I'm off to see the Stooges today at the Big Day Out festival. Wish me luck - I may need it. I am not a music festival kinda guy, and the thought of being surrounded by thousands of clueless beer monsters "moshing it up" on a stinkingly warm and humid day is starting to put knots in my stomach. Why do I put myself through this kinda crap? One reason: the Stooges. You lads better put on quite a show. In a desperate attempt to "get my money's worth", and if all goes to plan, I will get there at roughly 5 PM and also witness the following: Henry Rollins' spoken word performance (haven't seen the guy perform in any capacity for 15 years; despite all the embarrassments and career lows, I still have a sentimental attachment to the guy somewhere in the back of my brain. Blame Black Flag for that); Beasts of Bourbon (never really been a fan, but as a live unit they can nail it); Franz Ferdinand (I know one or two songs and figure they'll be fun to see in the flesh); Mars Volta (asshole-rock to the max, dude, though having heard a couple of tracks from their debut a couple of years back, I was surprised to find that I didn't instantly want to hit the streets on a random killing spree... in fact, the bogus King Crimson/Fela Kuti/Ornette/early Santana vibes almost sounded good. I'm going to take a peak). I'll get back to you in a couple of days.