Central Village

Busy Little Bee

In the last 30 hours or so...

I saw Tokyo Police Club at Mercury Lounge. They were a ton of fun. Go see them at The Syrup Room Thursday night for The Brooklyn Vegan/Todd P showdown.

Went to see The Streets at Webster Hall. Was their last show on tour and they totally nailed it. I don't know another performer who so enjoyably works the crowd like he does. The Modern Age recapped it perfectly. I have nothing to add.

A few pics below...

Woke up, went to Newark and got on a plane to Cabo for my Grandfather's 80th birthday party.  My Aunt is hosting us at her place out here.

After dinner, her landscaper came by and played a set of love songs as the sun set behind us. I got a copy of his tape. His voice was incredable.

Be back Saturday.

I've got a Bad Feeling About This: Darin and Jeff go see Taking Back Sunday in Long Island

Last Friday, me and my buddy, famous hipster food blogger Darin (pictured) went out to Long Island to see Taking Back Sunday, Angels and Airwaves, Head Automatica and The Subways. Nassau Colosseum...The site of my first rock show ever which was Green Day, 1994. Went with my parents and then friend Patrick, who I believe is currently in Iraq in some high ranking military position. I don't think I've spoken to him twice since we graduated 8th grade. Anyway, I remember a few things. The opener was the Pansy Division, with their hit "Butt-fuckers of Rock and Roll." Always a fun sing-along with mom and dad. Billy Joe Armstrong kept on prompting the crowd to throw our middle fingers in the air. My dad told me it was ok if I wanted to, but I didn't. Also, right before Green Day went on, a whole bunch of kids all rushed the floor from their assigned seats. Needless to say, I stayed put. It was fun no doubt, but I can't say I remember much else from the experience.

Anyway, 12 years later I make my triumphant return to the coliseum. Not a lot's changed, tho the perspective is a bit skewed. Left from work and took the LIRR from Penn station out to Hempstead. Took the bus from Hempstead to the McDonalds across from the coliseum. With us on the bus were a couple superfans with AVA and TBS sweatshirts on, and this girl in a camo miniskirt, white hoodie and giant studded belt who immediately exclaimed upon sitting down next to us "SORRY my ass is huge" It wasn't, really. Girls are weird. Anyway, I had no idea how big a dump the place is. In the middle of nowhere...not like the middle of nowhere where the meadowlands is, but just this big cement dome off some service highway. It's just so Long Island. I don't know what I expected really. It was just there.

We get off the bus with a bunch of kids, cross the highway and head over in the rain. The biggest thing that stands out about this show is how amped all the kids are to be here. After spending the last few years since college going to show after show with essentially the same people who all see a couple shows a week, then going to stuff like this, you realize why New York City crowds are so dull. It's not some make believe too cool to care attitude. That's a cop out, that new yorkers are trying extra hard to act cool or something. It's just that when you go to...or at least have the access to go to shows. There's never that sense of excitement or anticipation to see a band. Sure, maybe you've been waiting WEEKS to finally see Band of Horses live, but that's nothing compared to how some of these kids feel to finally have Taking Back Sunday come to town. Many of these kids,have been looking forward to this show for months. For some, it might be their first rock show ever. Maybe they'll go to warped tour in a few months. Maybe they will come into the city for one more show this summer, but that's it. They have been, and will be talking about this night for a long time. Being around that excitement is really unparalleled. Maybe you gotta take an hour train ride to really get it. I dunno.

We got there too late for The Subways. Bummer, as I was looking forward to seeing them again. Head Automatica were next. They are kind of fun, but don't really sound that great live. They have some catchy songs, but it comes across a lot better on record I think. Angels and Airwaves were billed as a co-headliner, but Long Islands is total TBS country, and they were clearly another opener here. The crowd was probably pretty into them tho, and they were ok, but Tom Delonge really seems to have lost his mind. His hair is all greasy, was wearing a dirty white t-shirt and had was carrying a bit of extra baggage in the torso. He rambles on and on about this utter nonsense about grasping your moments in life and all that. He seems like your friends older brother who smokes a lot of weed and talks to you like you're 6 years younger than you are. Granted, he WAS talking to kids 6 years younger than me, for the most part, but, I mean, the whole "have you ever been in love?" talk was just so trite and over the top. The music isn't bad, for the most part, but Tom just thinks it's SO much better than it really is. You can almost hear him think to himself before he plays a song "This shit is gonna blow these kids minds. Its the best song they'll ever hear. I'm gonna stand up on the drum riser with my arms extended like Jesus and just soak in all their admiration and awe. God, I'm so good" Creepy, almost.

