So the PRF BBQ 2011 went off pretty damn well. Two weeks later, after full recovery and pooping off my weekend weight gain, I'm finally ready for a recap. Thursday could have been a letdown. I had put in my vacation day request months ago but with a looming project deadline at work, there was a good chance I would have to go into the office Friday morning. But by Thursday afternoon I had already put in my 40 hours for the week and had everything finished and was set for sleeping in Friday morning. My only problem with Thursday night was I didn't get enough pictures. My only pictures from the night are of me, taken by my sweet wife Renee.
We were both having too good a time to remember to take any pictures. Probably the highlight of the evening for me was Memory Map. Really interesting guitar stuff going on here. There are a couple of different connections with me to this band that I wasn't expecting - playing one guitar is Mike Bridavsky, formerly of Push-Pull. We did a couple of Red Swan shows with these guys and Mike was nice enough to let Red Swan and Fun Ender crash at his house after a basement show in Bloomington. Also, playing another guitar was Matt Tobey who used to play drums in Abe Froman. Back in my college days, my old surf band Island Uprising played a lot of shows with these guys. So it was pretty cool to be reunited with these two, playing a show in new(er) bands. Good times. Another stand-out was Lonely Trailer. Show ended around 1 am, but somehow bedtime was at 3. Don't know how that happened there.
Friday started off with a trip to Hot Doug's. No better way to start your day than with some rootbeer and a foie gras dog. I don't even like foie gras, but this is probably the greatest confection ever imagined. Also a venison sausage with a red wine demiglase and some kind of cheese.
Doug is a genius.
So I was late getting to the show due to traffic and my generally being a lazy-ass. Unfortunately I missed Transmontane. Fortunately he plays plenty of shows in and around Chicago so I can catch another show soon. So we had Police Teeth:
Half Mile Fox Fur:
Infrasonics:
Blacks:
The Blind Shake:
Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, these guys melted my brain. Buy their album. Now.
Somehow, stopping by an after party for one or two beers at my friend Mat's house mutated into something else entirely, and an hour later we were all singing karaoke from his tv hooked to youtube, and three hours later I'm getting food served to me at IHOP. Classify these as good times.
Again, on Saturday I was late getting to the Observatory and missed Leopold and Loeb. They're from Chicago too, so I'll have plenty of chances to catch them again. So, we had The Heavy Bombers:
Brett Eugene Ralph's Kentucky Chrome Review:
Walking Shadow:
The Columbines:
The Conformists:
Sapat:
Empire State Troopers:
Cmn Ineed Yr Hlp:
Radiant Republic of Texas:
Risk/Reward:
The Haymarket Riot:
And we got to hang out on a roof overlooking the skyline for most of the evening:
Spent all day Sunday hanging out at Lake Michigan getting sunburnt and drinking Ski Soda. Then it was time to relax.
I hear tell there's some video in the process of being edited; I'll throw some of my favorites up once they get on youtube. Only three more months til Auktoberfest!
We were both having too good a time to remember to take any pictures. Probably the highlight of the evening for me was Memory Map. Really interesting guitar stuff going on here. There are a couple of different connections with me to this band that I wasn't expecting - playing one guitar is Mike Bridavsky, formerly of Push-Pull. We did a couple of Red Swan shows with these guys and Mike was nice enough to let Red Swan and Fun Ender crash at his house after a basement show in Bloomington. Also, playing another guitar was Matt Tobey who used to play drums in Abe Froman. Back in my college days, my old surf band Island Uprising played a lot of shows with these guys. So it was pretty cool to be reunited with these two, playing a show in new(er) bands. Good times. Another stand-out was Lonely Trailer. Show ended around 1 am, but somehow bedtime was at 3. Don't know how that happened there.
Friday started off with a trip to Hot Doug's. No better way to start your day than with some rootbeer and a foie gras dog. I don't even like foie gras, but this is probably the greatest confection ever imagined. Also a venison sausage with a red wine demiglase and some kind of cheese.
So I was late getting to the show due to traffic and my generally being a lazy-ass. Unfortunately I missed Transmontane. Fortunately he plays plenty of shows in and around Chicago so I can catch another show soon. So we had Police Teeth:
Half Mile Fox Fur:
Infrasonics:
Blacks:
The Blind Shake:
Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, these guys melted my brain. Buy their album. Now.
Somehow, stopping by an after party for one or two beers at my friend Mat's house mutated into something else entirely, and an hour later we were all singing karaoke from his tv hooked to youtube, and three hours later I'm getting food served to me at IHOP. Classify these as good times.
Again, on Saturday I was late getting to the Observatory and missed Leopold and Loeb. They're from Chicago too, so I'll have plenty of chances to catch them again. So, we had The Heavy Bombers:
Brett Eugene Ralph's Kentucky Chrome Review:
Walking Shadow:
The Columbines:
The Conformists:
Sapat:
Empire State Troopers:
Cmn Ineed Yr Hlp:
Radiant Republic of Texas:
Risk/Reward:
The Haymarket Riot:
And we got to hang out on a roof overlooking the skyline for most of the evening:
Spent all day Sunday hanging out at Lake Michigan getting sunburnt and drinking Ski Soda. Then it was time to relax.
I hear tell there's some video in the process of being edited; I'll throw some of my favorites up once they get on youtube. Only three more months til Auktoberfest!
