i'm having somewhat of a quarter-life crisis. as much as i hate that phrase, it is exactly what i'm going through.
work has been a struggle. if you've talked to me at all in the past 2 or 3 weeks, then you know what i'm talking about, because i've probably cornered you and vented about my situation for upwards of 40 minutes. put simply, i feel unhappy, unfulfilled and unappreciated at work. i'm at a point in my life/career where i KNOW that i can't be doing what i'm doing currently for very much longer, but that i don't really know where to go from here. i don't enjoy computers anymore, and i'm not learning any real skills that can carry over into my next job, as everything i've learned is pretty much specific to accenture. realizing all this has caused me to look at my other options.
so i've had a lot on my mind lately. i'm pretty scared about what's going to happen to me. i wish i could just ghost-produce beats for dr. dre. then i wouldn't have any of these problems.
work has been a struggle. if you've talked to me at all in the past 2 or 3 weeks, then you know what i'm talking about, because i've probably cornered you and vented about my situation for upwards of 40 minutes. put simply, i feel unhappy, unfulfilled and unappreciated at work. i'm at a point in my life/career where i KNOW that i can't be doing what i'm doing currently for very much longer, but that i don't really know where to go from here. i don't enjoy computers anymore, and i'm not learning any real skills that can carry over into my next job, as everything i've learned is pretty much specific to accenture. realizing all this has caused me to look at my other options.
- find another job. it seems easy enough, right? well, it would be, if i knew where i wanted to go in my career. whenever i begin to look at careerbuilder or monster, i have no criteria in mind to search for. and since i'm not even sure if i want to remain in IT (or what i would do even IF i remained in IT), i am literally left with no search words. lately the one phrase i've been searching for has been "no dress code." har.
- switch teams at accenture. this could possibly work. the only thing is that i feel this would be a temporary solution to a bigger problem. while it might alleviate current work related issues, i'll know deep down it's not what i want to be doing. but sometimes a change like this is enough to make me realize that work isn't so bad. who knows.
- go back to school. i did a bit of research for columbia's arts, entertainment and media management master's program, with a focus on music management, last night. this could be promising. but there are a few problems. a) i don't have the money currently to go back to school, and b) i wouldn't be able to work during the days and take classes at night. the first isn't a major problem because i can always take out a loan, which would suck but it's what i'd have to do. but the second problem is tricky because if i wasn't working, i'd be uninsured (more on this below), and i'd also need my parents' help to front the money, because loans won't cover all of it.
- quit and take a break from working altogether. this would be good, except i have a lot of expenses at the moment, and i'm sort of relying on my insurance. and as depressing as it is to write this, i've grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle. i'm used to being able to buy all the ballin'est things i want, whenever i want. one thing i should mention is that accenture is piloting a leave of absence program where if employees work for 3 years, they can take up to 3 months off. it's unpaid obviously but i'd be insured. i feel this would be the perfect amount of time to really sit down and figure shit out, except i'd have to work there for another year and a half to be eligible. balls.
so i've had a lot on my mind lately. i'm pretty scared about what's going to happen to me. i wish i could just ghost-produce beats for dr. dre. then i wouldn't have any of these problems.
have been the fucking bomb.
wednesday night, i went to flosstradamus and diplo at sub t with molly. craziest dance party ever. so many people on stage, so many things going on. it was almost an overload of my senses. i pretty much lost it when floss played "so whatcha want". i put my hood on and everything, because it was that kind of night. eventually molly got up on the stage and brought me along with her. we were up there for maybe 5 minutes until flosstradamus's set ended and diplo went on. we stayed for maybe 20 minutes of diplo just cuz there was the craziest dance circle going on, but once we were un-hypnotized from the goings on (read: when there were no more hot girls on stage) we realized the songs that diplo was spinning were complete crap. so we bounced. but damn if flosstradamus played an amazing set. oh and some trixie grabbed my ass and humped me. at which point i turned to molly and said "i didn't think it'd turn out this way." *shudder* still regretting not taking the opportunity to dance with the girl who matched my every dance move as well as inched her way closer to me. gotta get over that social anxiety. oh yeah and molly was saddened to learn that brown sweater dude was in fact gay. sorry molly :(
thursday night, i kept the party going. met up with olivia and her friend helene at aladdin's for dinner. had some tasty chicken with hummus *licks lips* after eats and some good convos, went to myopic and killed some time before the show we were seeing that night. it was two hip hop groups called contriband and the pacifics at sub t (hah, 2 nights in a row!). i think both groups did their thing thing and it was cool to be at a chill show like that. lately i feel claustrophobic at all the shows i go to so this was a nice change of pace. the pacifics sort of have a foreign exchange style about them. i don't know if i'm hearing certain similar nuances in their beats or if their flows sound the same, but something about the pacifics remind me of the foreign exchange, which is awesome cuz i used to love the foreign exchange. upon revisiting, i still do :) then on the car ride home olivia talked about how she regularly sees people having sex on the beach, and this thoroughly grossed out helene and myself. and then i was dropped off. good times.
