absinthe

Last night I stopped by a relatively new (I think) Chicago club called "Lucky Number" which is sort of ironic, because in 1979-81 I spent a lot of time at another Lucky Number, later/better known as Club 950... one of the early punk/new wave clubs, long fallen victim to gentrification now.

This new place, which I assume is unrelated, caters more to a goth crowd, at least in the second floor space. There are regular DJ events. It's not all that far from where the old Lucky Number was, maybe a couple of miles west, but it's far enough that it's still easy to park.

I sat at the bar and scoped out the light, looking for future photo ops. Not much light, except behing the bar and by a pair of exit signs. If I'm going to document this current iteration of the counterculture, it may need to wait til spring when I can take people outside under the streetlights. Or perhaps work the west coast for now, and return here after the thaw.

I did have a nice conversation with the bartender, who calls herself Lolly Gagger, and grabbed a candid shot or two of her. On the way out I met the editor of a year old goth 'zine, and looked through the most recent issue. Looking at the masthead, at the contributors... I know several of them. I've photographed three of them, have backed another one up in a streetfight.

The counterculture, as always, is a very small world.