Why I Love Irv's Bike Shop

Mural from the facade of the Casa Juan Diego building.
Caption at the bottom: Aqui estamos y aqui nos quedamos.
Translation: Here we are and here we stay.

Lately, I've been noticing that the Jolly Green Giant (my mountain bike) has been feeling under the weather. At first, it was simply a matter of gears not shifting smoothly or at all. That's ok, Chicago is flat! Then, as winter progressed, all kinds of squeaking and crunching noises started to chime in. Oh well, nothing a little extra lube can't fix, right? Finally, two days ago I noticed that my rear brake cable was slack. As in, there was a significant delay between the time I pressed down on the brakes and when the bike actually began slowing. That's when I decided it might be dangerous to continue ignoring the compounding ailments. I hauled ass to Irv's.

Irv's Bike Shop is my all-time favorite FLBS and the only true neighborhood bike shop in Chicago. Period. When you walk in, there will a bird on the counter, children ogling BMX bikes, hipsters carrying neon blue wheels, and an occasional dog underfoot gnawing on a bone. There may not be shining floor displays and it is often closer to go to Kozy's, but I will go out of my way to get to Irv's. Come to think of it, I have yet to meet anyone named Irv here, but I am on good terms with Henry. By that, I mean he invariably chews me out every time I walk in.

Me: So, my front derailleur isn't shifting any more...
Henry: When's the last time you greased it?
Me: Uhh, one month ago? Two months ago?
Henry: Ok, repeat after me: I will grease my chain once a week. I want you to say that 100 times before you leave! [Henry proceeds to clean, grease and fix my bike for me free of charge, and then shoos me out the door.]

This time, Henry began scrutinizing my bike and asked, "Have you ever given this an overhaul? You're going to need new brake pads, a new chain, cranks, chainrings, rear casette...We'll take out the cables and replace them with stainless steel ones so this doesn't happen again. Man, you have done a number on this bike! " I gave him a sheepish look and asked, "Ok, how much is all this going to cost?" He replied, "Oh, let's see, the cogs will be about $60, another $12 for brake pads, plus $1000 for labor...does that sound cool?" I grinned and said, "Totally fine."

For an additional bonus, Irv's is in Pilsen, a heavily Mexican neighborhood filled with tacquerias, cantinas and Mexican bakeries. All the chicharrónes (pork rinds) and chocoflan (combination flan and chocolate cake) that you could want! This meant that while I waited for my bike to be repaired, I hopped over to La Casa del Pueblo and picked up a dozen tamales for $10. (There are multiple varieties but I can't read the menu, so I've resorted to pointing at the sticker-adorned foil wrapped package that I want; yellow and green have been pretty good so far.) In recent months, there has been much debate over the continuing gentrification of Pilsen, and whether the influx of art galleries, coffee shops and hipsters will drive working-class residents out of the barrio (along with the gang warfare problems). On the side of a building, I was amused to see that someone had painted a yellow zoning sign labeled "Danger: Gentrification Zone."

Back at Irv's, the total damage came to $177.97. This is actually $70 more than I spent buying the bike to begin with, but I figure that I like this bike a lot and don't want to expend the effort of finding a new one. Besides, considering I've put next to no maintenance into this bike and a monthly CTA pass runs a little over $80, I'm still coming out ahead overall. The Jolly Green Giant is now running smooth like butter and faster than ever. Bring on the spring weather!

Charades

After I persuaded the rest of the group to abandon the wussy idea of playing with teams and only using movies, books or TV shows (who does that??), here are some of the things we were forced to act out:

Surprisingly Entertaining

• Cheese Danish (resulted in me crawling around on all fours...don't ask.)
  

Meta:

• Erik V. (no pointing)
  
• Charades

Obscure Allusions

• A Movable Feast
• Ghost Ride the Whip

Preternaturally Cruel

• Chlorofluorocarbons
  

Vaguely Inappropriate

• Camel toe
• 2 girls, 1 cup
• Blumpkin

Rhapsody for Blue

A notice went out over the Chicago Opera mailing list that they were giving out free tickets to a benefit concert, and after looking over the star-studded list of performers, I jumped at the opportunity.

Rhapsody in Blue is a benefit concert for Blue Gargoyle Community Services, a nonprofit based in Hyde Park that focuses on literacy, tutoring and family counseling services. All of these services are provided free of charge. So naturally, the evening began with an introduction from Blue Gargoyle's director, Pamela Bozeman-Evans, who elegantly pleaded her case as she shook us down for donations. She told us that Blue Gargoyle serves over 1,300 families on the Southside and operates with a $3 million annual budget. And with the ongoing economic strain, 1 in 6 nonprofits in Illinois were slated to close by June, just when their aid was needed most desperately by the community. Please, could we spare some change? I caved and dropped a $5 bill in the basket.

On with the show. Merle Reskin Theater is mid-sized, but since the concert was not sold out, we were all seated fairly close to the stage. With rude black floorboards and corkboard risers, I was reminded of a high school auditorium. However, the extraordinarily intimate environment more than compensated for the austere surroundings. I could see every raised eyebrow and intake of breath, Aleksandra Kurzak's vibrating tongue and Rachel Barton Pine's flexing bicep muscles. Though the venue was much less grand than what they were accustomed to and no one was getting paid, you could see that every artist was still giving 110%.

