I know, maybe it seems kinda incongruous, but I love baseball. I love good pitching, pitcher meltdowns, gold glove winning plays, fielding errors, batter drama, home runs, foul balls, umpire-manager battles, people getting hit, players changing their facial hair, and the fan cam. I love when baseball season starts back up and I get to hear all those names again, names of players I hate (Jeter, A-Rod, Pudge, Rolen, Bonds, etc.), names of guys I like (Prior, Maddox, Lee, Manny, Big Poppy, etc.) or names of guys I don’t feel anything about but actually recognize. It’s like a bunch of your friends, some randoms you sort of know, and some guys you like to make fun of all just came back to town on the same day. (I know, I kinda sound mean, but baseball is pretty forgiving of ridicule in the name of a good time).
Maybe I am genetically programmed to like baseball: all the boys in my grandpa’s family played and/or coached baseball, one of my great-uncles actually making it to major league training. However, genetics does not rule all. My grandpa was a Cardinals fan, a fact I’m sure we could rib each other about, as I am a Cub fan, myself. Actually, I grew up as a nominal Red Sox fan, in a family that didn’t care too much, at a time when the Sox were still Cub-ish, always melting down and being gently or cruelly mocked in New England. So it’s not really too much of stretch for me to Cub fan status, although now my two teams just drift farther and farther apart in the universe of Major League Baseball. Alright, the Cubs just tied up Opening Day in the 9th inning, so I gotta go. Hooray for baseball season.

Ok, so I know it’s a teeny bit early, but table sets have been magically appearing outside of all our favorite outdoor hangouts. Cowboy Monkey, Kopi, Esquire, Guido’s even. Outdoor chillin is huge in the C-U area, and almost any relatively casual place has outdoor tables available, as well as some more cushy spots (Jim Gould, KO Fusion, Radio Maria).
It won’t get really crazy busy outside for awhile, but when it does it will happen fast and last all summer. I love this time of year in C-U, cuz restaurants tend to be pretty chill about dogs outside, and that means our dog can come out and have drinks with us, which is great for her since loves to get tipsy (haha). No, but seriously, it is great to be outside in the spring and summer, surrounded by other people loving the outdoors and having fun. I urge you to take advantage of the fabulous town resource that is the C-U outdoor scene. Have fun and feel free to pet my dog.

Happy Birthday to a C-U institution (at least for those of us who didn’t grow up here). The Canopy Club turns 10 years old this year, cheers to the Canopy!

happy birthday to you
you live in a zoo…

When they opened in 1998, the Canopy was probably (it must have been, right?) the biggest middle-sized place to see a show in town. The Assembly Hall being so huge, and the Champaign downtown spots being either smaller or non-existent, the Canopy helped out those college kids and townies who desired more live music. The Flaming Lips, Bela Fleck, Ghostface Killah, Iggy Pop, Local H, Les Claypool, Smashing Pumpkins, They Might Be Giants, tons and tons of local music…should I go on, cuz I could for a while. So many great shows, many more to come.

sorry, this show already happened

My first Canopy experience was seeing The Eels, a show that took place right after Elliot Smith died. Since the head honcho of The Eels, the crazily talented Mark Oliver Everett (see blog #50-”the best band you (maybe) never heard of”) was a good friend of the unfortunate Mr. Smith, the show ended kind of abruptly, and those of us waiting outside to catch of glimpse of the mastermind were disappointed. Despite this, I enjoyed the Canopy at the time, and have only grown more fond of it as time passes and I see more shows there. Something is in the air at the Canopy, and bands seem honor-bound to play a sweet show. I have seen some of the best Beauty Shop shows ever there, as well as amazing Ween, Keller, Claypool, and more. So party on Canopy, happy birthday, you don’t look a day over 5.

