We spent the past weekend in D.C., a terrific city.  I have been there a number of times (biking, protests, marches, inaugurations) but this was a low key trip done in part to get out of Cleveland for a bit, eat some great food, ride bikes, and see Hot Chip and The xx in concert at the 9:30 Club.

FRIDAY

I won’t go into too much detail, but seeing a city by bike is the ultimate way to go.  I’ve rode D.C. before, and much like Chicago, biking allows you and your travelling accomplices to get around fast, free and without strenuous/slow paced walking (dodging everybody else.)  Courtney and I departed Cleveland Thursday night (in typical fashion) spending the night somewhere near Breezewood; everyone’s favorite truck stop community.  Awoke early Friday to finish the last 2 hours of the drive and check into the brand new Marriott Hotel on Capitol Hill (great hotel and great rates!, perfect part of town, close to the Green Line.)  They let us check our stuff in – we aired up our tires and hit the road.

Biked 17 miles on Friday, stopping to see all the sites (Courtney’s first time!) and walking both the Natural History Smithsonian and the newly renovated American History Smithsonian.  We had lunch at the (recommended) Good Stuff Eatery, on Capitol Hill.  I had the Obama Burger.

FRIDAY NIGHT

We relaxed a bit before taking the Red Line to Dupont Circle for a late dinner at Nora’s.  I can’t say enough good things about this place; its the country’s first organic restaurant, great food and wine with a lovely setting in an old carriage house.  A bit pricey, the crowd was light but interesting, talking political work and of their boss, Tucker Carlson (hilarious, I know.)  Court and I had the 2007 Bourgogne Passetoutgrain pinot and a full 3-course, delicious.  We hung out at Kramerbooks in Dupont on the way home, the nation’s second coolest bookstore – being open 24hrs is an added bonus.

SATURDAY

Woke up and had a relaxing day shopping around Georgetown, hitting up a bunch of shops (liked Patagonia, Levi’s, Chingching Cha Tea, and Georgetown Tobacco.)  Had a great Italian brunch at Filomena Ristorante.  Headed back to The Mall to hit two more Smithsonians, Aviation and American Indian.

SATURDAY NIGHT

We headed to the Howard University campus for the show, stopping at a ghetto-ass store to scarf down some steak sandwiches (we somehow forgot to eat dinner.)  Food was cheap, but made better by a homeless guy talking about Funkadelic.  The concert was incredible.  Broadcast live on NPR national for the Saturday concert, The xx played a short and spot-on set.  Hot Chip came out and sounded great, played a good set with a lot of energy.

The 9:30 is a great place to watch a show – however it was (I feel) the loudest show I have ever been to.  Honestly, parts of it were painful – either I’m getting old, or things (decibels) are louder in our Nation’s Capitol.  The club is perfect beyond that; good beer selection, wasn’t too packed – they even tweeted the exact time each band was to go on – made planning easy.  Chatted with some great people, all gov’t professionals; The Red Cross, FTC, Wind Energy Cos.

CONCLUSION

People who know me know I love Cleveland dearly.  I’ve traveled these Midwestern-escape destinations (DC, CHI, NYC, Vegas) repeatedly, well into the double digits, only to find a humble return to my beloved Cleveland, tired, and immediately finding comfort in the dreary, desolate, brick-faced city I live and work in.

I love it here.  But the constant vibe in Cleveland is everyone is supposed to work to make it better – an uphill battle, something we’re always fighting for, a hope for the better, all soon-to-come, changes happening, casinos, clean technology hubs, transportation corridors, rock and roll hall of fames and their ceremonies held elsewhere.  It make’s it fun, I guess, knowing that we’re always down and out and it’s up to us to make it better (how?).  I like the grittiness of that, but I find it to be wearing out.

None of this is a shot at Cleveland, it’s just more and more I ask myself what it’s like in other places where people just live, love where they live, feel safe, and have to invest minimal, if any, effort to make their city a real city.  I’m not giving up.   I’m ready to do what it takes to make CLE better, but I know I’m not the first to have that idea.  This endless and blind hope has been in motion for  along time.  Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

FULL PHOTO GALLERY OF THIS TRIP.

Chalk this up with the other play-by-play road trip posts I’ve wrote.  Not sure what they’re worth, short of my own personal record and the blind hope that someday, like Jack Kerouac, I will be discovered and my writings published as a pioneering American author — fat chance.

THURSDAY

Finished work late and came home to hurry up a load of laundry and start packing.  Picked up Courtney around 8pm, and were headed West on I-80 to an unknown Midwest destination for the night, hopefully closer to Chicago than Cleveland.  We had two nights lined up at The Congress Hotel, a historic hotel on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, so this was an attempt to lessen the drive Friday morning so we could have more time in the city.  Pulled in to the “Travel Inn” around 12:30 craving some shuteye.  The lobby was dark and I had to ring a bell to wake up what seemed to be the hotel manager / resident who charged $49 for a night.  A true steal, and the bed even came with a cherry stem left behind by a previous traveler – how weird/creepy is that?

FRIDAY

Woke up early, checked out, and hit the road with the benefit of a 1 hour time difference awaiting us in Chicago.  Checked-in to the Congress around 2pm, I guess, changed, and hit the road on our bikes in mostly gray skies and cold rain.  First, we checked out The Buckingham Fountain (been to CHI 4 times and never saw this before).  We rode to Grant Park, and Shedd Aquarium taking some great pictures along the way.  We were hungry for lunch, so we biked to the original Pizzeria Uno (since 1943).  Every time I’m in Chicago, I usually get Gino’s Pizza East – so decided to change it up here, turns out for the better.  Enjoyed a local 312 seasonal brew (Harvest-something) here, also.

