Andrew Bird at Fourth Presbyterian Church, by Joshua Mellin

Along a frozen Michigan Avenue, amongst towering skyscrapers, a Bird’s somber whistle fills a golden trimmed wood cathedral. This Bird, however, is not of the feathered flock.

Just a few years ago you may have heard him whistling down a Logan Square street, yet this year alone he’s played grandiose venues around the city, from the Civic Opera House to the Art Institute’s new Modern Wing and the 94th floor of the Hancock Observatory.

This time around, Chicago native Andrew Bird chose the Fourth Presbyterian Church to showcase his series of sold out “Gezelligheid”-themed shows. Dutch for “social cozy,” the four night home stand helped bring a calming end to a whirlwind 2009 tour to support his fourth studio album Noble Beast.

“What I hope to do with these shows is adapt my music completely to the atmosphere of the space and the season,” Bird said, describing how he envisioned the shows.

“I want the audience to be both lifted and comforted as we head into another cold and dark winter. I feel the space should be sacred so the audience can experience my music in a different atmosphere.”

After injuring his ankle opening night, a grizzled Bird hobbled to the stage and took a seat underneath a giant fuzzy hat. “Man-on-hat, is there a term for that?” he asked the audience. “I’m sure there is.”

Deciding against setting up a PA system to highlight the acoustics of the cathedral walls, the shows were marked with interference from radio station WNUA, broadcast directly across the street from John Hancock’s radio antenna. Intermittently the audience could swear they heard Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

Amplified by only his trademark spinning double speaker horns swirling behind him and four custom made Specimen speaker sculptures, Bird invited the audience into his cozy musical inner sanctum.

Lit by only ambient light, he presented rare gems such as a live rendition of “The Barnyard Tapes,” a track he originally recorded at his second home, a farm three hours west of the city. “It’s missing the crickets and cicadas,” he said, “but they’re out of season.”

Also featured was the rarely played “Carrion Suite,” a playful take on Sesame Street classic “I in the Sky,” and a solo version of his latest single “Fitz and the Dizzyspells.”

Known for his generally awkward stage presence, Bird managed to crack a smile. “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” a visibly comfortable Bird confessed before closing the night with a somber version of Bob Dylan’s “Oh, Sister.”

As the crowd scurried back out into the frozen tundra of a mid-December Michigan Avenue, their hearts were warmed by the looping melodies that “accidently fit the season.”

From the Skyway to the controversial parking meter lease, the city has sold assests while looking for other possible revenue streams — even the city’s public water system. Fioretti worries these may be signs of a larger issue within the city.

“What rabbit will they pull out of the hat next?” he wondered. “Is there even anything left in the hat?”

Earlier this month, Fioretti joined Ald. Thomas Tunney (44th) and Ald. Thomas Allen (38th) and voted against the 2010 budget in a 38-12 vote — one of the largest “no” votes of the Daley administration.

Mayor Daley challenged the aldermen to come up with alternatives to fill the $525 million budget gap. However, Fioretti said the offer was largely political.

“I don’t think [the Mayor] was listening. We still had a month to finalize the budget; he could have looked at our ideas,” Fioretti said.

Those ideas included borrowing less, suspending the city’s $35 million property tax assistance fund “if only for a year,” cutting waste and inefficiency, plus dipping into the city’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund that is used for business development.

Fioretti also voted against the budget his first year in office in 2007, saying his constituents couldn’t afford the proposed tax hikes.

Now with the 2010 budget, although it has no new taxes or fines, he said he voted “no” because the budget “relies too heavily on borrowing with no detailed plan on how to pay any of it back.”

Fioretti said he was concerned because the city had already exhausted most of the $1 billion parking meter lease in the first year of the 75-year deal.

“This budget was a stopgap measure,” Fioretti explained. “I was surprised when I saw unemployment went down; they must have missed some numbers because we have people coming in here looking for jobs all the time.”

“Our ward represents the City of Chicago, we’re so diverse in everything we do,” he said of the roughly 80,000 residents that live in the bustling South Loop corridor — businessmen, students and families.

“We see the problems, and we try and stay ahead. If you can stay ahead and anticipate, you can be ahead of the game.”