heavenly that's what you are
Last weekend was the big Coachella festival. Left work early on Friday to meet up with Mark & Paul down in Irvine. Headed out later that afternoon to meet up with Adam and stay with one of his friends in Redlands. Left the next morning for the Indio Valley.
Saturday I saw all or part of:
Rob Dickinson
The New Amsterdams
Hybrid (with Perry Farrell)
Nine Black Alps
Lady Sovereign
The Zutons
Animal Collective
Lyrics Born
Deerhoof
Imogen Heap
Sigur Ros
Ladytron
Cat Power
Depeche Mode
Daft Punk
It was ass hot on Saturday. Imogen was very good. Maybe b/c I’m not so into dance music, but I was a little underwhelmed by Daft Punk. It was what it was, not bad at all, just underwhelming for me. I think I get spoiled by seeing some electronic acts actually perform their music (i.e., drums, guitars, synths, etc.) rather than stand behind some decks. Cat Power was surprisingly very happy and bounced about the stage. The meds must be working for her. Horrible acts were Nine Black Alps & Animal Collective. Couldn’t get into Deerhoof. I need to get cds now by Rob Dickinson, New Amsterdams, Zutons, Lyrics Born & Cat Power. Ran into Danny too and saw Cat Power and Ladytron with him.
Sunday was hotter than Saturday. I saw all or part of:
Youth Group
The Dears
James Blunt
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Phoenix
Metric
Jamie Lidell
Bloc Party
Sleater Kinney
Gnarls Barkley
Paul Oakenfold
Madonna
Massive Attack
Dungen
Tool
Scissor Sisters
Best performances today were Jamie Lidell & Gnarls Barkley. The two of them were “off da hook” and I will be getting their albums soon. I only saw one song of The Dears, but based on that song I wish I could’ve caught their whole set. I was disappointed with James Blunt and Dungen. James Blunt wasn’t bad, he just doesn’t seem to have what it takes to get people going. And he didn’t even do “Goodbye My Lover”!?! I was looking forward to Dungen, but I barely made it through three of their songs. Ran into Joe a couple times too. No luck trying to connect with anyone else who was there. I did pretty good with applying sunscreen. There was a patch on my forehead that got burned and the top of my scalp got burned pretty bad too. Wore a tanktop most of both days as I didn’t have a chance to work out before hand and flatten my stomach a bit. Overall I had a great time and will probably go again should they have it next year depending on who is playing, etc.
The weekend before that I was in Baltimore/DC for my college reunion. Got home early Friday morning. Fly Frontier, it’s a pretty good airline if you don’t mind every flight going through Denver. Had to wait for my parents since my flight was 20 minutes early and my bag was the first one off. Breakfast at Bob Evans in Bowie with my parents. I don’t think Bob Evans even exists in LA. Tried to nap at home but was not successful. Went to Arundel Mills. Bought a Ben Sherman track jacket for $30. A couple polo shirts & a sweater at H&M. Saw Kurt there. A boy I talked to a few summers back when I was living in DC. I don’t believe he recognized me and the only reason I recognized him was his nametag, lol. Then I began to wonder if the fact that I remembered him said something good or bad about me.
Made my way to school. It began pouring by this time. Campus has totally changed. New buildings, new staff, etc. Didn’t get the warmest greeting from the Alumni Office as they realized I didn’t register for anything I had to actually pay for. This already set me off in a bad mood. If they knew anything about development, they should know to please us when we’re young so that way when we have money they will have been there all along and will be our philanthropic decision of choice. Made my way to The Greene Turtle. I hate my mom’s giant SUV I have to drive when I’m home. It’s literally about 3x bigger than my car here in LA. Ugh. So it took me a while to find a place I could actually park it.
Had a good time at The Greene Turtle. Ran into Jeremy, Dom, several other people. Spent a lot of time talking with Jonathan, and it’s good to see we put aside any beef we may have had with each other (which I chalk up to sexual tension then). Heather, Katie VW and Michelle make the mistake of going to the Turtle in Fells Point…not the one in Towson, lol. They come and we stay for a little while before continuing our party on over at the Comfort Inn. Tried to get beer but couldn’t find a liquor store in the area since they don’t sell it at the grocery stores. Unexpectedly, the concierge at the Baltimore Comfort Inn was of little assistance (note the irony and laugh). Jace came and visited with me while we were at The Greene Turtle. It was good to see him again since I hadn’t seen him since the beginning of my senior year I think.
Saturday Jonathan, Heather, Michelle and I had b’fast at the Bel-Loc Diner. Surprisingly, I wasn’t drunk or hungover that morning. Yay. Made the way to campus where we tried to get a campus tour. But no one seemed to notice us in the Dorsey Center as none of the tour guides came up to us and there seemed to be no sort of direction from anyone. Even after I asked one for a poncho to wear. Just another frustration with my school’s alumni office. Hung around until it was time for “Beer with Bob” or “Drinking with the Dean” (a couple names I’d re-given the program) - a beer tasting session with the former dean, now philosophy professor. That was a lot of fun. Thankfully a bunch of people from my class attended the same session. We all shared a table and it was like the fucking kids table at Thanksgiving. All the other tables were older graduates, and were just kids there getting drunk on the dean’s dime in the middle of the afternoon with little knowledge of beer or different tastes, lol. I’m sure we were precious.