After AVA, there was a bit of down time. Someone puked in the pit, and it was fun watching people stand around and laugh at the kids who walked through it. Then it happened. The kids started rushing the floor. Just like in 94. But more followed. And more and more and more. Whereas 12 years ago it seemed like a bunch or daring kids, here it was almost everybody. And there was absolutely no effort to stop them. What could you do, really? What is one security guard gonna do with literally thousands of kids charging at him? What's the point of stopping one and letting the rest go through? No point.

So the pit went from a little more than half packed to nearly bursting at the seams. Not sure how safe it was, but it certainly looked cool. So many people all crammed in one space, trying to get as close as they could to the band. It looked like some big festival. Girls on shoulders, bottles getting tossed in the air. All that was missing was a 20 square foot Welsh flag waving around and you could have mistaken it for a snapshot of the Redding Festival or something.

Naturally, the crowd completely loses their shit when the band comes on. Constant screaming, singing, cheering, jumping around. We had these great seats on the lower level, right off to the side and got a great view of the stage and the crowd. The kids behind us were loving every minute. I love that guy on the right. He can't believe it! That was the greatest thing ever! I don't even remember what had happened. Probably one of the singer's ridiculous mic twirling tricks where he tosses it in the air 20 feet before catching the chord on his shoulder, and in one motion swings it around his neck again and again till it's all wrapped up. I know I was pretty impressed. I don't think I ever grabbed my head in disbelief, but it pretty cool.

They play through the set like pros. My favorite move is the slow run from the back of the stage to the front by the guitar or bass player. You just can't have that at a club show. There's simply not enough room. There is no No 'Error: Operator', despite it being the hottest jam off the new album. They didn't play Darin's favorite track off the first record, 'No I in Team' either, but they hit all the rest of the favorites. It was just super fun. Being in a giant arena again to see a rock show is such an unparalleled experience. I saw TBS at Irving not too long ago, and Angels and Airwaves at Bowery. Both shows were fun, but the enormity of this show made it a completely different beast. You don't complain about the sound quality or the drink prices. It's just all laid out there, take it or leave it. Every aspect of the show somehow feels secondary.

After the show we headed outside to...um, try and catch the bus back to the LIRR. The creepiness factor, which had lingered throughout the evening, really turned it up a couple notches at this point. Lots of kids standing out near the bus stop. Many had a parent waiting to pick them up. I asked a couple kids jokingly if they were heading back to Brooklyn. They looked back at me with an appropriate level of disgust. Whatever.

Sooner or later it started to rain. An airport van pulled up before the bus, offered a ride to the train station for three dollars a head. Sure, getting into a strange van outside a emo rock show is just about the sketchiest thing ever, but it was raining and the van seemed somewhat official. Darin inexplicably asks the driver if he could, if we wanted him to, take us to Laguardia airport, to which he answers a little too quickly "sure!". We just go to the train station tho. Darin covered the expense.

We weren't alone, either. Mostly people who all admitted to be 22 years or older, including our old friend in the camo skirt from the bus coming out. Clearly a few extra years life experience is enough to realize that waiting in the rain for who knows how long to save a dollar on the city bus is not a smart idea. Getting in vans off the side of the highway is totally the mature decision.

We get to the LIRR and realize we can take the train straight to Flatbush, which is perfect cause we were heading to Darin's DJ night in Brooklyn anyway. If was nice to be there early and all, but there's a bit of time to kill before the 12:05 train takes off. Everyone makes themselves comfortable. The platform was protected from the rain. We get on the train and fall asleep. I think I get why people are so grouchy from Long Island when they're in the city. You don't feel good after falling asleep on that train. I was in the worst mood. We get a cab who slowly managed his way to Finger on the Pulse. Darin claims he's a sparks and 2 whiskey shots from being back in action. I don't believe him, but he pulls it off. I take it a bit easier for the rest of the night and head home after a few drinks. The party goes all night, I hear.

So...Bonnaroo: Day 3

Day 0 (Thursday) recap
Day 1 recap
Day 2 recap
Pictures from Day 1
Pictures from Day 2
Pictures from Day 3
Gothamist review of Day 1
Gothamist review of Day 2
Gothamist review of Day 3

Ok, day three. This might take a while, so bear with me. Wake up after a very acceptable 5 hours of sleep or so. It's a little bit cooler than the previous days, tho the tent is still an oven. A little breezy when I go outside. Rain coming, perhaps? I remember looking at a weather report before leaving and it saying this was a possibility. Anyway, nothing eventful this morning. We strip down the tents, pack everything up quickly, and it rains.

