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Hey, wow! I just went to my first popfest. It was even more fun than I'd expected,
though it was a bit tricky getting there. See, I live in Santa Cruz now, but I was in Seattle
for winter break. So the story starts when I was picked up at the San Francisco airport
by Matt, who I'd arranged to drive down the coast with. I'd never met him before, so we
spent the car ride down to Los Gatos trying to establish that neither of us were ax
murderers and then slept. The next morning we dropped all my crazy luggage off in Santa Cruz and then hit the road. The drive took about six and a half hours. It got warmer and warmer all the way down and I was madly excited. I'd never been to LA before, and I didn't really know anyone who was going to be at the popfest. Actually, Matt and I didn't even know where we were going to stay! We took turns with the tape player -- Matt gave me a "roots of indiepop" education and I filled him in on the current indiepop tip, so it was all good. When we finally got down to LA it was getting dark, but I insisted we swing through Hollywood. It was different than I expected, kind of dirtier and less glitzy. But I saw the stars on the sidewalk and Matt tried to point out cool landmarks. We had a hard time getting back on the highway, 'cause there were all kinds of crazy one way streets. So we got to Glendora, where the party was supposed to be, but we were an hour early! What an embarrassing faux pas! We had to find something to do, so we got burgers and then spent the rest of the time in Super Crown, reading magazines and listening to books on the headphones and stuff. Being at the party was kind of weird, 'cause I didn't know anyone there. I knew some of the people by their email names. Anyway, everyone was drinking and smoking pot, which I don't really do. So there I'm sitting with my glass of Cherry Coke in a room full of strangers... and I was very tired. I made friends with a few people and met Chris McNett, who was to be my ride up the coast. I found a couple partners in exhaustion, and Jill and Jed and I skulked up the stairs to sleep. Unfortunately, the party raged on until 8 in the morning, stopped abruptly for a two hour break, then picked up where it had left off at ten. I slept, because I'm used to noise (dorm life, ya know), but I think Jill was awake all night. Of course, the next day the three of us were feeling exhausted and antisocial, so we drove to the beach, spread out our sleeping bags and slept. It was insane to be relaxing on the beach in January! I'm not used to it. I left the snow in Seattle behind to lounge on a warm beach in LA. The whole bunch of us regrouped at The Haven, a coffee shop in Pomona, to wait for the show. I met a bunch of people I had met on the indiepop list and a few of us accidentally went to this scary taco place, where we discovered that the food was a little too "authentic" for us. "I dunno, Dan, what do you think? Beef tongue or beef brains on my taco?" When we got back to The Haven, Ed from Shelflife was bustling around getting everything ready, and people were setting up tables to sell records. We were there for eight hours Saturday night because it started super late. The best thing about the venue was that you could watch bands, drink coffee, eat sandwiches, have shakes, play pool, run off to the game room or talk to listies outside, so the eight hours of rockin' actually flew by. The show was great! Everyone was friendly and enthusiastic, from the bands down to the hyped-up coffee shop employees. Some Saturday night treats were #Poundsign#'s super fun set (minus their normal bassist, so a bit improvised -- they were switching instruments like crazy!), and Skypark were a great surprise! They have a song on the tape comp, pick it up. I'd never heard Half-String before, but they were impressive. There was a bit of an argument over whether Juniper were rockin' geniuses or sort of b oring, which never got resolved. The best part was the end of the night when Allen Clapp (And His Orchestra) played, 'cause the people who worked at the coffee shop had obviously been sampling the wares and were pogoing all over behind the counter. I had never seen Allen Clapp before, and it was nearly a religious experience, let me tell you. They impressed me as the most practiced, professional band of the show. They would switch from song to song, sometimes without a pause, pulling it off with style and grace. They played some old songs, some new songs, and some 100% Chance of Rain songs. I could have stayed up all night listening to them play. There was a certain faction of us who were so tired from the party the night before that we could barely stand, but Allen Clapp is so AWESOME that by the end of his set, we felt magically rejuvenated and stumbled away from the coffee shop towards our night of "Thrifty Luxury" at the Pomona Lodge dazed but satisfied. Sunday night couldn't really live up to Saturday, unfortunately. I wanted to see Nothing Painted Blue, but they were last and I had to head back up the coast to get to my first day of classes on time. FKA Oedipusaurus Rex rocked the house! Jill and I couldn't get over their rad toy drum kit. Casios galore! I also liked Timonium, but they played a bit too long. I missed Further too, sorry. The show was terrific; I approve wholeheartedly. Seeing the bands was great, of course, but the main thrill came from making friends with everyone and all that mushy stuff. Join the indiepop-list! Go to these things! They're fun! |