ChiIL Live Shows Saturday At North Coast Music Fest #photo filled feature

Check out ChiIL Live Shows Photo Filled Recap of North Coast Music Festival 2012--Saturday

We're rockin' NCMF for the 3rd year.   Of course the people watching is prime.





 

  





We ran into old friends and made a few new ones.   



Predicted thunder storms held off for the most part.   Hope we're as lucky for  Sunday.

   

  The sets we caught were Future Rock, The Rapture,  Atmosphere, Girl Talk and Umphrey's McGhee.

We had another annual Shreddy Shirt Boy (AKA:  Mat with 1 T) Sighting!

Even the Sheeple got in on the action!!

Highlights were The Rapture, who blew away the Coast Stage with sweet sax, cow bell, and rockin' vocals reminiscent of P.I.L.  We really dug them live and would catch them again in a second.  

 




Girl Talk wasn't as stellar as the last time I saw him, but his sets are always a big dance parTAY, and yesterday was no exception.   He hand picks dancers throughout the day, to join in on stage, so there was an enthusiastic, colorful crew of eye candy.



UM played a rockin' fest finale that was the icing on the cake.   We've watched them grow over the years from a semi-interesting, minor jam band to a force to reckon with.   

NCMF hosed us this year, and instead of all access & pit photo passes like the past 2 years, we were stuck with GA.   There have been some management changes behind the scenes at NCMF and they seem to have forgotten who their friends are.   So, we don't have any close headliner shots this year--their loss.   

We do, however, have loads of close pit photos of Umphrey's McGhee from Summer Camp Music Fest 2011 & 2012 we'll work up into an all UM feature and share here, with our readers.   So, if you're an old UM fan or someone new whose mind they blew last night, check back with ChiIL Live Shows like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often.   We'll have more sweet, photo filled features, tour news, free downloads, and reviews for you, in the very near future.

The line for the Groupon Silent Disco was massive.   And we didn't see too many people over doing it on the party favors to the point of needing a police escort or an ambulance ride.   We only saw a few children, less than past years, despite the official party line-- kids welcome-under age 10 free.   

I must say though, the NCMF litter was crazy over the top and we hit a LOT of music festivals.    Despite a recycling nod on the NCMF site and signage, the crowd trashed Union Park and seemed to not use the garbage and recycling cans much at all!    That said, there was a huge lack of garbage cans outside of the VIP lounge and by Groupon, so people were just dropping their empty cups and food trash in piles.

We split the headliners, catching half a set of Girl Talk and half Umphrey's McGhee.   A huge, enthusiastic  crowd was gathered for both.   There were more "toys" at UM--glowing poi balls, hoops, and the ubiquitous glow finger glove wielders.  
 

Seems like even the newbies without spinning talent can now get in people's faces and wiggle their fingers around, and find an appreciative audience.  We got some stellar hoops shots this year.

We'll be back today covering NCMF from Mathien and IndigoSky at 2:30, till the final notes of Pretty Lights fade out at 10pm.   Check out our must see list right here and our sweet Camaro SS loaner from Chevy--NCMF12 Sponsors, right here. See you out there.   And once again, check back like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often.   We'll have loads more NCMF recaps, Riot Fest previews and features, and more.

Wizard World Chicago Comic Con-Saturday Costumed Crowd Shots & More #photo feature

Another Comic Con has come and gone.   It was a whirlwind weekend at Wizard World Comic Con 2012.   







Saturday the people watching was prime. 





  

 

We dig seeing the rampant creativity.   

And the mash ups are hilarious.




Poor Spider Man got ganged up on by a band of armed villains in the lobby.





Some of our favs were the families who all got in on playing dress up!

Of course we dropped back to see our friends at the World of Traegonia booth.   The author was there again, with her daughter this time. 

  

And we got a chance to see their new Traegon costume.    



Check out the videos on their site to see her in action and watch their sweet animated short.  


This series is highly recommended, mid grade fantasy, chapter books.   We read them as family bedtime stories and got thoroughly engrossed in the highly imaginative, artistic, eco-friendly, creative, inventive, magical, World of Traegonia.


    
Dino, the illustrator and sculpture maker.

Check back with ChiIL Mama & ChiIL Live Shows like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often.   We're still hammering out the details but it looks like we'll be able to run a give aways later this fall.    Either way, we'll have a full review of both of these awesome books up for our readers shortly.




We also dropped in on our friends at Threadless and bought 3 new designs to celebrate back to school.

   

The all navy or white polo uniforms & navy bottoms leave something to be desired in the creative clothes department, so we make the most of our after hours with fun, colorful t's.   Like we said in our prior Comic Con coverage here, Threadless is great about giving back to the community and holding free kids' workshops with local non profits like Girls Rock! Chicago and 826CHI, so we're extra happy to kick them our business.



We also saw our Pinups for Pitbulls friends and bought a bunch of buttons.   I also snapped a pic with them--I wore my Pit 7 Seconds "Walk Together" Tee and they said they'd send it on to Kevin Seconds.   Check 'em out if you haven't already.   They have a cool mission statement.   We're all about rescue dogs and have a rescue Husky ourselves.   We don't have a pit bull, but we do have a 110lb. Akita, another breed sometimes misused for fighting, feared and misunderstood, who is the sweetest family dog ever.   So we get it.

Finally we said hey to our Gorilla Tango Burlesque Peeps and snapped a few more shots.
 

   

After the Con, I had a chance to spend the evening with a group of true Con Connoisseurs.   We hit up the bar in the Hyatt Hotel adjoining The Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, and talked about their hobby.   The guys had what I jokingly called "Star Tracker"....like train tracker which alerts you on smart phones when trains are incoming.   These guys had a small network of spies stationed around the hotel lobby, after party and bar, all texting each other whenever a celeb showed up.    And there were plenty!  



Unlike star stalkers, these guys are collectors and just want a quick photo and maybe an autograph.   They have extensive collections and like other collectors, long to finish their "sets", generally particular segments of a sci-fi show cast.    Some celebs are rare and hard to get, and these guys have traveled as far as England for some Cons, based on who was signing.     They were all nice, pretty normal guys, although one conceded his wife thinks his collection obsession is a bit nuts.   So do all of their co workers.   But it brings them a great deal of enjoyment and doesn't hurt anyone, so whose to say collecting photos and autographs is any odder than other things people have been known to amass. 



The did say there's a subset of Comic Con diehards who cross over from collectors to crazies, going so far as to pay off the maids to bring them celebs garbage!  They also conceded that Wizard World is so massive they only loosely include it in the Con Genre.   True collectors do better abroad, where the fans are more laid back and there's a genuinely good chance you'll get to hang out and have drinks with more than a few famous folk. 

  

Even the smaller, themed weekends, just centered around one show ie:  Dr. Who, are more to their taste and maximize the amount of collecting, formal signings and candid star shots they can do.   It was eye opening and enlightening for me to hang with them for an evening.   It felt a bit like hangin' with the fire department--all of us hanging out, talking, then a sighting text would come in and they'd all run off ASAP, and reappear with a hit or miss tale.

 

What Wizard World Chicago Comic Con does well is put on a great party....bringing together a diverse and colorful crowd, a sweet assortments of speakers and workshops, and unprecedented numbers of stars.   All in all, it was a fun weekend for the star trackers, casual and serious collectors, gamers, families, spandex fans, and people watchers.    Till next year.