Chicago's Finest Part 1

Chicago's Finest Part 1 1:30 pm Thursday I traveled west, one hour earlier in time. In a search to be with the most beautiful girl in the Chicago area, I text Amelia Pool, hit Molly Soda on twitter and take the Blue Line from O'Hare to the Damen stop, near Jeremy Tubbs's apartment, where I had stayed before and would stay again. There was a 4 dollar burrito deal since it was a Thursday and I hadn't eaten since leaving my New York apartment at 9am that morning. Tubbs was at work until 9:30pm so I decided to spend the day at work too. I had 50 Dollar Stories in a ziplock bag so I began to walk up and down the six corner streets pulling my Supreme bag on wheels. I was wearing black Corduroy Supreme posse hat, big green Polo shirt from Thando, black Levis from Ryan, and Composition Book print Vans from Rise on their last, shoe goo'ed steps. The day was sunny and warm enough. I asked the first six people who said no, then I approached a boy and a girl walking toward me as the girl walked a bicycle. I said: "Short stories. One dollar apiece." The boy said No Thanks. I turned to the girl. "What about you?" She said yes. I said you can choose from 10. She said, the most popular one. I handed her 2 dollar dances as she searched into her backpack for a dollar that I put into the ziplock bag. I thanked her and kept walking with my bag strap in one hand and sack of stories in the other. There was consistent foot traffic but not too crowded. I made eye contact whenever possible and was more likely to avoid people on phones or using headphones. Some people keep their cash more or less convenient based on how rich they are. I wondered which vintage store held Molly Soda inside of it. Another girl locking up a bicycle asked if I had written any of them and I sold her On Leave. Most people had bags. My rate of success was about 10 percent though thorough canvassing and constant speech. I walked past an outdoor cafe section and I said "Short Stories One Dollar apiece. Amazing Value for Amazing Literature." I didn't stop walking so that I wouldn't be too needy, then I turned as I heard someone say something. It was a pretty girl younger than me. She had a dollar in hand. "What do I choose from." I pulled out my quiver and she wanted the one about the army. I told her I wrote that one. She asked if there was contact information, I said yes and she said she would contact me. I went into St. Jerome where one of the workers paid for his and his friends Copy of the one about the strip club and we talked as I looked around. The two best pieces in the store were Dead Stock Nom de Guerre shirts for like 200. I had not sold enough dollar stories to afford them, but earlier that morning I had packed Nom De Guerre's James Joyce Ulysses tee shirt and showed him that which was folded in my bag. On my way out I picked up a Frank 151 that had a photo of Tabatha and her Dad and one of a BMX rider at the old Manhattan Bridge Park pyramid. One worker knew Jeremy Tubbs and had been to the Moontower (should have asked which one but was happy enough to hear the word). On the corner by the shell I gave Robert Norman's to a young boy waiting for a bus who said he liked wrestling. At the Division and Chicago Ave stop I told a girl with only enough for bus fare to pick one and she chose the pink one. I sold one to a woman who realized how amazing of a Deal One Dollar Is. Whenever there is a pretty woman buying my stories I generally want to sell her mine. I can sell Josh with good enthusiasm too. Two guys in front of a bar said no but the third guy said said for sure and that he was always down to support a hustler. I sold him Joe Koplowitz's Real Americans. When a rainstorm hit I took a cross street into the direction of Uprise. There was a really hot girl smoking a cigarette walking the opposite direction right before I reached the shot but she said no. Mike at Uprise bought 4 copies for the shop and gave me a copy of Uprise, Chicago's Finest. The rain let up and I hit the streets again, where I made 20 more sales throughout the late evening to everyone from parents to pretty girls to veterans to crust punks. Around dark it started rain. I ducked into Urban Outfitters to look for K Merrel Judy but didn't see her. It was more awkward to carry my rolling bag around an establishment than the streets. I had to do something and stood under and awning and watched the rain. Then I remembered I had passed a Lomo Camera store and a sign had advertised an opening party. I walked down that way and was there on the early