OUTSIDELANDS 2018: CARLY RAE JEPSEN, FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE, JANET JACKSON

MY WEEK IN PHOTOS: AUGUST 6–12, 2018! (OUTSIDELANDS 2018: CARLY RAE JEPSEN, FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE, JANET JACKSON)

Edible artwork at the office, my first pottery injury, and a weekend at Outsidelands Music Festival. Be warned, lots of food photos.
Enjoy!

Good morning, happy Monday. Starting with a walk with the dogs.

At work there was a staff art show opening celebration. We walked around to check out a few coworkers pieces and eat some free snacks.

Scones by Amelia! (Yes, there was an edible art section)

The text with these gingerbread bear cookies reads, “Bear Ears National Monument in southern Utah is home to more than 100,000 Native American archaeological and cultural sites, considered sacred by many tribes. Bear Ears is waiting for a ruling: will we protect this land or exploit it?”

Rocks…that are actually cheesecake!

One of those nights at pottery where everything was off-center, I was rushing and not being careful and intentional and I ended up with three weird vessels and my first pottery-related wound, a cut on a scraper.

Tweedy can relax on anything, including an arm.

Tuesday! I love this mirror trash left on the side of the road.

My mom sent me this cute pic of my second cousins at my great uncle’s house. Can you spot me? I miss you, Uncle Frank.

Taco Tuesday night with Tristan.

Wednesday, meatball and spaghetti in the cafe, couldn’t resist!

Tristy the mermaid waiting for the office coffee to brew.

Happy Thursday. I decided to document this whole day, which I haven’t done in a while. You can read the full day here.

Los Angeles

Anybody playing PokemonGo again since all the updates? Leave your friend code in the comments, I’ll add you and send you gifts…

Cheddar accordion, one of my favorite buildings I pass on my commute.

Waiting for the lyft. Zach making fun of me that I overpacked for three days in San Francisco—but it is cold! Bulky sweater items are included.

San Francisco! We are here for Outsidelands Music and Arts Festival. This is our 6th year going which is crazy! It’s a fun August tradition and a chance for me to spend time with Lauren every year.

Friday! First day of the festival. We fueled up on piroshkis from my favorite Russian bakery.

One of the best parts of Outsidelands is that the weather is usually chillier and its such a welcome break from the heat of Los Angeles. YAY sweaters.

This year the festival started a “clear bag policy” where bags larger than the size of your hand couldn’t be used at the festival unless clear. Yes, they expected everybody to get clear totes and clear backpacks. We were a little nervous about this so we borrowed some little fanny packs to bring in our stuff.

These are the last photos I took with my fujifilm camera because when I got to the security gate they told me my camera couldn’t have a lens longer than 1 inch or it was considered “professional” and I needed a media badge. What! I took this camera last year, and thought the “long lens = professional” rule was a bit stupid and arbitrary but I went along with it and left and took the long walk back to Lauren’s apartment to drop it off.

On the way I passed these great seat covers so there was that.

Made it back to her apartment! Still in high spirits, despite the extra miles of walking.

An hour or so later I made it back into the festival and met up with Zach, Lauren, Mandy and her cousin.

Garlic chimichurri fries and spicy tater tots. Both A+

We said goodbye to Mandy and her cousin and went to get set up to watch Bill Nye’s cooking demo.

Lauren picked out a cheeseplate.

The crowd for Bill Nye and Chef Matty Matheson doing a steak cooking demonstration with *sciency* facts thrown in. Pretty delightful! The crowd chanted “Bill Bill Bill Bill” a few times. Did you ever watch Bill Nye in school?

We stopped for some free coffees that used some sorcerer’s magic to print our photo on the top of the foam?!

Ready for Carly Rae Jepsen

My favorite picture is Mandy at the exact moment she decided she loved Carly Rae.

We also witnessed this special moment with Mark Kanemura’s wigs flying to Cut to the Feeling.

