Aside from all the pictures of amazing Chicago architecture I wanted to share some pics from Declare INDIE 3, the music showcase that I produced last month.

The Abbey Pub, our venue for the showcase!

My drummer Lamar in the green room. South Side, what up!

Our awesome Declare INDIE t-shirts. Designed by David Wycoco. Also thanks to Blacklava for making them.

Me and my bassist Leo in the green room. Leo flew in Chicago that morning and left for O’Hare Airport a few hours after the show. Barely 24 hours!

Me with IBU hanging out backstage.

Me and the whole band. Special thanks to Sue Jin for being an honorary band member and to Ray ‘Swayy’ Oh and George Wang for making the whole evening come together! For more pics, check out the Declare INDIE facebook page.

So I’ve finally gotten a chance to settle back into the LA swing of it and wanted to put up a few pictures from my tour in April. The whole month seems like a blur with all the cities, shows, and amazing people that I met along the way. Here are a few pics from Purdue, IN and Chicago, IL during the Midwest leg.

Purdue, West Lafayette, IN

Flew from LAX to Indianapolis and then took a shuttle to West Lafayette a few hours away. My first time in Indiana. Exciting stuff.

This is ‘The Triple XXX‘, a local joint that some of the students at Purdue recommended as we were walking around campus. I didn’t have time to try the food but apparently they have killer burgers.

This was where the symposium was held all day and where I later performed. You can see the baby grand on the right. I was glad that I didn’t need to bring my keyboard. Who needs keys when you have a piano to play with!

Chicago, IL

So I was at Purdue for less than 24 hours in total. Had a great time but it seemed super fast. The next stop was Chicago for Declare INDIE 3 and I was lucky to get a ride with some visiting professors from Northwestern and U of I who had attended the symposium. Thanks, Prof. Su and Prof Kim! This was where I got dropped off: near Halsted, just west of the Sears Tower. I ended up walking into the loop to crash at a buddy’s apartment. The walk took about a half hour and felt nostalgic as I recounted sights and memories from my years of living in Chicago.

View of downtown from the north, coming down Lake Shore Drive.  You can see the Hancock Tower in the right.

Walking around River North, looking south. I lived in this neighborhood for a few years near Loyola law school. When I moved away in 2008, the Trump Tower hadn’t finished construction.

More pics to follow!

So I’ve returned from the Midwest/Northwest tour. But before I do anything else I wanted to make sure I expressed my thanks to all of you, the fans. When I got back to LA I had a batch of mail waiting for me which was awesome! To commemorate this first batch of fanmail I’ve sent everyone who wrote to me an autographed photo and made a video as my special way of saying thank you.

Thank you guys, truly. I feel so blessed to be able to pursue this crazy thing called music and you guys make it worth it every day. Special shout out to the girls at Razoo.com! You guys asked me to post this on my blog and I did!

To write to me send mail to:

Dawen Music
9854 National Blvd. #485
Los Angeles, CA 90034

So Chicago food is amazing.  Heavy and greasy, it’s not for the healthy of heart. Here are some of the places that I made sure to hit up while I was in town for the Declare INDIE showcase. If you ever visit Chicago be sure to check em out, too!

1. Fish N’ Chips – The Duke of Perth

On Wednesdays and Fridays The Duke of Perth offers all-you-can-eat Fish N’ Chips. This was an amazing deal for $9.50 so me and my old college roommate Larry decided to go while I was in town. Add some peas and a few beers and you’ve got the perfect meal. We had to be rolled out of the pub.

2. Al’s Italian Beef

Right after the Declare INDIE show I took a few of the band members to Al’s Italian Beef. The sandwiches are really soggy and greasy and make for a great albeit heavy late night meal.

3. Giordano’s Pizza

It doesn’t matter if you go for Giordano’s or Lou Malnati’s, you must try Chicago pizza. Deep dish, or ‘cake’, as I like to call it, Chicago pizza piles on what seems like an infinite amount of cheese and takes almost an hour to make. Luckily, I was able to make some room for this dish before getting on the plane.

Other Chicago foods to experience:

The Chicago dog
Hecky’s BBQ
Portillo’s
Jimmy John’s (though I was never a big fan)
any steak house in town!

This week I received my first piece of fanmail! It has truly made my week and I wanted to take the time to express my gratitude. Shoutout to Sarah, for your kind words and for sharing the poem Psalm 5 by Ernesto Cardenal! For those of you who have never heard of him, go check it out. His poetry is inspiring.

To all my faithful listeners: Thank you so much for all your continued support. It’s been a blessed time since releasing the album back in September. All the shows, the tour, the Macy Gray taping; none of it would have been possible without the love and positive energy that I’ve felt from all of you. Being able to share with you guys the music is for me, the most gratifying part of it, and I feel so lucky to have you all in my life.

Don’t know what the rest of 2010 will bring but I hope you’ll be there when it all goes down.