holidays on ice

still in catching up mode after my tour of christmas duty in da lou. six long days sans the company of Mole makes for stiffling holiday celebration. i'm thinking that next year we may have to start splitting these holidays with our families, but i hesitate to do so given that Mole's fam is so small and has no kiddies around to take the pressure off his absence. i know his folks probably wouldn't squak too much, but i still feel guilty suggesting he be away from them. granted, i'm sure he could use a reprieve from the dreaded christmas day gathering he endures with his brother and the accompanying out-laws. since i dread hitting home base for thanksgiving, perhaps that's the dinner to stay in chicago and leave da lou for christmas.

given the circumstances of my father's continued battles with leukemia, i decided to spend much more time with the parental units than i have in previous years' holiday visits. this is the mantra i've been working under during much of my recent time home as well. it does help make the week there seem more like a relaxing and rejuvenating occasion than frantic nation running around the metropolitan area non-stop, trying to force conversations with tired past relationships when the desire has waned.

i arrived on monday evening and had a delightful lunch with my high school/college pal IrishEyes. she's having a big wedding in the fall and i'll be singing for the occasion. we talked rings and dresses and i found it easy to chat, even though we haven't been in quite as close of contact as days past since i moved north. it's always a good sign when you can just pick up, though. on wednesday, i tried out a new restaurant downtown in the recently enlivened washington avenue tract called lucas park grille and market with my wonderful friend MrBojangles . this coming new year marks 15 years of friendship for us. we have certainly seen each other through some changes during that time. after dinner, we strolled across the street to the velvet lounge and enjoyed the beats while chatting on a comfy couch. Bojo is never ready to call it a night when i am, so i accompanied him to freddie's, that little gay bar on manchester that has karaoke. (there may be others doing the same in that hood now, but i'm bit outta da loop concerning da lou's venues these days, so i gots to call things how i remember them from 2001.) i was able to end the evening with a fine rendition of "oh! darling" due to MBJ's connections with the karaoke staff who kindly bumped me up the list of other singers in wait. still didn't feel the urge to get back on stage again, but it was nice to be complimented on my voice, nonetheless.

thursday night was my best night on the town by far, and really one of my best lou experiences in recent time. a local band does a huge pink floyd tribute show at the pageant each christmas and my cousin Tanneth (a new friend to me) sees this show annually and highly recommended it. last year, Mole and i went only to spend the first set in perpetual creeping motion simply trying to find a spot where we could see and not be surrounded by jibber-jabber. i can't tolerate a bunch of talking if the tunes are good. we finally found respite, only to get into an altercation with a nascar full of hoosiers who wouldn't let us stand by them because, "um, no aahfense, but we been hurr since an hour before the show gittin our spots, so we can't let you up in um." in general admission seating! i've never encountered this redneckery in a chicago venue, and it was the last straw for my man's patience. when i overheard these toothless wonders talking about the best tractor repair guy in their area, i decided it wouldn't be in our best interest to pit the Mole against them in a cage match, so we just moved on. i knew this show could be really cool (how often can you hear "the wall" and "dark side of the moon" in their entirety, in addition to excerpts from "wish you were here"?), so i gave it another go this year. three of Tanneth's pals accompanied us to dinner at mirasol, a new tapas place right across the street from the pageant, then we headed into the show. even with sold out numbers, the venue wasn't nearly as packed as my previous visit and we easily found a great standing area. even better, about 20 minutes before showtime, my cuz stealthly turned to me to offer his lighter, so i knew the dugout wasn't far behind. this is a newly developed interest for him and has given us another bonding particle as i've held this interest for quite a few years. sneaking smokes in the bathroom was surprisingly easy and i managed to make a few trips in there during the show without anyone getting in my biz. of course, even though the crowd was more controlled this time around, it was still da lou in effect. there were a row of hoosiey guys sitting in front of our initial standing perch who were drinking themselves into stupidity. fortunately, their rowdiness stemmed from really loving pink floyd, so they were enthusiastic concertgoers, but not overly obnoxious, and provided two great moments of entertainment: one, early on in the show, when their broad bellied, sweaty-haired leader arrived at the table with two handsful of mixed drinks. his brood questioned where the beers were, and this yayhoo lifted up his shirt to reveal five bud light longnecks jammed down into the waist of his jeans, scarcely surviving the tightness inflicted by his enormous gut. better than witnessing this was catching sight of Tanneth's friend and his wife who were standing right next to this guy with cringing looks on their mugs. later on, i moved down to closer range of the stage with my cuz and eventually escaped from a pair of middle aged desperation who were in constant drunken motion on top of me. (there was *alot* of this epidemic sweeping the pageant.) i couldn't stand anywhere without this goofy couple leaning back on my face. i spent some time in the pit and could see amazingly well, until that duo made their way in front of me again. during a dreamy rendition of "wish you were here", they proceeded to enact this robotic chicken dance sequence inches in front of me that will remain in my mind whenever i hear that song from here on out. "two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl" was accompanied by their faux sign language of each word (index and middle fingers aligned for "two" merged into "swimming" ala palms together in a shark fin move and the whole world in his hands style "bowl" rounding things off.) i told Tanneth that we were trapped behind a living snl skit. around this time, i returned to my original area to find two of the boozehound boys laying face down on the their table with an indignant young black girl on security duty hollering, "don't pass out! you can't lay down here! bettah git up now!" these dudes were scarcely coherent and my cousin prophesized that one if not both would inevitably blow chunks, "so you'd better be ready to evacuate at any moment." this show is a definite must for next year's holiday time at home.

MeMaw unfortunately caught a nasty round of the sinusy flu, rendering her bound to a bed or couch after my second day home. for the first time in my entire life, we did not attend christmas eve service at the old church. she was also quarantined from the christmas day dinner at my brother's house, both absences causing tears of frustration. christmas is a big deal to my mother, not for the gift madness, but just for the family spending time together, so it was very upsetting for her to miss out. when i mentioned this year's change in our celebrating to Tanneth, he equated it to the state of my future christmases, asking if i thought i would really do the church thing forever. i don't abhor going on the holiday, but it's definitely something i do for my mother. i told him that once my parents are gone, i don't really anticipate even coming home to da lou for christmas anymore. i'm sure this will be many years down the line, but even that feels strange to consider, although without the familial pressures, i could easily envision myself becoming a holiday traveller, jaunting to a warm beachy destination, or even a ski lodge during the late december drama. no scrooging here, just a desire for calm.