The Lines are Open

Striped shirt: Forever 21, remixed * Dress, as skirt: Forever 21, remixed * Two-tone brogues: Urban Outfitters (Deena & Ozzy), remixed

Chicago gets a pretty bad rap, guys. It gets constantly pounded for its brutal winters, sleazy politicians, gridlock traffic, and serious socioeconomic divisions. Well, okay, it deserves most of that criticism, I guess, but people forget about how unbelievably rad Chicago is during the summertime. There's ample green space (which is totally easy to forget about during the winter when just about the last thing you'd want to do would be to go outside), great museums, farmers' markets in every corner of the city, and free events galore. And the weather ain't bad, either (granted, it's been raining all day today, and will probably be 90 and humid by the end of the week, but honestly, anything's better than a windchill of -17). And speaking of free events, last night was the totally gratis Downtown Sound Series, New Music Monday* show with local mostly-girl punk-pop band Hollows and...and...She & Him! Not bad, Chi-town, not bad at all.

Millennium Park, packed to the gills with the entire under-30 population of Chicago * me and my date * M. to the Ward and Zooey D.

Joe was beyond sweet enough to head down to Millennium Park early in the afternoon to stake out a spot on the lawn in front of Pritzker Pavilion. He did an awesome job defending our territory, and I met him down there after work. And oh, my, goodness, I did not expect the crowd that greeted me once I got there!! The pavilion apparently holds approximately 11,000 people, and the place was absolutely bursting at the seams, with flocks of people waiting in the wings for a spot to open up. Needless to say, I owe Joe big time! The opening band was fun, and the She & Him set was fantastic. I've seen M. Ward before, so I knew at least partly what to expect, but Zooey's voice was, in person, every bit as powerful and haunting as it is recorded. I actually think I prefer them live. Their albums are lovely, but I've sometimes felt that they're a bit over-produced, and it was nice to hear a rawer sound with a bit more depth. Some highlights (in addition to hearing all my fave She & Him songs live, and watching the painfully adorable Zooey dance around the stage, banging on her tambourine, of course)? Audience participation during "In the Sun", a superb version of M. Ward's "Magic Trick" (better, I think, than when he does it solo), a sweet but sad cover of Joni Mitchell's "You Turn Me on, I'm a Radio", and the voice-box busting encore-ending "I Put a Spell on You". Girl's got pipes!

It was absolutely adorable to see how many of the girls in the audience dolled themselves up, Zooey-style, for the concert. I can't say I was totally exempt from that group, actually. I ended up wearing this same outfit two days in a row because it was so comfortable and perfect both for a weekend stroll through a sunny art fair as well as a day of work and the concert. I threw on my leather jacket for warmth after the sun set last night (it got chilly!), but this was the perfect outfit for the day. I've worn this dress as a dress before, and I love its flirty cut, but it's kind of too short for me to feel comfortable, so I haven't worn it in awhile. I thought of trying to adjust it to function as a skirt, and I'm thrilled that it worked so well! I actually just tucked the halter part of the skirt under the waist and pinned the straps in place so that they didn't hang below the hem. I feel like I've found a whole new, fun, bright, lightweight summer staple in my wardrobe!! And I felt so cool and breezy with this Breton striped shirt, which I've already worn countless times this season. I think my newly-declared summer uniform has some competition!

*Can I please just say that I think it's a bit odd that they classify She & Him as "new music". Volume 1 was released in 2008, and I think it's too bad that Volume 2's popularity seems to bank more on Zooey's growing star power than the quality of the music (which, I think, is filling a gap in indie pop today).

Title song: Joni Mitchell* (sung last night by She & Him!), "You Turn Me on, I'm a Radio"

*I - unintentionally! - used a different Joni Mitchell song as my title song the last time I wore this dress!!