Date:	2009-04-23 15:01
Subject:	dreaming of traveling.
Security:	Public
Mood:	thoughtful
Music:	bob dylan - tangled up in blue

i have been dreaming a lot lately. dreaming of traveling the world, exploring new places. i love chicago and i love the city life, but i really miss being able to hop in a car and drive somewhere. i have been considering getting a car, driving around the country and blogging about my adventures. i just got a new job yesterday that is telecommuting, so i can work from the road. i would be able to pay my bills with this money and have some left over to use on traveling expenses.

realistically, i should save up some money first before i embark on such a journey. the more i keep thinking about it, the more i want it to happen. carlene is up for the idea, too. neither one of us have had a lot of success finding work in our respective fields, so we are taking jobs that have no relevance to what we went to school for.

what i would rather do is travel the world, rather than the u.s. i have already seen half of our country... i want to go to europe, iceland, asia, australia, africa, and so on. i want to experience new cultures and see what life is like outside of my homeland.

another option we have been considering is teaching english in a foreign country. carlene really wants to go back to japan, and we already have a couple of friends teaching english in korea, so those are our top two options. that would be a hell of an experience, too.

in a couple of weeks i will be driving a rental car up to michigan for my niece's graduation. hopefully that will quench my thirst for a little bit. there is nothing like hitting the open road, even if it is only a four hour trip.

i really hate dealing with deaths and major illnesses in the family. my father passed away in december, my aunt in january, and then carlene's grandmother nearly died this week. we made an emergency trip to florida to be with her grandma on sunday. thankfully she has been doing much better and is now off of life support, but it was not looking good for a while. i really hope this is the last of it.

wow, it's been a while since i last updated. here's a rundown of what's been happening lately...

- my father had a massive heart attack and passed away last month. this happened a few days before carlene and i were set to go back to michigan for the holidays. one of our plans was to have dinner with my dad, who was finally going to meet carlene. needless to say, december was a very depressing month for me.

- i am still living in chicago, and i am now looking for a job. the company i was doing my fall internship with has kept me aboard with a part-time gig. i make enough money to pay the bills, but that's it. i am looking for something else to bring in extra income. plus, this is just a temp job that is over in two months, so i really need to work something out.

- after completing my fall internship, i am now officially done with school. i graduated with a bachelor's degree in music industry management, and a certificate in marketing. it feels good to be done with everything, but i would be lieing if i said i didn't miss the college environment.

- i have rekindled my love of video games. i got an xbox 360 in october and i have been hooked on it since. i joined goozex, a game trading site, and have received quite a few games for just the price of shipping. right now my obsession is fallout 3, which is one of the most immersive games i have ever played. unfortunately, it is also one of the most addictive games i have played and it has been taking control of most of my free time lately. if anyone on here has xbox live, feel free to add me. my gamertag is "inwhiterooms".

- mike, an old friend from papa john's, came down to visit last weekend. we had a good time exploring the city and checking out new bars and restaurants. it was cool seeing him again.

more later...

25) Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling
24) Gang Gang Dance - Saint Dymphna
23) Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
22) The Roots - Rising Down
21) Q-Tip - The Renaissance
20) Amadou & Mariam - Welcome to Mali
19) High Places - S/T
18) The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
17) Megapuss - S/T
16) Dosh - Wolves and Wishes
15) The Cool Kids - The Bake Sale
14) Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
13) Sébastien Tellier - Sexuality
12) Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
11) Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
10) The Black Keys - Attack & Release
09) Tobacco - Fucked Up Friends
08) Man Man - Rabbit Habits
07) Nomo - Ghost Rock
06) Booka Shade - The Sun & The Neon Light
05) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
04) The Dodos - Visiter
03) Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
02) Portishead - Third
01) TV On The Radio - Dear Science

Honorable mentions (stuff that is good and just missed the list, or stuff that would probably make the list with a few more listens on my part):

The Accidental - There Were Wolves
Alias - Resurgam
Beck - Modern Guilt
Blue Sky Black Death - Late Night Cinema
Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun
Cloudland Canyon - Lie In Light
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Flogging Molly - Float
No Age - Nouns
Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
Pit er Pat - High Time
The Sea and Cake - Car Alarm
Wale - Mixtape About Nothing
The Walkmen - You & Me

2008 was a solid year for music, but I think it was considerably weaker than 2007. There were definitely some excellent releases this year and some pleasant surprises (Portishead), but there were quite a few disappointments, too (I'm looking at you, Skeletal Lamping). Still, overall, there were plenty of quality albums that will remain on my iPod for quite some time...

