My New Year's Eve Eve

I started off my day by driving to a nearby town to drop off Gilmour to my mom so he will be taken care of while I am off having the time of my life. I impatiently wait around for JCottonmouth's call. His car took forever to get fine-tuned. But sooner or later, it was done and he was off. I swung by the trusty 711 for some peanut butter and bread for the "snacks" later. I hit the road with some Umphrey's blaring and headed towards Hammond, IN.

The car ride was easy and uneventful. I arrived about 2o minutes after JCottonmouth (JC) did. It should have been sooner, but, of course, I took a wrong turn at the very last moments of the trip. Psh. I pulled my shiznit out of the car and hauled my ass into Room 240. JC and I 'relaxed' for a bit and then set on to Chicago! Fast forward 45 minutes!

We get to a parking garage in Chicago and eat a couple sandwiches (I think they were moldy, wink). I grabbed the tickets and we head toward the streets. We get lost a little walking but we eventually find the right path....and panic! I can't find the tickets! I must have dropped them somewhere along the way. Self-loathingly and trudgingly we head back to the car to look for them. We decided to go to the show and buy tickets and suddenly, JC has a great idea. He asked the hotel front desk for help and they knew that there was a FedEx Kinkos right next door. We went there. I sufficiently made an ass of myself in there. We left. With super speed we walked to the concert.

Unfortunately, the concert was already 30 minutes in when we arrived. (wah wah wah) We still had a rockin' time at the concert. A solid set and a half. Both sets were peppered with new (Wizard Burial Ground, Rocker (Part 2)) and classic (DBK, Ocean Billy, 40s Theme) UMaterial. Each set had some guests: Joshua Redman on Sax (in DBK!) and Stanley Jordan (on Great American!).

After the show, we hiked a mile or two to Reggie's Rock Club to see OTT and Pretty Lights. I do not know much about the DJ style of music, but I dug it. Pretty Lights was a lot more hip hop sounding, but still very dancy. By the time OTT had come on, I was exhaaaaausted. At one point I was falling asleep in the chair in the club (that guy!). The club was a frickin' sweet place with an upstairs viewing area fenced in by pieces of, well, fence. JCottonmouth and I headed back to the car (via a Taxi, this time) and back to our hotel room in Indiana.

We got back in the room and did some more 'relaxing' and talked of the many concert/psychedelic experiences we've had. Good fuckin' day.

My New Year's Eve day began with JC and I parting ways. I then had to occupy 6 hours of time by myself in a town I know nothing about. Great. Needless to say, it was boring as shit. I spent over 1.5 hours inside a KMart and 45 minutes in Best Buy. At one point, I just said, "Fuck it. I'll go see a movie." After turning around many times and asking for directions even more, I found the theatre. I ended up seeing The Spirit.

The Spirit was too ridiculous to be taken seriously. It was a little over the top and over acted, I think. After looking past the visual effects, there isn't much left. The plot was a little weak.

From here on out my day is pretty much the same as Hock's so I will just comment.
-Hock changing over four lanes of traffic was fucking exciting! He nailed it. I couldn;t have done it.
- The seats were high up, but every seat in that house was perfect. JC and I were in the bottom level, back of the theatre, and even there it rocked!
- Nate is the king. He called that UM would play Wappy wrapped around Auld Lang Syne way before the show even started.
- Hock pretty much nailed the feeling of the night. ..."with balloons and confetti and the lights and the ohh my god super-awesomeness."
- UM played "With a Little Help From My Friends" with the mass choir. I nearly shit myself.


Amazing. Every bit of it.

G-O-E-R-G