We arrived back in Chicago after the holidays on January 8th, 2023 and I returned to work the following day. The winter season in Chicago tends to have a bit less going on, it seems...perhaps we're less active or I just don't decide as many goofy things I see during my driving time is worth keeping, ha! The footage includes, among other things, a quick hunting trip, a few shows, and fun with the Ollie Mob and WhirlyBall! I missed that last year and the previous year it had been wiped out by COVID-19. These clips occur between our return from the holidays and our trip to Australia and New Zealand in March of 2023.
https://youtu.be/lS475jJm048
01.11.2023 - 01.20.2023
On Wednesday January 11th, 2023, I pulled out my Excalibur Bulldog 440 crossbow to check its accuracy after missing a buck in the fall despite hitting near a bullseye while shooting a target before the hunt. I had to make some adjustments and eventually hit bullseye again before packing it in. Perhaps in transit the scope got knocked off sight. The first shot I took went through a spot I've hit several times before causing the bolt to be buried and not visible. This gave me a bit of concern that I missed the target entirely and hit something beyond the target. I looked around beyond the target to see if I could find where it hit then On Friday January 13th, 2023 I drove to Pennsylvania and arrived with about 20 minutes left before hunting hours ended. I took a short loop into the area I hunt to see if I could see anything. I didn't see any deer. I hunted all day on Saturday January 14th, 2023 and didn't see any deer until the last hour or so of the day. They did not come near me...they may have been in range of the other spot I typically hunt from during the last few rifle seasons. I drove back to Chicago on Sunday January 15th, 2023 since I had no luck during the hunt.
https://youtu.be/lS475jJm048
01.11.2023 - 01.20.2023
On Wednesday January 11th, 2023, I pulled out my Excalibur Bulldog 440 crossbow to check its accuracy after missing a buck in the fall despite hitting near a bullseye while shooting a target before the hunt. I had to make some adjustments and eventually hit bullseye again before packing it in. Perhaps in transit the scope got knocked off sight. The first shot I took went through a spot I've hit several times before causing the bolt to be buried and not visible. This gave me a bit of concern that I missed the target entirely and hit something beyond the target. I looked around beyond the target to see if I could find where it hit then On Friday January 13th, 2023 I drove to Pennsylvania and arrived with about 20 minutes left before hunting hours ended. I took a short loop into the area I hunt to see if I could see anything. I didn't see any deer. I hunted all day on Saturday January 14th, 2023 and didn't see any deer until the last hour or so of the day. They did not come near me...they may have been in range of the other spot I typically hunt from during the last few rifle seasons. I drove back to Chicago on Sunday January 15th, 2023 since I had no luck during the hunt.
On Friday January 20th, 2023 we decided to catch the Koffin Kats show at Reggies with Mikey Classic, The Rumours, and Royal Son of a Guns. Elphie took up residence in the balcony and I decided to hang along the wall to the side of the stage. I ran into a couple problems capturing clips such as folks getting right on top of me or the guy filming for Reggies (I think) standing directly in front of me but I captured a clip from each performance. I enjoyed all the bands.
On Friday January 27th, 2023, Elphie and I decided to travel to Valparaiso to see Flatfoot 56 play at the Franklin House. I decided this partially because we would be gone during their annual Saint Patrick's show at Reggies. It was a free show and the Franklin House was quite small so it was packed out. It was also a venue that allowed smoking indoors. It had been many years since having to deal with that! I wasn't really able to get any footage of the opening acts. After the first band I made my way to where the Flatfoot 56 guys were setting up merch and was then able to set up side stage during their set to capture footage of "Black Thorn." I also went live on Facebook in the Ollie Mob group for the rest of their set. It was also cool to hang with the guys a bit as well as the twins and their mom who attend Audiofeed!
On Wednesday February 1st, 2023, I captured the frozen Lake Michigan during my commute to work using my Crosstour CR-900. On Friday February 3rd, 2023, I documented the zero degree morning as I prepared to drive to work!
On Saturday February 4th, 2023, we drove down to Channahon, Illinois for a celebration at Fine Tunes School of Music for their 10th anniversary. Tobin Bawinkel played a solo show featuring songs from Flatfoot 56 and 6'10. I inadvertently labeled the clip as "6'10" since it was a 6'10 song called "The Wanderer." Josh Caterer from the Smoking Popes also played and I captured "Let's Hear It For Love" from his set along with "Melting America" which features Tobin so Tobin joined Josh on stage to sing his part as well. It was a fun evening. There was pizza and a few other friends such as Andrew Tromaton and the Theissen's that we got to hang out with. We learned the unfortunate news that Flatfoot 56 and 6'10 would not be playing Audiofeed this year due to family commitments. It will be strange to not have them there.