friday night, got chicken hut with andrew. pauline and aldridge met us there, and then we headed to the thee more shallows show at the empty bottle, where we met up with ji. the first band that played was called "we eat rats to survive." the band name made me want to throw up. and their music wasn't spectacular in my opinion. after watching andrew, ji and pauline play pool for a bit, we checked out the 2nd band which was called the diminisher. they were cool because they had a strings and horns section. the main guy/singer/keys player had a nord electro (w00t), and he played cool melodies, i just think his voice isn't anything great, and i feel like for that type of music, the voice is what really makes or breaks you. so, practice up, diminisher. then was thee more shallows. they are awesome. they're one of the newer bands signed to anticon. big up azeem for telling us about them! azeem and his industry connections...haha. they did this awesome thing where they would create a seemingly arbitrary loop that would go the entire song, but even something so simple gave each song great depth, and it worked out very well. in the middle of the set, the lead guy said: "i want to talk about today's culture." he said this a few times, but he never proceeded to give his take on today's culture. it was just hilarious that he kept saying he wanted to talk about today's culture, esp because it was after someone had screamed "shut the fuck up." lol. after the show ji dropped andrew and me off at the defrag party cuz andy was back in town. was nice to see him. had a few beers, was let in on internal gossip, and by the time i knew it it was time for me to go home.
saturday, helped paul move into his new joint. pretty nice place. they have everything they'll ever need at that apartment. oh and get this: his landlady's husband is corey mcpherrin from fox sports, who lives next door or the house down, can't remember which. but i thought that was hilarious. paul was nice enough to buy us all lunch for the help we provided. stand-up guy, that paul. then i went home and slept for 6 hours, until i was woken up by a phone call. my good friend keith from GH called to inform me that him, randy, rich, steve, eric and jason (my middle and high school buddies) were in the city. i haven't seen those guys in years so it was quite the shock. we met up at john barleycorn in lincoln park and proceeded to get drunk and catch up. after that, keith, rich, steve and myself tried to get into the apartment but i guess they have "no sports apparel" rule, and seeing as how they had all just come back from the cubs sox game, we couldn't get in. so we just went down the street and got tacos at allende. after food they went to hit up marvin's. god damn it was nice to see them. gonna try to incorporate more hangouts in the near future. after parting ways with the crew, i ended up meeting molly and andrew at this lounge called lennox on lincoln and wellington. i got a good vibe from that place and i see myself going back there. after a drink there, we bounced and called it a night.
i've had a rough work week, so it was so nice to have all these wonderful distractions :) thanks for everything, guys.
