so... my kitties have been romping in the grass in this journal for a week and a half. i guess it's about time to get something else up here.
i really had an eventful and fun weekend, but have very little energy to do it justice in a journal entry right now. let's see what i can toss up here quick-like...
friday night kicked off with some drinks at Gold Star with birthday boy oJAEflo and his posse, where i met up with some fellow metal enthusiasts to hit Beat Kitchen for Yakuza later. MFN made it out just in time for their set (i even caught him on his cell as he was coming into the bar and had him bring me a fresh beer when he joined me at the front of the crowd - yes i am slick like that), but the rest of the crew was feeling the effects of a long workday and two long-winded instrumental opening bands, and left before Yakuza's show really got going. as i told realgone, that band takes pieces of my skull away with them every time. fucking awesome show. and then we stayed out way too fucking late afterward.
especially since the next two days were to be spent out in the park at the Intonation Fest. but i dealt with my hangover like a man and hit the park by about 2pm with the 'Bandit. lots of pals were to be there, and we ran into most all of them as the day went on. good beer flowed, (reasonably priced, even!), and bad-for-you but delicious festival-type food was consumed.
high points musically the first day were:
High on Fire, who were heavy as hell and actually great to see under the sun instead of in a packed, sweaty nightclub. Matt Pike also gave a shout out to one of "his favorite musicians" towards the end of the set and dedicated "The Face of Oblivion" to...
...motherfucking Roky Erickson! talk about something i never thought i'd get the chance to see. if you don't know who he is, you should read up a little to see why this was so special - i love that one of the first sentences in the Wikipedia entry calls him "one of rock and roll's most famous cult figures and burnouts".
anyway, the guy hasn't played a show outside of Texas in almost 30 years, and i thought it might be a trainwreck when they were kind of leading him on to the stage... he looked feeble as hell. but once he got the guitar in hand and the fuzz and volume cranked up, he really took off. it was fantastic, especially "Two-Headed Dog" and "You're Gonna Miss Me". also awesome to see Matt Pike and the boys from High on Fire hanging in the back of the stage, taking cell phone pictures and just being generally geeked out like the rest of us.
i know i've mentioned the crush i have on Lady Sovereign before - so i made sure i was at the Tower booth when she was there meeting and greeting. i did not stand in the long-ass line to actually meet her, though - i just stood creepily off to the side and took a couple of pictures.
she's soooo tiny and cute. *sigh*
she was also a lot of fun onstage. the 'Bandit is a fan as well, and we made sure we had a decent spot for her spirited, but sadly rather short, set.
and then came the Streets. damn. i've seen Mike Skinner before at Metro a few years back behind Original Pirate Material, and he put on one of my most fondly remembered shows ever. now two albums later, controlling a much larger stage and crowd, he did it again. what was impressive was not only the fun rapport he developed with such a strange and varied festival crowd, but the complete overhaul he gave most of the songs he performed. you wouldn't think that an artist like the Streets would be given to that sort of experimentation live, which made it all the more intriguing. he really capped the day off perfectly, leaving the crowd to spill out of the park with tons of happy vibes and energy. and i think the 'Bandit has a crush on him now.
so, we milled around a bit playing phone tag with people to see if there was anything to do afterward - considered hitting the Cobra Lounge until we realized that it would be completely swarmed, being just a block or two away and all, and then came to our senses and realized we were all pretty much exhausted and had another day ahead of us. so we went home and passed out.
sunday came, looking a little less sunny and a little more wet - but also a little less crowded, so the 'Bandit and i drove there this time and got rockstar parking a block away from the entrance. wandered in about 2:30 or so, found FritzKD and his lady, and commenced to festival-ing again.
most of the lineup the second day i was fairly ambivilent about, so i spent a lot more time drinking, eating, drinking more, and perusing the retail goods. Rhymefest surprised me early with a really strong set - i am definitely planning on supporting this Chicago cat when his album drops mid-July. but other than that, i was waiting for the afternoon one-two punch of heavy riffs and fuzz.
