Comfest recap

To completely contradict a column that ran in The Other Paper last week, I love Comfest, and this year didn’t disappoint. Yeah, it smelled like patchouli and it rained and it was muddy and the Libertarians are yet again trying to get a candidate on the ballot. But it also smelled like awesome fair food, the kids and hippies loved the mud and the rain didn’t stop some great bands from performing.

So here are my bests and worsts from the weekend organized into random categories. And let it be said that the good definitely outweighed the bad.

Best performance:
Miranda Sound’s unbridled final Comfest performance was top notch, but Brainbow’s epic, hypnotic set of instrumental rock just edged it out. The strings, sax and horns were a nice addition, and each song was completely cathartic, building tension and releasing it at all the right moments.

Best dancer:
Some hippie chick in a drum circle Friday night who made Shakira look like an amateur.

Worst dancer:
Some shirtless raver dude who decided to jump in the drum circle when the hippie chick left. Raving doesn’t work in a drum circle.

Best food:
Bahama Mama. Fish boats are overrated.

Best backing vocalists:
At the end of Two Cow Garage’s killer set of cow-punk, at least 20 guys came onstage to form a “dude choir” for an extended version of the David Bowie/Mott the Hoople song “All the Young Dudes.”

Worst moment of the weekend:
After a big Labatt Blue, I went to relieve myself in one of the oversized porta-potty structures equipped with a trough that can comfortably fit about three standing men side by side. I was on one side, someone else on the other, and then a self-professed “old man with a weak bladder” completed the trifecta in the middle. Alas, the old man didn’t quite make it in time, as my leg could attest.

Best T-shirt:
“My daddy is in a promising local band”--a tee for tots from Clintonville shop Red Rover.

Worst T-shirt:
“Keep Sublime Alive.” Bradley’s gone, man. He’s gone.

Most inaccurate sign:
Inside the booth for “One Hit Wunders: World’s Best One Hit Smoking System” was a small sign that read “For tobacco & herbal use only.” (One woman gave it a glowing endorsement, though, telling her friend, “That’s the best thing ever. It’s like a bowl, but you can smuggle it through airports and sh*t.”)

Biggest regrets:
Not seeing Moon High, Muscle Puzzle, Hugs & Kisses and Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments. Also, seeing part of Michelle Shocked’s set. Bleh.

Best kiddie pool:
The rainwater made a big, muddy lake next to the Bozo stage, and the kids loved it. I watched one little tike with his face painted dive headfirst repeatedly into the brown water. The face paint was gone in no time. Meanwhile, an old coot just stood in the middle of the knee-high water for hours with a big grin on his face--a couple of people even got their pictures taken with him.

Best stage:
Offramp