We completely forgot to mention that this weekend is the annual Fiesta del Sol in Pilsen. Now in its 35th year, proceeds from Fiesta del Sol benefit the Pilsen Neighbors Community Council. Over the course of the PNCC's history, they've helped in the formation of Benito Juarez High School, Alivio Medical Center, and today is a major lobby for immigration reform and provides college scholarships for deserving students.

Fiesta del Sol is the largest non-smoking, alcohol-free event of its kind in the Midwest, celebrating the culture, music, art, and culinary traditions of Chicago's Mexican-American community. From Morgan to Loomis, Cermak Road is transformed into a carnival of sights, sounds, and smells. Nearly 1.5 million people attend Fiesta del Sol, and it's a great way for the curious to get an idea of what a great neighborhood Pilsen truly is. Fiesta del Sol runs from 11 a.m. through 11 p.m. this evening, and 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. tomorrow.

This weekend beach goers will have the chance to view a little bit of history flying overhead. The Wings of Freedom Tour is bringing their B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator and B-25 Mitchell World War II aircraft to the Chicagoland area. The airplanes will be based at Chicago Executive Airport (formerly Palwaukee) from Friday through Monday and conducting flights up and down the lake front.

These unique planes will be on display at Chicago Executive Airport where visitors will be able to check out the inside and outside of the aircraft for a $10 donation for adults and a $5 donation for children under 12. Visit the Chicago Executive Airport website for information on when the planes will be on display. Looking for something a little more exciting?

Aviation fanatics can take a 30 minute flight in the B-17 or B-24 for a donation of $425 which goes to defray maintenance and operations costs for the aircraft that have reached over $4,000 per operating hour. Flights in the B-25 are $400 for forward fuselage seats, and $325 for waist gun seats for a 30 minute flight. Though, on the upside the donation is fully tax deductible.

Seeing these planes that were the backbone of the allied airpower of WWII fly is a unique site. Despite over 12,000 B-17 Bombers having been built there are only 9 in flying condition in the United States. The B-24J Liberator is the only remaining plane of its type still flying.

The tour is brought to town by the Collings Foundation which according to their site has dedicated itself to preserving the machines that helped build the world and helped keep it free; displaying these machines to honor those who were influenced by them; and to educate future generations about them...". Visit their site for more information or call to schedule a flight 1-800-568-8924.

Chicagoist had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the B-17G Flying Fortress as it flew from Valparaiso to Chicago. If you are a serious aviation or history buff check out MyFlightBlog.com for more on this flight experience including photos and videos.

O.K., let's say you're cheap (or on a really tight budget, that's totally understandable too) so you're not buying tickets to this year's Hideout block party ... but you still want to see fabulous bands like Andrew Bird, Bloc Party, The Frames, Mucca Pazza, Art Brut, Dan Deacon (who you really MUST see live), and a bunch of other cool acts yet to be announced. You can still get in by volunteering!

Volunteers do everything from working the doors, to selling beer tickets, to serving beer, to setting up in the morning, to cleaning everything up throughout the day and into the night. We've done this a couple times in year's past and have always had a blast. It's not exactly glamorous work, but you do get to meet a lot of cool people and catch a bunch of great bands.

So what do you get in return for your hard work? If you sign up to volunteer 3 - 4 hours, you get free admission the day you volunteer, and you get 3 free beer tickets at the end of your shift. If you're looking for even more perks, you can register to volunteer as a team leader working a 7 hour shift on Friday or a 6 hour shift on Saturday. Team leaders get free admission to both days of the block party, and get to hang in the Hospitality Tent after their shift. That tent is stocked with an endless flow of free beer and, if we recall correctly, they sometimes have a little light food in there too. Plus there's a private bathroom in the tent (which is a super bonus when those lines begin to stretch later in the day). Bonus!

If you're interested in becoming a volunteer please contact Pat Lee at pat_lee (at) comcast (dot) net ... oh yeah, and keep in mind there's nothing stopping you from volunteering AND buying tickets, since all the profits go to benefit local charities anyway!