On Saturday February 4th, 2023, we drove down to Channahon, Illinois for a celebration at Fine Tunes School of Music for their 10th anniversary. Tobin Bawinkel played a solo show featuring songs from Flatfoot 56 and 6'10. I inadvertently labeled the clip as "6'10" since it was a 6'10 song called "The Wanderer." Josh Caterer from the Smoking Popes also played and I captured "Let's Hear It For Love" from his set along with "Melting America" which features Tobin so Tobin joined Josh on stage to sing his part as well. It was a fun evening. There was pizza and a few other friends such as Andrew Tromaton and the Theissen's that we got to hang out with. We learned the unfortunate news that Flatfoot 56 and 6'10 would not be playing Audiofeed this year due to family commitments. It will be strange to not have them there.
https://youtu.be/B9uY_7x8h6Q
02.11.2023 - 03.02.2023
On Saturday February 11th, 2023, I went to pick up Elphie at her friend Kathleen's house and then we planned to head over to Nocturna at The Metro. On my way, I decided to capture the Blue Cross Blue Shield Building's message written in its office lights that read "Black History 365." At Nocturna, I captured a couple of clips including one of a mosh pit that spontaneously broke out on the main dance floor. Apparently this was a first! It was sort of funny to see! We got a chance to hang with a few friends - Kate, Larry, Laura, and Jason. It was a good time! (It appears I documented this as the 12th...probably because we arrived after midnight. Oh well.) Tuesday February 14th, 2023, was a very rainy Valentine's Day and there was someone peddling balloons and possibly roses along Lake Shore Drive. This is a regular occurrence near our apartment on Archer but a first I saw it on Lake Shore Drive. The Blue Cross Blue Shield building had a heart on it. On Sunday February 19th, 2023, we decided to take the car through the car wash again while on our trip to Indiana to get groceries and gas a bit cheaper. On Tuesday February 21st, 2023, I enjoyed a Paczki while at work. We had some at home too after getting groceries on Sunday. I also got my first Shamrock Shake of the season! As I left work late on Thursday February 23rd, 2023, I noticed that Clifton Avenue was flooding. It appeared it could be getting into the garage of Cornerstone Community Outreach...and it did. It was a lot of water standing in the middle of the alley.
On Saturday February 25th, 2023, we got to return to the annual Flatfoot 56 Ollie Mob Whirly Ball outing in Vernon Hills! We had missed it last year due to being in Hawai'i and the previous event was not able to be scheduled due to the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions. It was good to play again! I got to play in every game! It just turned out others needed a break and there would be one or more cars that needed filled so I went back out each time. We ate at Portillo's afterwards. It was a good chance to hang out with the Mob again! On our way home, using the Crosstour CR-900, we captured a building that always had decorations on it...this time it was for Saint Patrick's Day! On Tuesday February 28th, 2023, I captured the message of "Rare Disease Day" on the Blue Cross Blue Shield building with my Crosstour CR-900.
On Thursday March 2nd, 2023, there was a free show in J.P.U.S.A.'s Garden Room featuring Sun Baron, Keven Schlereth, and Deiselah who was playing with Teel Short. I captured clips and photos using my newly acquired iPhone 14. I'm not sure if the quality is much better or not and I didn't do a lot to change any settings other than zooming in but I am happy with how it looks for now at least. Kevin Schlereth was playing his new release of Lenten Songs. Deiselah and Teel Short collaborated on some of Teel's music during the set where Deiselah supplemented with her poetry.
https://youtu.be/glLaRjuNvgI
https://youtu.be/_adxA_Xc2bU
https://youtu.be/Th7wMn8mdSc
03.03.2023 - 03.09.2023
On my commute home on Friday March 3rd, 2023, there was a message on the Blue Cross Blue Shield building yet again. Upon investigating the video footage I found that it read "Go Chicago Fire FC" and assume that there was a game coming up either that night or on Saturday. On Monday March 6th, 2023, the Blue Cross Blue Shield building had another message reading "#Blue For CRC" which is perhaps a political message, I'm not sure. On Wednesday March 8th, 2023, the building had "Tell Women's Stories" written in its lights. I also captured the Green Line train of the CTA crossing over behind me as I waited at the State Street light. I was taking a different route than usual home to pick up some cat food prior to our trip. I wanted to ensure Stein would have enough and his sitter wouldn't have to go about figuring how to get more.
On Thursday March 9th, 2023, we decided to go to Reggies for a show featuring The DollyRots, The Von Tramps, The Run Around, and Space Age Zeros. We saw pretty much this same lineup about a year ago at Reggies as well with the Space Age Zeros being the only difference. Space Age Zeros also had a member who runs the Fine Tunes School of Music where we caught a show in February. Little Jessi Dills was playing with the Von Tramps again so we went in support of here. It was a fun show once again and we had some great food at Reggies as well! This was the second show captured using my iPhone 14. As we left, it had begun to snow. I'm sure it added to the anticipation of vacation for Elphie since she hates the cold and snow!
https://youtu.be/xbcg-4tBxAo
https://youtu.be/IuLojnOQr5I
https://youtu.be/Qifg2v-d0-Q
https://youtu.be/8fxtjicJD-g
03.10.2023
On Friday March 10th, 2023, I decided to keep some of the footage captured using my Crosstour CR-900 of my commute. It had snowed and the city was partially covered by thick clouds. This remained true on my return home. The city had a message of Mercy Home on the Blue Cross Blue Shield building. This was the final day before our trip to the Southern Hemisphere with visits to Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand!
Additional soundtrack includes "Snow Like Wool" by Ronnie Martin.
Footage filmed using an iPhone 6, 8, 12 and 14 and Crosstour CR-900 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Titles and other animations created using Motion 4 on a Macbook by Joel A. Swanson. Edited using Final Cut Pro on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.