Date:	2008-11-04 23:56
Subject:	what a day.
Security:	Public
Mood:	excited
Music:	radiohead - lucky

obama is the new president. i love it!

also, surprising news back in my old state of michigan. medicinal marijuana is now legal and the stem cell research proposal was passed. i can't believe it...

i never thought i would see the day when so much change would happen in our country. i must say, today at least, i am proud to be an american.

i have just discovered the wonders of RSS feeds and google reader.

much love for this.

Date:	2008-09-23 00:08
Subject:	update from CHI CITY
Security:	Public
Mood:	energetic

random stuff that's happened since living in chi-town...

- i met up with amy, a friend from big rapids who also just moved down to chicago, last friday. her brother's band was playing at a bar not too far from where i live. the band was actually really good and played a bunch of funk/soul covers ranging from jamie lidell to stevie wonder to jamiroquai. it was really cool meeting up with amy and i'm glad she lives around here.

- a few weeks ago roy came down to visit for a weekend. also, that same weekend, jake and jerrod came down for a day to hang out. much drunken debauchery occurred during the entire weekend. highlights:
1) roy, carlene and i spending $200 on sushi and drinks at a hot fusion lounge downtown
2) hassling a crazy guy at an irish pub - somehow roy ended up getting a free beer out of the deal and some random girl got a free cubs t-shirt out of it (i'll have to explain the whole story sometime)
3) an entertaining visit to the local sex store where we discovered a midget transsexual
4) eating on the ground at a really cool turkish restaurant just down the street (the babaghanoush was to die for)
5) hanging out at the navy pier and watching some chinese acrobats do some really fucked up shit

- on the 12th carlene and i went to the holy fuck show. it was my third time seeing them and they did not disappoint. this was also technically carlene's first real concert. the show was really good and "lovely allen" was a treat to close the first set.

- reckless records is just down the street from me. goddamn i love this town.

- i almost saw a fight today. i was walking from the record store to cvs and two guys were yelling at each other. apparently the one guy who was walking his dogs let one of his dogs piss on the other guy, or something of the sort. they were cussing each other out back and forth and they threatened each other, but nothing happened. it was still amusing to watch.

- i have been doing a lot of reading lately. i just finished reading wrigleyworld, a book detailing one guy's goal of going to as many cubs games as possible in one season. the writer quit his job to move back to chicago and embark on this mission. a quick read and very entertaining. i learned a lot of secrets about wrigley field, too, such as the fact that you can bring food and drinks into the park as long as you don't have too much.

that's all for now. i gotta go meet carlene. adios!

R.I.P. Richard Wright

Date:	2008-09-06 00:40
Subject:	lame night
Security:	Public
Mood:	blah

i just got back from an alleged sports pub. unfortunately, it reminded me a lot of shooters in big rapids.

the three of us had worked all day and since it was a friday, lia wanted to go out and do something. she dragged us to this "sports pub" that was ridiculously packed and was playing obnoxiously loud top 40 music. i used to enjoy this kind of thing on occasion, back when i was single and in big rapids. but i had no interest in this tonight, as i no longer hit on random girls and watch drunk sluts dance to godawful music. i just stood there and drank while carlene and lia occasionally danced. it just wasn't fun to me, not being able to have a conversation without yelling at each other and being surrounded by drunken frat boys. i have grown out of that. if i feel like going out for a drink, i would rather go with a buddy and watch a sports game or something. carlene isn't much of a drinker so she wasn't really digging the club either. we just went there to be with lia.

i feel like i have matured a bit in the last year or two. i love going to concerts, but a random club night with repetitive top 40 music isn't my thing...

