Thursday, May 29, 2008

Couch Surfing, Chicago Style

Consider the context: Suburban Mom (sexy and mysterious with groupie-like tendencies) taps into kids’ community college fund for a bajillion dollar scalper’s ticket on eBay to see the band Wilco whom she’s seen twice already in the last six months and I mean, she has to cut back somehow. So she Couch Surfs.

Now the average Couch Surfer is closer in age to my kids and writes in their profiles stuff like “self discovered and discovering, ready to be inspired and inspire.”

I sought out someone a bit closer to my mother’s age.

And out of the 1,456 registered Couch Surfers in Chicago, yes people it is an organization, I found a married couple right in the middle.

As I read their profiles, I almost had a heart attack. OMG! She’s a published writer! And I'm a published writer! She’s reading the Egger’s book! And I'm reading the Egger's book! He organizes a film festival! And I go to film festivals! He loves Kieslowski movies! And I love Kieslowski! And they live near Lake Shore Drive! And (I'm guessing) they know the cool places to get coffee! And hear blues! And meet Jeff Tweedy after the show!

How cool is that?

I arrive in Chicago early and head to the Art Institute. To kill some time before meeting my new best friends, I take pictures of art.



And people looking at art.



And sculptures.




And the reflection of myself looking at sculptures.



I phone my new Best Friends and talk to Film Guy. “Just have the person at the desk ring us when you get here, and we'll come down to meet you.”

OMG! They have a person at the front desk! This is somehow more intriguing than a black lab at the front door.

I get off the El and walk to the hotel; it’s called the Chelsea Hotel—how cool is that? I enter and am followed in by a homeless guy. We walk up to the front desk. The clerks give him a granola bar. I look behind the desk and see boxes and boxes of granola bars. I look around. It's a casual place with people sitting in the lobby playing guitars.

I mean, really, how cool is that?

Writer Woman appears in the lobby and gives me a hug. She leads me through a large kitchen/dining area. Behind a counter drying dishes I spot a guy in dreadlocks and a leather pirate hat. He has the leather vest, the leather pants, the chains wrapped around his boots, and the tattoos. Near him I see a woman in a corseted dress. She, too, has the tattoos, but her hair is magenta.

How cool is ….wait a minute…

"Ah, are those real taxidermied rodents hanging from her hair?" I ask Writer Woman.

"Yes," she whispers. "She always wears them--gets them on eBay, I think."

“Interesting. Ah, just wondering...what kind of place is this exactly?" I say.

This is her exact straight-faced reply: “Oh, we’re a commune. But we’re not weird or anything.”

Writer Woman leads me up the steps to the fourth floor. We dodge the bicycles, strollers and Fisher Price toys that carpet the narrow hallways, as well as the exposed electrical wiring hanging from the ceiling.

Once in the apartment I am introduced to Film Guy. I sit down on a wooden bench and look around. There’s a chair, a desk, a hot plate and a small ladder leading to a loft. It takes a few moments to realize that this is it. That tonight I’ll be sleeping on a church pew in a dorm room.

"Oh, you won’t be staying here," Writer Woman says, noticing my look of concern. "Emily down the hall has a softer couch. But she lives with a white rabbit who watches Dawson’s Creek. Is that OK?"

"Ah, sure. Gotta love that Katie Holmes." I turn to Film Guy, "So, what kind of film festival do you organize?"

"It’s a part of a large Christian Music Festival we hold in the summer."

"Oh." Christian. Swallow. Music. Hard.

I take out the CD mixes I brought as gifts and scan the titles. Christian Music. Hmm. The first song is ‘Godless’ by the Dandy Warhols. And then there’s a song by the Brian Jonestown Massacre called 'Prozac Vs. Heroin'. Then there’s a song by Steve Earle written from the perspective of the American Tailban member, that says something like Jesus is the infidel.

"Ah..." Swallow. Hard. Again. "I’m not sure these CDs qualify as Christian music."

"Oh, don’t judge us," says Film Guy. "We’re versatile. Our ministry has all kinds of people in it."

"Your ministry?"

"Yes," Writer Woman answers. "We’re The Jesus People. We formed in 1972 out of the hippie movement. In fact, there are 450 of us in this building. We’re the largest commune in the US."

And then I heard a loud pop. It was my fantasy--these folks would not know where Jeff Tweedy hangs after the show.

But they were great. And we had a great conversation and great goulash in the communal dining area with more dreadlocks then I’d seen at a recent ska festival.

And the concert venue was a three-minute walk from their apartment. Although they didn’t know any place to get a micro-brewed beer, they told me that the Green Mill Lounge was one block up from the theatre.

The Green Mill Lounge. That sounds familiar. OMG! Wait a minute! Isn’t that where….yes, that’s where John Cusack has a drink in High Fidelity!!

Of course, Wilco was great. I was standing in a crowd six feet from My Jeff Tweedy and I loved every minute of it (except when he dedicated a song to his wife).



Afterwards, I went to the Green Mill and had a drink. But alas, another failed stalking attempt. No Johns anywhere (inside the bar, that is).

But hey, I was in Chicago. And returning to a soft couch and a white rabbit. I mean, how friggin' cool is that?

