Kropps Blog

F1 leaves Indy – so the US is now without an F1 event. Maybe that’s a good thing though – I’d like to see a Monaco-esque road course set up here in Chicago. Imagine F1 cars screaming down Upper Wacker in one direction, then back down lower Wacker Dr. going back the other way. Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Ave. would make pretty cool straights, and it would give Mayor Daley a really good excuse to fix the really big potholes and expansion joints that my MINI doesn’t like very much.

A cab, driven very quickly by a middle eastern gentleman in a turban, would of course be the pace car.

I’ve been quite enjoying Wilco’s new release Sky Blue Sky of late, and I recently came across an interview with Jeff Tweedy by American Way magazine (American Airlines) about living in Chicago, an interesting perspective on the city from a musician. His favorite pizza joint is of course included.

Paul Potts won ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent competition. As if he was going to lose to a little girl in a dress. I love what the host said to him on stage following his performance in the final: “Paul, I’ve got one question for you – can you get me a Nokia 6210?

American Idol has a bit of UK competition, ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent. It’s very much like AI, except that it’s more of a traditional talent show where all kinds of lunacy can ensue. And it’s even got Simon Cowell as a judge. And now, there’s an American version, hosted by Jerry Springer and featuring people like David Hasselhoff and Sharon Osbourne as judges. I think I’d rather have Simon Cowell – and hopefully Hasselhoff won’t be singing anything. It would be very cool though, if Sharon’s husband showed up on occasion as a guest judge. Cowell is the executive producer of the US show.

Recently on the UK programme (sorry for the spelling, but hey – the show is english), a mobile phone salesman of rather modest means from Wales turned up. He’s called Paul Potts, and he gave an amazing performance (especially for a guy schlepping phones at Car Phone Warehouse) of a piece from the opera Nessun Dorma. It’s brilliant. The winner gets to perform for the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance, and also wins 100k pounds sterling. 

*update* – Paul won!

This looks to be interesting -

The Urban Dictionary is a brilliant reference for words not commonly found in more accepted publications. It’s also quite funny. Definitions are of course featured, as well as examples of the words used contextually. Adding and editing are also allowed.

A few examples:

Shitbird:

A completely useless individual who is unaware of his/her own complete uselessness.

Tell that shitbird I’m out of the office. Until the 12th…of never.

Decidership:

A form of government with one person exercising absolute power and unrestricted control in a government who regularly disregards opinions, petitions or mandates of the people or elected representatives.

The misguided War On Terrorism has turned the United States of America from a Democracy to a Decidership.

I occasionally peruse Craigslist, as great deals can sometimes be found on just about anything. It’s a great resource for things like wicker chairs, 20 year old TV’s, or one owner BMW 740il’s. While looking for the latter, I came across this brilliant ad for a buick (and it’s got Dynaride!). The ad uses a truly untapped vernacular that should probably be standard issue in any undergraduate level copywriting class, and I would think that Madison Ave. could put it to rather good use as well.

My favorite line: “TOP OF THE LINE SONY DECK THE BEAT SLAPS HARD IT ALSO HAS REMOTE STARTER AND PAGER ALARM TOP OF THE LINE SHIT I AINT PLAYIN.” I also love the way the writer spells the word “but”. 

Earlier last week I made a bit of a road trip to see a few Morrissey shows, one of those shows was in Kansas City. I have a few very good friends in that town, and every time I go there can be assured of at least two things – that I’ll be in impeccable company, and that I will eat very well.

This last trip was no exception. I’ve known my pal Kevin since 1991 – we met at Mizzou, and have been friends since. Kev is from KC and I can always count on him to expose me to a local eatery that leaves me wondering: “Could this get any better?” Kansas City is the absolute and utterly undisputed epicenter of the barbecue universe – many places try to emulate it, but fail miserably. I was in a bbq place in Florida that had just recently opened a few years ago, and the owner was walking around asking people how they liked everything. He was pretty confident in his product, and asked me if I’d had better – I told him I’ve been to Kansas City, and he said “well, that’s a completely different deal – they invented barbecue.”

Kev asked me if I’d ever been to Arthur Bryant’s, a bbq establishment in Kansas City that’s been clogging peoples arteries since the 1920’s, and I said no. He went on to explain that the line outside this establishment goes out the door and around the building, especially when the Cardinals are in town for inter-league play. On the way to AB, Kev was painting a beautiful picture of what we were about to consume: “My favorite is the pork and beef combo sandwich. It’s an insane amount of meat – enough for two or three meals, served between two little pieces of bread. The bread doesn’t stand a chance.” He then went on to extol the virtues of Arthur Bryant’s original sauce: “The original sauce in my opinion is a very acquired taste – Scott (another very good pal from KC with an unexplainable and insatiable ketchup fetish) doesn’t like it as it’s not similar enough to ketchup. The sauce is difficult to explain – it’s not spicy, and not sweet either.”

Kev went out on a bit of a limb taking me to Arthur Bryant’s – he’s taken me to other KC barbecue places in the past, and he always tells me that the place we’re going is good – but this time, he said this was his favorite KC barbecue joint. That doesn’t sound like a very big deal, but it places an incredible amount of pressure on Kevin – if the establishment isn’t up to snuff, it will reflect personally on him.

