This page was last updated on Wednesday, 1 September, 2004
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This page was last updated on Wednesday, 1 September, 2004 |
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summer
of the junkies
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summer
of the junkies
groovy blog baby! Here's the blog of my Augustine adventures involving the Groovers and the Cure: groover fandango '04 (for the uninformed, the Groovers consist of me and three of my friends from when I was like ten years old -- Jake, J.R. and Peter. All are now married and lead semi-decent lives.): Tuesday, 10 August 2004: So yeah, I had to go down to Provo and like pick up J.R. cuz he's totally carless at his parents' house. When I met up with him, I was again horrified to see that the guy still shaves his head. So after we got back up to my pad, Peter showed a bit later. He drove his dad's van from Illinois to Montana to Utah, resulting in his having car-lag for our whole time together. I was most glad that Pete made it since we were planning on using his car. Finally Jake came with the news that his work graciously allowed him the time off to go to California with us, but that if he did, there would be a good chance that he would be fired when he got back. We all agreed that it was very nice of his job to give this last-minute heads-up. Jake wussily decided it was best that he didn't go with us. That night we had several things on the agenda: Halo, laser-tag and the ceremonial making of the Groovers 2004 t-shirts. We just got around to playing Halo. I won. Several times. Yep. J.R. brought four completed Groovers soundtracks, each with personal album art for the four of us. Several songs are actually from the film Fandango starring Kevin Costner and Judd Nelson. Here's the track listing:
Wednesday, 11 August 2004: We began our planned 10:00 departure at 11:30 and then began it again when J.R. left his phone at my house. Our first big stop was at the Garden of Eat'n, the dining establishment attached to the Fillmore Best Western. It was there we decided that instead of splitting the tabs, we would just take turns footing the bill. I suggested this idea and also set the example by taking the first tab right there at the Garden of Eat'n. I also knew that this would be, by far, our cheapest meal. Strangely we made no stop in Nevada, not even for a nickel slot. We had little trouble making it in to California. We ran through the fruit check. A while later we landed at J.R.'s wife's brother's place. Steve and Jenna were very patient throughout the whole ordeal.
Thursday, 12 August 2004:
Our agenda for today consisted of the famed Knott's Berry Farm theme park. I had a goal to get my picture taken with Lucy Van Pelt, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I also paid $15 for a disposable camera. Some of the rides, including Xcelerator (pictured), completely centrifuged all my bodily fluids. One ride (the Perilous Plunge(also pictured)) was just a boat falling off a cliff into a lake. I bought a Lucy Van Pelt Magnet. That night we asked our hosts if there was a local Chinese restaurant in town. Years and years ago we went to a place called China Palms. We got a kick out of eating the hot chilis included in the kung pao dishes. The waitress at the time told us that eating those things could kill us. Anyway, we were hoping to find another unique, local Chinese place like that. We went to P.F. Chang's at the mall down the road. Noticably, the mall down the road also had a Cheesecake Factory. After asking us if we were LDS, our server-in-training, Jen, asked us where we were staying. After we said we had a place we wondered if she was offering. Jen also provided us with a theater that was playing Napoleon Dynamite. The theater she pointed out, she said, was also much cheaper than the one at the mall we were currently at. We then went to the mall with the cheap theater, which was about five minutes away on the freeway. With ticket prices at $9.50 we wondered how much the expensive theater was. We also noticed that there was another P.F. Chang's at this mall, right next to another Cheesecake Factory. Utah has no Cheesecake Factories, but there are two in California within five minutes of each other. Anyway, before I and my friends settled into the Napoleon Dynamite theater, I purchased a very plush wall-hang from the mall's manga store. I also popped into the Catwoman theater and was happy to see that not a soul was in it. Only about six other people were in our theater, but by the time the movie actually started the place filled to near-capacity. It appeared that all the teenagers that popped in for the 10:00 Thursday show had seen it several times. I also bought a fetching wall-hang of Faye Valentine at the mall's manga shop.
Friday, 13 August 2004:
That night we ate at the beautiful Cheesecake Factory. I got a cookie dough one. It had nuts. Peter was going to get the carmel brownie cheesecake but the server said they were out and said he'd give Pete a couple more minutes to decide on a new one. We thought it would be funny if, when the server came back, Peter asked how good the carmel brownie cheesecake was and that he would like that one. We didn't do it.
