Tortured Artists

Enjoy the cooler weather with art, music, food and beer in one of Chicago’s most beautiful neighborhoods at the Arts Alive! Festival this Saturday, June 11th from 3-10 p.m. Located on the grounds and surrounding streets of Disney II Magnet school in Old Irving Park, Arts Alive is a celebration of art in all its forms. 

Children can learn dance, song, digital movie production, puppeteering and floral design, or have their faces painted during the festival’s 3-hour children’s tent from 3-6 p.m. The festival also features culinary demonstrations from top Chicago chefs for children and their parents, and delectable Texas BBQ from local favorite Smoque BBQ Plus live music all afternoon and evening with Super Stolie, Funkadesi, d’Go-Beat and American English.

Admission is $10/adult before 6pm; $15/adult after 6pm; Kids under 12 are free.

Look to the Left....

I decided to follow a neighbor/classmate's suggestion that we go to the Justin Roberts concert at Retro on Roscoe this afternoon, and took The Boy and The Girl there this afternoon while The Tot and The Dad stayed home to nap. Yes, both of them.

A $5 donation got us in the door, and it would have been a fantastic deal if I hadn't succumbed to the $5-per-kid all-access wristband for The Boy and The Girl to go through the bouncy castle and "play" mini golf. I know, I know, it's a fundraiser for Roscoe Village. We got there about 1:30 and waited in line for the bouncy obstacle course a couple of times before sitting down on the astroturf in front of the stage. We waited through about 20 minutes of soundchecks before Justin Roberts and his band reappeared in their nerd-cool wear to do his thing.

I turned to the left during JR's Picture Day song and saw at least 4 of my fellow Homewood-Flossmoor grads. I shouldn't have been so surprised; the last time I went to Retro, I ran into the late Nancy McLinden in front the same stage.

The Boy and The Girl listened and danced to most of JR's hour-long set, but he lost them to the bouncy castles before he finished. We stayed until about 4:30 before calling it quits. At that point, I was hot, tired, hungry, and bored standing in line by myself while the kids played.

Midsommerfest

After our exciting morning, we headed home so that The Tot could nap. But then The Dad called to say that he was biking up to Andersonville's Midsommerfest with Uncle Fuzzy, and would we like to join him? Hmmm, no need to ask me twice. The Boy, The Girl, The Tot and I jumped in the car and managed to find parking for The Great White Moose (in a *huge* space) only 4 blocks away on Ravenswood and Catalpa.

My "I don't have enough cash" problem was solved when they told me at the door that the suggested donation of $5 was for adults only; the kids got in free. Found The Dad among the throngs of pretty boys and handsome girls along Clark Street and hung out in front of the kids' stage to see the Trinity Irish Dancers (The Girl declared that she absolutely wanted to take these classes as they passed out slips for a free trial class), dance to pop hits from Radio Disney, and listen to a band of 10 teenagers belt out 70s hits that were surprisingly good. We also went to the Alamo lot to decorate funny masks (me, The Boy, The Tot) and a cone (The Girl), and learn about a new venture called Kindercone that imports to Chicago the German tradition of giving kids' a giant paper cone filled with gifts and trinkets on their first day of 1st grade. I think I may get one for The Boy.

We also went to Big Jones for dinner (Hi Mark!). I had a fried green tomato sandwich with bacon that was divine -- the toast was crunchy, the bacon was crispy, the tomatoes were warm and soft, the lettuce was crisp and fresh. And it went really well with a warm, sunny day and a cold beer. The Big Jones' bar was serving drinks to-go, so it was really busy in there and the kids were at the end of their tolerance when we left at 5:45; I'm going back next week just for the red velvet cake.

After dinner, we walked down Clark Street a bit to the Women & Children First bookstore; they were closing very, very soon, but unlike the Chicago Public Library, they let me tell them the book I wanted (Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods) and pay for the copy they retrieved for me. We were all pretty tired and slightly dehydrated by that point, plus the crowds were too drunk and too dense to care about little kids or strollers at that point, so we left around 6:30. The Girl remarked on the way home that she had a really good time. Me, too.