The Bully Pulpit

So, yeah, I failed until now in wrapping this glorious festival up, but only because I was exhausted, I went straight back to work after an early morning drive, and it was the first day of school for two of my kids, including the first EVER for Hank, my 5-year-old.

But all that aside, I've now processed all the great photos taken by one of my best friends Glen, and am ready to post some of them so that you too can see the ringside view of Outside Lands.

To help you rank the bands, here's my assessment -- the best band all-around had to be Cage the Elephant, which gave the most intense performance I've ever seen, all without the slightest hint of pretension. Next came Ween, because they have mastered their catalogue and gave a flawless and energetic performance of some strange and difficult material. Street Sweeper Social Club is next, primarily because of the mammoth guitar chops of Tom Morello and the verbal calisthenics of Boots, without the icky taste of someone else's cloying politics.

The best new band is a toss up -- Portugal The Man was good, if too into staring at each other while ignoring the audience. The Dodos were also amazing, as was Loop!Station, and AudioLux.

The only band we didn't like (I'm going out on a limb here by speaking for Glen, but I'm pretty sure he's with me on this) was the Morning Benders. With that name, you'd expect a grizzled group of road veterans finally breaking into primetime after a decade spent behind stage cages, dodging beer bottle shards and stepping around strippers on stage. Instead, we got four high school sophomores with three chest hairs among them. They had zero energy, and less stage presence.

Still, as Glen said, they were the best band at Outside Lands without driver's licenses.

Anyway, on to the pictures. Glen took all these with a consumer point-and-shoot camera, garnering better photos than a lot of other photogs who had thousands of dollars in gear hanging around their necks. He's got mad skills, as they say.

Loop!Station

Street Sweeper Social Club

TV on the Radio

Cage the Elephant (here the lead singer is standing on the shoulders of the crowd, shoe and microphone in hand, surveying the raucous crowd)

The Dead Weather

and

MIA

Tenacious D

and

And here's just a great photograph. Thanks Glen, for everything.

Posted by James Faulk at 09:43 PM | Permalink

I don't have much time, as I slept in late after a late return last night, but the best bands on Day 2 were Mars Volta, TV on the Radio, Mastodon, and Street Sweeper Social Club.

Here's some pics:

Posted by James Faulk at 11:06 AM | Permalink

With five stages rotating through a dynamic roster of musical talent -- many of whom have hit records and large followings -- Outside Lands was remarkably full of surprises. Several times on Day 1, Glen and I stumbled into a stage where an unheralded band bent old musical rules to make something new and good. Really new. Really good.

Loop!Station

The Dodos

Autolux

(no picture, dammit)

Every band exceeded expectations, but of the major acts, Sliversun Pickups kicked the most ass. And mainly it was the singer, whose infectious good humor and strong vocals -- not to mention his serious guitar chops -- kept the swollen crowd loud and moving.

What else can you say about a festival where Tom Jones -- yes, THAT Tom Jones -- and Q-Tip can find robust crowds who know all the words.

Posted by James Faulk at 11:01 PM | Permalink

Here's a link to the Facebook page where I'll be posting photos and comments from the field today.

Also, because I'm a geek, here's the view from our inner city hotel -- we've already seen a man and woman get arrested as they had a "415 with themselves," just as a horrified tourist family walked by ...

Alas, no one got Tasered.

Posted by James Faulk at 10:03 AM | Permalink

Rock festivals have a special taste about them ... like body odor and hardening mud. I can't wait to get out to the grounds of this year's Outside Lands Festival in SF's Golden Gate Park to get my first whiff.

My buddy Glen and I drove down last night from Humboldt County, checked into our rather 1950s chic hotel room in the city, and are now freshly showered and plugged in to the Internets.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Glen Cooper, 31, of Washington state:

There's a laundry list of bands performing this weekend, but I'll keep it to a short list:

Pearl Jam
Incubus
The National
Autolux
Q-Tip
The Duke Spirit
The Do Dos
Built to Spill
Kinky
Silversun Pickups

And, of course, Tom Jones

That's just one day folks. We're making our schedules now, trying to plot out some harrowing conflicts. For instance, on Sunday, the legendary (to me) band Ween is bisected by MIA. What are we to do? The station KSLG has gotten us all so addicted to MIA that I may have to duck out for a moment or two to catch the band's international sound.

