Last Friday night, Chicago’s Green Tie Ball raised over $200,000 for Chicago Gateway Green through ticket sales, a silent auction, and charitable gaming by Rivers Casino. Organizers count these efforts a total success, as the Green Tie Ball flourished at Alhambra Palace under the magical theme “I Dream of Greenie,” inspired by the classic American fantasy sitcom.
Guests indulged in quick, delectable bites from 25 of Chicago’s most celebrated restaurants, including Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse, Avli
Taverna, Barton G. The Restaurant, Katana, Taureaux Tavern, Sunda, and more. Entertainment included sets by top Chicago DJs including Eddie Mills, Blake Alexander, Rock City, and a performance by Brendan Bresser, as well as a set from the popular cover band, Dr. Bombay, which features Chicago Gateway Green Vice Chairman and Co-Chair, Lee Golub as the drummer. DJ Pete Wentz of the multi-platinum Grammy-nominated pop-punk band Fall Out Boy closed out the Chicago Green Tie Ball with a blend of pop-punk and hip-hop hits.
Celebrity ran wild at the Green Tie Ball. In addition to the outstanding entertainment, Frank Robb, the man who caught the Humbodlt Park Gator earlier this summer, showed up to accept an award for beautifying Chicago. Chicago emcees Roe Cann and Anna Davalantes, as well as iconic performer Chilli Pepper, made appearances, too. And, of course, guests could pose with the event’s very own Jeannie, who was gorgeously decked out in emerald green.
UrbanMatter was invited for a quick interview with Pete on the red carpet, and we made sure to ask him all the questions we’ve been dying to know the answers to.
Hella Mega [tour] was just announced. Are you excited to play at Wrigley Field again?
Pete: Yeah, that’ll be wild.
I was just at the last show. It was super amazing.
Pete: Oh, thanks for being there!
Absolutely. The website [for Hella Mega] was password-protected. Do you know what the password was?
Pete: No way. They would never tell me the password.
Are you guys big fans of The Office? The website had a gif of Dwight enticing us.
Pete: Oh, yeah.
Who’s your favorite character?
Pete: The first character I’d say off the top of my head would be Dwight probably. But maybe if I went deeper, it would be like Andy or Kevin.
He’s actually my least favorite character. He’s so annoying.
Pete: Andy is? [laughs]
So, when I brought this interview up to my coworkers, a lot of them knew you from One Tree Hill. I thought that was kind of hilarious.
Pete: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah! Wild. That was a long time ago. That’s kinda crazy.
If you were to be on a TV show now, what would it be?
Pete: That’s currently on? I would have loved to be on Game of Thrones. It’s not currently on, but I would have loved that.
If you were to be cast as one of the characters, who would you be?
Pete: I feel like I could be a Dothraki with my hair, but I don’t really know. I’m like kind of a wuss so I would probably not actually be that.
You’re also a big fan of Star Wars, is that right?
Pete: Definitely.
I always thought Kylo Ren would be a cool character in one of your music videos.
Pete: That’d be sick. Yeah, Adam Driver, get at me if you’re watching.
Weed is legal in Chicago next year. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Pete: Oh sweet. Um. I think it’s cool… [pauses]
Not really your thing?
Pete: I’m not like a big… well… I’ll be like super honest. When I smoke, I smoke like dab weed, which is legal where I live.
I’m sure that’s a lot stronger?
Pete: No, less strong! So it’s whatever. And then I went to Horror Nights Haunted House last night with a buddy and he gave me some of like regular-person weed and I was like so stoned. I was like, “Oh my god, I feel like I’m gonna die.”
The real answer is I think that it’s really rad that it can be legal. I hope that for people who are serving prison sentences for smoking or selling weed, that’ll be reconsidered, along with decriminalization.
So you’ve been playing a lot of stadiums recently. Do you ever miss playing small Chicago venues where it’s packed with impassioned fans?
Pete: Yeah, for sure. We like to try to be able to do all of it. Like three nights ago, we played the Whisky in LA, which is tiny. We grew up going to like the Fireside Bowl, so it’d be cool to do that again.
Would you say that’s your favorite venue?
Pete: Oh, for sure. But like in the era when they had like—and I don’t know what it’s like now. I feel like it doesn’t even exist—but like payphones where you could stage dive off the payphones.
Yeah, I guess that was a long time ago [laughs]. Okay, one final question. What is the cure to growing older? I’ve been dying to know since I was 13.
Pete: The cure to growing older… Fudge… I feel like I said I found it but I hadn’t really found it. Definitely music though, maybe.
Thanks so much, Pete!
At UrbanMatter, U Matter. And we think this matters.
Tell us what you think matters in your neighborhood and what we should write about next in the comments below!
Featured Image Credit: Mila Samokhina