Drink Tank Chicago

8/2/2019 Drink Tank Chicago

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Editorial

Now, we are grateful to a variety of people,Helen, Dave, Leanne and Alissa especially as well as ourcontributors, Steven, Debbie, James, Rod and Joel.

If you think we should have mentioned some-thing, or missed something, or have a gem, a bookshopor a comic shop that we should have spoken of, that’sOK, email us at journeyplanet at gmail.com. We wel-

come comments, opinions or corrections.We will also have a follow up issue, sometime in

June and as well as more Chicago insights, we hope totalk about everyone from The Time Travellers Wife toTed Kord and Plastic Man who have a connection.

Thanks. James

journeyplanet at gmail.com

I’ve never been to Chicago.That said, I’ve been to various parts around Chi-

cago; wrestling at the Rosemont Horizon, The AWE-SOME Super-8 out by the Airport, and the airport. Iwas even the Fan Guest of Honor at WindyCon andnever managed to get into teh actual City of Chicago.

That is why I’m so psyched that I’ll be taking the

train to Chicago!Linda and I will be travelling 51 hours (if there

are no delays) from Emeryville to Chicago with a pairof days to spend in the City. I’ll get to have Deep-DishPizza from Due’s (I’ve had the stuff from a stand atTerminal 3 in ORD) and to go to that Museum wherethey shot the Art Looking scene in Ferris Beuller’s DayOff, and then a Chicago Dog, and then perhaps a taping

of Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, followed by another DeepDish Pizza, and then Morton’s after a trip to some re-ally tall building and then back to teh hotel where Iwill spend far too much time visiting with friends in

the Lobby, and then a Trip to the Shedd, or maybe thatmuseum with the U-Boat, and then maybe a trip toChili’s.

Yeah, it’ll be awesome!This issue is something that I’d hoped we’d be

seeing, damn-near a training manual for the con. I’m soexcited and I can’t wait for the chance to put every-thing in here into action!

[email protected]

My Favorite Unbuilt Skyscraper - Frank Lloyd Wright’s The Illinois



Chicago by James BaconI was headed for Capricon, in Wheeling, north

of Chicago, but had arranged a few days holidays in Chi-cago. So I thought since I am as a big a tourist as you

can find, and am continually in love with America, that Imight write up the places that I visited, that may be of

interest to others, who are going to be going to Chi-cago for Chicon 7, the forthcoming Worldcon.

This soon degenerated into a whole issue of Drink Tank, and then I heard that Leane Verhulst wasdoing something about vacations, which means holi-days in my country, and I knew it was a sound idea.

Here then is a series of articles, interspacedwith Images and other people’s Top Five Things to DoIn Chicago, as an idea of what can be seen and done.

I must say I found the city fairly friendly, and

not just the Museums and Shops, like there was theguy on the ‘L’ who came out as I had pressed the can-cel button repeatedly, and it make a very audible noise,perhaps so it can alert staff to the proximity of an idiotor in my case foreign idiot, and there was Terry in the

Hyatt, who guided us around, and was happy to showme some things twice, because you know, I needed toburn them in my mind, but he was an example of thepleasantness that I continually experienced.

Although quite a destination city, it also feltmanageable, sorta like Dublin. OK, not at all like Dublin,

but like San Francisco. No, not like San Francisco. Any-how, it felt manageable, despite its hugeness and height

and massive metropolitan area, and yet everything washandy enough, and the roads and public transport weregood. Not at all like LA, for example.

The public transport is cheap and good. OK Iwas caught out, because the buses and ‘L’ day ticketswhich were about $6 (from Walgreen’s) for 24 hours,don’t work on the Metra Rail routes, but that was OK.It takes a foreigner to make that error.

Where we all will be at. The Hyatt.

I was lucky enough to have an excuse or twoto get into and see the Hyatt Hotel, and oh my Good-ness, was I impressed. The idea of the Worldcon all inone venue is very nice indeed, bedrooms to Hugo Auditorium in a matter of minutes, it’s going to be a nicechange.

The Hotel has two massive towers, reaching upinto the sky, the west and east. They look northwardover the Chicago River, to westward is a big open spacewith really awesome buildings, including the ChicagoTribune building, which looks like it fell out of a Batmancomic, as well as a massive statue of Marilyn Monroe(See? Culture!)

As you walk into the East Tower, there is a vastAtrium, spacious and airy with seats, and in the corner

tucked away is the Plaza Ballroom. Above me there is amezzanine, with the Big bar, that looks pretty good tome, as well as the long check in desks. From up therea sky bridge links to the West Tower. That Mezz is theBlue level, and I think of the Sky.

This floor, level with the street is known asGreen and I think of Grass.

We descend a level, and find the underground

tunnel to the West Tower, this is the Bronze level, and

I think of the Brown of the soil of earth. As we headdown, and we descend another floor to the Gold Leveland I think of the Hugos, also precious metal, and theburied treasure that is the Programme.

We were at the East Tower Gold level and thisis where Chi-Kidz will be. Chi-Kidz, the children’s pro-gramme, will have a superb room, just across a lobbyfrom a Loo, so I was pleased. It is on the same level

as registration, an array of Programme rooms, and thehuge great big Grand Ballroom which is where the



Masquerade and Hugos will take place. Everything isspacious, yet it is also convenient in a neat way.

Below this level is a hugely vast open space, thatmanaged to cause me perspective fail, where the con-

course, exhibits and dealers will exist. It was enormous.This is the Riverside Exhibition Hall, which is also thePurple level, and of course I have NO analogy here, butit’s a 70,000 square foot room. We mused if a double-decker bus would fit in.

In the upper reaches of this East tower are par-

ty suites that had me salivating, in anticipation. How canyou have a hotel bedroom that is 1,800 square feet, like

that’s the size of many homes in my country? You canonly imagine how impressed I was, but this was one of over 100 suites that the hotel possesses, and they wereall nicely apportioned, with great furnishings, and dedi-cated as reception spaces, with Murphy Beds (that’s afold up bed) hidden in walls behind couches.

The West Tower also has a green level, streetlevel, and on this level is the Crystal Ballroom. This isa magnificent room, with huge glass walls, and will be

used for many of the larger programme items., Againwe descend through Bronze to get to Gold and hereis the Regency Ballroom that will be the Art show, andthe rooms that will be con suite, teen programme andmore programme.