I put on this American Apparel shell I always trick myself into thinking is waterproof, and it was a light enough rain the the illusion held up for a little while longer. Anyway, sooner or later we head in to Centeroo and plan on meeting up with the Michigan girls later on. Turns out that'd be the last we'd see them, cause when I called one of them a few hours later, they were already on the road heading back. Oh well. They were funny. We hooked up on myspace once we all got home, so maybe we'll stay in touch. TBD.

We plan on hanging out during the day and catching the shuttle bus back after Sonic Youth and before Phil and Friends. I leave all our stuff back in the press area. People were leaving laptops and personal items around there all weekend, didn't think it'd be that big a deal. And it wasn't. Everyone back there was too busy doing their own thing to pay attention. Nonetheless, I make a point to poke back there every couple hours throughout the day to make sure everythings cool. It always was.

It was another great day of music. I was running out of energy tho after 3 days of this shit. I wanted to fight to the front for every set and rock out, but I really couldn't bring myself to it. Got up for BYO Pet, then for the rest I snuck in the sides near the stages and couldn't get much closer. I resorted to sitting back and listening to these bands a lot. It just got to be too much.

A couple backstage moments to mention. First, right after BYO Pet, who I finally was really able to get into, (and subsequently, have been listening to the album more since) I see two of the kids doing an interview with John Norris for MTV. There were a lot of artists back there all weekend, and I more or less minded my own business and kept my camera away, but this was too good. I also saw a very wasted Drea de Mateo stumbling around right around the same time at like 2:00 in the afternoon, hanging on to boyfriend Shooter Jennings. That was funny. People all weekend had seen her and said she is (Ohmagah!) so much hotter in person than she is on TV(!) I thought she looked exactly the same as she does on TV. I mean, come on...she's such a cartoon character of a hot girl. A Jessica Rabbit, if you will. It doesn't change for people like that.

Sorry, sidetrack. One thing back there that did piss me off was Matisyahu's shtick. He's the worst self promoting publicity hog ever. I started writing this whole rant on that dude, but I don't think I'm gonna end up posting it. He's just such a self aware gimmick. And an attention whore. And he gets away with it cause people are scared of the religious thing. 2 things...One, having lunch with all your hassid friends in full garb IN THE PRESS AREA just to make sure that every Journalist and Photographer will see you and take a picture is too much for me. Second was at the press conference, while on stage with Phil Lesh, Mike Skinner, Steve Earle at first to, completely unprovoked, sing a Hebrew prayer into the mic over his bottle of water. You know, just in case you didn't realize he was Jewish. Do that shit on your own time, man. If you actually forgot to bless your goddamn water, mutter the prayer to the side or under your breath. Show some humility, please. It's embarrassing.

But the rest of the day is fine. Until we realize the shuttle bus back to the airport isn't running till 6am the next morning, we have no backup plan and all our gear is packed up. All nighter!!! I was kind of excited. Colin was not. We consider maybe getting a ride with those two girls, but that wouldn't have worked for a number of reasons. Nobody else I know is going back in that direction.

I was really not looking forward to seeing Phil Lesh, but there was nothing else to do, so we all head up and lay out a blanket towards the back of the main stage area. I was so ready to be bored out of my mind, I even made a point to make sure my game boy was accessible. But, as it turns out, Phil Lesh is pretty awesome and plays Dead songs the whole time. I dig the Dead, so that's was very cool. We were dancing around and enjoying ourselves...then it rained. POURED! I was so caught off guard. My pretend rain shell finally proved completely useless and I was completely drenched. Yikes.

We all leave a bit early and duck under some concession stand area to get out of the rain. I fear for my gameboy and Camera, tho it seemed my Sidekick was the ultimate causality from the storm. It's been completely broken and worthless ever since then. I had one clean, dry shirt left and a dirty, but dry and warm hoodie that I threw on. By this point the rain had slowed down a bunch, and the girls and their guy friend decide it's time to go home. It's like a little after 11 at this point. Our bus isn't until 6am. Our flight isn't until nearly 3:00 the next afternoon. God, this was such a bad idea. We head back to help them all pack up and head out. The idea is floated once again to hitch a ride to DC, then take a train home, but after seeing the car all loaded up, it wasn't gonna happen. We say goodbye, they take off, and Colin and I head back in to get our duffel.

