Sasquatch! Festival Spectacular! Spectacular!

It is that time of the year again. The end of February signals more than just the approach of Spring and tax deadlines. Nay, something much more exciting and important was kicked off on the 28th: the countdown to the Sasquatch! Music Festival 2009. The tickets officially went on sale this weekend and now that mine have been purchased the road to musical enlightenment begins today and ends at the Gorge in George, WA on Memorial Day weekend.

The Sas tradition started last summer and I was truly blown away by the experience. It had everything you've come to expect from a festival experience: lots of drinking and smoking, lounging about the grounds covered in sun screen trying to stave off heat stroke and wide-spread debauchery in the campground. Sure, there's Bonnaroo, Coachella and other music festivals out there but Sasquatch has something that sets it apart: the advantage of location! location! location! The Gorge is breathtaking. An amphitheater built, literally, into the side of a cliff overlooking the massive Columbia River. The picture above is the main stage from the opening day of last year's festival.

And of course there's the music. Last year there was R.E.M, The Cure, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, M.I.A., etc.. This year? Even more cause for excitement...

Sasquatch! Music Festival 2009 Artist Line-up:

Bands in BOLD are the ones I want to see

• Kings of Leon (*ungh* I actually HATE this band, I don't give a rat's ass how critically acclaimed they are. Hopefully, another band worth seeing will be playing on a different stage during their set.)
• Yeah Yeah Yeah's
• Nine Inch Nails (reportedly, this is their last tour "ever")
• Jane's Addiction (with all the original members)
• The Decemberists
• Erykah Badu
• Ben Harper and Relentless 7
  
• Animal Collective
• Devotchka
• Arthur & Yu
• Bon Iver
• M. Ward (saw him play live on Letterman, not impressed)
  
• Doves
• Sun Kil Moon (Mark Kozelak's new band, he's the singer from Red House Painters)
• The Gaslight Anthem
  
• King Khan & The Shrines
• Ra Ra Riot
• Shearwater
• Passion Pit
• Vince Mira
• Mt. Saint Helens Vietnam Band
• Owl City
• Death Vessel
• Blind Pilot
• Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
• TV On The Radio
• The Murder City Devils
• of Montreal
• The Avett Brothers
• Calexico
• M83
• The Airborne Toxic Event
• The Walkmen
• The Wrens
• St. Vincent
• The Dodos
• John Vanderslice
• The Submarines
• Viva Voce
• The Builders And The Butchers (Saw them open for Amanda Palmer in place of the MCDs)
  
• AA Bondy (Didn't stick around for their set at the Tractor last night but maybe I should have :/ )
  
• Fences (Went to see him play at the Tractor Tavern last night. I'm excited to see him play when there aren't fifty rude, drunk Seattlites talking over him)
  
• Point Juncture, WA
• Deadmau5
• Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
• Silversun Pickups (I just want to hear them play "Lazy Eye" and that's it)
  
• Fleet Foxes
• Gogol Bordello
• Santigold
• Grizzly Bear
• Explosions In The Sky (what a coincidence! See my blog from 1/25)
  
• Girl Talk
• Blitzen Trapper
• The Knux
• Monotonix
• Bishop Allen
• Black Moth Super Rainbow
• Beach House
• Mugison
• The Dutchess And The Duke (apparently the Duchess used to be married to my co-worker's roomate and she left him for the Duke.)
  
• School Of Seven Bells
• Horse Feathers
• The Pica Beats
• Loch Lomond
• Tobacco
• Chromeo
• God's Pottery (Jesus Rock?!? Gross.)
  
• BLK JKS

Wow. I count 28 bands worth my time on that list, not to mention the hidden gems I won't discover until I get there. Definitely worth the $160.00 price tag for a 3-day pass. Well, that's all I have to report right now. It's time to watch a little MST3K and think about dinner.

!!!

Day Off

I had the first of what I hope will be many meetings with the director of the Veterinary Technology program at Pierce College today. All in all, it was a productive trip. I picked up financial aid information and took a good look at the campus. And I found out that I only need to take two prerequisite courses instead of three like I was anticipating (a C+ in my Chemistry lab really counts?). I just need to find out if the Finite Math course I took qualifies as an Algebra class. Keep your fingers crossed!

This was my first real step toward getting back into the academic world. Even after completing four years in college and earning a bachelor's degree, the idea of going back for two more years seems completely daunting. I'm utterly terrified and, at the same time, exhilarated that I'm actually making it happen. My plan is to apply for next fall, so with any luck I'll have plenty of time to get all of my ducks in a row without having to put myself through a great deal of stress and anxiety.

In other news, last night Gerad and I had a night on the town in Seattle. After splurging on leftover Christmas gift sets at Lush (my new retail Achilles' heel) and a delicious Mexican dinner we headed up to Capital Hill and caught a show at Neumos. Colonies, my favorite local band (www.myspace.com/colonies ), was playing and one of the bands that played before them turned out to be pretty rocking and thus worth a plug. They're called A Leaf (www.myspace.com/aleafmusic ) and they sound a bit Oasis-ish but with a singer that sounds like a mix of Thom Yorke and the dude from Death Cab for Cutie. They'll be at the High Dive in Fremont on January 24th, so plan on going out to support your local music scene that night. I'll see you there.

And so ends the inaugural post of The Brains, which seems very appropriate with it being January and all. I'm looking forward to a year full of adventures, great movies, music and delicious food... all worth sharing.

!!!

PARTING WISDOM...

• FearNet On Demand Really Fails At Life.
• Mt. Rainer Could Explode Any Day And I Think That's Really Cool.
• I Want To Make Love To Nick Cave.