wednesday night, i went to flosstradamus and diplo at sub t with molly. craziest dance party ever. so many people on stage, so many things going on. it was almost an overload of my senses. i pretty much lost it when floss played "so whatcha want". i put my hood on and everything, because it was that kind of night. eventually molly got up on the stage and brought me along with her. we were up there for maybe 5 minutes until flosstradamus's set ended and diplo went on. we stayed for maybe 20 minutes of diplo just cuz there was the craziest dance circle going on, but once we were un-hypnotized from the goings on (read: when there were no more hot girls on stage) we realized the songs that diplo was spinning were complete crap. so we bounced. but damn if flosstradamus played an amazing set. oh and some trixie grabbed my ass and humped me. at which point i turned to molly and said "i didn't think it'd turn out this way." *shudder* still regretting not taking the opportunity to dance with the girl who matched my every dance move as well as inched her way closer to me. gotta get over that social anxiety. oh yeah and molly was saddened to learn that brown sweater dude was in fact gay. sorry molly :(
thursday night, i kept the party going. met up with olivia and her friend helene at aladdin's for dinner. had some tasty chicken with hummus *licks lips* after eats and some good convos, went to myopic and killed some time before the show we were seeing that night. it was two hip hop groups called contriband and the pacifics at sub t (hah, 2 nights in a row!). i think both groups did their thing thing and it was cool to be at a chill show like that. lately i feel claustrophobic at all the shows i go to so this was a nice change of pace. the pacifics sort of have a foreign exchange style about them. i don't know if i'm hearing certain similar nuances in their beats or if their flows sound the same, but something about the pacifics remind me of the foreign exchange, which is awesome cuz i used to love the foreign exchange. upon revisiting, i still do :) then on the car ride home olivia talked about how she regularly sees people having sex on the beach, and this thoroughly grossed out helene and myself. and then i was dropped off. good times.
friday night, got chicken hut with andrew. pauline and aldridge met us there, and then we headed to the thee more shallows show at the empty bottle, where we met up with ji. the first band that played was called "we eat rats to survive." the band name made me want to throw up. and their music wasn't spectacular in my opinion. after watching andrew, ji and pauline play pool for a bit, we checked out the 2nd band which was called the diminisher. they were cool because they had a strings and horns section. the main guy/singer/keys player had a nord electro (w00t), and he played cool melodies, i just think his voice isn't anything great, and i feel like for that type of music, the voice is what really makes or breaks you. so, practice up, diminisher. then was thee more shallows. they are awesome. they're one of the newer bands signed to anticon. big up azeem for telling us about them! azeem and his industry connections...haha. they did this awesome thing where they would create a seemingly arbitrary loop that would go the entire song, but even something so simple gave each song great depth, and it worked out very well. in the middle of the set, the lead guy said: "i want to talk about today's culture." he said this a few times, but he never proceeded to give his take on today's culture. it was just hilarious that he kept saying he wanted to talk about today's culture, esp because it was after someone had screamed "shut the fuck up." lol. after the show ji dropped andrew and me off at the defrag party cuz andy was back in town. was nice to see him. had a few beers, was let in on internal gossip, and by the time i knew it it was time for me to go home.
saturday, helped paul move into his new joint. pretty nice place. they have everything they'll ever need at that apartment. oh and get this: his landlady's husband is corey mcpherrin from fox sports, who lives next door or the house down, can't remember which. but i thought that was hilarious. paul was nice enough to buy us all lunch for the help we provided. stand-up guy, that paul. then i went home and slept for 6 hours, until i was woken up by a phone call. my good friend keith from GH called to inform me that him, randy, rich, steve, eric and jason (my middle and high school buddies) were in the city. i haven't seen those guys in years so it was quite the shock. we met up at john barleycorn in lincoln park and proceeded to get drunk and catch up. after that, keith, rich, steve and myself tried to get into the apartment but i guess they have "no sports apparel" rule, and seeing as how they had all just come back from the cubs sox game, we couldn't get in. so we just went down the street and got tacos at allende. after food they went to hit up marvin's. god damn it was nice to see them. gonna try to incorporate more hangouts in the near future. after parting ways with the crew, i ended up meeting molly and andrew at this lounge called lennox on lincoln and wellington. i got a good vibe from that place and i see myself going back there. after a drink there, we bounced and called it a night.
i've had a rough work week, so it was so nice to have all these wonderful distractions :) thanks for everything, guys.
i just deleted all the music on my ipod on accident. maybe this is a good thing. i was way too anal and ocd with it, because i absolutely NEEDED the perfect set of songs on my ipod at any given moment. now that i deleted all my shit, i'm basically starting from scratch, but i'm not gonna be scrambling to get all my old music on there. i'll just start with the new stuff i got, and i got a lot, so i'm in pretty good shape.
i thought i'd be a lot more pissed off than i am, but i think this really needed to happen.
i'm on myspace again, ask for details if you want. btw, i added just about everyone i intend to add, but please add me if you like. i decided to add people on my buddy list and people in my phone, because it seemed like a good place to start. but seriously add me, esp if i haven't seen you in a while. holler.
