Suprise Morning

So I go to the Mon Cafe, my Cheers-like local spot, this morning wearing pajamas and slippers which is usually body language for "I wasn't planning on staying today." I just wanted to grab coffee then go make music.  But I did stay after talking to some of the old-schoolers, and then I found out they were tallying votes for an art contest at 10:00 so I thought I'd stick around a bit more. I was asked to stand and read off the votes.  So here I am, still 1/16th alseep, in pajamas, merrily reading off votes to someone tallying on a chalkboard.  It was crowded and everyone was jovial as hell.  The winner ended up being someone who worked there and had his friends all vote, but the winners-up were very talented.  They even had a child art category.  The mood was that of a fancy dinner, where everyone is drinking wine and dressed up, with lots of applause. Good times had. Suprise morning.

(Positive Mental Attitude)

Don't care what you may say

We got that attitude

Don't care what you may do

We got that attitude

Yeeeeeah, we got that P.M.A.

Yeeeeeah, we got that P.M.A.

Don't care what you may say

We got that attitude

Don't care what you may do

We got that attitude

Yeeeeeah, we got that P.M.A.

Yeeeeeah, we got that P.M.A.

We got that attitude

We got that attitude

-Bad Brains, "Attitude"

Why? well, just because

Eavesdropping

...at the In-N-Out (the happiest and holiest place I know) today. Two suits sitting at the table next to me.

"Well [so-and-so] is on his way out so you should try to consolidate the power, make a power play."
"Why?"
"...I dunno."

Swear to god...

food for thought

"Iron is destroyed by it's own rust."

Outside Lands Pictures

Here are the pictures. It's Rupa and the April Fishes (with guy on stiltz), Devendra Banhardt, M. Ward, Regina Spektor and Jackie Greene, in that order.  There was many more cool moments, but I was enjoying myself too much to play photographer.

Outside Lands

I don't know what prompted the name for this festival but I have a feeling they were hinting at a state of being: The feeling you get at these multiple day festivals that pulls you from the world you know (Outside Lands) and lets you live in a world where for three days, music is everything.  And from everywhere the world over.  

It was slightly difficult finding transportation to the park from BART and back, due to the fact it was a concert catering to 67,000* people and no parking, although there was valet parking for bikes.  The first day felt rushed and short.  There was no time to lose looking around at booths, the show was only about 5 hours and contained many acts I wanted to see.  We (including me, my brother and his girlfriend) got there just in time to catch the tail end of my favorite Steel Pulse song.  We fired up immediately.  From there, we saw The Dynamites, a great throwback soul/funk band.  The singer had that feeling that's getting harder and harder to find in new voices. This was good time music.  Manu Chao had a great energy and the way they flash-transitioned from punk to reggae was stunning.  

We then saw Beck, who I had great expectations for, but just cycled through the hits until we left halfway through to check out the Black Keys. Anyone who's heard the old Black Keys stuff knows what to expect: dirty garage rock soaked in very old school blues.  They rocked harder than "Kick Out the Jams."  Well, maybe not that hard, but a close second. 

Then the finale of the evening: Radiohead.  I didn't know about the effect that the sights and sounds would have: causing people's heads to spontaneously combust.  Maybe because it was MINDBLOWING. Waves of beauty poured through the speakers.  The moment of zen came when during "Karma Police;" everyone sang along loudest to not the verses of chorus, but the bridge, "for a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself, I lost myself."  It was like if pressure and relief, pleasure and pain, existed simultaneously.  The sound shut out a few times.  Yeah.  Right in the middle of songs for many minutes.  It was cool though because it prompted Thom Yorke to actually crack a joke in that English accent you sometimes forget he has: "Somebody must of spilt beer on the cord."

The first thing we saw day 2 was Rupa and the April Fishes, which friggin' rule.  They had a gypsy jazz kinda sound.  Sometimes it sounded Jewish or Russian.  But the tempo was high and I wished I was seeing them in a dimly lit tavern, slamming mugs with a mate and drunkenly carrying on.  Ol' Devendra played right after that and was playing his cheery "let's make it, baby" kinda stuff, pleasing me and seemingly the rest of the crowd.  He's a funny guy and he has seemed to mellow out. He covered that song that goes "in the summertime, when the weather is fine..." got me dancin' like cooked speghetti.

We hiked to Galactic's Crescent City Soul Crew after that and I started half-dancing as I approached the stage.  It was, after all, funky.  A girl walking the opposite way was half-dancing, too, so I started a full dance with her.  It was fun then we waved goodbye and spoke no words.  My only other encounter with the opposite sex these three days was with a hippy who gave me a big chunk of an organic cookie. "I think you'll really like this," she said.  "Why, is it a special cookie?" says I.   It wasn't.  There were girls with flowers in their hair everywhere but I'm still awfully shy when it comes to that kind of make-the-move thing.  And there were lots of yuppies, too and in SF it is sometimes hard to tell the difference.

M. Ward owned it and so we never made it to Lupe Fiasco, even after he played my 3 favorite songs.  Kaki King kinda sucked.  I liked her more when she just played acoustic.  Now she's a singer/songwriter who sings and writes songs which I do not like.  So we took the time to eat.  The food was great because they had  booths from some of the most popular restaurants in the city, instead of $8 mysterious hot dogs.  

