John's Weblog of Doom
Quote of the "month"
October 2006
"I still cry everyday," she says softly. "I think about Mary all the time. We've been to all these places with her," she says looking around the venue in which we're sitting. "Now we have to establish new memories without her and it's really hard."
"This album is many things, but it is mainly us turning our backs to the non-life that might be death or to depression turning your back to that. Not blocking it out because sadness is there and there are things that have happened that can take a long time to heal. It's not denial but certainly looking forward."
"Once you're in this process there is no going back. And there is no point anyway." - Laetitia Sadier, on recording the album Margerine Eclipse following the death of fellow Stereolab member Mary Hansen, from Umbrella Music interview, 8 May 2004.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Coventry pt. 2
Home. Aug 26, 2004 11:40 PM
After stopping downtown for a cup of coffee and a sandwich. we left Montpelier and headed north, commenting that we need to return when we have some more time. The drive was uneventful until about 10 miles north of St. Johnsbury, where we were kicked off the highway by a couple of game wardens and told that the concert's cancelled and they turned away 40,000 ticket holders. They said to turn around and head south on the interstate. We were listening to Kevin's archive show on the radio and hadn't heard anything about the traffic. We exited and made a left turn at the bottom. About a mile down the road, we hit Route 5. They replayed Mike's announcement that incoming traffic on I-91 was being cut off and only those on Rt. 5 would be getting in. We turned north on 5, and headed towards Coventry. We stopped at a gas station in Barton to use the bathroom, and grab a drink and snacks. There were a few people coming and going, looking at maps and trying to figure out how to get past police roadblocks to alternate campgrounds. One of the ladies working there gave me and a couple of other guys directions to get to her house, where her husband had already given a couple people a ride closer to the site. We headed back up 5, but only a mile or so up was the I-91 crossing and a police roadblock. We headed back to Barton and off towards the house. After missing the turn, we backtracked and managed to find the right road. We pulled in and parked next to a truck with a camper behind. A couple of girls said the owner would be back in a few minutes. The guys from the gas station pulled in a few minutes later. The owner came back, we re-parked and paid him $40 for the space, and another $10 for a ride as close as he could get us, which turned out to be about five miles from the site, which was a little more than halfway from the house. 
He dropped us off where the Airport Road crosses Route 5. A bunch of other people were being dropped off in the same place. We crossed 5 and started hiking. A good number of people were walking up Route 5 and cutting across a field to Airport Road. We spent the next ninety minutes hiking up and down the hills, not knowing for sure how far it really was to the site, assuming that since so many people were walking the same way as us and no one was coming back, that they must be letting pedestrians in. Locals in vehicles ranging from ATVs to minivans to trucks pulling trailers were fully loaded with people heading to the show. Prices for a ride varied, and many were offered, but we eschewed all and continued walking, as did most of those around us.Finally, we crested a hill and there was a man in a safety shirt directing traffic. By this time, we could see the ferris wheel in the concert grounds and knew we were close. We approached the campground through the staff vehicle entrance and were greeted with vast fields of mud, dotted with the occasional vehicle and campsite. "Wow, they weren't kidding," said a voice behind me. We trudged through the mud to the tarmac and set off in search of the vending area, where Liz's cousin was working one of the booths, selling hammocks.
We were hoping they would allow us to crash in their booth as we had left the tent behind in the car. We found them and they agreed, amazed I think that we had managed to make it in. We chilled out in the booth for a bit, then I went to the information booth to inquire about wristbands. They had set up an emergency ticket exchange by the concert entrance so that people wouldn't have to trek all the way to the front vehicle entrance. The vending area started clearing out and we noticed that there was a narrow walkway in front of the booths and a huge sea of mud. The set started on the radio and we made our way down to the concert entrance. The wristband exchange was through the fence a hundred feet or so up the fence from the entrance. Unfortunately, the only way through was straight through another sea of mud. We made it through and walked through the gates and on our way to the concert field...
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Coventry pt. 1
Econolodge Montpelier, Aug 14, 2004 9:52 AM
We set out late yesterday afternoon. I worked for a bit, came home and uploaded my final paper for 616. I proofread it while still at work. The drive was uneventful and dull. Vermont is beautiful, but there's not much to see at night.
We stopped for dinner in Bennington at a place called the Rattlesnake Cafe. It's a neat little Mexican restaurant and bar in a converted house. Liz had enchiladas and I had what's called the "house combination" because it had a little of everything and, naturally, I wanted to try it all. Somehow, though, I didn't expect it to be as large as it was.
We arrived in Montpelier about midnight and headed to the Econolodge. I made last minute reservations after the weather warning post on Phish's website. We had been planning to drive straight to the site, but hoped by stopping we would avoid the traffic nightmare. The Econolodge is a rather odd-looking collection of buildings on th hill. It looks like it was previously some weird little motel before Choice bought it and is a bit dumpy. The most important thing is that a bed is more comfortable than the car.
