100 Days, 100 Ties

The President is on the line, as 99 red balloons go by…Nena

I personally like the German version better, but that’s like saying I like cat food better than dog food.

Das ist großes Haar!

Since this past weekend was Lollapaloozaic in tone, I thought I’d hearken back to the bad old days of rock, when a German with big, bad Teutonic hair could learn her first, oh, 100 English words, pronounce them poorly and have a hit. It worked later for Scorpions, too–the 80s were good for Eurotrash imports, n’est-ce pas?

Rock. Roll. Repeat.

No, Nena’s not wearing a tie, but these guys are? Verve Pipe rocked LollaPop sporting these strips…Paul Hletko–roving photographer & and stark, raving GWT himself–snapped this pic of some very happy Rockers With Ties.

Ok, on to Purple Tie Week! Today was supposed to be Tie No. 100, but my fashion mishaps up in Milwaukee (not the first fashion mishaps up in that region, I promise you) delayed 99 Day over the weekend. I had the opportunity to wear a tie to my friend Sara’s surprise b-day party (no worries, she knows about it by now) this past Saturday, but sidestepped the chance.

So, for the Tie du Jour, I have gone pink to celebrate the kickoff of PTW. Explain, you exclaim?! Why certainly, I reply with fervor, If you say please! Well, please explain, then, you acquiesce. My purple-fielded, pink-polka-dotted TdJ is from Thomas Pink (Ohhhh, you mouth), along with my shirt and cuff links. I really love the quality of their shirts, and their ties are especially well-made. I wore one a couple of weeks ago, and they just consistently tie better than about 99% (got to use 99 again, ha) of my ties. A Brookie mini-preview…my best tie will be tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I’ll be around with camera and ties in hand to start taking of photos of Philanthropists With Ties, and will ask for donations to the Salvation Army and  the Evanston Community Foundation (ECF donations will go to offset my tuition to Leadership Evanston). Dr. Vince Roberts (GWT alum), of Reavy Rehab, has generously donated a quarter for every picture I get from all of you. I will bring down a dozen or two from my Already Worn collection, but if you could wear a tie this week that’d be great. Send me the pic, no worries about donations. I just want as many pics of Guys With Ties and Girls With Ties and Philanthropists With Ties and Dogs With Ties and…you should get the picture by now. If ye should need more explanation, then, well, I can’t help ye.

Some thoughts on Lollapalooza, while I’m here. The Strokes, on Friday night, were awesome. I only have gotten into them since they last toured, so I was wont to see them. Now, I can’t wait for the next time…they are playing during Austin City Limits and I’m already plotting. The Black Keys were solid, as well…I first saw them two years ago at Loll’08. I mainly remember the lead singer’s full-and-beyond beard in the 90+ degree heat. This year, while the temp was quite milder, Dan Auerbach had a shorter, much summier beard, which made me feel better. Lady Gaga was, well, attentive to her persona. Theatrical, one could say. Her voice is pretty good, but her lyrics are pretty banal. She played to the crowd, but in the end I was happy that I had a chance to go see The Strokes for 55 minutes.

Sunday was a different story…I headed down mainly to hang out with my former roommate, Brendan, and his wife, Eela. For the first time in 20+ years, my parents drove me to a concert to drop me off. Nostalgia rules! Musically, I heard a bit of MGMT, and immediately wished I’d been in there for more. The National made me want to go buy all of their stuff and love it latently. Arcade Fire…well, let’s just say I thought I knew more of their music but now that I know that I don’t I’m not running to iTunes. I’m sure it was a function of its being the Sunday of a long-ish, party-esque weekend, but they were…meh.

Such is my limited review of the LollaBands. Until next year…

Thanks so much for reading…as I sit/stand/relax on the cusp of my 100th tie, I realize that 5,500 page views have mostly come from truly loving friends and family. I know that your time is worthy of other things, and I am sincerely honored that you spend some of it with my thoughts, bullshee and wordplay. I do plan on going forward, as I have at least 40 ties remaining on my two tie racks, and I hope/pray/wish that you stick with me for a little longer.

Thanks. For. Reading.  Brookie

This entry was posted on August 9, 2010 at 8:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.