"I got the Dynamo of Volition..."

Headed up to see Jason Mraz at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago prior to Thanksgiving and they put on yet another awesome show. (The photos are from my iPhone that unfortunately doesn't take too great of pics unless you're up close. Sorry.)

As Corey, Mo, & myself can unfortunately attest to first-hand, the Aragon does not provide the best acoustics for performing, as was further evidenced by the opening act & our inability to understand her lyrics. However, the Mraz crew had two walls of speakers that seemed to make up for it & his set was great. He played a ton from We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things and also pulled some old stuff out of the catalog. And he even paid tribute to Barack Obama in a very cool moment. It was a fun set and I even ended up talking the sound guy (who I remembered from Mraz's gig at the Metro a few months back - the guy looks amazingly like Rod Stewart) - into giving me the set list sheet after the show ended. We grabbed 2 a.m. burritos and decompressed from the show with a little Arrested Development, which is thankfully going to be making it's way to the silver screen in the next few years. (finally!)

We got to spend Sunday with friends & family - including Oscar - and spent time at a cool bar called Kirkwood, which you should totally check out if you're in Chicago. It was nice being up in the big city again and I find myself wrestling with the idea of moving back up there everytime I come back...

Also hit up my first Quad City Flames game with some friends as I had yet to see a game since their re-branding from being the Q.C. Mallards in the IHL (the Flames are part of the AHL). Wow - what a difference a league change makes! Despite coming back by scoring 3 goals in the 3rd period, the Flames lost :27 into overtime 3-4, but it still ended up as a pretty exciting game. I'll definitely be going to more in the future.

We've been selling out CSz shows consistently for the past 3 weeks and are hoping that momentum continues. It's amazing what happens when high school football season wraps up...

Wanted to end by mentioning that if you're in the Chicago area, please head over to the Annoyance Theater & Bar to check out Corey & Mo's show entitled The Union: Ward & June Are Dead. It's been getting good reviews so far & not only will you be supporting friends, you'll also laugh your ass off in the process.