CHICAGO IS BURNING!

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Hola MEXFLAM!

I am the newest blogger for Mexican Flamboyant. My name is A4Ashley, I am a musician, fashion designer, blogger, tastemaker, coolhunter, and over all fun person. I currently reside in Chicago in one of the last remaining D.I.Y. venues, but I'll tell you more about me in a later post!

I went out and I had the best weekend I've had in a while. Unlike Mexico, Chicago is a frozen tundra for half the year, so going out can be a hassle for 6 months of the year. It's bitter cold, there's snow everywhere, and everyone is depressed. So when the weather peaks just a little bit (and I'm talking 50 degrees, brrrr) we SNAP!

Friday night I went to this new venue in Pilsen called 'The Bakery' (it's an old bakery). The upstairs was just this big emptyish room that will probably be used as a gallery space in the future. But then you had to go down a florescent lit staircase into a long narrow winding hallway that went way further back that the upstairs room, to a door opens up to the shittiest dirt floor basement. The first band was called Bad Kids. It was 2 guys with a bunch of little sound making toys on the ground. The room was crowded and the guys were huddled on the floor with no amplification, so everyone was quiet and leaning in watching them. At one point though everyone was chanting with them 'WE ARE ALL THE WORLD, THE WORLD, THE WORLD'. It was definitely a much better performance than what I thought it was gonna be when I saw them huddled on the floor over a plastic glove, a trumpet and other little doodads.

The next band that played was Stress Ape. They are some of the funniest guys I know. They are also the smelliest. Stress Ape is a hardcore/noise band. My buddy Rand is the singer. This show was the last Stress Ape show, either forever or at least a very long time. They played a pretty awesome set, during the last song Rand turned off the only light in this dark wet dingy basement and people went CRAZY! It was this like 6 minute long droney metal rhythm that had everyone doing a slow headbang, at which point I was like, 'Fuck, someone is going to get hurt...' but no one did! We were all moving pretty hard, and so much beer spilled during their set that the dirt floor quickly became quicksand and it was hard to stand up.

The last band that played was Club Sashay. And they are a total mindfuck. I'm talking costumes, props, abductions, lights, and smoke. It was the first time I've seen them play. Ever heard the song 'Ass and Titties'?



They do a 'cover' of it called 'Cats and Kitties'. I was there when they made it (R.I.P. BLOG CABIN) and it was rad to see the performance with it. I danced so hard during their set. I fell in the quicksand with like 4 other people. SICK!

I received a text message earlier that night that Diplo was playing 4 blocks away, but I was so wasted that I didn't even realize it until the morning. Oh well, Diplo will have to wait..

Saturday I was running off a lot of the steam built up Friday night. I got up and bought a burrito from Los Comales and headed to No Coast. They were hosting the release of my friend, Wes Stokes, new comic, Pools. There was also a reading, the band Animental and a bar-b-q that was probably mostly vegan. I couldn't stick around because later that night Animental was playing at my house.

The line up at my house was Dysphagia, Cristmas Woods, Blue Zone, Civilized Man, and Animental, with Rand djing all night in between sets. Dysphagia is having difficulty swallowing, and a band, which consists of Jail from the Coughs, and a guy. They played a short set with just some minimal machine manipulation, a violin and bass and guitar.

Cristmas was the best act of the night for me because his shit was off the wall. He had a little drum machine and he programmed all these metal fills and riffs into it, and modulating his voice. And chains... He had one song where I think hes talking to the devil or something. The sound was real bad for his set too but it was still impressive.

After that set a pretty serious dance party got started, and in between every set after. Rand is an awesome dj!

Blue Zone played next, they were really good live! It was kind of classic rock power feeling. And then Civilized Man played. They are a 2-piece with only drum and keyboard. Janice plays drums, but they play on whatever kit the band before them used. Unloading must be a breeze! Ruth sings and plays keyboard. Its very minimal but it still has a haunting feeling.



Then Animental played. They were the touring band, from Brooklyn. They came out dancing with shakers in black robes. They played the first 10 minutes very droney somber sounding music, but then in the middle they took off the robes. All I heard was 'Whats up raccoon?' And then they were rapping! They had also hung a big crazy light braid on the floor and people were pushing it to the music. It was awesome. Right after they played someone kicked the circuits to the computer Rand was djing on, so the party ended pretty quickly, but it was late and it was such a good time that it was most appropriate.

So, that brings us back to NOW! I am officially your Chicago corespondent. Shows, new music, and anything awesome that I find out on the way, you'll be the first to know.

Besos.