I marvel how at Bronze level I am mere stepsaway from the East Tower. Underground. So science fic-tional.

I was excited. I still am excited.The Hyatt is about as close to the city centre

or ‘Downtown’ as you would want. It is not inside theLoop, but on its northeastern edge. Now the Loop isa loop of Elevated railway, known here as the ‘L’. Theinterior of this railway loop is about half a square mile

but the Loop is also a district of nearly 1.8 square milesand includes the Hyatt, and many of the civic buildingsas well as the commercial heart of the city. So in otherwords, you are really as close as you could want to bewhen you are at the Hyatt.

I was lucky just to be staying on the north side

of The Chicago River, on Dearborn St, so it was aboutequidistant to the centre of the Railway loop as the

Hyatt. So on foot, I was, and it is a great city centre towalk around.

I was stunned by how good the Hyatt was, therewere other Bars, and many more suites and rooms, butgenerally after the second time round, I had the placeand that’s pretty good going.



Chicago, city that grasps Culture.

Now one of the things about Chicago is that Ifound that it is a city that seems to really want Culture.Like they go out and fight to drag Culture into theircity, they find vast amounts of money to make the cul-ture happen, and although one may think this is some-what artificial, those of us who appreciate and know

art, know that it needs to be funded, to be nurtured, tobe given space to flourish, and Chicago has that space,time and indeed, money.

There is so much culture. Although in fairnessat times, I had enough of culture and so would enter aDeli and have a pastrami sandwich or some other deli-cacy, lest I become so infused with culture that I break out in dance.

A bit late Millennium Park South of The Hyatt, about a five minute walk

away, is Millennium Park. Aptly, this was opened about

four years late, but it a massive space, with a number of attractions.

Dave McCarty and Helen Montgomery guidedus around this space. The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a mas-sive open air auditorium, and apparently has free events,quite frequently. http://explorechicago.org/city/en/mil-lennium.html) As we walk past here, there is a bridge

and path layout that looks like a tadpole from abovebut like all public art has a more recognisable locanick-name: the Sperm. I noticed some women gently

sidling beside the tadpole.From here we loop around and walk past The

Art Institute of Chicago which is south of MillenniumPark, and onto further works of art. Next was TheCrown Fountain, designed by Jaume Plensa. This foun-

tain is cleverly made, two towers of glass bricks hidewater falling down into a black granite area, and onthe rear of the bricks, lights portray video footage. The

sculptures are 50 foot tall, and sometimes faces are dis-played on the bricks, and in certain points open mouthsshoot out spouts of water. It cost millions.

From here, it was not far to Cloud Gate, alsoknown as the Bean. This is a wonderful piece, designedby Anish Kapoor. It’s in the shape of a bean, and is athirty three foot tall, sixty six foot long bean, made from

polished steel. It’s huge and one can walk underneatheasily. The steel acts like a massive mirror and also the

shape distorts the reflection, giving some amazing vi-sions of the cityscape. It cost millions.

There is also a Café and an Ice Rink, and as watched I saw people pushing themselves around theedge while many others gracefully pirouetted and spunlike swans. I realised that I would be comparable to thewounded Bismark, should I try, but it was there.

I returned to look at the bean - it really is quite

an incredible thing.



Now, you see this is one of those things that

really impresses me about a city. When a city has a spe-cialist shop or museum or library, it really speaks tome. This can be about any number of subjects that areclose to my heart, and obviously London, where I cur-rently live, has a few and so, I was tremendously im-pressed when the High Zoner, himself, Dave McCartymentioned that there was a Military Library in the city,

and just across from Millennium Park.I was stunned. How could this be? And so it was

that I ventured into the Pritzker Library, a Museum andLibrary on a number of floors, and of the highest qual-ity. Although the Monroe building was built in 1912, anumber of floors inside have been renovated and thelibrary is not only new to this building, but also encom-passes a two story high lecture hall, while there aresome 35,000 books in the collection. It was immacu-late.

As well as housing books, magazines and com-ics, there was a wonderful exhibit ‘Don’t be a Dope’ of educational comic and cartoon art on display, whichsated two hobby interests at once. There is also a per-manent display section dedicated to The CongressionalMedal of Honour. And they have one. Which is prettyawesome.

The library regularly has lectures and interviews

upstairs and there is an ongoing project to speak withMedal of Honour winners, as well as involvement withbooks on the subject. It was like a finely tuned museumhere in a library, and they had a small but perfectly neatselection of militaria on display.

I was well impressed. And even more so by theassistants who sought out some books for me. I fear I

may spend more time in the Library. It was like a secretgem in the middle of everything, and I felt I wanted

more of this type of Culture. A $5 charge in seemedmeagre, and an excellent value for the money.

I fear I may

spend more time in

the Library. It was

like a secret gem inthe middle of

everything

The Pritzker Library



During my visit, I got a bus to the Museum of

Science and Industry in the loop, a number 10 or 6 wasrequired, and as it passed The Field Museum, I won-dered had I missed my stop. It was odd, as all I heard

was Museum from the automated speaker. I wondered,worriedly.

And then I looked like I was chewing a wasp.Was I going the wrong way? My companion was AlissaMcKersie and she was none the wiser, and also won-

dered what the hell way we were going. She suggest-ed that we get off at the next stop, but suddenly thebus, now travelling on south Lake Shore Drive, a bigwide free-way type road, was steadily increasing speed.There was a particular noise, and it felt like we weregoing at quite a pace for a bus, and no sign of a bus stop,

and I reckoned we would soon be in Kansas. Thanksto the power of iPhone, we realised that our destina-tion was still to come, and as we left the big road, we

travelled through a lovely part of the city, with brownstone three story homes, and then as the road openedup there ahead was the grey gargantuan building of theMSI.

Now this is perhaps one of the best museumsI have ever visited, and I have been going to museumsfor some time. It was $10 to get in, but then we were

offered the guided tour of the U-Boat for an extra $8or something.

Now this was something altogether amazingThe building itself is huge. As you walk in, you realisethe shell is just that, a shell, as immediately you walk

into a massive Cavernous hall, so huge, that as I lookdown, I see the streamlined monster of a Zephyr Train

and it looks like a toy, with its immaculate polishedsteel and aerodynamic cab, hinting at what is to comeor once was to come.

