Weekend Diversion: Night Of The Ponies
Pedway, First Store Open At Block 37
Around Town
Around Town
Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
Well, we've been hearing about Looptopia for awhile. A big overnight festival held in the Loop, blah blah. We didn't think too much about it. We pretty much dismiss the Loop after 5 p.m. and give it up for lost on the weekends. Looptopia is obviously working hard to change all that. It's going on this Friday through early Saturday morning and since we're going to be down there, we decided to check out the schedule. Holy crap. This thing looks like a Loop Lollapalooza. So, we decided to tell you what we're interested in. Take some of our suggestions or go to Looptopia yourself!! We're pretty excited now.
Music:
We think it's funny that Tim Tuten has his own listing as Master of Ceremonies at Daley Plaza. We have enjoyed his varied introductions, rants, speeches and public proferrings in the past, but is he his own spectacle? Maybe. Some of the acts he'll be overseeing that we'll want to see are Bobby Conn from 8:00-8:30 p.m., The Ponys from 8:45-9:30 p.m., and Mucca Pazza from 9:45-10:15 p.m.
Film:
Over at the Gene Siskel Film Center, there will be some short films being shown as well as some Oscar Shorts. This will be from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Dance:
There's a variety of dancers, with two different bellydance troupes -- Jezebelly and Read My Hips. We always love bellydancers.
Visual Art:
The Art Institute has free general admission and there are lots of tours all night. Two tours that particularly interest us are the Decadent Delights tour at 9:30 p.m. and the Dreams and Nightmares tour at 10:30 p.m. The North Garden will have fruit installations (?) and atmospheric lighting. Cool.
Theater:
Chemically Imbalanced is an improv group that will take the worst theatrical review and do the show the way they think the critic would have rather seen the show. They'll be in the Chase Tower Auditorium from 9:00 - 9:45 p.m.
At the Goodman Theatre from 10:00 - Midnight, there will be a presentation of seven plays in Susan-Lori Parks' "play a day" series called 365 Days/365 Nights . These short plays will be uniquely staged "in a loop" in spaces not traditionally used for performance at the Goodman.
Activities/Discussions/Readings:
There will be flashlight tours of the Chicago Cultural Center from 4:30 - 5:00 a.m. with the city's cultural historian. How cool is that!? It's from 10:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m is a chance to chill with the Windy City Knitting Guild in a late night craft circle. There will also be some Midnight Yoga to candelight with live music from 11:00 p.m. -- 12 a.m.
If you've got the need for some zzzz's, you can go crash at the Family Sleepover and Children's Night at the Harold Washington Library. It goes from 7:00 p.m. - 7:00 a.m.
Spectacle:
From 6:30 - 7:30 pm, nationally renowned jump rope artists Rope Warrior will wow audiences with high-energy tricks and audience participation over at One South Dearborn.
Right after Rope Warrior, Redmoon Theater will perform in one of the from 8:00 - 11:00 p.m. in one of seven large-scale installations throughout the Loop. created specifically for Looptopia. There will be roving special effects machines, whimsical site installation, and a culminating grand spectacle event.
Macy's (The store you love to hate):
They'll have MCA live art in the windows from 5:00-10:00 p.m. and will host Club Looptopia from 8:00 p.m. to midnight in 7 on State. They'll be DJ music and Killer Spin Ping Pong.
Other:
We don't know how these guys just get put under "other," but we are NOT missing TJ and Dave from 12:00-1 a.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center. Whoo! This is truly the improvisation that Chicago is famous for, and these two gentlemen are the best of the best.
If we weren't going to be learning and laughing with TJ and Dave, we'd be silently contemplating at the Taize Service at the sanctuary in First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple. Held at the same time as TJ and Dave, this service will replicate "the contemplative worship services that have grown out of the Protestant monastic community in Taize, France." It's a candlelit service with meditative music, Scripture readings and moments of silence and reflection.
We're already a little overwhelmed, so if you want cell updates about what's the latest at Looptopia, you can sign up for that here.
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If you're going to see TJ and Dave at midnight in the cultural center...go a little earlier (11:30) and check out the Punch & Judy show playing outside the theatre. It's 30 minutes and a great warm-up for some great improv. :)
Yay! Another post for Wicker Park elitists to decry all the evil tourists and suburbanites visting "their" city.
A festival bringing people, money, and life into an otherwise empty area at that time is a good thing. It even gives some non-skilled temporary workers a chance to make extra money
BORING.
I gotta pimp my old alma mater by letting you know that Columbia College Chicago's annual Manifest is also taking place on Friday as kind of an extension of Looptopia. I've always had a good time at those festivities.
Oh and Mike, how the hell do you have any clue if this is going to be boring or not?
I read what was listed above, and on the website. I'd rather suffer through a rerun of Matlock at a retirement home than be subjected to what they're passing off as entertainment.
Bummer - you didn't list the "Miss Looptopia Launch Party and Beauty Pageant" as one of your "other" events. Well, we hope to have a lot of fun at the spoof drag pageant-in-a-party - especially after we get liquored up on "Looptinis." Maybe you'll join us after all? Hard Rock Hotel, 230 N. Michigan, 6 to 8 pm
This wicker park elitist is working the event, and can't wait for her shift to begin at 10pm!
I think it sounds fabulous!
Apparently no one else is interested in the Chess Tournament at the Cultural Center from 2-6am. As much as I am, I'm not interested in playing chess at 4:00 am after working all day on Friday.
pssst...most of your links are funny. See yous at Daley Plaza. And Manifest of course.
I live in Wicker Park. I'm excited for Looptopia. Bring on the tourists! Not to mention the drag queens!
have fun watching matlock, mike.
