Two Cents and a Thousand Words

END OF AN ERA The familiar Shop ‘N Save signage was replaced at stores around Bangor, including the Bangor Mall store pictured above Wednesday morning. Hannaford Bros. of Portland is the store’s distribution company.

Next time I change something on the site, I’ll be sure to change it back so that it actually works when I don’t want it anymore.

Whoops.

In what I think is one of the stupider marketing campaigns ever…

Because, y’know, why make orange juice taste like orange juice? That just doesn’t make any sense.

I think one of the main points of Bumstock is the people. I got to see people. That was nice.

The bands: got there during Doctor Radical. Good band. Extra creativity points for their ending (”we suck! we’re horrible! thank you!”).

Junction 18 rocks… nice to see a little bit of punk-ish stuff there. I think I’ll be buying their album.

Headstart, the band that spawned out of Warmfront, was also really good. A lot of talent there… I think I liked Warmfront better, but they were still good.

Paranoid Social Club also rocks. Probably my favorite band of the night along with Junction 18. I’ve always loved the Rustic Overtones kind of sound, and PSC keeps that going to a point while managing to make it their own. It’s another album I’ll probably end up buying.

I left during Little Egypt for various reasons, basically because the whole hip hop thing isn’t really my… thing. That, and some of the people there were starting to scare me. That said, their music was pretty good.

Overall, I’m really glad I had a chance to go to Bumstock this year. There was a great variety of music and enough of a contrast between local and bigger-name bands to make the two nights interesting. Proof that not everything has to go completely 100% right with an event to have it totally rock. Thanks to everyone who helped out with it.

I think UMaine should screw that kissing record thing we tried for and try to set a record for the most simultaneous drinkers and smokers in one place. Jeez. I guess for various reasons (as people who went tonight can attest) you could call this the Mardi Gras of Maine.

Besides that, there was some music. Seeking Homer is an awesome band. That was the first full set I saw; I heard a couple of the songs played by The Naturals but I wasn’t as impressed as I was with SH. It was interesting to see the reaction from the opposite side of the field as they wrapped up their set; all the fans of 6gig flipped them off and did random “you suck”’s, showing how much of a variety of tastes we have here.

6gig rocks. I mean really. Yeah. That was a heck of a lot of fun. And from Portland, too… good Maine band.

I also learned that although I like one of (hed) P.E.’s songs, I’m not such a fan of their music or the band themselves. They don’t have much of a vocabulary, basically.

I also had a chance to see some of my friends there, which was a really nice treat. I’m impressed with the variety of tastes here. We’re not quite as homogeneous as most people would think.

Tomorrow - more fun!

So anyway, Bumstock unofficially started last night, actually, with a performance by UMaine’s female a capella group Renaissance. The group has been in existance for four years, but last night was their first actual concert. And in brief, they did good.

The eight-woman subset of the University Singers has a great sound, and they can do some amazing solo work. In my opinion the highlight of the night was a rendition of Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited”, in which the group really shined. It wasn’t the best a capella I’ve ever heard, but it’s extremely obvious that each of the singers in the group has amazing talent. I hope they’re able to work with that in upcoming years and use that even more to their advantage to create an assorted and unique sound for the group.

The Maine Steiners also performed. Though I love their sound and even have one of their CDs, I’ve never heard them live. It was great to get that chance.

Overall, it’s always good to see some great talent here at UMaine.

I’m glad to see that a lot of the bands playing at Bumstock have used the Internet as a way to get their music out into the public’s eye. That means there’s tons of stuff on MP3.com from the bands playing today and tomorrow. I made up a list of playable songs available as an MP3.com station.

MP3.com Bumstock 2003 Station (

Bumstock 2003 [site] is April 25 and 26 (today and tomorrow). There’ll be a bunch of bands on campus, and I’ll be there for most of it if all goes well. I’ve set up a new skin (and you can’t change it… muhahaha) and I’ll be reporting about the festival. w00t.

First floor… no indoor stairs… close to the parking lot… oh, yeah.

And it only took two hours to get it.

What would YOU like to see on the new justinrussell.com?

Let me know!