SF Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival

[thatguy]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.sfoutsidelands.com/">http://www.sfoutsidelands.com/</a><!-- m -->
8/22-8/24

Golden Gate Park

Radiohead
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Jack Johnson
Beck
Wilco
Manu Chao
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Widespread Panic
Primus
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Steve Winwood
Cafe Tacvba
Broken Social Scene
Regina Spektor
Devendra Banhart
Cold War Kids
Galactic's Crecent City Soul Krewe
Lyrics Born
Andrew Bird
Steel Pulse
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
M. Ward
Drive-By Truckers
Alo
Matt Nathanson
The Cool Kids
Two Gallants
Dredg
Little Brother
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Donavon Frankenreiter
The Mother Hips
Black Mountain
Sidestepper
Nellie Mckay
The Coup
Goapele
Bon Iver
Ivan Nevill's Dumpstaphunk
Sean Hayes
The Felice Brothers
Rupa & The April Fishes
Back Door Slam
K'Naan

More to be announced...

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

You'll find me at:
Toots
Jackie Greene
Widespread Panic
Mike Gordon
Culver City Dub Collective
>or most likely<
Rock Med

Anyone else going to show?

[thatguy]

My daughter's going Fri/Sat. I honestly can't afford it. <sigh>

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

sure, send your daughter on in. sorry i'll miss her. it would be fascinating to meet her. doom 2.0.

[Drunk Monk]

OL was great - the set up, the line up, a success on all fronts. I was only there Sunday, but here's my short review:
- Jackie Greene stole the show and he was the first act I saw. He did a smokin' New Speedway and Ball & Chain. He's my one-to-watch in the music scene right now. There's a persistent rumor of a dead tour this spring and if it happens, I hope he's in Jerry's spot.
- Toots started strong with two songs I really wanted to hear: Pressure Drop & Time Tough. But then he went all cheesy with Louie Louie. I had already walked away when that happened. So strong opening, but I think he didn't like the fog - too chilly for his JA blood.
- Gabriela Y Rodrigo were on when I got stuck manning the table. I was thankful. They were awesome. Two guitarists going at it flamenco style - the vid screens were wacky - special effects or a snafu? It didn't matter. What was important was to be able to see Gabriela's hand work, which is a spectacle in itself.
- Widespread Panic always satisfies. They have a rocking instrumental sound and are one of the leaders of the jam band scene now, although they lean towards gross self-indulgence like any jam band.
- Mike Gordon was great to see again. He had a tight band, but only held my attention for a few songs until I needed to move on.
- Jack Johnson is island music, which works while driving a convertible mustang on Kauai, but he just doesn't sustain it for me, despite his strong reggae connection. Island is a derivation of jahwaiian, slack key guitar meets reggae, and it's just too laid back for me. It loses that rebel sound. Jack is good for three tunes or so, until it all starts sounding the same.

I look forward to next year's OL.

[Drunk Monk]

I think I'm going to bail. I was tentatively planning to do Sat, but the acts that I'm interested in (Thievery Corp & MIA) are Friday and Sunday. I think I'll just stay at home and pluck the albatross.

[Drunk Monk]

I'm in for both days. Anyone else coming? Stop by Rock Med and find me.

[El Dingo]

I entered a contest for free tix for Saturday. Haven't heard anything yet...

[Drunk Monk]

One of dm's friends is defending her Muay Thai belt at Fight Night to the Mansion. That's the Playboy Mansion. That's right. She considers Dm one of her good luck charms at fights and sets him up with passes. Dm could be watching this fight at ringside, seated right next to the playmate dancers, ring girls and playmate of the year Kara Monaco. Instead, he's going to wrassle with deadhead who can't hold their acid. Something is very wrong with dm's priorities...



Hope you win ED, it'd be fun to see you there. Y'all know where to find me. I'll probably be on radio, so you can have Rock Med call for me, if you show up.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Well, If it ever gets to the Mansion down here, I'll be more than happy to sit in for you, camera in hand. That is right. I'm a giver.

[Drunk Monk]

She may fight there again. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to get passes for the Mansion. They keep very tight control on that. She was only allowed her coaches and manager.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

The key word would be "Nearly" Come on Lucy, T up the ball.

[Drunk Monk]

It was a smashing success on every level. So get yourself a tasty plate of nachos, sit back and relax for the week as Dm regales you with tales and hallucinations from the weekend (assuming they don't fade from his tattered memory banks before he can commit them to nachogramumblings).

Dm will start with THE PRANK.

Now in the last psych episode (Phish), one of our psych people got slightly injured role-playing the IPR in the takedown in-service - he received a small cut to his forehead from his glasses. A newbie was holding down his left side where he got the scratch - it was that newbie's first go as psych (more on this later). After that cut, dm was hanging with our fauxIPR as he got patched up and some one (obvious one of the two) said 'blood capsules' to which both fell into a long uncontrollable laughter jag. Last week, dm acquired some and handed them off to the fauxIPR before the show.

