Thirty Somethings At Outside Lands

My husband and I have not been avid concert goers. Ticket prices seemed to always be more than we wanted to spend.  I tend to fall asleep anywhere after 10pm. So for those reasons it wasn't ever a priority. 

When we found out we were pregnant, something happened to my husband and he developed a great urgency to live a little. The year I got pregnant he went to no less than six concerts. Two of them were music festivals. I fought to go went to one where we had seats , but I passed on the chance to go to Outside Lands that first year because after he took me to Florence and the Machine on our anniversary at four months pregnant. I knew I would not want to walk/stand for a three straight days without being able to drink. 

The hubby had the most amazing time and has gone every year since. This year after many setbacks I finally got to go with him. My brother and my soon to be SIL offered to watch Animal and my mom (who is his other primary caregiver) was there too. I didn't go all three days, so I had to try to see and do all I wanted in one day.

Doors opened at noon, we wanted to leave at 11, but as usual when it's a personal day we're always running late. So we left at a quarter to noon. We parked across from the shuttle at 12:30ish and got in line for the shuttle that would take us to Golden Gate Park. The line was long, the ride is about 25 minutes long. We were on the Shuttle at one and as we pulled away we were surprised to see the line had more than doubled since we got there. 

Next, as we are dropped of at the gate, we somehow manage to miss the line doubling again. It took nearly another hour to get in.

There was so much art. Live artist painting murals. Past murals lined the outer edges of the event. There were painted structures all over. Some to admire and others to rest your achy feet. I could have spent several hours just walking through this area and watching the painters. Sadly, as fore mentioned, I had only one day so I only spent and hour walking through the art.

There were DJs, comedy shows, Skits, vaudeville acts, magic shows, break dancers, arts and crafts, carnies and even "camp" where we could have played board games and shit. We walked past all of that. No time. I definitely need to go for the three days.

There were so many choices in food. So much to drink. We did not eat, or drink to our hearts content. I didn't want to use the port a pottys any more than absolutely necessary and I'm sure that's self explanatory. 

We did however stop at beer lands, wine lands and for a cocktail. So good and like all events so pricey. At least my cocktail wasn't watered down. 


Outside lands is held at Golden Gate Park, so it is dusty, windy and awesome. 

At four we head to the stage where Death Cab for Cutie would perform. The hubby likes to get as close to his favorite bands as possible so we head to that stage as the band BEFORE Death Cab is going to start.  We find a decent place to stand for Haim, a band I've never heard of. At first I'm really bummed I'm not getting one last drink because I know we're not moving once DCFC starts. Then the energy really picks up and I really enjoy the three sister band. 

After they finish and the crowd starts to leave, we inch our way forward to find a better, closer spot. They are awesome, they play everything I want to hear. I almost completely ignore the people who have continued to inch forward and are now standing in spots where was once 8 inches between me and the person in front of me. 

Death exits after marveling at the fact that they are opening for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Again after they finish and the crowd thins, we inch our way a little closer to the stage. It's comfortable.

Until the show starts. Don't get me wrong. Tom Petty put on a great show and he played almost everything I wanted to hear. He really rocked and the crowd was super into it. However, after standing in basically the same spot for four hours prior to his starting, my feet, back and body were done. I'm a middle aged woman for God's sake. Not to mention the people again squeezing into spaces that don't exist. The hubby who is much larger and who had already done this for two days had to be dying. He didn't seem to be. He loves music so much and was just in mega beast mode. I was impressed. 

The show ended just before ten. We trekked out to the shuttles, waited, road back to our car, walked to our car and headed home. We got home after midnight. It was exhausting and wonderful. 

Accordion Lessons

This weekend we spent  Sunday morning walking around our local flea market. As usual it was a morning full of fun.

We walked around for about 3 hrs and Animal only asked to be carried about a dozen times. We did pick him up a handful of times because there were giant puddles everywhere from Saturdays rain storms, but he walked 98% of the time so it was a successful trip in that sense.

