Saturday was sunny and warm, just right for a barbecue with a few hundred friends. Hideout's usual multi day Block Party extravaganza, like so many fests in this economic climate, wasn't going to happen at all. Then Bloodshot Records stepped up and the BBQ was on. Here's a Snapfish slideshow of all the fun.
What's not to love about decked out belt sander races,
geological digs in the dust,
and kickin' Bloody Marys and ice cold lemonade...not to mention quality tunes.
Though this year's event was only one day and was greatly scaled down from similar fall undertakings of years past, it was a day packed with excellent music.
The kids saw their old favs, Jon Langford and Sally Timms (Mekons, Wee Hairy Beasties and Hideout's annual holiday Pantos) and we were introduced to some new bands we really loved, like The Blacks, Moonshine Willy,
and especially Scotland Yard Gospel Choir (with the girl with the anime mullet on guitar).
The kids literally spent hours intricately decorating Day of the Dead Skulls in the art tent run by charity, Rock For Kids. We saw Hideout owners' kids Jessica and Wilson, who are school friends of ours, creating art, running amok with their cousins,and having a blast.
We won 2 frisbees and a cloth tote from fest regular, The Reader, and got our button fix from XRT, The Reader, Chirp and 826CHI.
We were thrilled to see some of the kids' teachers from 826CHI, our favorite creative writing center behind secret spy shop, The Boring Store. Rock for Kids and 826CHI were the two non profits to profit from the BBQ.
A booth selling locally made, hand crafted, one of a kind, Mexican wrestler masks, added to the crazy carnival ambiance of pierced and tattooed masses in cowboy boots and thrift store clothes.
The kids even got an impromptu hacky sack lesson from Chicago fest regular, Matthew (AKA: Shreddy Shirt Boy).
On our way out, we saw another reoccuring character, in the sitcom that is our lives. It took a little talking into, but cameraman Anthony braved swine flu and leaded Chicago soil, for a photo with my grubby monkeys, after I told him one of the booths was passing out free hand sanitizer!
The kids went home and directly into the bathtub.
We dug all the devoted eco-conscious people, who chose to bike to The Hideout. It was like a mini Amsterdam, out by the front gates, and gave me real hope for a less polluted, healthier, traffic jam free future.
All in all, it was a dusty, funky, fun, eclectic music filled day...and exactly the kind of reason we stay in the city and raise Urban kids.
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