Wednesday, May 9, 2001
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Wednesday, May 9, 2001 |
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I went to Music Midtown and all I got was this lousy blister and this great tan By
MICHAEL BOYLAN
I had a busy weekend. Very busy. Busy like beavers trying to dam up the Colorado River. I attended Music Midtown Friday and Sunday, took dance classes Saturday and took in a Braves game Sunday. Music Midtown was great. I have gone to the three-day concert series for the last three years and this was the second best. 1999's was the best. I saw Kid Rock, Everclear, Hole, Reel Big Fish, and The Black Crowes that year. I had a lot of space and I didn't walk around a lot. Things were different this year. The performances were terrific. Drivin N' Cryin sounded awesome, The Offspring played hit after hit and Blues Traveler, whom I had never seen before, was one of the best acts I have seen in years. They opened their set with a cover of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and won me over immediately. It was crowded, but at least people weren't on top of each other like last year. I also think that performers were on time. There were lots of delays last year and that makes the drunks in the crowd a little more restless. There was a lot of drinking at the festival this year, but because it wasn't as hot as in years past, people weren't drinking as much or as frequently. Last year people tried to pick a fight with my friends and me during the Oasis set. This year, everybody seemed to be in good spirits. I think taking one day off from the festival was a good idea. Knowing that we didn't have to brave the traffic, both pedestrian and otherwise, and stand for hours on end on Saturday was refreshing. Saturday night, I took my first dance class at The Gathering Place in Peachtree City. I'm taking salsa/merengue with Sabine, my fiancee. She used to dance competitively and I never dance, so this is a compromise. The first class went well. I picked up some of the steps quickly and I don't want to quit yet, so we're doing well. Sunday, we went to the Atlanta Braves game against the St. Louis Cardinals. They won 7-5 and Chipper Jones hit two home runs. It was the first time that they won while I was in attendance this year, so I know I'm not the jinx. I do feel like I'm the most negative person in the park, though. Most Braves fans are very polite and encouraging and quiet. I get very upset when they make mistakes. For instance, they had runners on second and third and there were no outs. One would think that they would get at least one run from that, but they didn't. It was ugly. Up north, fans believe it is OK to boo or gripe about these mistakes because they fork over their cash to see their team and they expect their team to win. Some people look down on me for making sarcastic remarks about the team's misfortunes, while I see it as my God-given right. After the game, I went back to Music Midtown and caught an acoustic set from the Indigo Girls, which sounded beautiful. During their set, some guys tried climbing a light pole. One of them reached the top and then slid down. People cheered him as he reached the top. That will probably be the highlight of his life. Sad when you think about it. After the Indigo Girls, it was time for Run DMC. They kicked their old school rhymes and classic hits, while people jumped up and down and did their break dancing moves. If a lot of the crowd did not have piercings, you'd think it was 1984. Sabine and I were wiped out ater Run DMC, so we called it a day. On our way out, we perused the Artist's Market and some guy selling bootleg CD's tried to scam me. He told me that the CDs cost $10, but I bought bootlegs in New York that only cost $5. It doesn't cost a lot to burn CDs, so I was not going to be suckered out of my money. It was a fun weekend and I'm looking forward to the work week, so I can rest, relax and re-energize.
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