On Monday morning we left Brooklyn bound for Chicago and Lollapalooza. Lolla weekend last year we gave away over 4,500 free treats so we knew we had a busy trip in store. On the drive west we made a pitstop in Cleveland to hang out with Dameon from Jakprints and to pick up some new Ice Cream Man logo stickers. The new batch has info on our Road Trippin’ Babelgum series on the back and also a discount coupon for PacSun.
Even though we were arriving in Chicago on Tuesday night we knew we wouldn’t really have anytime to play around, on Wednesday we ended up running all over town. Ben & Jerry’s donated 3000 shorty cups and Kate and I picked them up early on Wednesday before we stopped by Comer Childrens Hospital to give away some Cherry Garcia, Vanilla, and Mint Chocolate Cookie. It was the second year we’ve stopped there and I love that they have an ice cream push cart that we can fill up and push around the hospital for a couple hours.
Thursday morning started out with stops at Dollop Coffee and a couple Doejo haunts and Windish Agency for an impromptu BBQ. The main reason we were out that day was to hit up 826 Chicago, a non-profit learning center we like. The timing was perfect and we were able to give away ice cream during two different classes.
From here it should have been smooth sailing but I sort of messed up and booked our hotel room for the following weekend and we were suddenly homeless for the duration of Lollapalooza. Luckily Knife’s cousin came to the rescue and we ended up having a whole empty house to stay in, and it was less than half hour west of town. Thursday night was spent slinging at Galapalooza where we got to watch Vampire Weekend and hobnob with some of Chicago’s finest.
We had big plans and high hopes for Friday but the weather put a bit of a damper on things and we didn’t end up shooting any bands or giving away much ice cream. We find that rain is often the anti-ice cream.
Like so many other days I woke up Saturday and said “today is going to be a good day.” There were clouds in the sky but it was supposed to clear and warm up. We loaded up the rest of the Ben & Jerry’s cups and a bunch of fruit bars so we were sure not to run out of cream. In addition to an awesome stockpile of treats, we also had Band of Horses lined up to stop by the truck and we were all excited to see what they would bring.
Early in the day Blind Pilot stopped by the truck and after they watched the Road Trippin’ episode with Delta Spirit they said they’d play a song. We worked out a time right before their set in a nearby garden that ended up working out perfectly. I became a fan of theirs around SXSW time when I heard their live set from The Parish on NPR. You should check it out (also the Heartless Bastards set from SXSW is rockin too).
Band of Horses had a few gigs lined up during Lolla, and after they played on the kid’s stage they headed towards us with a bunch of their friends. We’d been trying to get them on board for a while and after they watched a few episodes they decided to work out a new song with a bunch of beer bottles acting in symphony. It was definitely one of the coolest performances we’ve had yet and I had the biggest grin on my face the whole time.
And if that wasn’t enough awesome music, a week or so before Lollapalooza I ran into the guys in Builders and the Butchers outside of Kool Man Ice Cream in Brooklyn and gave them some cream. We connected again at Lolla and they sat behind the truck for a nice impromptu take of “Black Elevator”
One of the most fun things I did all weekend was to bust out the Ice Cream Man mascot costume. I’ve had it in my possession for months but was waiting for the right time to put it to good use. This was it, I threw it on and made some passes through the press area, hung out by the truck for some pics, and also headed over to the kids stage to give away some ice cream to the kiddos. I would recommend more people get mascot’s made of themselves, its a smart investment.
On Sunday we loaded up even more popsicles and I thought there was no way we’d be able to give away the 2000+ pieces we had on board. Not only did we sling it all but we did it in less than 5 hours. I think that it worked out to one treat given away every 9 seconds. Whew…. To be honest, I only gave away a hundred or two. Dameon did most of the work and Jackie, Meghann, Kate and Knife all helped out a bunch too. This video series thing has been keeping me out of truck some this summer. Busy busy. Even though it was over ninety degrees out we did manage to wrangle a couple bands in to play some music. Icy Demons from Chicago met us across the street at a sculpture garden to do a song. Then we ran back to the truck to meet up with Carney whom rocked a track in the tunnel that connects Grant Park to the Field Museum. We were planning on sticking around the fest until the very end but ended up skipping out soon after the Killers went on so that we could drop Dameon off at the airport, get some dinner, then get some rest before driving to Omaha the next day. Ahhh…. Lollapalooza, you never cease to amaze me. Hopefully next year we’ll break the cream slinging record again.
[…] band ever since they released their debut album 3 Rounds and A Sound (2008), and jammed with us at Lollapalooza back in 2009. We caught up with them again at Austin City Limits in 2010 where they played a […]