He says, son, can you play me a memory?

Hip-hop week will be briefly interrupted with a short plug for the City of Chicago (somewhat in honor of their Olympic bid and I hope it will resonate with all of my international readers). Chicago is a great city. Music, art, sports, aquatic sports, beach sports, academics, public works, public projects (debatable) -- there is not enough time to explore it all, especially in four years of college, and especially, with the quarter system and a midterm every two weeks, give or take a day.

So when there is an opportunity to go downtown, I try to take it as often as I can. Chicago never disappoints, there is always something to do or at least an open bar with an icy cold beer, some roasted peanuts, and 80s classics playing from the Jukebox. Last night was no exception. It was my best Chicago experience (narrowly beating out the time I got lost in Hyde Park) and one of the most memorable nights of college. The venue: Howl at the Moon -- a dueling piano bar or as their website puts it more poignantly - "the most fun you can ever have with your clothes on".

My clothes stayed on the entire time and between singing Piano Man to watching an 80 year old man in a sailor hat take the most beautiful girls in the bar and start dancing with them, I was fully convinced of their slogan. The beer (Miller Light/Coors Light/MGD?) was four dollars and the cover, on friday nights and possibly saturday nights as well as ten dollars. But hey, for good live music, its sometimes worth it.

The live band plays whatever the audience requests. From Elton John classics to punk rock tunes from Green Day, the band covers a great collection of music. And each member is incredibly talented at the keyboard and they take turns dueling to the musical death. My favorite song of the night was, cliched enough, Bohemian Rhapsody, not so much for the song, but the fact that everyone in the bar was singing and acting out the entire song with extreme emphasis. It was nuts.

Howl at the Moon reminds me of a blues bar (I don't remember the exact name) in Memphis. My dad kidnapped my brother, sister and I about 6 years ago and took us 16 hours down to Tennessee to stay at the Heartbreak Hotel and visit Graceland. After an emotional moment at his grave, we traveled to Memphis to enjoy some fine Creole food and live blues. In this bar, a woman, with one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard, was singing Janice Joplin covers, and nailing the voice and every note perfectly. I knew some of the words and sheepishly sang along. Eventually, we had to leave and later traveled to a music store where my Dad bought a CD of Bernard Allison that was playing over the store speakers. In time, I will review that album, with such classic hits as the River is Rising and Feels Kinda Funny.

If you are ever in Chicago, head down to Howl at the Moon

Howl at the Moon
Howl at the Moon Chicago