i thought i'd be a lot more pissed off than i am, but i think this really needed to happen.
i'm on myspace again, ask for details if you want. btw, i added just about everyone i intend to add, but please add me if you like. i decided to add people on my buddy list and people in my phone, because it seemed like a good place to start. but seriously add me, esp if i haven't seen you in a while. holler.
didn't realize i disabled comments on the last post. there ya go, have at it. oh and also, i'm prepping myself for a valiant return to myspace. i realized my friends don't talk to me unless it's over the computer, might as well make it easier for them.
vegas and coachella were a great time. thanks to molly, andy, andrew, tom and taka for making this an awesome, awesome trip. and a big ups to andy for the hospitality.
day 1 (vegas): see andy's new digs (which are totally shweet), pick up supplies for the trip, and end up eating $16 american kobe beef burgers at burger bar near the luxor (i don't know what american kobe beef is but it was delicious). and i lost $20 playing slots.
day 2 (road trip to coachella): beautiful, beautiful scenery the entire way (see below). it was overwhelming at first but i just took a deep breath and soaked it all in. we pulled over and made a stop somewhere randomly in the mojave desert (which we thought was death valley at the time but it turned out not to be...sigh). filled up the tank, took a picture at an abandoned gas station where rapes and illegal drug use most likely happen, then got back on the road.
set up our tent, met up with tom and taka, who had thankfully been dropped off at the campgrounds so we didn't have to pick them up, and basically called it a night.
day 3 (day 1 of coachella): woke up, got so fresh and so clean clean, and then saw music. it was really really hot. and i didn't wear sunblock cuz i'm an idiot (my face looks like multi-textured, peeling leather right now, it's really gross). managed to boogie down to flosstradamus, saw brother ali's set from the shade, but immediately after that, i started feeling really dizzy. this is when my sickness kicked in. i get sick on every vacation i go on, without fail, and i hate it. i rested for a bit before we all went to see amy winehouse, and gillian welch before her, who was fucking phenomenal. amy winehouse was drunk as hell but she still managed to do it do it do it. can't say i'm a fan of her music just yet but she wasn't a bad performer by any means. then we saw the jesus and mary chain, with, oh what? guest vocalist scarlett johansson for just like honey? yeah not as cool as you think. she totally fucked up the only part she was supposed to sing which was the 3 word chorus "just like honey." stick to acting and looking hot. moving on. caught the end of busdriver, making this the 3rd time i've seen him. he had a new kid on the mpc, and the last track was entirely sampled off of squarepusher's come on my selector. it was pretty cool. saw a bit of sonic youth before we had to rush over to bjork. we were way in the back but she definitely played the best performance of the night. after bjork caught a bit of dj shadow and realized it was the same performance as when we had seen him at the vic, so i headed in for the night.
little side stories: during bjork's set, when she performed joga, i saw this girl who had turned around to her boyfriend and said something to the effect of "yes! this is it!" the boyfriend became equally as excited as the girl and they hugged the entire song. at which point i yelled "bjork is war music, not love music." and then i took out my boom box and played slayer. the last 2 sentences didn't happen. but i thought that couple was real sweet. and i almost lost it during pagan poetry. "i love him, i love him, i love him, i love him..." there's something just so primal and honest about that song. i feel like this chant is what she was able to produce by forgetting everything learned and just summoning whatever she could from her most basic of thought processes. in my mind bjork was in an 8'x8' empty room, naked, while she wrote that song. it was even more haunting live than it was on cd.
