Moogfest and Beyond

Can't remember anything that may or may not have happened before leaving on Friday. I skipped the gym Thursday so I could catch up on grading. Anyway, after work on Friday it was me and Mary Beth off to Asheville. Oh shit, before that, on my way home from work I got in a wreck. It was very minor. Sudden stop in front of me and I slammed the brakes but just too late. I pulled over in the mall parking lot and the car in front kept going, but turned in another entrance up ahead. I had to track her down. It was raining. Neither of us had any damage (not even a scratch I could see) and she was about to drive off when I caught up with her. Then she did leave. Okay, that was that. Now, we're back to being off to Moogfest. Weather was pretty dreary, but we made alright time. It got much clearer after Nashville. We made it all the way to North Carolina and just maybe 20 minutes outside Ashville we stopped for the night. Then we made it in in the morning. First order of business was to drop by the Moog factory to drop my delay pedal off for repair. I come into the store and unexpectedly there's a show going on. I recognized Herb Deutsch playing with who turned out to be Richard Devine and Alessandro Cortini. The unexpected show turned out to probably be the best of the day. The music was pretty incredible. After that Mary Beth and I had some really good Indian buffet (and I got real stuffed quickly). Well, we separated so I could go to the panel discussion on "creative expression through interface" with Herb Deutsch, Morton Subotnick, Alessandro Cortini, and Richard Devine (added at the last minute 'cuz he was there anyway). This discussion was really fucking excellent. Morton Subotnick and Herb Deutsch were pretty incredible to listen to. This along with the impromptu show were definite standouts as the highlights of the day. After that I met up with Mary Beth at Downtown Books and I got a few: The Shoe Test of Frankfurt by Wilhelm Genazino, Twin Time: or, How Death Befell Me by Veronica Gonzalez, Stoner by John Williams, and Rat by Andrzej Zaniewski. We wandered around Asheville a bit. We went to the Thirsty Monk so Mary Beth could get her favorite bar fix. After a little while I went off 'cuz she went to The Captain's Bookshelf earlier and I didn't get to go. I got one book: Selected Non-Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges. Then we had to go to the big concert hall to wait for a line to for so we could get our wristbands through the stupid system they had. We got those, had a little time and needed to eat. Everything's all damn crowded in Asheville. Our goal was Chai Pani, but they'd take too long and they mentoined a bar that's downstairs and on the other side of the building. I guess it's owned by the same people. They have some Indian stuff too. We had lamb burgers that were fucking awesome. We also had some awesome esserts.

Okay, now to the main shows parts. The initial plan was to see Actress at the Orange Peel. His stuff seemed pretty good, but his name disappeared from the lineup at the last minute on the website and there was just something vague about "Moogfest Mashup." We checked it out but it was pretty godawful. We went to the other place to check out Julia Holter. Well, mostly Mary Beth. She had left her jacket in the car and it was cold so I went to the other side of downtown (a small downtown) to fetch it while she went to the show. I caught the last song. We stuck around there for Carl Craig Andy Stott who was good (even though I was kinda drifting off to sleep, traveling keeps one tired). It was in an auditorium with seating and stuff. After that it was back to the Orange Peel to catch the main reason we came: Death Grips. Unfortunately, I was let down a little by this show. I mean, it was good and all, but not as good as I was hoping for. Only two of the three guys were there: the mc and the drummer. They were going along with prerecorded music. The drumming also felt mostly for show: to give the illusion of live music being performed. I mean, he was playing the fuck out of those drums, but you could barely hear them. And the regular drum machine beats were there anyway. There was a lot of energy, but I was kinda left wondering where it was going since it wasn't going into making the music, really. Also, the crowd was pretty obnoxious. I guess that's to be expected at a festival. There was a pretty big frat-contingent. I guess that's to be expected at a festival. Anyway, I'm gonna split this up and finish in a new post.

Okay, I guess that last one wasn't really the "Beyond"...

Before I continue, I forgot to mention that at the record shop I got a Birthday Party t-shirt with the cover of the "Mr. Clarinet" single. Pretty sweet. Mary Beth pointed it out to me too. Okay, so after Death grips it was back over to the auditorium for Harold Budd. This was a really good show. It was him with Keith Lowe, don't know who he is but he plays bass. It actually reminded me of Swans, at least the way it starts. This guy came on stage and started rolling on this giant gong. He had his back to the crowd. He went with this steady roll for somewhere between five and ten minutes. Reminded me of how last year's Swans show started. Then Harold Budd and Keith Lowe came out and he started bowing the bass and the gongist left. Once again, sitting in those auditorium seats and my current physical state I started nodding off a little bit. Still, it was the best show of the proper Moogfest shows we went to. I wasn't sure what to expect 'cuz all I'd heard was Ambient 2 from thirty years ago, but it was an impressive show. After that we went to the worst venue I've ever been to: Asheville Music Hall. We went to see Prefuse 73. There was a line wrapped around the block, we weren't sure we'd be able to make it in, but there was nothing else going on of interest so we waited. It was cold too. After a while we did get to the front, we're getting our id's checked and being let in when the owner comes out and lets two other people in so then they stop us and make us wait again (during which time the bouncer lets some young girl who walks up come in). When we finally get in, the show was pretty good. The venue did seem like a shady shithole. Okay, so we're off afterwards to our motel. In the morning we tried to have breakfast at Early Girl but the wait was too long (same for Tupelo Honey) so we went to the place that wasn't crowded: Jerusalem Cafe. Okay, then it's off to the drive home. We did pretty good. We got back home and I was lazy but I had to work. Being out of town for two weekends in a row kinda messed me up work-wise. Not terrible, but I've gotten behind in grading and have been playing catch up. A lot of lacking in sleep. Anyway, what else this week? Not too much I can think of. On Halloween, in between fits of grading, Mary Beth and I dressed up in our costume(s). We went as a painting: Magritte's The Lovers (the one with the couple kissing with sheets over their heads). We took some pictures. Then I unchanged and worked some more. Also, I got in the mail a book I'd ordered a while back: Red Sorghum by Mo Yan (yeah, being a Nobel groupie again, but his stuff seemed really up my alley anyway). I went to the gym alone last night. It had been a long time since I was out of town and busy and had skipped over a whole week. I was benching a weight I had been completing, but I guess it's been three weeks since I'd done that lift. I was going for my last one and I was stupid, I should have quit before but I couldn't get the bar up and some guys had to come over and help me. I had it up on one side but just missed the other then I tried again (same thing but the sides were switched). When the bar came down the second time it smack my face a bit. It didn't bruise or nothing but does feel mildly tender if I touch it. That was pretty stupid and amateurish of me. Anyway. Today at was was kinda crazy. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony at the end of the day for our new football field with some bigger folks attending, including Congressman Steve Cohen. So we herd all the kids up in the stadium. It was a pretty hot afternoon. Also there was an infestation of ladybugs. Now, I wouldn't take the latter to be a big deal, but these kids who I guess have never seen the outdoors before certainly did. They were being whiney brats over the heat and the ladybugs and were kinda flipping out over the latter. Then they all tried to leave before dismissed and I was up in the stands in front and had to play crowd control to a mob. They all got up and pressed forward and had to wait. It was pretty lame. Anyway, because of that though, I did get off just a teensy bit earlier than usual and now I've had an early start to the weekend! Weekend! Fucking yes! Oh wait, a tidbit I never mentioned from earlier, about the Swans show: before it started, I got a little peek backstage and all the band members doing a big round of giving each other hugs. That's all.