I have been out of town since last Wednesday looking at potential graduate schools for english literature. I know, not the most interesting biographical info ever, but hold, on, I’m going somewhere here. Checking out different campuses is cool and kinda sad, since it makes it quite clear that I will be moving out of the CU area at some point in the not too distant future. For those of you in school at UofI and/or otherwise affliated with the school, listen well: we have some sweet f*cking uildings.
My sweet spot for the week is the UofI English Building, with its atrium, wood floors, and amazing upstairs. For those of you who have never been to the 3rd floor of EB, it is kick ass. More wood floors, cool recessed windows, and even a little gothic scary-ness. I have always kinda though this, but in my visits to other English Buildings I have really realized how lucky we are. I know lots of people complain about Lincoln Hall and Gregory and the inequity between science money and humanities funk, but after visiting places with low walls, no light and no space,a building like a huge horizontal brick, I have a new love of the old UofI spots. I urge you to love it while you can, students and visitors, and hopefully you too will remember the creaky floors and drafty windows of the ancient university buildings with equal affection when it is your time to move on.

America loves cars. Even if gas goes up to $5 a gallon, people will probably still be driving giant SUV’s while texting. Here in C-U, we are actually pretty darn bike-y. Not as bike friendly as Portland OR, which has been recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as bike-tastic, but we do enjoy our cycling in this town. Perhaps in response to the bike-centricity of C-U, car drivers insist on being noticed by breaking the laws of traffic.

Now, I know this is a college town, and as such, there is a higher general population of self-involved drivers, but also a lower rate of drama over small car-related offenses (important when you have to double park and hand something in at school real quick). No, no, I won’t bitch or moan about driving and/or parking skills in town. Please consider this to be a public service announcement instead. I have a blog, so I get to use this space (every once in a great while) to address the town-related things that I deplore, as well as all those things I love. Hear my cry of lament, Champaign-Urbana: I am scared being smooshed.

keep your eyes peeled!

What is the deal with the disregard for red lights? I have lived in towns and small cities on both coasts and in between, and granted, at first it seems that wherever you live people drive poorly. However, I have neverever lived in a place where drivers run red lights like they do here. I don’t move forward anymore at a recently-turned green light until I have waited to make sure that the guy three blocks away is going to actually stop. I’m not mad, C-U, just scared. Left turns on red lights, cars speeding through lights that have been red for 15+ seconds. This is an especially relevant issue for those bike people I was referring to earlier, since they stand to get mowed right the hell down. If you are a biker or an unsuspecting driver, please watch out. If you are a blatant runner of red lights, please don’t kill me or anyone else with your self-absorption.

Ok, I’ll come clean: I have more than once wished that this town (or what ever one calls the strange configuration of C-U) had a Trader Joe’s. I know, I know, it is a giant quasi corporate organization, that is certainly semi-evil. But damn it, they have the best selection of sweet natural foods, wines, deli related goods, and everything else you would find a huge grocery store, except it’s all heady organic, sister bear. For awhile, shopping at Urbana’s Strawberry Fields only made my secret desire more acute. Used to be they had three rows of food, four/five aisles filled with vitamins and shampoo and smell oil, and the deli, which was pretty awesome, to be sure. However, since the major renovation, Strawberry Fields has been vastly sweetened. Ok, so now the deli is gone, but the coffee bar serves coffees and smoothies, they have lots more food and the “natural pharmacy” has a little area all for itself. Also undergoing vast improvement is the Co-op, that nondescript building on the corner of Springfield and Wright. They have always had fresh local eggs and meats and stuff, but rumor has it that they are also expanding. Finally, if you want special European goodies, like spreads, oils, vinegars, cheeses, olives, etc, check out either World Harvest Foods (on University) or Euro-Mart (on Springfield).

When you lay it all out, I guess we do alright with natural/local/heady-organic/exotic food. OH! I almost forgot about the Urbana Farmer’s Market, which is kind of lame right now, but only because it’s winter. Word to the wise regarding the Farmer’s Market in the summer, however: go early. It gets crazy and crowded and the all natural asphalt gets so hot and awful. I pretty much refuse to go after 9.30 am, so don’t make me regret sharing the earlyness secret with you…just don’t push me in your rush for heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil, and we’ll be cool. So I guess life without Trader Joe’s is pretty sweet here in Champaign-Urbana after all. Enjoy eating well.