TIMF

There is a music festival in San Francisco called Treasure Island Music Festival. Last year, Randy and I went, and it was the best music festival ever - very organized, free parking, free shuttles, the music was great and all the people that attend are cool as shit.

When it got to be mid summer, I started telling anyone and everyone about it in hopes of gathering a big crew. My friend Nikki recently moved to SF for grad school. She is a bad ass. She is super chill. She's funny as fuck, and she dances incredibly well. Turns out everyone else bailed, and Nikki was the only one that bought a 2 day pass (other than me)...basically we were partners in crime for the weekend.

Nikki posing in front of the burning man style dandelions.

Both days were a blast. The first day was the more electro pop dance day, while the second was the indy rock/folk rock day. There were various artworks from burning man. There was a little gypsy carnival with games to play. They had a ferris wheel which allows one to take in the postcard cityscape of the downtown SF complete with Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate, and Alcatraz. They also had a huge arts and crafts tent where you could make wind chimes, wallets, and beer cozies for free. This is all in addition to the normal clothing/nicknack booths, beer tents, and food carts.

Sweet ass ferris wheel - we went for a rainy ride, day 2.

The highlight of the weekend in terms of festival events was a thing called the silent disco. We had heard people talk about it during the first day, and with our friend Mer, we decided to check it out late on Sunday.

...It ended up being the funniest and funnest thing ever! We walked up and there was a little outdoor patio area where a ring of grass and trees surrounding a circle of concrete. There were black lights, christmas lights, and strobes...but no amplified sound. When we arrived all we could see was the scene filled with a few hundred people dancing there ass off without any music.

The whole idea revolved around wireless headphones, which they handed out at the entrance. A DJ was spinning live, but there were no speakers - everything was played through the wireless headphones. Too much fun, especially when you go from the National which is sleepy folk rock to heavy deadmau5 remixes just by putting on headphones. The best part being when the people dancing would sing choruses and fist pump - without, the headphones on, everyone went from bouncing around in silence to belting out the chorus of a song that no one could hear (without headphones) while fist pumping, then going back to their little groove. Brilliant!! We stayed and danced for hours...too much fun.

Our last view as we left the festival.

Nikki pulled the sweetest move as I dropped her off at home Sunday night. At the festival, there were a few poets with rickety old typewriters. They would write custom poems about any topic. I told Nikki about a guy we met that did that the year before - Randy and I chilled with this guy and he was pretty much the man - super funny, he could write incredibly well, and he travelled around and did that for a living - living the dream. Soo, after she gives me a hug, she hands me a piece of paper rolled up in put in a little bottle. These are the topics she told the poet: a princess, india, a ninja, and an assassin. She didn't read it before she gave it to me...so here it is:

on a mission

for grant

she wore her bindi jeweled

and her sari in gold-lined

silk. no one ever could

have known her heart,

worn on such beautiful

bare sleeves, had been

stolen by a murderous man.

and now, she is on a

mission to get it back.

silvi

10.17.10

treasure island

Thank you Nikki. Thank you Mer. Thank you universe.