I grab the duffel (which was dry, thank god. I randomly moved it from behind some van to inside the actual press tent, just to get it out of the way. Glad I did) and we head back up to where we went to get out of the rain. There are a few people laying around under there. I crack open my last monster and Colin and I try not to think about what we're going to do for the next 15 hours without a tent or a place to stay till our flight takes off. Finally, sometime around 1, a security guard comes around and tells us the mounted cops are gonna come through, and we should get out of Centeroo. He pokes the rest of the people laying around and tells them the same thing. One Bonnaroo all-star gets woken up, and without skipping a beat scoops a big key and BLOWS A GIANT RAIL right there and is up and on her way! Not 3 seconds after the guy woke her up. I don't even think he got to finish explaining why she had to move. Good God. Those keys should be bronzed and sent directly to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

With nothing left to do and nowhere to go, we wander over to where the bus was supposed to pick us up. There were two girls from New Hampshire already there waiting. They were super nice, just like everyone else we met all weekend. There was also this hippie ninja hiding in the woods the whole time with his face totally wrapped up in tshirts so all you could see were his eyes. We didn't talk to him, but the dude never went to sleep. he just sat back and watched all night.

So the girls got our hopes up by saying they heard the bus was leaving every hour from the spot. They were unfortunately proven wrong quickly, as nothing came. The bus stop was right on a corner between the main camping grounds and another one that was a bit further down. We got to see quite the cast of characters walk past all night. At the end of this dark road, there were just a bunch of giant spotlights. It looked like that part in the Truman show that he gets to right before the world ends. We never knew where it went, but we never really wanted to know. It was the end. All we knew was that the Bus was gonna come from there sooner or later. Later, really.

We befriend a couple of the security guards while we're sitting around. One of which was telling us some creepy shit about the festival. Everyone at this point had heard about the two public deaths. One was a kid that got hit by Ricky Scaggs tour bus on the highway. The other was a guy who fell off the back of a pickup truck, hit his head on the road and died. Scary kinda, but stuff like that happens. What THEY don't tell you is apparently of all of the unreported ODs. Since the festival grounds are open 24 hours, people end up not making it back to camp (if they have a camp to begin with.) He told us that every morning, security walks around the tents and stages and pokes everybody who is just down there passed out. Most get up and go somewhere else. Some simply don't wake up. They are quietly airlifted out of the grounds before most people are awake. I guess their taken to a hospital, but they are presumed dead. He personally knew of 5 people from Saturday night. That's some scary shit, if you ask me. You come down to roo for the weekend, get really stoned for 72 hours straight, and when you finally come down, you realize one of your friends is dead. Can you imagine? Gosh. Drugs suck.

There were some lighthearted moments, as well. One of the girls asked to check out my ipod, which of course currently has TWO Taking Back Sunday Albums. Oops. I got my speakers out and we jammed out to some Lo-Fi-Fnk and Godspeed You! Black Emperor for a bit. Neither was much of a hit with the crowd. At some point in the evening, this redneck kid walks by all hepped up and says "Hey guys, can I get a Beer? Some n_gger just punched me in the face" Huh? Whoh. Slow down buddy. You just don't hear that kind of talk every day. Before anyone got to ask him what was going on, he confesses he "Tried to steal his bowl, but whatever." We tell him we don't have any more beer, but there were some cans of salmon, tomato paste and pineapples in the food drive box that was set up nearby. He grabs the pineapple (thank god) and just starts WHALING on a metal gate with it till a hole in the side. he sucks out the juice runoff, throws the can away near the unflinching ninja, mutters "Fucking n_ggers" under his breath and runs off. We all were kinda speechless for a good 20 minutes. What on earth just happened?!?! Are you kidding me? Did that really happen? Did he really just say that? Jesus, where are we?

After that, and running into a number of other colorful (tho not that colorful) kids walking back and forth, I get into my sleeping bag cause it's cold and I'm still pretty wet from the waist down, and end up dozing off by the side of the road for about an hour or so. Colin, who snagged the last red bull, stays up chatting with the security guy.

At about a quarter to 6, the bus shows up. a line had formed behind us. The girls had passed out, the ninja was still crouched in the woods keeping an eye on things and the security guy basically made it his business to make sure nobody got in line in front of us. We get on and I pass out right away again till we get to the airport.

Once there, at around 7:00 or so Monday morning, Colin has the great idea to, instead of checking in right away, sneaking into this bathrooms on the baggage claim level. There's obviously nobody down there this early. We get to use a functional toilet and real running water for the first time since early Thursday. Amen. It was generally not nearly as satisfying as I would have hoped, but it made a big difference getting thought the next 13 hours till we get back to the apartment.

From there it was pretty uneventful. After a failed attempt to get on standby for an earlier flight, I pass out for a good 4 hours near our gate. That was the best night sleep I had gotten in 5 days, pretty much. A short three hours later, the plane starts to board, we get on, fall asleep again, and are home by 8:00. The first thing I think to do, after taking a nice long shower, is download the video of the My Morning Jacket set.