Ever wanted to be in the movies? Well here’s your chance. Fresh Films, a national filmmaking project for teens, is holding a casting call this Sunday for a short film. Needed are males and females in their early twenties; a total of five roles are up for grabs. More info here but it says that previous experience is not required. A casting director as well as the teen filmmakers themselves will be present. The completed films will be judged by a jury of professionals, including industry heavyweights such as actor John Lithgow and Katherine Brooks of MTV’s “The Real World.” The experimental short film being made here in Chicago is described as a comedy about Lucifer’s son.

Speaking of the devil, let’s talk about Harry Potter for a moment. Some of us here at the Chicagoist offices will be lined up tomorrow at midnight, ready and eager to fork over the dough to buy a copy of the new tome. And some of us couldn’t care a flying fig. (Guess which group the writer of this post falls into). Judging from the “news” stories in the MSM you’d think that keeping the details a secret was a matter of national security, on par with the way Dick Cheney runs his office. In fact, we have a few words we’d like to get off our chest about this whole rabid anti-spoiler peer pressure phenomenon.

Truly great storytelling is rarely supported by the crutch of an eleventh-hour plot twist. A few examples from the world of movies. Knowing beforehand that Janet Leigh gets stabbed to death in the shower doesn’t make Psycho any less gripping, just as knowing beforehand that The Village actually takes place in modern times doesn’t make that film any less sucky. Hitchcock himself often pointed out that suspense is much more powerful than surprise; the shock of a plot twist or a revelation only lasts a few moments, but suspense, if skillfully handled, can last almost indefinitely. And even once the suspense is over, the story’s attraction shouldn’t be. Call us a bunch of meanies, but it’s our conclusion that if J.K. Rowling is worth her salt as a writer then there ought to be more enjoyment gleaned from reading the new book besides simply finding out who dies, who gets married, and who lives happily ever after. So spoil away.

O.K., given the coverage we've already lavished on the little indie fest that could, we're going to keep this brief. Overall we would rate the entire experience a good one, but we agreed with one of our colleagues when he said, "there was a sense ... that the fest was starting to experience growing pains." We don't know if this is because indie rock has become so fully integrated into the mainstream that this third festival curated by Pitchfork seemed different than the first two, or if it's just that the natural progression of things is to grow larger each year. Either way we admit to being a little confused since last year's fest was also sold out, yet none of the things that created hitches last weekend (well, almost none) were a problem before.

Day three of the Pitchfork Music Festival got off to a slow start, with a smaller crowd, but we chalk that up to stronger headliners and more folks electing to arrive later in the day. Since one of our other writers was already covering the earlier bands, we elected to begin our coverage with Stephen Malkmus' main stage appearance.

Malkmus' set was one of the ones with the most buzz, since it could be argued that Malkmus' original band Pavement is the patron saint of post-'90s indie rock. He took the stage with a single acoustic guitar, and a minimal yet unoccupied drum set sitting to his right. We guessed that since Bob Nastanovich, Pavement's percussionist, was standing backstage, it was a good bet that he would be manning that mini-kit at some point.

Malkmus opened the show saying, "Two-thirds of my solo shows have been in the Chicago area, so I feel right at home here. He then played "Heaven Is A Truck" off the classic Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and it was obvious by the return roar that he was performing to a crowd of the converted. His set-list contained a fair amount of Pavement gems, with a number of tracks from his solo discs, and near the end Nastanovich did indeed join him on stage to play shambling half-formed drums to the Pavement classics "Trigger Cut" and "In The Mouth A Desert."

As a whole, the set was entertaining, but we feel Malkmus is best served with a full backing band. Armed with just his voice and his guitar, we saw that the folks who were not already fans quickly lost attention.

Of Montreal followed Malkmus, and they took exactly the opposite approach.

