festivus maximus

further rants about ACL were promised but after stumbling upon sunday VIP tix, i will refrain and only speak about the lovliest of times. not that i have $850 to throw down on vip at this caliber of a festival, it sure does make me not want to go again w/o it. As snobby as it sounds, I've said it before and i'll say it again...huge festivals just aren't really worth it in the end unless you are backstage or VIP. Yes i work in music, haha. So yeah sunday...Edward Sharpe and the magnetic zeroes retained a Christlike presence over the idolizing crowd. Flags from around the world were waving, and hands were pumping in the air. This band in sheer size, mentality, and energy is just epic. Alex even walked on the crowd several times. (did i mention jesus?!?) What was wonderful and unique was that during the famous jane/alexander mimickery at the end of the song...the words were different..no mention of falling, breaking ass, smoking the cigarette you thought would be your last, etc...the band took this time to speak not to each other, but to the crowd, using collective words such as we, us, and everyone. The love was obviously mutual between band and crowd. not enough bands seem humble enough to me. Heres a grand exception. Post show, caught a bit of the henry clay people...i do honestly believe that "For Cheap or for Free" is one of the most underrated albums of last year. "I will be timeless, and you can be famous... and in the end we'll see which one of us starts changing" <---from my favorite song "You Can Be Timeless." and now a few words about Yeasayer.. oh wait, FUCK i didn't see yeasayer. that's the one drawback of our extra perk status...we cashed in more on the shade, gourmet eats, and free liquor of many persuasions.. it just didn't seem worth it to trek across the park when we could hang out, not rush, and meet some superduper interesting people who were in austin just for the festival. i coulda missed the best fucking show of the festival, be it Yeasayer or Flaming Lips (although i'm willing to bet i certainly did not) due to the atmosphere and relaxation and energy of music lovers just hanging out under shady trees, meeting up and chatting. Now dont get me wrong, i wouldn't have missed Beach House or Girls or Edward Sharpe, etc for the fancy hoopla, but having it did admittedly make me a lazy music geek ;) Last was the Eagles. Yep, never thought we woulda posted up for the whole set, but we did for a good 45 minutes. And we became the annoying dumbasses i always complain about at festivals. yes, i complain when i see people stripping of their clothes dancing all around and acting like/being on drugs, who cares if yer on drugs watch where you're going damnit.GAWD!! anyways, so yeah, in some drunken, historic feeling, unified moment...watching the eagles was amazing..yes i danced, yes i removed a bit of clothing (tastefully of course..uh..i think) and took a lil hit of weed. K-spot even yelled "You're Still hot!!" at them, and jen made the daisy duke half top. it was full on belly shots and booty shots and bandanas. yeah. it worked out great.
SOOO in other news my new favorite song is "Eyesore" by Women. its taken me a bit to warm up to the new album. But i realize that it encompasses pretty much of what makes me like a lot of bands...intricate and intertwining guitars, buried vocals und the sea of beautiful, flowing, yet not clamorous noise...pretty lo fi. Chad Van Gaalen produced their first album, but Public Strain, the latest, still retains that velvety quality. I have to listen to it a few more times, just to hear all the instrumentation, deeply buried lyrics, etc...but at the end of the day, this album is more complex in structure and a lil beach boys-ish at times, a little more, well confusing, some may say experimental, but i'm no genius. And i think that's what makes it so brilliant. Women make me want to figure them out. This is a grand thing! China Steps and Eyesore are catchy as all hell. so yeah, i think that will be in heavy rotation this week as i lay low and recover from festival stimulation.

other random thoughts for now:
*Diplo remixed Deerhunter's Helicopter and i'm disappointed ;(
*I wonder what Girl Talk would sound like if chilled out a bit like Dan Black when he's making his "own" tunes
*WTF is up with this MyOpenBar "Bruise Cruise" going from Miami to the Bahamas?!?! i mean seriously this deserves a whole other blog..but can you imagine the black lips, the vivian girls, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Thee Oh Sees, The Strange Boys, Ty Segall, Jacuzzi Boys,and Turbofruits on a MFUCKING cruise ship?!? with waterslides, hot tubs, slot machines, 24hour room service, lawn chairs, and probably some astroturf?!?! Oh. Em. Gee. more on that later, and why i think i wanna go.i think.
*went to houston fashion week and a certain designer had the best fucking runway music that wasn't shazamable, DAMNIT!!!
*PS I Love you is brilliant. Its about fucking time we got our fix after "facelove" yeeah!!
*Gauntlet Hair is killin me right now, but its 430 AM. i must sleep. it will be there tomorrow. fuckin A and GOOOD NITE!
GOOOD NITE!!

festivus minimalist

sooo. its almost ACL weekend past. i felt the desire to blog about this for a few reasons. But right now the most important one: Me and Jen AKA Team Fabrication were asked to DJ an ACL afterparty with Dan Black. so we went to the venue and somehow i was hustled into arm wrestling this nice dude from DC who was in for the fest with college friends from Utah.aside from the fact that i love the idea of getting together every two years (as they said they did)they were extremely amiable and wonderful people. so wonderful that they offered their sunday VIP ACL passes to us for free. me, jen, and Krissie (K-Spot). More than happy to take part. for anyone interested, the arm wrestling was ended in a draw. nobody could win, even though i was talking a mean game, haha. so we're going tomorrow. with free food and drinks, all girls, talking shit/props/gossip about what we're gonna see. weeks end recap: Thursday nites spoon could not be beat. it was intimate and glorious, as a spoon show should be. Friday ACL left a bit to the imagination. after parking hassles and whatnot, we missed half of soft pack. But finally it was time to see Girls for the first time in my life. Def wished for more tempo but was charmed to the socks off degree by the end of the set. wish they woulda rocked out more and played with a bit more feedback as they did in the second half of the set.. but that just makes me curious and excited for the next album. and how adorable were the roses taped on each mic. Plus the standin keyboardist had a texas longhorns jersey on. Hookem MuFuck! so next was Beach House who completely brought the TTM effect. 1/2 a valium and a beer = me and k-spot ready to roll. it was glorious. and they were so gracious. Take Care was played, my abs favorite..as was zebra, silver sould, oldies, and a new song and damn if they didn't say the crowd was beautiful and so were the breakfast tacos. haha. Luckily we'd seen spoon in a proper setting the nite before cuz that shit was unbearable. the amount of people there to see spoon was insane. same with black keys. so we didn't get to see spoon up close as we'd wished. but jim and britt were so graciously wonderful the nite before...it really means more to see a band (like spoon or beach house) who are not ego trippin balls. speaking of...The Strokes. No bad feelings, well.. but shit, don't start your set 15 minutes late and be on drugs. its only 830, its not 100 degrees, you've got plenty of afterparty time. so post ACL saw Mates of State for free at Mohawk. Dance party on the balcony, yeaaah! so ACL made me realize that the shows don't mean shit unless they are small or you post up early enough to be close. FFF fest is so much better because the tix aren't oversold and you can completely navigate w/o missing a beat. plus the lineup is sick. bring it on November. either way, i am excited to go to acl tomorrow with free food, drinks, and perhaps a massage. it is relaxation day. no expectations, just hanging with the girls and our boyfriends (AKA music) anyways, so much more to rant about acl, but i'm tired. so i'll close with a happy thought of a good nites sleep and a lucky blessed day at acl tomorrow. some times i really do love this town, and especially the out of towners <3