Festival one done and gone ...

This weekend was the second 'annual' Intonation festival in Chicago. Lots of bands, venders, poster artists too.
We rented a booth, tried to sell some posters, met a lot of great people, met a lot of idiots and assholes too.
Most importantly, we had fun and got to see a lot of great music. I didn't see everyone, but I did get to check out a few bands each day.

Saturday: I skipped most early bands to man the booth and see what was happening. Since we hadn't sold anything all day, I left the booth (six hours in - no sales yet) to catch High on Fire. Holy heavy metal Batman. This music made me want to punch someone in the face, then pick them up and give them a hug because it was so darn good and loud. I think I'll buy one of their CDs for my drive home.
Skipped The Stills, walked back to the booth and ran into our friends Chad and Tammy who bought beers for Stacy and I.
I came back out for Roky Erickson. Not too familiar with his work, but he did play the one 13th Floor Elevtors song I do know. It was on the "High Fidelity' Soundtrack. Interesting sound and he hadn't played in Chicago for 25 years. Chad bought me more beer (see a pattern).
Next was the Boredoms. Art rock at its finest. Three drummers on standard kits with a guy manning/conducting the three of them while playing a little noise like theramin/keyboard thingie. Now, on CD, this music is GodAwful, yet I had to see it to believe how powerful a live performance can be. It was as if I was watching art unfold for the first time, and I was the only one who got to see it, then, it was over. Wow...had to head back to the booth to keep not selling anything. Chad bought more beer.
We finally had a sale. Awesome - $10 in our pockets. Enough for dinner ... and another beer courtesy of Chad. Stop boozin' up now, gotta drive to Chad's to sleep for the night.
Waited out Ghostface and Lady Sovereign (and had to eat to soak up the beers Chad had been feeding me) for The Streets (Mike Skinner). The British rapper was who I was excited to see, and he put on a great show. Surprising me most was that he had a full band to accompany him. They were pretty tight for a rap band I suppose. Skinner jumped around on stage like a bunny on methamphetamine, working the crowd mingling his songs with top 40 pop then back into his own stuff. "Famous Boy" and "Dry Your Eyes" were my favorites of the night. Tear down the booth, drive 10 minutes to Chad and Tammy's place where I was hoping to just sleep on the couch. Of course, Chad had beer at his place. I didn't sleep very much Saturday night.
Sunday musings coming tommorow.