5/25/13
The Wolfgang Puck breakfast pizza at the Seattle Airport this morning was real good. We're now on the plane to Vegas, four aisle seats in an intimate square. Scott K, Dave Snider, and Arial, and I are going to see a slew of bands this Memorial Day Weekend, including tonight's lineup: The Weirdos, The Damned, and Devo. The festival is called Punk Rock Bowling.
I watched a live Devo video the other night that featured Booji Boy, and I'm hoping he'll visit Vegas this weekend. I'm told that as a young toddler I stood in my crib and rattled the bars, shouting "God bless you, I love you, shut up," over and over again. I think I get where Booji Boy is coming from, maybe a little bit.
Arial is a nurse, and he's having a conversation with his seat mate about her illness. She is an expert and very articulate about it, intent on healing. If this traveling group of aging punk rock fans took a Meyers Briggs personality test, we would rank pretty high in sensitivity and intuition.
I wonder if The Damned will play anything from Strawberries, their first marked departure from "punk rock." Dan Schmid introduced me to this record, and one of my favorite songs "Stranger On The Town." I've heard that there were some complaints about Devo headlining night one. Kind of hard to believe. "Not punk rock." Booji Boy may lay low in Vegas. He may be in his hotel listening to The Coasters and fourth century Japanese folk music. I've never met Booji Boy, but doctrinaire attitudes and small-tent definitions are probably not his bag.
I've never been to Las Vegas so that is part of the adventure. I work in a branch of the sign and display industry, so I'm sure Vegas will be edutainment. Materials, design, digital display, all of a certain scale--I am kind of expecting it to be off the charts. Art glass, lighting, neon--all of that I am really looking forward to. Overstimulation? It's almost guaranteed.
Scott K is teasing me about working on my bucket list here on my laptop. In a sense he is right, as I am in the midst of a bucket list experience. Another bucket list item: reading by the pool in the sun at a nice, not necessarily luxury hotel. For hours. I am close to the end of What Is The What, and have an anthology of short stories called Kansas City Noir.
So there you have it, mid-flight report on the morning of the first day of Punk Rock Bowling, where we will do no bowling, unless it involves organic steel coat oats with fresh fruit and almonds (in a bowl).
One more bucket list item: seeing a vintage Flag lineup.