put simply, the Sword slayed. as was to be expected. i headbanged very enthusiastically, and almost fell over at one point. probably during "Freiya".
and then we quickly migrated to the other stage for another act that hadn't played in Chicago for 25 years or so. the original fuzz-rock purveyors of heaviness themselves, Blue Cheer. we figured this could either really suck, or be really cool. in fact, it really wasn't either extreme. it was not bad by any stretch, but i think the fact that the sun broke through the clouds a few times during their set helped, as was my beginning to feel the beers i'd consumed during their extended soloing. it really was quite fun seeing these old hippies up there playing "Parchment Farm" and "Summertime Blues" and such.
i said earlier that i spent time perusing the retail goods more - this included a tent full of poster art, where i got the chance to meet lil_tuffy, who was showing and selling some of his fantastic work. got to chat with him briefly while he was at the table, but was also lucky enough to catch him out on the grass with a beer in his hand during Robert Pollard's set and talk a little bit longer. seems he's been flying all over creation this summer selling his art, and he had some funny stories from Bonnaroo. he was nice enough to contribute some art to my friend MFN's charity, and he'll be back in the Chi later in the summer for the Pitchfork festival... i hope he did well this past weekend, it was super cool meeting him.
anyway, the night kind of gets a little blurry as i'd gotten a VIP pass from a friend at this point and had access to free beer as it started to get dark. plus, all of our friends left early.
but LittleBandit and i hung tough, wandering around, catching most all of the Dead Prez set (which was actually very very cool) and then seeing a little bit of Bloc Party before the rain started to finally spit down a bit and we weaved our way out of there.
it was a great weekend with my girl and my friends, with lots of good stuff - food, drink, music, beautiful weather, and only catching the hint of a sunburn on my nose. but now it's back to work for a frantically busy week before we jaunt off to Maine for a week-long vacation. i will try to check in with you all before we leave...
"thanks for going low" - mike skinner
(so i guess i had a bit of energy for this entry after all, eh?)
i really had an eventful and fun weekend, but have very little energy to do it justice in a journal entry right now. let's see what i can toss up here quick-like...
friday night kicked off with some drinks at Gold Star with birthday boy oJAEflo and his posse, where i met up with some fellow metal enthusiasts to hit Beat Kitchen for Yakuza later. MFN made it out just in time for their set (i even caught him on his cell as he was coming into the bar and had him bring me a fresh beer when he joined me at the front of the crowd - yes i am slick like that), but the rest of the crew was feeling the effects of a long workday and two long-winded instrumental opening bands, and left before Yakuza's show really got going. as i told realgone, that band takes pieces of my skull away with them every time. fucking awesome show. and then we stayed out way too fucking late afterward.
especially since the next two days were to be spent out in the park at the Intonation Fest. but i dealt with my hangover like a man and hit the park by about 2pm with the 'Bandit. lots of pals were to be there, and we ran into most all of them as the day went on. good beer flowed, (reasonably priced, even!), and bad-for-you but delicious festival-type food was consumed.
high points musically the first day were:
High on Fire, who were heavy as hell and actually great to see under the sun instead of in a packed, sweaty nightclub. Matt Pike also gave a shout out to one of "his favorite musicians" towards the end of the set and dedicated "The Face of Oblivion" to...
...motherfucking Roky Erickson! talk about something i never thought i'd get the chance to see. if you don't know who he is, you should read up a little to see why this was so special - i love that one of the first sentences in the Wikipedia entry calls him "one of rock and roll's most famous cult figures and burnouts".
anyway, the guy hasn't played a show outside of Texas in almost 30 years, and i thought it might be a trainwreck when they were kind of leading him on to the stage... he looked feeble as hell. but once he got the guitar in hand and the fuzz and volume cranked up, he really took off. it was fantastic, especially "Two-Headed Dog" and "You're Gonna Miss Me". also awesome to see Matt Pike and the boys from High on Fire hanging in the back of the stage, taking cell phone pictures and just being generally geeked out like the rest of us.