As we wound our way towards the U-Boat, wedecided that we would not visit everything today, but

just do our best, to get about. So we journeyed througha number of halls, and were soon at the beginning ofwhat was a very detailed and interesting history of theU-Boat war, culminating in a sense, with the story of

Captain Daniel V. Gallery, of a local parish, and his cap-ture of U-505, a Type IX U-boat of the Kreigsmarine. Itwas something else. As you walk through a slew of im-ages and videos, static displays and a recreation of theBridge of the American pursuer, USS Guadalcanal, youround a corner and suddenly you are upon a U-Boat.

A proper to god, Wolf Pack, Donitz DemonSitting looking straight at you, the prow just at your

height. There are only so many U-Boats in existencearound the world, and here was a Type IX C, 1,100

The Big ONE – MSIThe Museum of Science and Industry



her, and his bravery captured this boat, and somethingmore, an Enigma machine. You have to tip your hat to aman like that, and of course, it is honoured here.

It was due to be a target for practice in 1946when Gallery’s brother first came up with the idea ofit as an exhibit, and in 1954 it was moved to Chicagowhen local citizens gathered a quarter of a million dol-lars for it. It had been in dry dock in Portsmouth Yard

and anything that was removable, had been, so Galleryhimself suggested that they contact the German man-ufacturers and seek replacements. In his book, “Eight

Bells and All’s Well” (1965), Gallery explains that ev-ery company sent parts, with no charge, lamenting thattheir U-Boat wouldn’t be returned, but that it shouldsurely look fine, as an example of German engineering

The U-Boat was outside for years, and the in-genious locals decided that they would dig a freakinghuge big hole, stick in the U-Boat, make it look like a

pen, and hey presto, possibly the bestest single exhibitin any museum I have ever seen.

We took the tour, which was excellent. The U-Boat was not as claustrophobic as I expected, but thenI was only in there for a half hour or so, not for weeksand months on end, at depths that make the hull creakand shudder, but images from Das Boot filled my mindas the lingering metallic smell filled my nostrils, andlights flicked on and off, with noises, to demonstratewhat it was like on board.

Itchy. I bet it was itchy.

I decided to ask some questions at the end ofthe walking tour through the U-Boat and so, had nearlya whole second tour, it was so good, as the guide knewher history pretty well. Such a shark of the deep, a kill-ing machine, that murders young men regardless of al-legiance, the hunter and the hunted.

Such a capture, of course, elicited a huge amountof memorabilia, and the displays of weapons and trin-

kets was awesome. Like some child, I had a go on althose ‘experience science’ type of things they have, ex-cept at the MSI they seem to go for real life-sized stuffso whether it was attempt to manage the trim of a U-Boat, use a real periscope linked to a computer to sinkshipping, use real compressed air to make a vessel sinkand float in real water, or clamber through hatches andinto a bunk, you know there I was doing it all. Wishing

my dad was here, with my brothers.Most interesting was a video auditorium, that

showed Captain(Oberleutnant) Harald Lange, the mas-ter of the U-Boat, and Captain Gallery talking aboutthe incident in 1964. It’s amazing how men who were

tonnes fully loaded, just sitting in what felt like a mas-

sive U-Boat pen.Yes, it’s that eagerness for culture again. Sure the

Americans captured this U-Boat fair and Square. Gal-lery was amongst the boarding party, that put back in astop cock and also diffused the explosives set to scuttle



sworn enemies could come together to reminisce andshare the history together, in such a gentlemanly way.It was a fine way to end the exhibit, although I spent

more time just looking and taking in the U-Boat.

And that was just ONE of the exhibits - I wasalready exhausted. Soon though I was re-energised asI went into the Space Exhibit, known as The Henry

Crown Space centre. Like how couldn’t you be excitedwhen you are confronted by Scott Carpenter’s Mer-cury Atlas 7 spacecraft called Aurora 7, or Commander

Bormans space suit, or the trainer version of Eagle andthe Lunar lander, and, well the Apollo 8 command cap-sule? It was too much.

The piece of Mission Control desk, the moonrock, the Atlantis Mock up, the apollo food, defecationdisposal kit, tools, it was just brilliant, and that’s beforeall the interactive stuff, like a mock up of a flight sim,

docking Gemini, controlling a Mars lander, or landing ashuttle (which I did rather badly(inverted)).

There are over 2,000 exhibits at the MSI, inover 75 individual halls.

The real science fun stuff, which as High Zonerpointed out, is sorta super-sized science experimentsstuff, done on a gargantuan scale, was incredible, fromthe pendulum telling the time in time with the earth’smovement to the whirlwind maker three stories high.

And there was so much more: a Spitfire flying

by a 727, a Stuka (Ju-87) entering a dive, a replica of the

Wright brothers first achievement, trains, trains, trainsand a 3,500-square-foot model railway, that explainsthe history of the railway from Chicago to Seattle, andhas a wonderful section of ‘L’ and in many cities, letalone countries would be exhibit enough on its ownright.

You just gotta go. They have a U-boat.



The Adler Planetarium was set up by Philip Foxand Max Adler in 1930 and is one of the oldest plan-etariums in the world. It was on my list of things to

see, but you know, some things you need to save and Iknow that this is an incredible place, and I have heardrumours that there are works in the pipeline to havesome sort of event at the Adler, connected to Chicon

7.So, I left it for now, and also decided that the

Field Museum, and the aquarium, adjacent, could alsowait, but I knew they were there, and come what may,

I will get to the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Mu-seum in August.

SPORTS

Chicago has quite the set of sports teams and

prides itself in being in all the big leagues. I, of course,went to the home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field,

and it was atmospheric, just being there. I hear thereare plans for trips out to Sports events, so keep intouch, as explained elsewhere in this issue by Leane.

Football: The American kind, for yanks wholike to play with odd shaped balls. From what I can see,the NFL starts in September, so there is a chance theBears could be playing the week after Chicon 7. Fix-tures won’t be announced yet, but the start is the 6th

of September, so lets hope. Basketball: The Bulls will not be playing, theNBA is out of season.

Chicago Sky from the WNBA are playing, Tues-day 28 vs Connecticut.

Ice Hockey: The Blackhawks won’t play untithe 23rd of September, which may be too late for a

Chicon 7 visitor.

