yes, this is severely delayed. i've been very busy driving myself nuts and falling behind on reviews. so this will be an abridged moe.down review- not as fresh or detailed as it would have been had i done it the week i had gotten back.
let's see, where do we start? well, i would have to say, let's start with:
august 30, 2006:
i wake up to a nasty feeling in my throat... it had been growing there for a few days... and when i looked in the mirror i realized that my right tonsil had grown to roughly the size of a firetruck-- and just as red... except, do fire trucks have pus running down the sides? i don't think so. my tonsil did. so i went to the doc... annnnnd, i had strep throat... wonderful. "but doc, i'm going camping..." "don't go." "hahahahaha... but doc, i'm going camping..." "you shouldn't go... but if you DO go... stay dry and warm." "okay."
did i mention hurricane ernesto was slowly moving towards upstate new york? it was. i got some antibiotics and realized that my weekend was already compromised. but fuck it, i always end up sick after moe.down anyways- out of my hands. but i'd have to behave myself.
august 31st, 2006:
holy fuck, did my throat BURN. how do you go 7 years without having strep throat and then just pick it up one day right before the music festival you wait ALL YEAR for... i blame snakes on a plane and the union square stadium theater. can't figure out where else i would have picked it up... and the kicker? eugene didn't fucking get it!!! how does THAT happen? fucking immune system. regardless- i headed up to utica that night, like always, and we hotel'd it in order to get ready for...
september 1, 2006:
IT BEGINS! we headed up to turin and got there at about 11am. stood in line in the parking lot for nearly an hour. lisa and 4dice took the wagon and claimed our land. same spot as last year. the old parking lot near the rv's. fuck crackville. just going back to visit is hard enough. and i didn't even do it this year, last year we did and got THE FEAR.
we had unloaded and started setting up just as the dc crew arrived to do the same! awesome as always to see them, despite the lack of paul/megan duo. and then of course the JACKLEENS showed up, which is always a wonderful treat!!! no loughrey, sara, paul, or megan this year--- so we made a shrine for them...
this would be the best weather we'd get for the whole weekend. ernesto was approaching with slow fury. we were bunkering down and expecting the worst. tarps, bungees, binder clips, and all sorts of wind precautions abound. no one knew what to expect except the 90% chance of rain. ugh.
grace potter & the nocturnals sounded good, but i didn't go see them- i was saving my energy. the strep was really draining me physically and i was going to have to portion out my rockin' for the rest of the weekend. we were really looking forward to seeing page/fishman and that new project- the first song was okay... very promising. all downhill from there. it was really more of a boston-pops kind of thing. reminded me of when eisner summercamp used to bus us kiddies to tanglewood to try and get us to appreciate that shit... it was lackluster and i was incredibly disappointed. would have rather seen vida blue.
ran into brendan o'neal!!! WOOOOOOOT! LOVE YOU BRENDAN! holy fuck it's been a loooong time! brendan warned of the impending storm and i was hoping to see him more during the weekend's festivities... but no luck. :( just one brendan sighting. sadness.
moe.'s friday night set was okay. love godzilla, but it's more of a late night closer than anything else. plane crash- still don't like it. and good trip--- LOVE that song. :) that made me happy- but still- i was hoping they would really pull that shit out on friday night- especially cuz the weather for the next two nights was gonna be SHIT. just okay.
sleep on my side of the district was made difficult by the peeps next door who had taken either acid or coke and were up all fucking night talking and literally GUFFAWING at the top of their lungs. seriously- til 10am. no joke. however, apparently on the jackleens side of the district some chick had taken either too much or bad acid and flipped the fuck out-- glad i didn't hear any of that shit. apparently medics came, strapped her to a plank, and took her to the hospital to ride it out. good times! know your limit!
september 2, 2006:
i awoke to the sounds of mr. marty racine... oh marty, my dear... what would i do without you? we got to spend some quality time together before the rain came... he came to the water faucet with me while i washed my hair (knew it was gonna be the only chance i had since the storm was quickly approaching). thank you for your kind indulgence marty, now you know the maintenence necessary for a jewfro. i heart you, my dear. you are the peachiest. :)
the rain started mid afternoon. i was really looking forward to moe.'s afternoon set because that's when i'm usually able to power up to the very front. glad i didn't this time because mid-way through the set, the tarp over the stage reached it's limit and POURED EVERYTHING IT HAD BEEN COLLECTING out over the front/center rows of people. rob laughed his ass off and then apologized for doing so. :)
akimbo, 32 things, and timmy. not bad. have seen them rock everything out more, but it was fine. i did enjoy this set. was looking forward to seeing umphrey's set at night, but i just didn't have the energy. strep was totally effecting my performance. i ended up napping through umphrey's in order to be able to rock out at moe. that night. also, it was pouring by then. the wind had definitely missed us, but the rain hadn't. so it was gonna take even more effort to stand on the hill in the rain for umphrey's and moe.
