Alright, so, it’s probably obvious at this point that I’m a minimalist. The site is sparse, our podcast is raw, the cover of my record is pretty plain, et cetera. Now, by some measure, this is a choice. There is elegance in simplicity that I find enjoyable to take in. Plus some half-hearted attachment to the idea that belongings get in the way of enlightenment, whatever that means. Here’s the heart of the matter: I’m a sensitive person.
Don’t take that as “I’m a big softie,” or “I’m very empathetic.” What I mean is that I have a low thresh hold for most stimuli. Words and ideas worm their way in, certain sounds make me nervous, but visual stimuli can have a seriously harmful effect. The unsettling images, be they dreams or real, have a way of flashing in front of me randomly. It’s a major reason that I don’t watch a lot of film, because sometimes weird pictures get stuck in my head and just loop endlessly, free of any comforting context and resistant to reality checks.
The worst is in stigmatization of the things that have become everyday. My first time watching The Ring is how I learned about this. For seven days, I found it impossible to sleep comfortably or interact with the world reasonably. After the threat posed passed, I was able to sleep, but I’ve remained distrustful of screens since then. The internet has been less than helpful for this trend, with tendencies of visual trickery and horrible images on their own. At it’s worst, I will shield my eyes as a site loads to make sure it’s not some scare crap.
I have to fast forward through some shit to get to my point here.
-I went to Coachella with Jer.
-I set up to do car camping.
-100F degree weather was forecast for all three days
-We ended up getting a tent next to Bros, who brought a couch, a stereo, a table to loudly play beer pong at, etc. Ended up attracting serious druggies and dealers. I kind of wish I transcribed the adderall conversations.
-The stereo was loud, and cycled between classic rock and skrillex.
-Jer and I are light sleepers. When their ‘party’ stopped at 4AM, we only ended up getting three hours sleep before being woken up by the sun.
-The day was down and up. Sweltering heat, intense dehydration, some pretty great conversations with a family looking for advice (I gave them the URL to this site and kind of regret it; not because I don’t want people to read the shit we put here, but because it felt too much like promoting myself) and a party of people, a few locals with a few Irish family members visiting… all in all, was like an exhausting fair with a few life affirming moments.
-For a music festival, I only saw three other bands. The rest was a struggle to find shade and water. So here’s the rest of my Coachella review: Wolf Gang is fine and certainly ready to be exposed on stages like that, Other Lives was the same song eight times, and Gary Clark Jr. was therapeutic given the day but I don’t know if I’d like him otherwise.
Fermata over Whole Rest 