FEST 8: PART 3

After the insanity of the night before, I was ready for an easy going final day of the Fest. This morning, we caught breakfast at Krispy Kreme and ended up at my ex-girlfriend's hotel room. That was the least pleasant experience at the Fest and that's saying a lot considering I watched the Emotron. Anyway, after that terrible blast from the past we made our way back to the "festival grounds" to wait in line to see Broadway Calls and Off With Their Heads. Broadway Calls were a fun band, I've never really listened to a lot of their music, but "Fuck You Seattle" is a really great song. To be honest, I was just waiting for OWTH. Last time I saw them was at a botched house show and I hadn't been listening to their record very much. Over the past 6 months of so, they seem to be the only band I want to listen to. Luckily they played pretty much every song I knew and I think it was a good release to see them live. Everyone could not feel so miserable about their lives for 40 minutes.

Off With Their Heads must have got me really pumped, because now I had to pee and Stephen owed me money. So we made the ridiculously long walk all the way to a gas station across from the Fest hotel. That's right, every bathroom in the downtown area was conveniently closed just in time for the Fest. Afterward we made our way to Durty Nelly's where we saw Arms Aloft earlier in the weekend. Stephen really wanted to check out this Japanese band Worthwhile Way, who were actually great. Hell, they came all this way to play to a bunch of beer chugging white dudes in beards. I think they deserve our attention.

Immediately after them though, I was hoping to go see P.S. Eliot at Cam's Cove, but that did not happen. I did however get to see Teenage Cool Kids for the second time this year. What a fun band, I think a girl left with a broken nose? Either way, everyone was dancing and the venue was right next to the Kickstand where I planned on staying the rest of the night. We stuck around to watch the Emotron. Holy shit, the Emotron was the one of the greatest performances I have ever seen. I will try and attempt to tell you in words what happened, but you might need a better visual. Emotron's music is simple. It's one dude with a sequencer playing songs and he does vocals. Kind of like Atom and His Package, but no additional guitar playing at times. Ironically, he did a cover of "Me and My Black Metal Friends" and a Dead Milkmen cover. Those were great fun and plus all he was wearing was a thong while he threw flour into a giant fan. His set was coming to a close and that is where the great finale came. He was fully naked and had a bottle of chocolate syrup. Now, we're all thinking to ourselves, "what is he gonna do with that?" Well, let me tell you, he put it in his butt hole. The madness did not stop there though. The big finale was him lighting his penis and testicles on fire. If that does not shock you, then you should have been there. That's all I can say.

The funny thing about his performance was it wasn't the last of the night. O Pioneers and Bomb the Music Industry had to follow up this act. However, both bands delievered. O Pioneers seem to get better every time I see them and have grown in members. They now have two guitars, bass, and drums. They were tight too. Sticking to all the good songs from Neon Creeps they also did at least two covers and a new song. Their Piebald cover was insane, people were going crazy. After them follwed BTMI. The crowd for them was ten times more insane and I eventually found myself moved all the way toward the middle of the crowd instead of my up close position at the beginning of the set. Jeff made a short statement about what happened the night before and they broke into a cover of "Dumpweed" in the middle of a song. That the most fun seeing them I have ever had and a great ending to the Fest.

It was chilly the rest of the night in Gainesville and Stephen and I made it home safe only to suffer from the infamous Fest AIDS that everyone gets the week after returning from Fest. All-in-all I made an amazing time at the Fest and would like to thank all the great people I met there, in no particular order. Jose, Jon, Danny, Avi, Trey, Mike from Shinobu and all my other great friends who attended as well.