day 4 (day 2 of coachella): saw pharoahe monch, but he didn't play the light, which i was kinda bummed out about, but he threw down. after that i went to the dj tent cuz it was so fucking hot outside. checked out this dude steve aoki and part of dj heather's sets. i realized that party music dj's pretty much use the same material...it's not very original. diplo and steve aoki used the same foundation track for each of their own mixed songs (look at diplo's myspace for betty if it's still up). i wasn't really there for the music tho, i just needed a break from the sun. i decided to try to check out hot chip, but i could only stay for 4 songs cuz i was about to die from dehydration, hunger and my sickness, so i left and got some food and popped some pills. felt way better, and just in time for peter bjorn and john. they played a fun set and i had a good time. was able to record all of objects of my affection (see below). and then immediately following pbj was !!!. they were AMAZING. best act i'd seen that day for sure, and i was right up front. and i still had enough energy to dance my ass off their entire set. what a great live show. i want to see them again. and i'm glad they ended with intesify. after that rushed over to see ghostface killah, who did the typical medley thing. hey at least they were his own songs, or songs he's been in, unlike a lot of the other hip hop artists, who pretty much played medleys of other people's tunes *yawn*. i thought he played a short yet entertaining set. ghostface asked some girls in front to go up on stage, and one of them caught my attention, just because she knew the lyrics to every song ghost was singing at the time. it was like, whoa man, props. after ghost was blonde redhead, which i was right up front for. the entire time the band, esp kazu, was bitching about the eq, but i thought the mixing was spot on, and they were just being perfectionists. in any case they played a great set (see below peter bjorn and john's video for blonde redhead's 23). ran over to check out lcd soundsystem, but by that time i was feeling cold and sick again cuz my meds were wearing off and i didn't have any more on me, so i got more food and tried to walk off my sickness. thankfully i did this because i was able to catch the end of mike relm's set. he's a really interesting dude. he's a dvdj, meaning he scratches dvds like one would scratch vinyl, and you see the video of the dvd being manipulated, as well as obviously the sound. going to do a little more homework on him cuz he did awesome stuff. after his set was cornelius in the same tent. he played a cool set along with his band. the video companion of the live music was mostly videos from the five point one dvd he released, but it was still real cool. i was getting a worse cough and was starting to get colder, and my back and feet were giving out, so i headed in early that night, trying to avoid the tiesto fans as much as i could when rushing back to the campgrounds.
day 5 (day 3 of coachella): this was an interesting day for a few reasons. obviously this was THE day. rage against the machine. the last time i'd seen them i was wearing baggy khaki cargo pants, oversized polo shirts while rocking spiked hair. but when i saw them on the last day of coachella, i felt like that same kid i was in high school. i'll go into more detail later.
the other reason this day was interesting was because i wore my "i'm magic johnson" t-shirt that day. needless to say, i got comments, a lot of them ignorant, a lot of them witty, but put simply, there were a lot of comments. some guys took a picture of me and i was fine with it. but then after the konono no. 1 set, this guy who sounded french canadian comes up to me with his professional ass camera and wants to take a picture of my t-shirt. so i covered it up so he wouldn't be able to get a shot.
dude: i can't take your picture?
me: is it going to be in a magazine?
dude: i dunno...do you like magazines?
me: no, i don't want to be in a magazine. sorry.
i didn't want my steez to be in some magazine so i can see a bunch of hip 20 somethings wearing my same exact t-shirt. although if he paid me money i'd do it in a second.
aaaaaanyway, as for acts, i saw the end of mika (meh), then lupe fiasco, who was basically just alright. he could have done so much more, but instead he opted to do mostly covers. but his song he say she say is seriously so sick, and i'm glad he performed it. i'm glad i've now seen him but i probably don't need to again for a long while. i saw explosions in the sky. i was expecting a little bit better of a mixing job but they were cool to see. then roots right after them, and uuuh yeah, they didn't play their own music. pretty much the story of the weekend for hip hop acts. but they did their thing, and their covers were great. took care of business in the bathroom, then looked for people to the best of my ability, as my phone was dead. i ended up checking out konono no. 1, who fucking rock the house. then the french canadian tried to get my picture and i was like naw bitch, and then was jose gonzales. such an amazing set. he didn't make 1 mistake the entire set, which is just crazy cuz his playing is technical as hell. i got all of heartbeats recorded (see below). after him, i ran over to air to find the rest of my group, but air ended up going on 40 minutes late so tom, taka, andy and i decided to go over to the main stage a little early for rage. turns out the performers right before them, manu chao, are actually a good band. i had an entertaining time rocking out to them while simultaneously worming my way to the front for rage. i was up front for all of 10 minutes because everyone was at least 6' around me and i couldn't breathe, so i crowd surfed out even before rage went on. but i came back around and found a decent spot by the right speakers.
