blaugra: here we go again

Musikmess starts on Friday. yaaaaaaaaay.

I blabbed on and on about this annual behemoth festival last year.

So, this is what I'm looking forward to, this year:

{crickets chirping.

no wait, i can't hear any crickets what with the roar of the sweaty sticky drunks}

1. LL Cool J. I'm still on the fence about going. My haircolor experte is a fun white chick who says things to me like, "When it comes to men, I'm into the chocolate love!" and she has a backstage pass and front row tix for LL. Here are the cons of going to this show:

Unless you're in the front section of seats, you can't see shit and you have to watch the show on the jumbotrons.
The mosquitoes at RiverPlace are the size of a bowling ball.
I like recordings of hip-hop, with all that studio magic - but every live hippity-hoppity show I see pretty much sucks because the rapper just yells and after a few songs I get a headache. I need crunching guitars and a pit at my shows, I guess.
You can't stand during the shows and you're basically sitting on top of the person next to you, and most people are pretty damn rude. So if you're back in steerage class seats, that rules out dancing, as there's always some old guy sitting behind me who for some reason is dragged to the Alice Cooper/Duran Duran/George Clinton show that he's clearly not into but he sits there with his arms crossed and says shit like, "Would you SIT DOWN? I can't see!" because the seating area is totally flat so you can't really see anyway if you're sitting. Plus there are lots of smokers at the shows because it's outside in the FRESH OPPRESSIVELY HOT HUMID AIR.

So I think I've just kvetched my way out of going to see LL Cool J. But out of all the shows, that's the one I would have, and I would expect a bit of gangland representation at that one, too.

A while back I asked youze guys to predict which Musuckfest show would sell out first. And the results... there's only one sold out that I know of - the STYX / KANSAS spectacle (congratulations, Beth! !) So, if you want to check out Kenny G or Alice in Chains or Melissa Etheridge or even LL, load up the Winnebago and fork out about 40 smackers to sweat on a plastic seat and watch the shows on a jumbo screen. Yes - Styx sold out before Melissa, before Carrie Underwood -- even before KC'S BOOGIE BLAST!

Best to go to the hundreds of small tents with free local performers, really.

2. Cinema & Draft Night featuring, OF COURSE, the film festival I work with plus a couple of others. IT'S FREE and it's on Wednesday nite at 9 PM.

3. First Friday - oh wait, that's not a Musikfest event. But it is happening on the SouthSide of town anyway, and I know there are lots of big clearance sales goin' down plus overflowing good cheer.

4. A taco and a Portuguese donut from the Holy Infancy stand at Plaza Tropical (ooooooh I hope it's still there!) and one $5 plastic cup of warm beer.

If you really must go, well, you might want to read this pseudo-hipster rag which is like the Cliff's Notes guide to the fest and makes it seem super-fun, (scroll to the bottom to check out "chicken lady 2.0" cover girl) kind of the way Cliff's Notes made Beowulf seem like a fantasy romp to me in 10th grade.