Drug use and rock music seem to go together like Siskel & Ebert Ebert & Roper hot dogs and buns.  For some reason, it seems to have been there from the beginning of rock and, unfortunately, has left way too many talented artists dead as a result.  Of course, there are still a decent amount of people who are still alive as a result of their drug use, as well.  Some modern musicians, like Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse, have even let their dangerous habits outshine their own musical talents. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for reading this headline:

Barenaked Ladies singer arrested on drug charges

Hell has officially frozen over.  I’ve just spent the past ten minutes trying to think of one other musician I would have expected even less to be charged in place of the Barenaked Ladies singer, but I’m at a loss.  This is, afterall, the same band who looked like this circa 1992:

I mean, just look at that picture.  What a bunch of geeky little gaywads.  The singer, based on the Associated Press article, seems to be the guy in the red shirt who looks like a) he’s terrified to give a fist bump (aka “Terrorist Fist Jab”) to the black guy in the band, b) thinks he’s going to get his super sexy glasses punched in, or c) accidentally had the alarm on his Casio watch go off way too loud.  The amazing thing is, you could Photoshop the other guys out of the picture, explain to a friend that the guy is possibly the coolest looking guy in a five-man band, and your friend would think you’re completely full of it but you wouldn’t be lying one bit.

Okay, I just thought of someone who I would be more shocked about a drug charge than the Barenaked Ladies guy:

Raffi.

Come to think of it, the Barenaked Ladies are really pretty similar to Raffi.  Raffi sings songs about whales named Beluga, and the Barenaked Ladies sing songs about how, if they had a million dollars, they’d buy an emu.  They also sing lyrics like “Chickity china the Chinese chicken” which, although likely to appeal to children and very Raffi-esque, is way lamer than anything he’d likely write.  Heck, Raffi could be coked out of his mind and he’d still never write anything that stupid.  Not even on a dare.

I recently read this article on the BBC website about what songs soldiers would play for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.  The songs they played included the Sesame Street theme, the Barney theme song, and “American Pie”.  Now, I shouldn’t reveal my hand, especially since I’m sure terrorists read this blog on a daily basis, but the number one song I would absolutely hate being tortured by on repeat is “If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies. I would find the nearest broomstick, break it in half, whittle each end down, and stab myself simultaneously in the ears.

Yesterday was my 28th birthday.  It’s always a little weird typing out my new age like that.  Anyway, I received an ecard from my friend Rachel that said this:

That’s some funny stuff right there.  I mean, I always wonder when I’ll reach that point where I stop keeping up with music and just decide to only listen to music I already have.  Hopefully that doesn’t happen for a long time.

It seems like every birthday I write about reflections I have on the previous year.  While the year before was about creating exciting, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, this past year was one of stability.  I suppose if my life were a book, the chapter would have been titled, “Chapter 27: Bradical Becomes an Adult”.  While I’m certainly timid to ever associate my name with the word “adult” (because, let’s face it, many people associate that with being lame), I think I just learned about some more about the important things in life while still trying to maintain a fun attitude about everything.  Year 27 was an interesting one to say the least.

So what does year 28 have in store?  I’m definitely no fortune teller, but I would imagine it will build on this past year.  In a sense, I feel like I sort of established roots in a lot of aspects of life, and I will start to branch out and “grow” more as a result.  It’s kind of exciting to think about.  I mean, this will be my first year since I was in high school that I will have lived in the same place year-round, have had the same job, or have lived in my home for more than one week at a time.  I had to stop and re-read that last statement a couple of times just to double check it and let that sink in for a bit.  It’s true, though.  That absolutely blows my mind.  It was a great past year, and I really can’t wait to see what the upcoming one has in store.

We arrived to the festival grounds a little early on Saturday so we could walk around and check out some of the other non-music features that the event had to offer.  There was an interesting mix of people out and about which was pretty great to see.  One guy decided to bring out his pet snake for a stroll, and the kids around him were fascinated by it (note: the kid in the red was wearing a Pixies shirt.  I think he is officially the youngest hipster I’ve ever seen).

