Monday, June 26, 2006

FPGA Friends

Met up with Tim, Sara, Dave, Grace (w/Christopher in tow) and Mike for Pizza. Talked enough about work that Xilinx paid for my two slices and a beer. Sweet!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Bonnaroo 2006

Where do I begin? I guess I could just list the music I heard in chronological order.

Thursday got underway with the brothers Wood; and then we went on to hear Toubab Krewe. Tobab was sweet. Reminded me of the 60’s Indian rock music from “Ghost World”. Definitely want to get their CD. Got back to camp by 2 AM; in bed by 3AM, which was like eastern 4 AM. Kind of like a practice night for Friday.

Friday was wall-to-wall. Karl in “acoustic mode” (or at least without a drummer) got us started. I wish he was more electric; or at least brought a drum machine; but it was good nonetheless. By the time Ben Folds got on stage, it felt like a tactical nuclear device was exploding in slow motion. That’s a rough analogy to it being wicked-hot. Ben is going to hurt his back if he keeps playing like that! Steel Pulse got it going on the main stage. I liked the two background singers. Then off to hear G Love and Special Sauce, which kind of sucked. And speaking of sucking; I like Primus, Phish, and the Police. So why does 1+1+1=2 with Oysterhead? The `roo flyer says “in the tradition of famed wacko Frank Zappa”. Oysterhead can only wish there is some validity to that comparison. Lame. The hour between Oysterhead and Tom Petty gave us time to have drinks at camp. The cool of the evening brought out the Heartbreakers and Ms.Nicks. What a repertoire! A quick run back to camp and then off to camp U-Bisco. My original plan was to watch the Umphree’s set then maybe a little of the biscuits. But the utterly sick three song full-band segue left me in seizure state for the better part of four hours. By 5 AM we were back at camp; by 6 AM we had gotten to bed.


Saturday Morning Soundcheck: Please help me out with this one! At about 7 or 8 AM Saturday morning someone played a track through the main stage (“What Stage”) PA. Anyone who was near the stage (e.g. VIP campers) and wasn’t under anesthesia would have heard it. It was a minute of two of this cool grove, mostly a solid bass and drum track, with a haunting synth pad, and some vocal thing I can’t quite recall. I think it was played twice. Does anyone know whose music it is? It sounded great waking me up from my Umphrey’s-Bisco recovery nap. Thanks in advance!

Saturday got underway with the Neville Brothers. A little too soft for my liking. Elvis is the king; and like Tom Petty, had a solid repertoire to dip into. I caught a taste of Gomez, but went back to the main stage for Beck. The puppets were great. The music was great. Pure pop for now people. The cool of the evening brought out Radiohead. I watched from atop a bus parked nearby. New friends cooking dinner and making drinks. Nice. I think at this point I was a little fatigued; as I confused Coldplay with Radiohead. Quick power nappy before the midnight hour. Dr. John is cool. Of course he played the Bonnaroo song. But I didn’t hear him play my favorite: “Shoo Fly”. A quick scan by the Superjam and then I must repose to arms of Morpheus.

Sunday comes and we decide to hit the road for home. Probably missing (another) epic moe. set; but the highway calls.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The Road to Bonnaroo

The new trailer hitch, and a sweet stop off near Woodstock made the ride to `Roo easy this year. Stopped in VA somewhere south of Roanoke; then an easy drive today down to the Manchster KOA.


So now we are here a little early to try to plan the best way in on Thursday morning. Check in at the Holiday Inn is 10 AM; but hopefully we can do the wristband dance earlier than that.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Spray Burn

Day nine was yesterday. Seven one-set days in a row. Getting old is a drag. First I'm out of shape. Then there is the back pain. Then there is the cold water; um no more of that, the week ended with water around 80 degrees F. Then there is the spray burn. That part is fun! It comes, it hurts, and when it goes you know you have one less thing to whine about. Then you have to ski. Ugggh! As Brian and Dave say "Wakeboard Style"