I went to visit my brother this weekend in Chicago. We went to a President’s Day party Saturday at his friend’s place. Know what? Chicago is COLD in February. Sunday I had lunch in Chinatown.

Chicago is nice place to visit. It is even better when the weather is warmer. The pictures below are of my brother caught in an Edison moment and a blurry image of the Sears Tower from the Metra train.

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Kevin with a Lightbulb

Sears Tower from the Metra

The Poe Toaster continues a fifty year old tradition. Every year on the day of famed author Edgar Allan Poe‘s birthday a topcoat-clad stranger visits the Poe grave and leaves three roses and a bottle of cognac. The three roses probably represent the poet, his wife and mother. The cognac, however, is a mystery. Poe’s work mentions wine, but never cognac.

Lets hear it for fine literature! Take a break today. Turn off your television and boycott the latest Hollywood stinker. In the words of The Raven: “Merely this, and nothing more.”

Kevin told me that National Public Radio had a story about the toaster.

On the weekend of the 21st I hopped on a train and went to visit Kevin in Chicago. After a tour of the Sears Tower, we met with his friend and headed for dinner at the Mashed Potato Club. Eventually, we ended up with the Co-ed Prison Sluts at the Annoyance Theater.

I fear I will have a difficult time topping that one when he comes down to visit me in St. Louis! Heh.

Kevin, my brother, recently contributed a track to the album: Requiem – For the Children of the Oklahoma City Bombing. The tune is entitled “Cement Skeleton” and appears under the band name Kevin Dumps Core.

Ballistic Test Zine, an online mag that covers the industrial/dark ambient/goth Christian music scene, has posted a review.

For more information drop by Kevin’s site.