Ever Seen A Gorilla Tango?

I promised to bring you some of the Windy City's finest hidden treasures and secret corners, and this week I like to think I've upheld my end of the bargain. If you've heard of the Gorilla Tango then you're well aware of the sparkle this crew has put in the lower crown of Bucktown. If you haven't heard of them well it's fortunate for you that you know me now, isn't it?

So What Is Gorilla Tango?

Well, contrary to the no doubt amusing image parading about in your head, it's actually one of Chicago's greatest burlesque shows. And not just any burlesque either; geek burlesque.

Seriously, the show's geek cred is unimpeachable.

For those who want to stop on in and see this show for themselves the theater is located at 1919 North Milwaukee Avenue, and there are always shows on Fridays at 9:00 and 10:30, and Saturdays at 9:00, 10:30, and 11:59.

Seriously though, if you're going to go you might as well go to the midnight showing. Don't ask questions, just trust me all right?

So What Am I Going to See?

You're going to see talented performers go through routines that will leave you unsure whether to laugh or squirm in your seat (I recommend both). Beyond that, it really depends on which show you come to. I personally found Batboobs to be great fun, but for my money Indiana Jones and The Temple of Boobs was a stand out. In more ways than one.

I see what you did there.

If you're looking for their information you can find it at their homepage. Just remember to check back often because it's something a "here today, gone tomorrow" sort of deal for some of the shows, and once it's gone baby it's really gone. No photography, no video, just memories of the laughs, the gasps, the sights, and the sounds.

Everyone stay tuned for what I share next time we come back to the Windy City's rear doors. I've got a real underground scene that some of you are going to be dying to get into.

Turning Back Midnight

I'd like to start out this week's update with an apology to my dedicated readers. I've been so caught up in the World Between that I barely made it here to give you all an update. I'm letting you know right now that the rumors are true; I'm working on a sequel to The Backdoor to Midnight.

Seriously, if you haven't read it go find it. You won't be sorry.

I can't give you all of the relevant details yet, but while I'm busy confirming things that have been flying around the web, the local chat shacks, and espresso emporiums there are a few other tasty tidbits with tangy, truthful centers.

For starters, yes it looks the Land of Midnight is here to stay. I just signed a contract for three more books, and if they do as well as my maiden manuscript did then I could be at this for a long, long time. Yes Turning Back Midnight has the same lead as my first book, and yes I'm going to answer a lot of the questions I left hanging. As to when it will be out I can't tell you that.

But I can give you a sneak peek of Brandon Blackwater's latest. If you'd like, that is...

You would? Oh good.

Chapter One
And The Clock Struck Twelve...

It was a quarter to midnight when I felt someone looking at me. The skin between my shoulder blades bunched up the way it always did, and the first two fingers on my left hand felt tight and swollen around the knuckles. I sipped my coffee, and concentrated on the gritty sweetness. That was when I saw them.

There were three of them, each with an elbow on the bar and a drink in hand. They had their down-home dress blues on, the denim carefully faded and the stainless steel on their boots polished to a shine. Their belt buckles were exactly three degrees to one side, and their sleeves had gone AWOL at some point. Tatters hung from the seams, sticking to their sweaty, tattooed shoulders like dusty battle standards. The two on the flanks were similar enough to be brothers, with lank hair and caps paying homage to one big rig army or another. It was the one in the center that caught my eye though. Big across as a mechanical bull, he wore a thick, braided mustache and prison collar points pricked the skin on either side of his bull neck in Bic pen blue.

I set my cup down on the table, and poured a little more from the pot the waitress had left, mixed in some sugar and cream, then took a drink. A guy at the counter asked for his sandwich to be wrapped up, even though he wasn't done with it yet. A pair of girls barely old enough to be out so late trailed off to silence, sinking down into their seats like pea hens trying not to be noticed. A fat man got up and walked a little to fast back toward the restrooms. Animals in the urban jungle, they smelled the forest fire that was coming.

"Hey," the leader of the trio barked. I turned slowly in my seat, putting my foot on the rung of the chair next to me.

"Is there a problem, friend?" I drawled, thickening my Dixie. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did it anyway just to rile him up.

"Yeah, there's a problem," one of the aide de camps said before the other chimed in, "a big problem."

"Is it the flag on my jacket, or the color of my skin?" I asked, giving them my biggest, brightest smile. "Because neither one of them is going to change just because you've got a problem with them."

I could tell they didn't like that. No they didn't like that one bit. So I sat, and smiled, and waited for one of them to do something about it.

I still had ten minutes to midnight. There was plenty of time.

Do you want to know how the saga of Brandon Blackwater continues? Of course you do! So stay tuned my friends, and I'll make sure you get just enough to keep you wanting more.

Welcome to The World Between

We live in a world full of holes; places where the shadows grow thick, and its so very easy to lose yourself. Buried cities long forgotten might be found behind cracked and peeling doors on no-name streets, and glorious, Gothic subway stations might be waiting beneath your feet and a thousand layers of dust for trains that are little more than echoes in the darkness. Crumbling brick back-ways buried behind coats of gangland graffiti might lead to urban courtyards filled with flowers, and tile mosaics laid down generations past and forgotten by all but a few old timers who still make pilgrimages to feel the sun on their faces. Bloodstains sit mute in the basements of crumbling churches, and abandoned dolls sit and stare from beneath iron bed frames in condemned homes that were once the only things that stood between orphans and the gutters.

My name is Adrian King, and I'll be your guide to the secret spots of the Windy City.

If I told you where this Rabbit Hole went, you'd never believe me.

For those of you wondering about my name, yes I am that Adrian King as well. The one who wrote the breakout book The Backdoor to Midnight, and which at least some of you really wish would shut up and get back to work on book two. In case you're wondering what the hell a guy who writes novels for a living knows about the behind-the-scenes sprawl of your city, all I can say is that you might be surprised. A survivor of the streets, both the mean and the clean, I've seen my share of Chicago's underside. Have you ever heard of Slasher's Cineplex? The Butcher's Sky Rise? What about the rectory at Our Lady of Sorrows that supposedly whispers a century's worth of confessions every night, and which has driven every priest who's stayed there totally mad sooner or later?

No? I thought not.

There are some stories that charge a heavy fee to hear. Stories only told around burning trash can fires in the dead of winter on lonely piers, or sleeping in doorways near an old wino who whispers in his sleep. Some tales dance over that fine line between guttersnipe myth and truth-that's-stranger-than-fiction. I've heard stories that would melt the coldest heart, and which would make curly hair go straight if I told them to you on a dark and stormy night. If you want to know more, then stay tuned; I'll be pounding the pavement and taking everyone on adventures they didn't even know were just around the corner.

Oh, I'll also be giving you updates on my books, appearances, and all of that other stuff too. Just in case you were curious.

Until next week everyone! Remember to stay on the right side of Midnight.