The contest for the GB autographs is now closed. I walked into the office today and saw that one had been swiped. I had to arm wrestle Bret to get it back. You're welcome.

And yes, I just got here. The real fun of the BSMF are the afterparties and I hit quite a few last night. Ow, my aching head. Do funnel cakes cure hanovers?

Let's find out.

Carry on,

Rachelandthecity

I'm going to go ahead and get my negative attitude out of the way first.
I have a personal history of hatred for and confrontation with scalpers. And this year they are just plain out of control. The MPD has obviously given up, because I thought scalping used to be illegal.

I just find it horribly amusing to see middle aged men in turtlenecks getting shaken down by security at the gates, and not 50 yards away its pure scalper chaos. It's harassment all around for the people paying to be here and it makes our city look ghetto.

If you support them by buying and selling to them, you are part of the problem.

Anyway.

Malpais deserves all the good press they've been getting.

They were interesting and creative, with the talent to handle a wide range of Latin influenced styles. The variety and pacing really kept their performance exciting. I took a couple of years of college Spanish, but I couldn't really follow the vocals. Every time that happens to me I wonder if this is what Japanese people who listen to Elvis feel like.

I managed to catch the end of Janiva Magness.

Unfortunately I missed out on seeing her rather unique washboard, but I'll let you use your imagination. The show was quite engaging and I overheard an awesome comment from my pal Josh. "I've seen more jean shorts per capita here than at any festival in history."

I paused at Billy Lee Riley just long enough to confirm he was on his last legs.
(Last legs fest 2006)

The show was still pretty classy, in spite of his uncharacteristic cane.
(or maybe that helped)

This is what the "Classy Older Guy Stage" is all about to me.

Galactic was good if you enjoy that sort of thing and don't mind gyrating frat boys.

I haven't seen them in a few years. (I flatly refuse to pay $30 to do so)
But they were as energized and tightly knit as ever.

Then I ducked back into the Blues Tent for Robert Belfour.

His darkly heartfelt blues is the brand I like.
Not what my friends term "smokin Huey's blues."
This just makes you want whiskey.

Finally, I rounded out the circuit on the south end with 10 Years. They weren't quite as horrible as i expected. (yes, this is about as good a compliment as you get from me)
What's with the disproportionate number of front men with dreads these days?
At least this one could sing.
It just seems to me that most of this new young 93Xish stuff is all the same.
I don't find any of it particularly compelling.
Maybe I'm just a prick. I dunno.

Do you know who else I ran into?
The guy who was driving the horse carriage and blasting Pantera that saved my life Friday night.

And guess who that girl is? (I swear I wouldn't lie to you)
It's one of the drunken Mississippi girls he was riding around who couldn't find her car.
Way to go guy!
Good karma is a good thing.

All right then.

Gin Blossoms or Iron Maiden? Rachel Hurley finds out from the audience their choice on MIMTV.

Remember the other day when I was talking about how old men can't rock? Well, I take it back. (Not all of it, of course. That would mean I was wrong, and I'm completely incapable of admitting that).

Who changed my mind, you ask? This man...

Ok, so Little Richard doesn't really rock. He doesn't have a crazy pyrotechnic show, nor does he bring it like like these guys, but the guy's pretty good for a 73-year-old man.

He hit most of his big songs in the show, including "Tutti Fruiti", "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "Jenny Jenny." His songs were very high energy, and he even had fun at his own expense with the audience. In between songs, he'd talk about his mixed black/Indian heritiage, including ramblings about how he didn't know what tribe he belonged to and that sort of nonsense. Although most of the jokes by themselves were from another era, Richards' emphatic "shut-up" between lines always drew a laugh.

The most memorable part of the show took place when he wanted some ladies from the audience to come up onstage and dance with him.

"All right, I'd like a big, juicy white lady to come up here and dance for me," Richard said. "And next, I'd like a big, juicy black lady to come up and dance for me too."

At this point, one of the band members came over and whispered something into his ear.

"Oh yeah," Richard said hurriedly, "Is there any big, juicy Latino girls out there who'd like to dance for me?"

Many women in the audience were jumping at the chance to come upstage, but the crew had already picked their dancers prior to the show. The women came out and dance for a song. A lady behind me was upset because "none of those girls look big to me." I had to agree, didn't mind so much.

All in all, Richard's set was a good one to see. He kept his audience happy and entertained, and was only annoying when he kept trying to hawk his wares to the audience. That, and I'm pretty sure Elvis would be pissed if he saw that Richards had stolen his outfit.

Shut-up...

Welp, after two days of busting myself at the festival, I'm worn out. My original plan was to bounce back and forth between work (I post the paper on Sunday nights) and the festival, but that's not going to happen tonight. Sorry James, I'll have to catch you another time.

However, as a free tip to anybody who is attending tonight, I would bring a tape recorder and stand in between the Blues Traveler and James Brown stages and try to get a decent live mashup (link is wikipedia, but has PG-13 language, just so you know) going.

Can you image it? "Say it loud! Don't give me no runaround!"

Of course, tape recorders are prohibited inside the park tonight for obvious reasons. You'll have to take it up with this guy...

On the way in to the park i spy a little beachhead encampment composed of old vans and tarps set up in the middle of Riverside Dr.
Of course i am going to go talk to these guys.

"So where are you guys from?"
-"Arkansas."
"Awesome."

Don't worry folks he's not really Jesus. (I asked)
It does make a fine little spot for Bush beer, though.

People are showing up pretty early today. And the absolute best thing about having my little press pass here is not having to wait in this.

I ran in to my good buddy Luke Sexton of Memphix Records, hanging out trying to make a few $$$.

"Hey pal, what are you up to?"
-"Just showing some drunk people how to scratch."
"Oh yea, how's that going?"
-"Well, if the aren't too drunk we let them record something, but they usually are."

I love that guy.

Here's how im renaming the stages today:

The Patchouli Stage (again Budweiser is looking soft) will feature Galactic, Gov't Mule, and Blues Traveler. Yellowcard is stuck in the middle of that somewhere. I'm not exactly sure how that works, but if you make cell phone commercials maybe they change the rules for you.

The Cellular South Stage i dub, The Superbadass Hell Yea Rock Stage. 10 Years, Trapt, Shinedown and Stained. I'm going to swing by Malpais first just to see what everyone was talking about yesterday.

The Autozone Stage will feature Booker T, Chicago, and James Brown. "The Respectable Adult Stage."

And the Blues Tent will naturally remain the Blues Tent. Janiva Magness, Robert Belfour, Huber Sumlin (w/ G.E. Smith of SNL fame), Saffire and Johny Winter will appear there today.

Go see whatever you want. I personally am going to just wander around and try to find something that surprises me.

If i really have to tell you to go see James Brown, you are in need of far more help than i am willing or able to give.

I would, however, highly recommend stopping by the High Tone on your way home for the Ponderosa Stomp Pre-Party. Serious soul music will ensue. The DJ lineup is heavyweight and all proceeds benefit New Orleans and Gulf Coast musicians.

It will be very awesome. If you don't go you will be missing out.
That is all for now.

Information here. This is what we call "driving traffic to my blog."