The Dead Part of You

So Saturday was the big Out at the Lake day at Canobie Lake Park. It wasn't really because I'm pretty sure we were the only gay people there. We finally saw some lesbians by the log flume [they love a log flume] at about 9:30 PM but that was it. So everyone I forced to go with me thought I made the whole thing up.

It was still hella-crowded with white trash. My car got there after 1, and they were parking people like a mile and a half away in an industrial park and bussing us over. It kinda hella-sucked.



We went on the rollercoaster which was kind of lame, mostly because it was the first time for me as an adult not on drugs. The rollercoaster is 63 feet high. It goes 35 miles per hour. Crackhead Tim sat by himself in the back seat and decided not to wear his seat belt and almost died, causing the Puerto Rican next to him to exclaim "Madre de Dios!" at the end of the ride. Additionally, we learned that rides based in centrifugal force really don't do much good at all for the 30+ set.



People were all lined up for the Cher extravaganza. At first it kind of felt like a circle of hell for musical theater majors, until I realized that one of the performers actually enjoyed being a back-up dancer to someone ["Brittany"] doing karaoke to Cher songs. That performer was Matt:



For real, we would have lined up to ride him. Abs into tomorrow.

Tummies feeling better, we waited in line for the 62 second Corkscrew. We know it was 62 seconds because Crackhead Tim borrowed the watch from the lady in front of us to time it. She threatened him with the removal of his limbs if he tried to steal it, the way a good biker chick should.



Night began to fall and conversation turned serious: Long discourses on the physics of Tilt-a-Whirl cars, and which one we should go for.



John and I ditched the Giant Sky Wheel, which pretty much seemed like an endless ride. The others indeed comfirmed that it is infinite, and the only way to get off of it is by bribing the attendants.



The Mine of Lost Souls was first transformed into "The Line of Lost Souls", then "The Mine of Girls Gone Wild", "The Mine of Golden Showers" and finally "The Mine of Extreme Anal Penetration" I'm pretty sure we're still in line for it. The ride had 0 payoff and totally should have been "The Mine of the Lost Episodes of Oz". That would have been worth the wait.



After that there were fireworks and more centrifuges and then Bumper Cars to finish the night. A good time was had by all but would I do it again? THE ANSWER IS NO. There were entirely too many people and screaming children. Flat rides are fun and all, but not $27 worth of fun. All the lines were out of control. I took tons of pretty pictures.

So Sam and Chris got their reviews up. I feel so hyper-emotional right now. I'm totally not sleeping tonight. I'm a live wire - here's the facts:

I started Saturday with Rob Dickinson from Catherine Wheel. It was probably one of the best things I got to see - not too crowded, and everything I'd heard a solo Rob Dickinson show had been.

The setlist was [don't hold me to the order]:
Heal [nice!]
My Name Is Love
Handsome [which we clapped along to for him. he’s trying to sell it to Cher as a disco tune]
Crank
Oceans
Black Metallic ["this song took 4 minutes to write but wound up being 8 minutes on the album"]

There weren't a lot of people there at the start although it was starting to get crowded at the end. [See, being new to the whole 'festival' crowd ebbs and flows, 'crowded' has a very different meaning at 1:30 PM as opposed to 4:30 PM. I learned].'

I walked over and caught the last few New Amsterdams songs - the best part being a cover of my all time favorite Afghan Whigs song, "When We Two Parted".

And please allow me to present you with a clue
If I inflict the pain
Then baby only I can comfort you

Then it was back over for Nine Black Alps. Sam had said he'd be there, and they're OK, but now the festival had really kicked in, or so I thought at the time. The tent where Rob Dickinson had played just 1 hour ago was now "packed". Comparitvely. Nine Black Alps were OK - pretty generic alt-rock. I didn't "run into" Sam as there were probably 2000 people there. I was the one behind the LA girls bumping shit up their noses.

I took a break because it's pretty hella-hot at Coachella. I sat in a shade tent. I heard a bit of Animal Collective, which sounded really good - like I want to hear more, good.