Saturday, 14 August 2004: This was the day that my good friend Erin Gardner was supposed to get married. Good luck with that whole thing Erin (and if you ever need someone to have an affair with let me know)! We switched homebases to J.R.'s in-laws. They just bought a new DVD player and needed him to install it. Their proximity to Hollywood made Hollywood our next choice venue. We parked next to the Graumann's Mann Chinese Theater and saw the first movie we could there. It was Alien Vs. Predator. Not too bad of a movie. There was one part where everybody in the theater thought that Predator was going to kiss the human main character. Anyways, they kicked us out of the theater before I was able to really videotape anything. The mall next door was the home of Ryan Seacrest's show as well as the world-famous KROQ radio station (but a Cheesecake Factory was strangely absent). We wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe, but that would necessitate parking again. Instead, we just found a Mexican dive bar just off of Hollywood Blvd. The place was called Las Palmas. I guess it's the China Palms Mexican equivalent. Our server was pretty cute, but I think J.R. and Pete preferred the food. On the way back to the car I stopped in a hip, local skate shop and bought a shirt with their logo on it because I guess I've always secretly wanted to be a California local even though I've had an intense animosity for most Californian locals my whole life.
Sunday, 15 August 2004: Church. Pete wore a suit. I wore my pearl-buttoned white thing with grey cotton pants and hemp shoes. J.R. wore Pete's tight blue jeans and his dark glitter shirt. We ate at Arby's. We breaked at J.R.'s parents' house for some sweet Settlers of Catan gameplaying. After learning the game two days earlier, J.R. beat us twice in a row.
Monday, 16 August 2004: Pete and I left J.R. in Provo to have some Bombay House and do some nicklecading with Jake. We taped this... for some reason.
Tuesday, 17 August 2004: Pete snuck away while I slept.
Wednesday, 18 August 2004 (the ongoing saga of the Cure's take-over of the world): So this time when the Cure came to town they brought a bunch of other bands, had day-long shows and called the whole thing the Curiosa Festival.
The doors to the Usanna Ampitheatre opened at 3, but my jailbait friend Naomi and I arrived at about 4:45. We soon realized that we could've arrived at 6 and still pushed ourselves to the very front of the front general admission. Nevertheless, we used the time to loiter around the the t-shirt stands and radio stations' vans. The X96 van was playing an x-set of the Cure, which was fortunate for us since I requested the song "High" and dedicated it to my jailbait friend Naomi a half-hour earlier. "High" was played, as well as "Just Like Heaven" and "Friday I'm in Love," probably the three most pop-radio-friendly Cure songs of them all (later, the Cure would only play one of these three). The first group to play was called Mogwai, which I thought may have been the name of little Gizmo's species in the movie Gremlins, but since they were polite gentlemen from Scotland, I'm not so sure. They played three (or four if they blended a couple which they very well could have) songs, none of which had any vocals. The tunes would rise to a climax to applause and then lull again to no finish and then climax again. I sometimes felt awkward applauding a song I thought was over. They ended with about five minutes of feedback on three guitars cut short simultaneously. Later in the show the guy next to me felt that Mogwai was a "religious experience." I guess I couldn't argue since that phrase is thrown around a lot nowdays. We hit the second stage for a group called Scarling. My jailbait friend Naomi insisted that she and a friend of hers used to listen to this band constantly. I must say I enjoyed Scarlings groove -- sort of goth-punk. The bassist and guitarist epitomized black-manicured cool. I actually thought these were pretty good looking guys in black suits I've always wanted. I couldn't tell what the drummer was wearing behind the set, but he had Marilyn Quayle hair that bounced everywhere. At first I thought the Hot Topic employee-looking chick-guitarist was strictly ornamental, but she really started wailing hard at the end. I can only describe the chick-lead singer as having tons and tons of fat-itude. I can't remember the titles to all their songs, but they did have a song about Crispin Glover, "the absolute coolest man on this planet!"
INTERPOL, like Scarling, wore black in the coolest way possible. Before the show INTERPOL was (besides the Cure) the only band I had really heard. While I was underwhelmed by the cd, I was blown away by a hidden energy while they sounded exactly like the cd onstage. The people around me were very excited as many of them placed INTERPOL on equal or above ground to the Cure.
