I just realized that about 20 years ago, I was preparing to go to 10th grade ... for the second time. I've written about this experience on this blog. Many people know this event played a significant role in defining who I am as a person, educator and parent.
But I want to give thanks to the albums that got me through the rocky situation of being a 10th grader again, listed by how many times I'd guess I listened to them: [Album name - Artist (release date)]
1) Ten - Pearl Jam (August 27)
2) Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers (September 24)
3) Nevermind - Nirvana (September 24)
4) Badmotorfinger - Soundgarden (October 8)
5) Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet (October 22)
6) Use Your Illusion I and II - Guns and Roses (September 17)
7) Diamonds and Pearls - Prince & the New Power Generation (October 1)
8) Greatest Hits II - Queen (October 28)
9) Uncle Anesthesia - Screaming Trees (January 29 - but I didn't hear it until the fall)
10) Temple of the Dog (April 16, but like most of the masses, didn't know about this until after falling in love with aforementioned Ten and Badmotorfinger)
These albums and the constant playing and replaying of them were so helpful in getting me to barrel through those tumultuous days. To all of you who make music. Thank you.
So I've tried to put together a few narratives for the blog. I keep failing. I think I just need to vomit up several things rattling in my head. Perhaps I'll apply a coat of cohesion at some point and time.
Our #Rockcrowd Fest of 2011 was a wonderful experience. Sam is starting high school, so Mary and I will suddenly have more "just us" time. Our shared love for similar music is starting to manifest in all these music gigs. While this music-run started as a "vacation replacement," I think we'll see it continue as how we enjoy our time together and why we live in this amazing area.
Outside Lands. This is the story I've tried to tell and failed many times. It was very good. The best OL for me of the 3 times we've gone, because of both the festival/line-up but also we are figuring out how to make it a more and more pleasurable experience. Check out the Flickr set, if you are interested.
Friday was good. Release the Sunbird was a really nice kick-off to the festival. Joy Formidable was fun, but we only caught a few songs. The Meters showed us some "Senior Citizen Funk 101" which kicked ass, but there were sound problems that didn't allow them funk as much as I would have liked. By the time they solved those issues, we had headed to Foster the People (along with about 90% of everyone else at Outside Lands at that time.) It was quite crowded. But we did get to groove to Pumped Up Kicks, so that's good. Then came the surprise of the festival: The Limousines. I didn't plan on seeing them, but there was nothing else that had us captured at the time. Well, they rocked it.
While I am a big fan of their hit, Internet Killed the Video Star
We hung around for The Best Coast, which was okay. I like their music, but I'm more a fan of listening to a couple of their songs, rather than a full set/album. Their Drew Barrymore-directed video is good fun and a nice taste. The evening was bits of The Shins and Erykah Badu, but nothing really immersive for us.
Saturday was better. It was Rhett Miller day. We love Rhett; we saw him during our recent concert run. This time we got to enjoy an up-close and personal concert of him solo in the Serve Tent and then we got to go watch him rock out with the Old 97s. The evening ended with a rockout set by Muse complete with remarkable guitar riffs and freakin' LASERS! We saw other stuff throughout the day, but it was meh compared to Rhett (and co.) and Muse.
Sunday. Best day of the weekend. Best Outside Lands day I've had out of the 8 days I've gone. One of my favorite live music days ever, actually.
Yeah, pretty incredible. This is the part I struggle to put in words. It was so good. First of all, I have two big-time new favorites from this day: Grouplove and Beirut. These are acts I'll probably continue to follow for quite sometime, so it was nice to get an intro to both on the same day. We also had pretty kickass positioning for seeing all these acts. Fogerty and Arcade Fire were on the Main Stage, and I've learned - don't bother getting too close. Enjoy being a part of a LARGE festival crowd and hang in the back. Save the "good seats" for getting closer to smaller acts that will soon play bigger stages (like Grouplove and Beirut.) The Serve tent gave us a chance to sit in the shade and watch a few acts (Josh Ritter, Lord Huron) up close. I'm still surprised more people didn't take advantage of this opportunity.
Anyway, it was just a great day and I am still unpacking my appreciation for these acts, so I can't really express it here, yet.
But while we are on music. Thank you to Spotify. Spotify is helping me explore music so much. And as someone who supports live music (obviously) this service is quite helpful. It is going to help me continue to pick shows.
Oh and speaking of live music and groovy music apps. Mary and I shazamed much of the pre-show music, to be able to investigate later. Well, we recently bought tickets for a show with one of our favorites from Outside Lands last year, Dawes. They are co-headlining with a band Blitzen Trapper, who we didn't know much about when we bought the tickets, but figured we'd dig it. Lo and behold, one of our Shazamed favorites was a Blitzen Trapper song! (It was Furr, if you are curious.)
