Ok, so I didn’t actually get tasered, or even threatened with a taser, but pepper spray is kind of a bummer also. What, you say, was I in a riot? No, no, just assembling peacefully to enjoy some local music, and getting a shot of pepper spray on the side. Now, most everyone reading this blog probably knows about the Local Music Awards last night (it is featured right on the website, after all), and those who went are also probably aware of the other free show right next door to the High Dive, at the surprisingly lovely Memphis on Main.
Zmick, Elsinore, Beauty Shop, to name just a few of the six bands that played for free at Memphis on Main last night, in case the free performances at the LMA’s weren’t enough. It was a very fun little evening, with lots of people bouncing back and forth between the two shows, everyone getting their money’s worth of sweet local music (haha). There was an actual feeling of community and mutual enjoyment.
But anyway, back to the pepper spray. So, there we are, a crowd of happy listeners, well sated after a great Elsinore set, awaiting the Beauty Shop, when all of a sudden, the whole bar had to adjourn outside for some fresh air (in order to escape what I believe was a cloud of pepper spray). Oddly, the band was not ushered outside, confirming the fact that bands are hardcore and willing to take abuse in the name of setting up the stage for playing music. What heroes.

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.

Alright, I’ll come clean: I am an English dork, so I guess it’s only natural that I would be interested in books. Lucky for me, I live in Champaign-Urbana, where there are lots of great places to find and read those lovely objects of escape and information.

Downtown Champaign’s Jane Addams Book Shop is an amazing place to find used books, out-of-print books, “antiquarian” books, or simply wander around awed by floor-to-ceiling books stretching back much further than it would appear from the building’s exterior. Seriously, it’s kinda like Narnia for readers, a store that gets bigger the more you explore it. Unfortunately, the time-suspension rules of the magic wardrobe do not apply, so beware of hours passing in the outside world.
Now, if you have no money but you still love books, there are plenty of sweet libraries around. The new Champaign library is sleek and modern, filled with sunlight and people, although there are some rooms for quiet and some comfy places to hang out and read. I saw a girl reading with her shoes off, so you know the staff is pretty chill. Also, be sure to check out the Children’s Desk, which is some sort of see-through plastic covering a neon-like light bank that changes color!! Amazing.
If you like your libraries a little more old-school, head over to the Urban Free Library, with statues, a coffee-shop, and a very comfy-homey relaxing vibe. It seems that they have a better selection of “classics” here than at the new Champaign lib, but this observation is based soley on my own browsing experience and is neither fully researched nor scientifically calculated.

UIUC Main Library

Last but certainly not least is the Main University Library. Not only does this giant building have separate libraries for different subjects, it has plenty of scary gothic passages and stairways, and the Main Stacks, which are both incredible and mildly frightening. It is easy to get lost wandering deep in the stacks, and easy to get fascinated and sucked in to successive wings filled with books. Watch out for ghosts in here…

Break is hard for students (at least this one) because we forget that the world moves on even if there’s no class. I tend to stop doing pretty much every normal daily activity during Fall break, more so than Winter break cuz Fall break is only a week long and school is hard. I pretty much enter into a sloth coma, sleeping late, watching cooking on tv and reading unassigned books (oh the luxury!), so coming back to class and applications for graduate school has been a rude slap in my relaxed face.
Not to fear, we are all back to CU with a vengeance, everyone ready to really buckle down and do well on finals and have as much outside fun as possible before most people leave again for holiday time. There are still many fun things to do around town, for example, get some free tickets at the Union with a UIUC Id and go check out Ben Stein on thursday at Foellinger. Hopefully his speaking voice won’t be as soporific as his famous role in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

bueller…..bueller…..bueller

Oddly, a researcher here at the University was on the fantastic but short-lived “Win Ben Stein’s Money.” Click here to learn more.
Or check out a show at Cowboy Monkey before it stops presenting live music (open mic nite is good, too bad you missed the Tractor Kings). There’s always the Canopy of course, and various bars all around for pre or post finals week celebrations. Even if you have to go to class for the next few eeks, there is still fun to be had. Or maybe studying for finals is a good idea…

A college town during break is a wonderful thing. All the advantages of a place built to accommodate lots of people with different interests but none of the people. Sweet. There are several things worth doing while town is partially empty, like…

Going to Cafe Kopi and sitting at a table of your choice, instead of the only empty or almost empty table
Driving the length of Green Street in under 20 minutes
Drinking in Campustown after 10pm without waiting in line
Ordering food and having it delivered in under an hour
Walking around campus and enjoying the relaxing emptiness

These are just some of the advantages of break, not including the lack of classes and Thanksgiving itself, which are totally awesome and just great, respectively. Have a happy turkey time C-U, let me know if I overlooked your favorite “ghost town” activity.

Ok, so I gave in and went to see the GWAR show at the Canopy on Wednesday. I had never actually heard any GWAR music, but I know what the band is all about, blood and costumes and satanic aliens and all that fabulousness, and hey, I didn’t pay for the tickets.

I was expecting to go in, look around, and leave, returning only to pick up my boyfriend after the show. I ended up sitting down and watching with beer in hand, drawn to the disgusting spectacle as some people are to a car crash. There were costumes aplenty, including a leather thong with a giant pig-head dildo worn by the lead singer. I must admit, I have never seen that much strange, exposed male ass in my entire life–I was frightened but strangely unable to look away.

They brought out a fake George W. and decapitated him, and also:

Hitler
Jesus
a priest
Jewish Satan (don’t think he actually exists)
Bam (from Viva la Bam-who they totally dissed like crazy)
a terrorist
a cop
various other weirdos

Each of these characters somehow became injured enough to start squirting blood on the audience, and that was the main attraction. They could squirt it so far, it almost reached the sound guy, and the Canopy had their murals covered in plastic for the festivities. I guess it was kinda like watching some bizarre movie that is both repetitive and shocking. Not something I would ever choose to hear or see again, but worth going just for the sheer gross-out. All I kept thinking was “those guys must have great vocabularies.” I bet they get off stage and have all sorts of intelligent discussions, they just happen to gross people out for a living.