last night was a blast and i didn't even leave the apartment. first, i watched the democratic national convention to see barack obama's big speech. all i can say is wow. that man is one hell of a speaker. that was a great speech and it has got me excited for the rest of this presidential race. i'm curious to see how mccain will follow this up. his running mate decision today was a questionable one, but i think it will help him win over a lot of female voters. this is a very interesting election...

after the speech, i tuned into radiohead.tv and watched radiohead's last show of their u.s. tour in santa barbara. i watched this virtually with roy, which was pretty cool. the show was incredible and further cemented radiohead's status as one of the best bands in the world today. they are always doing something to please their fans, whether it's letting us watch one of their shows live for free or by letting us pay whatever we want to download the new album. they never cease to amaze me.

Date:	2008-08-29 18:08
Subject:	an encounter involving the police.
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused
Music:	radiohead - fake plastic trees

two nights ago i was involved in somewhat of a domestic disturbance with the cops getting called. i had nothing to do with the matter, but i was there to witness it all.

the background:
carlene and i are sharing a one-bedroom apartment with her friend, lia. lia was already living in chicago, but she had some serious issues with her roommates so she decided to live with us. well, lia didn't tell her roommates that she was moving out and did it one day while they were gone. last week lia got the rest of her stuff from there and left the keys to the apartment on their counter. this was supposed to be the end of the situation. ehhh, not so fast.

lia received a text message the other day from one of her ex-roommates saying "thanks for the netflix", as in some of lia's mail was still going to her old apartment. obviously, this was a problem. due to holding someone else's mail being a federal offense, lia contacted the postal service to see what could be done about the issue. they told her that if her ex-roommates continue to refuse to give her her mail then she would need to have a police officer escort her to the apartment to retrieve them.

the incident:
so that brings us to wednesday, the night we stopped by her old apartment. lia tried to reason with the ex-roommates before calling the cops, but they refused to give her her mail unless she paid for some alleged damages that lia put in the wall when she was moving out. i was there when lia moved out and i don't recall seeing any damages, but whatever. lia called an officer to the scene, which took 30 minutes for them to get there, and the two officers told her that this wasn't part of their jurisdiction but they would try to act as mediators to the whole situation.

the cops went into the apartment and had a talk with the two girls. we could hear their whole conversation, which was actually rather amusing. the roommates refused to give up her mail, saying it was in the mailbox and that lia could have a postal worker open it for her. the whole time the girls were bitching about the supposed $10 in damages that they wanted lia to pay for, which prompted the cops to make humorous remarks such as "oh that's mature" or "that's class". one of the officers said that he has never dealt with a situation like this in his fifteen years on the job. after about ten minutes, they came to a resolution. the one girl, brooke, would write "return to sender" on all of lia's mail. it's undetermined if she actually did this yet or not, but i am not expecting her to. i don't know why she didn't just give lia her fucking mail, as it would have saved all of us time and trouble, but she chose not to.

it was a pretty ridiculous situation. i thought it was childish on both parts, but it was very amusing being there for the whole thing. the cops were surprisingly cool and i enjoyed the bitchy banter from her ex-roommates. the evening's events made for a good story to tell on all ends - us, the girls, and the cops.

needless to say, there's never a dull moment here.

Date:	2008-08-27 18:29
Subject:	the chicago life.
Security:	Public
Mood:	anxious
Music:	secret machines - the leaves are gone

well i am now living in chicago. i think i'll use this journal to keep track of my big city adventures and for all of my friends back home.

the area i am living in is amazing. it's in the lakeview neighborhood near lincoln park. everything you could imagine is within walking distance. there are great pubs, restaurants and stores all over the area. we are a very short walk away from broadway street, which will lead you to clark street and diversey. halsted is within walking distance, too. we are about 4-5 miles from downtown, which is about a 10-15 minute bus commute.

last night carlene, lia and i went to grant park for the free movie night. we watched grease with thousands of other people. it was a good time, sitting on a blanket, eating and drinking wine. my only complaint was the audio was not properly synchronized with the video. this seemed inexcusable for such a big gathering in town. regardless, i had fun and i wish we could have seen more of these movies in the park. i'm pretty sure grease was the last of the summer...

i just got an internship for the fall. it's another online gig, this time working for a company that represents many different artists. i'll be doing everything from online marketing to writing to whatever else they may need. it's a full-time position per FSU's requirements, but unfortunately it is not paid. there is a chance that it will lead to a full-time job afterward, so hopefully that works out. either way, i'm excited to complete my final internship and officially be done with school!

that's it for now. i'll try to write more often.