So it's day one of OSL - over 150 vols and it's a very well-attended psych in-service. Dm sets our newbie up to takedown fauxIPR again, instructing him firmly to go soft. Our head nurse starts complaining that psych shouldn't use him as "he's fragile." After the takedown, fauxIPR spits some blood into his hands. Dm looks at him and starts to giggle saying quickly 'i can't look at you' and retreating to the corner as fauxIPR takes center spotlight. No one plays 'freaking out' better than fauxIPR . The entire crew is silent. You could hear a pin drop, which is never heard at rm - it's never that quiet. FauxIPR is going for an oscar performance, looking at the blood in his hands and shaking in fear. LB's g/f looks at dm and says angrily 'what did you do?' - she thinks fauxIPR seized and bit his tongue. After about 5 mins of shock, dm tells fauxIPR 'it's okay. stop now before everyone really freaks out' and fauxIPR jumps up victorious, once again his happy self. dm quickly explains it was a hazing for the newbie (who rolls with it being a great sport) and that if you really want to join the psych team, be ready because they fight dirty and love to prank and haze.

after such a stunning demo of psych, the krew owns OSL for the weekend. Needless to say, there are two crosshairs aimed squarely at fauxIPR & dm now from multiple pranksters. Things have been rather peaceful but even our master of prankishness (who will remain unnamed as only LB knows her anyway) had to bow down to the fauxIPR/dm stunt. She tried to rally sunday, but dm had her totally checkmated, and she had to retreat in awe. Four walkers were donated to Rm and Dina proposed a walker race at the end of the show (didn't happen because it was late and everyone was tired). it would have been this buff emt vs. a senior nurse vs. newbie psych (repping supply) and the supply sup's son (repping psych). supply stole the newbie as dm is in a heated battle for possession of his son, the newbie & the newbie's pop. dm wants them as psych;supply wants them as supply - ultimately they do both but its an entitlement thing. so for dm to steal supply's son, well, even our prank master was impressed by the counterattack. then dm conspired with all of psych to convince newbie to throw the race by crashing into the others and using the remaining blood capsules as the son goes on for the win. as psych is all the partying enablers, the newbie was cornered.

it would have been complete and total domination for psych if it had come to pass, but it's just as well that it didn't as dm can already feel those crosshairs on the back of his neck.

More on the show itself to come later....

[Drunk Monk]

There were a ton of corporate tents like Intel, Chase and Heineken. Those were odd but entertaining. That wasn't the way it was the first year, but those who were there last year said it started then and doubled this year. A lot of burners (including one on my psych crew) complained that the centerpieces were from the playa and should only be on the playa. Selfish burners. The main stage was astounding because beyond the four main columns, the whole stage came on one truck and accordion-ed up. Same goes for the soundboard tent. Incredible architectural design. Two days, two fields and four stages was better than three days, three fields and six stages. There were a few traffic jams (80,000 people) but overall, the venue had a nice flow. Lots of great food and drinks - gourmet S.F. - and not priced significantly higher than any other fest. The wine tasting tent was very cool and comfortable, although the only vintner I recognized was Bonny Doon (but I don't really know wine).

DAY 1

People under the stairs: Checked it out because a cute new vol said it was an LA hip hop band that rapped about pot. Which is just what it was.

Sierra Leone Refugee Allstars: A fav band of mine. They just dropped a new CD, Rise & Shine, which I listened to beforehand on MySpace. Their set was too short and mostly African over reggae.

Pretty Lights: Nice funky bottom. Danceable electro mix.

**There was this total madness with RM radios with overlapping channels and a general failure to communicate. That took up most of the morning's radio traffic and was damn annoying while trying to listen to bands.

Pimps of Joytime: Fat base rock to a wailing guitar.

Basenectar: The band sounds exactly like you'd imagine from the name. Fun for a base worshipper like me.

Gogol Bordello: Overdone circus music to a snappy ska riff. Very infectious. This was my personal fav discovery of OSL.

FURTHUR: Cassidy, Loser, Let It Grow, Time > Breathe Reprise, Death Don't Have No Mercy, FotM, Other One, 11, Lady with a Fan > Terrapin > At a Siding > Terrapin Flyer, Unbroken Chain, Morning Dew, Rider - a tight little set, quite satisfying. RM psych was jumping - only time we worked really. 3-4 restraints I think, nothing we couldn't handle tho.

**Did I mention that the RM Speedway annex had nachos cooking? That's right, hot nacho cheese, just for dm. That was nice.

DAY 2
**I was late and missed the meeting. I crashed at a friend's place on the Haight and had a fine breakfast there.

Temper Trap: Not impressive but the sun peaked out. People were complaining about the cold all weekend, but they just didn't know how to dress for S.F. I never put on all my layers. It never got that cold.

Al Green: Super cheesey.

Phoenix: Um, I didn't write any notes beyond the band name. They didn't leave an impression.

Naz & Jr. Gong: It was all about Jr. Gong. Very crowded. Too short.

Empire of the Sun: Bummed I missed them. I had to trek back after Jr. Gong and was too tired from walking that damn field so many times that I didn't make it back to Speedway. Those that did were raving about it.

Kings of Leon: Sounds exactly like you might imagine live, like drunken howling dogs. Well, not that bad, but overrated in my book.

I love working OSL. It's really a great festival. I hope some of you make it out next year. If you want to RM it, just let me know and I'll hook you up on my psych crew.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I love working OSL. It's really a great festival. I hope some of you make it out next year. If you want to RM it, just let me know and I'll hook you up on my psych crew.

Every time I hear DM invite me out to do things, I now hear the words of Admiral Ackbar in my head.