Why not let him walk, run or jump in the puddles? Well you see, this weekend when I did some spring cleaning I pulled out his cool sandals so I wouldn't have to dig for them when the weather changes. He loves them and changed his trusty sneakers for the sandals all by himself. I made a small attempt to change the shoes back. He wasn't having it.

I could see the sunlight beaming in through the shutters and thought, why not?

As soon as we got there I saw exactly why not. It was too late. We were there. We avoided puddles as best we could, until eventually the toes of his socks were soaked. Luckily I had a spare in his backpack and we stopped to dry his toes and have a snack.

We let him ride the plethora of 50 cent kiddie rides and took a turn on the carousel.

Afterwards we found a cute pair of (new) shoes and the real fun began. He ran through puddles. He jumped in them. Splashing in as many as he could. Until a little boy, 4 or 5 years old walked by playing with a small child size accordion. Animal watched, and then turned his head this way and that trying to get a peak at the little musician.

Just a few aisles later we found ourselves in front of a vendor selling various children's instruments and so my husband bought Animal his first red accordion.

Animal carried the heavy (for a toddler) box around the rest of the morning until we headed home.

After nap time, we showed him how to hold the accordion and showed him how to push the buttons to make music play. He had a hard time at first, but soon he got the hang of it. Yelling, "look daddy, I did it".

Neither my hubby nor I play the accordion. Actually I know absolutely no one who does. So now I'm wondering, are there accordion lessons for kids?

A Pregnant Woman & Rage

The year I got pregnant (2011) the hubby got an itch to see as many concerts as possible before our lives became consumed with parenthood. It was fueled by family and friends that warned our personal lives were about to come to a screeching halt.

We had married young and had been a married couple nearly a decade before we decided to become parents. Our family had started questioning our fertility, when what they should have been doing was praising our family planning skills. Even though we were excited to embark on this new adventure, we were also a little wistful about giving up our freedom.

For our tenth wedding anniversary the hubby took me to roam the streets of Berkeley (one of my favorite places to wander) and then to the Greek Theater to watch Florence And The Machine. But this post is not about that song bird.

The hubby wanted us to go to Outside Lands, a three day music festival in San Francisco, and after the show in Berkeley I knew there was just no way. I was just 5 months pregnant then, but I realized after walking all afternoon that I was NOT going to want to spend three days walking around at a music festival. I didn't come to the decision lightly either. I really wanted to see a lot of the bands and artists. I really wanted to make that memory with the hubby. Ever since I watched "Woodstock" I have dreamed of going to such an event. It's on my bucket list.

However I knew that I was going to be miserable. My feet would be swollen, I would be grumpy, hungry, tiered and worst of all sober!

The hubby had purchased two tickets to L.A. Rising. He had always wanted to watch Rage Against
The Machine live, and now finally here was his chance. The show was in L.A. so he would be gone the weekend.

I wanted to go. He was hesitant. A Rage show he warned was not going to be safe for a pregnant woman and her unborn fetus. I was incredulous. I wanted to go. It was at the end of July just before my third trimester. It was our last chance for a road trip. I wanted that weekend away for the two of us. We would be sitting. I could handle it.

He tried to dissuade me, it was bound to be a tough crowd. Things could get ugly. He might have to fight someone, and he wasn't in shape for a fist fight he warned. He was worried he wouldn't be able to protect me. I thought he was being ridiculous. Who would be at this show? Other people our age and older. It would be fine, no one was looking to get into a fight. Muse and Lauren Hill were also performing. He wasn't so sure. Finally, my unrelenting begging reassurances won him over.

The day of the show we got to Los Angeles at ten am. Too early to check in to our hotel room. We went to this really awesome movie theater and watched Crazy Stupid Love. Then we went to a sporting good store and bought cushions for the stadium seats and had lunch at a delicious vegan restaurant. Finally, we checked into our comfy hotel room and started getting ready. All at a leisurely pace.

That's when it happened. We looked at our tickets and realized that the concert had started at 1 pm, it was 4 o'clock. We booked it. Have you ever tried to hurry in L.A.? It's basically impossible, it took us 30 minutes to go a few miles, then another 30-45 minutes to find parking about 20 minutes away. 