On with the music…

Drive-By Truckers

I think I was a little late on listening to the band’s albums so I’m not sure what their earlier stuff sounds like.  What I had heard of them was mostly a southern rock sound.  Live, though, they sound much louder and fuller than I was expecting.  I’m glad I was familiar with about half of their set, partially because live shows are just better when you know the stuff, but also because southern music really sounds the same to me.

Jakob Dylan
I was looking forward to seeing him because, well, he’s the son of a legend.   I’d never heard any songs off of his new solo album and was expecting his music to sound similar to his somewhat radio-friendly band, The Wallflowers.  Instead, it’s almost like Jakob decided that he was done with trying to sound different from his father and proceeded to play midtempo folk songs for an hour.  It was good music for just sitting in the grass and taking in from afar.

Sitting back and relaxing also gave me some time to catch up with Katie and Megan, two sisters who are very good friends of mine.  I rarely get to see them, but when I do, we act like no time has passed.

Black Francis

I realize that I may be shunned by anyone who is into music by saying this, but I’ve never really been a big Pixies fan.  Knowing that my friends who are into the Pixies have told me that Frank Black’s solo stuff isn’t all that great, I kept my expectations pretty low.  Still, Frank Black is an indie rock icon, and I was glad to see him.  Sadly but expectedly, the music didn’t do much of anything for me.

Yonder Mountain String Band

When I’ve thought of Yonder Mountain in the past, two things that I don’t care for immediately come to mind: bluegrass music and hippies.  I’ve had several friends tell me that they’re a ton of fun, though, so I was interested to see/hear what all the hype was about.  They were having a good time on stage, but it honestly sounded like someone had put that FreeCreditReport.com commercial on nonstop repeat.  We soon left to check out some local bands.

While walking out to the street, we saw a group of the naked painted women from the day before.  Andy ran over and got a picture with them.  I think you can pretty much tell from the look on his face that it may be one of the happiest moments of his life.

The Envy Corps

I had been listening to these guys for the past month or so.  I had no idea, prior to the festival, that they were a Des Moines band.  I get the feeling they are to Des Moines what Republic Tigers are to Kansas City.  In fact, they just finished touring with The Killers.  They sounded pretty solid live and seemed excited about their growing popularity.  The crowd by the stage was pretty darn big.

While watching The Envy Corps, I ran into several friends of mine I had yet to see.  One group was Stacy, Toby, and their newborn son Bradon.  The other was Brian, Wendy, Ryan, and Brandon.

One cool thing about the festival was that they kept all the food and drinks local to Des Moines.  Nothing was a chain which is pretty remarkable for a festival, in my opinion.  The beer was from Olde Main Brewing Company from Ames, and they only charged $10 for three drink tickets to partake in any of their microbrews.  Judging from the tower of empty kegs on Saturday night, I’d say the deal went over well.

The Roots

The Roots were in Kansas City on Thursday night and, according to Ticketmaster, prices before fees ranged from $30-50.  I paid a total of $40 to attend the entire festival.  Suckers! I’d only seen The Roots once before and was pretty blown away by their live show.  I couldn’t wait to see them perform a full set at night to close out the festival.

The first few songs in their set drew from their new album, Rising Down, but the real meat of the show came later on as the band just got better and better.  They played an updated version of the medley they played when I saw them at Lollapalooza last year.  This version included snippets of Kanye, Justin Timberlake, Snoop, and Jay-Z.  Here’s a clip I took of it.

The highlight of the show was when ?uestlove talked to everyone about how they hadn’t been in Iowa in 13 years, but that Iowans set the tone for this election by voting for Obama in the caucus.  He then made some remarks about how we needed to clean up the mess we’ve had for the past 8 years before diving into a 20 minute jam of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War”.  It was pretty amazing.  Towards the end, the song morphed into “Machine Gun” by Jimi Hendrix and the guitarist ran around the front of the stage playing a one-handed solo while holding his guitar against the side of his face like it was a machine gun.  It was one sweet move.  Of course, ?uestlove had his moment to shine, as well, as he soloed for a few minutes by himself.

When the festival came to a close, there was a fireworks display, and everyone left the park talking about what a great time it was.  I hope they’re able to continue the festival for years to come.

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