Mike -- so enlighten us poor plebeian masses, what is 'proper' entertainment in your enlightened mind.
Don't forget the rare appearance by Ustad Nishat Khan with Nitin Mitta, in a five-hour performance at the Cultural Center's Preston Bradley Hall (11pm to 4am).
see www.nishatkhan.com/abnk.htm
not again please:
ummm. did you read every third word of my post? i say that normally the loop is a ghost town after 5 p.m. and that i'm really excited about all that is going to go on!! where do you get that i'm pissed about tourists? ?
anyway, to everyone who is saying what i missed, i'm glad! pimp your stuff. i just couldn't list everything. the schedule is HUGE!
Actually, I think "not again please" was targeting the group of commenters that usually pops and bitches about tourists & such. They can think what they want, but I won't miss them tomorrow night if they're too "cool" for Looptopia. I checked out that schedule earlier and there are so many things to check out. Can't wait!
Can't imagine many tourist and suburbanites hanging out in the loop overnight...but I know I'll be caffinating the bejeezus out of myself.
Ed Knittel: Only a skilled chess player can still play well on a Friday night after a full day of work; only a true chess master can play well on a Friday night after a full day of work and numerous shots of Jim Beam.
this should be an effing blast. nuff said!
Looptopia was a little slow to start, but the people (mostly under 30) started to roll in around 9pm and... in true loop fashion... EVERYTHING CLOSED!
Here's a cross section of the event- as this Looptopia was supposed to go from 6 pm - 5am, I'll give a taste of what I noticed just before midnight-
1. Hundreds of people sitting on the Art Institute steps looking for something to do. Hundreds more inside, funneling out to look for something to do.
2. Thousands of people milling around in Millennium Park having a wonderful safe, drug and alcohol-free time. The bathrooms were locked, the funny face fountain turned off, and there was a lone park worker on a Segway trying to tell the crowd of thousands that the park was going to close in ten minutes. People were still pouring in.
3. Thousands more gathered around the Cultural Center, one of the only places open with late night exhibitions related to Looptopia. There were so many people that the surrounding streets may have just been closed, as no traffic could get through.
4.The only non- Looptopia things open at this time were Dunkin Donuts and Walgreens. Tens of thousands of people (and by that I mean closer to 60,000 than 10,000) were milling around downtown looking for places to eat, drink, shop, or hang out. What a missed opportunity for business.
5. A visible lack of police presence. Thank goodness this was a peaceful crowd! The sidewalks were packed from Michigan to Dearborn, and Jackson to the river. I couldn't tell if it extended farther north.
6. Although the CTA still had 8 car trains operating, at 1:00AM they were packed like 5:30pm on a weekday. Since I was by myself and I didn't feel like waiting in the huge lines, I decided to head home. The Red Line was uncomfortable until Clark & Division. It was packed until Belmont, and standing room until Sheridan.
7. It was quite clear that most of the crowd was suburban or from out of the area. I heard people earlier in the evening remarking on how "This is just like New York" or "Wow, look at all these people!" Good job Looptopia. Later, it turned to "Well, the Loop isn't known for it's bars" and "Excuse me, do you know of any restaurants that are still open?"
I know that it's hard to gauge a first time event, but WTF? Shame on the city of Chicago for disregarding the event and throwing new visitors and potential dollars down the toilet due to lack of consideration and poor planning. This event had everything that it needed to be fully successful and the city and businesses ignored it.
...and shortly after Rob left (a bit past 2 AM), the cops arrived in force and closed off all entrances to the Cultural Center, at that point the only place with anything going (sitar, chess, and scifi). Now, I understand the cops coming in and closing down a loud party in someone's house, but a party hosted by another city department? WTF?
I was looking forward to Tim Samuelson's tour, but I guess the only people who will be on it are those who got into the cultural center very early on.
Hint: one reason why other cities have theirs in the dead of winter (average Montreal low in February: 22 F) is to discourage the large crowds of merrymakers which the police used as an excuse to shut down the event.
Word to payton.
The drunks and rowdies made a freaking scene around 1 am, and I later found out it was graduation weekend at a couple of campuses, so everyone HAD to get their drink on and cause trouble.
The cultural center center security guards were pissy and grumpy (but name a security guard in the history of man that isn't... including me a couple of summers ago) about having to stay up late and babysit kids, and cops looked really angry. Overall, I don't think is going to look good to the folks at city hall. Haters that they are...
Also, I apparently suck at speed chess after being up all day and needing vicodin to walk around. I got owned all night.
Coming home I drove thru the loop around 4AM, and I saw plenty of stragglers around and tons of unmarked squads whisking about. I originally planned to checkout the "Club Looptopia" event, but instead due to not hearing a good buzz among friends, went about a normal routine and hit some clubs instead (LePassage, Sound-Bar). I was kinda hoping that there would be a good buzz as I left, so I could continue my debauchery into the dawn. :(
Rob wrote "4.The only non- Looptopia things open at this time were Dunkin Donuts and Walgreens. Tens of thousands of people (and by that I mean closer to 60,000 than 10,000) were milling around downtown looking for places to eat, drink, shop, or hang out."
Yeah. Though the organizers described this as a "spectacle showcasing the vibrancy and excitement of Chicago’s historic Loop neighborhood," that vibrancy and excitement does not really exist (yet?) on the other 364 nights of the year. People need more places to hang when they're done checking out something at one of the theaters, the Siskel, or Millennium Park. Ada's, Pizano's, and Dunkin Donuts don't cut it, and Intelligentsia and Argo close too early.
"5. A visible lack of police presence. Thank goodness this was a peaceful crowd!"
And yet hundreds of fully-geared robocops show up for anti-war rallys that draw a much smaller (and less intoxicated) crowd.