When we finally got to our seats after six o clock, it was like a scene from Mad Max. It did look like a rough crowd. It was really crazy. They changed our seats without telling us. We caught the end of Lauren Hill. Time it seemed had not been kind. Bummer. Rise Against, a group I wasn't familiar with played next. They were cool. Next, Muse. The hubby had been playing Muse and Rage on the drive down, but I was not prepared for the awesomeness of Muse Live. They put on a great show and made a life long fan out of me. After their terrific performance there was a long intermission. 

The crowd started getting restless. Lots of people started acting a fool. There were bottles being thrown. A man was getting medical attention near us after being hit with one of the random bottles and it cracking his forehead open. The hubby was getting nervous and was going between a small anxiety attack and excitement over getting to see one of his favorite bands.

Before the show started, there was a video on immigration. Then a video about the bands 

and their activism. It was a little strange, because I swear I felt a change in the crowd. like from excitement and general drunkenness to uneasy aggression. I remember thinking, these people know who they came to see right? 

When the show started people started rushing the security barricades to get into general admissions.  Large crowds literally ran down and aisles and flung their bodies into each other to push through security. When security put a stop to the unruliness, we saw people throwing themselves over the stadium walls. More bottle throwing. People were moshing, and starting bonfires. One of the concession tents was set on fire and another was taken down with people climbing it. The show itself was great. Some people left, obviously uncomfortable with the change in mood. I don't think they were really there to see Rage. 

We left just before the encore because we still had a 20 minute walk through not the safest looking area in L.A. We got to our car safely and reminisced about the show we had just watched, the highs and the lows. I teased the hubby about how everything had been fine just like I said it would be. He said I was way down playing the craziness of the crowd. 

Later when I recounted the weekend to my brother, including how silly the hubby had been. My brother broke the news to me. He thought it sounded like a nerve wrecking time. He did NOT think the hubby was being irrational or silly. 

This post is part of a multi blogger collaboration to read about other rocking times or add your own, just click the TT button!

Rainbows and Unicorns

 


The hubby shared this with me. I loved it so much I wanted to share with you. If you don't love it too, you might be a a Unicornfucker.

This post was brought to you
by the letter 'U'

Molotov

Today's post is brought to you
by the letter 'C'

Some of you may know that I am bilingual. Spanish is my first language. I am still fluent and I  would say that I am very comfortable talking to most people in either language. But when something happens and expletives are the only way I want to express myself, it is always in English. 

I'm not comfortable cursing in Spanish, and I never have been. 

I never really tried it growing up, and it just feels unnatural. 

There are so many great words too. My favorite expression I think is Chinga tu Madre, it's basically Motherfucker. Literally translated though it's Fuck your mother. I have never found a reason to use it. The phrase has never really crossed my lips in anger or in jest.

But I have sung it.

Fucking Queen!!!

We will
We will
We will
Rock you!!! 
(They did this song on Glee last week)

When I was in high school at every football game our school won, "We Are The Champions" would be played, as the team walked off the field. While this is not their best song. This song has this very special place in my heart. It brings to mind happy memories and childhood friends.

 Also I am sucker for these kinds of songs.

I FUCKING love QUEEN!

Queen is theatrical.

Queen is different. 

Queen can fun, light, whimsical, and they can be deep, dark, and heartfelt.

 Freddie Mercury, was well, Freddie Mercury. Such a talented man. And look at him (in the late 70's early 80's), he was some serious eye candy.

In 2004 -2005 (I think, those years seem like a blur) the hubby and I went to watch Queen+Paul Rodgers (of Bad Religion) and it was an awesome show. I remember wondering if they would attempt to do Bohemian Rhapsody, they couldn't, could they? It really had been a great show. But I was torn with wanting to hear one of my favorite Queen songs and feeling it would be sac religious.

They did play it, but a  large screen with Freddie came down on the stage and the band (May and Taylor) played while Freddie sang and played the piano. It was perfect.