ACL Fest Wrap-Up

Well, the big difference in ACL Fest from 2005 to 2006 was that the parks people made a huge effort to water the grass all summer so that the festival wouldn't be a dust bowl again. Last year was like being in a western, what with all the folks wearing bandanas to keep the dust out of their lungs. Without Hurricane Rita to spoil things, the overall weather was a lot better in 06. Hot, yes, but bearable.

I remember so distinctly last year's Arcade Fire show on Sunday afternoon. It was 108 degrees out, and I had to sit on the ground and let the surrounding people shade me, since standing up made me nauseated and woozy. This year, I had a thermometer I bought for my Costa Rica trip, which displayed the much more tolerable temperature of 93 degrees at the same time Sunday afternoon. Not exactly cool, but still, a whole 15 degrees cooler!

In addition to my thermometer/LED light/compass/mirror gadget, I also carried an umbrella with me all day Sunday. Watching the beginning of Tom Petty, I remarked to my friend Shannon, who also had an umbrella, "Good thing we carried these umbrellas around with us all day. That must be why it didn't rain." Famous last words! At that moment, the skies grew dark and ominous, clouds moved in rapidly, and in 10 minutes, it was pouring with rain. The band left the stage, and people made shift to pack up their stuff, including their handy placemarker totems, put up their umbrellas and stay dry. Friends Sally and Karen had left in search of the bathroom, and had a hell of a time finding us again in the rain and the dark without any of the reference points that are so crucial. It rained so hard that even the holdouts with ponchos decided to get under the umbrellas. The big question, though, was, "Will the Heartbreakers come back and play, or are we gonna stand here like jerks and wait for nothing?" There was an agonizing 45 minute wait, but once the rain had died down, and the electrical problems solved, TP and the band came back out, uncovered their Hammond organ, and played another nearly hour-long set, including "It's Good to be King," "Free Falling," "Learning to Fly," "American Girl," and "You Wreck Me." I reeeeeeaaaallly wanted them to play "The Waiting," and I don't know what was the hardest part, the waiting, or the realizing that I wasn't going to hear that familiar "Ter-chung...dow nee nee now nee nee dow, now" intro, or Mike Campbell's transcendent guitar solo. Oh, well.

The band I was really looking forward to seeing was "The New Pornographers," who together with singer Neko Case have almost singlehandedly restored my faith in American popular music. I crossed my fingers that Neko would grace the festival with her presence, and she did, making jokes about how it was too cold for her, and what did we mean by making her perform in these freezing conditions. I wanted to yell, "Shoulda been here last year when it was 10 below, babe." Ha! Anyway, her voice sounded clear as a bell, and just as beautiful as it does coming out of my headphones. I was grinning and jumping up and down the whole time, singing along. I think I almost cried when they played "Blown Speakers." I'm including the whole setlist below, for archival purposes.

So here are the rest of the bands I caught over the weekend, in chronological order.

Friday:
Part of Los Lonely Boys
Thievery Corporation
Part of Ray Lamontagne
Van Morrison

Saturday:
The Shins
Kings of Leon
Aimee Mann
The Raconteurs (rocked out)
Willie Nelson (still great at 73--loved his song, "You Don't Think I'm Funny Any More.")
Massive Attack (ehhhh)

KT Tunstall
The New Pornographers (my new favorite band, so here's their set list)

1. Twin Cinema
2. Use It
3. The Laws Have Changed
4. Jackie Dressed in Cobras
5. The Bleeding Heart Show
6. Mass Romantic
7. Testament to Youth in Verse
8. Miss Teen Wordpower
9. These Are The Fables
10. It's Only Divine Right
11. The Fake Headlines
12. Star Bodies
13. From Blown Speakers
14. Letter From an Occupant
15. Sing Me Spanish Techno

The BoDeans--and they played the song "Fadeaway"!
Part of MUSE
Part of G. Love & Special Sauce
Part of Damien Marley
Most of Ween
Patrice Pike
Part of Matisyahu (the Hasidic dub/dancehall/rapper dude)
Ben Harper
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Blown Speakers

I'm doing my ACL Fest "homework" and listening to The New Pornographers' album "Electric Version" today. They are a really tight band, and rock out on every track. Pretty much every song on it is good, and there are a lot that are great. "Blown Speakers" is my favorite, although "All for Swinging Around You" is insanely catchy, too. I suppose I should find out if they're playing an after-show somewhere around here, although that is probably also sold out. It's nice to feel like there are some new bands that are carrying the quality torch forward.

The Twins Have Visitors

The twins and my brother spent Saturday and Sunday at Aunt Julia's house, with their grandmother also in attendance. Our friend Danny and his fiancee, Sally, visited on Sunday afternoon. Sally held Sam, and Danny held Jack:
Then Danny had the singular pleasure and responsibility of holding them both at once. Jack is on the left, and Sam is on the right:

Friday Twinblogging

While blogger Kevin Drum is known for Friday catblogging, posting photos and text about his two cats, I realized that I have been posting photos of my twin nephews on Fridays. I figured that Jack and Sam are every bit as cute as Inkblot and Jasmine, so I figured I'd continue the tradition and share some more pics of the boys. Twinblogging!