Baseball: This looks promising.Right, it seems that games go on for three days

in a row, and the Chicago Cubs will be playing quite a

bit at home before Chicon 7.Fri, Aug 24 Cubs vs. Colorado which con-

tinues on the 25th and 26th.Mon, Aug 27 Cubs vs. Milwaukee which continues onthe 28th and 29th and 30th.Fri, Aug 31 Cubs vs. San Francisco for 3 nights, al-

though these are the Chicon nights.The Chicago White Sox play against The Yan-

kees on the 20th for 3 nights and the Mariners on the24th for 3 nights, the Twins on the 3rd, and the Royalson the 7th for 3 nights. All of these games seem to beat home, so again, great chance to get out.

Football, with a proper football: Chicago Fireplay on Saturday, Aug 18 against New England and onSunday, September 2 against Houston, but that’s Hugonight, so it may not be popular.

The Adler



Around the City in Movies

So, yeah, you know that one of the things I really

wanted to do was to get around the city and see placeswhich had been made famous by movies. Like if any of you are ever in Dublin, I can show you round whereMichael Collins was filmed, but there are some movies

which were just huge for me and the family, which wereset in Chicago.The Untouchables. I loved Kevin Costner as El-

iot Ness in this, nearly as much as I liked Robert De

Niro as Al Capone. I can still see the address, Racine, inthe match-book, and the violence of it, so graphic andyet compelling, and the music as the Canadian Mountedpolice charge towards the Bridge. You either know it oryou don’t. So much of Chicago is in this movie, and somuch of the movie is Chicago.

Malone is mortally wounded, and yet, again to

music that is heart rending, he tells Ness where to findthe money man Payne, and so Ness and Stone, a man

who takes a gun to a knife fight, head to Union Stationand with the slow-motion shots of a runaway pram, anda fierce shoot-out, in itself a homage to the BattleshipPotemkin, Odessa Steps scene, they get their man. Andso this was one of the places I went, to stand at thebottom and top of a set of steps, and wonder aboutCapone.

I didn’t find the Rookery Building, 202 South

La Salle Street. Built in 1886, it is used as The PoliceHQ, and also for the confrontation between Batmanand the Joker in The Dark Knight. I did walk across theMichigan Bridge, although I may try it at night, and hopeto meet an honest copper.

As I walked, with Dave, Helen and Alissa aroundChicago, we stood at the bottom of Sears Tower. Itsgot a new name, but no one has mentioned this to thelocals. I thought about it, but again, want something formy next trip, and so looked up, at its height and thought

of a real hero. Ferris Beuller.Helen was kind enough to drive me to the infa-

mous Wrigley Field, for it is not nearby, and one won-ders why Ferris did not use the Ferrari to get there.It is much smaller than I expected, but none the lessvery cool. I was impressed how adjacent buildings hadseating on their roofs. We walked down Dearborn, andat West Adams had taken a turn to go to The Berghofffor lunch, (which was incredible) and of course just

there, is where the German-American Parade footagewas shot, with Ferris miming Danke Schoen and singingthe Beatle’s version of Twist and Shout. Dave pointedout the Chicago Board of Trade, where Ferris proposes

to Sloane, and it is also Wayne Enterprises in BatmanBegins.

Now if any movie came to mind, it must be thesound of wheels going on the metal grid-like bridges

and it is immediately The Blues Brothers, which usesway too many location for me to even think aboutgetting to. Obviously I had seen Wrigley field, and Iof course, went to the Richard J. Daley Plaza and sawwhere a Bluesmobile had actually crashed into The Dal-ey centre, and of course saw the Cook County Buildingadjacent. I saw some unusual views of lower Wackerdrive, which had been used for many Police shots, andof course I passed by, twice, due to mis-navigation, the

junction of N La Salle Blvd and West Lake St, where theinfamous police pile up occurred.



I use a variety of sources for gleaning wherebookshops are when I am going to a city. For sure, Ev-

elyn Leepers long list of bookshops is always a goodplace to start, but then there is no shortage of com-mentary on books shops. My problem is I want SF and

Comics and Military History which I really prefer sec-ond hand. I like to find books that I never knew existedin second hand shops, and even if I cannot afford them,as I did with The Shamrock and The Swastika, by Car-olle J. Carter, I at least can note them and photo themfor my wants list, and I love finding the unknown.

Powell’s Bookstore 1501 E. 57th St., Chicago

(773-955-7780)

Not far at all from MSI, is Powell’s. This book-store that is in a brick building built on a corner andwhich has the feel of a bunker of sorts from certainangles, was warm and friendly inside, and had quite theinteresting stock. The literature section was especiallygood, and I have to be impressed with any shop thathas a whole shelf of Orwell. The SF section in the con-crete floored basement was adequate enough, and the

Graphic Novels keenly priced, so that I found a bar-

gain. The win here is its proximity to the MSI, literally afew minutes walk, and of course it has that particularlearned feel that one gets from a book store in a Uni-versity area.

Myopic Books 1564 N Milwaukee Ave Chicago,

IL 60622 (773) 862-4882

As we drove north west (by north west) we

followed Milwaukee Avenue. This is a wonderful road,with continual shops and thrift places, and although

it’s not perfect, it was delightful. As we drove we sooncame upon Myopic books, but I noted that the Blue line

had a station very nearby, for those without a car.I think this was my favourite bookshop in Chi-

cago. The lady who ran the store was extremely helpfuI was impressed with their Irish section let alone theMilitary, and as for the SF, Fantasy and Horror, I reckonthey must have in excess of 3,000 books on sale, and

that’s the most genre I had seen in the city. There wasa very decent graphic novel section and overall therewas just a great selection.

Bookworks, 3444 N. Clark St.Is up near Wrigley field and I popped in herwhile I was shown the sports ground, and it was an OKstore, for SF, but nothing very special.

Bucket O’Blood Books and Records, 2307 N

Milwaukee Ave.

Was on my list of book shops to visit, and did actually see the outside of the shop, and peer inthrough the glass and look inside, but the shop openlate in the day, and so I wasn’t actually able to get into

it. From what I saw, it was full of genre, and no doubtright up my street, but closed is closed.

I didn’t get to Quimbys or Women & ChildrenFirst Book-store, or the shop on Clarke st., which idowntown. I did go to a Half Price Books, which is always worth going to. There are a few in the outer suburban areas of Chicago, and I always find somethingthere. The Huffington post lists some ten used bookshops worth visiting, so I have more exploring to dobut Myopic is the best for the SF fan for sure.

