Black Hand Productions

Last night Julie and I headed down to the South Side for the ‘Beerman Bobblehead Night’ at US Cellular Field.  The White Sox ended up losing in the 9th inning to the Tigers.  We had heard about the bobblehead when the tickets went on sale for the season and this was a priority.  Every time we go to a White Sox game, I think more and more how much more enjoyable the whole experience can be compared to Wrigley Field.  It’s just so much easier to get around, the food is much better and typically the team is better.

Yesterday afternoon I was able to get tickets Soundgarden’s show at The Vic Theater through their last minute online sale. I managed to figure out the URL for the actual ticket page instead of using the url shortener the band posted via twitter earlier in the day. I believe this is the only way I manged to actually get tickets.

I’ve never seen Soundgarden before (I’ve seen Chirs Cornell solo back in 2000 at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus and I’ve seen Audioslave a couple of times) so when the Lollapalooza lineup was announced I was in just for Soundgarden. Then The Vic Theater show was announced and that became the objective.

The line to get into the Vic was wrapped around the block due to the ‘paperless ticket’ system but the line moved smoothly once the doors opened. Dom and I managed to get seats in the front row of the balcony towards the left side of the stage. Seats because we are old men. Seats for Soundgarden.

The show was about as intense as you would imagine. The bass player, Ben Shepard, looked like he was going to kick some one’s ass. It was awesome.

The setlist:
01. Searching With My Good Eye Closed
02. Spoonman
03. Gun
04. Rusty Cage
05. Let Me Drown
06. Jesus Christ Pose
07. Flower
08. Outshined
09. Fell On Black Days
10. Ugly Truth
11. Get On The Snake
12. Burden In My Hand
13. Pretty Noose
14. Head Down
15. Face Pollution
16. Superunknown
17. Black Hole Sun
18. Mailmain
19. Slaves And Bulldozers
Encore:
20. 4th Of July
21. Blow Up The Outside
22. Like Suicide

Side Notes:
*Here are some links to reviews of the show with a couple of videos:  Blabbermouth.net and MTV.
** All of my photographs were taken with my iPhone due to the last minute nature of the whole event.

The other night I met with some friends to see Tapes N’ Tapes at Lincoln Hall. This was my second time at the venue and probably the third time I’ve see the band. I think all the other times were in some kind of festival atmosphere.

The show was good, they played a bunch of new songs that are from their new album that hasn’t been released yet. The sound at Lincoln Hall is great since it’s one of the only modern places I’ve ever been that was actually designed for rock and roll.

Side Notes:
*Whoever runs the smoke machine needs to calm down. It was unreal how many times the smoke machine would just randomly go off for no reason at all. You have a new clean venue, there’s no reason to add that ‘smoky grime feel’. It got really annoying by the end.
** Other posts with Tapes ‘N Tapes:  Tapes ‘N Tapes at the Metro, Lollapalooza 2007 – Day 2, and the 2006 Siren Music Festival.

Last night Julie and I went to Wrigley Field for the BP Crosstown Classic between the White Sox and the Cubs.  The Blackhawks were on hand with the Stanley Cup.

Side Note:

* As low scoring baseball goes the game was interesting to watch since both pitchers had ‘no-hitters‘ going for quite a while.  The Cubs ended up winning 1-0.

** We got rooftop tickets via youswoop.com and went to the Down the Line rooftop.  I was not impressed at all.  There was little information on their website (when do doors open, where’s the entrance, etc.) and the way the whole thing was run was shady.  On the main deck they had three couches setup and then tables and chairs behind them.  If you weren’t one of the first 3 people up you didn’t get a couch (I was fourth) and when you sat at the tables people just stood in front of you.  We ended up moving down stairs and watched from the window and the TV.  I think they might have just started business this season but compared to the Skybox on Sheffield this place was a joke.

Last night the neighborhood was pretty loud as the people went to the streets after the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

Parade is on Friday.

This past Sunday Julie and I went to Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final.  As much as I’d like to see the Stanley Cup won in Chicago it felt like the odds were against the Hawks going into this game.  After dropping games three and four to the Flyers everyone had assumed the series would end in Game Six.  Now if that holds true the Blackhawks will have their first Cup in 49 years. As all the Chicago games have been in this series it was intense and the Hawks started off quickly getting their first PowerPlay goal in about three months.

Side Note:

* The rest of my photographs are up on Flickr.

After a a nap following Beer Hoptacular I headed up north for this year’s Mayfest.  Despite the rain and a short power outage the night went well.  There was a lot of beer as one might expect and a good group of people.  I think this year was the most time I’ve ever spent at Mayfest (we were actually there until last call).  Granted the previous years it’s usually 90 degrees and the middle of the afternoon.

Side Note:
*Mayfest 2008.

Yesterday afternoon I headed to Beer Hoptacular at the Aragon Ballroom. There were over two hundred beers from amongst 30 breweries.  The breweries were mostly from the Midwest but there were also some from each coast (Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada).  I’d say my two favorite beers of the day were Flatlander IPA or Roadhouse Brewery’s Bluebeery Ale.  The beer I liked the least had to be the Imperial IPA King Paddy from the Wild Onion Brewery, to me it tasted like weed.

The only downside was the ‘featured brewery’, was out of their signature beer: Brooklyn Local 1.  I got there an hour into the event and they were already out.

On Friday Julie and I went to game one of the Stanley Cup Final between the Blackhawks and the Flyers.  This is our third trip to the Finals in three years (much like Marian Hossa), we were at games one & two in 2008 and game one in 2009; all in Detroit.  Thankfully we had a different outcome this time around with the Hawks pulling out a 6-5 win.  The United Center was probably as loud as I’ve ever heard it in the past two years.

Julie’s got some great pictures over at chicagometsfan.com, including shots of a couple of the Hawks goals.

The Blackhawks completed the sweep of the Sharks last night at the United Center.  Once again the Hawks came from behind and now we’re headed to the Stanley Cup Final.  We got to see the Campbell Trophy awarded and the handshake line.  Jonathan Toews, much like Crosby two years ago, did not touch the Conference Championship trophy.

Side Note:
*The rest of my photographs from Game 4 are on Flickr here.
**Once the on ice celebration began Patrick Kane began circling the rink waving his stick looking for some one toss it to:

On to the Stanley Cup Final.