Finally, a picture of proud mom Alice with Sam:

Here's Jack sleeping all snug in his baby burrito:

Jesus Was the Original Liberal

I came across this site while surfing, and today's post had a quote from a contributor named The Reckoning, as follows:

If we do have to surrender to the Muslims, it will be the hippie liberals who get slaughtered first. All the rest of us hate-mongering, gun totin' conservatives will be too busy defending our families while the hippies are being picked off one by one while they're riding their bikes and picking daisies in the pasture.

I felt compelled to respond, especially to another comment from this Reckoning person, which claimed that:

When you get right down to it, the liberal mindset isn't one that is based on reality. The liberal mindset is based on hopes and dreams. Some liberals become so immersed in their own dreams that they loose sight of reality and the world around them. Those types of liberals are often referred to as being "Progessive."

I tried to submit part of my response as a comment, but it didn't take, so I'm posting my entire response here.

I find it astonishing that Rec said, “the liberal mindset isn’t one that is based on reality,” when President Bush has made a point of calling news orgs like New York Times “the reality-based media,” meaning that he and his administration have admitted following the oh-so-sensible path of eschewing reality completely. Like thinking they could successfully overthrow Saddam Hussein and establish a new government without an adequate battle plan, and without taking the advice of seasoned military experts who said that sectarian violence would fill the power vacuum. Like Michael Chertoff insisting that there were no thirsty, starving refugees in the NOLA Superdome.

I don’t think that Ogre’s paragraph on the “liberal mindset” was remotely accurate, much less profound. Have any of you ever had a serious, in-depth conversation with someone whose views differ, or are you just going by what Bill O’Reilly says? I’m a liberal, and I don’t take a simplistic view of world politics. I certainly don’t believe that terrorists are basically “nice people” at all, and I don’t think that all people are good, and that all they need is an ice-cream cone and a hand out, and then everything will be hunky-dory. It’s a lot more complicated than that. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Islamists who are so full of hate that they’re beyond rehabilitation, and all we can do is be vigilant, and lock them up if they conspire against us. I think some of the religious hatred on their part is taught as a way to give purpose to empty, hopeless lives, but hatred and intolerance are not condoned in the Koran, and true Muslims aren’t hateful any more than true Christians. But if you were a Muslim who grew up desperately poor, but seeing American affluence on TV, or seeing the lush gardens of the Israeli settlers across the valley while you’re having to beg for water, you’d hate everyone who had what you didn’t--and their culture, too. They can’t have bikini-clad girlfriends or an iPod, so they take it out on those who do.

I do take personal responsibility for conserving, reusing, and recyling as much as possible. I live in a central neighborhood where I can walk instead of drive, but I’m aware that much of my disposable-drink-cup American lifestyle is inherently wasteful. Americans use an enormously disproportionate percentage of energy and resources, and even though our gas prices seem high, they are nothing compared to what people in most other countries pay. I was just in Costa Rica, a developing country where most people are poor, and gas there is over $4 a gallon.

Notwithstanding the fact that the environmental and health costs of fossil fuels aren’t factored into the price, we’re paying for cheap gas with blood of our fellow Americans—2,913 dead, and 20,000+ wounded so far in Iraq and Afghanistan. I mean, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein are evil, but is it all worth it just so we can drive our SUVs to Starbucks? And all the bloodshed in Iraq and now Lebanon is just serving to create another generation of Muslims who have a good reason to hate Americans and Israelis. If a bunch of Arabs stormed into your house, raped your sister, and killed her and your family, wouldn’t you tend to be mad as hell, and vow revenge, Christian or not? And now the Pakistanis, who are supposed to be our allies, are trying to kill us. Judging by the current state of affairs, I would say that the current “blast-‘em-all-to-hell” method isn’t working very well. Do you really think Jesus would suggest killing all Muslims as a way of ridding the world of terrorists? You posted a cartoon of an Arab boot crushing a church steeple, so I assume you remember His words in Matthew 5:43-45? Or in Luke 6:27-36: “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Now I don’t advocate basing American foreign policy on any one religion, and I’m not saying we should give up our country to the terrorists, but it’s incredible that you are really mocking people who follow Jesus’ teachings as a bunch of daisy-picking hippies. Tell me, who would Jesus bomb?

Personal Style

An essay for a male friend on that elusive goal, achieving a personal style:

You must look deep within yourself to find your style. Who am I as a person? Am I formal or casual? Am I serious or whimsical? Am I outgoing or mysterious? Stray dog or sophisticate? Mod or Rocker? If that doesn’t yield results, try picking up a copy of Esquire or Men’s Vogue, or borrow my copy of the Queer Eye book and read Carson’s section on style dos and don’ts. He also has his own book called “Off the Cuff.”

Actually, having a kind of style “role model” is a useful way to identify your personal style. Like, “I really dig those white hemp suits that Woody Harrelson wears.” Or, when I saw Tom Cruise jump on Oprah’s couch last summer, strangely enough, all I could think about was “who makes his pants?” Or not. Anyhow, if you find someone whose style you’d like to emulate (or avoid), the next time you’re clothes shopping, you can ask yourself, “Would George Clooney (or Ted Koppel) wear that?” If the answer is “no,” or in Ted's case, “yes,” then you move on to the next item.

I think the movies of the forties and fifties, my mother’s clothes from when she was first married, and my chic childhood French teacher have most influenced my personal style. I love clothes that are well made, have classic shapes and clean lines, and aren’t merely the trend du jour. If I could hire any of the current Project Runway designers to make clothes for me, I'd hire Laura to make my suits, and Michael to make my evening gowns.