All Points West Music & Art Festival

I had the privelage of attending this year's All Points West Music & Art Festival in Jersey City, NJ at the Liberty State Park and let me just say...wow. This was, by far, the most amazing concert I have been to in years. Never, have I ever, experienced an event so alive and so fierce. Not just a concert but a complete overload on the senses, all of them.

I only attended one day, the festival itself stretched out over a period of three days, July 31st - August 2nd. I chose August 1st as that was the day TOOL was headlining. Before I get to just how amazing they were, I want to stress how completely phenomenal the entire day was. First, we got there and walked through the entire field, there were a total of three main stages for all of the bands to play and play they did. Non-stop action is really the only way to describe what took place on those stages.

We had VIP tickets and were able to bypass the annoying "Beer Gardens" in which you purchase your beer in a tent that you cannot leave until you have finished said beer. There was also an air conditioned tent with big screen TVs, video games, catered food, and plenty of comfortable seating for us. I felt spoiled and before I move on I have to thank my boyfriend who made the entire weekend (trip into NYC, site seeing Kevin Smith spots in NJ, and Festival) possible.

As if that weren't enough, VIP also came with seating in bleachers so you did not have to pack yourself into the crowd like sardines, which, for me, is very beneficial as I am short and would have not been able to see the stage for trying...this is what the crowd looked like once TOOL made their way to stage:





TOOL was amazing, to say the very least. They rocked the entire crowd and gave everyone their money's worth. Just to see TOOL is a treat in itself but at a festival like this? Hands down, best concert I have attended.

Will I do it next year? One can only hope!

Earthday Birthday: Sweet 16

This year's Earthday Birthday, hosted by 101.1 WJRR, was absolutely fantastic. It wasn't too crowded, the line up turned out to be pretty damn awesome, and all in all, they had a system for beer that made it so you didn't have to worry with cash all day long.

The line up went as follows:

• Pop Evil
• All That Remains
• COLD
• (hed)p.e.
• Candlebox
• StaticX
• Chevelle
• 311

Out of those bands the ones that stuck most in my mind were All That Remains, COLD, (hed)p.e., Candlebox, Chevelle, and 311. It was a great show all around. COLD didn't play a long set which was kind of dissapointing since my main reason for attending the show that day was them...I thought they were broken up!

The "no cash system" I referred to earlier consisted of you purchasing tickets for food and drinks ahead of time and then using said tickets at all beverage and food stands throughout the fields. The fields, Tinker and Thunder, were split up by stage. Tinker field was reserved for stage 1 which consisted of the aforementioned bands. Thunder field was reserved for stage 2 which consisted of the local bands who were lucky enough to get spots at this event.

In between fields were various booths, mostly sporting bongs and bowls of all kinds but one of which I found my heart falling on which can only be summed up in three words: I Heart Vagina. For as long as I could I sported a bumper sticker with this mantra on it. If you feel so inclined check out their site at http://www.ilovevagina.com/

All in all it was a good night...aside from the obvious bathroom issue which we all have at these types of events. Well, if you're a female anyway. Which brings me to a very good question I'd like for someone to one day answer: Why the hell is the female restroom dirtier than the male restroom? Anyone, anyone?! I experienced what can only be the regression of human to primate form as shit had been slung all over the walls of one of the stalls forcing the maintenance to eventually bag off this entire stall for no one to use. How does this shit happen?

Besides the restrooms I had a kick ass time and to prove it, here are some photos for you to enjoy.