Rockin, Dokken ACL Wrap Up

Praise the Lord and pass the biscuits, ACL weekend is over! I don't know if I have the gumption to do one gigantic summary entry of the whole thing, but with Van Morrison as my witness, I'll give it a shot. Just to jazz it up, I'm going to split my experiences from this weekend into two groups: Rockin' and Dokken. Rockin' is self-explanatory, and Dokken is the worst band ever, and also self-explanatory, if you happen to live in my brain.

Rockin'
Ray Lamontagne - I like frail, white guys with great, big, raspy voices; Ray Lamontagne is one of these fellows, and he sounds like he accidentally swallowed Otis Redding. I wasn't a huge fan going into his show, but he really brought the goods.

Free beer at Buffalo Billiards Friday night - There was a lady from Heineken there, and apparently her job was to bleed the company budget. I dig. (Related, but unworthy of its own entry in the Rockin' list: my shuffleboard performance that night.)

Laura's friend Rhonda and her husband Jason - These guys came all the way from North Carolina for the show, and they proved to be remarkably good sports about 3 straight days of crowds and stinkin' heat, as well as Octopussy's projectile vomiting.

Nada Surf and Calexico - These are probably my two favorite bands, and both put on great shows. Even better, the trumpets from Calexico joined Nada Surf for their last song and rocked the house. (I think Calexico also played a new song called "Don't Leave" or "Don't Leave Now" or something. If you know the name, email me.)

Flaming Lips - Holy crap, that was a performance. I was roughly 4 miles from the stage during the performance when it started, and I tried to mush my way forward to see what was going on. When I got close, I saw groups of aliens and Santa Clauses dancing, Wayne Coyne covered in fake blood, and bubbles exploding from the stage. Not bad, blokes.

The weather - I've had worse.

The buses - Again, I've had worse.

The floppy, green hat I got from Academy for $12 - Not only did it make me look a little like Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, but it shielded my neck and face from torture. I've gots to look good, it's how I earn my spending money.

Dokken
Austin Police Department - Maaaaaaan, I left our house on Friday afternoon to go out to the show and maybe half a mile away, I get pulled over for speeding. I had just gotten onto the highway, I was anchored in the right lane, and the cop said I was going 83 in a 65. I suspect the ticket had something to do with a fear of my floppy, green hat. I try to be nice to police officers since they have a tough job and because it's usually a better tactic than hurling insults at them, but all I could exhibit Friday afternoon with a slightly annoyed confusion at the whole situation. He did knock it down to 75 in a 65, however. Also, I sensed that if I got busted right away, I'd have complete immunity for the rest of the weekend. It may not hold up in a court of law, but it holds up in the court of Powell.

Willie Nelson - *whisper* Hi, I'm Willie Nelson and I'm singing right now. What's that? You're hundreds of furlongs from the stage? I don't care, I'm going to whisper sing until everyone leaves in frustration. *end of whisper*

Shuffleboard weiners - There was a line for the shuffleboard tables on Friday night. I was at the front, and when some guy tried to take my spot, I politely told him to take it to the back of the line. For that, he called me a penis and then commanded his giant Dutch friends to come over and annoy me and Jason in broken English.

Van Morrison - *whisper* Can I whisper sing too, Willie? *end of whisper* (In Van's defense, I was pretty much out in the parking lot, trying to watch him. Still, you've got to let the Van rumble.)

Me - Drinking lots of water and avoiding the beer until the sun went down? Whatever happened to stumbling around the park like a maniac, trying to stave off heat stroke? I'm not supposed to remember this weekend!

And that's it for now. Want more? Wait for the pictures.

Posted by Cody at September 18, 2006 6:17 PM