After lunch, went and checked out the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop which required us to be buzzed in and to store our bookbags in the closet.  This place was absolutely awesome, basically a small shop FILLED with books on Lincoln (there are a lot more than you think) dating back to the 19th century.  Real leather bound books, showing their age, behind locked cases.  Also here were other Abe items, including a wanted poster for his assassin priced at $45,000 (the reward on the poster was $50,000).  The place was quiet and empty, short of two older researchers/author types with a stack of Abe books – they were pretty deep.

Left here and rode to Kozy’s Cyclery where I needed to buy a bike a bike helmet in fear of getting hit by a Chicago motorist.  Checked out some other shopping, only buying a scarf to keep warm while biking the windy city.  We heard the grim news of Chicago loosing the bid for the 2016 Olympics but this didn’t silence the bright advertising campaign that still draped the city’s billboards, bus stops, and El stations.

Unwound and warmed up at one of the many Starbucks.  While paging through a print copy of The Onion, I was alarmed to read that the one and only David Cross was in town the following day, signing his new book at the N Clark St. Borders – we cleared some plans for Saturday in hope of meeting the legend himself.  Friday night we went to Borders to buy Cross’ new book and reserved our spot by receiving two wristbands to the event.  The cab from our hotel to Wrigleyville was a steep $16 one way — we would ride The El for the rest of the weekend @ 2.25/trip.

We headed North from Wrigleyville to Green Mill Cocktail Lounge.  I can’t begin to describe how incredible this place was.  We decided to go here after reading it was one of Al Capone’s favorite hangouts.  We were greeted at the door by a strange-rude-biker-type-doorman who took a $12 cover and gave instructions to silence our cell phones and remain as quiet as possible.  The bar was dark with curved leather booths and a gypsy-style jazz band, Alfonso Ponticelli and Swing Gitan, played AMAZING music as everyone watched quietly erupting in applause at each song break – just like the old days.  Swing Gitan had an accordion, violinist, 2 acoustics guitars, and an upright bass.  They were absolutely incredible.  Drank a Stella here, and confirmed the Green Mill to be the coolest place to see one of  the coolest bands in my live music spectator history.

Headed back to the hotel, exhausted and happy.

SATURDAY

We rode the El to Wrigleyville in the morning, looking for some food before the David Cross book signing.  Checked out some shops (lots of headshops on Clark St.) and sipped some green tea before making our way to Borders.  Hung out with some strangers from Cleveland and Shaker, killing time.  Cross showed up, read a section from his book, confirmed the Arrested Development movie, and took some questions.  We were second in line for the signing and headed back to the hotel afterwards for some chilltime.

We walked to the original Billy Goat Tavern (the one made famous by John Belushi in the 70s) for dinner.  Had some burgers, and watched some football before grabbing the Red Line North to Metro for the sold out Fever Ray concert.

The Northside concert hall was packed with every hipster in Chicago, probably tipped off by Chicago’s own Pitchfork Media’s rave review of Fever Ray’s NYC show earlier in the week.  I’m a huge fan of The Knife and was ecstatic to finally see 50% of The Knife (Karin Dreijer Andersson) perform.  The show was loud and epic – plenty of bass, lasers, and so much smoke the band members appeared mostly as silhouettes.  There was an awesome tribal-pagan-ritual theme, facepaint, cool costumes, and great drums.  Plenty more to talk about here, but clearly I am incapable of accruatly describing such events.

SUNDAY

We woke up super early (also fighting the hour-loss time change) and began our trek back to Ohio, making Dan & Emily’s babyshower in perfect timing; celebrated, mingled, and watched the Browns almost win but continue their shitty season to 0-4.  Good to be back in the CLE.

I shot this before David Cross’ book signing in Chicago on Saturday.  He also read from the Jim Belushi chapter of his new book, I Drink for a Reason, which is hilarious and loaded with new material (video to come).

The Arrested Development movie looks promising and he shows his excitement for the plot:

A selection of books I have read in recent years include:

• Jack Kerouac
  • Big Sur
  • On the Road
  • The Dharma Bums
• Hunter S. Thompson
  • Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga
  • Gonzo Papers, Vol. 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time (Did not finish)
  • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
  • Gonzo Papers, Vol. 3: Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream
• Chuck Klosterman
  • IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

I have loved everything I have ever read by Kerouac and thoroughly enjoyed most works by Thompson.  I look forward to diving deeper into Kerouac’s catalog, but am writing today to say that I am done for awhile in the realm of gonzo journalism and beat era novels.  They are of course different genres altogether, but have many similar traits.  I believe to have worn out my interest in these styles (worn out meaning bored with, not undercutting what they are or their value by any stretch.)

I picked up what is considered that best American novel since the end of WWII, Gravity’s Rainbow by the great Thomas Pynchon.  The near 800 page epic novel will be difficult to digest, with some 400 characters and complex themes, but I look forward to the challenge.  I can say in reading the first few episodes I am already refreshed to be reading literature and not some form of journalism and/or play-by-play writings of beat encounters.

Plenty of reaction to follow…

One of the only photos of recluse, Pynchon (c. 1957)

The 1974 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Gravity’s Rainbow