On Saturday, Dec. 19, the band UK Grief was walking past the legendary Fireside Bowl in Logan Square on its way to perform at a party celebrating the start of winter. We saw a skinny dude with tight pants, an over-sized winter cap and a goldfish-shaped birthmark under his right eye outside enjoying a cigarette. Reclusive Chicago author Clive Javanski and keyboardist for UK Grief knew him and asked “what the fuck he was doing there” since it was no longer the punk venue it once was. Clive was regaling the smoker about the time he was saw Shellac at Fireside where he passed out in the bathroom and “broke my ass.” A tall blonde girl with red streak in her hair and large…
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Chicago’s own “band of assholes” UK Grief recently played at a Logan Square party in celebration of the winter season. So obviously, shit happens, even on the way walking to the gig. NOTE: More time has been spent between posts and why? Yours truly has been busy working on the book version of The Dodgy. That news is certainly worth having a pint or two. Meanwhile, enjoy this pic of the stray cat named Bucktown. Cheers.
During college I had a summer job at a large Chicago area department store. I worked in the hardware and paint departments and sometimes helped Mel over in lawn and garden. “I’m a sad clown, with my pants down.” That’s Mel. He would actually say that. Mel was just a fleshy, pathetic cigarette. A middle-aged, smoking machine, that Mel. Short-sleeved polyester shirts over a beer gut with a coffee-stained tie was his uniform. Mel hated his job and it hated him. The only time Mel seemed jubilant was when he would do a little dance and snap his fingers after being berated by a customer or a recent college graduate boss. “Burn, baby, burn,” he’d sing. He meant for the store to burn. And…
The Dodgy 