Pitchfork 2008...Best of the Rest!

By Jim Shearer on 07/21/2008

BIGGEST WASTE OF WATER AWARD

In the age of bottled-water, this may seem a little disgusting, but the Pitchfork Festival had some fountains cranking out some good 'ol Chicago tap water (which was mighty good). For some reason, this particular faucet wouldn't shut off. Because I'm down with a little water conservation every now and then, I tried my best to stop this fountain from running. The water fountain won.

DOWN FOR THE CAUSE AWARD

On a 90-degree day with the sun beating down on festival goers, this fan of Ghostface Killah & Raekwon braved it all and wore his black (100% cotton) Wu-Tang Clan shirt. You know how some shirts are worn until they become a light, sheer material? Well, this wasn't one of them. I'm getting sunburn just thinking about it.

PUBLIC HERO #1 AWARD

During Public Enemy's performance of It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back on Friday night, I was bouncing around like a teenage boy in the late 80's. Midway through the set I felt my pocket to see if my camera was still there, and, GULP, it was gone. My first thought was, "Oh no, there go my blogs." Fortunately as I searched for the camera, this girl (right) held up the missing item.

BIGGEST PERK OF HAVING A V.I.P. BADGE AWARD

Getting free ice cream from the Ice Cream Man! All weekend long I was taking advantage of the free scooter crunches, frozen fruit bars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pops, and my favorite, the ice cream sandwich. It was glorious until...

WORST MESSAGE OF THE WEEKEND AWARD

...the V.I.P. area ran out of free ice cream on Sunday afternoon (on the hottest day of the festival).

I'm still bummed out about it.

LINE CUTTER THEN KARMA WILL GET YOU AWARD

On Friday night while waiting in a long line to get my free burrito in the V.I.P. tent, Spoon's Brit Daniel cut to the front. He pretended like he was catching up with an old buddy, but never left the line. Moments before I got my burritio, Britt cut to the front again. Calling him on it, "You cuttin' Brit?!" he responded by telling me he lost his cell phone. Luckily for him, one of the burritio-makers found it.

ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDIN' ME AWARD

While checking into the Pitchfork Festival on Friday, V.I.P. badge holders were told that they had to wear their V.I.P. bracelets for the entire weekend. Because I'm not a jewelry man (I hate when things are wrapped around my neck, wrists, or fingers), it drove me crazy having to wear a blue bracelet all weekend long. I'm sure some festival goers, who weren't getting free burritos or ice cream all weekend, are really feeling my pain right about now. :)

THIS SMELLS LIKE A CAT'S WET BUTT AWARD

The rain on Saturday afternoon turned Chicago's Union Park into one big mud pit. On Sunday, the 90-degree heat baked the concert grounds, turning all the mud, sweat, bare feet, and b.o. of a 3-day summer festival into the perfect storm of stink.

This was a clean freak's worst nightmare.

BEST PLACE TO THROW AN AFTER PARTY AWARD

An ice cream shop, duh. Probably because everyone was counting on getting free ice cream on Sunday afternoon, and then not getting it, the logical place for a Pitchfork after-party was Chicago's famous ice cream parlor, Margie's. Just in case you're curious, I ordered a chocolate malt milkshake (made with vanilla ice cream).

THING I'LL MISS MOST AWARD

My daily allotment of one (1) free burrito (sigh).