My brain and my body are a dry brick, but my inner-smile will not stop. Let me try and explain why.

AWESOMENESS: extra-musical

** 18 year old all-star volunteer Mike Fuchs, you are my new scene hero. You ran the merch table all weekend, stood out in the parking lot directing traffic so total strangers could see bands, and generally blew everyone’s mind with your generosity and straight-up enthusiasm. You came to the after-party at 3 in the morning and we talked about the festival, what bands we liked, big ideas, etc. You loved We Quit, had never seen them before. You used to volunteer for community techno festivals in Florida, had some lucid compare-and-contrast insight to share. You talked about community, art, a lot of other amazing things I was too drunk to remember now, and your entire approach is solid and mature and exciting. You live with your parents in a suburb past the west hills that I don’t even know the name of. You are the future and I need shades.

** Keegan and his dad. Keegan is 13 years old I think. Him and his dad volunteered for the entire duration of the festival, TOGETHER. That’s the shit.

** Kid with blue hair that was there for every single set and danced his (her?) ass off for every single one. You look about 13 and you love music more than anyone I know. Rock, hip hop, electronic, out-rock – it’s all rad to you. Bands, volunteers, audience – you inspired them all without trying. I shouted you out from the stage at the end of the night but you weren’t there. I hope you got the message, because you are the message.

** Girl in a wheelchair who was there all weekend. You are a fan. Volunteers who carried that girl up and down the stairs all weekend, cradled in your arms, so she could see the upstairs sets. You are pure goodness.

** 2 girls with matching hot topic striped knee-high socks and cool kandie-meets-indie clothes. You made it your mission to pump up the crowd, always started the dance party, always received this band in the most fun way possible.

AWESOMENESS: musical

** Alan Singley’s sweet and lol hilarious daytime set

** We Quit’s precise twee lightning bolt pop

** Science of Yabra bringing the most o.t.t. rawk noise of the weekend

** Portland General Electro throwing glowstick wristbands to the crowd. Rave dancing with little girls wearing two on each wrist.

** Cancer Fags + Snuggle Ups = NULL. These bands are the logical inverse of each other. Think about it.

** Wet Confetti beefing with stoopid ass punk kids. About that: these kids, mohawked, spiked, moshing, almost knocked over some dude in a wheel chair, got yelled at, then proceeded to scream YOU FUCKING SUCK throughout the set. Afterwards, asked why they felt the need to act out thusly, the response was something like: “Because we’re not crybaby emo shits who want to slit our wrists and wear tight jeans. If we were gonna kill ourselves we’d jump of a bridge; you’d slit your wrists. That’s why we did it.” Being an asshole is not cool, but this is maybe the raddest thing a teenage punk could possibly say. Play on spikey playas.

** Fogatron was the off-the-chain beatbox machine I thought he’d be (this is meant as high praise); Manic D was suprisingly tight and funny as shit. Really glad I finally saw this.

*** STRENGTH – holy shit, this band is rad. Straight-up disco Jacko rip-off riffs meet uber-fey/gay-and-loving-it Stonesy rock-brat swagger. how does that work again? Not sure but it sooo does. The front man for this band is maybe the best I saw I all weekend. He’s totally doing the Jagger thing but not straight at all – take the gay part and turn it to 11, swap coke for ecstacy, and you’re getting there. He smiles and holds himself, touches himself, preens, winks at the audience, and flashes a 1,000 watt smile. Watching him is like watching a 30 minute sustained orgasm – almost too intimate, totally transfixing, on the verge of drooling-on-yrself bliss-babble candy-flip breakdown. I think I’m in love.

** The final set: Point Juncture, Blitzen Trapper, The Planet The, Talkdemonic – the ones I’d seen (blitzen, talk d) gave the best performances I’ve ever seen from them. The ones I hadn’t (tpt, pt juncture) totally blew me away.

AWESOMENESS: cold brains

** There’s a lot more I’m forgetting / too lazy to write about in this weakened state.

BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL
BEAUTIFUL

i love you, portland. i love you, life.