The Book Shops



Graham Crackers- 77 E. Madison St, Chicago, IL

60602 (312) 629-1810

Graham Crackers is a really awesome comicshop, big, lots of back stock, and very comic focused.It’s in the loop and open late, so I popped in after seveno’clock at night and it was really cool, felt illicit even, be-ing able to browse comics at night. I ended up chattingwith Matt in the shop, mostly about Before Watchmen,

but also about C2E2, when they had Garth Ennis do asigning in the shop. This guy was quiet, refined, pleasantand knew his comics. While it’s an independent store,I was interested that they had a stand of Black Comic

characters, for Black History month, which I thoughtwas impressive, although of course only points out thelack of Black characters in comics more, but I like posi-tive encouragement like this, and was pleased that the

month was being recognised so. There was no shortageof independent comics and GN’s and a good selectionof cheap back issues. So I was rather happy.

also, bright. They had sofas and a fridge with drinks forsale, and 75c comics...

Third Coast Comics - 6234 N. Broadway, Chi

cago, IL 60660 | 847-863-7450

On the way north, we pulled in at Third CoastComics, which is an interesting title for a shop, andmade me wonder if the big lake, which looks prettymuch like a sea, but doesn’t taste as salty, is indeeda coast. Here I met Terry, who was pretty cool andhad a really smart shop. I noticed straight away, that hewas a Dr Midnight fan, as there were many sketches bya cast of famous artists around the shop, and indeed

it turned out to be his favourite character. The shopwas really interesting in that it highlighted very unusuaworks, while having an interesting selection of eventsincluding Karaoke. I like a sing a long, and was sorelydisappointed that I was going to be busy at Capriconfor that. As a comic shop though, I was impressed withthe selection available.

Challenger Comics- 1845 N Western Ave #

2R Chicago, IL 60647-6646

Challenger Comics is just across the roadfrom the Western-O’Hare Station on the Blue Lineand, although a little outside of town, is very ac-cessible. This store benefits from being outside oftown in that it’s huge and has enough space for a

small Gallery, that has a rotating exhibition. Theseexhibitions have special limited prints created by

the exhibiting artists that are then sold. And that’s just for starters. I got chatting to Dal about Before Watchmen, and as he bagged comics methodi-cally behind the till, the wall around him coveredin sketches by a wide variety of artists, I felt verycomfortable and welcome. The shop has a whiteand red colour scheme, so seems very clean and

The Comic Shops



How Chicago is not at all like Dublin

The Dublin Metro Region of County Dublin hasan area of 356 sq mi (922 km2), 1.3% of the state of TheRepublic of Ireland, and has a population of 1,187,176which is about 30% of the population.

Chicago has 2.7 million residents, and the met-ropolitan area known as Chicagoland has 9.8 million.

The Chicago Metro area is 10,874 sq mi (28,160 km2)which is about thirty times the size of County Dublin.

The whole island of Ireland, comprising boththe Republic and Northern Ireland (UK) at 31,520.65sq mi is a bit smaller than South Carolina and a decentbit bigger than West Viginia, but between those twostates she would sit in size.

You’d fit two Republics (27,133 sq m) into one

Illinois, and you’d probably get six of them into Califor-nia. I tell you for such a small place, we have a load of

culture though and I think there might be a fire sale on,I must mention it.

Linkshttp://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org

http://www.msichicago.org/

http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/

http://kevinforsyth.net/film/blues.htm

www.womenandchildrenfirst.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/19/top-tenused-book-stores-_n_768262.html

http://challengerscomics.com/

http://thirdcoastcomics.com/

http://www.grahamcrackers.com/

http://www.leepers.us/evelyn/bookshops/na-chi.

htm#chicago

http://the-master-list.com/USA/Illinois/index.shtml



Leane Verhulst1. Museum of Science and Industry2. Navy Pier3. Millennium Park

4. Wrigley Field and surrounding area5. Sears Tower (We don’t call it the Willis Tow-er!!!)

Rod O’HanlonOne thing worth doing is a visit to Buddy Guy’s

place for a good music venue, if you’re lucky the manhimself may be there, but it is a great music venue any-way

High Zoner, Dave McCarty1) Bring your stomach. It’s not just the Pizza, Chica-go has thousands of great restaurants from great dive

pubs to 5 star dining. We’ve got terrific food from avariety of ethnicities and it’s not to be missed. Don’tskimp on anything, you can exercise twice as hard laterto make up.

2) Visit the museums and parks. Chicago has an incred-

ible museum system (the Museum of Science and Indus-try and the Adler Planetarium would be most likely forfans), an immense amount of green space for a big cityand almost our entire lakefront is public land. There isa lot of beauty and wonder preserved all around for

“the people” as a whole and it should not be missed.

3) Make time for some music. Chicago is home to

some very notable music clubs....most folks are awareof the blues, but it’s all other kinds too. There’s excel-lent jazz, gospel, and rock clubs. The Music coming outof Chicago is always something to pay attention to.

4) Explore a neighbourhood. Clark & Belmont, LincolnPark, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Printers Row, Ander-sonville, Ukranian Village, Hyde Park....Chicago has awide variety of distinct neighbourhoods that are richwith history and very cool to walk through.

5) Meet the people.

Debbie FrangedakisPro Sports - Basketball, football, baseball, hockey, etc.

Theatre - Second City or Gorilla Tango

One of the Explore Chicago Tours

Navy Pier

Art at the Chicago Cultural Center and obviously theScience and Industry Museum

Joel Philips1) go to the Field museum

TOP FIVE Things to do in Chicago



2) eat some Chicago deep dish pizza

3) see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field(this is a must,maybe #1)

4) go see “the bean” in warm weather, water foun-tains to play in nearby

5) tour the Sears Tower

James PeartOff the top of my head, I really enjoyed seeing

some proper Chicago blues, live, in the House of Blues.By accident, we went into the John Hancock Centre,instead of going up the Sears tower, and ended up inthe bar on top, watching the sun go down over Chicagowith the Sears tower right beside us in the backdrop,which was incredibly beautiful.

A good Chicago pizza is also always a must.And obviously, going to up the ferris wheel in

the Wharf/peer/boardwalk is a total necessity.There was also a fantastic indoor food marketnear the convention centre (but I can’t remember thename of it) but I do remember seeing it in a somechase sequence in a fairly recent action movie!

Steven Silver 1. Food is a big thing and I would suggest trying as manyof the Chicago staples as possible.

