Tales From The Roo: Day 1

Let me start off by saying I apologize for what will likely be a jumbled mess of incoherent thoughts & partial sentences in these next few posts (wait...are all my posts like that?). Three days at Bonnaroo is a little bit like visiting another planet, filled with non-stop loud music and unwashed hippies, and a lot like losing several brain/eardrum cells. So please forgive any awkward transitions and gaping holes in chronology as my recall is a bit hazy!

Day 1 featured a lot of jittery excitement and a few nerves as we all piled into Row 15 of one of the Delta charter planes (the little ones that have you white-knuckling every bump of turbulence) bound for Nashville. Lucky for me, Kevin's left shoulder conveniently functioned as a headrest, and two sleep-filled hours later, we landed in hot, sticky Tenneesee ready to take on The Roo.

While Kevin, Pete, Alex & I have all been to the festival before, as a first timer, Kristin was pumped. Like a little kid headed to Disneyland, she couldn't even sit still for the camera.

Upon arrival at our deluxe hotel accommodations, the Country Inn & Suites, we quickly dropped our bags, slathered on some sunscreen, applied a few fake tattoos (because why not?), and headed to the festival grounds. With our special VIP "Artists" wristbands firmly in place, granting us access to designated private viewing areas and side of the stage entrance (no measly general admission tix here!), we were ready.

Smack dab in the middle of Tennessee on a 700-acre farm, The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is three-days & four-nights of sensory overload. With 80,000 festival-goers, 150 performances on 10+ stages from sunup to sundown every day, it's like an alternate universe. Overwhelming at first, but by the end you're so exhausted and desensitized to the sheer outrageousness of it all that seeing people dressed like this seems perfectly normal:

Our outfits being not quite as garish, Kristin & I felt compelled to join in on the anything-goes festival attire blanketing the grounds. If we couldn't join 'em in the costume department, we would make do with the next best thing. Hair! Hello Garnier Fructis braiding booth! Should I be embarrassed to admit we hit up this place every day? Who knew the authentic hippie look would take so much effort!

Eventually, it was time to get down to business and do what we came here to do. Hear some music! Bands we caught during Night 1...

Haim - an all-girl group from LA with a long-haired, freewheelin' hipster style but decidedly old-school rock'n'roll sound (wishing this was a better photo!):

Japandroids - a funky band with a funky name made up of two guys from Vancouver, BC who do a lot of energetic jumping around on stage. Unfortunately, I was too busy jumping along with them to snap any pics!

We also briefly stopped by the sets of Allen Stone featuring a full gospel choir (!), Alt-J, and Walk The Moon but only stayed for a couple songs at each.

With a marathon like Bonnaroo you really have to pace yourself, so to conserve energy in preparation for the upcoming days ahead, we called it an early night to ensure top fuel reserves for the real reason we all came down here: Sir Paul McCartney. A legendary Beatle in the flesh? Japandroids Shamandroids, we're here to see Paul.

Stay tuned for Day 2 recap up next!

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What Was I Thinking?

You guys, I had an epiphany while cleaning out my closet this week. After yanking a few too many embarrassingly outdated and cringe-worthy shirts/dresses off the hangers, each new emerging item prompting an incredulous what was I thinking?!, only one explanation remains: I don't know how to dress myself.

Just take a gander at the following gems unearthed from circa 2008, thankfully long forgotten in back corners, and you'll agree. Let's take a trip down clothing-challenged memory lane, shall we? sentence rhyming, heyo!

Out of respect to your corneas, I've photographed these bad boys on the hanger to spare you the horror of what they actually look like on.

While I'd love to say this is one of those charmingly over-sized "boyfriend" shirts, let's not kid ourselves here. When I bought this, my mom bought a matching version in mustard/black and we wore them with leggings and marched around town thinking we were hot stuff.

For a 5'3" shorty like myself, there's just no way a boxy, shapeless, midriff-length jacket will look flattering. I bought it anyways. And that color? Terrible idea for dirty New York City streets.

Is this dress a smock for 3rd grade art class? Those front pockets do look very handy for paintbrush storage. Regrettably, only my 2008 self can answer that question.

Ah, bedazzled tees. And acid wash. And painted peacocks. I think I envisioned myself buying a real piece of art with this little number. Frameworthy? Absolutely.

You know the one. The dress that's a little bit slinky & hugs your curves in all the right places? Well, when it's Kate Upton's hourglass figure underneath, sure. Mine? Not so much.

There were more, but these were the top offenders. Seriously, what was I thinking?!

In the immortal words of Heidi Klum, Auf Vitazen!

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Rooftop Midsommar

Happy (belated) start of Summer! I know, I know--two days late, but who said we can't celebrate the official kick-off of beach season all week long? Super Moon knows what I'm talking about.

To celebrate the summer solstice, because he is hip & cool and does things like mark the celebration of solar calendar holidays, my friend John Travis and his roommates invited peeps over to the roof deck of their apartment building for an official "Midsommar" party (the traditional Scandinavian spelling according to google) complete with a towering Swedish maypole.

