"In vacant or in pensive mood..." I am: Bekah; 24; Law Student / Favorite Things: Carbs (so there!), Johnny Damon, Smiling at babies, Grilled cheese, Comfortable silence / Favorite Supreme Court Justice: Brennan / Favorite Wilson: Owen by an inch / Today's Special: Song: Elliott Smith, "Bled White"; Quote: "You know, there's like a butt-load of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join because I'm pretty good with a bowstaff." Please love me: mmbekah@yahoo.com

 
Monosyllabic Assessments

1. Silver City: Bad
2. Jon Stewart: Stud
3. Time at which I'll likely purchase America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction: Now
4. Loud cell phone talker in coffeehouse: Douche
5. Outline progress thus far: Slight
6. Run this morning: Blech
7. Saturday classes due to Ivan: Poop
8. Last night's bizarre, Salem-style witch hunt on The Apprentice: *%&@#?
9. Football tomorrow: Blue!
10. Confidence in getting a clerkship interview: None


posted by Bekah at 1:01 PM :: |

 
Festival Diary

I'm back from my Hurricane Vacation, and I'm definitely not excited about starting school again. Austin was great--J and I both loved the city and everything associated with it. We couldn't get over how clean and organized everything is there, and how well-run the festival was. We were so upset that we had to miss the last day of the festival to get back home (No Elvis Costello or Cake, sadness!), but we're already making plans to go back sometime soon. And next time we'll go at a time where a 8-9 hour drive won't take us 25 hours because of inept and ridiculous evacuation gridlock. I'm not going to go into the details of that drive, because I think J and I are permanently scarred. A little piece of our sanity and a large portion of our dignity were lost somewhere in that 9th hour when we'd only gone about 50 miles. So instead of dwelling on that disaster, I'm going to give a quick rundown of all the bands we saw/heard at the festival. Keep in mind that this list is only 2 days worth--if we had the means, we could have seen a lot more.

First, a quick note about the festival itself. The mechanics of it were very well thought out (shuttles to the park, easily accessible food area, maps of the grounds and stages), but the sheer volume of people (between 70 and 100,000 per day) made things a little bumpy sometimes. There were a lot of port-o-potties too, but J and I never had to use them. Not even once. We must have drunk 60 ounces of water each every day, and we still never had to pee. This is because it was 100 degrees and sunny and between the hours of 11:00am and 9pm everyone was covered with a film of sticky Texas sweat that trickled relentlessly down backs and shins and fingers. Men were drenched. Women were horrified that their cute little tank tops were getting soaked. The heat forced some of the most impressive beer guts I've ever seen to come out and enjoy the sunshine. J and I just rubbed coagulated sunscreen on ourselves every few hours and tried to find a little shade when we could.

And now, the music:

Tucker Livingston: Folksy stuff; we sat for a while before we got our bearings on Friday.
Louque: Interesting New Orleans musician mixing funk and blues and a little hip-hop. We liked it, but were on our way somewhere else.
The Killers: Now, I love The Killers. J does not love The Killers, but we went anyway. And as fun as I think their music is, I had to agree with J that the live show was just nothing special. The lead singer had the stage presence of a corpse (although I must give him props for not sacrificing fashion in the face of extreme heat: he kept his indie shirt/vest combo ON baby), and he churned out "Somebody Told Me" like a death rattle. But I still think the cd is awesome.
Electric Church: Some sort of crappy organ-infused dance/gospel/reggae spritual music that made me want to laugh and then cry. We left.
Bob Schneider: Eh, ok. It's hot--want to go get something to eat before Blind Boys?
Blind Boys of Alabama: Highlight of the day. These guys have been playing together since June 10, 1944 and they were amazing. Great gospel/blues, and if you don't think a cute little 80-year old blind man jumping around on stage and then being led through the crowd is a wonderful thing, you don't have a soul.
Neko Case: Nice voice. Where are the New Pornographers?
Sloan: J likes these guys. I think they sound like bad Classic Rock. We didn't stay long.
Broken Social Scene: Fun indie jam band--lots of energy. They put on a good show.
Ryan Adams: I'm sorry, I love Whiskeytown and some of his solo stuff, but this guy is an asshole. He was condescending and annoying and didn't take anything remotely seriously. He played "La Cienega Just Smiled" and messed it all up. I know it's his song and he can do what he wants, but that song is important to me and he ruined it by being obnoxious. Ass.
Franz Ferdinand: Heard like one song. I don't know what the fuss is about.
Mason Jennings: Heard a little on Saturday morning. Sounded good.
Slightly Stoopid: Not just a clever name.
Cat Power: Beautiful voice. Serves as a nice complement to snoring. Ah, I kid...she was good. Just a little...down...tempo...
Josh Rouse: Waiting for Old 97's so only heard from far away, but sounded good.
Old 97's: Best ever. Rhett Miller was like the anti-Ryan Adams. He was so appreciative of the fans and the festival and Austin and the music. He was so excited to be performing, and he put on a great show. Plus, he's dreamy.
The Gourds: Only heard a little, wasn't too excited about it. No "Gin and Juice" while we were there.
Modest Mouse: Good show. Lots of new stuff, which I actually liked. J thought there should have been a wider selection from their portfolio, but all in all it was a good time.
G-Love & Special Sauce: Heard that one song, the "she got sauce" song on the way to The Pixies. That's about all I needed.
Walter "Wolfman" Washington: Heard the end of the show. Sounded awesome.
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: Tie with Old 97's for favorite show of the day. Little 80 year old black man with long skinny fingers rockin' out on his guitar and fiddle. He was so adorable and great. Sang a lot about women treating him wrong. I wanted to hug him.
The Pixies: We saw THE PIXIES! We weren't very close to the stage, but we heard everything perfectly. Great show, great set, fun way to end the festival.
Wilco (At after-festival concert): This was almost a disaster for us. By the time The Pixies' show ended, we were already late to the concert and the shuttle line was over 2 hours long. So we speed-walked to one of the main streets praying for a miracle, and we somehow found what must have been the only cab in town that wasn't at the festival. Got to the show and only missed 5 minutes of Wilco. Great show. Lots of Summerteeth and lots of new stuff (still need that album). Two encores, and the second one included Mermaid Ave. songs, "Jesus Christ for President" and "California Stars." Hooray!

And now I'm waking up from this glorious dream to the harsh reality of 3L. Better to have loved and lost, I suppose. Gotta go to school.


posted by Bekah at 8:09 AM :: |