A stuffed pizza from Uno’s or Due’s (or, if those

are unavailable, from Edwardo’s, Nancy’s, Giordano’s,

etc. note, it should be stuffed, not simply deep dish).A hot dog with all the trimmings (mustard, neon

green relish, onions, tomato, sports pepper, pickle, cel-ery salt, no ketchup)

An Italian Beef (ordered wet)A cheeseborger from the Billy Goat Tavern

2. Museums

Chicago has a lot of them and which one you goto depends on your interest. Among the tops are

The Field Museum of Natural History (dino-saurs, mummies, a coelacanth, the lions of Tsavo)

The Museum of Science and Industry (Germansubmarine, space center, recreated coal mine)

The Adler Planetarium (outside of which is thebest view of the city)

Art Institute of Chicago (I’m a Philistine anddon’t appreciate their massive impressionist collection,but they do have the miniature rooms and some nicemedieval arms and armor.)

3. Tall buildings

You can go to the top of the Hancock Buildingor the Sears Tower. At the former, you can stand by ascreen and feel the wind 97 storeys above ground, atthe latter, you can stand on a glass floor and look downat the ground 108 storeys below.

4. Wrigley Field

Yes, Chicago has other sports teams, includingthe south side baseball team, but Wrigley Field, the only

surviving Federal League ball park, is a destination on itsown. If the Cubs are out of town, you can take a tourof the park on Sundays for a small charitable donation(I used to work for the Cubs giving those tours).

5. Improv: Chicago is first city of improv, with SecondCity, the iO, ComedySportz, and numerous other ven-ues. This isn’t stand up, nor it is scripted, sort of. The

shows are workshopped and the performers prettymuch know what they are going to say and do in mostof the skits (of course, there are the audience partici-pation aspects as well). And a list of who has comeout of Chicago Improv is amazingly impressive, fromDonald Adams and Elaine May to Stephen Colbert andTina Fey.



There are SO many things to do in Chicago; toomany to list, actually. So, my personal top five things todo are for me and are in no particular order.

I was raised to be a Cubs fan (don’t say it, I

know). I will, therefore always have an affinity for Wrig-ley Field. It’s so iconic to me with the vines in the out-field, people on the roofs behind the field watching the

games, the “brand new lights!” I had hoped to go on atour right before Capricon, but they don’t start toursuntil later in March and throughout the season. Of course, this means I will have to get to Chicago earlybefore Chicon 7 to make sure I can get in for a tour!Of all the times I’ve been there, and all the years I livedso much nearer, I’ve never had a tour. I can’t wait!

I have discovered, on this last trip, exactly HOW

important it is to know your orientation and CardinalDirections. I can read maps (honestly, I can). But, in astrange city, where you don’t know which way is North,it’s hard to simply follow a map. This can cause oneto become, well, lost actually. It can be a bit frustrat-ing. Once I figured out that I could walk out of thehotel and North was to the left, it was such a personalvictory! No more getting turned around when leav-ing the hotel! Of course, it was later that someone

showed me the compass-type function on my map appon my iPhone (boy that would have been handy). So, inthe classic Murphy’s Law...I figured all of this out by thetime my stay in the hotel was up. Now I know for nexttime, though, right?

When planning my trip to Chicago, I knew Iwanted to go to the Museum of Science and Industry.I remembered having a fantastic time there when I wasyounger, so it was going to be awesome! They have an

exhibit that I had not seen because it wasn’t part of themuseum when I went the last time: The U-Boat! I wasterribly excited for this, as I devour information from

that part of history. But, walking in...it was like a kid ina candy store! I think I took hundreds of pictures! Andyou can go on a tour inside, too! Our tour guide wasenergetic, well spoken, and knowledgeable. And, after

the group tour was done, my friend and I asked hersome questions and she took us back in on our ownto show us the answers! It was absolutely fantastic

At the MSI, they do a brilliant job of making exhibitsinteractive, so we spent some time at the periscopeactivity, the submersion activity, and the team activity osteering a submarine. I’m not even sure how long wewere there, as I was having way too much fun! Thereare some other fantastic exhibits in the museum (spaceshuttles, trains, storms, etc.), and this was by far my fa-vorite!

One of the best parts of this last trip was stum-bled upon by complete accident. My friend and I had toget from Downtown to Capricon in Wheeling. We de-cided to do some hunting for cool shops (book, comicbook, and thrift). What we hadn’t really noticed, untiwe started mapping it out is that they’re all on (or im-mediately adjacent to) Milwaukee Ave. Turns out thatMilwaukee Ave. runs at a diagonal from Downtowninto Wheeling. Along the way, there are tons of coo

shops! So, we stopped at a couple of bookshops, agaming shop, and as we did this, we noticed all of theother cool ones along the way. I can’t wait to go backand take some more time driving up Milwaukee Aveand making more stops!

Chicago Metro holds some very dear people tome. Parts of my family live in the area and some veryold friends. I was there for such a short time this timeso I intend to spend a bit more time with them before

Chicon. I should thank my family for taking the time tospend with me, albeit limited this trip! Thank you!

Top Five Things To Do In Chicago by Alissa McKersie



1) Get outside 1 - The Lake. Thanks to Daniel Burnham,we have the most spectacular lakefront anywhere. Gowalk along it. Take a Segway tour (there are lots of op-tions - just Google it). Go to Navy Pier (navypier.com)- walk all the way to the East end of it and bask in theviews, ride the Ferris Wheel for a different perspective,

or take one of the sightseeing or dinner cruises to getsome stunning views of the city skyline.

2) Get outside 2 - The Loop. Chicago has wonderful,beautiful architecture and public art. Visit the ChicagoArchitecture Foundation (architecture.org) and ar-range to take a walking tour of the Loop, or a riverarchitecture cruise. Or both. Really, you should doboth. Also ride the “el” around the city for a very dif-

ferent set of views.See the Sears Tower (it will always be Sears),

the State of Illinois Center, Union Station, and the Har-

south through Grant Park and see the iconic Bucking-ham Fountain.

Further south - the Museum Campus. Somebeautiful land, all around the Field Museum, SheddAquarium, Adler Planetarium, and Soldier Field.

4) Go eat! After all that walking, you’ll be hungry! There

are so many fantastic restaurants in Chicago. Don’t beafraid to leave the Loop and head into some neigh-bourhoods for some excellent ethnic food. A goodresource for dining is metromix.com, as well as zagatcom. Or ask a local - that’s even better.

