...well, cadence and i survived our first day of the intonation festival...and here's thax douglas opening up the whole thing with a poem for head of femur, who were the first band to play...
...we stopped at trader joe's on the way to the festival to have lunch w/ daddy and to buy some bottled water...cadence hadn't had her nap, and she was pretty cranky when we left TJs and cried uncontrollably until i pulled over next to a fire hydrant somewhere on roscoe...it didn't help matters that traffic was a total bear...i got her out of her carseat and we stood in the shade as she recomposed herself and squealed at some passing dogs and babies...after i was satisfied that she was reassured of my love and devotion, i put her back in the car with her sippy cup to entertain her (she won't actually drink out of that thing on her own) and we drove off...
i got to union park down on ashland ave and randolph street about an hour later than i'd wanted, and there was a long line formed already...for some reason, the gates which were supposed to open at noon were still closed at half past noon...it sounded like they were still soundchecking...there wasn't much i could do but stand around...i had cadence strapped to me in my ellaroo and was strollerless, so i was carrying the diaper bag on my back and our brand new nifty outdoor blanket over my shoulder...i wasn't in any mood for waiting in line, esp. in the sun, and neither was cadence...after about 10 minutes of waiting, when they finally started letting people in, cadence started losing it...
now here's when having a crying, fidgety (understatement) baby can be an advantage...i walked up to the guy who was the head of security for the festival (at least head of gate security) and told him that my baby was losing it and was there any other way i could get in without having to wait in the long line being hammered on by the sun? he thought about it for a few seconds and then told me to go to the front of the line and tell them that bill (i'm supposing that was his name) sent me...so we got in right away, and it's a good thing cuz we got first dibbs on the shade...
we found a nice spot under a big tree pretty close to one of the stages...there was an older lady (by older, i mean older than me) already sitting on a blanket under the tree, and she was nice enough to help me spread my blanket next to her...it was a smart move on my part (not that i was thinking about it at the time) because when you're alone at an indie rock festival, those young angsty hipsters with their torn clothes and cigarettes are NOT gonna be the ones to help you...it's the nice older looking ladies already laying on a blanket reading a book who are gonna help you...it turns out this lady was there with her 15 year old son, so she was impressed that i would come out with my baby daughter, and was helpful all during the festival, helping me look for cadence's ear plugs every time we lost one, and letting cadence flirt with her...she commented to me shortly before we left that cadence is just a perfect little baby and that she wouldn't've dreamed of doing this with her son when he was cadence's age...
...so here's little cadence (wearing proper ear protection of course) blowing raspberries at her first indie rock festival...she happens to LOVE playing on a blanket in the outdoors, so she was a totally happy camper...i had a big bottle of cheerios, and there was ALWAYS milk in my boob when she needed hydration and some fatty nourishment, so we were pretty much set...she crawled around, played with her toys, cooed, clapped, bounced, danced, smiled, laughed, flirted...things got REALLY fun for her when my friends derek and linda becker joined us with derek's cousin and his wife and tom shekleton...if there's one thing cadence loves, it company! she crawled right up to linda and gave her a hug and laid her head down on her shoulder...it was one of the sweetest things i've seen her do, esp. considering she hasn't seen the beckers since she was first born...she's usually not that warm with strangers...
...anywho, about the music--head of femur was the first band to play...i've heard of them for a long time now because they play out in chicago all the time, but i've never actually seen them or heard their music...i actually liked it...they use a bunch of instruments not common to your basic indie rock band...things like trombones...they were definitely energetic enough...the next band up was pelican, another chicago area band who play out pretty frequently but whom i've never seen...they played on the stage that was all the way across the park (the acts were alternating between stages so there was hardly any lag time in between bands cuz the next act would already be set up and ready to go on the other stage) but we heard them really well from where we were sitting...i wasn't about to move from my prime spot in the shade...and the other stage had no shade area, so you were pretty much at the mercy of the sun, which i wasn't about to endure...anywho, pelican were pretty awesome, so were the m's after them...ac newman of the new pornagraphers had some sound problems and i couldn't really get into his music too much, although it was great when andrew bird got up there and whistled on one of his songs...the last band we stayed for was magnolia electric company, which is jason molina's latest project...jason used to play under the moniker songs:ohia, and i've seen him perform solo before...his music was really different with a full band supporting him...much more rockin' going on...i was impressed...i've always enjoyed jason's haunting melody lines and lyrics, and those are still intact it seems...i'll have to check these guys out more in the future...
anywho, cadence and i packed up during the four tet set...i had wanted to stay for broken social scene, but i was getting pretty exhausted, and ted's sister lauren and her boyfriend douglas, who's visiting from sweden, were supposed to come over to our apt. so doug could finally meet cadence...besides, i knew we'd have a whole another day of intonating all day sunday, so i figured we should get our rest...
*as for the bushnell reference in the title of this post, bushnell, IL is where the premier(for lack of a better word) christian rock cornerstone festival is held every year in the plowed cornfields of western illinois...this is referenced in sufjan stevens's latest album come on: feel the illinoise on track 17 called "Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All The Way Out In Bushnell "...i did the merch tent for two summers at cornerstone, and i can definitely say that the intonation festival is nothing like it...for one thing, i wasn't in a 100+ degree merch tent the whole time...anywho...
Monday, July 25, 2005 at 12:39PM 