I miss it, I'll tell ya. Even with all the travel wrinkles, it couldn't have gone smoother. The whole place is run with no rules at all, yet everything goes off pretty smoothly and without incident.  It's so obvious how something like Woodstock 99 could happen, but when it's run correctly, it just seems to work itself out. Everyone we met and hung out with was unrealistically fun, friendly and happy to help if we needed anything. It was great to surround myself with great music all day long without having to read and hear 20 peoples reactions and opinions immediately after. There is NO WAY I could take in music like that in New York. It was so refreshing. It makes me want to get out and do this more often. Hopefully one more time somewhere this summer. At the very latest, Bonnaroo 2007.

What I'm listening to: Bonnaroo Edition

Last week I did that post where I posted all the songs I listened to on my ipod. I liked it. I need some structure for this site. I need to write more. Problem is, it takes me a long time to write these posts. I'm gonna try to do a post like this every week. A little break from Bonnaroo, sorta. This post is dedicated to those two random drugheads above who wandered past our tent one morning.

Anyway...what's on my ipod...

1.Lo-Fi-Fnk - City
Honestly, whats better than Gay Swedish Techno? Ask yourself again after listening. Was a hit at the Bonnaroo Campsite (not really) and while waiting for the bus all night on Sunday (Sort of, not really either tho) (Cred: Joey's discovery back last year, Darin and Greg's persistence)

2.Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
I've loved these guys for a while, and even more after seeing them last CMJ. I'm super excited they're finally coming back to NYC (Cred: KEXP playing Kissing Families twice a day for months)

3.Sigur Ros - Sglpur
Every time Radiohead finished a song, the opening chords to this popped into my head. They didn't play it. (Cred: No clue...sitting outside in the dark listening to perfect atmospheric music)

4.Head Automatica - Beating Heart Baby
I'm seeing these guys on Friday. With Taking Back Sunday. At Nassau Colosseum. Couldn't be more excited. (Cred: Ultragrrrl spinning it at Orchard Bar every Friday all winter.

5.My Morning Jacket - The Bear (Live)
The only Live MMJ I have on my computer. From some Urban Outfitters UNICEF comp, (Cred: Seeing them live at Bonnaroo, duh)

6.Be Your Own Pet - Bunk Trunk Skunk
Haven't gotten to them yet, but they were a great surprise at roo. Perhaps the best set on Sunday. This is my favorite song of theirs (Cred: The Pitchfork review had me give this album another shot. This track stood out)

Sights of Bonnaroo 2006: Sunday

Day three, at last. The Gothamist finale will be up later. Pics after the jizzy.

So...Bonnaroo: Day 2

Day 0 (Thursday) recap
Day 1 recap
Pictures from Day 1
Pictures from Day 2

Gothamist review of Day 1
Gothamist review of Day 2

Saturday was the least eventful, I think. No travel, lots of time watching bands, a bit more time than the day before recouping in the press area. I was up early again, after really getting no sleep at all the night before. I go outside my tent and I see the two Canadian girls passed out on the grass outside their tents. I tried that but I couldn't get back to sleep so I call it a morning and hit the red bull and monster hard. It's pretty trashy, yes, but it works. We all hang out for a bit outside our tents. Nobody saying much..I think everyone was pretty beat. I remember starting to think that the weekend felt like it was coming to an end already, despite the fact that we had two more full days of music ahead of us. It was weird. Colin and I begin to plan how to get back home. We decide that it'd be real nice to take the shuttle bus back on Sunday night after sonic youth and stay at a hotel near the airport Sunday night. This makes the weekend seem even shorter. It's now only one more night.

At some point, Colin and the girls go get breakfast, but I'm not hungry and stay behind. I am playing with my sidekick and decide to whip up a post about the weekend so far. My Morning Jacket was still very fresh in my mind. That kills a few minutes till the rest get back. I could have just gone back to the press area, gotten my camera battery and hung around for a while, but I was in no rush. There was nothing really on I needed to see that early.

I ended up taking off about 10 till 12 to try and catch the Alec Ownsworth solo set in the press tent. End up missing all by 30 seconds of the 15 minute set. Run into Matt again, who I don't think I mentioned earlier, but he's a great guy. Was always a pleasure to see him around. Just realized all the times we chatted over the course of the weekend, I don't think I mentioned Bishop Allen once.

So Matt went over to the main stage to camp out in the front for Radiohead. Not a bad idea, in hindsight, with Elvis Costello and Beck leading up to them over there. I didn't wanna stay in one place all day tho, as appealing as it sounded, so he takes off and I wander over to Dungen with Scott. The day of music plays out like this. Good stuff all the way through. CYHSY was a bit of a bummer cause Alec's guitar didn't work, and I've always been a bit down on their live show, but everything else was totally top notch. I also was really stoked to see Jim James hippie dancing at the Amadou and Meriam show (pictured above). Non-band highlight of the day.

