419/365 - Serious Moonlight

September 23, 2014.  Opening night for the exhibition, David Bowie Is, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago arrived, and a guerrilla dance performance was planned for the event. A group of costumed David Bowies and one Freddie Mercury choreographed a routine to a Bowie medley mixed by DJ LA Jesus and sauntered onto the MCA plaza to perform it. A cart holding wireless speakers hiding in custom cardboard boxes was rolled out to provide the tunes, and magic happened. This photo was taken in the gathering spot beforehand, of fearless leader Jennie Boeder in her Serious Moonlight wardrobe, going over last minute details with the participants. MCA posted an edited video of the event on their blog (click here).

418/365 - Stick Bag

September 22, 2014.  My stick bag sits open on the floor of my bedroom because, aside from regular stick exercises, I have to learn a full set of songs to play on Halloween while masquerading as two other bands, Cock Sparrer and Stiff Little Fingers. I also need to get one of Squared Off's back catalogue songs down to insert into our set. This also means I'll be writing out drum parts and arrangements and using a music stand for my notes at a few rehearsals. Punk rock, eh?

417/365 - Hug

September 21, 2014.  This warm embrace took place at a top secret dance event rehearsal. Top secret!

416/365 - Kim Deal

September 20, 2014.  Squared Off had a show booked in South Bend, Indiana, but the venue apparently lost its license, canceling our show. That left me free to do things at home in Chicago, and I ended up going to the Goose Island 312 Urban Block Party. I had tickets that I had given away, but there was still one available for me, and I got to see the Breeders, who put on an excellent show. The performance was far superior to my previous experience with them over a decade ago. Thao and the Get Down Stay Down had a great set as well, and the food from the Tamale Spaceship food truck and companionship of friends were excellent.

415/365 - Fishbone

September 19, 2014.  My brother in Texas let me know that Fishbone had two shows in Chicago this weekend. They've been one of my favorite bands since their first album came out a long, long time ago, and I made sure to get to the Friday night show, since I had a show lined up out of town for Saturday. I've seen them play somewhere around fifteen or twenty times, and it's always awesome.

414/365 - Squiggles

September 18, 2014.  The front of Tara's dress is sequined, and the setting sun coming through her back window left some interesting reflections.

413/365 - Look Out

September 17, 2014.  I had time for an indirect, scenic ride to rehearsal after work. I realize "scenic" might be subjective here.

412/365 - Folklore

September 16, 2014.  I had not been to Fireside Bowl since New Year's, when my band Squared Off ushered in 2014. I made it out tonight to see Blind Staggers perform the songs from an unreleased album at the last show of the drummer who played on that album. Also on the bill was plenty of other fabulous music from the punkish Fitness, the cerebral Mesico, and the rather intense Corporal, whose singer Michael Shannon is pictured here. As an actor, he's best known for his role in Boardwalk Empire and his role as General Zod in the recent Superman reboot. As they were getting ready to play, he played the theme to "Entertainment Tonight" on his guitar with no trace of a grin or even a raised eyebrow to see if anyone in the audience or onstage noticed. Not that there's anything funny about that, John Tesh.

411/365 - Birthday

September 15, 2014.  We had a celebration at Pippin's, which doesn't seem to fit in with its Gold Coast surroundings, in honor of Terry's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mayor, and have many more!

410/365 - Shark And Lion

September 14, 2014.  I totally lucked into a Riot Fest ticket for the last day of the festival and had a great time (thank you, Piotr!) I saw all manner of wardrobe, some usual and some unusual. These two were rocking their onesie pajama ensembles when I saw them right after Patti Smith's fantastic set. I saw Social Distortion's set while waiting for The Cure, who turned out a two and a quarter hour set that spanned decades and included many of the hits, several album cuts, and songs both upbeat and dark.

409/365 - Tom Yum

September 13, 2014.  When I'm a bit under the weather, Tom Yum soup makes regular appearances. This one was more sweet and less hot than I'd prefer, but the red curry I followed it with made up for the heat I was missing.

408/365 - Cupcake Truck

September 12, 2014.  The Cupcake Gangsters truck was outside during my lunch break for the second day in a row, so, of course I bought cupcakes for the second day in a row. The red velvet is especially good.

407/365 - Hex Bombs

September 11, 2014.  The Hex Bombs really bring a lot of energy to a show. We (Squared Off) played with them at Liar's Club, and I feel it was one of our more memorable shows. We'll be playing with them again September 20 in South Bend, Indiana, so come on over for a stomping good time.

406/365 - Taxi!

September 10, 2014.  Before rain made me put my camera in my backpack, I took this photo of a woman hailing a cab in the River North area of Chicago.

405/365 - Neck Check

September 9, 2014.  Matt checks the straightness of his neck after a rehearsal with Squared Off. He determined that it does indeed need adjusting. We're playing Thursday night to kick off Liar's Club's Riot Fest festivities, followed by shows in South Bend, IN; Elgin, IL; and at Toyota Park preceding a Chicago Fire game. Then it's time to completely change gears on rehearsal and prepare for our Halloween show, where you can see us play a set of songs by Cocksparrer and Stiff Little Fingers at Liar's Club in Chicago.

404/365 - Day-Glo Shoes

September 8, 2014.  I had lunch at the Art Institute's South Garden again, where I shared the garden with this woman "studying," among others. Dressed in all black, aside from her fluorescent yellow shoes, she had a book splayed open on her lap. Every time I looked over, though, she was actually reading her phone, from the beginning of my lunch break until the end.

403/365 - Looking Down

September 7, 2014.  Sunday, as is often the case, was spent entirely at home. There are often things I want to do, such as get a little beach time while it's still possible, but inertia sets in and I go nowhere. I took some pictures of food I cooked, and I leaned out my window for a few shots. This is a leaning-out-the-window shot of my backyard. After processing, I found it more visually appealing than I expected, though it certainly lacks excitement.

402/365 - Punx

September 6, 2014.  Squared Off played an all-day festival in Blue Island, where I met Tommy from The Islanderz, who kicked the day off. I think the guy in glasses is one of his bandmates, and they were having a great time still at the end of the night.

401/365 - Grin

September 5, 2014.  Squared Off had a show in Villa Park, Illinois (home of Ovaltine?) at Mahoney's Pub. Larry seems to be having a good time.

400/365 - $84.00

September 4, 2014.  The Harding Tavern was the site of a stop with coworkers on the way home.

399/365 - Lakeside Kiss

September 3, 2014.  I took the lakefront home from work and took some photos at various places on the trail and beaches. I had a fortuitous moment when this couple, who I'd been lining up with the late afternoon sunlight on Lake Michigan, suddenly had a very quick kiss.

398/365 - Lydia and Evan

September 2, 2014.  I went over to Evan's to do some portraits, and his wife and dog would occasionally come give feedback. Here's Lydia being very helpful. She's very, very sweet.

397/365 - A Big Spider

September 1, 2014.  While taking out a couple of bags of recycling, I walked into a spider web that felt like a kite string stretched across my forehead. I knew it came from a big spider, and was probably both a path from the fence to the patio, and a telegraph cable of sorts to let the spider know if something was caught in one of its other traps. After taking the recycling out to the alley, I felt around to see if the spider was on me somewhere, then I looked for the spider, who was under the deck, apparently aware that I broke the web rather than getting trapped.

396/365 - Cruisers

August 31, 2014.  A Sunday night, and I went out to get myself a slice of pizza and go to the grocery store. While locking up my bike, I saw these two fanciful cruisers outside the store.