For the last few years Zach has attempted to get the Baconland Bacon Flight, but it always sold out. This year he jumped on it early. Turns out…it sounds cooler than it is, it’s 5 pieces of bacon (different kinds) for $15. That’s…$3 a bacon! Ahh. They were delicious nice pieces but when you really think about it…what a dumb purchase. Zach still loved it though.

Zach as acquired quite a bit of festival merch over the years which he reps with no shame. We did hear some youths trash talking him and calling him lame. Well guess what…he knows!

The Growlers

I was up front with Jeremy for most of the Growlers set and then had to find Lauren again.

Between sets, huddling for warmth

Mac mac mac

Mac DeMarco

Goodnight, festival.

Who doesn’t love some 9pm korean bbq grill time.

Good morning, it’s Saturday!

Impressed with this can of pringles Lauren had in her apartment—a gift from a friend who went to Asia recently. Looks like sukiyaki flavor?

Another day, another morning at Cinderella’s Russian bakery.

Day 2, Cat Bus shirt.

We arrived at the festival in time for lunch and the five of us went and picked out items and came together and shared it. Deep dish pizza, donuts with cheese sauce, hot fried chicken sandwiches…my mouth is watering.

Jessie Reyez

Last year we did wine mini golf too, and it was a great deal. This year they took away a few holes, but it was still fun. Especially if you’re early at the festival.

Before Mandy was asked to gtfo. After we played minigolf we went to the taping of Getting Curious, the podcast hosted by Jonathan Van Ness. Which was insanely delightful.

Sometimes you need to really see the stage

Broken Social Scene

Lauren over the moon to see Chvrches.

Chvrches

Holding down the blanket while folks dispersed to get dinner. Then I was delivered a sausage. Woo!

Bathroom break with a view

Easy to spot Zach in a crowd but hard for him to spot me.

Time for Florence and the Machine!

She was a phenomenal performer—what a beautiful show!

Good morning, day 3! Sunday.

Dim sum time! This is another tradition, starting off a day of the festival with dim sum at Ton Kiang.

Potstickers, pork buns, soup dumplings, shu mai, flat noodles, even some veggies…we did good.

And the best egg custard filled mochi.

To the festival

Zach and his favorite sweets

Keeps Ranger Dave’s butt perky

Boba break

Getting set up for Mandy to listen to Rainbow Kitten Surprise.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Fancy cocktails from the cocktail area. They have bars come out and pick two popular cocktails to sell each.

Borns

And then Janelle Monae! She was also friggin’ incredible.

*Cheese* Chilly Jeremy

Portugal the Man

Getting ready for Janet Jackson

She danced and sung for 90 minutes straight, some serious choreo. She had some amazing backup dancers too.

Then the most amazing thing happened where we happened to pick a spot (behind the VIP cage, not super close to the stage) and she came into the audience onto a podium RIGHT in front of us, 10 feet away! It was…surreal. Her skin looks amazing.

Thank you, Outsidelands, for another great year.

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I normally pick questions from a real livejournal survey archive, but I was at a music festival all weekend I thought I’d write some music themed ones. Please answer if you’d like:

1. What is the last album you listened to?
2. What was your favorite music in high school?
3. What was music your parents or guardians played a lot while you were growing up?
4. Recommendations of some bands or artists to check out?

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1. What is the last album you listened to?
   “Sweetener” by Ariana Grande and “Be the Cowboy” by Mitski (I recommend both!)
2. What was your favorite music in high school?
   I have to remember… many favorites stemmed from Grey’s Anatomy soundtracks I think. Coldplay, Tegan and Sara, Paramore…I’m sure there’s someone I’m forgetting.
3. What was music your parents or guardians played a lot while you were growing up?
   My mom played this one Shirelles greatest hits album for a whole school year. That was stuck in my head a long time.
4. Recommendations of some bands or artists to check out?
   I am really bad and slow at getting into music on my own. My new music favorites are usually recommended to me by Tristan, Zach or Kiki. I’d love to get some recommendations! I tend to favor indie, alternative, pop, rock sounds…but am down to try anything.

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Have a great week! Much love friends. (Sorry this one took so long, I had to input it twice because the first time something glitched and didn’t save all my work wahh)