As I mentioned in my last post, I went away for a little while. To Bonnaroo, a huge four-day music festival on a farm in Tennessee about 70 miles southeast of Nashville.
You camp out at this festival; so I spent about five days living in a tent in what is ostensibly the middle of nowhere, though with 80,000 other people (we temporarily became the sixth largest city in Tennessee during the festival.)
Which means there wasn’t really computer access, and certainly no television. Not that I wanted it – I was there to hang out with friends and see bands and have fun, not sit around watching TV or looking at a computer screen, which is what I do for a living.
But that also means that I was very disconnected from the sports world during this time. I couldn’t check ESPN.com, or any of the myriad blogs that I read. If there was a blockbuster NBA trade, or if Chad Pennington died at Jets mini-camp, or Barry Bonds broke the home run record then shot himself at home plate like that running back in The Last Boy Scout , I wouldn’t have known right away.
The only thing that I could have done was watch Game 4 of the NBA Finals. The festival had a tent set up where they were showing movies throughout the weekend, and they were going to show Game 4 and Game 5 (if necessary, which it wasn’t).
I could have gone to that tent to watch the game on Thursday night. I didn’t. I went to a different tent and saw The Black Angels, a psychedelic rock band from Texas, instead.
It was definitely the right call. The Black Angels played an incredible set (seriously, follow the above link and check the band out) that was one of the standouts for me for the whole festival. And I knew from watching the first three games of the finals that Game 4 wasn’t going to be anything resembling incredible. Even if Cleveland won, it would have been ugly, and delaying the inevitable. But they didn't, and the Spurs celebrated, and, yeah, whatever. Good for Tim Duncan, the Pete Sampras of basketball.
And, yeah, I missed a Yankees-Mets series, and what turned out to be an interesting US Open (though I’m no golf fan), and some other baseball stuff. But here’s what I didn’t miss:
- Tool completely blowing us away, including a song with guest Tom Morello from Rage Against The Machine.
- Standing the equivalent of 20 rows away for The Police (I could see their faces; thanks to Sean Milano for finding the “secret entrance” to the pit area in front of the stage). From what I hear, this was one of their best sets during the reunion.
- Standing in the same spot for Wilco, a band that’s even better live than on record. You want to talk about talented musicians who know how to play with each other, mixing strong song writing with noise-rock improvisatory freak-outs, you’re talking about these guys.
- Getting just about moved to tears by Mavis Staples (of the legendary Staples Singers) as she sang “The Weight” (as she did in The Last Waltz) and realizing that I was not alone as I saw the girl standing in front of me weeping and smiling.
- Seeing solid sets by bands I really dig, like The National and the Black Keys
- Demetri Martin killing in the comedy tent
- Baking in the 90 degree plus sun as Wolfmother rocked our melting sweaty faces off
- Grooving until day break to Sasha and Digweed
And that’s not even everything.
The lesson here?
Well, mostly that this was a good time in the sports year to miss some time. It was really just a handful of baseball games, a golf tournament I don’t really care about, and a few news cycles that I could easily catch up on when I got back. Maybe I wouldn’t have been as happy had this been over a football weekend.
But I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, because live music is vital and visceral in a way that nothing else can really be. Even if to do it again I end up having to watch an actual good NBA Finals game in a tent with a bunch of sweaty hippies.
It's that worth it.
Showing posts with label Bonnaroo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bonnaroo. Show all posts
Friday, June 22, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
What Am I Wintessing?
What have we seen so far with the NBA Finals?
- Before the series started, we heard a lot of people say "Cleveland is an underrated defensive team." After two games, is San Antonio an underrated offensive team, or was Cleveland an accurately rated defensive team, i.e. they are good against weaker competition, but can't shut down superior competition? I'm leaning towards the latter.
- If Robert Horry and Drew Gooden played Game 2 in prison, Drew Gooden would have been forced to toss Robert Horry's salad right about now, the way Horry embarrassed him in that game with those blocked shots. Drew Gooden prefers syrup.
- San Antonio does not play a boring offensive style. They never walk the ball up - they start running after every rebound. People accuse them of being boring because they don't play with a lot of playground swagger (except for Robert Horry sometimes, see above.) They just execute efficiently, creating open shots for each other, and making those open shots. It's not as visceral a viewing experience, but it isn't as boring as the offense that Cleveland runs, that same one play where a big guy sets a pick for LeBron by the three point line. The Cleveland offense is predictable and unimaginative, the very definition of boring. San Antonio is at worst only mildly thrilling.
- That said, these games have been pretty boring. During the second quarter, I flipped to "Kill Bill 2" on the IFC channel, and watched the whole "Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei" scene. At the end of the third quarter, I flipped it to "Heat" on Encore and caught most of the scene with Pacino and DeNiro in the diner. I've seen both of those movies many times, and it was still way better than most of that game. And I like watching NBA basketball.
- I should probably get HBO already.
- LeBron won't be able to tarnish his legacy with this series. San Antonio is too good, and his Cleveland teammates are too mediocre. Ten years from now, I bet we'll have as hard a time remembering other guys off this Cleveland team as we have remembering more than Shaq off of the 1995 Magic. LeBron will be remembered for being the only reason this gang of mooks ever sniffed an NBA Finals. Not so bad a legacy.
- I'm not going to have to worry too much that I can't watch game 4 and 5 of the finals because I'll be at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee. I'm pretty confident I won't miss much. Which is a shame, really.
- Before the series started, we heard a lot of people say "Cleveland is an underrated defensive team." After two games, is San Antonio an underrated offensive team, or was Cleveland an accurately rated defensive team, i.e. they are good against weaker competition, but can't shut down superior competition? I'm leaning towards the latter.
- If Robert Horry and Drew Gooden played Game 2 in prison, Drew Gooden would have been forced to toss Robert Horry's salad right about now, the way Horry embarrassed him in that game with those blocked shots. Drew Gooden prefers syrup.
- San Antonio does not play a boring offensive style. They never walk the ball up - they start running after every rebound. People accuse them of being boring because they don't play with a lot of playground swagger (except for Robert Horry sometimes, see above.) They just execute efficiently, creating open shots for each other, and making those open shots. It's not as visceral a viewing experience, but it isn't as boring as the offense that Cleveland runs, that same one play where a big guy sets a pick for LeBron by the three point line. The Cleveland offense is predictable and unimaginative, the very definition of boring. San Antonio is at worst only mildly thrilling.
- That said, these games have been pretty boring. During the second quarter, I flipped to "Kill Bill 2" on the IFC channel, and watched the whole "Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mei" scene. At the end of the third quarter, I flipped it to "Heat" on Encore and caught most of the scene with Pacino and DeNiro in the diner. I've seen both of those movies many times, and it was still way better than most of that game. And I like watching NBA basketball.
- I should probably get HBO already.
- LeBron won't be able to tarnish his legacy with this series. San Antonio is too good, and his Cleveland teammates are too mediocre. Ten years from now, I bet we'll have as hard a time remembering other guys off this Cleveland team as we have remembering more than Shaq off of the 1995 Magic. LeBron will be remembered for being the only reason this gang of mooks ever sniffed an NBA Finals. Not so bad a legacy.
- I'm not going to have to worry too much that I can't watch game 4 and 5 of the finals because I'll be at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee. I'm pretty confident I won't miss much. Which is a shame, really.
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