For songs by My Jeff Tweedy, scroll down two posts. For more dreadlocks, check out Humor-Blogs.

26 comments:

Restless Ink said...

Are you saying your new best friends are not your best friends anymore?

Christian music: scary

MsPicketToYou said...

listen, stick to what you know (kinda). stick with the peeps who leave weird/funny comments on your blog because we are way more knowable (?) than any match.com Wilco/Christian/Commune friends you could ever meet.

And that entire comment was written in completely JT jealousy. So whatev.

Seriously, Golden Smog. More ways to love.

And his wife is ... not a person you would ever want to get all friend-like with.

Alice said...

Couch surfing...that would have been EXTREMELY useful to my life about 13 years ago! How cool.

So did you actually sleep over with the commune?!?!

And as for the armpit thing - I honestly can't remember is someone told me or if I read it somewhere but it's been gnawing at my brain ever since.

April said...

Dedicating a song to his wife! Where's the love for the stalkers?

Notes and letters to myself.... said...

That reflection of you freaked me out for several reasons:

1. It made you look like a bauble head. Like your head didn't fit on your body. You know what I mean?

2. It made you look seriously like you are 2 feet tall even if you are like only 4 feet tall. You look like a minature figurine:)

It just really bugged me:)

I am glad you had fun though:)

Jen said...

An adventure for sure. I really think you need to write this up as a short story. Seriously.

ksd said...

What an adventure! It'll realy get interesting when your new bf's show up to sleep on your couch!

Too bad Jeff Tweedy had the nerve to dedicate a song to his wife!

Anonymous said...

LMAO a Jesus commune. Not at all what you were expecting, eh? Too funny.

Kinda curious about the artistic/fashion "statement" with the rats in her hair though. Tell me you either asked or got a story offered....

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

I've got to give you credit. I would have run screaming to the nearest Hilton.

Audubon Ron said...

Tell me, tell me, tell me someth'in goo-ud!

Also, pleez leave your email so I can respond. It's an imperfect world on blogspot.

I love to watch people watch art.

Brent Diggs said...

Sounds like you weathered the whole thing well.

Rodent coiffure and an alt-county stalker. Stranger things have happened.

Like that picture of you in the chrome.

Seriously though, I have some friends down here from that commune, very nice people all of them.

Brent Diggs said...

Very nice people. Although a bit more illustrated than average.

Loraine said...

I have to admit, upon hearing the word "commune" I'd be silently smiling and nodding while making escape plans in the back of my head...

but at the words "Christian music" and/ or "Jesus People," I'd just run screaming to the street.

Meg said...

Just to be clear:

My couch surfing hosts were fabulous folks!

The Couch Surfing Project is a great organization, not connected to The Jesus People.

Christian Music-not that there's anything wrong with that-doesn't rock like Wilco.

I'm lovin' the fact that cute guys are over here commenting on my post!

TZT said...

I have heard of Jesus People USA only because a college roommate got a copy of a T-shirt catalog they put out, and we spent an entire evening marveling at it.

One of them looked like a big Budweiser label, only with a long arm flopped over the top reaching down into the middle, where a spike was driven through the palm of the hand.

"For all you do," it said, "This blood's for you."

I am going to be deconstructing the mouse hairdo in my dreams for a while, I think...

Memarie Lane said...

I think The Farm of Ina May Gaskin fame has a lot more people than that, but I could be wrong.

I'm a real skeptic though, reading their profile I'd be thinking:

Published Writer = vanity press or trunk sales

Filmmaker = YouTube

I definitely would not have expected taxidermy and Christian music.

LiteralDan said...

Wow, scary for sure

And yet perversely fascinating

Anonymous said...

You are serious about your stalking, aren't you? I'm not sure I would have went as far as sleeping in a commune, so I have to give you credit where it's due. I'm glad you survived to tell the tale! :)

Meg said...

I'm not really serious about my stalking. I'm serious about My Wilco and My Drinking. The Green Mill just happened to be close by.

Insane Mama said...

I see nothing wrong with being a couch surfer... follow your dreams,
pee behind bushes and take silly photographs if it makes you happy

Bee said...

Ahhhh Chicago, my kinda town! You know, cuz it's my home. ;op

I've never heard of Jeff Tweedy, now I'm intrigued!

Audubon Ron said...

I really screwed this up, you might get two of these. I'm not an echo - normally.

Like, I been reading you. Now I hope I stack up a little better than Bulgaria681. I’m down to Really, Really Hard not to be Pornographic.

And WHY DO YOU keep posting pictures of Gov. Spitzers girlfriend? You’re not weaving in subliminal messages in your posts are you? That would really freak me out, you, a Hendrix fan and all.

I much prefer having a gmail account to respond to sometimes rather than comments. Sometimes I have comments only to be sent vis-à-vis. He does eyeball to eyeball thingie with two fingers). Maybe get one, they’re cheap.

John Cusack? Can we find you another fling? Besides, I think i am bossy has dibs on him.

I’m having fun.

JD at I Do Things said...

Oh, my gawd, what an awesome story. I'm such a loser--I've never heard of Couch Surfing till now.

!!!

Good for you, for being so frugal AND adventurous.

Also? "Godless" is an awesome song.

JD at I Do Things

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