5) The Museum of Science and Industry. It’s a museummade for fen. Don’t miss it. www.msichicago.org

A Few of My FavoriteThings - ChicagoBy Helen Montgomery

old Washington Library (gargoyles!)

Head a little north of the Loop to theMagnificent Mile and see the HancockBuilding and the Water Tower.

Public art - the Picasso at DaleyPlaza, the Miro, Chagall’s Four Seasonsmosaic, Calder’s Flamingo, the Art Insti-tute Lions, and so much more. (http://

chicago-outdoor-sculptures.blogspot.com/).

While you’re walking aroundthe Loop, check out what plays are atthe various theaters (broadwayinchicago.com) so you can get tickets for thatevening. You’ll need to sit for awhileafter all the walking.

3) Get outside 3 - The Parks. Walk

through Millennium Park (millenniump-ark.org) - see The Bean, the CrownFountain (it will be warm - wear shoesyou can take off so you can walkthrough the fountain), the Garden, thePritzger Pavilion. At the end of Millen-nium Park is the Art Institute of Chi-cago - a must see.

Walk further east and south

from the Art Institute into Grant Park – Jazz Fest (jazzinchicago.org) will be

occurring during Chicon. Some of thebest jazz you’ll ever hear - outside inthe park, and it’s free! Keep heading



Vacation at Worldcon

by Leane Verhulst

Have you ever taken extra vacation days (orholiday as they say in other countries) when going toWorldcon? A few days before or a few days after tosight-see and enjoy the destination? Have you ever hadtrouble trying to find people who want to do the samething? Well I have.

A few years ago when Worldcon was in Mon-treal (Anticipation, 2009), I wanted to do a little sight-seeing, but all the people I knew who were also going,had other plans or weren’t planning to spend extra

days. So I ended up just going for the convention and I

didn’t spend any extra time in the city which made mevery sad. I decided then that I wanted to take extradays to enjoy the destination. This made a lot of senseas the year following Montreal had Worldcon in Aus-tralia.

I spent 3 weeks in Australia for Worldcon (Aus-siecon 4, 2010). My friend Sandy and I traveled to Mel-

bourne for the convention and then headed to Sydney,then to the Blue Mountains, then to the outback (Bro-ken Hill) and then back to Melbourne. It was really fun.But (there’s always a but), I think it would have been alittle bit more fun if we could have connected up withfellow travelers and had a group to do things with. Sofor 2011, I was determined to try to get a group to-gether.

Worldcon in 2011 was in Reno (Renovation),

and I wanted to spend a few days before the conven-tion doing some sight-seeing of the area nearby Reno.I was able to get a group together consisting of Sandy,Rick, Norman and myself. We got together the Sat-urday before Worldcon and went to Carson City (an

hour south of Reno and the capital of Nevada) for afew days. We explored the city and visited a few muse-ums, went to the nearby city of Virginia City where wedressed up in wild west gear for a photo op, and wentto Lake Tahoe which was beautiful! We took the sklift up the side of the mountain all the way to the topSpectacular views!

I had the best time that year in Reno. Getting agroup together and doing some exploring was so muchfun that I decided that I wanted to provide something

like that for people attending Chicon. The idea for a

department called Vacation was born.My idea for the Vacation department is to line

up people who want to do events in (or near) Chicagoand who would open up these events to other mem-bers of Chicon. Actually, the people who attend theseevents don’t even need to be members of Chicon so ifyou have a friend that plans to join you in the city, but

who can’t make the convention, they are still welcomeat these events. And also note that these events wouldbe separate from Chicon and all costs would be up tothe individuals, but I want to have free events in addi-tion to the events that may cost a fee.

There are already some events being plannedand they are:

1. A trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in KenoshaWI on Sunday, August 26th. (http://www.renfair.com/bristol/) This renfaire is a couple of hours north of Chi-cago and is a wonderful place. If enough people ex-press interest, we might rent a couple of vans or a busto drive us there, but that would depend on enough

people willing to pay for the vans or the bus to make it



affordable, otherwise carpooling is the plan. And if we

can get at least 15 people, then we can get discounttickets.

2. Can’t Stop the Serenity Charity event in Chicago,IL on Saturday, September 8th. (http://www.chicagolan-dbrowncoats.com/) This event raises money for Equal-

ity Now and The House of the Good Shepherd. In ad-dition to showing the movie Serenity, it has a costumecontest, a charity auction and there might even be animprov team performing an episode of Firefly. Maybe.You never know.

3. Outings to see the Chicago Cubs play at WrigleyField. (http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/) The Cubs will beplaying at home from August 24th thru September 2nd.At this time, no specific days have been decided upon.

4. An outing to the Museum of Science and Industry.(http://www.msichicago.org/) No date has been decid-ed yet. This museum is a wonderland, seriously. I havespent hours and hours in this place and still don’t think I’ve seen everything. What’s really cool though, is thatthere will be a special exhibit at the museum until Sep-tember 3rd – “Mythbusters: The Explosive Exhibition”.Doesn’t that sound like a blast?

5. A beer tasting. No date has been decided yet. A fanplans to find some nearby bars that have local brewson tap and go do some tastings. There are quite a fewmicro breweries in Chicago – it’s been growing in thelast few years.

Those are the events lined up so far, but thereare so many other things to do. The Lincoln Park Zoowhich is free and accessible by public transportation.

The Sears Tower. The John Hancock building. The FieldMuseum. Adler Planetarium. The Shedd Aquarium. TheArt Museum. Millennium Park. Grant Park. The JazzFestival. Navy Pier and the Ferris Wheel. Boat tours.Architecture tours. Ghost tours. Gangster tours. Shop-ping along the Magnificent Mile. Theaters. Shows. Con-

certs. Restaurants. So many things!!!And that’s the problem – there are so many

things to do that one person or a few people just can’t

line everything up. So that’s where you (yes, YOU),come in. We need people who are interested in liningup an event to step up and let us know. An event can beas simple as a dinner outing for 8 people to as complexas an outing like the Bristol one where money needsto be collected ahead of time and where vans or a busmight need to be rented.

If you are interested in running an event or if

you just want more information about events beingplanned, send an email to [email protected] andwe’ll get you set up.

I hope we hear from you. Chicon is going to begreat!



Letter Graded MailSent to [email protected]

by our Gentle Readers

Well, it seems that Before Watchmen got some

folks talking! Let’s start with an awesome bit from

Julien West!