We have a confession to make: we've never been to Pitchfork before. Considering the festival's only been going on officially for two years, it's not all that surprising. Still, being music lovers, we wanted to shed the "Pitchfork virgin" connotation and take the plunge. The only other big music fest we've been party to was the Touch & Go 25th anniversary at Hideout last year, along with the occasional street fest. We picked Saturday for our coming-out, since we knew a whopping two bands on the bill that day. (We said we love music. We didn't say we were hip.)

Getting there wasn't so bad; our locale in Lakeview afforded us a trip entirely by train (well, a little on foot). Since we're the dorks we are and wanted to get there as early as possible, we showed right around noon. Staff was helpful and courteous while we waited for gates to open; one girl even comped us a water, as we were loathe to break the seal on the one we'd brought. As we trotted out onto the grounds, it looked as if Union Park had been carpet-bombed by Urban Outfitters and Threadless. We even spotted a Cameron Diaz-esque Chairman Mao messenger bag. Along with the prerequisite oversized plastic sunglasses and neckerchiefs, we couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a guy in either a band or ironic/nonsensical tee. Some of our favorites included "I listen to bands that don't even exist yet" and an iconic representation of the little dude from Katamari Damacy.

We caught the Twilight Sad on the Connector stage, since we're huge suckers for a Scottish accent. Yum. We came up for air during Voxtrot; their energetic machinations were pleasant enough on stage and for the growing crowd, but it wasn't the kind of thing we'd listen to at home. Knowing we had a long day ahead of us, we rested our aching legs for a bit, then checked out the WLUW/Depart-ment vendor sheds. Hipsters hunched over stacks and stacks of CDs and vinyl. After scoping some ugly-cute stuffed animals and just-ugly purses, we came upon a table selling fancied-up CTA signage. We liked the look of the 8"x10" signs until we saw the $40 price tag. Anyone tell this guy we can get the same real shit off the Illinois Railway Museum site for half that, at the most? Despite our disgust at most tables' markups, we came away with two CDs for ourselves and some gifts for friends.

We entered the Pitchfork Music Festival grounds a little late Saturday, since the CTA saw fit to make sure all the buses we needed to take were running extra slow, while suspending Blue Line service between Western and Clark/State. They picked a bang-up weekend to make sure they removed the primary vein of public travel right from the heart of the hipster corridor. As we arrived though, we were dually serenaded by the noise of a big-time photographer trying to argue his way into a VIP pass, overlaid by the muted strumming of Iron and Wine.

Iron and Wine exhibited one of the main problems with putting some of the more popular indie rock acts on the huge main stages; they just don't have the sound or presence to pull it of. Music that is deeply touching in a club environment drifts off and gets lost when it hits the open air. It also didn't help that near the end of their set you could hear Mastodon soundchecking, rather loudly. (This, incidentally was a problem that popped up a few times this weekend, most notably when one of GZA's backing tracks started playing during Slint's set Friday night.)

Walking across the festival grounds it also seemed that people were drunker, the lines to the bathrooms were Sisyphean, the dust in the air gave the scene a slight Mad Max feel, and we were worried. Where was the feel-good vibe of last year?

Luckily we rediscovered that vibe as we made out way to the side-stage to catch part of Professor Murder's set.

Music festivals are lots of things to lots of people: to the City, they represent quality of life and revenue draws from tourism; to music fans, they can be a great way to see many of your favorite bands all at once, while checking out new music; to some, they're like a vacation in your own town. But to activists and social movement groups, they're also an opportunity to reach out to people that might be interested in your issues or philosophies who wouldn't otherwise have contact with you.

With this in mind, we took a stroll through the booths and tables around Pitchfork, having a look at the groups and movements that think Pitchfork Festival-goers are part of their demographic. From animal-rights to presidential candidates, health-care reform to global warming, from medical marijuana to feminism, the presence of groups representing points of view was felt, if not diverse.

