(Stage names in parantheses)

Friday, August 1:
4:15 – 5:15: Black Keys (Bud Light)
5:15 – 6:15: Cat Power* (Playstation)
6:15 – 7:45: The Raconteurs† (Bud Light)
8:00: Radiohead (AT&T)

Saturday, August 2:
1:30 – 2:30: Mason Jennings† (Playstation)
4:30 – 5:30: Explosions in the Sky* (Bud Light)
6:30 – 7:30: Broken Social Scene* (Bud Light)
7:30 – 8:30: Toadies (MySpace)
8:30: Rage Against The Machine (AT&T)

Sunday, August 3:
4:15 – 5:15: Iron & Wine† (Bud Light)
5:15 – 6:15: Blues Traveler (AT&T)
6:15 – 7:15: Love & Rockets† (Bud Light)
8:15: Nine Inch Nails (Bud Light)

*Based solely on an interesting band name or “Indie Hype”
†Based on a vague knowledge or other recommendation

There are noticable gaps in my schedule and I’m still open to suggestions.  Based on a Wikipedia article I read, Mason Jennings looks to be the act that will grow on me most.  I’ve become a sucker for the folk singer/songwriter acts.  The names Cat Power, Broken Social Scene, and Explosions in the Sky are all familiar to me, but I couldn’t tell you what tunes of theirs I’ve heard.

Blues Traveler and The Toadies are blasts from the past.  Rubberneck is one of my favorite albums from the alt-rock 90s.  I’m less excited about Blues Traveler but know a few of their tunes and they are a decidedly different flavor than many of the acts I’ll be seeing.  I know little of Love and Rockets except that Sean Gothman, artist producer to The Dandy Warhols, did some video projections for them and know little of The Raconteurs except that it’s another Jack White project.  I’m going to order two of their albums tonight.

Radiohead and Rage Against The Machine are the two that I’m most excited about, though I’m having a hard time getting excited.  For one, I’ll be missing Wilco to see RATM.  The last few days I’ve been listening to Sky Blue Sky and asking myself how I could possibly choose Wilco over RATM.  The fact remains that Wilco is a Chicago band that I’ve seen more recently than RATM and will almost certainly have more ocassions to see in the future, whereas seeing Rage might not be a possibility again.  As for Radiohead, I have not fully absorbed their latest album, In Rainbows.  While I enjoy Kid A and Amnesiac, the material from their first three albums is what I’d like to hear most and what they tend to play the least.

Nine Inch Nails is the headliner I’m least excited about (of the headliners that I plan to see).  I haven’t heard anything from them since The Fragile and didn’t leave their show in Milwaukee last year with intense satisfaction.

So here is the tentative plan:  My friend in Chicago told me a few months ago that I’d be able to stay with him, so hopefully that will still work out.  I have to work Friday until about 5:30am at which point I’ll head to Chicago and try to crash right soon afterwards, wake from an extended nap and head to Grant Park.  I have no specific plans to meet up with anyone, though I may run into a couple coworkers and will probably try to meet up with a couple folks I know from message boards now long gone.  I like to think that I’ll meet people, make new friends, and hang out at some aftershow parties or bar or whatever, but the reality is that I typically don’t get along with my peers.  In the absence of saying something unpopular, I typically say nothing and sit around fidgeting.  Currently I’m debating on whether to drive up there or take the train.  If I drive I’m more inclined to bring my guitar and perhaps jam a little with my musical friend.  At one point I planned to buy one of the new iPhones beforehand, but I think that will have to wait.  They are jacking up the service cost so if I get one it will have to be an unlocked model and I’ll get a lower rent contract from AT&T instead of paying the $75+ monthly rate that comes with the iPhone.  It would be great to have the GPS and camera and phone all at my disposal.  I may have to invest in some sort of backpack or fannypack thing as well.  Last minute things.

Three more days of work and then a three day weekend, hazaa!

Filed under: Music by John