Lollapalooza-1991

August 29, 1991.

Yuck! I do not like this paper (2011-cheap thin paper) this damn sketchbook was shrink wrapped so I didn't know how bad it would be. Anyway, Yesterday was a day. I was easily able to get a ticket to the Lollapalooza show (2011-from From Frederick and Nelson's). It had six, maybe seven acts from Jane's Addiction, Ice-T to Siouxsie and The Banshees and Fishbone. (2011-Also Nine Inch Nails and Violent Femmes). I was hoping to get a ride from a friend of Justine, the girl I met in Portland.

Well, Of course that fell through and I had to scramble to figure out how to get to the Kings County Fairgrounds. I called buses and went to the Greyhound station and called the Metro again (2011-How easy it would be if there was a hand held cyberspace device to use) and finally was able to get a bus that got me to a mini-bus that dropped us about 3 miles from the fairgrounds.

Well, Guess what? It was raining, not hard but raining nonetheless. (2011-Believe it or not it was the first time since my trip began) Well, I met up with people and we got separated two by food, two by booth and finally when we got to the entrance I lost the last person because we weren't allowed on the grounds with a backpack. (2011-Yeah this ain't Woodstock) Since we both had backpacks we couldn't just walk in.

I wanted to go in but my man decided to screw the whole thing. I had to put the backpack SOMEWHERE since it was raining, I had to find a place as dry as possible and hide it from view.


So I went to a small group of bushes and tied it to a branch about six feet in the air. But I got discovered and had to find another place which also got spotted by someone but he too needed a hiding place so I threw caution in the wind.

When I finally got to the show, The Violent Femmes were on and they put on a solid performance. It continued to rain and there wasn't much shelter at all from the rain. When the Femmes ended I checked out the art show there and the political tables. It was the only decent retreat from the rain.

I wasn't able to find any of the people I met on the bus trip or Justine. (2011-My future girlfriend WAS there though, two years early) Man there are freaks at the show, It was a regular sideshow. (2011-The Jim Rose Sideshow as a matter of fact)

If you wanted to buy food you had to buy tickets and purchase the food with the tickets,so of course you have some left over at the end of the night.(2011-Try using the exact amount of tickets without having a little left over, It's impossible) I bought about 4 glasses of lemonade.

Okay I missed the first few acts because our mini-bus got stuck in traffic behind a farm combine. It was a half hour ride at a snail's pace.

After the Femmes, Fishbone came on and I had the best view of the stage. This was fine because they were exciting to look at. Ice-T was next and he put on a great show. His back up band, Body Count was great. Ice-T had the fans in his control. (2011- they did Cop Killer and the crowd went nuts) Owwwww! I didn't have have as good of a view because I sought shelter in between acts. During Siouxsie and the Banshees I walked around a bit since I'm not a huge fan though she was good and I was around for my favorite songs of hers.

I tried to get close when it was time for Jane's Addiction, It was getting dark and I wasn't able to find Justine. Jane's took a long time setting up and with the rain and the increased cold, It was quite uncomfortable. They were great despite my view wasn't good. The fans were obnoxious, pushing and trying to climb over people (I didn't know the term crowd surfing in 1991) The highlight of the set was when Ice-T came out to "duet" with Jane's Addiction on the Sly Stone classic "Don't Call Me N-----, Whitey" What a weird due that Perry Farrel. After "Caught Stealing" I started to saunter out away from the stage, first at the art tent where a bonfire was roaring, I then slowly found my way back to the entrance.When they were doing their encore I went to find my bag.

I then walked the 3 miles back to the bus stop, only to find out I missed the last bus and the next one wasn't until 5 in the morning. Well, Shit that was 6 more hours! Which made me wonder, There was about 18 people on the bus with me and I woindered what happened to them and how was I gonna get back to the Y. Some girls walked by and two guys walked by and said they were gonna hitchhike. I didn't know what to do, the nearby hotel had no vacancy. Finally, this dude walked by and we decided to hitch a ride. He was a dopey guy from Canada named Terry. Two other women walked by also from Canada asked us where we were going. They were going to Seattle for the night and had a car but it was parked further away. We walked about a mile before the girls decided they needed to hitch to GET to the car. A big guy in a VW Rabbit picked us up and drove abouyt FIVE miles till we finally got to the girls car.

Now the girl's car, A VW Bug was in piss poor shape (Like a Flintstone mobile) but we were driving. When we got to I-5 we were so sluggish to the point that a cop pulled us over. The girl driving didn't have a license on her and the other two people didn't even have a license at all. The only one with a license was me! And he shouted out "New Jerrrrsey" in the most red neck accent possible when he saw my license. So the cop does the usual routine and then says that I had to drive the car.

So sure enough I'm driving this Flintsone mobile (2011-Praying that I didn't have to brake Flintstone style) as it chugged up I-5 going a max. 35 mile an hour. Anyway I got off the right exit and was inb front of the "Y" and got out an bid goodbye to the girls. I reluctantly invited Terry to crash at the "Y" but was relieved that the "Y" doesn't allow it. They have night guards to ensure that. I quickly said "I'm sorry, dude" and entered the elevator and never saw them again.

P.S..- At 1AM the rain finally stopped.