Our first stop was at Barack Obama's tent, where fresh-faced and idealist political science majors were handing out buttons, stickers, and voter registration cards. "This is a great opportunity to reach out to young voters who might not otherwise feel engaged in the political process," one of the volunteers said, handing us several Obama '08 stickers. As we stepped away from the tent, we were approached by a young lady carrying a petition for PETA. As she explained to us their latest campaign (expanding humane treatment rights for commercially-raised chicken), we noticed that PETA had one of the larger presences at the event, no surprise for an organization that has virtually pioneered the modern animal-rights movement, and is known for having creative, engaging, and effective protest tactics. In particular, PETA2 was around in force, the group's outreach campaign for young activists.

Further on, we ran into the Sierra Club, where we signed a petition to encourage the Illinois Legislature to enact stricter clean-air regulations, similar to those already the law in California. Less impressive was the NOW booth, staffed by a few bored looking college-age women and an older fellow. With no real initiatives going on, and none of the influence that other groups wield, NOW is simply looking to sign up new members.

We hope you have as much fun this weekend at Pitchfork as we plan to. And if you get a few moments between bands, maybe you can stop by the activist side of this event and get some information about your favorite cause, or find out about a new one. Besides checking out new bands, you might find a way to make Chicago, Illinois, or even the nation a better place!

The first day of the Pitchfork Music Festival showcased three classic acts, performing their classic albums. Slint re-created their seminal Spiderland, and while watching their set we realized that they are definitely one of those bands everyone name-checks, but almost no one has actually heard. Kind of like how dudes in the '90s would talk about how awesome Patti Smith's Horses was because that was just the sort of thing you were supposed to say. We were pleased to see them though, and suspect that the small portion of the crowd that did love the band finally saw their dream come true through their live set; and we suspect that the rest of the folks in the crowd were probably won over by the band's slinky melodies and explorations deep into their own cavernous sound.

GZA was up next to play his high water mark, Liquid Swords. Looking around the crowd it was then that we realized that for this current generation, GZA and the Wu-Tang Clan are like their Nirvana, or R.E.M., or Minutemen, or Sonic Youth; they were the artists that spoke to them, and broke through to them, and showed them what music was capable of, at an early age. We enjoyed the show, and vibed off the crowd's energy as we got closer to the stage, but we also admit not feeling the emotional connection or visceral thrill that was evident throughout most of the crowd. We personally like hip-hop better when it's performed in a club where the beats can truly envelop us, but we enjoyed the set nonetheless.

And then came Sonic Youth.

While the crowd paid attention to Slint, and grew more energetic for GZA, it was obvious just about everyone was really there to Sonic Youth's performance of Daydream Nation. And the older art-rockers did not disappoint. When they ripped into "Teen Age Riot" to start the set, the crowd exploded, attempting to match the furious guitars, rolling bass, and cacaphonic drums leaping off the stage with an equal return of energy. But the crowd was no match for Sonic Youth massive presence and submitted happily to the band's attack. The energy seeped all the way around the park, and the backstage area was packed with musical luminaries (including Spoon's Britt Daniel, making a stop on the way to his own show at Schuba's later that night) held captive by their heroes.

BEST LINE OF THE DAY: As Time Tuten tried to introduce Sonic Youth to a hostile crowd he said, "What are you going to do? Start a 'Middle-aged Riot?'" Sadly we think the joke was lost on most of the audience, but we thought it was pretty darn funny.

Photo of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore by Jim Kopeny. See lots of pictures from Day 1 of the Pitchfork Music Festival at the Chicagoist Flickr page.

The air couldn't have felt better in Union Park for the first day of the Pitchfork Music Festival. The format of not having bands play all day the first day was perfect, it's nice to see the headliners sans really full porto-o-potties and there were far less people passed out for you to trip on. Seriously, those people are like land mines. Anyway, we will, of course, be bringing you in depth coverage and reviews of Pitchfork. But, here we thought we would give you a little eye candy. Here are some photos from Day 1.

See lots more pictures after the jump...

