Moments: An Ode, and an apology

We took Dad into the Washington high desert
for birthday reasons
(And yes, they are *both* wearing Old People Eye Surgery Glasses (TM)...American Apparel will be out with their own version soon)

Neko Case came on minus a bass player but plus the bass of Ghostland Observatory spilling over the hill down onto her stage, which really made a mess of things

The lead guy in Citizen Cope looks depressed
Maybe it's because their fan base is majority ruled by shirtless frat bros and their blond bikini hippie-skirted ho's

Dad says if you are a relatively unknown band, you should not banter, as the Long Winters did, saying: "Now it's time to bring out the blue shiny guitar" or make morals to songs like "You should never fall in love with a rock star" and I think this advice is prudent and should be heeded.

Hanna thought I was douchebag for wanting to leave after the Arcade Fire and before Bjork was done but I couldnt stand up without moving when the wind blew and the Blanket Dancers (TM) were working themselves into a frenzy (N.B.: these are the people who dance with a blanket half wrapped around their bodies, and not Bjork's choir who were wearing neon parachute blanket-balloon suits) so I thought it was time.

The wind shut the mainstage down on the the second day. The lights were rolling like they were on waves. Plug got pulled on Polyphonic Spree mid-cheesy choir chorus. So we didn't see Spoon or Interpol or Beastie Boys or Michael Franti . Apparently, in the end they came on at 9 PM and played half-sets and the wind was still going. Anyway, Sasquatch is one of the last places in the country to expect audience participation as regards political outrage, so I don't know how Michael Franti and his heavy-handed self-hero-worship would work anyway. Ten dollars for a tall of Coors was the most outrage people exhibited. Dad said he almost got arrested for bringing in his own water. I think that was his way of bringing the noise.


Mom said the guy in Bad Brains
looks like half of the homeless mentally ill
Dad said Bad Brains were
taking whitey's wallet for a ride

I just think they suck

Mom said Polyphonic Spree might be good if it weren't for the
60 mph winds
Dad just gave them the thumbs down

So to you and to Hanna
I am sorry for the gong show but you are troopers.
Let us say then (or I will say it to myself) that at least we had Manu and the Arcade Fire and a Gospel brunch; that you got to experience the pit and at 59 and 60 years old, that isn't half bad (even if it freaked you out); fashion faux pas too numerous to describe, conversations overheard from tent to tent best unremembered, wind and crazy river Gorges, Of Montreal in the tent in the morning, Trader Joe's, and Sarah Silverman's diarrhea joke.

I should have known better.
Randy Quaid said it best:
Shitter's full!

Win Two

The Perry, Sasquatch

Arcade Fire Version 2: Queen Regine

Originally uploaded by Sarah Lebo

Twice in one week is pretty spoiled. And second row is spoiled. But you have to get close enough so that you can pocket some of their Soul Glow. Hanna and I were surrounded by 19 year old boys and two pairs of sisters apart from us, and none had seen the AF before. There was a six foot drunk in the mix too, but it was an otherwise innocent front row. It is my choice to perceive that the boys were teary towards the end, but they were objectively emanating lots of rock-flavored awe and joy.

And...Spanish DeNiro On Bass

Spanish DeNiro On Bass
Originally uploaded by Sarah Lebo

AIDS! AIDS! AIDS!

Oyyo yo Oyyo yo Oyyo yo!

Chao!
Originally uploaded by Sarah Lebo

Theoretically, it was all set out to be a swell surprise for my dad's 60th birthday. Little Hank was, it was hypothesized, to have been driven in the early hours to an undisclosed location for days of unrelenting musical genius and sunshine.
The surprise bit worked. We drove 5 hours south of Vancouver to the Gorge on the Columbia river, and he had no idea what was going on and as a result, Little Hank ate Bit-O-Honey's consecutively to calm his nerves.
We parked the car and set up the gargantuan tent (7 feet tall inside people) and headed towards the entrance to the Sasquatch Festival. En route we were hollered to by chunky bohunks and ordered to imbibe Captain Morgan's from Costco-sized bottle (picture to follow).

The place was full of tools and fools, the occasional nice folks to meet in line or in the pit, a large spoonful of assholes and some crap organization. Sasquatch!! Yeahhh! Lebo organized a gong show of monumental proportions.

Here's Manu Chao, he was great. But what we were all shouting in the middle of each song, I'll never know...."Ey!" or "AIDS!" or "Raze!"

Arcade Fire Version 1: Deer Lake Whoaaah Party

The Arcade Fire at Deer Lake Park
Originally uploaded by trent_maynard

Flew to Vancouver last week to meet with a citizenship judge. Was another one of these trips made status post a night shift wherein it takes me too long to catch up on my sleep deficit, however in this case, I received a single unit dose of Arcade Fire with my bad sleep juju, for they played at Deer Lake Park (a night after Bjork in the same venue) and lo! I was there, and lo! who did I sit down next to but one memorable fellow West Van secondary student long lost and his fiancee whose acquaintance I had - as chance has it - met at a wedding in Ontario three years ago. It was one of those glorious WTF moments. Now they are officially my favorite new best friends. Let's hope I will email them once in the next two years.

And can I please have the kind of relationship one day where I make "ooos" while my man plays strong chords behind me?

