If you were to take a look at my iTunes collection, you'd notice two genres that are substantially larger in song quantity when compared to an "average" person.  The first is "Christmas", which isn't a surprise for anyone who has participated in my annual Steve's 25 Days of Christmas Music countdowns.  The other is "Disney Theme Park", which features songs, area music, soundtracks, and other related audio from Disney-owned theme parks around the world.

The Official Album of Disneyland (2008)

Thus, you have to understand my excitement when I'm able to add some new audio to this collection.  There is quite a bit of Disney theme park audio out there, and to be honest, most of it is unofficial and obtained via "underground" means.  However, since 1980 Disney has released what they termed "Official Albums" for their parks, eventually growing from a single LP into multi-CD sets that cover Disneyland or Walt Disney World.  Other special sets have also been released to compliment this genre, such as 2009's 5-disc Walt Disney and the 1964 World's Fair set or 2005's elite 6-disc release to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Walt's original park, A Musical History of Disneyland.

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On Thursday night, Amy and I headed downtown to Millennium Park to catch some music as part of the "Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz 2010" series.  We did this last year as well and really enjoyed the night of quality tunes under the stars.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion at night

In effect, taking part in something like this is a lot like going to Ravina, with the suburban "snootiness factor" dialed down considerably.  Since there is a large lawn at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, you can bring along a blanket and chairs, dinner, and some wine, and just enjoy some great jazz.

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Last night we headed over to Indian Boundary Park on the North Side to catch another one of the Chicago Park District's summer "Movies in the Park" showings. Over the years, we've experienced many of these free films, including Surf's Up, Kung Fu Panda, and The Bourne Ultimatum. This time around it was one of our favorites… Clue.

Eerie evening sky over "Clue"

We were joined by our friend Nick Rosario — as well as his sister Heather and her two daughters. We made some food and brought it with us to have a little picnic ahead of time, "poor man's Ravinia" style!

Amy & Steve

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On June 18, we had a pretty fierce storm blow through Chicago, which brought rain and high winds to our neighborhood. When everything was calm, we assessed the area around our condo buildings and found that a large branch from one of our trees had broken off and fallen into the street.

Storm-damaged Tree (6/18/10)

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- Steve & Amy