2.28.2014

Algren, Allen, Baudelaire

"Yet once you've come to be part of this particular patch, you'll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovlier lovlies. But never a lovely so real."

- Nelson Algren, Chicago: City on the Make (pg. 23)


"Then a kid came along to offer a hand
But before she had time to accept it
Hits her over the head, doesn't care if she's dead
Cause he's got all her jewelery and wallet

You might laugh you might frown
Walkin' round London town

Sun is in the sky oh why oh why?
Would I wanna be anywhere else"

- Lily Allen, 'LDN'




Why yes, I did just put a Nelson Algren quote and Lily Allen lyrics side by side. Something about them makes sense though. Both of their civic pride stems from things people generally hate about cities. There's a grittiness to the city that each tries to capture. Ok, so Allen has been accused of inauthenticity about the people she's describing since her dad is rich and famous (which Algren was neither the former and still isn't the latter). Perhaps its both's understanding of irony that makes me equate one with the other. Going even further back, Baudelaire, about Paris, as quoted in the intro to Algren:

"I love thee, infamous city! Harlots and
Hunted have pleasures of their own to give,
The vulgar herd can never understand.
"           (from 'Epilogue')

This attraction is odd. Because I feel it too. Maybe it's because I grew up in the suburbs, but I like living in a city that has a rough reputation. Of course, it doesn't even have to be as ugly as all that. Looking at the 10 day forecast, the temperature doesn't ever reach above freezing, and it's been like that consistently for months. Why the actual fuck do so many of us live here? "The Cubs suck." "The trains suck." "The politicians are corrupt." The city is demonstrably and demon-ously segregated. There's little support for artists. That's why even Algren moved away!

So obviously there's great things about the city. The food is great. The music is great. The parks are great. The coffee is great. Malort is great. The skyline and architecture are phenomenal. I walked into the Silver Cloud alone last night and left feeling better. I met drunks that argued about music and started conversation before introducing themselves.

Everyone that lives in this city has a broken nose. If they don't, they move to New York (but something else is probably broken inside of them). I take my broken nose and I stare right at you and make you look at it, and the city does the same. LOOK AT ME the Sears Tower demands. LOOK AT ME the El train roars. LOOK AT ME the South Side pleads. LOOK AT ME the city sings in unison.

Why oh why would I want to live anywhere else?

2.27.2014

Literary Chicago: Jack Kerouac, "On the Road"

Literary Chicago is series where I try to capture the essence of the city by how it is described in fiction, primarily from books that don't take place in Chicago.  

via Calumet 412

"Great Chicago glowed red before our eyes. We were suddenly on Madison Street among hordes of hobos, some of them sprawled out on the street with their feet on the curb, hundreds of others milling in the doorways of saloons and alleys. "Wup! wup! look sharp for old Dean Moriarty there, he may be in Chicago by accident this year." We let out the hobos on this street and proceeded to downtown Chicago. Screeching trolleys, newsboys, gals cutting by, the smell of fried food and beer in the air, neons winking - "We're in the big town, Sal! Whooee!""

pg. 239, On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1955)

2.26.2014

Travis from ONO covering 'Jesus and Tequila'

I've been working on a monster of a piece about Ono over the past couple weeks and watching a lot a lot a lot of youtube videos about them. This was one gem that particularly stood out, since the quality isn't that awful. Probably the most musical thing Travis has been a part of.





And what the hell, here's another Ono video from 1984. Just as unique today as they were then.

Magritte X Chicago

Trying (yet again) to get back into the blogging game. I feel shitty when I can't find the motivation or subject matter to write about. For some reason last year I became really inspired, and I feel that coming on again. So, for my first post in what has become a handsome amount of time, obviously I'm going to share some sketches!

I've had the idea to paint 'The Son of Man' with the Chicago star instead of an apple for some time now, and hope to get around to it eventually. Rene Magritte has long been one of my favorite painters. Chicago has long been one of my favorite cities. It only makes sense to combine the surrealism with one into the surrealism of the other.