of course, i flipped out to rage. it was the best live music experience i've ever had, hands down. the performance struck so many cords with me, and i was just remembering what rage used to do to me when i was in high school. being a huge fanboy, i almost started crying when i saw zack de la rocha. when i felt my eyes water up, i said "fuck it, i'm on vacation. i can cry if i want to." seeing rage live reminded me of when i was passionate about things, and when justice was important to me. admittedly i've become pretty jaded and i don't really care about anything that isn't beats or fresh kicks, and sadly rage's performance hasn't changed that about me, but for that hour or so, i remembered what it was like when i used to think critically and question everything about the america that everyone loved. i needed that ever so badly. i needed zack to tell me why i should be angry again. see below for zack's speech given during wake up.
after having the time of my life, as i was waiting in line to get back onto the campgrounds, i realized my camping wristband had been torn off during rage. crap, how am i supposed to get in? i talked to some cops and they "assured" me i'd be able to get back in. about 10 minutes go by and i'm real tired and achy and i wanna sleep. so me and this one dude lift the fence and try to climb under it. he successfully was able to, but he ended up getting caught by a staff member, and so i ran away. i sat around trying to think of another plan, and that was to climb the portion of the fence that was climbable, which was right by the staff members letting people back onto the campgrounds. eventually a staff member just told me to sneak by. lol yeah i already tried that and they told me to stand aside. but i decided to go with his plan once again cuz i wasn't getting into the campgrounds any other way, and it worked. phew. i get back to the tent, chug some vodka, play with some glow sticks, and then call it a night. coachella was a success.
day 6 (road trip back to vegas): said bye to taka and tom in the morning (damn i'll miss tom). ended up making good time on the road trip home. had some in and out burger along the way. apparently everyone else had the "out" portion of the in and out to deal with except me, and i think andy was fine too. got to see the ten commandments posted on signs along the interstate 15, which was really creepy. ended up in the best buy in andy's town to pick up simpsons season 7 just for the hellfish episode, went to the grocery store, then back to andy's for a mad chillout session.
day 7 (back to chicago): skin is peeling off even worse, sickness fluctuates but then intensifies on plane. at this point can't wait to be in my own room. get home and i have my 2 pairs of pf flyers along with a jacket i ordered from levis.
the trip was a success. no one died, no one's feelings hurt, and everything went as smoothly as possible in my opinion.
highlights:
click here for pictures
click here for videos
day 1 (vegas): see andy's new digs (which are totally shweet), pick up supplies for the trip, and end up eating $16 american kobe beef burgers at burger bar near the luxor (i don't know what american kobe beef is but it was delicious). and i lost $20 playing slots.
day 2 (road trip to coachella): beautiful, beautiful scenery the entire way (see below). it was overwhelming at first but i just took a deep breath and soaked it all in. we pulled over and made a stop somewhere randomly in the mojave desert (which we thought was death valley at the time but it turned out not to be...sigh). filled up the tank, took a picture at an abandoned gas station where rapes and illegal drug use most likely happen, then got back on the road.
set up our tent, met up with tom and taka, who had thankfully been dropped off at the campgrounds so we didn't have to pick them up, and basically called it a night.
day 3 (day 1 of coachella): woke up, got so fresh and so clean clean, and then saw music. it was really really hot. and i didn't wear sunblock cuz i'm an idiot (my face looks like multi-textured, peeling leather right now, it's really gross). managed to boogie down to flosstradamus, saw brother ali's set from the shade, but immediately after that, i started feeling really dizzy. this is when my sickness kicked in. i get sick on every vacation i go on, without fail, and i hate it. i rested for a bit before we all went to see amy winehouse, and gillian welch before her, who was fucking phenomenal. amy winehouse was drunk as hell but she still managed to do it do it do it. can't say i'm a fan of her music just yet but she wasn't a bad performer by any means. then we saw the jesus and mary chain, with, oh what? guest vocalist scarlett johansson for just like honey? yeah not as cool as you think. she totally fucked up the only part she was supposed to sing which was the 3 word chorus "just like honey." stick to acting and looking hot. moving on. caught the end of busdriver, making this the 3rd time i've seen him. he had a new kid on the mpc, and the last track was entirely sampled off of squarepusher's come on my selector. it was pretty cool. saw a bit of sonic youth before we had to rush over to bjork. we were way in the back but she definitely played the best performance of the night. after bjork caught a bit of dj shadow and realized it was the same performance as when we had seen him at the vic, so i headed in for the night.