 

I meet up with Colin right before Beck and we walk over to the main stage for the first time all weekend. It was massive. We see this guy with the tattoo on his leg to the right. It says "Nag Nag...I'll teach you to nag! -- Jim, don't...You're Killing me!" The image is a comic book man strangling a woman with death hovering in the background. Is this a famous panel or something? It went straight over my head and right into creepytown.

Anyway, we were probably a real half mile from the stage, no joke. We meet two girls from upstate NY who went to college near Colin. They were a trip. Really nice people, just like every single person we met this weekend. I swear, it couldn't have been more pleasant. Of all the crazy drug rattled hippies wandering around this place, we never had to deal with a single person who wasn't completely warm and friendly. I could do this weekend a hundred times in a row, and the odds that we wouldn't have to deal with any undesirables is pretty much impossible.

The best part about these girls was that they were so hilariously clueless when it came to drugs. They went to college, too. Colin kept calling people like this squares, and telling people we were squares cause we don't do drugs but I think that's a rather loaded term. For me, a square is someone without any interesting interests, any personality, any defining characteristics. Like Bert from Sesame Street. He sang a great song about being square. Anyway, I didn't like him telling every single person we met that we were Squares. Seemed like a pretty self defeating term. I have interests and personality, damnit! But he didn't mean it like that. Just that I don't do drugs. Whatever...regardless, these two couldn't have cared less. One of them, no joke, and I swear I thought they were fucking with us when they told us, bought a giant purple balloon in the campsite, thinking it would make nice decoration for their tent. Then realized the end wasn't tied, so she thought maybe it was helium to make funny voices. She took down the entire whippet before realizing what was going on. Unreal. Of the 80,000 people at roo, how do we find these people? They were awesome.

One of them was a big Beck fan. We rocked out to them, trying to decide if he was any good (he was) and if he became a scientologist just to piss off people who hate scientologists (unsure, but likely). Following them was Radiohead, then we went to the Comedy Tent to see Aziz. He came by to say hi right before the show started and was talking about how he and Rob Hubel were getting chased around by security backstage during Radiohead. Maybe he will elaborate sometime. I couldn't give the story justice.

Anyway, the girls were excited that I knew a comedian and I was stoked that they got such a big kick out of his set. I was stoked the whole room did, really. Everybody may have been really stoned, but Aziz fucking killed in there. Was great to see.

Anyway, afterwords we head over to sit outside the tent where The Dresden Dolls are gonna play. After a while of waiting, Colin and the rest decide to bounce and I head in to watch the show. They were really great. One of the best of the fest. MMJ, them and A&M were probably my top 3. Anyway, I wished they played longer, but it just a strong hour before done time. I head straight back to camp and go to sleep shortly after.

So...Bonnaroo: Day 1

Read about Day 0 (Thursday) here.
See pictures from Day 1 here.
Read the Gothamist review of Day 1 here.

I was up around 8:00 nearly sweating through my sleeping bag. It got pretty cold when I went to sleep so I was kind of bundled up, but once the sun came out, it was like sleeping in a toaster oven. Unbearable. I guess I had gotten around three and a half hours of sleep and I was supergroggy, but I came around eventually. We spoke to another couple that was camping near us for a bit about some stuff. The usual...what are you gonna see, where you from, etc.

The Canadian Guy comes stumbling back to the site around 8:30. He hadn't slept all night. Had gotten really stoned, then really lost and was wandering around the campsite all night looking for his tent. It seems pretty hard to get that lost at a campground, but seeing the whole space in the daylight made it seem perfectly possible. The place was huge. Tents and cars as far as you could see. I don't even think that picture up there really does it justice, cause I am sure there is even more than that behind the shot and off to the sides.

Anyway, we lay around and try and wake up. There are plans made to try and catch Andrew Bird first, but I need to head back to the press area to get some sort of orientation. I leave our spot around 11 and head down to what ultimately was a waste of time. It was mostly rules about the photo passes and access. I didn't have one of those, so it didn't apply to me. I quickly realize two things:

A. I have bitch access compared to almost everyone else out there. Most have a guest wristband, which gets them preferred camping and bleacher seats at the big stages, many have photo passes. A good number have "Why" laminates, which seem to act as all access passes. The Artists had these. It allowed you to stand on the side of the stage and watch the bands, among other things I'm sure. Anyway, this hardly bothered me. It was my first year covering it, I was writing for a blog, which still has a negative connotation. I was really just happy to be there tho. How could I complain?