side. I asked for a 16oz Pabst and tipped a dollar from my 33 story sales and looked around. I remembered the set Stephanie shot including the one of me kissing Katy with my gold teeth that was my myspace profile picture for some time. There was deep dish Chicago pizza and hot dogs with all of the chicago trimmings and there was hard alcohol too had I been in the mood. I kicked it there for over 100 ounces but the food kept me drunk rather than wasted. I talked to some girls with varying levels of success and gave my last two to two who said they wrote. I went home back to Jeremy's once he was there on roads that were drying up. He headed to Indianapolis and left me with the key to his room. I went to sleep easily on his comfortable bed before midnight. I talked to his roommate for a minute again about videos then he had work. In the morning Andy Sisemboune was on the Sofa. He offered me coffee which I took black and he played football while I wrote messages to girls on Okcupid. We watched #miAmor then he made chicken and rice and salad for lunch. Then we watched the Uprise Video (not available online), which gives first part to Jackson Hennessey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLRHZBppSQE doing a tail drop in that basically up there with Josh Zickert's Natty K drop in as gnarliest tricks done this millennium and some other gangster shit that is legendary like the back nose grind the full postal service bench or drop in on the Picasso sculpture. My family came into town so I directed them to Tubbs's where they picked me up and we drove into their Suisshotel, which had fruits flavored water in the lobby that I filled up my vitamin bottle water with. Even though I preferred the raspberry and blueberry combination on sight, taste went to the oranges, since slider, flavored the water stronger. We passed a couple nice black marble ledges right beside that hotel, and gap to ledges too, and caught the school bus to the convention center somewhere an interstate ride away from the hotel. It took about 15 minutes and we passed Shedd Aquarium and I sat beside Tyler. We got out at the place and there was a man wearing a Supreme hat at the bottom of the escalators. We went up like 5 flights of escalators and I tossed a penny down to the bottom and didn't wish for anything but watched it fall to a distant splash. I got a free 5 hour energy bottle that I stashed for the morning of the race, pink for breast cancer awareness. There were some other samples of fine consequence and some candy. Everything besides the free samples was out of my budget. There was a place selling "nearly new shoes" for 50 dollars. If they really wanted to offer people a deal they would make it cheaper though 50 may have been a first day price. Nike had printed a thing where every runner could find his name so he circled it in sharpie we took from Bank of America. Then back to the hotel where we ate salsa mom made from Garden product with tortilla chips and sun chips and watched the Cardinals beat the Braves. Then we drove to a place with thin crust pizza where I drank water and we ordered a white cheese pizza and a fiorentini with sausage and peppers. The waitress may have been into my brother. My parents dropped me off at Pat Binkleys, where we he was with Andy and we drank a beer then skated to the mini ramp in a garage which is close by. 2/3rds of the mini ramp was covered with building materials and partial construction. One part of the 4 foot was in effect. I strapped on my knee brace and did my basic tricks like back and front rocks, backside axle stalls kinda consistently now finally though I still don't stand over them, fake frontside and backside kickturns to rock to fake and got a front disaster, which did not end in disaster though I did kind of fold my knee on one try, but I was ultimately fine and a relief to feel each twisting fall as not being catastrophic and I consider yoga and a brace and not drinking and skating to thank. I landed the front disaster a couple tries later then concentrated on filming as Binkley did a bunch of shit and Andy worked for some cool shit. Then we went back to the streets and skated flat in front of his house for a minute then Andy dipped one way and BInkley and I went to get beers then back to his house to drink 24s and watch the New Escapist video Red and Yellow which features those Kansas city banks and Sean Malto shares a part and there is some dude Aguilar and generally high caliber skating and dudes putting on for their city. We drank our first 24s apiece, then