Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge – Part 2: The Show

Trafton B.

September 6, 2010 - 3:57 PM

Wow! Who knew you could have so much fun in the-middle-of-nowhere Easter Washington? Words can barely describe the events that took place this weekend.

On Friday night we rolled into the Gorge campgrounds around 5 o'clock, just in time to set up camp and mosey over to the amphitheater as the sun set behind the stage. We walked over the hill just in time to hear Boyd jam on the electric violin over Stefan's funky baseline for "Crush."

This weekend was my first time seeing Dave live. I swiped my DMB card, so to speak. I've always been a fan but after hearing DMB just about every time I walked into Cam's room over the past two years I came to appreciate it more. And watching them play live this weekend made me understand why people travel from across the nation to see them play.

Tim Reynolds on the main guitar. Boyd Tinsley on the violin. Jeff Coffin on the saxophone with Rashawn Ross on the trumpet. Carter Beauford with his dreadlocks and white gloves in the background on the drums. By themselves these guys are ridiculously talented musicians. Then you add Dave on guitar and vocals and you've created a band that will go down in history. I found it ironic that these were my thoughts while listening to them play "Best of What's Around" at the end of the night.

After the show ended, we stumbled back through the tents in the dark. Trying to remember where you parked and navigating back to that spot after each show is a classic game at the Gorge. Thankfully Cam and his cousins once again offered years of Labor-Dave-Weekend expertise and we didn't have too much trouble.

 

On Saturday morning, the sun woke us up far earlier than we had hoped. Not to mention our tents were no more than thirty feet from a line of Honey Buckets. No, it wasn't the porta potty aroma that woke us up, but rather the constant slamming of those heavy plastic doors that coaxed us into waking. Thankfully, we had something to look forward to.

Sometime between 8 & 9AM every morning, the campgrounds quickly transforms from a peaceful sea of colorful tents into the largest tailgater imaginable. I thought Autzen was party central on Saturday mornings, but that was before I'd experienced this. It was like a tailgater with every school in the Northwest. Washington State. U-Dub. Oregon State. Steven's cousins, who we met at the show, were from Puget Sound. And obviously, there were some random schools like Central Michigan and Kansas State. The best part about this tailgater is that everyone wins! There's no losing team at the end of the day. Just Dave's songs stuck in your head.

Our group didn't even have tickets for Saturday's show. It didn't matter though because the Gorge was more than just a DMB concert. We spent all day Saturday bouncing around from one activity to the other, making new friends and neighbors with the cars, campers and Budget Trucks next to us.

We played ladder golf, Polish horseshoes, and whatever you call that beanbag toss game. I contemplated taking a shower. Don't worry, I didn't. Part of the Gorge is embracing the grime and grunge. When in Rome... I guess.

In the afternoon, we hid away from the sun under our Oregon canopy tent and listened to college football on the radio. In case you didn't hear, the Ducks won handily over the New Mexico Lobos, 72-0. Much better start to the season than last year.

Cam's friend, Greg, spent most of the afternoon standing on Brian's truck with a football. He would wait for some unsuspecting person to walk past. Then he'd yell something like, "Hey, you. Go long!" or "Pretty girl in the white dress, catch the ball." He'd toss the football and hope that whomever he threw to could actually throw it back. Thankfully, it was a leather football or else every window in the truck would be shattered by now. I later climbed in the truck bed to do the same routine with a Frisbee.

As the sun retreated and the temperature dropped from the 90s, Trey and I walked around the campgrounds. We checked out the scenery and ran into a few friends from Oregon. It was our exercise for the day.

Sunday, it was more of the same except we had tickets for the concert at night. This time we headed into the concert in time to hear the opener, Ben Harper, play a few songs before Dave came out.

I'm struggling to remember all the songs they played because apparently half our group fell asleep for a portion of the show. They definitely played "Crash Into Me," which I remember because it was the first Dave song I ever heard. The highlight of the night was hearing the band play "Trippin' Billies" and follow it up by diving right into "Ants Marching." And as we were walking out, they started playing "Stay," which again I found ironic.

Overall, it was an epic weekend. We're driving home through the labyrinth of highways back to Vancouver... still listening to Dave. I suspect that I'll be listening to it for at least the next week.

For now, it's back to the real world. Back to work. Back to listening to the Giants on the radio. Back to wishing every weekend could be like this one. Sadly, Dave won't be at the Gorge next year. The band is taken some much-deserved time off from touring together. I guess that makes this weekend that much sweeter.

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Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge - Part 1: Preparation

Trafton B.

September 3, 2010 - 2:00 PM

This is part one of a two part record what is sure to be a magical weekend of relaxing during the day, jamming in the evening and camping at night.

 

The long awaited weekend with Dave Matthews at the Columbia River Gorge begins in about five hours when we set up camp, and I feel like I need to share a bit of wisdom with regards to planning for the weekend because pre-Dave is just as important as Dave itself. Thankfully, Cam is a five-year veteran of Dave at the Gorge so he had more than enough experience to groom us for weekend.