I got a good spot for Regina, mi amor, with my friend's sister, another Regina fan.  My brother and Michelle aren't big on Regina (I know...) so they stayed back.  Of course, she was (can't think of a good enough adjective here).  And I have two claim to fames: 1. She was checking me out- I thought she was looking at me and then my friend's sister asked me if she was.  So it wasn't just me who saw! 2. She said she loved me-  I got up the nerve somehow to yell, "I love you, Regina!" amidst total silence.  She whispered back "I love you, too."  People congratulated me and patted me on the back, like I had won a date with her or something. I knew it was ridiculous, but it really made my day anyhow... 

I got to Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals halfway through their set, which was nothing I haven't seen from them before.  Poor old Ben; he's getting jaded in spite of himself and his good nature.  I was honored to see Primus rock it, with their cowboy-robot-on-a-rampage sound and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers closed out the night with an veteran set.  But how could he leave out "Don't Do Me Like That"???

Day 3 started with a favorite of mine these days, Jackie Greene.  This young dude owns on the harmonica, the guitar and the piano, not to mention a decent voice and a knack for writing damn good, pop-influenced Americana songs.  You can see him in my pictures leading the band in a very Dylan-esque way.  The Dylan comparisons are justified because the similarities are high.  Both started at about the same age, choosing a style and a character to express themselves through, a bit more rural than they.  Both have the ability to seemingly sum up all of the universe in one or two lines of prose.  Both chain smoke. 

We sought out the Culver City Dub Collective next, which was fronted by a hawaiian woman with a voice that sounded like the warmth and love of the island.  It was a strange juxtaposition to Jackie Greene.

Toots and the Maytals was one of my favorites from the festival.  They were playing reggae before anyone knew who Bob Marley was and they had it in their nature by now.  Saying they make the music sound dead-on without trying is an understatement.  They had more yuppies dancing than anyone else. They did a cover of "I've Got Dreams to Remember" that sounded JUST LIKE Otis Redding and his band.  I couldn't believe it.  They got mad soul in Jamaica. 

I caught Andrew Bird make a tasty song with his loop pedal and then saw The Cool Kids brand of east coast high school hip hop.  They had base heavy beats like OG Beastie Boys and that style that is witty without trying like Jay Z.  Check out "A Little Bit Cooler" for a taste.  Lighthearted stuff.

Rodrigo y Gabriela brought down the house.  I would not have been suprised if their guitars caught fire.  There was this curious fellow who watched the show next to me with his girlfriend.  A very fashion-oriented couple, dressed in lots of hip, black stuff.  He had a monotone stoner voice that was very clear.  Seems like one of those guys that calls his girlfriend "babe" all the time. In our conversation, he told me about seeing them 4 or 5 times before and about all the fun that he had had.  He reminded me of a character from On The Road by Jack Kerouac.  He was into having fun so much, he approached it like a business.  After every song, he would yell a "whoooo!" so loud that it seemed he was wringing all the fun out of each and every moment that he could.  When someone asked him if he wanted to smoke, he said "yeah, bro!" as if saying "why would I be dumb enough to turn down something so FUN?"  Good guy, though.

We saw Wilco briefly and then Jack Johnson, who was more anti-climactic than I expected.  During the first song, he spots a spider on his mike and announces so to the masses and while fooling with it, drops his guitar.  He later starts singing the second verse first for one of his songs and then admits doing it about 15 times on this tour.  Oh Jack, the ladies love you, don't they?

*=I think that's what the number was at, not counting the presumably 1,000s who snuck in.  

I'll never know...

Did the good day put me in a good mood or did my good mood make the good day?

Maybe it's these new rubber bands I got this afternoon for my braces. Bear.

Colonated Ruins Domino

Our generation is not riding into the sunset. We are not destined for cookie cutter families and financial security. Also, we will probably not die with our loved ones bedside. Our empire is finally on a very recognizable decline. After all, even with each person’s strengths, we are only human.

I actually find peace in this. No longer do I care much about my position in a race that took a wrong turn, nor am I throwing up my hands and saying “fuck it.” I’m somewhere in between. Impartiality is the wrong word, but maybe the closest to describing. I guess it’s like watching the rain fall outside and seeing it as a good reason to relax. Or maybe it’s like Game Over on the Playstation and thinking to yourself, “what do I do now?”

It helps me give people the love they deserve, less distracted with trivial wins and losses.

Today

on the way home, I saw an old man riding a unicycle and I said to myself..."wow..." He had to break for a car!

Hawaii not?

So for those who don't know, my neighbor/friend moved to Hawaii about 9 months ago.  He would always talk about going, I just couldn't see him getting the gall to actually follow through.  He's back visiting and he has already had new friends, a job, a girlfriend, etc.  and it's really making me think "why not me?"  After all, he hasn't anything bad to say about this paradise.

The Alchemist resonated in my bones and I've wanted to go on some sort of journey/adventure for some time.  

Thoughts of running off to Hawaii were going through my head all day today, and the day went much better.  Seeing myself out on a surf board, paddling in the sun and the clear waters.

With experience under my belt, I could probably snatch up a job fairly easily.  I checked on Wikipedia and the unemployment rate is a mere 2%, compared to about a 5% national average.  And I like the idea of most of the radio stations being reggae.

I'd like to try it for a year and if all else fails, I'll move back.  After all, my skin tone may get me into trouble there.  Either with the natives or the sun.