whatevernevermind

After some breakfast, I made it over to the Filter stage a little after noon. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't get in somewhere. Security guards are too easy to fool. Seriously, I can't tell you how many times I've just waltzed up to the front of a line and walked in somewhere. If you get stopped, you're with the band, you're with the sponsor, you're passing out flyers and you have to grab them from her, pointing at someone who you don't know. Give it a try. It rarely fails. The trick is to fly solo. If you have someone else with you, it really puts a damper on things. I digress. I sailed by the door guy because the stage wasn't open yet. The Filter folks had been there for hours. A big thanks to Alan S., Alan M, Penny, Pat and all of the other fine folks at Filter. They put on another fine party this year and I still think it's one of the best venues for the daytime parties. BBBM even graced the party with his presence after he finished playing his 400th hand of BlackBerry Poker. Here I was thinking he was working a lot, but when I finally looked over his shoulder, he was playing poker.

We left Filter and went over to the Village Voice party to get some food and watch an exclusive performance from ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. Best band name ever. Also one of the best shows of the week. Pat from Filter was telling me that they were trying to get the band to close the Filter party, but Village Voice Media wouldn't let them play another party, which I thought was funny. Pat did not.

We rolled over to the Paste/Stereogum party in a pedicab. It was brutally hot outside and going from La Zona Rosa to the opposite end of town would have melted us for sure. It was brutally hot inside the party as well. I did get to meet all of the Stereogum people, which was cool. We checked out The Whigs for a while, grabbed some shaved ice across the street, sat on the curb in the shade and went back to our hotels for some rest.

The evening shaped up pretty well. We had dinner with some AOL folks across the river and then headed out for the evening. Here's how the day and evening shaped up:

12:00 Born Ruffians
12:45 Shout Out Louds
1:30 Los Campesinos!
2:15 The Pigeon Detectives
4:00 ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
5:00 The Whigs
9:30 Does It Offend You, Yeah?
10:00 Grand Archives
11:00 Kelley Stoltz
12:00 Foy Vance
1:00 Joseph Arthur

That brings the grand total to 43 bands in 3 days and 4 nights, which beats last year's record. Yay, me.

I've got a funny story for you... I'm walking back from Joseph Arthur to the hotel. I dash across a crosswalk before a light changes and literally almost collide with Perez because I was texting someone.

I'm sleepy. BBBM will be covering for me tomorrow. He totally owes me for that R.E.M. mess-up anyway. Goodnight Austin.