual footage leaving Chicago, going through Indiana, passing the windmills, going into Ohio, passing through Cincinnati, and arriving in Northern Kentucky to stay with the Sheehys. There's also a clip shortly after our arrival at the Sheehy's house while hanging out a bit with them.
05.28.2022 On Saturday May 28th, 2022, we left to finish our trip to North Carolina, passing the Florence Ya'll (which I just realized was on Atlas Obscura!) and entering into Tennessee. The rest area was decked out in American flags I suppose for Memorial Day. I captured shots of the weird amusement park rides along side the highway and the large cross by the adult store. We made a stop at Bojangles, of course and I got some Mountain Dew Southern Shock. I also captured the going through of the tunnels once in North Carolina. I captured a van with kayaks as well. I kept footage of an apparent accident as we passed it then a shot of King's Mountain as we continued east. Shortly after our arrival, we drove to pick up some Krispy Kreme donuts (because it was founded there) and some pizza for dinner with Elphie's family.
05.29.2022 On Sunday May 29th, 2022, there was a pool party to celebrate the graduates. There was some great food and the kids seemed to have fun in the pool. There also was photo shoots of the graduates in their gowns. It turned out Elphie's brother caught COVID-19 and wasn't able to be there...we didn't really get to spend any time with him due to his quarantine.
05.30.2022 On Memorial Day Monday May 30th, 2022, we visited with Elphie's mom and took her to see Top Gun: Maverick! We also went grocery shopping with her where I purchased a bottle of Mountain Dew Uproar from the Food Lion and Mountain Dew Maui Blast at Dollar General. We took Elphie's mom to Poke Bros. for dinner before catching the movie. After dinner, we witness a gaggle of geese crossing the main street through town and doing so successfully!
05.31.2022 We hung out some more with Elphie's mom on Tuesday May 31st, 2022. I taste tested the Mountain Dew Uproar. It is a Strawberry Kiwi and it's ok. We also had dinner with her neighbor. Elphie and her mom made a strawberry cheesecake that they bought at the Food Lion on the day before. We were told a bit about the fire at the church down the road from Elphie's mom's house as well.
06.01.2022 We finally got R.O.'s Bar-B-Que on Wednesday June 1st, 2022. We went for lunch and Elphie's mom joined us. At dinner, we got Sake Express with Elphie's brother (a different brother than the one with COVID-19). We had some good conversation time. The waiter even refilled our drinks since we hung around so long!
06.02.2022 Elphie took her younger nieces and nephew to Kate's Skating. On our way, I taste tested the Mountain Dew Maui Burst. It is pineapple and NO coconut therefore I liked it! Her mom decided to join as well...unfortunately she perhaps got over confident a bit and fell. We'd learn later she broke a bone in her foot or ankle. The strap on my roller blade broke as well and I had to do a little creative work on it to be able to skate. We went to Cookout later with them then to a park to end the night.
06.03.2022 On Friday June 3rd, 2022, we took the graduating nephews to Carowinds. The amusement park is build on the state line of North and South Carolina so we visited both states during our day there. We rode one roller coaster - The Intimidator, one kid's roller coaster that was like a Scooby-Doo type (different because of copyrights) and Elphie and I road the bumper cars. The nephews played the basketball game to win a free basketball. We ate some way overpriced Chick-Fil-A. Unfortunately rain moved in and didn't appear to be ending so we left having only gotten in the few rides. We tried to then take them bowling but all the alleys were booked. We did see a rainbow though!
06.04.2022 The graduation was on Saturday morning June 4th, 2022. Way too early! It was outdoors at the football stadium and a relatively short service! We had a celebratory lunch at El Patron. Elphie's family were headed to the beach for a vacation. I took a little nap then we went to The Captain's Cap for dinner with Elphie's cousin. It was good! After dinner and hangs, we drove to South Carolina to get cheaper gas at the Hot Spot before buying some sodas to bring back north.
06.05.2022 On Sunday June 5th, 2022, we began our journey home, once again stopping in Cincinnati. I captured the usual footage on our drive back through North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. We got a chance to get dinner with Chris Human at The Anchor Grill in Covington, KY. It had a "Show Box" with a doll band which included a Barbie doll that "played" Shania Twain's "I Feel Like A Woman." It was a good time catching up with Chris. It has been a few years since we had a chance to do so between the busyness of life and pandemic. We hung outside with the Sheehy's for a while afterwards.
06.06.2022 On Monday June 6th, 2022, we made the rainy commute back to Chicago. We stopped by The 86 where I purchased some more coffee to get a few more months through the year. Chris had to head out but we got to catch up with Gabrielle who was working. It has been a long time with her as well. I picked up some Ale-8-One at Meijer before heading north. I captured some storm shots along with the windmills and some guy called Bubba at Meijer in Highland, IN prior to heading into Chicago. I captured the clouds and sunset as well.
06.07.2022 On Tuesday June 7th, 2022, upon returning to work, I captured the cloud cover over Chicago again as well as on my way back home.