DAY ONE (07/19/2008)

This past weekend I went to the Pitchfork Music Festival for the third year in a row. I almost didn’t go this year because I thought the lineup was a bit underwhelming, but I am really glad that I made it after all. The artists I wanted to see were excellent, and many of the artists I saw who I did not know beforehand were quite good as well.

This year I went with Carlene, my girlfriend who has never been to a music festival or a concert, for that matter, and my good friend Roy, who went for the second year in a row.

On Saturday we arrived around 1pm. Titus Andronicus were playing some loud rock music but we wandered around to get a feel for the festival rather than check them out. It was raining off and on early in the afternoon, which made for some interesting sights. The ground was muddy as fuck in some places and there were even groups of people who were spreading the mud all over themselves and dancing around.

The first artist we made an effort to see during the day was Caribou at 2pm. He played with a backing band and they ran through a lot of tunes from last year’s wonderful album Andorra while sprinkling in some older favorites as well. Using two drummers made things interesting and livened up what was otherwise a subdued set.

From this point we wandered over to the second stage to see some of Icy Demons. I was very happy to see that the second stage was much bigger this year and there was much more room for people surrounding it. Thankfully, this prevented any acts getting shut down by the fire marshal this year (a la Girl Talk last year). Anyway, we only got to see about 15 minutes of Icy Demons, although the little bit we heard was enjoyable.

By the time 3pm rolled in, the sun was starting to come out and the rain had ceased. We saw a bit of Fleet Foxes at the main stage. Their laid-back pop songs sounded good, but we were a bit curious to see Fuck Buttons on the second stage so we headed that way. Fuck Buttons were what I expected – noise-driven music with underlying melodies that did not translate well into an outdoor setting.

We got hooked into Dizzee Rascal’s set at 4pm. Dizzee went through a dizzying (sorry) array of songs from his back catalog and did his best to get the crowd going. What resulted was an energetic performance that got everyone ready for the rest of the day.

It appeared that a lot of people at the festival came that day to see Vampire Weekend. None of us really had any interest in them, so we went to the second stage to see Elephant 6 darlings Elf Power. We watched them play for 15-20 minutes then worked our way to the main stage to try to get as close as possible for !!! at 6pm.

This was my third time seeing !!!, but the first time in an outdoor setting. It was a bit strange seeing them play during the day, but the lack of darkness did not hinder their performance at all. Nic Offer was as amusing as always, dancing his ass off on stage and getting the crowd into a frenzy. I was happy to see Shannon was still with the band and she led everyone into a stirring rendition of “Yadnus” to open their set. The band played songs from Myth Takes and a couple of new unreleased songs that sounded amazing. I can’t wait for their new material. !!! played for 50 minutes and by the time they were done we were all craving more. It was going to be hard for any band to top their performance that day, or all weekend for that matter.

After !!!, we rushed over to the second stage to see Extra Golden, who were the last band on Saturday that we really cared to see. These guys really seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage and played a wonderful assortment of Kenyan benga and American rock music. Side note: one of their guitarists looked eerily similar to Dexter, from Showtime TV fame. I ended up buying their newest CD from the record tent, my only musical purchase at the festival this year.

We took time after Extra Golden’s performance to get some food and rest for a bit. We missed out on the Hold Steady and Atlas Sound, both of who apparently played great sets. Jarvis Cocker didn’t really appeal to us, so we ventured over to check out the headliners of the second stage, No Age. Their noise-pop sound entranced us for a bit but we wanted to see Animal Collective so we were only there for about half of their set.

