This bracelet served as the ticket for 3 days. It contained a microchip that was scanned each morning and could not be removed temporarily. I showered and slept wearing a microchip, which probably recorded how often I danced and how much wine I drank to report back to sponsors like Frank's Hot Sauce. There were 5 stages and fabulous line-ups every day, like Flogging Molly, Vampire Weekend, the Breeders, The Cure, Beck, Mumford & Sons, the Lumineers, and a whole lot more, attended by more than 80,000 people. I'm no music snob, pretty much enjoy popular music of all kinds and feel easily intimidated by music snobs who mostly pride themselves on what they hate, rather than who they like: "I only like music you've never heard of."
A lot of concert goers were very young. I embrace being old an crotchety, but my friend Pulled Pork hasn't yet accepted that she's not 22, and could not stop whining about girls wearing high-waisted jeans, which are so unattractive they should've never come back. Also, is marijuana legal in Canada? Once I realized there was no security at the gate, I wished I'd brought drugs to the concert just to sell to kids because that would've paid for my whole trip.
While out and about in Montreal the night before the concert, a waitress told us it was like Woodstock. It was a lot of great, popular music in a dirt field, but I sort of felt like the themes of love and acceptance, political unity and being yourself got lost amid the free Chevrolet giveaway, Bacardi sponsorship, gluten-free tent and gourmet food trucks. I think she just meant the music. The nice thing about going to a crowded concert in Canada is that when people throw elbows, push and shove, they say "sorry guys, sorry" constantly, which sort of makes you feel ok about it. Canadians are so polite.
I also love people watching at concerts:
And around town:
It was back to the grind this week and I spent most of the day yesterday with an elderly friend. She's 70 and we've broken our streak of going to the gym together. She was dressed in gym clothes, proudly wore her XXXL "Planet Fitness" t-shirt and brought her sporty walker, but we ended up shopping instead. In between stores, she asked me to stop at Uncle Willie's BBQ so she could get a bacon double cheeseburger, which she snacked on while roving around the grocery store on the easy-go. Chewing on bacon and reading Oreo labels, her scooter died and I had to go to the front of the store, get on a new scooter, and ride it to her in the middle of the aisle. She likes the fast ones, but she's dangerous because she doesn't watch where she's going and inevitably hits a few people in the store, every time. "What was that noise? Oh I hit someone? Woops. I need salad dressing, where would I find that?" Unfortunately, the second scooter battery wasn't fully charged either. It died while she was attempting to exit the store and she got stuck in the doorway sideways. Nobody could get around her and it didn't take long for a small crowd to develop, which she didn't see and proceeded to back into to straighten the scooter to get through the door. I stood nearby watching it happen and munching on a rice krispie treat. Those things are heavy and you can't pull them when the battery dies, I've learned from experience, so the people trying to help her were wasting their time. I guess I'm not on vacation anymore.
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