little side stories: during bjork's set, when she performed joga, i saw this girl who had turned around to her boyfriend and said something to the effect of "yes! this is it!" the boyfriend became equally as excited as the girl and they hugged the entire song. at which point i yelled "bjork is war music, not love music." and then i took out my boom box and played slayer. the last 2 sentences didn't happen. but i thought that couple was real sweet. and i almost lost it during pagan poetry. "i love him, i love him, i love him, i love him..." there's something just so primal and honest about that song. i feel like this chant is what she was able to produce by forgetting everything learned and just summoning whatever she could from her most basic of thought processes. in my mind bjork was in an 8'x8' empty room, naked, while she wrote that song. it was even more haunting live than it was on cd.
day 4 (day 2 of coachella): saw pharoahe monch, but he didn't play the light, which i was kinda bummed out about, but he threw down. after that i went to the dj tent cuz it was so fucking hot outside. checked out this dude steve aoki and part of dj heather's sets. i realized that party music dj's pretty much use the same material...it's not very original. diplo and steve aoki used the same foundation track for each of their own mixed songs (look at diplo's myspace for betty if it's still up). i wasn't really there for the music tho, i just needed a break from the sun. i decided to try to check out hot chip, but i could only stay for 4 songs cuz i was about to die from dehydration, hunger and my sickness, so i left and got some food and popped some pills. felt way better, and just in time for peter bjorn and john. they played a fun set and i had a good time. was able to record all of objects of my affection (see below). and then immediately following pbj was !!!. they were AMAZING. best act i'd seen that day for sure, and i was right up front. and i still had enough energy to dance my ass off their entire set. what a great live show. i want to see them again. and i'm glad they ended with intesify. after that rushed over to see ghostface killah, who did the typical medley thing. hey at least they were his own songs, or songs he's been in, unlike a lot of the other hip hop artists, who pretty much played medleys of other people's tunes *yawn*. i thought he played a short yet entertaining set. ghostface asked some girls in front to go up on stage, and one of them caught my attention, just because she knew the lyrics to every song ghost was singing at the time. it was like, whoa man, props. after ghost was blonde redhead, which i was right up front for. the entire time the band, esp kazu, was bitching about the eq, but i thought the mixing was spot on, and they were just being perfectionists. in any case they played a great set (see below peter bjorn and john's video for blonde redhead's 23). ran over to check out lcd soundsystem, but by that time i was feeling cold and sick again cuz my meds were wearing off and i didn't have any more on me, so i got more food and tried to walk off my sickness. thankfully i did this because i was able to catch the end of mike relm's set. he's a really interesting dude. he's a dvdj, meaning he scratches dvds like one would scratch vinyl, and you see the video of the dvd being manipulated, as well as obviously the sound. going to do a little more homework on him cuz he did awesome stuff. after his set was cornelius in the same tent. he played a cool set along with his band. the video companion of the live music was mostly videos from the five point one dvd he released, but it was still real cool. i was getting a worse cough and was starting to get colder, and my back and feet were giving out, so i headed in early that night, trying to avoid the tiesto fans as much as i could when rushing back to the campgrounds.
day 5 (day 3 of coachella): this was an interesting day for a few reasons. obviously this was THE day. rage against the machine. the last time i'd seen them i was wearing baggy khaki cargo pants, oversized polo shirts while rocking spiked hair. but when i saw them on the last day of coachella, i felt like that same kid i was in high school. i'll go into more detail later.
the other reason this day was interesting was because i wore my "i'm magic johnson" t-shirt that day. needless to say, i got comments, a lot of them ignorant, a lot of them witty, but put simply, there were a lot of comments. some guys took a picture of me and i was fine with it. but then after the konono no. 1 set, this guy who sounded french canadian comes up to me with his professional ass camera and wants to take a picture of my t-shirt. so i covered it up so he wouldn't be able to get a shot.
dude: i can't take your picture?
me: is it going to be in a magazine?
dude: i dunno...do you like magazines?
me: no, i don't want to be in a magazine. sorry.
i didn't want my steez to be in some magazine so i can see a bunch of hip 20 somethings wearing my same exact t-shirt. although if he paid me money i'd do it in a second.
