Free Concert!!!

Today I went to a free concert!! The Decemberists were playing in the new Millennium Park auditorium place with the Grant Park Symphony and it was FREE! That was pretty much the most exciting part. I concert was good and everything, but we didn't get there until a little after five and it started at 6:30 and the grass was literally already all covered with people so we had to sit super far back. It was like the time we went to see Coldplay only not as bad because we sat even further back for that, we paid, and we forgot to bring food so we starved instead of buying a $6.00 slice of pizza.

Anyway, we (Maddi, Hana, and I) were like, okay, kind of sucks that we're so far back but whatever. People kept milling in and setting up around and behind us and it was fine until this old guy decides to plop a couple of lawn chairs down right in front of us! We had put 2 1/2 feet or so between us and the person in front (you know, personal space and all?) and he plopped his chairs right in between us. So we were all like, what the fuck? There was a couple beside us with a toddler and a couple several feet away and they were both like, what the fuck? as well, so it wasn't just us. This guy was seriously breaching lawn concert etiquette, which led me to believe that perhaps he and his wife who he brought over were patrons of the regular symphony that does not include The Decemberists and were confused and hassled by all the young people all over the place. I think the most irksome thing was that we were so far away that it really wasn't necessary that they sit there. They could have easily seen just as well (i.e. not at all) from further off in a less awkward position. Anyway, they set up a little table and got out some Brie and wine and Bud Light (?) and kept gesturing more and more people over until a little line of them was scattered in between the two feet people had put in between themselves and the people in front of them. It was really quite ridiculous. We were not being subtle about our disdain at all, either. They were either super dense of didn't care. Also they had a bunch of Hawkeye memorabilia, which, according to Maddi, makes them creepy because people who tailgate for the Hawkeyes are super intense.

It was still a good concert, though. We mostly sat through it and there was a bit of thunder and lightning during The Tain, which was appropriate and cool. At the end when they came out to do an encore featuring 16 Military Wives and The Mariner's Revenge, though, it felt a bit more like a rock concert because all the little kids were mostly gone and everyone was up dancing and stuff. It was a good time.

The drive home was crazy though. It was just pouring with rain. It was like Zeus had heard there was a free concert after the fact and was pissed that no one invited him. We had to even pull over for a bit because we really could not see. The lightning was cool, though. Then we went back to Maddi's and had some birthday cake in her honor (Agnes and Karlene came over too for that) and had a nice conversation with her mother about whether or not its a better idea to send your kids to public school or to home school them. She pretended a bit that it was about the level of education that Maddi and Hana were getting, but I knew the real reason. She's really just upset about the fact that Maddi and Hana aren't really religious at all anymore and blames the fact that she sent them to public school for it. She couldn't voice this though because she knew that we all would disagree with it and also that it's not a rational reason. Maddi and I kept kind of going, "Well, I don't necessarily think that home schooling is a bad idea, I just think that keeping your kid around only people who have a singular point of view is a bad idea because it doesn't make them a very well rounded person and it really shelters them." I don't think she's really changed her mind, but it's too late now and Maddi and Hana are the heathens we all know and love today!


2 days to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!! Holy Shiznit!