The Cure was next. By this time, a tiny Asian girl crept up beside us. She would've been right at the front, but she just got into town. This chick had already seen the show like three times on the east coast and was now visiting a friend in Springville so she could go to the Salt Lake show. Giddily, she informed us that they've been playing lots of stuff off Head on the Door, including my personal favorite, "Push." My anticipation took a shot of renewed energy. Here's the complete playlist with commentary: Lost- I don't really like the song, but it got us all warmed up when we sung along like banshees. Plainsong- I blasphemously don't like this song very much either and I especially don't think it translates live for the Cure very well when it's so reliant on keyboards. Robert is a much better showman with a guitar in his hands, and he didn't require one for this song. Instead, while the intro was playing, he wandered back and forth on the stage staring at different clumps of the audience. He looked sort of like a creepy guy scoping out a high school. This was Disintigration song number 1. Labyrinth- One of my preferred songs from the new cd. The background art was of a spinning labyrinth that started slow and was probably at about 175 rpm by the time the song ended. Good energy. Fascination Street- I'm pretty sure they played this in Denver when I saw them last (four years ago). Disintigration song number 2. The End of the World- I realized during this song that the Cure has no background vocals. Besides Robert, none of the other band members ever open their mouths. That meant that some of the ooo-ooohs of this song were left off, because Robert does it in the studio. Lovesong- More meaningful and enjoyable than when I saw 311 do it on the exact same stage a couple of months ago. Disintigration song number 3. Inbetween Days- This song was the highlight of the Denver show when I saw them four years ago, so it was a delight to see it again. I feel it's their most perfect pop-song for live play. Just Like Heaven- As much as I feel this song is overplayed (it was the only song from the day's X96 Cure x-set to make the show's playlist), it takes on a different energy when thousands of people are singing along to it. Pictures of You- This used to be my favorite Cure song. Disintigration song number 4. Lullaby- Here's the only guitarless Robert song where it was interesting to watch him. He did cute little hand movements to illustrate the spider-man eating his eyes. Distintigration song number 5. Before Three- Not one of my favorite songs from the new cd, but again, way better when everyone else is enjoying it. From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea- This was the night's only track from Wish, my second favorite album. I think they played this one in Denver too. alt.end- I love how this song is only in small letters whenever it's printed. It's a good one from the cd. Disintegration- Probably my favorite track from Disintigration even though it took me a little while to recognize it after they started playing. Disintigration song number 6. 100 Years- What a party! Everyone started jumping with the initial riff and everyone sang along with the opening line "It doesn't matter if we all die!" Surprisingly, even though it's a slightly obscure song, it brought the house down in Denver as well as Salt Lake. The Promise- The mopiest and longest song on the new cd. A fitting end. Encore 1: Play For Today- On their live cd called Paris, "Play For Today" is a huge highlight because of the Parisan populace chanting along with the keyboard harmony. We were all able to replicate that at the show. Sounds kind of like the crowd chanting for "Bro Hymn" by Pennywise. A Forest- This is my groover buddy Jake's favorite Cure song and I was very disappointed to discover that he left the show before this was played. Jake also got to the show late and missed the cowbell in the Rapture. I really really felt sorry for him. "A Forest" is definately a live must-have (although I was surprised to hear they only play it at about half of their shows. Encore 2: The Lovecats Boys Don't Cry- All three of these songs are the cream of the Cure pop. They decided to end on an upper. My jailbait friend Naomi caught the show playlist the roadie threw out and we were surprised to discover that the Cure didn't play what they meant to for the encores. According to the list she caught, they were supposed to play "Charlotte Sometimes" as well as a couple of others from Faith. Oh well. At least we have the proof. Since we were pushed to the front and I had more energy and the set had more songs I was familiar with, the show was a lot better than the one I saw in Denver. Of course, when the Cure rolls back around in five years I'll have to see them again. I still didn't get "High" and they didn't "Push" me and I never got "Never Enough." Friday, 20 August 2004: I finally picked up my copy of the Japanese import cd of the Cure's self titled. Three new songs. Yay! Also, it has English AND Japanese lyrics. So the Cure saga ends on a happy note with me getting all the music I wanted. Looking back, I guess the Cure didn't quite take over the world as I suspected, but it might be a sort of subversive thing. Way back in the day, Jehovah's Witnesses claimed that Christ's second coming would be in the year 1914. When 1914 came around they said that Christ DID come, but nobody noticed. Aha. Perhaps the Cure really did take over the world. Think about it.
(31aug04) |
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Beach
day! We decided on Dana Point, because we heard it was a surfer beach
and I demanded from everyone that we try surfing out. Unfortunately we
learned that this specific beach has no sand under the water, only jagged
rocks. This made getting out to the waves pretty difficult and falling
off the board very scary. Perhaps because it was Friday the 13th, I dunno,
but I really sucked at surfing. Even worse than the first time I did it.
Peter and J.R. did mighty fine for just going and doing it. Peter even
ran a wave all the way in, he just never bothered to stand up.
I
felt the biggest surprise was back to the main stage for a band called
the Rapture. Four members: guitar, bass, drums and COWBELL. The cowbellist
was all over the place too. For a few songs he wailed hard on a sax. Everytime
I see someone wailing onstage with a saxophone I always wonder if it could've
been me since that was my instrument in junior high. For a few eventful
tunes, the bassist, drummer and cowbellist switched to keyboards, producing
straight up techno-pop in contrast to the groove-funk-dance-guitar they
produced with necked instruments. No other band got people dancing more
than the Rapture. I bought the Rapture's cd later in the week, but was
disappointed at how much better they sound live than in the studio. I
guess I'll have to watch for them again.