My 35 Conferette stats by Friday morning: 6 hours of live music, 2:30AM bedtime, 5:30AM alarm. Not bad… minus the alarm. For those following along, I had spent the first day reeling from Mavis Staples’ performance and I enjoyed a satisfying evening of music. Among my many tweets, this was among them:
The sentiment was shared across the board but, due to a chance encounter with one exhausted core volunteer, I was one of the few and the proud that was granted this honor. See, the 5:30AM alarm was set so I could shower the smell of Denton bars off my body, replace a broken headlight, and ensure that both Mavis and Yvonne Staples made it to their exit flight. I’ll spare you all the fun details but if you can imagine me grinning from ear-to-ear while my sweaty palms maneuvered the steering wheel through morning rush hour traffic, that just about sums up my journey with the Staple Sisters. And, you know what? I didn’t have to ask for a hug. Before we parted paths, both Mavis and her sister opened their arms wide, invited me into a warm hug, and said, “We’ll see you next time.” She also made it a point that I say goodbye to Jaime, Ramon, and Jesseca, so there you go guys. And if you were wondering if she packed the “Keep Denton Beard” shirt? She did.
But, my morning was not over and I chugged a Red Bull and awaited my next task. I ensured another legend, Dave Smalley, made it safe and sound to Denton, Texas. Both he and his companion were sleep deprived as well but that did not stop us from having a good time. Friends, if a Northerner asks you to take them somewhere that is absolutely Texas, you can’t go wrong with Old West. Unless they don’t like food. Luckily for the three of us, they did and I got to cross off “Have a freakin’ awesome breakfast with a freakin’ punk rock legend” off my to-do list.
By the time we wrapped things up, my pancake-ladened body wanted rest more than it wanted to see Spooky Folk at Cool Beans. Sorry, duders. You know I love you long time. I snuck in a restless nap, plagued by thoughts of missing out on 35 Conferette, so I headed out for more. Sadly, I missed RTB2 but my consolation, MiniBoone, was a pleasant surprise. With the Denton square as their backdrop, the New Yorkers brought a very fun vibe to the onlookers who increased in numbers as their set went on. The video I shot is an unfair representation of how well they performed as they battled to get their keyboard on but you can still see the bassist rock a neon shirt harder than anyone has before him:
I grabbed a sandwich from Weinberger’s (who, from what I know, were completely awesome about having 35 Conferette all up in their area) and popped a squat near Main Stage 1 for Telegraph Canyon who were fantastic as always. Feeling the effects from my tiny naps, I took it easy then went to Main Stage 2 to check out Mister Heavenly. Yes, it was nice to have the King of Awkward, Michael Cera, up on stage, along with members of Man Man and Modest Mouse, but can I admit that I wasn’t into it? Okay, I wasn’t into it. I made my way back to Main Stage 1 and had a primo standing spot for Dr. Dog, who was able to show us how to really handle a bass guitar. (Sorry, Cera.)
You’d think that after a wonderfully long set from Dr. Dog (including an extended encore), I would have had my share of music for Friday. No! When you have a music festival in your backyard, you keep going, people! You keep going! …Stay tuned…
Related posts:
