Outside Lands 2008 forreal!

Lets start out with the best part about Outside Lands Festival, despite the $8 bajillion dollars that everyone else spent on their passes to the festival, I got in FREE!
Let that soak in for a second...suckers.

How, you ask?...well, in case I didn't rub it in your face or talk shit already at this point, I got in free using my crazy McGuyver covert mission tactics...walking(on Friday) and running(on Saturday) through the front gates(decided not to sneak in on Sunday, as having to tell people "I got caught sneaking into see Jack Johnson" would be pretty embarrasing--very detrimental to my personal brand yall).

Ill let my ballooning smugness rest for a moment and review some of the people, places and events of the weekend, using a DNC-inspired scale of Bill Clinton's and Michelle Malkin's; Bill Clinton being one of the coolest guys in the world, and Michelle Malkin being, well one of the worst(I hate you Michelle Malkin).
Here goes...
(Michelle Malkin's and Bill Clinton's given out on a scale of 1-5)

Shawn Fadden - 4 Michelle Malkin's: Shawn Fadden will follow Tom Petty tribute band Heavy Petty all over the country, make vacation plans around Heavy Petty shows, and as far as I know, knows the words to every Tom Petty song...even the obscure ones. So you would THINK a 3 day music festival in the city you used to live in, with all your friends, with free places to stay, in Golden Gate Park WITH TOM PETTY HEADLINING would be, ya know, something you'd be into a lil bit. Not Mr. Fadden. Apparently he could take or leave Tom Petty, but Heavy Petty...mark your calendars, Fadden is THERE. You suck Fadden.

Golden Gate Park - 5 Bill Clinton's: you amaze me.

Sound systems - 1 Michelle Malkin: fading in and out on one of stages, and cutting out completely on the main stage for Radiohead and Tom Petty...not gonna let it get me down, but still...come on now.

Lupe Fiasco - 3 Bill Clinton's: dude, Lupe rocks the fuck out! I mean, physically, on stage. Good stuff.

Radiohead - 4 Bill Clinton's: ok ok, so I've made a big deal about not being a Radiohead fan. But their light show ripped, and creeping through the woods of GG Park while Radiohead played live was a pretty amazing experience.

Cake - 2 Bill Clinton's: played all the hits I love from the first two albums, including "Jolene"...but I can't help but feel a little reserved with my feelings for missing Primus. You know what, I was really surprised how good Cake was, so screw it, I don't regret it for a second--3 Bill Clinton's bam!

Parties at the Firehouse - 5 Bill Clinton's: yeeeeahhhh! After looking at everyones pix and seeing hella randoms, do you ever wonder how many people in the world the Firehouse has touched?
ps. I feel sorry for anyone who had to stay there.

Tom Petty - 5 Bill Clinton's: TOM FREAKING PETTY! I will never in my lifetime forget singing "Free Fallin" and "Mary Janes Last Dance" with 50,000 other people.

People bitching about ________(insert: "lines", "muni", "parking", etc.) - 1 Michelle Malkin: STFU

The Food - 1 Bill Clinton: Not terrible and a couple dollars under what I would expect at a festival-type event.

The Bitter End the night before - 2 Bill Clinton's: Raging! However, I couldn't help but feel as though the whole night was missing a certain Davin Affrunti.
Ps. Ben, do you remember almost getting in a fight with some dude at the bar? meh, me either.

Lindsey Baldwin - 5 Bill Clinton's: wow. I don't think anyone had you in their "Most likely to..." pool. Excellent work, were all very proud.
Thats all I got. This weekend ripped hard. Can't wait till next year.

It moved...

Just wanted to give a couple single thoughts on Outside Lands before I seriously culminate everything that was this past weekend.
First, Tom Petty was fan-effing-tastic. Almost brought me to tears listening to free-fallin' this morning outside of the DMV...dont ask
Second, Radiohead; although I wasn't "converted" nor did I have some sort of life altering experience like s many Radiohead slurpers do...to put it in Seinfeldien terms, "it moved."
Ill explain later...and spare the crazy music elitist nonsense.

Floating in Front of my Eyes or Brain

Here is a list of links, pix and videos that have made my last couple days a little more interesting.
I hope you enjoy!
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Is Michael Phelps a douche?
You make the call...

(The last photo is pretty incriminating)
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Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, Dan Rather...who does our generation turn to as our most trusted deliverer of news?
I called it approx. 1 year ago

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Reading an article on espn.com about poor Michael Vick losing all his money reminded me of the glory days of Ron Mexico. Remember this?:
http://www.ronmexico.com/

which then reminded of this...the Ron Mexico name generator!

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How cool is Joe Biden?

Your next VP?
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How rad does this show sound...?
(from "the list")

Horseshow Pits, Golden Gate Park, S.F. No School Friday, Gunner, Crimewave, and any other band that shows up a/a 4pm free *** (Thrillfest) (each band plays 3 songs/15 minutes until everyband plays or cops come)
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The chick for USA Gymnastics -Alicia Sacramone (who lost the gold for team USA gymnastics) knocked some dude out with a wicked left...Im impressed.

Caption Contest!

You win nothing, but its caption contest time!

My entry:

"An unfortunate turn of events for brother, Filthy Sanchez, and his 2008 presidential campaign."

I Don't Like Radiohead

As the much anticipated Outsidelands Festival, to be held in Golden Gate Park in SF, approaches, it seems as though I can't talk to anyone under the age of 35 without be asked, "you goin' to Outsidelands dude?" The city is a'buzz and the weekend everyone has been waiting for is almost here.
However, the 2-3 questions that will inevitably follow will drastically change the mood of the conversation, the general good feeling and could quite possibly change the once ecstatic festival goers opinion of me, Ryan M. Rowe.
What are those 2-3 questions you ask? Well, here's how the rest of the conversation goes:

Giddy Festival Goer: you goin' to Outsidelands dude?

Ryan: Yeah (very slight hint of exasperation)

GFG: Do you know what days you are going?

Ryan: Yeah, Im going to go Saturday

GFG: Duuuuuuuuuuuuude....Friday...Radiohead!?!?

Ryan: meh, Im not that into Radiohead

GFG: WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?????????????? OMFG!!!!!@#*&^_($$#$!!!HOW COULD YOU*&%$#@!

Ryan: Im just not that into them

And thats how a Giddy Festival Goer, maybe a close friend(?), loses respect for my musical taste, and quite possibly even loses respect for my once solid(?) character and values.
Clearly everyone is entitled to their own opinions when it comes to likes and dislikes, but there seems to be a pantheon of bands or artists who are untouchable to matters of opinion and under any circumstance MUST be worshiped like gods; and those who do not bow down shall be shamed for all eternity.
Well, I dont care, I dont care if you call me a terrorist, I will never kow-tow to these bands:

Radiohead - I liked "Creep", but thats about it. I dont really like Thom Yorke's voice and the music just doesnt excite me that much. Just not that into it.

Coldplay - award winner for world's most boring band in my opinion. Without even a close competitor, Coldplay was the most requested music to be played in the office of my last company, proving that they are just slightly more interesting to listen to than Muzak.

U2 - Bono, just leave.

Beastie Boys - Ok, they have catchy songs, but seriously, their rhyme schemes are so predictable and boring I dont understand how anyone could possibly listen to an entire album. Their early punkrock album was interesting and fiery, but everything after "Sabotage" has been unlistenable to me.

Vampire Weekend - Im always very disappointed when a band's name rocks way harder than their actual music. I heard them playing in the background at some yuppie-licious organic soup and salad cafe in the financial district in Philadelphia; which much like being played over the office speakers, is industry proof that Vampire Weekend is just slightly more interesting than Muzak.

Weezer - What happened Weezer? The Blue album was and is an instant classic, nothing more to say, its perfect. Pinkerton, while underappreciated, is awesome and a masterpiece from start to finish. At my friend Adam's bachelor party, the group of us guys drunkenly decided we'd collectively fight anyone that night who spoke poorly of Weezer's Pinkerton. Noone did. Since then? The Green Album, had that "Island in the Sun" song which is a guilty pleasure of mine, but a mediocre album, very disappointing compared to the first two. Everything since? So forgettable that my friend Ben got the latest Red Album for free and after giving it a listen decided "it wouldn't make it on the iPod"--sad.

Green Day - Much like Weezer, soooooooo awesome in their formative years, and, well, my formative years as well. Kerplunk and Insomniac were awesome albums, and Dookie essentially raised me from age 13-15. Since Insomniac, however, they just seem so manufactured to me. American Idiot? guh. Wheres the sophistication? Very unfulfilling to me.

Random Things from Philadelphia

People in Philadelphia are nice! Way nicer than I expected. I have to wonder if the stereotype is all hype or if people of Philadelphia all got together and decided to be nice to the tourists.

The bell kinda sux

Despite my lactose intolerance, I had a Philly Cheesesteak or "steak"...2 of them in fact(on seperate occasions...im not trying to prove anything here)

Philly has the best alleys, not only are they all historical and whatnot with the bricks and cobblestones, but they are definitely prime stooping locations as well

I heard Ben Franklin was player

These people really care a lot about the Eagles

Walking around the city of Philadelphia makes me realize how MANY homeless people there are in San Francisco. Its ridiculous! Totally made me think of that South Park episode where all the homeless people are walking around asking for "chaaaaaaange"...and their solution to get rid of the homeless people is to convince them to move to California by setting up a P.A. system on top of a party bus singing the South Park version of California Love..."California...loves the homeless, Californ-yuh-uh...super cool to the homeleh-ess"

Philly has soul, Ive heard it before, but its true, indescribable, but theres soulfulness to this city...maybe it just seems that way because theres a park that has a giant statue that says "LOVE"

Unlike San Francisco, people seem to put effort into their looks/appearance. Even the fuglies look nice...its kind of refreshing. Idk, maybe its just a difference in style and trends. Either way, I like the "I bathe and like a flattering appearance" look, rather than the "I don't wash my hair and buy my clothes from the homeless dude on 16th and Valencia selling VHS tapes and little league trophies - despite having some sort of income and the ability to live in San Francisco" style that SF is rockin right now

Counterpoint to the above statement: The financial district is waaaaay to stuffy

EVERY food establishment in the city sells cheesesteaks, its ridiculous. Pizza places, burger joints, deli's, WaWa's(the philly version of 7/11), even the high-end steak house - Barclay's Prime serves a Kobe beef cheesesteak...for $100!

Smoke. In. Bars...TONS of it. I literally got a buzz in the 3 minutes I stood at the bar waiting for a drink

Despite James and Lauri's gushing over the 7/11-esque "WaWa's" in Philadelphia - id say they are way overrated. Pretty much just your average am/pm or 7/11 with a deli

The Rocky statue isnt at the top of the stairs. Totally didnt know that. Its at the bottom and to the side of the famous Philadelphia Art Museum steps that Rocky Balboa runs up in the "Rocky" movies

Yeah it was hot as balls, but Philadelphia was a good experience. Go there, run up the stairs, eat a cheesesteak and be happy.