aaaaaanyway, as for acts, i saw the end of mika (meh), then lupe fiasco, who was basically just alright. he could have done so much more, but instead he opted to do mostly covers. but his song he say she say is seriously so sick, and i'm glad he performed it. i'm glad i've now seen him but i probably don't need to again for a long while. i saw explosions in the sky. i was expecting a little bit better of a mixing job but they were cool to see. then roots right after them, and uuuh yeah, they didn't play their own music. pretty much the story of the weekend for hip hop acts. but they did their thing, and their covers were great. took care of business in the bathroom, then looked for people to the best of my ability, as my phone was dead. i ended up checking out konono no. 1, who fucking rock the house. then the french canadian tried to get my picture and i was like naw bitch, and then was jose gonzales. such an amazing set. he didn't make 1 mistake the entire set, which is just crazy cuz his playing is technical as hell. i got all of heartbeats recorded (see below). after him, i ran over to air to find the rest of my group, but air ended up going on 40 minutes late so tom, taka, andy and i decided to go over to the main stage a little early for rage. turns out the performers right before them, manu chao, are actually a good band. i had an entertaining time rocking out to them while simultaneously worming my way to the front for rage. i was up front for all of 10 minutes because everyone was at least 6' around me and i couldn't breathe, so i crowd surfed out even before rage went on. but i came back around and found a decent spot by the right speakers.
of course, i flipped out to rage. it was the best live music experience i've ever had, hands down. the performance struck so many cords with me, and i was just remembering what rage used to do to me when i was in high school. being a huge fanboy, i almost started crying when i saw zack de la rocha. when i felt my eyes water up, i said "fuck it, i'm on vacation. i can cry if i want to." seeing rage live reminded me of when i was passionate about things, and when justice was important to me. admittedly i've become pretty jaded and i don't really care about anything that isn't beats or fresh kicks, and sadly rage's performance hasn't changed that about me, but for that hour or so, i remembered what it was like when i used to think critically and question everything about the america that everyone loved. i needed that ever so badly. i needed zack to tell me why i should be angry again. see below for zack's speech given during wake up.
after having the time of my life, as i was waiting in line to get back onto the campgrounds, i realized my camping wristband had been torn off during rage. crap, how am i supposed to get in? i talked to some cops and they "assured" me i'd be able to get back in. about 10 minutes go by and i'm real tired and achy and i wanna sleep. so me and this one dude lift the fence and try to climb under it. he successfully was able to, but he ended up getting caught by a staff member, and so i ran away. i sat around trying to think of another plan, and that was to climb the portion of the fence that was climbable, which was right by the staff members letting people back onto the campgrounds. eventually a staff member just told me to sneak by. lol yeah i already tried that and they told me to stand aside. but i decided to go with his plan once again cuz i wasn't getting into the campgrounds any other way, and it worked. phew. i get back to the tent, chug some vodka, play with some glow sticks, and then call it a night. coachella was a success.
day 6 (road trip back to vegas): said bye to taka and tom in the morning (damn i'll miss tom). ended up making good time on the road trip home. had some in and out burger along the way. apparently everyone else had the "out" portion of the in and out to deal with except me, and i think andy was fine too. got to see the ten commandments posted on signs along the interstate 15, which was really creepy. ended up in the best buy in andy's town to pick up simpsons season 7 just for the hellfish episode, went to the grocery store, then back to andy's for a mad chillout session.
day 7 (back to chicago): skin is peeling off even worse, sickness fluctuates but then intensifies on plane. at this point can't wait to be in my own room. get home and i have my 2 pairs of pf flyers along with a jacket i ordered from levis.
the trip was a success. no one died, no one's feelings hurt, and everything went as smoothly as possible in my opinion.
highlights:
- tom's newly found dolce & gabbana women's sunglasses
- "WHAT IT DO, SHAWTY?" and "shawtyshawtyshawtyshawty"
- Brothers? Brothers.
- "Jerk me up."
- air conditioned bathrooms on concert grounds
- lemon ice
- tribal misting area
- seeing 28 acts in 3 days
- attractive, attractive women
- realizing i'm not an outdoors/camping person and deciding i'll probably never do it again
- seeing a band i've waited over 7 years to see again.
click here for pictures
click here for videos