Despite considering their studio albums massively overrated, I thought Animal Collective were actually pretty decent live. They had a fascinating light show and their music was surprisingly enjoyable. Even still, we left after about 20 minutes so we could beat everyone else out and get a taxi back to the hotel. We were rather sore and tired, but we still had another big day ahead of us…

DAY TWO (07/20/2008)

We arrived right at 12:30pm on Sunday. I had an annoyance right away, as the guy taking our tickets at the entrance was just throwing the tickets in the garbage. Normally they rip off part of it so you can keep the stub, but this guy didn’t care. I tried to get my stub, even offering to reach in the trash to grab it, but the guy would have nothing of it. I don’t understand people sometimes…

Times New Viking were playing the main stage and they were really fucking loud. Their boy-girl pop songs entertained us for a while, but we got bored after a while. Still, we stuck around in that area because we wanted to get a good spot for the Japanese metal band Boris at 2pm. While we were waiting, the Dirty Projectors were playing on the other stage and I can safely say that they were the worst band of the festival. There was absolutely nothing appealing about them. And they seemed to play forever, well over their 30 minutes allotted time.

Finally, when Boris came on, the crowd went crazy. I did not know what to expect, but I knew they would be loud. Sure enough, they were, and they rocked the fuck out. Blistering guitar riffs and a charismatic drummer made their set very entertaining. Unfortunately, this got cut short due to technical problems, so they only played for 20-25 minutes overall.

We watched the Apples in Stereo for a bit while waiting for King Khan & the Shrines to come on. I have always enjoyed the Apples poppy sound and they were a fun diversion for the 10-15 minutes we saw. Plus we got to see them play “Energy”, which was nice.
King Khan & the Shrines were on the second stage and there was a massive group of people there to see them. It was hard to find a spot to see the stage. But wow, do they know how to put on a show! King Khan was fucking nuts, stripping down to his underwear, wearing crazy masks, throwing trash around, and even flashing the crowd a couple times. Khan oozed charisma and had the crowd in the palm of his hand during their ridiculously fun set. I think he was the only artist to have a cheerleader in his band all weekend, too. They were a very pleasant surprise. Apparently Les Savy Fav were doing the same thing on the main stage, with frontman Tim Harrington doing all sorts of crazy things, but we unfortunately missed their performance.

After King Khan, we took a break for food and whatnot. While sitting down, the Dodos lured us over to them on the main stage when they started playing “Jodi”. Once we got there, I was hooked and fell in love with the band. Just a two-piece band, their mix of blues-oriented guitar playing and loud drumming made me an instant fan. I tried like mad to find their CD in the record tent afterward, but to no avail. If I hear of them coming around my area, I would definitely go and see them again.

Ghostface and Raekwon were next, and due to El Guincho cancelling from the festival, they were playing at the second stage. This made things absolutely insane as the second stage area was packed with people. It was a bitch trying to leave the area after they were done. Ghost and Rae whipped through a lot of old classics from their respective solo albums, threw in some old-school Wu-Tang jams and even led the crowd in a sing-along of ODB’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”. These guys were a lot of fun, and I am grateful that they flew in nine hours from Europe to do this show.

After Ghostface and Raekwon, we hung out a bit and got rested for Spoon. We headed into the massive crowd gathering at the main stage to see Spoon and got up close. While waiting, we checked out Dinosaur Jr. on the big screen. It was a treat seeing these indie rock legends play, aside from having to witness their shirtless drummer rocking out.

Finally, as 9pm rolled around, Spoon came on. It was ridiculously packed – it was hard to even move my arms up to clap my hands. Some little guy came on stage and danced to “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg and then got the crowd ready for Spoon. They opened with “Small Stakes” then played a mix of songs from the entire catalog, with Gimme Fiction and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga getting the most plays. I was quite surprised by their performance – they have gained a much better stage presence since the last time I saw them. My only disappointment was that they didn’t play a few songs I wanted to hear, namely “Don’t You Evah”, “Finer Feelings” and “The Way We Get By”. Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox coming out for the encore and playing guitar during “Mountain of Sound” was an interesting surprise. I wish they could have played more, but I was thoroughly satisfied with their show.

