A happy day for me

Sorry for the gap between posts. It's been busy here, to say the least. The revolving door on the Hotel Madrittmaster has been spinning extra lately. Lots of friends and family staying with us, plus doing a ton of work at the LOL Theater getting it ready for the Grand Re-Opening party in June. Not to mention the various shows and rehearsals we're doing, it's been pretty hectic.

However, to continue the theme Mo started with the previous post, I had to post about my plans this evening. While Monique had her memory of Darryl Hall crushed, I will be reliving my youth by attending a show by the Kids In The Hall tonight! See the weird synchronicity? Hall...Hall? Whoa. I know.

The Kids In The Hall were my all-time favorite sketch comedy group. They were who inspired me to want to do sketch comedy in the first place. The idea that we were doing something kind of like KITH is what simmered in the back of my mind when four friends of mine and I started writing and performing our own material as the group Der Monkenpickle back in the 90's.

My friend Jeff called and said he was coming to town to see the show, and that he had an extra ticket. Before he could even finish the sentence, I told him I was in. I know that just like Darryl Hall, the Kids are older, probably a little slower, and probably also can't hit the same high notes, but I'm not worried. Jokes that work are jokes that work. I can't wait.

- Corey

A sad day for me

Today is a sad day for me. I'm watching a Daryl Hall concert (from 'Hall and Oates') on DirectTV. For those of you that don't know, I've long held the dream that the greatest concert I could see would be Lionel Richie and Hall and Oates. I think I was born in the wrong decade.

Anyways, my dreams have been sadly shattered. Hall sounds like shit. His voice is old, crackly and overall...just boo. Plus he's pretentions and plastic face-y. Worse off he's subjecting me to a new song he wrote. It's called "Cab Driver." You know, because he rode in a lot of cabs. It's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I am truly sad that the realization of my dream will never come true, because even if they come to concert, I cannot go.
I now have a higher appreciation for Oates, because I think he may have helped the duo sound better than we ever realized. Though, probably not, who are we kidding?

- Mo

Maquoketa

Saturday night's show was in this little town in Iowa for some printing company. I did the show with ComedySportz owner Jeff, along with Don and Fred. I've done a few shows with Don and he always delivers. Really smart, funny guy. Fred I had never met before, but he was great, too. Both Don and Fred are computer savvy, techie kinds of guys, so the conversation in the car ride to and from the show was a little nerd-centric. Lots of comic book references and tech lingo. I had little to add. No big deal, the show was a lot of fun. We performed at the Maquoketa Country Club, which was a little confusing. In the lounge area, there were golf items on the wall, the Golf Channel on TV and references to various course records and such. However, looking out the windows of the lounge and from the main dining room, where the show happened, you couldn't see any golf course. Jeff assured me there was one, but I'm pretty sure it's just a mini golf course in the basement.

Post show back in Rock Island was pretty low key. Just kicked back at the hotel and chilled, really. I was pretty tired from the late night in Des Moines combined with an afternoon jog around the District area in Rock Island. The drive back to Chicago was nice and uneventful. This week brings a lot of work out at the Laugh Out Loud space in Schaumburg and a visit from Briette, as she will be joining Mo on a cool promo gig doing hair for some Garnier gig. I'm sure she'll let you know all about that later.

- Corey

Des Moines

Hello from Iowa! I'm on the road this weekend, doing some shows for my friend Jeff A. at ComedySportz - Quad Cities. The first one was last night here in Des Moines. A really fun and kind of unusual gig. Along with my friends Patrick and Big G, we met up with this girl Michele who plays with ComedySportz - San Jose. Michelle is here in Des Moines for her cousin's wedding. We peformed at the rehearsal dinner. It was Michele's gift to the couple, who apparently are big fans, and go see her perform in California all the time. It was a really fun show for a very nice family. We themed everything around the couple and their family. Had a little fun with Father Murphy, the officient for the ceremony who was hilarious and awesome, and even though there were only about 50 people at the show, the laughter sounded like a group 10 times that size, because we killed.