B. everyone takes all this so goddamn seriously. I don't understand how these people are supposed to report on a festival when all they do is work. Yea, this might be the most amateur thing I've written in years, but you can't honestly cover something like this if you keep to the photo pit and the press tent. That would be like only reporting from the finish line of a triathlon. Sure, you get the result, and there are likely some telling pictures to be snapped, but what about the swimming? The biking? Who got hurt, who lost the lead when? I tripped over more stories walking to the port-o-potties in the middle of the night than these people even knew existed.I don't know how many press people there were down there, but lets say 1000. At least 900 of them will report the exact same story.  That's a drag! They should have at least some people reporting on the actual experience...the good and the bad. Not just from the sterile perspective the press are given.

So that's a big rant, and I dunno if it came right, but it just struck me right then when I was surrounded by them. As if the 400 pound dude with a $2000 camera and a special wristband that has 'golf cart' printed on it cause he's too fat to make it from stage to stage could really tell you what it's like to be at Bonnaroo.

So, as I say on Gothamist, the music during the day was really excellent. I mean, not just, yea the bands were good, but really some of the best sets I've seen these bands play. Festivals rarely get the best out of the bands, but this one, especially on Friday, got it. It was great.

Fast Forward to the end of the day. MMJ is over, and my camera battery is nearly dead. I charged my Sidekick during Tom Petty, and that was pretty good to go, but the camera wouldn't make it another day. I wander back to the press trailer and plug in my battery charger into a socket in an unused strip and leave it there for the night. From there, I make a really bad decision. I was really sore and tired. I needed to go to bed, but I decide to wander around the backstage area to a preferred campsite where they have showers. I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be back there, but nobody really stops me so I dip into a big blue trailer and try to rinse off. It was cold, and didn't help my aching back and legs at all. A little soap someone left behind probably went a long way towards keeping me functional, however. I quietly get dressed and snuak back out. As I learned later, security at this thing really don't give a fuck. Before I got to the area where I showered, I went the other way which I guess was the artist's campground. I was all about to walk through, no problem, till I ask if this is where the media showers were. She seemed confused since the concept of media showers is pretty made up, but only when I said that did she realize I didn't belong where I was and made me go back. Lesson? You have to try really hard to not be allowed in somewhere at Bonnaroo.

That should have been the end of the night, but it didn't really work like that. I thought I had figured out how to get back to my tent real quick, but went down the wrong road and got super lost, not unlike our Canadian friend 24 hours earlier. I wandered around the main camping grounds and asked everyone I could how to get back to the giant 7 balloon. Everyone told me different things and I wound up walking around in circles till the sun started to come up. Bummer. I knew I was only gonna have a few more hours to sleep before the tent-oven started up again, and I really could have used a good night sleep. I finally found my way back, getting in bed sometime around 5:30am. Over two hours after MMJ finished up. This was not part of the plan. Of course, I can't fall right asleep, so I start to flip through the schedule to see what was up for the next day. I don't even know what I'm really looking at. Then I hear the ruffle of the Canadians in the tent next to me as they start to wake up. I hadn't seen them since right before Petty, and have no clue what they had been up to, but they were ready to start day 2 and I was trying to end day 1. I forced myself to try and sleep for a few hours, tho the thought of just staying up crossed my mind a few times. I think I got about two and a half hours of sleep before I woke up in another sleeping bag full of sweat.

Sights of Bonnaroo 2006: Saturday

Pictures from Day 2 at Bonnaroo after the jump. The full Saturday recap is up now on Gothamist.

So...Bonnaroo: Day 0

To say I was a bit unprepared for Bonnaroo is an understatement. I knew it was coming up, but had really given it little thought at all. I knew I had a flight, I knew I had tickets at willcall, and I knew Willcall was off site a bit, but other than that, I was pretty unprepared. Very professional, I know.

My and my roommate Colin took a cab to Laguardia and got there, no problem. I promptly passed out for the flight, woke up when we landed. This is where it begins to get a bit dicey. See, Nashville airport is over an hour drive from Bonnaroo. Nether me nor Colin know how to drive. Fortunately, we see the bonnaroo shuttle bus table and plan to take it down, except nobody knows a thing about the willcall area up there. They say the best they can do is drop us off at a Wal-Mart that's pretty close to the festival site. Figured it all couldn't be too far.

And in fairness, it wasn't that far. But the 7:30 shuttle bus left full at 7:15, and the next one didn't leave till after 8:30. By 10, we're dropped off at the Wal-Mart and the bus continues on. We have absolutely no fucking clue where we are or where we have to go. I had an address and a Google map without street names to work with.