split the third 24 and saved the other 24 for later. I showed Binkley my shredded shoes and he offered me a pair of Emerica Gablers that were good to go, and so we went out the door, to Inner Town Tavern, which was okay for a beer and BInkley said it was usually more busy, so we went to Rainbo room, which was busy. Both bars so far had 2 dollar pints of Pabst, so that was cool and we stashed our boards at both places. Rainbo room was mostly standing room and one Died Blonde girl with an up do and red lips I talked to her and a friend cockblocked but I persisted a minute later and this girl, a visitor from Columbus Ohio insisted that the girl was not her friend and we mentioned friends from Columbus and our course she knew Franz, then we talked about New York and we mentioned Uncle Marty and going to London and she disappeared with friends she was staying with and last call happened after a couple beers and we headed out when told to and peed around the corner and some dudes asked if we wanted to do white and we declined and went back to in front of the bar and talked to some girl with bangs who skated and the homie Nate who skated and was slamming trying to do a nollie 360 shove in 10 tries for 5 dollars but did it in 20 tries anyway and we all kept skating flat on cruisers and making bets on like nollie flipping in five tries and any car that was mad at our games of skate was driving too fast anyway. A cute girl passed on her bicycle and Nate knew her and she was going to ride home to smoke a bowl before anything and I invited myself over but she declined and said to meet her at the Contintental so we skated flat for some more then Nate got us a cab to the Continental Bar, the Conti, where we went upstairs first for beer and shot. There is pool but I would rather not play so I take bathroom break and dance to Magic Man then Pat and I head downstairs and dance to Pulp and I ask the blonde bartender on a date and she says no thanks. Out front after last call we talk to three hot girls, one of whom knows Steve Fauser and recognizes Binkley from when he walks his dog Max past where she eats brunch. Nate knows the Russian girl from when she used to work at the bagel shop. A cute girl at a bagel shop is an amazing sight in the morning. Binkley and I skate home where we pass out pretty fast after eating some pizza, he on his bed, me on the wooden futon. I wake up early with the sun on my black on the black snack man tee. I read from Dave Carnie's Boob, where he makes good fun of religion and features a surreal vulgar road trip in its earliest pages. A shit and a double flush (Juicy J voice) and I've clogged Binkley's toilet. He feels terrible and hungover in the morning already. My parents swing by and we drive past some nice ledges by the Lincoln Park apple store to the Franks N Dawgs where I had some Thai dog and pretzel crusted cheese curds and Neko Case played as we ate. Pat is still sleepy when I'm back so I meet with Nate to take the bus to the Damen spot where we pass the Big Star Tacos across from Penny's noodles. He ask if I care to stop in there and I wonder if he's getting a taco even when we end up at the bar. Where he orders us each a shot of the day and a mini schlitz and a glass of water to silence the shakes. He reads Shaggy's Dollar Story then we skate to Uprise where he buys a new board and shoes then back to Damen blue line downtown to LaSalle where we get out and find the black Wendy's ledge with blossom of square ledges around it. We get nice slides and not kicked out as long as we wish. It is slightly rounded and slick and we avoid very painful falls and Nate suggests we leave after I land my switch front board. Then we go to the car gate bank with the diagonal paint job. No one works mans the adjacent guard station and the nails at bottom prove reasons to plan that leads to better skating instead of annoying obstacles. Dudes have gotten nice on it, Isak Buan should do a wallie Stalefish over it, I settle for carves, ollies and rock to fakie while Nathan films. Then we go to an alleyway bank to bumper that he suitably describes as a Puleo spot where we each get something. We part ways and I give him one of Pete's Dollar Stories for the train ride home and I skate along sidewalks in the end of daylight past a bunch of great ledge spots and over the river to Maggiano's for 6:30 reservations where Adam Schwartz's face is the first one I see outside beside my dad, brother and Mom. Adam's sister, mother and girlfriend are inside with Jen, her daughter and mother, our next destination.