Oh, and also...Hey Brother,
The last blog ended with me getting ready for Superball IX. Hands down one of the best festivals I've ever been to. But more on that later.
July has been a pretty up and down month for me. Perhaps that is why I have not been writing. It could also be due to lack of inspiration, and motivation. But August is already picking up, so here I am and will try my best to convey my July to you. Quite different from yours, I imagine.
Seamonsters have been killing it as well, I must say. It's a shame that you missed the show in DC, the (cast in alphabetical order) Butlers and Freedmans represented so fucking hard at Bella it's not even funny. Not even sure that sentence makes any sense but it feels rights so I'm running with it. I had Ben & Amber run the door at Bella while I drank, rather, DESTROYED, $2 dollar PBRs all night until we played, at which point I somehow ended up with 3 unopened PBRs sitting right next to me. Needless to say it was a drunken gig, but it felt pretty damn good, played a few new ones, covered Joy Division's Transmission again, and didn't really miss a beat. That I can remember. The band is getting tighter all the time, and we can now learn the new ones in less than a day. That is a pretty good fucking feeling. Or, pretty fucking good feeling. FEELINGS, jeez.
The first couple weeks of July, post Superball IX, had me in a bit of a daze. The apartment suffered, the gym going suffered, and the booze destruction increased. Not very cool, except I still managed to destroy the gym when I actually went. Nevertheless that all has ended, the 2 Seamonsters gigs were quite uplifting, and I have restarted my 3-4 days a week gym routine. Killing it, brother. Another part of July was a bit of an Asylum farewell tour. Construction has begun on the upstairs, but the downstairs apparently remains open. Haven't been there in a couple days. But I definitely put in my hours there for the month of July, which definitely resulted in hilarious nights and hazy mornings. It was definitely fun, but I'm happy to say that I'm back in kill-it-at-the-gym-healthy-Dave-mode. Feels good.
Side-note: I just watched The Road to Perdition. Not too much to say about it now, but I definitely liked it. Didn't realize Daniel Craig was in it. Other side-note, Cowboys & Aliens was terrible. What a disappointment, not that I expected much from it. Still haven't seen Captain America. However, I did see the documentary on A Tribe Called Quest that Michael Rappaport directed, and that was pretty damn awesome as well. Probably not quite worth the visit to the theater, but it was still awesome. Also trying to get back into seeing movies, as you have probably noticed.
Sucks that you won't be making it to My Morning Jacket, I have to find someone worthy of that floor ticket. Or someone that has a car, doesn't work that Friday, and likes beer. Hell I'll probably give them the ticket if they meet that criteria. I also have tickets to see Primus at the Fillmore, Trey Anastasio at the Fillmore, Wilco at Merriweather, and Virginfest. Must pick up Deer Tick tickets, October 16th! Also Seamonsters are playing a festival near Annapolis on August 26th. And a festival in DC on October 8th.
Oh yeah, and Superball IX. Hopefully you've looked through these pictures a couple of times. Flora, Aaron, Joey, and I crushed that festival. Everything worked out perfectly, enjoyed many hours of music, got fucking close as shit dot gov, took free showers, and discovered the greatest beer of all time-Genesee. New York's state equivalent to Natty Boh, Genesee was absolutely delicious. I must find that beer again. My only regret is not buying a few more cases of it for the festival. Those were the first beers to go, as all the other beers we had were IPAs and the like. Too hot in the day to drink those fucking things sometimes. Only sometimes though. I still drank them, believe you me.
I believe that I read Phish played around 14 hours of music that weekend. Friday and Sunday were both regular two sets and an encore shows. Saturday the music started around 3pm. We hung in the back with our friend Candi and her family, which was still cool. Not as easy to get into the experience when you're that far away. But I didn't really mind, it was a daytime set and knew that not only would I get close as shoose dot net later that evening, but that I have been close as shoose dot net before, many many times. It's why I'm ok with standing in the back for Phish, only sometimes.
One of the best Phish memories I have is that time I was 15 feet from the stage in Las Vegas. 5 songs in, I didn't even realize they had started playing. Then I had to get some air. Oh yeah, and then you reminded me that I indeed DO exist. That was a life-saver. Thanks for that brovs.
I wish I could catch Phish more on this summer tour, but I'm definitely grateful for what I saw. Three regular venue shows and the three-day festival. Saturday, after the 3 sets, we ventured over to the BEERS of the WORLD tent. Shit was fucking incredible. Our mutual friend Gena Gora came out of nowhere, I said what's up, and she told us about the secret show unfolding over near the back of the festival grounds. They had set up a fake little village, along with a warehouse. Around 2:30 in the morning or so, lights were flashing, shit was all getting fucked, and then Phish played for about an hour. Flora and I were the only troopers that stayed for the whole set, thought it was not easy. They played a crazy-silly-fucked-up experimental jam, and finally ended it on a normal song that they still fucked with. I'm glad I didn't miss it.
Sunday was pretty damn incredible. We had all day to hang, party, take pictures, etc. That is what's so amazing about that band, they can throw a festival and be the only band playing. It's such a relaxing atmosphere, and everyone is obviously pretty like-minded. The crowd is noticeably older, tamer. Obviously there were assholes there, but I didn't notice them quite as much as anywhere else. Sunday we were pretty damn close for both sets, and everything fucking ruled. Also, incredible covers were played:
- AC/DC ("Big Balls")
- Ween ("Roses are Free")
- David Bowie ("Life on Mars")
- Frank Zappa ("Peaches en Regalia")
- Little Feat ("Time Loves a Hero")
- Bob Dylan ("The Mighty Quinn")
- Talking Heads ("Cities," "Crosseyed and Painless")
- The Beatles ("A Day in the Life")
- The Rolling Stones ("Monkey Man," "Loving Cup," "Torn and Frayed")
- TV on the Radio ("Golden Age")
Looking forward to your return and to many a hilarious somewhat drunken night.
Before I wrote this blog I P'd the B S'd H 2000. And drank 2 beers. Light beers though. Doesn't take much. Shit it's 12:34am already. Danny this is your fault. Julia's too. And Flora's fault. Shit this readership is hilarious.
Looking forward to this weekend. Gregg Kanner is in town, other shit is going on, possible Black Cat show Saturday night. Might go to either Radius or Comet with Gregg and Larry. Shit that makes me want pizza right now.
Also, Blake and Janelle are going sailing in Greece tomorrow, fuck those guys.
There are probably other things that happened in July that were funny, but if I didn't remember them enough to write about them...then...probably not worth it.
In closing I leave you with this: Are Sam Rockwell and Michael Ruffalo the new Gary Busey and Nick Nolte of this generation? I think I might prefer Rockwell and Nolte. Though I love Ruffalo. Busey was awesome as Buddy Holly. Ok that is all.
Love,
Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment