August 11, 2009

• Warped Perspctive

  

  This weekend, along with some relax time, I went to another Warped Tour.  This was at least my fifth in the last 10 years, with most of those misses due to field work.

  

  As usual, my third favorite band and favorite band that is still active, NOFX, was the highlight.  After a profanity-filled, crowd-supported rant on Utahns’ and the Mormon influence on California’s Prop 8, they did something very special.

  

  They decided to play the entire album Punk in Drublic!  I was thrilled!  It is my favorite album by NOFX, and they even played it our of order to mix things up. 
  

  The only diversion from the album in NOFX’s set was a song for El Hefe’s birthday, a remixed edition of “Happy Birthday, you’re not special” and a happy song, with stops for racially-insensitive jokes.  They were great.  The other best parts of the show was Fat Mike singing on The Bouncing Soul’s “True Believers” and Bad Religion’s “21st Century Digital Boy.”  At the end of the show, Fat Mike said, ” I don’t really hate you, I really hate your parents.”

  

  My other favorite part of these types of mega concerts with a hundred bands is the new bands you get to see, including (above) Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band.  Now, as a goatee conoseur (though I’m beard-o right now), I am put to shame by Rev. Peyton.  He plays steel guitar with lots of sliding.  His wife plays washboard, and his brother plays drums, so the band is not that big.  The best way to describe what they play is Mississippi Delta Blues mixed with Punk.  They even signed my CD!  The funny thing is I might not have heard them if not some guy that works for them saw my Flogging Molly shirt. He says I might like this band, put some earphones on me, and convinced me to hear them.  The funny thing is, I found out about Flogging Molly, as a band I had never heard of, 8 years ago at a Warped Tour from Jeremy (former UCLA TA, not FIU).  Funny how life comes full circle.

  

  I also liked Big D and the Kids Table, a modern (third-wave) Ska band.  So, all in all, a great show, like always.

  P.S.  A reminder (until more people sign up, I’ll keep posting this!):

  THE PICKS

  

  It is the FIFTEENTH year of the picks. 15! That’s a long way from writing things down in class on a newspaper clipping. In case you don’t know, the picks
  is and NFL pick’em league where you pick all the games in a season
  (with confidence points) and the winner at the end wins lots of
  respect. In 15 years, I have won twice, and never picked against the
  Dolphins (yes, even in the 1-15 season). I hope those facts are not
  related….

  The ID is 2878 and the password is “sylmar”. Click here to join!

  You can also join my Survival Pick’em league, (three strikes) ID=1131 or College Pick’em league (no spread) ID=1453. The password for those is also “sylmar.” Please sign up, it’ll be fun!

  • 11:04 am
  • 3 Comments