Reports on Hurricane Charley are on in the background. We won't be getting that much rain, but by all accounts it's going to be a wet weekend. I'm getting a bit restless waiting for Liz to finish prepping and sipping bland motel coffee. Perhaps repacking the car is in order.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Blogging for dollars?
My online class through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign begins on Thursday. I have to go through a tutorial first, which I have open in another window. Unfortunately, I forgot about the time difference, and although I got my shift moved slightly later to accomodate this, I will still be late. I don't understand their thoughts behind scheduling these sessions. Generally, people take online classes because they work or have somewhere they need to be during the day. So, why the sessions are all scheduled on weekdays in the morning or afternoon is beyond me. It is slightly irritating. I've also had a problem logging into the email system. I'll have to contact someone later on to either fix it or tell me what I'm doing wrong. Other than that, things are going well so far.
Some Coventry updates:
* Phish manager John Paluska's statement on what went wrong and what they're doing to try to make it up to those who didn't make it.
* Another statement by Dave Werlin at Great Northeast Productions.
* Probably the best review I've seen of the weekend.
* I still haven't typed up my reviews yet. That's quite the shocker, I'm sure.
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Another semester down
Summer semester is officially over now that I've received the grades. I somehow managed a B in IST 616, the foundation informational organization course. One one hand, it's nice to have pulled that out given that I didn't actually submit all of the assignments. On the other, I would most likely have a A if I had. I made a tactical error in both taking two courses in an already busy summer, and also in taking a seven-day and an online course at the same time. That course, the legal research course was a disgusting amount of work in a short time, but I pulled it off. Unfortunately, that meant the other class suffered. I have only 12 credits left, though. Next semester I will be taking a government documents class through the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and one in abstracting and indexing. I will have some of my work from this summer up over the next couple of weeks. I have more pressing things to do today, unfortunately.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Down with disease.
Actually, it's just a cold, but last night I was afraid it was a sinus infection. Today I've got a scratchy throat and on and off nasal congestion. I had a headache, but some Tylenol and coffee has cleared it. I made it back to work yesterday, but now I'm sick and am missing today. That's ok, though. They seemed to be handling everything ok, and I'm actually caught up for a change. That in itself is a pretty odd thing for me as of late, but it's pretty nice.
I've had "The Curtain With" in my head for days now. I haven't listened to any Phish since the show, save watching the two clips up on the Letterman site. I'm almost ready again, I think. Maybe I'll watch the copy of Tracking I picked up at the Homegrown Music Network booth. Or one of the videos I have yet to watch. First, though, there are discs to burn. Many, many discs. I need to clear the hard drive before the semester starts and I have a ton of shows taking up space.
Soon, I'll upload my reviews of Coventry and the other stuff I wrote in my notebook that I didn't have time to post from the House of Live Phish. Tonight, probably, or else tomorrow. I also need to nick Liz's camera and upload the pictures we took. I'll probably make a special photo essay page out of it. For now, though, I'm in search of FLACs of Kevin's Coventry "From the Archives" shows.
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Greetings from Vermont!
For any who have seen the news and may be wondering (and who have thought to look here), Liz and I are alive and mostly well here at Coventry. The place is a mess. We had to walk five or six miles to get here. It's ten to twelve back, that should be fun. First night was really good. The walk and all drained us and I couldn't sleep. I was shivering and tossing and turning all night. I'm going to probably fall apart completely by tonight.
We should be home, if all goes well, tomorrow evening.
Cheers!
John
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Coventry pt. 3
Phish - Aug 14, 2004 Coventry festival, Mudville, VT
I (6:10)
Walls of the Cave
Runaway Jim
Gotta Jibboo
You Enjoy Myself >
Sample In a Jar
Axilla I
Poor Heart
Run Like an Antelope
Fire (7:44)
II (8:50)
AC/DC Bag ->
46 Days >
Halley's Comet >
Ya Mar
David Bowie
Character Zero (10ish)
III (10:55)
Twist ->
The Wedge
Stash >
Free
Guyute
Drowned
Friday (12:43)
E: Harry Hood
Nice Walls opener. Missed Jim while we were getting wristbands and walking down to the concert field. During YEM, Trey hopped off the stage and handed the trampolines into the audience, who started passing them back. Awesome Antelope/Fire closer. Jimi's turning over in his grave wondering what the fuck happened to his song. Very nice segue out of Bag into 46 Days. I was thinking they were going for Camel Walk there. Trey shouted "Play it Cactus!" in Ya Mar and Mike took a solo. The Wedge was nice. Pretty decent Stash. Trey sounded like he was having trouble moving his fingers by the end. It was cold, though. I was having trouble writing the track names on my Live Phish disc in the House of Live Phish after the show.