...for Frisbie’s New Debut. Masters of the turn of phrase and worshippers at the altar of harmony, Frisbie is back in full force. Things look a little different, and the elements have changed. The local band that seemed destined for stardom had some things to work out. Through all of the uncertainty and doubt, the growing pains and a very pregnant pause – Frisbie has come out better for the wear. But they haven’t remained untouched by it, either.

The band that released The Subversive Sounds of Love in 2001 had been left wandering a bit after the dissolution of its original lineup. A keyboardist leaving to attend to personal matters, a bassist striving to make his way in a restructured band. But the most notable shakeup was the absence of drummer, Zack Kantor. Unlike other bands where the drummer plays the important role of holding each song together with the backbeat, Frisbie had been blessed to have a drummer that also rounded out a trio of very talented songwriters.

Although Zack’s lyrics could sometimes be obtuse, the overall orchestration of his songs were engaging and often complicated, as a song took many different turns within the span of four minutes. They ranged from achingly poignant ("Whirlwind"), lively and anthemic ("Another Story"), sprawling and multilayered ("Blowin’ Up and Tellin’ Lies") to downright pop masterpieces ("I Know What’s In Store"). You never quite know what you’d get with Zack.

Unfortunately, the wide variety of output from Kantor sometimes translated into inconsistent behavior regarding the band, and he and Frisbie (the band) ended up parting ways. Frisbie released an acoustic album of Kantor’s songs in 2003, entitled period. It was the punctuation to the end of an era. Steve (Frisbie) and Liam (Davis) continued to play out as an acoustic duo, opening for acts like Andrew Bird, The Beautiful South and Evan Dando. Fans were happy for a glimpse, but what they were all asking was – Will the whole band ever re-form? Will they ever make a new record? They had songs they had not yet released – "Yes, Impossible," "Divisadero," "Vibration Man," "Two Fists of the Onion Girl," "Supertaster," "Pardon Our Dust". Maybe an EP?

Find out what happened to Frisbie after the jump...

Everybody and their brother are listing out their day-to-day, act-by-act rundowns of this weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival. The thing all these folks seem to be missing, as they get dragged into the "do-as-everyone-else-does" pool, is that the festival has been sold-out for weeks so it's safe to assume that the folks that are going know what they're in for. We realize you've got to fill posts / columns / traffic-quotas, but c'mon, enough with the lists.

So we're taking the road (slightly) less traveled; we figure that festivals are ultimately all about personal choices, and the reason you go to them in the first place is because a number of acts have already caught your fancy. So, instead of going "see this band versus this band" or "1:00 so-and-so is playing (followed by a pithy three-sentence summation of their entire musical career," we're going to be selfish and merely tout the acts we're looking forward to seeing. (Funnel cake not included, although we're really looking forward to seeing that as well.)

Like we said, you've already got your ticket, so you already know who you want to see, right?

We couldn't go through this day without paying our respects to DIsco Demolition, a day that will live in White Sox infamy. Today is the 28th anniversary of the event (the You Tube clip included here was from the event's silver anniversary). There's not much we can add to the day, except to read the Wiki entry. Even that doesn't do the event justice to the chaos that ensued.

It wound up becoming one of the most outrageous baseball promotions in history and cemented the reputations of Steve Dahl and Garry Meier. We remember the acrid smoke; the hole in center field; the smaller bonfires started by fans; the calls of Harry Caray on the public address system pleading with fans to return to their seats; some guy running along the first base side of the field high-fiving, then punching, people in the seats; and the eventual forfeit of the second game. We were ten and the experience scared us into becoming Cubs fans for over twenty years after that.

What are your memories of Disco Demolition?

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

• He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
• He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
• He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
• He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
• He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
• He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
• He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
• He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
• He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
• He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
• He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
• He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
• For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
• For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
• For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
• For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
• For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
• For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
• For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
• For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
• For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
• He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
• He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
• He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
• He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
• He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

"Chicago Fireworks" by J-Travels