i know i've mentioned the crush i have on Lady Sovereign before - so i made sure i was at the Tower booth when she was there meeting and greeting. i did not stand in the long-ass line to actually meet her, though - i just stood creepily off to the side and took a couple of pictures.
she's soooo tiny and cute. *sigh*
she was also a lot of fun onstage. the 'Bandit is a fan as well, and we made sure we had a decent spot for her spirited, but sadly rather short, set.
and then came the Streets. damn. i've seen Mike Skinner before at Metro a few years back behind Original Pirate Material, and he put on one of my most fondly remembered shows ever. now two albums later, controlling a much larger stage and crowd, he did it again. what was impressive was not only the fun rapport he developed with such a strange and varied festival crowd, but the complete overhaul he gave most of the songs he performed. you wouldn't think that an artist like the Streets would be given to that sort of experimentation live, which made it all the more intriguing. he really capped the day off perfectly, leaving the crowd to spill out of the park with tons of happy vibes and energy. and i think the 'Bandit has a crush on him now.
so, we milled around a bit playing phone tag with people to see if there was anything to do afterward - considered hitting the Cobra Lounge until we realized that it would be completely swarmed, being just a block or two away and all, and then came to our senses and realized we were all pretty much exhausted and had another day ahead of us. so we went home and passed out.
sunday came, looking a little less sunny and a little more wet - but also a little less crowded, so the 'Bandit and i drove there this time and got rockstar parking a block away from the entrance. wandered in about 2:30 or so, found FritzKD and his lady, and commenced to festival-ing again.
most of the lineup the second day i was fairly ambivilent about, so i spent a lot more time drinking, eating, drinking more, and perusing the retail goods. Rhymefest surprised me early with a really strong set - i am definitely planning on supporting this Chicago cat when his album drops mid-July. but other than that, i was waiting for the afternoon one-two punch of heavy riffs and fuzz.
put simply, the Sword slayed. as was to be expected. i headbanged very enthusiastically, and almost fell over at one point. probably during "Freiya".
and then we quickly migrated to the other stage for another act that hadn't played in Chicago for 25 years or so. the original fuzz-rock purveyors of heaviness themselves, Blue Cheer. we figured this could either really suck, or be really cool. in fact, it really wasn't either extreme. it was not bad by any stretch, but i think the fact that the sun broke through the clouds a few times during their set helped, as was my beginning to feel the beers i'd consumed during their extended soloing. it really was quite fun seeing these old hippies up there playing "Parchment Farm" and "Summertime Blues" and such.
i said earlier that i spent time perusing the retail goods more - this included a tent full of poster art, where i got the chance to meet lil_tuffy, who was showing and selling some of his fantastic work. got to chat with him briefly while he was at the table, but was also lucky enough to catch him out on the grass with a beer in his hand during Robert Pollard's set and talk a little bit longer. seems he's been flying all over creation this summer selling his art, and he had some funny stories from Bonnaroo. he was nice enough to contribute some art to my friend MFN's charity, and he'll be back in the Chi later in the summer for the Pitchfork festival... i hope he did well this past weekend, it was super cool meeting him.
anyway, the night kind of gets a little blurry as i'd gotten a VIP pass from a friend at this point and had access to free beer as it started to get dark. plus, all of our friends left early.
but LittleBandit and i hung tough, wandering around, catching most all of the Dead Prez set (which was actually very very cool) and then seeing a little bit of Bloc Party before the rain started to finally spit down a bit and we weaved our way out of there.
it was a great weekend with my girl and my friends, with lots of good stuff - food, drink, music, beautiful weather, and only catching the hint of a sunburn on my nose. but now it's back to work for a frantically busy week before we jaunt off to Maine for a week-long vacation. i will try to check in with you all before we leave...
"thanks for going low" - mike skinner
(so i guess i had a bit of energy for this entry after all, eh?)
VIEW 21 of 21 COMMENTS
apexxx:
whoa, so when you do have the energy you just might write a whole novel next time
hysan:
Damn...that's a busy weekend!