Merry Christmas 1966! From My Mom's Giant Beehive

Check out my parents and my oldest siblings in their 1966 Christmas card. Check out that towering, poofy Mom Bouffant. My sister was so, so pretty at that age, and here she looks sort of intensely cheerful. And my brothers were just so adorable. Look at what a sweet little baby J. was. Mom says he was always a super content little toddler and would play quietly for hours with his little trains and airplanes. Maybe that's why he grew up to be a pilot like Dad?

It blows my mind that my mom was actually five years YOUNGER in this picture than I am now. And this was just the first wave of kids, the ones born in the 50's and early 60's. Man, oh man - reproduce much?

Mo!

'Nuff said. :)

2016!

My brother Andrew is very excited to be directing this upcoming Chicago Olympics event:

The second round of fundraising for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid will debut July 14 with a Millennium Park celebratory event...The event, "Chicago Believes..." will begin with demonstrations by Olympians, Paralympians and Olympic hopefuls and will continue with a $500-per-person dinner and a variety show featuring an array of local performers, including members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Bandoleros, Hubbard Street Dance, the Anti-Gravity Boots Team, a local gospel choir and renowned tenor Rodrick Dixon.

I'm not sure yet what I think about the Olympics potentially coming to Chicago, but I admit that these rah-rah-Chicago events always make me feel very proud of my adopted city, and of course I'm very proud of my big bro.

Winner of the Bad Music Contest - NO ONE

Well, thanks for listening and voting, everyone. But it seems that between the 4 to 4 votes and the swing votes going "undecided," we have no true winner in the First Official Sloan and Elizabeth Bad Music Contest. Here's the final tally:

Votes for "Cheese Purse of Freedom" -
1 Nick
2 Shan
3 Anonymous
4 Keef

Votes for "The Gerbil Klaxon Terrible Music Project" -
1 Anonymous
2 Luis
3 Dan Telfer
4 Mercy

Undecided weenie butts -
1 KDuck
2 Grant Miller
3 Chancelucky

But fear not! The creation of terrible, horrible art will not end here. Because of your indecision, Sloan and I have decided to enter round two of this tragic competition, and either 1. Remix each other's crappy songs, or 2. Make videos for each other's crappy songs. Stay tuned.

Baby gerbil photo from Cute Overload.

Punching Up Chicago Pride

Last night was the opening ceremonies for the World Boxing Championships, an "exhilarating" event that was creative directed by my brother Andrew. My parents came up from Indiana, and Sloan and I and a bunch of other friends went to the Chicago Theater for the festivities.

The World Boxing Championships are Olympic qualifying events, and there were hundreds of boxers there from around the world, some of whom have never left their home countries. Andrew told me that it was a surprise for the athletes that the parade down State Street ended with them entering the theater by marching across the stage waving the flag of their country, and you could see the excitement and pride on their faces as they realized they were entering to the cheers of a standing audience. A boxer from Azerbaijan described Chicago and the ceremony as "Very good, very beautiful."

Everyone was very aware of Chicago's need to impress the International Olympic Committee members in the audience, since hosting the 2016 Olympics is an important goal for the city, so, after Mayor Daley spoke and AIBA president Ching-kuo Wu said "This proves the city of Chicago has total capacity to organize bigger events," the crowd went crazy with cheers, and Daley, behind him on the stage, beamed and smiled.

Then they announced the arrival of a surprise special guest, and you could feel the emotional temperature in the room rising. They introduced him with little bits of information at a time, and you could feel the crowd collectively trying to figure out who they were talking about, and when it was clear they were talking about Muhammad Ali, the excitement crested with scream and cheers, and everyone rose to their feet.

As the The Trib described it, "Every boxer stood in jubilation, and the crowd, including Mayor Richard Daley, who called Ali a 'great Chicagoan and a great human being,' began chanting, 'Ali, Ali, Ali.'"

It was a fun moment. I was proud of my brother and his work, and proud to feel like a real Chicagoan.

Things Are Good. Just Try To Stop Me!

I'm taking Chicago by storm! My videoblog of Critical Mass is posted on Metroblogging Chicago. (Thanks, Fuzzy!)

I'm making my showcase debut at Chicago Underground Comedy tomorrow night, yes indeed. I'm bringing extra candy (I take care of my audiences, yo), and 30-40 friends and family are slated to be there to cheer loud enough to drown out any boos. I've been walking around like a crazy person, playing a recording of my set on my computer, in my earphones, and reciting my jokes out loud while riding my bike.

BFF, PR genius, and megaproducer K-Rock and the girls invited me to fill in for Hattie Snyder (who, sadly, will be at her friend Nailah Franklin's memorial) at the Spitfire showcase at the Apollo the following night, so my first two showcases are wham bang one after the other.

Speaking of K-Rock, check out Buscemi and Delahoyde's "Angelina," starring K-Rock (at left)! Well, not "starring," in the literal sense. But look how cute!

What else is exciting? Well, I just talked a nice lady at Comcast into hacking my monthly bill in half. HALF. Just goes to show you how much you can get in life by asking nicely. (And if that doesn't work, then raise hell.)

Great Caribbean Basin End of Summer Party

My brother threw his increasingly larger-scale End of Summer party despite the inclement weather. Lots of my friends were MIA. Didn't show up because you thought a little thing like a thunderstorm would stop us from celebrating? Wrong. My brother directs events on an Olympic scale, people. It was an amazing outdoor party under tents, with a live DJ, an unbelievable assortment of food and drink, little kids splashing through puddles, and fire-eaters as entertainment. Real Cuban mojitos, New Orleans jambalaya, Filipino wedding cake, and more.

Here's a two minute video I made. I wrote the music, too - it's a little mish-mashy but fun, sort of like the mix of cultures and food and music at the party. Sort of like my family, which we sometimes say is like one big living Benetton billboard -- except our sweaters aren't that nice.

Fishing For Compliments

At left is a picture of my dad's latest fishing trophies, during a recent trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin. (The guy in the picture is not my dad.)

Two weeks ago, when my first article was published in the Indianapolis Star, my dad called me with a puzzling intro to a conversation.

"Hi, Dad, what's going on with you today?"

"Well, your mom's walking around the house looking for my buttons."

"What?"

"When I saw your article, I got so proud, my chest puffed up, and all the buttons popped off my shirt, so your mom's off looking for all of them."

How sweet is that?