After the show, we hung around and Michele and her husband bought us a couple beers and we swapped a few old ComedySportz stories from back in the day. Then the family and friends headed off to some dueling piano bar, and we headed back to our hotel because come on...a dueling piano bar? No thanks. Thankfully, we found a little Irish pub right by our hotel, so the boys and I hung out there for a little bit before coming back to the hotel to crash. We'll head back to Rock Island here in a few, and then another show tonight. I'll try and keep you posted, as I know you're waiting impatiently to hear about that one, too.

Oh, one sidenote: the worst part about this Des Moines (super quick) trip? Literally not more than 150 steps from our hotel is one of these. My favorite! But when we got into town we went straight to the gig so it was closed when we were done, and we're leaving this morning before it opens. Not cool, Des Moines. Not cool.

- Corey

Stopping to smell the roses

Aunt Judy is in town for a quick visit, so we went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens.

If you haven't gone, get there. Appreciate some damn beauty for once, geez!

Not all the plants were in bloom, but it was still really nice. We especially enjoyed the tour we took on a tram. This is not because it was necessarily a good tour, but because the tour guide was hilarious. Edel or Erdwin or whatever his strange name was did his best, but man it was funny. He was an older fella who clearly enjoyed his job, but man did he talk slow. The tram ride was a bit of an adventure too as he'd get distracted and we all worried that he'd drive right into the pond. Aunt Judy and Anne about lost it when he talked about the cooking demonstrations they have in their fruit and vegetable garden. Apparently the local guest chefs create small plates, or "Topos" as he pronounced Toe-Poes (tapas) for the audience to enjoy.

It was a perfect day to be outside and enjoy the outdoors in a way not typical of the city.

We've decided to take more advantage of having flexible schedules so this summer, our goal is to see more of all the cool stuff Chicago has to offer. Hopefully we'll enjoy more museums, the beach, festivals and definitely go back to the Botanical Garden, soak in some culture. Lord knows we could use it.

10 Pinatas!?!?

Why in the world? What the? How come?

Just you wait. Patience, my friends. Patience.

Cinco de Chili!

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone. We had a great one here, thanks. Our good friend Ali had the great idea to get some friends together to celebrate at a new local bar/restaurant. A bunch of us met up at Cinners, a new joint in the neighborhood that is part sexy lounge and part chili parlour. But not your typical chili, though. Tony, the owner is a Cincinnati area native who has brought his hometown's unique chili recipe to Chicago. This stuff is fantastic, y'all! The chili has no beans, initially. You can choose to add them on if you want. It's not terribly spicy hot, either. It has a really amazing blend of subtle spices like cinnamon and cocoa, etc. They serve it over spaghetti noodles, and top it with your choice of beans, cheese, onions or any combination of them.

So we ate, and ate and drank and drank with old friends as well as meeting some new ones. The beers and margaritas were on special for $3 and the speakers were cranking out some classic 80's favorites. After dinner, Tony hung a pinata in the middle of the bar and a few people took turns taking their whacks at it. Candy for dessert!

After a while, the 80's music led to much nostalgia, and stories of concerts and first dates were recounted. We tried to guess what 80's classic would come next, and it became a wager. Everyone, including tables around us that weren't originally part of our group, took a dollar bill and wrote the name of an 80's song on it. We piled the money in the middle of the table and waited with crazy anticipation as a song would end as the first person to have their song entered into the pool would win the entire pile of cash. Some entered multiple times, and more and more would enter. Eventually the pot reached $27, but it felt like hundreds the way the crowd would groan when the next song would play and we all realized we had thought of that tune, but hadn't entered it. As I kept my fingers crossed for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" and Mo for "Africa" by Toto the game came to an end. Our host herself, Ali correctly picked "Voices Carry" by Til Tuesday, but to be fair, she probably had the most entries.

We had a ton of fun, and the chili was tremendous. We will be back, Cinners. We will be back.

- Corey