yolk in the beer tent! they still sound great- and they had awesome energy. nice seeing them after so long!!! really really really!!! good stuff! still think there should be a 'looking for answers?' reunion tour, but i'd settle for a reunion beer tent weekend.
evening moe. set highlights: george, the road, the pit. rebubula was kinda lame. sorry guys. i've heard better. was expecting more energy from the band and didn't get it. the hill was wet and starting to get a weeeee bit muddy. oh, and ps, i had managed to get al to say happy 30th birthday to hannon, but the fucker didn't come to the 2nd night set, so he missed it. download the show, you asshole!!! :)
oh the rain, the rain... oh the rum cake, the rum cake. see, i didn't DRINK any alcohol since i was on antibiotics... but i'm not made of steel. when katmama makes a rumcake, you EAT that motherfucker... you eat as MUCH as you can!!!! mmm... butter.. sugar... rum... and butter, sugar, and rum. dear lord. the sludgy goodness of a recipe gone insane.
september 3rd, 2006:
marty came by again in the morning before he had to start his work shift. his tent had gotten soaked in the shitstorms overnight. he had briefly considered just showing up at mine but thought it might freak me out--- i told him it'd be okay but he slept in the back of his car instead. moron. what have we learned marty? there will always be room for you in my tent.
despite the weather and the madness that was slowly enfulfing our states of mind, we all managed to keep our shit together. the sun came out and the rain cleared very briefly during ziggy marley's set. i'm not a fan of his, so i enjoyed that weather out by our campsite and took a lot of pics. we had a quick connect 4 tournament in which master bach managed to kick everyone's asses... DAMN YOU, MATH TEACHER!!! DAMN YOUUU!!! and then we all got our shit together and headed over to the INCREDIBLY MUDDY hill (yes yes, i know this was nothing compared to coventry, but it was still fuckin' muddy yo!) to see mike gordon and ramble dove.
i think out of all of the phish guys, i've been enjoying mike's side projects the most. i liked trey's first album and tour, but since then i haven't been as into it. mike's stuff is fun and bluegrassy and it makes me happy. i enjoyed his set a lot, he had some kickass singers as well that really set the mood. we had to walk to/from/on the hill incredibly carefully- especially miss katmama who resigned to wear her sneakers instead of the wellington boots cuz they gave better ankle support. the rain was holding off, but we were all in our full gear--- and additionally put ponchos on for safety. so- me--- newly recoated goretex boots and jacket... with $1 poncho as an outerlayer. lots of people came even more prepared-- with rain pants! i'm totally investing for next year. i thought about it before leaving campmor this year, but thought it'd be overboard... but damn, great idea.
final 2 sets of moe... we were really all hoping they'd pull it ALL OUT for these, especially since we'd been patient in dealing with the shitty weather and mud all weekend... love punchline- still miss the old version... brent black, can't you hear me knockin, seat of my pants, rec chem... too late. they should have played these earlier on- friday/saturday. meh. by the time they played rec chem, rob's bass wasn't working properly and he ended up having jim pound some drumsticks on it to try and get sound... then right before the fireworks started and the lights went off, he kicked his bass, threw it to the ground and started smashing it until someone came and took it away from him. great rockstar moment. pissed off and possibly drunk. i love you rob derhak.
it was so damn cloudy we couldn't see the fireworks, but the whole fucking situation was so funny, i was at least laughing and embracing the absurdity of it all. sunny in nyc, sunny in syracuse-- ALL FUCKING DAY... but turin??? SLAMMED. fucking hurricanes.
september 4, 2006:
i woke up really early and just decided to pack up my gear before it started raining again. it was pretty peaceful and familiar. the parking lot was for shit. the mud was so deep that they were towing people out with tractors. i had a good time 4 wheelin' it out of there in a subaru-- the mud was soooo deep... i was zig-zagging over the worst of it, the slipping and sliding was totally fun though. i felt like a kid playing in it. the road leading out of snow ridge was so caked in mud that it was slippery and the police were set up making sure people didn't try and drive too fast- hysterical!!! we got to slim's in boonville for our post-moe.down breakfast, like always... to sad news... steve irwin killed by a stingray. very sad. i almost cried. :( horrible horrible news.
regardless- dont want to end on a downer. moe.down 7? 7 HUZZAHS! i've been to all of 'em, this wasn't my favorite. but it was still moe.down and i still had fun. especially because of the group of folks we had camping. it was nice to be able to hang out with the dc folk more this year. and i can't wait to see everyone next year for moe.down 8: PAYBACK. i will be sending this request to the band as well, since i always harass them... but next year i would like to request: dana monteith and iowa 80, ween, primus, the secret machines (or for snoe.down 3), and stephen malkmus.
please view my photo gallery *NOTE THE MEATWAD FLAG*:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=l68vczl.bn7f0q4d&x=1&y=-d9qc54
and you can download the show on archive.org:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=moe.%20turin%202006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
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