Overall, I was quite happy with this year’s festival. Increasing the size and improving the sound of the second stage was a great idea. There were more food options this year, including an astounding selection of vegetarian and vegan restaurants. The record tent was as nice as usual, and I was happy to see that I could purchase last year’s festival poster. I was upset last year because they sold out during the first day. I didn’t have to worry about that this time. My only complaint in regards to the festival itself was the increase in price of bottled water and Fuze beverages. The last two years you could buy a Fuze drink or a large bottle of Smartwater for $1. This year they were $2. And the beer selection was reduced. Instead of offering Goose Island Summertime Ale, they sold Sparks drinks for $2 more. At least they sold bottles of NOS to give you a quick energy boost.

And finally, here are my top 10 performances from the festival:

01) Spoon
02) !!!
03) King Khan and the Shrines
04) The Dodos
05) Dizzee Rascal
06) Ghostface & Raekwon
07) Extra Golden
08) Caribou
09) Boris
10) Dinosaur Jr.

Date:	2008-05-12 11:46
Subject:	moving forward
Security:	Public
Mood:	excited
Music:	primus

quick update:

i graduated from ferris state university this past weekend with a B.S. in music industry management and a certificate in marketing. i have a paid internship for the summer working for an excellent folk musician out in hollywood. it is an online gig so i can do all the work from home. i am planning on moving with my girlfriend within the next month or so to either chicago, new york or california. it depends on a few factors... carlene and i moved to a temporary apartment in town last week until we figure out where the hell we're going.

in the early part of june, i will be taking a road trip with my family to texas. we are having a reunion of sorts. it may be the last time we are able to get the whole family together in one location.

i am seriously considering driving down to st. louis on wednesday with my good friend roy to see radiohead. this would be my first time seeing them. it's about an eight hour trip and it's totally spontaneous enough that i just might do it.

goddamn it's nice to be done with school. now it's time to begin the next part of my life.

i'm ready.

Date:	2008-04-24 19:23
Subject:	nintendo ds
Security:	Public
Mood:	sick

a couple months ago i purchased a nintendo ds. since then, i have been in love with this tiny system. between my girlfriend and i, we now have the following ds games:

brain age
contra 4
dementium: the ward
feel the magic
final fantasy III
kirby: canvas curse
kirby: squeak squad
legend of zelda: phantom hourglass
mario kart ds
mario party ds
new super mario bros.
ninja gaiden
rub rabbits

what other games should we pick up? i'm already planning on grabbing the castlevania games if i can find them anywhere...

how the fuck are the detroit tigers 1-8????

bring out the gimp
but only one leg
bad near the bone
they demand architecture,
accupuncture,
amputees!
where is that beached whale?
the sand is rising
but nothing can be done
lips move, but nothing is
said
onward to antarctica,
home of the free and
the REAL brave

20) simian mobile disco - attack decay sustain release
19) the shins - wincing the night away
18) caribou - andorra
17) matthew dear - asa breed
16) modest mouse - we were dead before the ship even sank
15) spoon - ga ga ga ga ga
14) t.i. - t.i. vs. t.i.p.
13) aesop rock - none shall pass
12) clap your hands say yeah - some loud thunder
11) air - pocket symphony
10) battles - mirrored
09) interpol - our love to admire
08) kanye west - graduation
07) the arcade fire - neon bible
06) radiohead - in rainbows
05) of montreal - hissing fauna, are you the destroyer?
04) the national - boxer
03) the white stripes - icky thump
02) the field - from here we go sublime
01) !!! - myth takes

honorable mention that just missed the list:
combichrist - what the fuck is wrong with you people?