In a shock move, Everyman announced a rangeof new books based on characters from Salman Rush-die’s 1981 Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight’s Chil-dren. Authors such as Martin Amis, Ian McEwan andWill Self will be writing a range of novels and shortstories based on the characters and plotlines of thenovel. In addition, Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling hasagreed to produce a shorter version of the novel for

younger readers. “I’m very excited” she said. “Midnight’sChildren is one of the outstanding works of magic real-

ism of the twentieth century, and I write books aboutmagic for children. It couldn’t be a better fit.”

Mr Spokesman, a spokesman for Everyman, said“We’re delighted to be able to move the Midnight’sChildren franchise forward in this way. So many fanshave been asking for some new adventures starring

these beloved characters, and now at last we are ableto satisfy them. Obviously we would have liked Salmanto be involved in some way, but sadly that has prov-en impossible. He’s very difficult to get hold of, youknow.”

When asked whether there would be moreMC related product forthcoming, Mr Spokesman said“We aren’t ruling anything out. Martin would love todo a crossover with the characters from the Money

universe. Frankly, if the demand is there, we’ll do it.”Mr Rushdie could not be reached for com-

ment.Julian West

And I eagerly await it!

And now, Mr. Warren Buff!

Well, Chris, you and James have done it – you’veactually got me writing a second LoC in a relatively

short period of time. I find some merit to both theargument that DC shouldn’t be milking Watchmen formore stories for a quick buck against Alan Moore’swishes, but also to the argument that they’re withintheir rights per the contract.

But ultimately, for me, it comes down to thiswhatever they do won’t change Watchmen. It will stilread as a complete work, whole and great. Alan Moorewill still be deprived of his creations per the contract(as will Dave Gibbons – there’s a distinct lack of DaveGibbons in most of the opinions you’ve run). In a simi-

lar manner, I know that Kevin J. Anderson and BrianHerbert are pumping out more and more Dune novelsBut that doesn’t matter to me – I don’t even bother

with Frank Herbert’s sequels, because I found the firstto be a complete story, which I could put down, andlove as it was (and trying to read his sequels was asgrating to me as the Paul-and-Jessica-go-camping-in-the-desert bit of the original was to you). I don’t loseanything from my enjoyment of Dune for there beingsequels and prequels. And as that poem we put to-

gether at the FenCon dead-dog and gave you for issue300 should show, we can have a good laugh about themtoo.That may be the most important point. No fur-

ther creation taints the original. This is something

that audiences get that Creators often can’t get a

handle on.

I’m not a believer in this idea that if you cre-ate a character or world, it is now and forever yourplayground and you can throw anyone else out if you

damn well please. Some of the best stories in literature



come from folks playing where they weren’t welcome.

Let’s look back to one of my favorite novels of all time,Don Quixote. See, it was actually written in two parts,with Cervantes doing an extended stay in prison be-tween the publication of the two. But folks wantedmore, and someone stepped up and brought a secondbook of adventures of Don Quixote to the market inthe interim. It pissed Cervantes off. It should have

pissed Cervantes off. But he responded in the bestpossible way – when Don Quixote starts encountering

folks in his continuing adventures, some of them haveread the first collection, and eventually, some have readthe “false second half”. And then, Cervantes kills of hischaracter. Nothing more can be claimed to be in the“canon”, and yet, folks continue to use Don Quixote intheir own stories (including Alan Moore). Cervantesgot his revenge for a literary offense in a literary me-dium. Alan Moore would do well to do the same.

I understand that I’m not taking up a popularview here, but it falls into the distinction between legalrights and moral rights. I don’t believe anyone has amoral right to exclusive use of an idea. We make that alegal right in our society (and granting such is a specifi-cally designated power of Congress in the US) becauseit encourages the creation of art, literature, and newtechnologies. Now, claiming you’ve created somethingyou didn’t is morally wrong – there’s a distinction here

between building upon someone else’s work and tryingto appropriate it in its entirety. Stripping my name off

of this letter of comment and inserting another (let’ssay Harlan Ellison, since he’s been a recent subject of a Drink Tank issue) would be wrong. It’s wrong in thesame way that claiming you did the dishes when yourlittle brother did is wrong. But there’s nothing aboutan idea that makes it my territory, even if I’m the first

one to have it (and I’m still waiting to have a whollyoriginal idea – very few of us ever do). Watchmen is awork – claiming it as your own or profiting on it with-out compensating the folks who worked on it wouldbe wrong. But its characters and setting are ideas.One of the greatest things about ideas is that they canbe shared and expanded. Those expansions aren’t al-ways interesting (as Before Watchmen isn’t to me), andthey aren’t always welcome (as it clearly isn’t to Alan

Moore). Nonetheless, there’s nothing morally wrongwith the project – it’s just reusing ideas, and making noclaims to having originated them. An interesting take. I would argue that the

way DC has treated Moore in teh past is morally

wrong, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is

a good idea. In my eyes, they are unconnected, but

I can see how folks would couple them up. I hope

they give Moore back the rights, but I doubt it will

happen in my lifetime.

Good issue, guys. I’m always happy to be ableto get into arguments about the various areas of valuetheory, and when I can dive into the ethics and aesthet-ics pools at the same time, all the better!

- Warren Buff And always good to have you in the pages!

And now, on issue 307, John Wardale!

Thanks for the email copy!

I know I’m 2 issues too late for this, but I on the oddchance that you’ve missed this, I’m including it here ..and Best of Luck to Chis for Dramatic Performance

- Short form at Chicon-7!!! And I thank you!

307 Ale

There’s many drinks you’ll drink m’lads on every worldthat’s new.There’s Saurian Brandy, Cranapple Schnapps, and agood old Tullimore Don’t.

There’s Bush & Becks & Bud & Bock & others dark andpale...but I think you’ll find the finest kind is 307 Ale.

chorus:

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It started down at MIT one lazy summer day.When a couple of the frat-boy techies started in to



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<chorus>

They added choice ingredients to brew a little brew.But they didn’t know the wires were crossed in cham-

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<chorus>

It bubbled and it burbled and it glowed a fizzly green,and what it did to test equipment frankly was ob-scene.It took a while to find a vial that wouldn’t burst toflame,then they measured out it’s potency and that’s how itwas named.

<chorus>

There’s many drinks you’ll drink m’lads but this one

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And I love it!

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