We ask a few people, and everyone seems to be pointing along in the same direction, but nobody is sure. Told it was "a mile, mile and a half max" by the information booth at Wall-mart, we start to hike along the highway towards willcall. Figuring its only a mile, and we had a full hour before the building closes, wouldn't be a problem. we take turns carrying the duffel we shared to throw our tents and sleeping bags in. It wasn't the best idea to buy a 10 pound case of red bull at Wal-Mart before the trek, but it wasn't too bad.

We walk along the highway for about 30 minutes, well aware that we're the two biggest douchebags on the planet at this point. We must have walked almost 2 miles in that 30 minutes past car dealerships and strip malls. No Radio Station. No Jiffy Mart or Pet store, which it was supposed to be between. It was getting close to closing time, and we really weren't even 100% sure we were going in the right direction. Finally, a guy and his girlfriend are pulling out of a driveway in a convertible, see us looking miserable and ask us where we're going. We say some radio station that's supposed to house the willcall for the fest. They tell us it's pretty far up the road and offer a ride. We have no choice, really, and hop in. They are nice. Ask if we have any weed, which we don't. They seem a little bummed. A good 5 minute drive later (maybe 2 miles? after the first 2 miles) we get to the station and they wish us luck. We get our tickets and I get my press wristband and are ready to go. "It's not far, but I wouldn't recommend walking" they tell us, and get out a yellow pages for cab companies. On our 4th try, we get one that'll be there in 10 minutes. At the same time, a van of kids from Ontario pull up to get their ticket.

There were three of them. Two guys and a girl. They had been on the road for 20 hours...coming down via New Jersey to pick up the third. They are more than happy to offer us a ride into the fest. We cancel the cab, hop in the back on the floor and head in.

Security stops us as we pull into the campsite to search the van. Not sure what they were looking for, but they made the guy pour the near empty handle of whiskey into a water bottle and took a real long look at my Excedrin and chewable centrum. They wave us through, we get our admission wristbands and follow a never ending path of people with flashlights waving us through to where we will set up camp. Little did the Canadians know, they were now stuck with us for the rest of the weekend. We're not too bad tho, and they were all cool, so no problems.

We all help each other set up our tents and try and figure out our plans for the night. I get in touch with Scott and meet up with him and his Dad at the Marah show in one of the tents. They were actually really good. Glad I caught them. Afterwards I meet up with the rest of the camping group and go check out Patton Oswalt at the Comedy tent. He was pretty amazing. Turns a phrase like no one else. I swear, if I ever said like one of the things that he pulls off three times a sentence, I'd be going around repeating it to everyone I knew for a week. I was in awe listening to him. Obviously, I wasn't the only one, since after a set of mostly bashing hippies, he got a rousing standing ovation. It was pretty impressive. Hippies are pretty cool with taking a joke.

It was about 1:00am by the time he finished up, and we headed back to the tents. The Canadians found some guy who I think might have had drugs, so they went off with him. We get back, and there are three friendly girls from Michigan half laughing at us while we tried to finish putting the rain tarps on our tents. I shouted "Fuck you Engineer!" to my roommate upon finally getting mine up, thinking I was done before him, only to discover he was already long finished and sitting around a citronella candle talking to the girls. They were awesome, but kinda out of control. The most amazing Midwestern accents ever, and on top of that, seemed to only use words and phrases that emphasized their accents, like "Fanny Pack" and "Yellow Jackets." They went on and on about how they were looking forward to statutorily raping teen boys (Consensual, but statutorily, they insisted) and how they looked like lesbian cops (which is why they couldn't score any drugs.) They also peed in a bag in their tent in some makeshift camping toilet they borrowed from a neighbor back home. They were fun.

Later that night, these two guys walked by named Kanu and Something else. They claimed to be married psychiatrists from Missouri (never said where, exactly) and had thick foreign accents, but we didn't buy it. They were older and kind of creepy. Kind of took the inappropriate talk to another level and made everyone uncomfortable. After a while we got them to leave by going to bed. The other guy tried to kiss the girls goodnight or something, but they obviously weren't having it. This was sometime around 4am. After they left, one of the girls deadpanned, "I think we should be more selective who we ask for drugs." Good call.

At some point during the course of the night I broke one of the girls' lawn chairs. I felt really bad about that.

That's it for Thursday. I'll get onto Day 1 (Friday) a bit later. There will probably be more pictures too. I didn't take any Thursday.

Sights of Bonnaroo 2006: Friday

Last night I passed out in front of my computer making up this post. The night before I split my time in a sleeping bag by the side of the road and passed out by gate C3 in the Nashville Airport. The three days prior were probably one of the best weekends of my life. The first of my three sets of pictures are below after the jump. Full report of day 1 is up on Gothamist.