But that's not gonna stop me! I'll get to Bonnaroo and Toronto sooner or later (actually I have to or my wife will kill me for not immortalizing our trip to the hills of Tennessee). For now though, let's take a trip down memory lane...all the way back to September of Aught-Seven.
So here's the setup:
We live in Austin, so it's all quite convenient. A bunch of friends of our's join us every year. The names sometimes change, but the fun remains the same. And let me be very clear...during ACL, we all make a commitment to having fun. Anyone who cannot make the commitment gets chastised and bad things said about them. Bad things like "______'s not committed to having fun!!!". It's quite effective in getting everyone on board.
So this year was a bit different from other's. My good friend Daniel (from Houston) made the incredibly wise decision to rent an RV and reserved a spot at the Pecan Grove RV Park (mere minutes from Zilker Park). This became our pre-ACL meetup place. But enough of that...on to the pictures!
So let's set up the characters:
The dapper, Jan Michael Vincent-type character here is me, your trusted narrator
Lause: Wisconsinite, had trouble understanding the concept of a koozie
Sadie- Now this lady understood the concept of the koozie. so much so that she had her own, homemade neck koozie. These Wisconsinites are serious about their drinking.
Bill: Indiana, so cool, he makes sitting in a camping chair INSIDE of an RV look coolKyle: Wisconsin, boyfriend of Sadie, doing what Kyle does best.
We'll be introduced to more people as the days pass. But for now, those are the people you need (and want) to know.
These guys are committed to having fun. With the Mitten. One of these three men will administer the Mitten before the festival was over.
You'll notice there are additional people who you've not been introduced to. Jen (far left), Leah (2nd from left) and Kindel (2nd from right) mostly tried to stay away from us as much as possible. Quite frankly, I don't blame them. But they were great fun. Oh, and I almost forgot the most important character of all! The Beer Flag! The Beer Flag has been with us at every ACL Fest for the past 4 years, not to mention countless Indy 500's, Summerfest, etc. If you ever want to find us, look for it.So after a delicious breakfast brought to us by Daniel, we set out for the festival. First stop was the Springs, to cool off. Seriously, I don't understand why people don't go down there every day during the festival. It lowers your body temperature at least 15 degrees. but the less others know, the better, I guess.
So as we're entering the festival, it was a bit more crowded than normal. In fact, apparently they weren't letting anyone in. Any guesses why?
The person who said "Bert and Ernie were smoking a humongous doobie in the back of the Sesame Street bus" wins the prize!
By now, you know the story. After the nuclear bomb went off, Jesus returned to die again for your sins (plus, he wanted to check out LCD Soundsystem later that day)
Ooooh, Firemen groupies! I won't even tell you how many layers had to be removed for her to perform her groupie-ing duties.
My wife, Heather, joined me during Pete Yorn and we headed on over to PB&J once Mr. Yorn finished. We ran into our friends Angela and Carrie who'd already found a good spot, so we joined them. PB&J definitely seemed a little affected by the heat (their pale Swedish skin must have been bright red by the end of their set). But they squeezed (squoze?) in plenty of great songs from Writer's Block and even had a couple members of The Clientele (who were in town for a show) join them for Young Folks. PB&J also noted that Pete Yorn had just covered YF and suggested they go on tour: "Peter Bjorn and Peter Yorn". Oh, those wacky Swedes!
They looked cute, although the lady singer was just disaffected to make it work.
So as we're entering the festival, it was a bit more crowded than normal. In fact, apparently they weren't letting anyone in. Any guesses why?
The person who said "Bert and Ernie were smoking a humongous doobie in the back of the Sesame Street bus" wins the prize!
By now, you know the story. After the nuclear bomb went off, Jesus returned to die again for your sins (plus, he wanted to check out LCD Soundsystem later that day)
Ooooh, Firemen groupies! I won't even tell you how many layers had to be removed for her to perform her groupie-ing duties.Once we got in and plopped down, we caught some of Pete Yorn's set. I enjoy his albums and his set was pleasant enough. He even covered "Young Folks" right before Peter Bjorn and John were set to play. I've seen some people in the blogosphere (I think that's somewhere near New Jersey) criticize him for it. I'm sorry, I thought festivals were supposed to be fun, and celebrate music, wherever it comes from? Well, too bad for them.
My wife, Heather, joined me during Pete Yorn and we headed on over to PB&J once Mr. Yorn finished. We ran into our friends Angela and Carrie who'd already found a good spot, so we joined them. PB&J definitely seemed a little affected by the heat (their pale Swedish skin must have been bright red by the end of their set). But they squeezed (squoze?) in plenty of great songs from Writer's Block and even had a couple members of The Clientele (who were in town for a show) join them for Young Folks. PB&J also noted that Pete Yorn had just covered YF and suggested they go on tour: "Peter Bjorn and Peter Yorn". Oh, those wacky Swedes!
They looked cute, although the lady singer was just disaffected to make it work.
After we returned, we were treated to this sight
It turns out Austin is slightly hotter than Indianapolis. This was the least miserable Bill was the entire weekend.
This was Bill's attempt to secure the fan to his hat. It was not successful.
My lovely wife, and our model friend, Aimee
My attempt to both replicate the previous photo, as well as the cover for Bill's and my first album as a duo. We haven't decided between Blam! or Wide Stance and the Minneapolis Airports. Either way, Lou Pearlman is managing us. and I really think we have the chops to make it.
The Beer Flag in all it's glory, albeit much shorter. The fascist security people at the gates would not let us bring in 2 of the 4 PVC pipes that give the Beer Flag it's length. Luckily, we got the other pipes in the next two days, so all was well.The afternoon passed and we made our way to the AT&T Blue Room stage for the LCD Soundsystem set. I've recently gotten into them and holy fuck, I really love them. So I was immensely excited for the show, and let me say, they did not disappoint. They were my 2nd favorite show of the festival.
James Murphy, the lead singer, as Heather described him, did not look like what she expected. I think we concluded he looked like the guy who works at the convenience store, really likes to smoke pot and is working on 3 screenplays. He did adequately mock the commercialism of the festival as well ("You know, when I started my first punk band in 1983, I said to myself 'One day, I hope that we'll be able to play at the...[looks up] AT&T Blue Room stage'! Free Iphones for everyone!"). Good guy. I'll pay to see them anytime.
James Murphy, the lead singer, as Heather described him, did not look like what she expected. I think we concluded he looked like the guy who works at the convenience store, really likes to smoke pot and is working on 3 screenplays. He did adequately mock the commercialism of the festival as well ("You know, when I started my first punk band in 1983, I said to myself 'One day, I hope that we'll be able to play at the...[looks up] AT&T Blue Room stage'! Free Iphones for everyone!"). Good guy. I'll pay to see them anytime.Alright, I'm tired. This blogging thing is very time-consuming, so I very much appreciate you making it this far. Tune in next time for Bjork setting shit on fire, some dude who really thought he was Batman and Daniel/Lause dirty dancing. Until then, I leave you with this:
Why was "George Clooney eats poop" the last search I did on google?
Why was "George Clooney eats poop" the last search I did on google?
2 comments:
As someone who explicitly committed to *not* having fun that particular weekend, I'm glad to see that you've recommenced your narrative. I *am*, however, committed to living the experience vicariously through your blog, sooo....GET CRACKIN'!!! ;-)
/what you and georgie do on your own time is your business...
Although Wide Stance and the Minneapolis Airports is a fabulous name, I have to vote for Blam! It's got the feel of Wham! and the sound of Bl. Perfect, really.
Post a Comment