Saturday, March 15, 2008

Spring Break 08: Music Chicago

image
i’m not even a guitarist, but this place was heckuvalotta fun!

My friend travis and I took a two day vacation to Chicago during spring break. We were both sticking around Grand Rapids, but we didn’t want to stay here all break. I wanted to stay to get some stuff done with drums, and travis was staying so he could get flown out to NYC for final round interviews at Goldman Sachs. The while trip was kind of spontaneous and it resulted from a conversation I had with my friend laura. She lives out in Chicago and was going home for the break, and she said we were welcome to visit her and stay with her family.  So we took her up on the offer. Besides visiting her and hanging out with her family, we also had some pressing music agendas. First, we were getting a tour of a studio in downtown Chicago called comma music, along with its sister production facility particle audio. Second, we needed to try out some guitar amps, and Chicago guitar shops have a much better selection than guitar center in grand rapids. With our itinerary loosely planned out, we headed off 2 hours behind schedule on Monday morning. But we weren’t really late, because we don’t have any deadlines on vacation.

The first (and only) guitar shop we went to was Make’n Music.  After going there and spending three hours testing out a few amps, we didn’t need to go anywhere else.  The staff was exceptionally knowledgeable and friendly, and I had a good time chatting with them while Travis tested out amps in the testing rooms.  With a selection like theirs, we didn’t need to go anywhere else.  I’m so glad we stopped there first!

image
there’s no way we can find this kind of selection in GR

image
boutique galore!

image
travis is finding a partner for his gibson lucille

image
testing out a $2000+ bogner shiva head

We also walked around downtown (of course) checking out anything that seemed remotely interesting.  Various museums had free admission for whatever reason, so we checked out some art and political history.  It was just great walking around in non-freezing weather after sitting 3 hours in the car.

image
some amazing architecture in downtown chicago

image
checking out a free art show

image
under the famous chicago bean

We also went out to dinner at a spiffy Thai restaurant in downtown Chicago, and afterwards we tried to get into a jazz club.  Unfortunately, there aren’t many places that let you in if you’re under 21.  I was hoping to hear some live Chicago blues, but I guess I’ll have to wait a few more months.  I can only impatiently wait until the next time I visit Chicago.

Posted by Nehe555 on 03/15 at 02:17 PM
Permalink

<< Back to main