2007 was also home to some pretty sweet EP's such as...

spank rock & benny blanco - bangers and cash
modulate - skullfuck
holy fuck - s/t

also, some great mixes including:

spank rock - fabriclive 33
diplo's pitchfork mix

my favorite tracks of the year:

battles - atlas (this song sums up all of '07 for me)
!!! - must be the moon
the field - a paw in my face
matthew dear - deserter
the national - mistaken for strangers
kanye west - good life
clap your hands say yeah - satan said dance
t.i. - you know what it is
modulate - skullfuck
c/a/t - smashed (party mix)

my original plan was to do a more detailed write-up rather than just list the albums, but i knew it wouldn't get done if i stuck with that. i'm sure i'm missing some great releases from last year, but these are the ones that stood out to me when reflecting on the year.

ok so i'm five months late on this one, but here it goes, better late than never:

day three - 7/15/07

rather than taking a taxi ride to the park like the other two days, we ended up driving there this time. we parked at the billy goat tavern, which is a famous bar in chicago that just so happens to be right across from union park. we had a few drinks there (roy even got a free shot since it was his birthday) and then headed over to the park around 1:30. we both had really nice buzzes to start off the day, which was great. after a couple more beers at the festival i was golden for a good chunk of the day.

as we entered the park and walked around, we heard a little bit of the ponys. once they were done we headed over to check out menomena on the main stage. i had never heard these guys before, but they were pretty cool. "the pelican" is a great song. after menomena, we caught a little bit of junior boys at 3pm before heading over to get a good spot for nomo. we were able to get a great view of the stage and we met some really cool people before they started playing. roy even startled a few people in front of us with a really loud "WHOOO!!!". this prompted a girl to ask "are you that big of a nomo fan?" to which roy replied "no i'm just a ric flair fan"....hahaha.

anyway, nomo were amazing. going into their show, i only knew that they were an ann arbor band that played some funky instrumental music. needless to say, after their set i was a big fan. they played a near flawless set and got the crowd, who i don't think really knew them all that well either, quite into their performance.

after nomo, we heard a bit of both the sea and cake and craig taborn's junk magic but i think our main focus at this point was to get some food and beer. after our break, we moved up close for jamie lidell's set on the main stage. i hadn't heard too much from him before this show, but i loved his performance. he was on the stage by himself, working the system in the back and then occasionally moving up front to sing. apparently a lot of people know him from his song being on a target commercial. regardless, he played some great soulful electronic music that was a lot of fun live. after jamie lidell, the plan was to go to the second stage and catch cadence weapon, but for whatever reason they were running behind on that stage and we saw the cool kids instead.

i had never heard the cool kids before, but they turned out to be an entertaining hip-hop duo. they are originally from chicago so they had a pretty decent following at their set. we checked out them until it was time for of montreal at 7pm. of montreal were one of the main acts that i wanted to see coming into the festival. i had never seen them live but had heard a lot about their live shows. they did not disappoint. playing mostly songs from their new album, they put on a spectacular theatrical show, complete with bizarre costumes and strange on-stage characters. i believe kevin barnes, the lead singer, changed his costume three times during the show. eventually he was wearing a thong for the encore, which was a cover of a kinks song "all day and all night". it was a very amusing set and it makes me want to catch them at a club.

after of montreal, we started wandering around the park. the field was still playing on the second stage and he sounded cool, but we didn't really check him out. in hindsight, i am kicking myself for this because i have really been digging his new album lately. after the field, it was a choice between seeing the new pornographers or the klaxons. i like the new pornographers but i didn't really have any interest in seeing them live, and the klaxons just seemed kind of blah to me. we perused the record tent and chatted it up with some people in there. after that i noticed there was a group of people playing knockout basketball so i joined in. i was not on top of my game and did pretty horrible, but it was something fun to do until the sun went down. finally, at 9pm the day's headliners, de la soul, headed onto the main stage.

i still can't believe how fucking good de la soul were. they blew my mind. i honestly wasn't expecting much from them but they were one of the best live acts i have seen all year. the crowd interaction was amazing. they played an excellent selection of material, spawning everything from their debut album all the way to their most recent. after the show, roy and i were rapping for the rest of our trip. "when i say de la, you say soul" "de la" "SOUL" "de la" "SOUL", turning it into our own songs as well. de la soul's performance was a pleasantly fitting end to an incredible weekend of music.

after the festival was over, we headed back to our car and began the long drive to cleveland. we ended up stopping at a hotel in indiana, about 2 1/2 hours from cleveland. great fucking times.

