New GB and Rivalry

This past Saturday Kristen and I found ourselves scouring the city, looking for something to do. It was a gorgeous day outside, so we wanted to participate or at least stand on the sidelines of a local event. We searched some street festivals - a common activity in the city during the summer - and happened upon the Wrigleyville Summerfest. What caught our attention was the band that was the opening act for the evening. They are called 'Maggie Speaks' and Kristen had heard of them before - and heard positive reviews. We decided we'd check them out and this would provide us with our entertainment for the afternoon/evening.

We headed down to the fest - aptly named due to it being in the Wrigleyville neighborhood just a few short blocks south of that toilet bowl known as Wrigley Field. It was basically a small two-block party lined with tents selling such confections as authentic ethnic food, jewelry, photography, wrestling masks, and bowls made out of old records... quite an eclectic mixture. The festival also spilled into the adjacent schoolyard where they had some stuff for the kiddies - a petting zoo, pony rides, and games - and some stuff for the bigger kiddies too - a climbing wall and a "cornhole", or "bags", tournament. We didn't really engage in many of the activities, but it was fun to watch all of the people having a good time - Kristen and I people-watch like it's our damn job!

Around 5pm, the band came on and we watched their first set. There was beer at the festival, so we relaxed with a few Bud Light Limes and enjoyed the ear candy. 'Maggie Speaks' is a cover band and they play pretty much what is popular on the radio - which is why I make the correlation to Glorious Blue in the title of this post. It really actually felt like we were listening to GB when they played some of the more "alternative pop" (Maroon 5, et al). In fact, I even thought the lead singer resembled GB's lead guitarist, Andy Howard - Kristen did not concur. What set this new band apart was they had a female vocalist as well, that could help out with some of the higher pitched and female sung songs. All-in-all it was pretty cool and it took me back to the hard core GB days, with the exception being that we were outside on a street instead of inside a smoky bar and we left at 6pm as opposed to 1am...

I say we left at 6pm, but our fun didn't stop there. We only left because we wanted to explore Wrigleyville a little and have a few more beers that were a little more moderately priced. We stumbled across a bar called Red Ivy about 1/2 a block from the stadium. It enticed us in with its open-air seating and promises of cool breezes and imbibations. The beer was the only thing I enjoyed in this bar. Aside from the waitress sucking ass and being kind of a bitch, I was most turned off by the treatment I received for presumably being a Cardinals fan (I wasn't wearing a Pujols jersey or anything, just keep reading)... We were sitting in this sports bar and watching one of the one thousand TVs. They kept flipping to different games and I put up with it because I didn't really care what game I watched. Keep in mind that the Cubs were out of town and playing at this time, so a lot of the TVs were already set to the station airing that game - the one right in front of us was not. The Sox already played that day, but they wouldn't have been aired anyway, even if they were playing... stupid Cubs fans.

So we're sitting there and our TV turns to the Cardinals/Pirates game. I'm pretty ecstatic because I get to watch live video of my team, something I do not get to do very often in my new hometown. The game is on for about 5 minutes, then switches over to the Detroit/Minnesota game - an AL Central rivalry having nothing to do with the Cubs. I ask our bitchy waitress to have it changed back and she says she will see what she can do... nothing. I look at the guy who is in charge of all the TVs and motion him over - I've had a few beers at this point, so the liquid courage starts kicking in... he is a large African-American man. I tell him I want to watch the Cardinals game, he tells me he has another guy in the bar throwing a fit over the Tigers/Twins game, I tell him who cares about that game, he reminds me I'm in Wrigleyville and asks what I expect. That was the exchange - I had lost. We promptly finished our drinks, paid our check, and left with the waitress not so much as even thanking us on our way out the door. It was our intention to eat there since we asked for menus upon entering, so they could tell we were (I was) pissed when we left so abruptly. I think they take the NL Central rivalry just a little too seriously over at Red Ivy - fuck them!

We headed back toward home after passing through the street festival one more time en route to our car. We ate at a bar and grill near our house where we proceeded to chow down the best tater tots I've ever had! We told our new waitress the story of our encounter and she felt our pain... upon handing us our check, she wrote, "I hope your service didn't suck"... or something like that. I don't know, by this time I was drowning my sorrows in about my 7th 'Goose Island-312'.

All things considered... it was a pretty fun outing.