06.08.2022 On Wednesday June 8th, 2022, Elphie shared some video of Stein purring loudly while cuddling. That evening, we could hear a cat fight going on. I went outside just as it broke up I guess...there was chunks of fur all over the driveway where the fight must have occurred.
06.12.2022 On Saturday June 12th, 2022, Elphie and I held a bowling get-together to celebrate our birthdays and anniversary at Diversey River Bowl. It was rescheduled due to COVID-19 in May. A few friends were able to come out. We bowled quite a bit in the block of time we reserved. I bowled a couple times right handed for fun. I think I even got a strike! After bowling, we got dinner at Portillo's then headed to Romeoville for a public suspension day with Disgraceland Wasteland Suspensions. At the end of the evening, there was a slight mechanical problem where equipment got tangled up in the pulley so they had to get a ladder and disassemble the pulley while someone was still suspended. It was a sort of funny moment.
06.13.2022 Our anniversary, June 13th, 2022, fell on a Monday this year. It also happened to be a stormy day with tornado sirens going off in the city, which is rare. It all started happening as I got home from work. I decided to hang around outside as the storm approached. It was interesting to watch as the cloud movement changed completely to the opposite direction and seemed there could be some rotation of sorts as well. The lighting was mostly flashes rather than seeing bolts but some of the thunder was extremely loud. It took a while to hit but once it did, it hit hard and moved through fairly fast I think. The storm came ahead of some high temperatures. We didn't really end up doing anything on our anniversary due in part to the storm.
06.14.2022 As I drove to work on Tuesday June 14th, 2022, I captured a couple clips of storm damage in the neighborhood.
06.15.2022 On Wednesday June 15th, 2022, as I was coming home from work, I saw the temperature showing in the car at 101 degrees! It definitely felt like a hot day!
https://youtu.be/0x3bs-mK3rk On Thursday June 16th, 2022, we went to the first of several shows for the summer season at Tinley Park's Hollywood Amphitheater. I had to leave work a bit early to make it on time. We had lawn seats so we prefer to get there early to try to get the best viewing spot that we can. The show featured Tears For Fears and Garbage. I captured "Wicked Ways/Personal Jesus" by Garbage and "Head Over Heels" by Tears For Fears. I thought about capturing "Mad World" but I think "Head Over Heels" worked out better. Both bands played great sets and sounded good too!
06.19.2022 On Sunday June 19th, 2022, we decided to visit the Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John, IN. Folks are able to walk the prayer stations and it has statues depicting each moment along the way, along with a narrative one can listen to if they choose. The church behind the shrine also was fairly interesting. It was pretty cool to walk through. There was also a new part which is Moses at Mount Sinai with the commandments. In the narrative one can play there, the "voice of God" is accompanied by lights flashing in part of the rocks around Moses. There is also a shrine for Our Lady Of Guadalupe and I believe it's a large Virgin Mary statue near the parking lot entrance. There's quite the gift shop there as well. After we left and went to get our groceries, we saw an old Volkswagen Beetle in the parking lot at Meijer.
06.20.2022 On Monday June 20th, 2022, I taste tested the new Mountain Dew Baja Gold. It was pineapple. I think it was just like the Maui Burst from Dollar General that I taste tested while we were in North Carolina. It was good! I was once again glad that there was no coconut flavor to it...especially after buying several cases of it!
06.25.2022
https://youtu.be/gDh8DMJnnbs On Saturday June 25th, Nocturna had its 34th Anniversary event at Metro. French Police also played and Kaytee Thrun did some poetry during the evening. It was a fun event and good to see some folks again as well.
06.26.2022 On Sunday June 26th, 2022, Elphie and I went to a middle school graduation for Bob and Nora's son Bobby. It was fun. Jon Pratt was there as well so it was good to catch up with him for a bit about fireworks, amusement parks, and other shenanigans! There was some good food too!
https://youtu.be/gintjfmt0PY On Tuesday June 28th, 2022, we had tickets for Billy Howerdel at Metro. Elphie met me at work and I did a taste test of Mountain Dew Mango Gem. I liked it! It allowed me to be entered in the Treasures Of Baja Island sweepstakes to get a special flavor if I win! We went to Pokiology then headed to Metro. We had to park quite a ways away due to a Cubs game. After parking and walking to Metro, we found a sign that the show had been moved to Bottom Lounge. This was very frustrating. We had just purchased the tickets on Friday! It seemed there should have been some notice about the venue change. As I investigated while walking back to the car, I found nothing except a new event page had been created later in the day on Friday (when I got the tickets). Once back to the car, I entered Bottom Lounge into my GPS and it seemed we could likely still arrive before the show started so we drove over and parked the car...again. We did arrive before any of the bands had started. I think maybe the venue delayed the show a bit for poor souls like us who went to the wrong place!
Billy Howerdel played a good set. The openers were Vowws and Night Spice. All the music had a lot of synth in it and I enjoyed the show. When we got home, There was a helicopter flying around the nearby neighborhood.
We spent the next evening preparing for our return to Audiofeed!
