Well, at least they're safe, and not being pistol whipped in a folk festival.

i hope REM is owning it. their performance on tonight's episode of Austin City Limits is.... underwhelming.

A few notes from Sasquatch day 1:

Started off sunny and warm. By mid afternoon, clouds were gathering, and by evening, cool and intermittent light rain. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the weekend.

Best set for me (by far): Okkervil River. Watching from the second row in a good size enthusiastic crowd at the Wookie stage. Sheff was really throwing himself into all the songs and the band sounded great. Charles Bissell, of the Wrens, on guitar was awesome.

Most disappointing set for me (by far): Modest Mouse. I'm a die hard MM fan. But their lives shows are becoming well nigh unwatchable. Too many obscure crap songs, too much jamming, just too self-indulgent on every level. Their studio recordings will still be in frequent rotation on my ipod, but this 7th live show might be the last for me.

Biggest 'wtf? fuck off!' moment: When the douchebag singer for shitty rap group Crudo dissed Modest Mouse at the end of their horrid set. I only heard it because I was there to see Okkervil and these fucktards were running late. Despite my subsequent disappointment in MM's set, these predictable purveyers are thuddingly obvious repetitive garbage can only wish they had a fraction of the talent (or fans) that Brock and company have.

Interesting fact and supporting rumor: The National cancelled out on their set on the main stage. Rainn Wilson came onstage to give the crowd the bad news, with a bit of comedy to soften the blow. Fleet Foxes played a second set in their stead. Why was the National MIA? Rainn didn't say, but word was that they were flown off somewhere to record a commercial for Banana Republic, and then flown back in time to play later at the Yeti stage. As one guy behind me said, "They dissed us to do a commercial? Fuck, that's the last time I'm talking to them!"

And last but least, we didn't hang around for REM. They were OK playing Stubbs at SXSW, but not so good that I really needed to see them again so soon. A LOT of people were heading out before their set.

Doesn't Mike Patton sing for Crudo?

The Stranger should buy the staff of those Wireless USB modems that give you access anywhere. You can get one for like $40-50 a month and share it.

That way your superior local coverage won't get scooped by fucking Pitchfork:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/43236-live-sasquatch-festival

@5 - damn, the stranger got served.

@6: Yeah... ONE YEAR AGO. Check the date of that link. Though, yes, if I'd cared enough to ask for a press pass, I could've proven invaluable with my crappy phone's unlimited data plan. FYI, dudes.

LOL! Line Out FTL!

The Stranger is scooped by the Seattle Times, though...
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/festivalblog/sasquatch-festival/

looks like you guys need to invest in a 3G PCI card ...

Why does it not surprise me that this rag sends the entire staff to cover an event but fails to implement a back-up plan? Keep up the stellar work guys.

@ 10,

Why does it not surprise me that you are so fucking lame that you have nothing better to do than to troll blogs? Or is it just this blog that you troll?

If this rag is so bad and not up to your STELLAR and professional standards, then what are you doing here?

Oh touCHE. I validate the Stranger with smacktalk, you validate me with smacktalk. The circle is complete. Ha ha ha indeed.

Massively utilized portapotties are just as bad, if not worse.

#10 - re: "stellar work" - that whole thing was filed under the "GOSSIP" tag cause it was such a ridiculous rumor being spread around the town.

sorry if that was confusing. sometimes gossip is funny.