Bent Chicago
I have a new love. He is called Chicago, IL. What a fabulous city. Or, to quote one of the people I met, “Chicago is superior to other cities!”. Even though it feels like a windy fridge and has security camera’s with blinking blue LEDs on every street-corner.
I start my stay in Chicago with an experiment: cooking “hutspot” with sweet potatoes and Bratwurst. My host is allergic to normal potatoes, and “rookworst” is not really available in the generic American grocery. All in all, it turns out well. Maybe even more Dutch than hutspot with normal potatoes: the sweet potatoes give the whole dish a deep orange color.
After a good sleep on the provided air mattress, I decide to drive towards the lake shore. Finding a spot to park and prepare myself some chocolate-spread covered bread is difficult. Although close to the shore, I decide to park at Recreation Drive. There’s a park with tennis courts between me and the lake. I planned a walk, but rain interferes. So I eat my breakfast, while surfing the net for things to do (all the while distracted by a view of joggers going back and forth along Recreation Drive).
A few moments later, I find myself on a red-line train going down-town. After checking my mail, I see my host John sent me a tip: MEECAS is having its annual meetup & concert in a bar called Lizard’s Liquid Lounge. When I arrive, the social part of the meetup is in full swing. In the back, a pool table is transferred into an electronics workshop, while in the front the first tentative jam sessions are taking place.
MEECAS (the Mid-Western Experimental Electronics Conference and Showcase) is a group of electronics geeks with a special interest in music. As it turns out, Chicago is a breading ground for electronic and experimental music. The group meets every saturday from noon to 3PM in said bar to tinker and bend circuits.
I meet dozens of people, have many interesting conversations, and get a lot of inspiration. At around 3PM, I decide to leave, but not without promising to return later tonight for the concerts. I head off to “boystown”, the queer district of Chicago. The plan is to hunt down some food and boys, in the end I only find some food. Good food, it must be said. I decide upon “The Chicago Diner” (“meatfree since 83”), where I have a delicious black-bean burger. The best burger I’ve ever had!
Of course, no visit to Chicago is complete without dropping by PS:ONE. Luckily, a bunch of folks are present and willing to show me around. They have a nice space there, roomy and full of good equipment. While I talk with some of the folks, who seem genuinely interested in my travels so far, others work on a steam-engine in the tool shop. Surprisingly Arien, the mastermind behind the 10GBit uplink at HAR2009, is also in town and decides to pay a visit to the hackerspace as well.
Alas, I can’t linger. I must go to the MEECAS concerts. So it is back to the Lizard’s Liquid Lounge, where I’m greeted by large amplitude’s of white noise. As the evening progresses, I completely lose track of time. Chicago has a great number of brilliant electronic musicians, and I’m entranced by the pieces performed. From Alex Inglizian (whom I interviewed for signal) with his analog synth and self-built digital/analog synth, to CMKT4 who religiously rape and torture electronic kids toys bringing forward a wonderful cacaphony of noises. The final by Tim Kaiser completely hypnotizes. When I look at my phone (which was switched of because GSM interferes with the instruments), it is already 1:30AM. So I quickly head out to my host to catch some sleep.
Looking back, I feel like I only explored the tip of the iceberg of Chicago’s coolness. I shall have to return. For now, on to Detroit.