Overall I was pretty disappointed with the weekend - from the school’s behalf. The beer session was fun, but I felt like there was little attention given to my class. I think the alumni office could have done better in terms of getting people reconnected beforehand. Had I known what some of my friends were attending, I probably would’ve attended as well. But seeing as how I lost touch with all but a couple people the minute I walked off the platform at graduation, it makes it kinda’ tough to plan a weekend like this. They really should have set up a web bulletin board that people could post who was coming, what people were up to, what events they were attending. I really think it would’ve boosted the turnout, at least from my class and other younger classes as well. But, my school’s alumni office is middle-aged to older women who probably know very little about the web and its uses. And, of course, there was no comment card for me to fill out. This weekend was also very disappointing because I was hoping it would give me a yay or nay as to whether or not I should pursue a Masters degree in Higher Education Admin. I was hoping to see old administrators there that I had interacted with over my four years, old professors, etc. and figure out what I wanted to do with the next 5 years of my life. Instead, all the old admin had left and it seemed there was no/little push to get the profs involved in anything over a weekend. Now, the profs are great. My school was a little school that values and thrives on its community. I’m feeling that alumni really didn’t make a push for them to attend the weekend events. A lot of us who live out of town couldn’t get to town until the weekend so we missed out. They could’ve comped them to some of the events or offered half-price admission for profs & their spouses, and then advertised that to alumni. Our profs meant almost as much to us as most of our friends did. I know I saw some of my profs a lot more than I saw some of my friends. So that was another form of disappointment. And I returned home from the trip still not knowing what I should do with the next five years of my life…
Before I left town, I did get to spend a little bit of time in DC. After events were at school I made my way down to DC. Stopped by Nate’s new place since he had other plans that night. Nate is cute, lol. We drank a little bit of wine, chatted, etc. I helped him pick out an outfit to look good for a boy at a party later that night. Left Nate and made my way to Playbill to see Darrin. I forgot my hat there. Oops. After Playbill, I walked down the block to Halo to meet up with: Michelle, Rob, Sammy, Irfan, Patricia, Nathan, Jonathan & his partner, Joe H., Joe G…and I think that’s it. I’m glad that Sammy, Irfan & Patricia came since I know he doesn’t go out as much as he used to and he was one of the people that meant the most to me in DC when I left (which I didn’t realize until my last few weeks there). I was glad Jonathan came too. Felt like we could actually really be friends now rather than what might have just been cordialities at Reunion. Crashed with Joe H. that night so I didn’t have to drive all the way back to Waldorf. Was good to see Derek when I got to his place too. Next time I told Nathan I’ll crash a night with him to see his new place. This trip was just so short and pressed for time though.
Didn’t do much on Sunday when I left. Just went home & packed. I probably could have made quick plans somewhere along the way but I needed a break and would have a late arrival in LA that night. My flight was delayed in Vegas where I sat across in the terminal from Mark of Road Rules fame (who I had met before at one of Mandel’s parties). I don’t think I got back to my apt until about 3 am that night before having to get up at 7 the next morning for work. Can we say exhausted?
What else has been going on? Going out here and there. My credit card bill has been insane all this year so I really need to curtail some of that. Found out that my insurance isn’t going to pay for my physical I had in January because I went straight to a PPO doctor rather than going to an HMO doctor. I thought I could do that with my insurance plan. I thought wrong. So this physical will now cost me about $1,000 (for the doctor to tell me I’m healthy, natch), and has scared me away from just about any and all doctors. Quick & speedy death, here I come!
Saw Jill Sobule a couple weeks ago and she was great as always. Dinner with Geoffrey, a friend from college a couple weeks ago too. Spent a few Friday’s watching the Lars von Trier miniseries Kingdom with Tom and Jarred. Really different to see Jarred again. It had been about a year/year & a half since I had seen him and he’s a totally different person now than he was then.
Still working my way through Alain de Botton’s The Romantic Connection. Only 3-4 more eps of Prison Break left, so I’ll have my Monday nights back in a few weeks. Watched John Waters’ commentaries on Hairspray & Pecker this weekend. I love that man. Nothing really coming up lately. Going to try to see KT Tunstall on Monday and/or Tuesday I think. Birthday party for Brad on Friday. Finally got to use my new racquet on Tuesday and while I felt that it helped improve my play, I still need to get use to hitting on new strings and with new balls too.
Enjoying the latest Heather Nova cd more than I was when I first got it. Found an actual copy for $15 too in Baltimore. Half of the new Jewel cd is pretty good. I’ve listened to “Goodbye Alice in Wonderland” again and again and again (get the pun?) Tina Dico’s cd has grown on me lately too. Still need to get Jamie Lidell and Gnarls Barkley’s cds soon.