Some live Hungarian Idol

Here is a version of the song Beirut covered down below (apparently called Ederlezi by Goran Bregovic), as sung on what seems to be Hungarian Idol, by someone with Hungarian hair, a Ms. Magdi Ruzsa.



This magician will now attempt sleep.

Some Live Beirut

I came home from a hard night's work, and I had this for my breakfast lullaby before falling face down into my pillow. It's as if the Moon had a favorite band that only played happy,end-of-the-harvest celebratory lullabies and they are that band. I hope you know what that/I means.

But He Created You, Evil One

I am a quarter of the way into Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion. I put it off for a while because I thought the title was too snotty and dismissive. But as I read it, I think it is a perfectly apt phrase. I hereby realize I am a de facto Atheist. This means I cannot be certain there is/are no God(s), but I live my life as if there was/were none. And now, here is some Terry Gilliam on the topic of omniscience and omnipotence...

Gateway and Santa Monica

Gateway and Santa Monica
Originally uploaded by SHL.

Last night my neighbors and I roamed around all corners of the neighborhood to watch The Great Griffith Park Conflagration of '07. Everyone was out on the sidewalk sitting on street corners, standing on car roofs and front stoops looking westward. If you werent there to see it, it was just like Pele or Mount Doom, where the edges of the fire looked like lava coming down the hillside in very discrete lines. The view from Sunset and Santa Monica, on your left, gave you a night sky that was utterly clear and dark blue and the stars were out. But then you realized they weren't all stars, they mostly news helicopters. It was like looking at a fleet of fishing boats all trolling the same tide, but with copter blades instead of diesel motors. And then the left view was all hellfire and palm trees and plumes of dark red smoke.

Red Shade

Red Shade
Originally uploaded by Sarah Lebo.

On a note only related by color: have you seen the South Park episode entitled "Ginger Kids". Because, wow is it funny.

Early Fire

Early
Originally uploaded by Sarah Lebo.

There are so many people in LA who are from other places who might have only new connections, or no connection to Griffith Park so I found a great comment on the LA Times fire blog from a elderly neighborhood boy, and you should read it:

"I was a most fortunate lad in 1950. Had a friend Scott Miller that
lived across the Los Angeles River in a nice house. Scotty and I would walk the trail behind his house, across to river to Travel Town. We would hold up the train, and pretend. I can remember riding our bikes around the golf-course. Probably rode to the observatory once. That was a long-ride for a couple of little kids. The old L.A. Zoo was always my favourite. Long gone now, even before this. Bee's Rock. Lions in their dens. Never knowing what you would find next, hiking around the steep bends, and marvelous trails. It was a "HIKE", to negotiate these paths.

I am so sad. Save the animals captured in the Zoo! Save the trains. Save FERNDALE. Fight the good Fight. My heart is with you!"

Posted by: Robert A. Bedford

Mijares and Will Ferrell

Please note that Mr. Ferrell is wearing a Mijares t-shirt. This will mean something to you if you grew up in Pasadena. Mijares is Pasadena landmark restraurant and they serve is red-sauce, white-people Mexican food. But it's good. Stiff margaritas. Mijares has a bar where middle aged single alcoholics go for happy hour. In high school when you went to Mijares with your family, you looked at the ground when you walked by the bar. You didnt want to become one of those people. I am thereby announcing a field trip to Mijares.

Hospital Beds

Last night I parked my car in Jurassic Park, moseyed through a clot of Universal Citywalk patrons who appeared to have been temporarily neon-blinded and/or sausage-stunned - maybe even deadened by the dueling piano-bar - and continued ambling until we walked by an exploding Waterworld ride to arrive at Gibson amphitheater for the KCRW concert.
Immediately, I saw James Blunt leaving the alcohol wristband line. I wonder what it must feel like to see real musicians play real music as an audience member when you are James Blunt.
Then, sequentially, I saw Nate Corddry.
I thought I saw Lauren Ambrose, but I was wrong.

In order:
Breakestra - annoying funk jam band. Pass the peas, right off the bat.

Then:
Cold War Kids. Great, lots of hitting on half empty wine bottles, maracas, etc. See below.




Then:
Rodrigo y Gabriela, who I had never heard of before. So all the better to stun you with. Both play mean, rapid acoustic guitar inspired by "trash metal". I dont think we knew what to do in the audience as a response, maybe offer up first born children. It was that good.

Then: Travis was the surprise guest. I felt kind of bad for them. Well, for anyone coming after Rodrigo y Gabriela. Fran Healy said they were listening backstage and were preparing their own nooses to sling over the rafters since they were on next.
Creepy tall bass player.

Then: Lily Allen. For shame, Lily Allen. For shame. A horn section dressed in Izod. For shame.

Then: The Shins. I don't hate them, but they did not and have not previously changed my life. I always fall asleep, despite their energy. I felt like maybe the lead singer was suicidal. There was something sad about him that I couldn't bear to look at. We decided that the other band members were not letting him speak for this reason. But then he gave a hello to his nieces. I think he is Edward Norton.

Sarah, Human VideoHut

Immigration: The Human Cost

MC Nuggets represent represent

Like a Party

Deaths, Palm Springs artwork, Ikea trips and a Pisco sour.
This in the Week of 29 years!

Here is a birthday-ish video.

A Leprechaun. Or a crackhead.

The Owl

Watch. Creepy