here are some videos from day three of the festival:

nomo - hand and mouth

jamie lidell

of montreal - the party's crashing us (0:39)

de la soul w/ prince paul

de la soul montage (w/ rough sound)

so, in conclusion of the festival, here are my top 10 performances from the last two days:

01. de la soul
02. nomo
03. of montreal
04. battles
05. girl talk
06. clipse
07. jamie lidell
08. cool kids
09. professor murder
10. menomena

here are the write-ups of day one and two:

day one: http://jockorama.livejournal.com/2007/07/22/
day two: http://jockorama.livejournal.com/2007/08/06/

Date:	2007-12-28 14:41
Subject:	the night of a pizza guy, vol. 3. 12-26-07
Security:	Public
Mood:	hungry
Music:	aesop rock - none shall pass

alright, so it feels i have totally abandoned this journal as of late. i need to start writing in here more, so what better way to start than to write a new entry in my pizza delivery series. unfortunately, this will be a short write-up. i was the closing driver on wednesday, the day after christmas. after a busy start to the night business died off pretty quick. but alas, here is volume 3 after a four month wait.

1. 14020 Ruby
right after i walked in i left with my first delivery of the night. ruby lane is a bit out of town. out of town deliveries are my favorite since it gives you more time out of the store, you get to jam to music and smoke a cigarette on the way back. plus the tips are usually better out of town. this guy is a regular customer of ours and usually gives a good tip. the only time i didn't get a tip from this house was when his wife answered the door and signed the credit card slip without leaving a tip on there. thankfully the husband answered the door today and gave me a good tip. one thing that annoys me about taking deliveries with credit cards is that a good chunk of the people will (unknowingly?) try to steal my pen after they sign their receipt. i had to remind him to give me my pen back. TIP: $3.00

2. 1310 Catherine 2A
i remember this person as the one who cam, my buddy at work, refers to as his "baby girl". i believe she works at one of the factories in town. on the way to this place, i was stuck behind an ungodly slow car who i had to follow all the way to her apartment. also, on the way back i was cruising down bjornson road and nearly hit a deer. the fucker just came running out in front of me out of nowhere. but hey, i made it back to the store in one piece. TIP: $2.47

3. 20768 Edgewood
this was a delivery to one of my music professors, mr. dempsey. i have had this guy for four different music classes so we know each other pretty well. he's a really cool guy and he hooked me up with a good tip. TIP: $3.92

4. 14715 Tomahawk
tomahawk lane is one of the few places i have ever gotten lost at. it is buried deep in the indian village subdivision just out of town. thankfully i know my way around there now but it can still be tricky to navigate. when i handed this guy his pizzas he made me name off what was on every single one of them (i think he had 4-5 pizzas). he was a nice guy but that struck me as a bit odd. if there was a problem with his order, he could have just called the store back rather than make me wait around when i couldn't do anything about it anyway. everything was correct with his order though and he gave me a fat tip. TIP: $4.68

5. 203 2nd
it boggles my mind why people on second avenue order delivery. for one, it's a shitty neighborhood, a very poor part of town. we have a delivery charge so it would actually be more efficient for them to walk the two blocks down the road and pick up their pizzas at the store. the lady who answered the door gave me several weird looks as she was walking to the door. it was like she didn't think i was the pizza guy and was afraid to open the door. very strange. surprisingly, i got a good tip. TIP: $2.92

6. 18362 15 Mile
15 mile road is comprised of nothing but trailers. when i pulled into this guy's driveway i remembered who he was. i had delivered to him a few weeks ago and he was a complete asshole to me. this time he was alright, and he left a decent tip, something i didn't get last time. this was my only other credit card delivery for the night, and once again i had to ask for my pen back. TIP: $2.64

and that was the end of my deliveries for the night. i checked back in from the last one at 9:05pm and we didn't get another single delivery the rest of the night (we closed at midnight). it was pretty disappointing, especially since jerrod, who worked only three hours that night, made more money than me. i ended up leaving with $25.63 on six runs. a good average, yes, but $25 sucks for a closing shift. oh well, what can you expect when half of the town is gone for christmas break??