Luminous Field

Throughout the year, Millenium Park is one of Chicago's most visited attractions, but it being a park, it's forced to be outside and is less visited in the city's usually frigid winters. Therefore the city tapped Luftwork, the collaborative vision of Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero, to curate a light installation called Luminous Field at Cloud Gate (aka "The Bean").
Dad really wanted to go see the exhibit and when I happened to be at his place on a Friday night, he and I took the Chicago Ave. bus to Michigan Ave, where we met Casey for the fairly quick walk to Millenium Park. Once there I noticed people had glow sticks, then dad discovered they were being given away for free. Needless to say, I grabbed two. We headed to "The Bean" and enjoyed the city lights and found most of the show interesting, but there were too many people standing where the images where being projected, thus diminishing the overall effect. I guess the goal of getting people to the park in the winter months worked though. We headed back towards Chicago Ave. and decided to grab dinner at our favorite burger place, M Burger. Mmmmmmm.... M Burger.

Millennium Mondays

UPDATE 07.04.11: I went again. This time on the Fourth of July on what Dad labeled the most beautiful day of the year in Chicago. While I did not get to hear any music, due to an earlier than normal arrival, I was able to tour the Lurie Garden and make a return trip to the Crown Fountain. On the way home we hung out in an almost deserted Daley Plaza and played on the Picasso.




Millennium Park has been somewhat of a staple of my early-childhood in Chicago. There were a few afternoons in the park with Mom and Dad and some early-evening meet-ups with Gigi & Papa at Pritzker Pavilion for some classical and/or opera. However, the past couple years, Mondays have been the favorite due to the Downtown Sound series in the Pavilion. Thanks to this free event and others like it, I've had the pleasure of- mainly hearing- Amadou & Mariam, Besnard Lakes, Decemberists, Dirty Projectors and others I can't recall.
Last Monday, we finally made it down for a show, where Dad, Chad and I met the O'Conors for some food and drink while Ben l'Oncle Soul performed. During the set break, I got to run around my favorite part of MP, Crown Fountain. The cooler and kind of cloudy day meant a young lady and I had half the fountain to ourselves. I took advantage of the obstacle free space, until Dad heard the first notes of Kings Go Forth and signaled for us to return to the lawn for some more pizza and beer (water for me). I knew I'd be back soon, so I did not put up a fight.

Why We Live In Chicago

Dad is a huge fan of Chicago and even more so in September, when the temperatures are ideal and the sun shines the most. This September he or I were away three of the four weekends, so when the second weekend arrived and we were both in town, we made the best of it.

On the Friday night we met Gigi and Papa for a snack and a Lyric Opera performance in Millennium Park. Dad and I liked the greatest hits set and it ended early, so we got to walk around a bit.

Saturday night we headed to Belmont Harbor to check out Redmoon Theater's production of Last of My Species: The Fearless Songs of Laarna Cortaan. I had seen a Redmoon production before and this one had their great contraptions and interesting music, but it was on a much larger scale.

Finally, on Sunday we headed back to the Lakefront for a trip to the Shedd Aquarium. I hadn't been since they unveiled their remodeled Oceanarium and it's Polar Play Zone. I spent a good twenty minutes acting like a penguin and another twenty manning a submarine. I was none too happy when Dad said we had to leave and I gave the fish one heck of a show before I was finally dragged out of there. I passed out before we got back to the car and when I woke from my nap, Dad made sure to remind me that this weekend was why we live in Chicago.

A Summer Night In Millennium Park

Millennium Park, the world's largest green roof, is easily one of Chicago's greatest attractions and on a recent- beautiful Monday night I managed to experience just about all it has to offer. Uncle Dave, Dad and I headed down around 6:00 PM to meet Gigi & Papa, who took the Silver Train (re: Metra) from LaGrange and brought some sandwiches along. Before we ate, I got to play in the Crown Fountain (shhh... I peed). Then I dried off before checking out Amsterdam architect Ben van Berkel and his UNStudio's new Burnham Plan Centennial Pavilion. What a great piece of public art. After some exploring, we at dinner on the lawn while listening to The Dirty Projectors and The Sea & Cake play Pritzker Pavilion, before walking up the new Nichols Bridgeway that leads to The Modern Wing at The Art Institute of Chicago. Our friend Chad joined us and Uncle Dave snapped a great photo, just before a security guard told daddy he could not have me on his shoulders. Stupid rules.