I went back to the Mojave tent for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, thinking I'd "run into" Chris who said he'd be there. And since nobody's probably heard of them that wouldn't be a problem. Well the tent was now packed - I wish I had numbers as to how many people each tent holds. Maybe 5000 in the Mojave tent? I was right in the middle. I'm only vaguely familiar with them - I have maybe half the album. I thought they were really good and fun at the time, but looking back, pretty disposable.

WHOA - dead on the nail with that Mojave tent estimate.

Anyway, I also realized that running back and forth between tents and stages was no longer going to work due to crowds, heat, personal needs that had long lines - TV on the Radio, Ladytron and Cat Power were now off my list - I went directly over to the Coachella stage for Sigur Ros. Got me a patch of shade by the tech tent. Watched the sunset.


Sigur Ros were holy.





I'm honestly not a Franz Ferdinand fan, so I retreated to the back for a patch of grass to lie down on before Depeche Mode. I stood up for their 2 hits, and chilled waiting for DM.

Depeche Mode. The stage design and visuals were brilliant. I thought it was pre-recorded video it was so good [from what I could tell, take 12 cameramen focused on the same person from twelve different angles. Flash between angles rapidly, with varying overlayed visual effects. Too cool.] The happy faced spaceship pumping out LED words like "Pain" and "Misery" The set list wasn't perfect but pretty close. Just finally feeling a part of, reaching that group consciousness. Singing "Enjoy the Silence" at the top of my lungs along with 50,000 other people and not giving a damn what I sounded like or if anyone was looking at me, because we were all just having fun and I was finally included in that "we".



Day two's music was all MogwaiMogwaiMogwai. I was in no mood to run around in the desert seeing bands I only had a passing interest in [Giant Drag, Mates of State], so mostly I just sat in the Sahara tent with Sam, Joshua, and a bunch of other bears who wandered in and out. I was around for most of Louie Vega's set, and that was really hot. I'm not a huge techno fan, I like what I like and that was fun.

Bloc Party was at the Outdoor Theater at 6, and I immediately went right for that tech tent shady spot, which = good time. They were very good but nothing specific to write home about. We all clapped our hands over our heads. Note how far from the stage I am, it comes into play in a few hours:



Once Bloc Party ended I was in go go go mode. 95 minutes to take care of ALL body functions and get to the front of that stage for Mogwai. This meant that I wound up being there for most of Digable Planets, who are like The Cosby Show of rap. I pretended to be grooving to it but was really just dancing my way closer and closer to the front. They got the "Good" of "Good Night" out when I just started pushing.



It was so worth it. My pictures didn't come out so hot raw - some photoshop touchups and they'll be good.

I'm really trying to stay emotionless in my recap of all of this, but something happened during Mogwai.

Mogwai Fear Satan 1 of 3

Out of nowhere, it just hit me how - well I think it started with the only other time I saw Mogwai live. I showed up to meet my friend Eric at the Middle East wasted. Like I could barely stand up wasted. Nodding off wasted. I got through maybe 2 songs before I had to leave because I was too drunk to stand up anymore. How fucking sad. What a fucking waste. I could have seen this band at the Middle East in Cambridge, and here I am seeing them at a festival. This pendulum of absolute self-hate and shame, and extreme gratitude that I was sober and sane enough to get to this state this festival this moment in time ALIVE was just swinging way too fast, and I started crying. Wailing, actually. Screaming my hands on my head shaking and sobbing.

Mogwai Fear Satan 2 of 3

Remember the boy I liked better than all the other boys? Fuck yeah, shit like that came up too. I quieted down for a bit, thinking about the whole past - it was all very 4th steppish, actually. I actually felt crap leave my body and soul.

Mogwai Fear Satan 3 of 3

I don't know where it came from or where it went or how Mogwai brought it out of me. I was fine the rest of their set, night. Just, well, changed I suppose.

and uh, when i'm in the grips of it i don't feel pleasure and i don't feel pain, i just feel no emotions. do you understand what i'm talking about? have you ever, have you ever felt like that, when you just, when you just, you couldn't feel anything and you don't want to either, you know, like that. do you understand what i'm saying sir?'

