Ozzfest 2007 Rocks the Gorge in George

OzzfestThis weekend we traveled out to the Gorge in George to take in Ozzfest 2007.  We started the journey at about 1pm on Friday.  Wendy and I met up with our friend, Art, at Pyramid Alehouse and then hopped onto I-90 to head east.  It was a simple plan: Wendy and Art would take the day off of work at Pyramid and we would camp out in the desert near the amphitheater in order to ensure a timely arrival at Ozzfest on Saturday.  The plan was perfect with the exception of one unforseeable flaw…  Ozzy’s band (Ozzy not included) decided to roll into Pyramid for a beer at around 3pm Friday afternoon.  As we pulled up in the 103 degree desert, we got the call on our cell telling us about the celebrity encouter at Pyramid.  Throughout the day, we continued to get updates from the folks at Pyramid telling us that the guys were still in the bar, that Zakk Wylde was totally cool, that they were signing autographs and taking pictures, and on and on it went until they finally headed back to their Seattle hotel sometime after 10pm.  Of all the weekends not to follow our usual routine of hanging out at Pyramid!!!

All was not lost, however, in turn for the hospitality shown by the fine folks at Pyramid, Zakk agreed to put us on his backstage pass list.  I was pleasently suprised when, indeed, the three backstage passes were sitting at the gate for Art, Wendy and I.  Very cool for the band to do that for us!  It was awesome to hang in back with the tour buses and it was really impressive to watch the shows from the side of the stage.  Unfortunately, we did not get the opportunity to meet Zakk or Ozzy.  Zakk (and even Sharon Osbourne) were floating around back stage, but the buses arrived very close to show time and they didn’t seem eager to do the fan thing,  so we left them alone to prep for the show.

Even though we were cooking in the Eastern Washington Desert instead of drinking IPA’s with rock stars, it was a great weekend.  The show was awesome, the Gorge was beautiful as usual, and we learned that our rock idols are not only cool and down to earth, but they also have great taste in beer.  Below is some brief video I recorded as I wandered around the fest.  Check it out if you have 3 spare minutes.  There’s no polish on it, but I recorded a brief snippet of Lamb of God, Ozzy and Zakk.  Also thought it was funny that, while poking around on the stage, we noticed that Lamb of God is using a Dangerous Toys flight case.

Shameless Self Promotion

Beer SteinI’m probably stooping to new lows right now, but I wanted to quickly do some shameless self promotions, as well as some not-so-shameless  promotions of others.  First of all, I’m excited to introduce a new feature to the CrapMonkey Website: The CrapMonkey Store.   That’s right, you can finally get CrapMonkey swag so that you can impress your friends with your awesome listening tastes.  Keep your eye on the store as I hope to update merchandise frequently.   Additionally, the Podcast Awards are seven days away from wrapping up the nominations.  Please get out to the Podcast Awards site and nominate the CrapMonkey for a People’s Choice Award.  I’m guessing the “general” category is the closest thing going for this show but it’s your call of course. 

Okay, onto the less shameful promotions.  If you are  a technology geek, forward thinker or entrepreneur; you are not going to want to miss Gnomedex as it is, hands down, the leading technology conference.  We are less than one month out, so get registered asap.  Likewise, if you are headed out to Seattle for the event, shoot me an email and we’ll hook up for a beer at one of Seattle’s many fine breweries.  Finally, I wanted to make a quick case for the Podcast and New Media Expo in Ontario, California in September.  Hotel rooms are already becoming scarce, so if you are interested in going, you better hop to it.  It’s the home of the Podcast People’s Choice Podcast Awards and a great place to get to know your favorite podcasters better.  Well, that’s all I’ve got for now – hope to see you at one of these events (wearing a CrapMonkey t-shirt of course)!