In true John Travis style, he and several others built the maypole with their own ten hands and $120. In case you don't know John, he likes to build things. In college, to spruce up an otherwise plain porch at the off-campus house he and a few classmates shared, John constructed fully-functional saloon doors that swung in and out making visitors feel like Clint Eastwood out of a scene from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. So this epic maypole was no surprise. In case you're curious about making your own, beware the streamers. I'm told they spent over four hours constructing them!

John's apartment building, located just a few subway stops over the river in Williamsburg, provides amazing views of Manhattan. Especially at sunset, which was conveniently timed to just as we arrived!

Being the incredible hosts that they are, John & his roomies (plus girlfriend Rachel!) had whipped up a full spread of homemade salmon lox + potato salad, grilled spicy sausage, a whole spiked watermelon, plus party favors in the form of flower head wreaths and bracelets. No detail overlooked, I tell you.

I tried very hard to showcase the flower bracelets at all times.

Of course, with a bona fide maypole in our midst, an awkward photo shoot was inevitable, during which we struggled against unpredictable billowing streamers.

The maypole dancing continued well into the night, long after the sun dipped below the horizon. And let me tell you, posing with streamers is exhausting. By the end of the night, with the rest of the party still in full swing, I snuck off to "nap" until the others were ready to head home. Thankfully, Kristin managed to capture the moment beautifully.

Thank you John, Max, Greg, Jake and Rachel for having us!

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Banana-Raspberry Comfort Food

I know it's already Wednesday, and Monday seems like a distant memory, and the sky looks like this today:

But I swear, Monday was much less cheery with torrential downpours and unseasonably cold temps, leaving me jonesing for some comfort food. Crappy weather + comfort food = banana raspberry muffins? I have no idea either. The stomach wants what the stomach wants!

Wishing I could say my kitchen skills are up to snuff with those of Wear Flats To Dinner, the coolest food blog around, instead I settled for this recipe from the painfully typical Epicurious (slightly adapted).

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill AP gluten-free flour instead)
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/2 cups berries of your choice

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400° F. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in one bowl, whisking to blend. Add the bananas, blending until smooth. Stir in the milk, eggs next, then fold in your berries. Divide batter between individual muffin tins. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

With minimal ingredients and only two mixing bowls needed, these muffins are easy peasy to whip up. Should you encounter a rainy day, with a massive craving for bananas and/or berries, that makes total sense and I know exactly how you feel. Try these bad boys, they just might do the trick.

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Googa Mooga

A few weekends ago, Kevin and I and our friend Peter traipsed out to Brooklyn in the drizzling rain to The Great Googa Mooga. Despite its vaguely google-ish sounding name, Googa Mooga is actually a food festival in Prospect Park that takes place over three days with 85 restaurant and food vendors, 100 wine/beer sellers and live music performances. In their own words, an amusement park of food, drink and music.

We headed out for the day on Saturday, and despite the rain joining in for the festivities, didn't let that stop us from stuffing ourselves silly.

Walking into the festival is a bit daunting. With an overwhelming amount of food stands lined up end to end, each filling your nose with a thousand different mouthwatering wafts of deliciousness, it's difficult to know where to start. Considering my compatriots were two "growing" boys, we inevitably made a beeline for the BBQ/pork/meat area, clearly marked by a massive smoke-spewing cast iron pig appropriately named Hamageddon.

Peter and Kevin kicked things off with marbled rye cheddarwurst & carmelized onion sandwiches from Pork Slope, while my nose led me to Fatty 'Cue's barbeque pulled pork.

Don't let the pulled pork's unimpressive looks deceive you, my nose did not lead me astray! The boys also scarfed down smoked bacon spicy-slaw sandwiches, which made the briefest of appearances next to my pulled pork below, but that's all I could manage to snap before every last crumb disappeared.

Having thoroughly gorged ourselves on enough pig-related food to last a lifetime (gross), next it was on to fried chicken from Blue Ribbon. Kevin was the least excited for this leg of the eating journey.

As you can see in the next sequence of photos, the fried chicken literally stunned them into belly-contented silence. No actual words were spoken. Only grunts of approval and continuous munching.

During the fried chicken bonanza, a little stand by the name of Free Bread called out to me. A simple warm & gooey toasted PB&J? Yes, please!

Several napkins and finger licks later, we waddled over to the main stage as the band Matt & Kim came on. If you've ever seen Matt & Kim live (my first time!), then you know, they put on a party not just a show.

Launching into their set, the crowd immediately went wild, jumping and cheering, and before we knew it someone pitched themselves up into the hands of the crowd and the throng turned into a mosh pit. I've never "moshed" before in my life (too afraid of getting dropped and trampled!) and wasn't about to start now, so instead of sharing some thrilling action shot of me being whisked along over the heads of the throbbing crowd, I'll share these strangers doing it instead.

Even Kim got out there!

As the concert wound down, and the moshers dispersed, our uncomfortably full bellies slash food comas set in. But seeing as how we were in Brooklyn, at the equivalent of foodie heaven, fresh off an indie darlings Matt & Kim concert, I couldn't resist giving my best shot at blending in with the hipster locals before heading home. How'd I do?

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