We finally get there – two fat guys getting out of a MINI was a quite funny sight indeed, and we walked in. The smell was absolutely perfect – smoked meat and sauce. The entry was lined with photos of famous people who’ve gone in to clog their arteries – from celebrities to presidents. Kev ordered his usual, I got a rack of ribs and a pound of smoked beef. We sit down at the table and Kev looks a little nervous. As he explains the different sauces (original, rich & spicy, sweet heat) he again warns me that the original sauce is an acquired taste, and very tepidly watches me as I take the first bite of smoked beef doused in the original sauce. With one bite, I tell Kev that the taste has been acquired. Kev makes a big exhale, and all is well. It was the best bbq combo I’d ever had – the sauce tailed off wonderfully, like a good wine. The beef was just about perfect, with lots of smoke flavor. According to AB’s website, they use a combination of Hickory and Oak, and the brick smoker is in full view of patrons which is a nice touch. If you’re ever in KC I’d highly recommend it, I give the place 5 stars.

It was a great night – consuming large quantities of smoked meat with my pal Kevin, and a Morrissey show. With all that food sitting in my stomach the all night drive back to Chicago after the Moz show was a bit difficult, but at least I wasn’t hungry. I’ll hopefully be exposing Kev to some Chicago pizza in much the same way this summer to pay him back for the KC bbq experience.

Camera phone image of Morrissey at the Pageant in STL

The title of the post is a refrain from song by Morrissey titled “The Youngest Was The Most Loved” from his current album Ringleader of the Tormentors. A brilliant song, and Moz features a children’s choir for the refrain which I find quite fitting. The line also seems to fit what I did for the past two days.

The MINI and I have just returned from a rather epic 1100 mile journey through the midwest, to catch three Morrissey shows in one week. The first show was quite easy and didn’t involve driving, a simple 3 stop ride from home on the blue line to the Auditorium Theater here in Chicago.. I already had plans to see the Tuesday night show at the Pageant in STL the following week with Brendan and Dougie, and I figured if I was going that far why not check out the KC show on Wednesday night at the very cool and newly remodeled Uptown Theater in Midtown. It would also give me an excuse to attend the show with my very good pal and equally big Moz fan Kevin, and consume some world famous KC barbecue as well. KC (as it never does) did not disappoint. I also got to stop in Columbia, Mo. on the way to KC, and it was good to be back there as well for a bit.

Three very different cities, and three very different crowds. Chicago’s crowd was the largest and most diverse, and the venue was a monster. KC and STL are much more comparable cities in terms of population and venue size, but they seem a bit different in how the crowd behaved. In Chicago I was in the lower balcony, in STL and KC we were on the floor close to the stage. It was Morrissey’s 48th birthday the night of the STL show, and he got a rise out of the crowd by singing to himself “I’ve come to wish me an unhappy birthday” as well as getting quite a few gifts from people at the show.

The KC show seemed a bit more lively and intense, and this might have been due to the fact that the Uptown Theater’s standing area in front of the stage is 5-6 times larger than the area in front of the stage at the Pageant. I also got the sense that the people in KC were a bit less reserved and provincial – an observation I’ve seen before in comparing the two cities, which is why I find KC so refreshing. Quite a few less Trixies and Chads in KC as compared to STL, Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood of course being the indigenous home of the Trixie and the Chad. Morrissey seemed to have more of a connection to the STL crowd though, and that combined with a smaller venue and the fact that it was his birthday made it an amazing show in its own right. There was a great deal of interaction at all three shows, with Moz shaking quite a few hands during songs and making lots of gestures and eye contact. There was of course the obligatory throwing of the shirt at all three shows – in STL the fans wrestled for one of the shirts for what seemed like a half hour, some of them only to come away with a tiny shred of what used to be a very sweaty armani shirt.

The set list from the STL and KC shows was very similar – it was very cool to hear “Please Please Please let me get what I want this time” as the first encore at the Chicago and STL shows, but maybe Morrissey sensed the KC crowd was a bit more rowdy, and chose “The last of the Famous International Playboys” which was probably a better fit for that show. I would have loved to hear “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” as it’s one of my favorites from The Smiths but that was probably the only want in an otherwise amazing three nights.

Moz is a complete showman. He worked his ass off at all three shows I attended, and the band was completely into everything they played. There were no lulls whatsoever, and it was a pleasure to see the 48 year old Morrissey still enjoying life (as only he can enjoy it). The set list from the KC show:

The Queen Is Dead / First Of The Gang To Die / The Youngest Was The Most Loved / In The Future When All’s Well / You Have Killed Me / Disappointed / Panic / Let Me Kiss You / I Just Want To See The Boy Happy / The National Front Disco / I Will See You In Far Off Places / All You Need Is Me / Girlfriend In A Coma / Everyday Is Like Sunday / The Boy With The Thorn In His Side / Irish Blood, English Heart / At Last I Am Born / I’ve Changed My Plea To Guilty / Life Is A Pigsty / How Soon Is Now? // The Last Of The Famous International Playboys / You’re Gonna Need Someone On Your Side

The hard part was getting in the MINI after the show in KC, and driving back to Chicago. I took the northern route through Iowa as I thought the traffic would be a bit lighter, and it was cool to have the top down looking at the stars in a state with not very many lights or buildings – until it started raining.  I’ll have a word about my pal Kevin as well as a detailed review of Arthur Bryant’s bbq in a later post as they deserve an entry of their own.

A few more camera phone images:

Moz in KC

Moz in STL

Quite funny, from madtv. Click on the pic to watch.