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11:26 AM
All Tomorrows Parties!
I ended up going with my friend roger, though he left to go drink during some of the bands that i wanted to check out so i was by myself for the most part.
I heard the bangs as i drove through the parking lot. I love that 60's girls garage band sound. I think the first band we saw was electrelane who played on the ship stage, I remember liking them but i don't remember the sound. this is what sucks when going to a festival, or maybe i have a problem with my memory (i'm sure that's it). sometimes a memory of a band pops in my head for no reason and i think to myself, wow! i saw that band??! cool.
if someone reminds me then it will come back to me.
We walked outside to see James Chance...this was all about noise. They remind me of bands i'd go see at "Ourhouse" in Costa Mesa many years ago. Horns, Keyboards.... just jazzy punk rock noise. Back to the ship to see part of Jackie O Motherfucker....nothing like i expected from the name at all. I saw about 10 people on the stage with instruments strewn about on the floor, in their lap - just everywhere. no room to walk. it was noisefest2003! at first i was walking around trying to find a place to watch but it was just so packed and i couldn't tell if they had actually started playing yet because their sound was as if they were tunning the whole time. Jon Brion would have had a field day with all the toys! it got better toward the end. they kicked it up a notch or two. {smile}
same thing with terry riley....i had no idea they were even playing, it was these older fellas playing mood music.... like enya or something like that. just not my thing... this is when i ran into the 3 guys i went to high school with. I asked one of them if the band started already and he laughed and said i think so. he also told me that the new guy in mars volta (keyboards) still lives in long beach and used to work at fingerprints. he did look familiar... pretty cool gig for him, traveling around the world a few times before he even hits 30! next i walked over to the main stage outside to see mission of burma (punky pop). i don't own anything by them but i may pick something up now. I then ran back to the ship to catch Carla Bozulich and her hubby Nils Cline. She was in a couple of bands i'd see many years ago called Ethel Meatplow & my favorite Geraldine Fibbers. Now is doing this 'red headed stranger' thing - doing Willie Nelson songs. her voice is amazing and i enjoy listening to her.
back to the main stage (legs are getting a workout!!) for the Elliott Smith Tribute with Lou Barlow (sebadoh) and elliotts band backing him. they did bled white, division day, cupid's trick, needle in the hay, a passing feeling. then the MINDERS came out and did a few. On the last song , "Happiness", some people came out on stage and i'm thinking one was elliotts sister. they were all off key. i had a few tears in my eyes as i could tell it was hard for them..... not because they were off key {smile}. man they were bad!
next up was Mars Volta....so i'm standing around alone just people watching, this is when i start to notice all these drunk kids, either passed out or just stumbling about. I did see these 2 nice guys holding up this pissed drunk girl, trying to get her out of there. they were pulling up her skirt which was sorta falling off of her. (this is what i mean by a nice guy) who knows what they did to her once they got her back to the car. ... just goes to show you, it's nice to have good sober friends around when you can't see or walk!!
i've found a nice spot on the grass near the stage and no one is around, waiting for the mars volta to hit the stage when i see this fat drunk guy stumbling towards me. *please don't come near me*please don't come near me*please don't come near me* AND what does he do? .... he almost fell on me, he mumbled something then fell to the ground pretty much right next to me. his friend came over - drunk as well. I sat for about 1 minute more then got up and walked around and came back just as Mars volta came on. I couldn't handle the crazy slam pit so i opt to move back a few feet. I've never seen "at the drive in" but i'm sure i'd like them because The Mars Volta were great! The singer goes nuts on stage. The sound is like experimental rock noise. I think this is the band that all the kids came to see.
Next up was Iggy... as i was waiting for the stooges to hit the stage, again i sit alone. this guy comes walking over to me and it's one of my old flipside friends who i didn't expect to see there. he didn't have a camera in his hand which was a surprise to me!
I took some photos throughout the day/night but didn't bring my telephoto lens in. I totally could have, seeing all the other cameras and video cameras!! I may have got a few alright shots from where i was standing for the most part.
the lights went out - enter THE STOOGES...... crowd goes fucking nuts.... I move back a few more feet. Iggy says the word *fuck* alot. I guess to impress the younger crowd... i don't know. he did mention something about knowing more than that word, so he was well aware and amused by it himself. after about 3 songs - off goes his shirt. his tight stretch jeans were falling off his ass. I couldn't help but think to myself....this guy is done, he can stop now, he proved his point. He can go home and relax, he's done it all. retire.
but as i look around, everyone is really into it. I mean *hands in the air* into it.
I don't know what happened to mr. pop, but he had this awful limp and as he was trying to climb the amp i was praying for his safety. he did start humping the amp so i figured he was ok at this point. It didn't stop there......he jumped off the amp and headed for the crowd and didn't stop. STAGE DIVE! twice even.
as he ran from stage right to stage left his limp seemed to get worse. he still rocked though. I stayed until the encore started.
((older version))
iggy....um - he's getting up there and he can still rock but his body isn't as hot as you may think. it's all elastic and it looks as though you could set a drink on his lower back while he was standing. he's got a weird shape to his body now. and something was wrong with is hip or leg or something. he has this bad limp.
though he was still running/jumping/stage diving/climbing and humping the amps.
i'll write more later, perhaps about each band i saw, if i don't get them mixed up.
one more thing..... why do i always attract the drunk old fat men? ha ha.
so many drunk kids there. it was stupid. it's like "i remember my first drink"!
i saw 3 people passed out. in the grass, on the sidewalk just ouside the queen mary and one up front by the side of the stage. this was all before the 2 top bands.
i ran into 3 guys i went to high school with. it's weird how some people don't change at all then others look completely different. i had to look them up in my yearbook after i got home. as i was looking i noticed that i did have alot of friends back in high school, more than i thought. Yet i've only kept in touch
with about 6 of them, including my high school b/f up until about a year ago when i went to visit him and figured out he was still dealing, just bad news all around. I think i only kept in touch with him because i was the only one he could trust and he needed that in his life. ok....off the real subject here...
i'm glad i went but then again, i could have missed it and it would have been no big deal. it was something to do. i enjoyed it more than i expected for a big festival show. many many beautiful people were there!
talk later - suze
ps - i feel like i can sleep for a whole day right now. so much walking back and forth between stages, outside and inside.
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