It certainly was one of the biggest weekends of tailgating I've ever seen. We kicked it off Thursday night at Fred's in Tigerland. One Florida fan was so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the tent at Fred's that she decided to take a little nap on the concrete.
Friday night was Rockin' Dopsie at Fred's, and that place was PACKED!! There was a rumor that Steven Seagal was going to hit the stage w/ Dopsie that night. To be honest, I'm not sure if he did or not and I was there all night. And I wasn't drinking either!
Saturday morning found us back out at Fred's for a pre-game broadcast. After that, I made the normal pilgrimage to tailgate. I've never see the atmosphere quite like it was that day. Craziness abound. I think everyone in a four mile radius was out of control by the end of that game. Our sister station does the pre- and post-game broadcasts at Walk-on's, so I was there for a while, but somehow made my way back to Fred's to close out the night.
I got home about 3:30 in the morning and found the new Porcupine Tree EP "nil recurring" in my mailbox, so I immediately gave it a spin. It's some songs they recorded for their last cd but left off, plus a couple of newly recorded tracks. The songs are kind of an extension of their latest cd, which is to say it's longer, heavier songs. I especially like "Normal," which uses the same chorus as "Sentimental" from their last CD. It's a mail order only EP for now, so you have pay pounds for it. Their music has changed a lot over the years. I kind of miss their more mellow days, but hey, that's what Blackfield is for I guess. I am sad that I will miss them at Voodoo Fest. :(
Sunday morning I got up bright and early to see if this masterplan to fix my AC would work. Rather than take it to a mechanic and have them charge me $75 an hour to figure out the problem, a friend of mine looked up all the possible problems and we made the diagnosis. We then ordered the part we needed from a Honda shop in California. The part arrived on Saturday and we installed it on Sunday. I'm not much of a car person, and putting that thing in wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but we did it. I held my breath as we cranked it up to see if it worked....and lo and behold, it did! Mission accomplished!
Today I made the trek to government building downtown to take care of the speeding ticket I got a few weeks back. The government building is a strange, confusing place full of people that (understandably) don't want to be there. Those lines truly are miserable experiences. I'm not real sure what happened there, or what I did, but I know I wrote a check and filed something called Article 892.1. And I don't think I have to go back for my courtdate. If you don't hear me on the radio on Wednesday afternoon, that means I'm wrong.
I watched the movie The Illusionist. It was merely "Ok." I hate to compare it to the Prestige just because they came out at the same time and same similiar themes, BUT, the Prestige was better. haha.
I also listened to the new Kid Rock CD Rock N Roll Jesus. Kid is trying to make sure he doesn't end up like dated sounding Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit, so for the past few albums he's been moving towards a classic rock/country sound. This album pretty much continues that transformation. Lots of Bob Seger/Skynyrd/Hank Williams-inspired cuts. There's even a song dedicated to Fats Domino, Jr called, appropriately enough, "New Orleans." If you're a fan of Kid's old rap/rock sound, there's a couple of tracks for you, including "Sugar" which is straight-up 1999 Kid Rock. So if you're into southern rock, and like Kid Rock, check this album out.
The new Radiohead CD, In Rainbows, is coming out tomorrow. It's available for download at inrainbows.com and the kicker is you pay what you want! A lot of people are saying this will change the way the music industry operates. I sort of agree, but I also think that Radiohead have a bit more clout and a more devoted fanbase than the average band. They may be able to make this work, but I'm not sure how a young, unknown band is going to convince someone to pay for something whne they can get it for free. That being said, I gave Radiohead 2.5 pounds (roughly 6 bucks) for the download. I'm looking forward to it tomorrow.
