Backstreets Back, Alright
Jun 13, 2008
I recently got 2 new sets of speakers (Infinity Reference 9623i), an amp (MRP-F250), and a head unit (KDC-X492) put into my car. I also got my doors taken off, and had disappearing doors installed. That last part might be a lie though. Anyway, the head unit is pretty cool – You can plug your iPod into it directly via USB, and browse through all of your music right on the screen. So maybe that will help me stay on the road a little bit better. Anyway, I had it on shuffle this morning on the way to work, and Metallica came on. After a minute or so, it dawned on me that they will be playing at Bonnaroo at some point this weekend. I know its lame, but I’m pretty bummed about the fact that I’m not there this year. I’ve only been to Bonnaroo for the past two years, but I had so much fun both times, and I remember talking to the people that I went with about “not seeing any reason to stop going to Bonnaroo every year from now on”. But it just didn’t happen this year. Initally, when I saw that Metallica was on the lineup (with the likes of Kanye West and other unlikely candidates) it was a no-brainer – Bonnaroo is just “too commercial” now, and I’d be better off spending my money elsewhere. But after thinking about it for a while, I realized that with most of the festivals that I’ve gone to, I haven’t been there because of the headliners anyway. I’ve liked a lot of Metallica’s music for as long as I can remember – Before I even really got into metal. And while they themselves may be some of the biggest tools on the planet (and the douche factor is consistent), I still wouldn’t mind seeing them. Bonnaroo may not be the best place for them, but Mastodon and The Sword are there this year too. I think it’s safe to say that both of those bands are more “aggressive” than Metallica, but seeing them on the lineup really made me want to go. Anyway, I guess there are two schools of thought on Metallica at Bonnaroo – My initial reaction, which was that they don’t belong there at all, and could potentially “ruin” Bonnaroo… Or that the festival has evolved, and it’s all about diversity. I realize this wasn’t a very well thought out rant (or whatever you wanna call it), but I do wish I was there this year, and I’m sure that 60,000 or so odd people are having a blast right now in Manchester, Tennessee. Oh well, I’ll be in Michigan for Rothbury before I know it, and I’m sure I’ll have just as much fun there. I bet this dude is glad he decided to make the trip to Bonnaroo, though… I bet he’s having a great time right now.
Oh yeah, you can watch Bonnaroo coverage live here – I just caught some of Les Claypool’s set and they were doing a cover of Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral”, it was pretty bad ass.
Lately, I’ve been writing my posts little by little, and saving them on my jumpdrive. If someone sends me a link at work, I’ll throw it in a text file, and the post is usually done over the course of a week or so. My jumpdrive got effed up last week and I lost everything on it, so that kind of screwed things up for me. I ordered a new one on Tuesday (8 GB Kingston) for $30 and it came on yesterday, so now I’m “back in action”, so to speak. Plus, I can throw MP3s on this thing and then plug it right into my car’s head unit, which is pretty cool. I’m actually kind of obsessed with it right now. I’ve been sleeping my car, too. That’s not weird, is it?
I never play video games anymore, but I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about Metal Gear Solid 4. I really enjoyed the other Metal Gear games… Even when I did play video games once in a while, a game could rarely hold my attention for more than a few days, but I played these games a lot, and I actually played Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 the whole way through. If #4 is as good as people are saying, it might be worth buying a PS3 for… But I doubt I will.
Last weekend, I ended up going to The Roots Picnic at the Festival Pier @ Penn’s Landing in the city. The last time I saw The Roots was at Langerado, and since half of the band was stuck in traffic, the performance was a bit lacking, to say the least. Anyway, before I left, I saw a posting on a message board that some dude was looking for volunteers. I got in touch with him, and he said that if I ran the dunking booth for half an hour, he’d give me and my friends backstage passes. The guy told me to “come find him” when I got there, so I didn’t really count on it working out. Anyway, we got there around 2 or so and pregamed in the parking lot before heading in, since we anticipated the usual $8 beers. After wandering around for a little, I found the dunk tank, and before I knew it, I had tracked down the dude who I talked to earlier. He gave me a George Bush mask and 4 backstage passes. It was ridiculously hot out (hottest day of the year so far?) so I had no problem doing the dunk tank thing. Basically I sat there and drank beer (that we managed to sneak in) while wearing a Bush mask and giving people the finger as they attended to dunk me into the cold, refreshing water. I had a great time with it. We all took turns doing this, and then we decided to head backstage. Being backstage was pretty damn cool – Free food and beer, and all the bands were back there hanging out. When The Roots came on (they played several sets, in between the other bands) we headed out onto the stage. It was pretty damn cool to watch the band from the side of the stage (under shade) while everyone else was all crammed together, standing in direct sunlight. Unfortunately, the sound is setup so that it sounds best when you are in the audience, not when you are standing behind the band, so sometimes it was hard to tell what songs the bands were playing. Most of the time, I heard more bass than anything else. I got some great pictures though – I got one with ?uestlove, and Satomi Matsuzaki, the short little Japanese chick from Deerhoof. I would have gotten more, but to be honest, there were so many eccentrically dressed people backstage, I couldn’t tell who was who. Anyway, The Roots put on an awesome show. Gnarls Barkley started around 10, but my friends wanted to leave, so I only caught 2 or 3 songs; but they sounded pretty good. Anyway, it was a pretty good time, albiet a little bit exhausting. And going to the Manayunk bike races the following morning didn’t help things much, I’ve been recovering all week.
I don’t know what you guys have planned for the weekend, but I’m staying in my room and dancing to this song… All weekend long. It’s gonna be a good weekend.