The program was impressively long (about 3 hours) and focused primarily on operatic pieces, with some other fun, miscellaneous items in the mix. It included old favorites like "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto and "Brindisi" (translation: drinking song) from La Traviata. (In fact, these are so popular that they are even arranged for the Cornell Chimes.) I thought "Ombra mai fù" from Xerxes sounded oddly familiar...then I realized that the music is more commonly known as Handel's "Largo." Apparently Handel wrote originally wrote the piece for an opera, which was a commercial failure. There were also some more obscure numbers (who's ever heard of Stolz's operetta Venus in Seide?), an African-American piece ("Deep River," by Samuel Coleridge Taylor, not to be confused with Samuel Taylor Coleridge), and a piece from Bernstein's Candide (in case you weren't aware, this includes my favorite overture of all time).

Ironically, the highlight of the concert was not a singer at all, but Chicago violinist Rachel Barton Pine. I might be in love. She opened with Sarasate's "Fantasy on Themes from Carmen." This (along with all the rest of Sarasate's compositions) is a tour-de-force in technical virtuousity. My jaw was dropping. Later, Pine returned with Massanet's "Méditation" from Thais. This is a beautifully lyrical piece that is unfortunately the only memorable part of the opera. The closing number was a "Chicago Medley" arranged by Pine, incorporating several kick-ass blues and jazz numbers named after our hometown. Finally, let's discuss the awesome gold sparkly low-cut dress that Pine was wearing. It was quite a break from the normally staid, all-black attire that one sees at classical performances.

Also, she has recorded several heavy metal albums and she uses Twitter: "What a great day, performing with Wagnerian opera star Petra Lang this afternoon, doing Spanish music with guitarist Rene Izquierdo tonight."

The master of ceremonies for the evening was Andrew Patner, a critic for WFMT, Chicago's classical station. At one point, he commented that he felt voice and dance were the most democratic of arts disciplines, since you need neither fancy equipment nor expensive lessons to hone and develop those talents (though money obviously helps). This has a good deal of populist appeal to it, but I wonder if it's actually true. Is your average opera company or dance troupe more international, more socioeconomically varied or more ethnically diverse than your average orchestra or theater company?

At the end of the concert, they announced that we'd raised nearly $7,000 by passing the basket during the show. Here's to fighting illiteracy!

I Hope

1. I will be proven wrong about my cynicism
   
2. Our efforts and determination will not have been in vain
3. We did the right thing
   

How to Efficiently Get from A to B

1. Leave your cell phone at home.
2. Hop on the Red line going northbound.
3. Transfer trains at Belmont. Pay no attention to the announcement that you are now on a Purple line train.
4. Realize with dismay that you are on a Purple express, and the next stop will be in Evanston. Ponder the ramifications of pulling the emergency door open switch.
   
5. Consider borrowing a stranger's cell phone to call your dinner companions. Wrack your brain to remember their numbers. Give up when you figure out the only numbers you know by heart are your parents'.
6. Get off at the Howard stop. Leave the station and reswipe your farecard to get back in. Dash onto a Red line train going southbound.
7. Enjoy making every single stop on the way back to Belmont.
8. Get off at the Belmont stop. Carefully check signage before hopping onto a Brown line train.
   
9. Stretch as you get off at the Western stop. You have spent the last two hours on trains. Arrive at dinner 45 minutes late. Reassure people that you were not hit by a car while biking.
   

More Chicago Badassery

In case you hadn't noticed, Chicago and Illinois have a long history of colorful politics, underhanded machinations and brash solutions. There was that time we reversed the flow of the Chicago River. (Rather than build a sewage treatment plant, the city opted to reverse the river and send sewage downstream to the Mississippi.) There was that time our mayor illegally closed down an airport under the cover of darkness. There was that time our governor was arrested for corruption. No, that other time. Ok fine, 5 out of our last 9 governors has been indicted. But, come on now, how could someone with such great hair possibly be guilty of racketeering?

Anyway, I stumbled across this gem in my internet wanderings:

1861

--- John Wentworth fired the entire Chicago Police Department when his term as mayor came to a close. This included 60 patrolmen, 3 sergeants, 3 lieutenants, and one captain. The city was entirely without police protection for twelve hours until the Board of Commissioners swore in some new officers to take their place.

Apparently, when the Illinois State Legislature took away Mayor Wentworth's police authority, he decided to fire the whole force. Wentworth, by the way, is the street I currently live on.

Why I Blog

<rant>

In reference to the lengthy post below, someone just asked why they should read it. Rather than extol the merits of my concise history of the Chicago World's Fair (where I have done all the heavy lifting of analysis and summary), I bit my tongue and said "Well then, don't read it."

Let me make one thing clear: I write this blog for me. No one else, just me. I have never, ever asked anyone to read it. There are enough ways that people can stumble upon it on their own, and if they feel it's worth their time, revisit occasionally. I never assume that people have read these posts when I speak to them in person. It's nice to hear comments and interact from readers, but I could care less if I didn't have an audience. I strive to make my posts well-written and interesting, and try to post frequently enough that the blog doesn't get stale. But when it comes down to it, I'm not trying to tailor to your needs, I'm writing to satisfy mine. It's a selfish perspective, I know.

< /rant>

Sorry, I'm probably in a crappy mood because Air India has informed us that they've canceled our flight. After hours on the phone, they only thing they'll tell me is that they won't give at refunds at this point, and that I should call back in a week. Let's hope they're not about to file for Chapter 11.