middle-aged skazine column
Prelude
A lightly edited transcript of a text conversation with a relative who could probably get a job as an interrogator at Guantanamo:
Thursday, September 7, 1:26pm
How are you doing today? Are you positive for Covid?
Yes it is covid. In bed trying to sleep it off.
Is it a continuation of your last infection? Did you ever test negative? I hope you get over this soon.
Saturday, September 9, 5:39pm
Are you feeling better?
Yes, still testing positive though.
Saturday, September 9, 7:16pm
Still have a fever?
Not right now but I did earlier.
Sunday, September 10, 1:30pm
Better today?
Yes. Very faint positive line on home test.
Are you taking anything to combat it?
No.
Monday, September 11, 9:18am
Are you feeling better today? Ready for tennis?
Yes and yes.
Wednesday, September 13, 9:33am
How are you feeling
I either have covid for the third consecutive time, or I have long covid. Symptoms are mostly fever and congestion.
Wednesday, September 13, 11:05am
You were better yesterday, but have suffered a relapse ?
Second relapse. This is the third time in a row. I guess I am staying in bed for the rest of the month.
Wednesday, September 13, 2:36pm
Do you have someone bringing you food, medicines, etc? Are you in contact with a doctor?
X has offered to bring me food. I could email Kaiser but there is no point. They will tell me to rest, or offer me Paxlovid again, and I refuse. Y is out of town and I don’t want to bother Z or Z.
I am sure that either of them would help you.
I’m fine. I can always order something off Instacart. I’d rather have them help X. The hard part is that I was supposed to drive to Hampton tomorrow for a 3-day music festival I’ve been looking forward to for two entire years. Imagine all your favorite ballet dancers coming back to life for one performance, that is what this even meant to me. And now I’m at home.
Wednesday, September 13, 8:04pm
Are you testing positive
I did this morning. I’ve had a fever for 24 hours. Will test again if fever goes away.
Thursday, September 15, 10:58am
Are you positive
I still have a fever so I assume so. Only have one test left, will take it tomorrow if I feel ok. X is bringing me food today.
Thursday, September 15, 5:46pm
Are you feeling any better? No chance that you will go to Hampton?
Still have fever.
Friday, September 16, 5:31am
I've never packed so fast in my life.
Chorus
It was completely different from last time. (Buttondown thing I wrote 2 years ago)
For a visual, here's a bit of drone footage (YouTube).
An incomplete list of things that impressed the hell out of me:
How professional it all was. Two giant stages, side by side, with one band setting up while the other was playing, so that we could see back-to-back bands for 8 or 9 solid hours each day. Tons of food trucks, the world's biggest merch tent, all kinds of big-time civic and corporate sponsors. Tito's even provided a whole trailer where you could sit and recharge your phone. All of this accomplished by a husband and wife team and a handful of volunteers.
Stranger Cole (YouTube) backed by Eastern Standard Time and joined on vocals by Dunia Best. The man is in his early 80s but has the energy of someone a third his age. He can still sing great, and had us all chanting "More life!" A few days before the festival, he flew in from Jamaica, went directly to meet EST (his backing band), and when they asked him if he wanted to rest, he said "No, just bring me a room-temperature beer and let's start rehearsing."
Eastern Standard Time in general. They're now the go-to backing band for all these old timers, which meant they played like five sets on Friday. Here is them with Sister Nancy. (YouTube) She'd sent a list of "riddims" in advance, but they had no rehearsal with her. No pressure! The drummer knew she was happy with the sound when she turned around after a few songs and grinned at him.
The Loving Paupers. (YouTube) I got to see them twice, because they also played an after party. You can't see the drummer in that video, but damn. The dude must be 220 pounds of solid muscle and I'm 99% sure he could bench press my car. The way he plays is mesmerizing, all hunched over his kit, hitting so hard, with extreme control. After their set I met their singer and on someone's phone there may or may not be photos of her trying to make out with me.
The Aggrolites. (YouTube) Because halfway through their set they brought out Lynval from the Specials, who said it was the first time he had performed since Terry Hall died, and I wasn't the only one wiping away tears.
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. (YouTube) You can watch 100 of the best bands in the world perform, all at the top of their game. And then TSPO will come out and wipe the floor with all of them. It's almost rude. (Sorry.) There's a reason those dudes fill stadiums in Japan.
The overall vibe. It was "come as you are, wear what you want, be goofy as hell, we're so glad you're here." Head-to-toe checkerboard that would have gotten you laughed out of the club 30 years ago, this lady (SkaDanceWorkout) offering a morning exercise class, little kids in protective headphones, people who looked like grandparents bopping their heads to the Voodoo Glow Skulls, it was so goddamn wholesome it bordered on corny. People are still posting things in the Facebook group like "hey I came home with the wrong hat. If this is yours, message me your address so I can mail it back to you." Imagine 3500-4000 daily attendees who were so well-behaved, they were picking up other people's trash. I mean, they were serving beer in GLASS BOTTLES. No broken glass, no puking, no public urination, no fights.
The rapt attention the crowd gave to Coolie Ranx reading out a list of 50 car makes, models, and license plates because they were in danger of being towed. He joked that he was going to read it all in patois, and I kind of wish he had.
The VIP ticket perks. Not just the observation tower where a friend and I cornered some TSPO dudes for selfies. The VIP bathrooms were the type of trailers they have on movie sets, and inside were the types of stalls and sinke you'd find in a nice restaurant bathroom. Glorious.
The fact that I could text "are you here?" to people I hadn't seen or spoken to in 2 or even 10 years, immediately get a "Yes! where are you??" response, and pick up with old friends like we'd just had drinks last week.
Not being able to sleep because I was so happy. My face genuinely hurt from smiling so hard.
Links
In which David Brooks fucked around and found out. (Hyperallergic)
Batch v. loop: Paul Ford on why tech bros and politicians can't connect. (Wired)
I love any story about people quitting crappy jobs. (Demilked)
Thanks to the Internet Archive you can watch concert footage of more than 250,000 shows. (My Modern Met)
If you love the NYT game Connections, you can now make your own. (Swellgarfo)
Awesome antique book patterns. (Kottke)
Perfect chairs. (Instagram)
I guess we know whose side Sexyy Red is on in the Underpants Wars. This is extremely NSFW. (YouTube)
Palm Springs AIDS memorial sculpture to be changed because residents say it looks like a giant anus. (Boing Boing)