Yikes. At least Ween is playing for two hours.

Anyhow, we're off in a few moments to search out the press tent, find Will Call, and see if this silly chain of events comes to some kind of enjoyable conclusion.

More photos and words to come ...

Posted by James Faulk at 09:12 AM | Permalink

I'm posting the following link from Technorati so that I can join their database, get a ton of traffic and eventually garner a Google sponsorship to live in a cyber sky tower and write blog entries all day. Small aspirations lead to small disappointments.

Proof of my selling out:

Technorati Profile

Posted by James Faulk at 10:40 AM | Permalink

I filed this under the self-love category because I couldn't think of where else ... but I saw this on Salon.com and thought, What does my poop say about me?

I take poo health seriously — well, at least as seriously as it can be taken — because my dear old Da died of the colon cancer. And I can force myself to take a long look back, when I need to, if it will tell me how my own poop chute is operating.

Posted by James Faulk at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I'm really not ashamed to admit that my two primary loves in life are football and politics. There's nothing better to me than presidential politics, where the candidates get down and dirty and fight about the issues and their ever-swelling egos.

So to me, the recent comeback of Hill-Ree Clinton against Barack "The Bomb" Obama (who unfortunately in the eyes of rednecks everywhere will forever be known as the other Osama) tickled my fancy. I don't want the race to be a blowout after Nevada, or even after Feb. 5.

I'd like the battle to come down to the Democratic National Convention, with screaming red-faced delegates on either side fighting for their man or woman to receive the nod. That's good political theater, and something we've been lacking in the last few presidential elections.

The same goes for McCain's comeback, although his win in New Hampshire to me basically signals that he's on his way to victory. Not as much fun.

On the other hand, 49er football is my guilty pleasure. They suck, I know, but it is what it is. Fortunately, they had a major shakeup Tuesday when the powers-that-be (Mike Nolan and Scot Mcloughan) hired Mike Martz as their offensive coordinator.

Mike Martz was the offensive genius behind the St. Louis Rams Greatest Show on Turf a few years ago, and he's hoping to turn a moribund 49ers offense back into the powerhouse it was in the 1980s and 1990s.

Good luck to him on that. For once I'd like my Sunday afternoons during football season to be happy, for the good of my family. Martz, give my kids a good home by making me happier on Sundays. It's just the right thing to do. I can only throw the nacho cheese boat against the wall a few more times before it leaves permanent mental scars.

Posted by James Faulk at 09:48 AM | Permalink

It's been many moons since the Bully Pulpit published what was at one time a weekly rant. Many are the reasons for this — a new job (bed weditor, if you haven't heard), a new baby, and a realization that an opinion column can greatly complicate one's ability to cover a beat, etc.

But now, under cover of the World Wide Web, I'm back. As an editor, it's OK for me to have an opinion, and it's OK for me to make fun of public officials, and it's OK to think I'm better that everyone else.

I'm OK, you're OK, so let's blog.

My first topic — the newspaper war. A few of us a the old T-S have weathered virtually all of the Arkley storm. John Driscoll, Chris Durant and myself were here when the A-Team first launched their assault on the large if unsightly ramparts of the Times-Standard building. Others, like Kim Wear, arrived soon after, and have made themselves invaluable in the fight.

Rumor has it that the war was started because the T-S didn't endorse Cherie Arkley for mayor. While that may have been a factor, I had heard long before the endorsement was announced that there was a well-to-do man around who was out to start his own newspaper and put the T-S out of business.

Continue reading "I blog therefore I am (on being a newspaper warrior)" »

Posted by James Faulk at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)