Irish Week in Chicago usually begins with the South Side Irish Parade, which is the Sunday before St. Pat’s, and continues with various city-wide festivities leading up the the actual holiday. This year is extra special because St. Pat’s falls on a Sunday – so it’s a full seven days of revelry.

I didn’t take many pics on what began as a rainy SSIP, but I have a few dodgy ones. I wish I had more pics of some of the women’s fashion I encountered and promise I will at the Irish Fest on Saturday up north at the Irish American Heritage Center. One thing I noticed was more women in kilts. Not the sleazy Tilted Kilts kilts (although they have their time and place), but something more fashionable like that worn by one tall, attractive brunette who wore a slanted, tartan kilt just below the knees over a pair of jeans. There were a few gals with kilts just above their bare knees but I’ve never seen one over jeans like that. I think it helped she had long legs.

One of the pics I took was of a green-dyed bearded fellow who also made the gallery of the Chicago Tribune. Another is of a scary-looking leprechaun peeking out a window. There was an Irish Batman walking around, for which I have no pic. Use your imagination. I do have one of an odd vendor with a Riddler tie.

In addition to the Irish Fest, there are a few more parades (downtown Chicago and Northside), culminating with the St. Pat’s Twilight parade in Crown Point, Ind. The path of this parade runs only several hundred feet or so from Crown Brewing, which usually has a shindig going on inside and outside.

A cross between St. Pat’s and Mardi Gras

Strange vendor

A creepy leprechaun sneaking a peek

Animal Rapist Strikes Again

Liffey

Posted on March 9, 2013

Animal stories were the big headlines for the two major news sites serving the Chicago suburb of Northwest Indiana. One was about the discovery of nesting eagles at a local lake. The other…the Indiana animal rapist strikes again. Serial rapist-murderer of animals, I guess you could call Mr. Michael Bessigano. This is a sick story I probably won’t keep on the site very long, but think others should know about. It hasn’t been reported widely, and its news I’m surprised has yet to make U.K.’s Daily Mail Online – which seems to thrive on this sort of thing.

The gory details are in the stories – I’ll highlight a few here – but the main reason I’m intrigued by this disgust is the final sentence in one of the articles. I’ll get to that later.

Police found a bestiality pornography, a large rubber wolf mask, and an altar surrounded by candles.

This ass clown, Bessigano, first made news a few years ago for having sex with a chicken, and then killing it, in a Valparaiso, Ind., motel room. Even Norman Bates found that disturbing.

He spent 33 months in a federal prison for downloading bestiality pornography. Bestiality pornography. Is there such a thing as bestiality pictures that aren’t pornography? I wonder if he had any Instagram followers.

Bessigano’s latest animal act occurred Friday when he sexually abused and killed a guinea fowl at an Indiana county park. Police found feathers from the bird in his home. Now he’s back in lock-up. Hopefully to stay. A lot of people nowadays in Chicagoland have concern about their pets being attacked by coyotes. Let’s not have them worry about a naked man with a hard-on roaming after their Rottweilers.

The most interesting part of one of the articles came in the last sentence: “Bessigano also inspired a state law making sex with animals illegal.”

So at one time a Hoosier could expect to have intercourse with a furry friend without the law hassling them. But at the same time, they couldn’t (and still can’t) purchase alcohol at a store on Sundays. Because that would be immoral.

The Clams U.K.

Liffey

Posted on March 3, 2013

The Clams U.K. were a Chicago rock-cover band in the 90s and early 2000s. Someone once described them as the kind of cover band that when you were at their show, didn’t seem like a typical cover band and made the songs their own. They played most of their gigs at Weeds, a terrific dive bar led by the legendary Sergio, whose painted wooden bust greets patrons when they walk in the door. The Clams U.K. had connections with Chicago’s music scene. In fact, former Veruca Salt drummer Jim Shapiro sat in with them a few times. Other musicians were often in attendance at a Clams U.K. show, including Shapiro’s sister and Veruca Salt co-founder Nina Gordon. As far as I know the Clams didn’t record any music, but they made the coolest show flyers in the city. And here are eight of them.