You can see the back of my shaved head in the video. I'm to the right of the tall guy infront of the cameraman.

I decided that since I was up front that I'd stay and catch some of The Go! Team. I'm so glad I did.



Again, I need to touch some up but the only people in front of me at this point were the pros with the press passes. I stayed for 2 smoking, excellent songs - but I could see the lights and fog of Massive Attack off in the distance calling me, and it was just too much to resist so I left.

I caught "Unfinished Sympathy", and then 2 Liz Frasier songs. I totally couldn't believe she was there - remember last year's Coachella where Cocteau Twins confirmed then pulled out? I guess this was as close as we were going to get. I wish I had seen and heard more, but I was really far back and distracted by all of the walking around.

Tool. Packed. Couldn't see a thing, and they were just projecting fractals and music videos on the screen. Bored me to tears. Not only did they come on 20 minutes late, apparently they didn't make it up on the back end - I left during "Vicarious", heard "Aenima" on my way back to the campground - then nothing. Maybe I was just tired, cranky, hungry, sunburned and completely drained from the weekend.



I totally still bought a Tool shirt to prove I was there.

I have so much more to say once the pictures are done and flickrd.

So Monday night Dave and I went to see Death Cab for Cutie over at the Orpheum Theater in Boston.

It pretty much confirmed that I’m a crappy photographer, and that I am downright amazed at what I can do with Photoshop [tm].

During some songs, Nick would look all sad. I knew that I could comfort him, if only those pesky bouncers wouldn’t get in the way.

Also, when you sit in the second row, you notice weird things, like Ben spits. A lot. Like a chawin’ ball player. He doesn’t spit on the audience, but hey, that would have been cool with me. Death Cab For Cutie sweat a lot on stage.

The set list wasn’t especially creative. I can tell you Boston has missed out on “Styrofoam Plates” and “Why Would You Want to Live Here” twice in a row now, which is too bad. “Blacking Out the Friction” was dumped this time too, a highlight of the last show, for me.

Of the new songs, “Different Names for the Same Thing” was most impressive live. “Marching Bands of Manhattan” was pretty good too.

“Soul Meets Body” actually sounded bad to me. I’ll give him that it seems like a tough song to sing, and that this was the 7th show for them in as many nights.

OK - Have we figured out that I am totally crushed out on Nick Harmer yet? His favorite colors are darker blues and brown. His favorite food is Thai, and most Italian. He’s dreamy, and totally ready for his Tiger Beat close up.

Most of the show seemed rushed, probably due to the 7 shows in 7 days with the next day off. The way normal folk get all spacey on Friday afternoon? Yeah, that’s how this was. By the encore, well, they just weren’t even trying anymore.

How come I’m only now noticing that “Expo ‘86″ is one of their strongest songs.

And before “The Sound of Settling?” Ben came over to the people sitting down near us and asked them if they could stand up. It was then I realized how weird it must have been for him - 2000 people standing up except the 10 directly in front of him.

A good time was had by all at the big emo show.

so it was a busy weekend. last night i went to see death cab for cutie and they were good! they were very good, better than i expected! they play their songs very well live. and man those boys are hotties! and sensitive! seriously - they could have stayed in my bed back before they had $$$. the show was sold out which means it was wall to wall people. kids actually. when the lights went up eric and i were the oldest people there by far.

i didn't like ben kweller's schtick, but his music was ok.

i saw hellboy friday. it was ok. well, ron perlman was a very good hellboy, and actually, that's all the movie really had going for it. it was kind of an ok night, kinda sad, re: unrequited affection. i'm not talking about it. i'm just going to hide it inside until i burst into stars and cry.

man, i am SO 15 years old.

also friday i took SQL to the vet. mostly, i learned that if my shoulder hurts after carrying an 8 pound cat (and crate) to the bus stop and back, man, no way would i ever make it on survivor. THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN.

however, i could probably beat lex simply by not voting off my friends.

np: 'freeze' by recoil