4 posts tagged “acl”

Home already.  As I post this Bloc Party have been playing for about 10 minutes.  I wanted to stick around but it was too hot and I was too sunburnt.

Guaranteed all-day shade

People who are smart sprint for this tree instead when the gates open.

At the front gate

4 sided-kiosk with map & schedule grids.  And misters on each side.  It's uncrowded only because the gates opened 20 minutes before.

Pitiful shade

Either that or they're ultra-enthusiastic about Ryan Shaw, which makes them what's pitiful.  Someone apparently never told Mr. Shaw the world only needs one Lenny Kravitz. 

Nicole Atkins & the Sea

Unlike Shaw, who had the temerity to cover "Let It Be," she showed excellent taste in hers: Patti Smith's "Pissing In A River."

The National - 1

Taking the stage.  My wristband let me into the area right behind the stage and I have no idea why this is the first year I thought to do this.

The National - 2

Taken on tippy-toe.

The National - 3

A guy who was actually up on stage was kind enough to take this for me.

The National - 4

Popular band.

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

Damn that woman can wail.

Recycling HQ

First time we had one of these metal boxes on site and it was a hy-ooge improvement.  Not just securable (dry!) overnight storage, but instant changing room too.

A damn good festival chair

Maybe not so comfortable for someone my size, but small and light enough to hang on the straps of a daypack.  Bought this in Tok AK 11 years ago and it may be the best $35 camping-gear expenditure I ever made.

Yours truly

Behind the wheel of the faithful golf cart.

More ADD (commensurate with the madness attending school's beginning), more bits 'n pieces:

• Cap Metro proposes to raise its fare to $1.  That’s not raising, that’s doubling.  They’re even having community forums so people can tell The Man what they think about this plan.  What the fuck do you think they’re going to think?  I don’t care much myself because I ride free as long as I work at UT, but shit.  That’s going to hurt some folks, bad.  OTOH, a bus ride that still costs 50 cents in 2007?  What kind of neverland have we been living in?  Even at a buck it’s still cheap compared to every-damn-other city I’ve been to.
• If I can’t see Karl Rove made to do the perp walk for his misbehavior, I’ll happily take Alberto “Toady” Gonzales instead.  But given that there’s a fat fucking chance of that either, I’ll settle for him resigning in some semblance of disgrace.  Yesterday was a good day.
• Latest eMusic goodies: Josh Ritter, Hello Starling; Okkervil River, The Stage Names; Imperial Teen, On.  Next up: Imperial Teen, The Hair, the TV, the Baby and the Band; Art Brut, It’s A Bit Complicated; New Pornographers, Challengers (whenever eMusic decides to make it available).
• Sitting in Meeting for Worship Sunday I realized I had specks of glitter all over me.  This included my face, someone later told me.  On my pack too, even.  It came from a pile of loose glitter in the lobby that I offered to help clean up and damn, that stuff gets everywhere.  But considering last time I wore it was in my burner days, this week is an appropriate time to revisit the look.
• Recent non-Sopranos discs: Happy Endings (fun even if perhaps a little too self-conscious but my god do I love to look at M. Gyllenhaal) and music docs The Fearless Freaks (Flaming Lips) and We Jam Econo (Minutemen).  Never listened a lot to either band but now Soft Bulletin is on order from the library and Double Nickels on the Dime is in the eMusic queue.  Even on the small screen the performances pack a punch.  
• One of the Minutemen performances was filmed at Bard in ’85.  They were still using the south end of Kline Commons dining hall for shows then, apparently.  Totally weird to see the place where I took almost all my meals for four years, and in specific the corner where the miscreants gathered, in such an unexpected context.
• One frequent visitor to the miscreant’s corner was my band’s bass player’s girlfriend, a dancer.  Her last name was Gyllenhaal.  Back then I couldn’t believe that was anyone’s real name.
• I signed up to volunteer again at this year’s ACL fest.  I’m a sucker.

When I started this blog I thought I’d be posting a lot more often.  So far though my other one has been getting most of my effort, which is something that just snuck up on me.  I think what it is is I still think more like an online journaler than a blogger.

Tomorrow I get on a plane to Boston and for 10 days will be splitting my time between there, New Hampshire and the Hudson Valley.  On one hand, such traveling is ideal fodder for blog-type entries with lots of pictures.  On the other, internet access may be a little spotty; preliminary research shows that Boston ain’t exactly a hotbed of free wifi (though compared to Austin, what is?).  In any case, stay tuned.

Some of the things that’ve slipped by recently while I’ve been simultaneously wrapping up the school year and getting ready for the trip:

• Bike To Work Week happening right now, and Austinist nails the city's attitude towards its cyclists in one brief paragraph.    But damn – free breakfast tacos tomorrow.  They would have to give out the breakfast tacos right when I’ll be heading to the airport.
• The 2007 ACL lineup is announced, and everyone starts slavering.*  I however am in no way swerved from my determination to skip the whole damn thing for the first time since it started.  (For the record, I said I’d skip it last year too but gave in because a) the New Pornographers were on the bill and b) I hadn’t been working for months and had nothing better to do.  But five years sitting in puddles of stale beer on recycling runs backstage is more than enough.)

Last year's ACL Fest viewed from the recycling cart

• Jerry Falwell dies.  If I ever wanted to devoutly believe in Hell, it’s for someone like him.
• I get taken to lunch at the UT Faculty Club by two of mine to honor me for putting up with them for six months.  I don’t have the heart to tell them it’s actually almost nine, and I still haven’t gotten my review.  But the food (salmon salad, tortilla-encrusted tilapia, peach cobbler) is almost good enough by itself to buy my silence.

UT Faculty Club

Plus Malcolm has developed some sort of digestive disorder and all of a sudden I’m dealing with all kinds of kitty-solids/liquids I’ve been spared for a long time.  I am looking forward to getting out of town for awhile, no lie.

*I wish I could understand where all the overweening fuss about Ghostland Observatory comes from.  IME their set last year proved very little beyond their commitment to the idea that Annoying is the new black.