Thursday, November 06, 2008
Now that my illness has turned into full blown Fest-AIDS, which can manifest itself as a cold, the flu, chicken pox or week long hangovers, I think it's about time to put this post-Fest gushing to bed. One more post until next year.
Next year, you've got to come with me. I don't care if you're my best friend or if I don't know you from Adam. If you're into punk rock, even tangentially, as in you dig the guys but aren't so sure about the rest of it, this thing is for you. If you know punk rock, know who's in the band, what they look like, you may well poop your pants when you see them walking down the same street you are or when you're in the hotel halls or elevator and a band you've admired for almost ten years offers you a beer.
They say it feels like summer in October but maybe November, too, I don't know the dates next year but you'll know about as soon as I do. All in all, I spent probably around $700 for this, which includes my Fest pass, hotel stay at one of the official Fest hotels, you can probably get cheaper and stay with just as many bands by staying at the Comfort Inn by the Waffle House, a rental car that I didn't even get, a chauffeured drive to Gainesville from Jacksonville since I didn't get my car, food, records, t-shirts, beer(not as much as I'd like to have, but you can get free beer from your new Fest friends), plane tickets which can be gotten for considerably less if you get them early, like as soon as you find out the dates. That's money well spent, if you ask me, on having the best weekend of your life spent drinking, listening to loud music, and eating. A weekend where your most difficult decision is whether to see Dillinger Four at The Venue or Ghost Mice at Common Grounds. You can play kickball with the friendly punks who set up random bits of garbage as bases, a discarded bra was second base. I never made it to second base. Story of my life, really... You can definitely not sleep enough because you're having too much fun.
My only advice when you plan on coming is to bring comfortable shoes because you'll probably do a good amount of walking unless you follow my advice of renting a bike from one of the crust punk run bike rental places. Also, don't plan on flying home on Sunday. I didn't see ANY bands on sunday. Do yourself a favor and make the return flight on Monday.
If you do wind up coming down, I'll buy you a pitcher of beer, no cups, at Market St. Pub.
How did this thing change me? Well, this weekend renewed my faith in punk rock. The whole weekend gave me that feeling that I got when I first heard Op Ivy's Energy some ten years ago. That's the feeling of "Holy shit! This is where I want to be, I'm with these people for life." This entire week, I've gotten the feeling that I've got to do something here. I hate all the bands that play here right now. They're all metal bands with lyrics about as engaging as your average Wesley Willis song and that's not meant as a slight against Wesley. Rather than sit around bitching about it, which is best left to 17 year old emo kids, I want to start booking shows around here. There's the venue that I used to see shows at in my younger days that's now become a haven for the metal heads and drug dealing, hackey sack playing youth. I hate those kids and their bad taste in music, so I'd like to bring bands that don't suck into my area. I've got a couple friends I could talk about how to go about it, they've done this kind of shit before and I'm hoping I can get some pointers on how to make it happen. I'm fired up on this because of the Fest. So come with me next year.
said Tommy T. at 11:22 AM - #
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Next year, you've got to come with me. I don't care if you're my best friend or if I don't know you from Adam. If you're into punk rock, even tangentially, as in you dig the guys but aren't so sure about the rest of it, this thing is for you. If you know punk rock, know who's in the band, what they look like, you may well poop your pants when you see them walking down the same street you are or when you're in the hotel halls or elevator and a band you've admired for almost ten years offers you a beer.
They say it feels like summer in October but maybe November, too, I don't know the dates next year but you'll know about as soon as I do. All in all, I spent probably around $700 for this, which includes my Fest pass, hotel stay at one of the official Fest hotels, you can probably get cheaper and stay with just as many bands by staying at the Comfort Inn by the Waffle House, a rental car that I didn't even get, a chauffeured drive to Gainesville from Jacksonville since I didn't get my car, food, records, t-shirts, beer(not as much as I'd like to have, but you can get free beer from your new Fest friends), plane tickets which can be gotten for considerably less if you get them early, like as soon as you find out the dates. That's money well spent, if you ask me, on having the best weekend of your life spent drinking, listening to loud music, and eating. A weekend where your most difficult decision is whether to see Dillinger Four at The Venue or Ghost Mice at Common Grounds. You can play kickball with the friendly punks who set up random bits of garbage as bases, a discarded bra was second base. I never made it to second base. Story of my life, really... You can definitely not sleep enough because you're having too much fun.
My only advice when you plan on coming is to bring comfortable shoes because you'll probably do a good amount of walking unless you follow my advice of renting a bike from one of the crust punk run bike rental places. Also, don't plan on flying home on Sunday. I didn't see ANY bands on sunday. Do yourself a favor and make the return flight on Monday.
If you do wind up coming down, I'll buy you a pitcher of beer, no cups, at Market St. Pub.
How did this thing change me? Well, this weekend renewed my faith in punk rock. The whole weekend gave me that feeling that I got when I first heard Op Ivy's Energy some ten years ago. That's the feeling of "Holy shit! This is where I want to be, I'm with these people for life." This entire week, I've gotten the feeling that I've got to do something here. I hate all the bands that play here right now. They're all metal bands with lyrics about as engaging as your average Wesley Willis song and that's not meant as a slight against Wesley. Rather than sit around bitching about it, which is best left to 17 year old emo kids, I want to start booking shows around here. There's the venue that I used to see shows at in my younger days that's now become a haven for the metal heads and drug dealing, hackey sack playing youth. I hate those kids and their bad taste in music, so I'd like to bring bands that don't suck into my area. I've got a couple friends I could talk about how to go about it, they've done this kind of shit before and I'm hoping I can get some pointers on how to make it happen. I'm fired up on this because of the Fest. So come with me next year.
said Tommy T. at 11:22 AM - #
|
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