 

The first step in packing the car, or in our case the Suburban, is having enough tents and sleeping bags. Steven and his brother, Geoff, met us this morning at Cam's house in Vancouver -Washington not British Columbia - and made sure to bring his family's six-person tent. Add that to Cam's four-person and two-person tents and I think we'll have plenty of room for all eight of us there. If anyone's doing the math our there, that's eight guys in three tents made for twelve people. And don't forget about the two hammocks and canopy tent cover we tossed in last minute. We're camping, but we're definitely not roughing it.

 

The second essential is food and beverages. I think I counted four or five variously sized coolers between the two cars in our caravan, and wee just stopped at Fred Meyers to pick up all sorts of chips, miscellaneous beverages and endless sandwich makings. We don't have too much breakfast foods because we don't plan on being awake before noon. We were lucky enough to find some brownie mix at our place on Wednesday night, so Cam and I decided to make a batch for the heck of it. Then Steven and Geoff showed up with a separate batch their mom made, so we're rolling in baked goodies. Yahoo!

 

Aside from food and shelter there are random necessities that only an experienced concert camper would understand. We'll probably pick up some jugs of water on the ride up. Bring shorts for the day and pants for the night because the weather is starting to change from the hot days and cool nights of autumn. Grab a pair of shades and don't forget a rain jacket because we're still in the Pacific Northwest after all. As far as footwear goes, I'm not the best person for advice. I only wear sandals, so I brought a pair of Rainbows and a pair of Birkenstocks.

 

Okay, that's all I the guidance I can provide for now. We just hopped onto Highway 97, the third and final highway of the road trip, and I want to look at the massive windmill farm along the river. I'll let you all know how it goes at the beginning of next week. In the meantime...........

 

Countdown until Ducks Season Opener: Less than 24 hours!!!!!!

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Ducks Football 2010 Preview

Trafton B.

September 2, 2010 - 11:11 PM

College Football is back! Today officially marks the beginning of the 2010-11 NCAA Football season. As of now, USC is ahead of Hawaii much to new coach Lane Kiffin's delight. Future Pac-10 competitor, Utah, upset #15 Pittsburgh in overtime. And Terrell Pryor's three touchdown, 271-yard day for Ohio State has already scored 29 points for my fantasy team.

Football is on everyone's mind in Eugene, and it's certainly the main topic of discussion in our house with two of the six roommates interning with the football team this season. For the second year, Kevin is working on the Oregon defense, which means he's been watching video and preparing for New Mexico this weekend. And Ross just scored an internship with the UO Marketing and Promotions department, so he's been busy passing out schedule cards and posters lately. Both will be on the sidelines this weekend at Autzen Stadium.

I was thinking about giving you some sort of Pac-10 preview, but then I realized you could just read that on ESPN. I'd rather give you the students' perspective on this season's upcoming games. I won't give any score predictions, though, because we're obviously winning each game.

September 4th vs. NEW MEXICO. Sadly, I'm missing the season opener but with just cause. Dave Matthews only plays for one weekend at the Gorge each year and the Ducks will be playing through December. I would like to see Darron Thomas; debut as the starting quarterback though. If he's as good as Kevin keeps telling us, then we're in for a few fun season.

September 9th at TENNESSEE. Cam, Ross and Kevin will all be Knoxville when we take on the Volunteers. It isn't as hyped of a game as original thought out to be, but it'll be a fun one to watch at a local Eugene sports bar.

 

September 18th vs. PORTLAND STATE. One last tune up before Pac-10 play starts. I'm more excited to see the student section fill up as everyone moves back before school starts.

September 25th at ARIZONA STATE. Not much to say here. Just come back to Eugene with a victory. Fall classes start the following Monday, so I don't need anything else to complain about.

October 2nd vs. STANFORD. This'll be the first true test of the season. QB Andy Luck returns after having a ridiculous Freshman year, but this time he doesn't have All-American RB Toby Gerhart in the backfield. Last season the Cardinal beat the Ducks in a 51-42 shootout. It was a brutal game to watch, I can tell you firsthand. It was a long ride back from Palo Alto last year. This year we want retribution.

October 9th at WASHINGTON STATE. ZZZzzzZZZZzzzz.....Sorry, I thought we had an off week.

October 21st vs UCLA. This matchup is more fun to watch during Track & Field season.

October 30th at USC. It's a Halloween Night rematch and I'm sure that USC remembers the beat down we handed to them last year. They want payback and I'm never one to count USC. They may not be able to go to a bowl at the end of the season, but they can still knock us out of contention if we aren't on our game.

Nov 6th vs. WASHINGTON. Ducks vs. Huskies is always a classic rivalry. I can't wait to see clips of Kenny Wheaton's "The Pick" playing on the big screen. Ask any homegrown Duck Football fan and they'll tell you that they love seeing U-Dub lose way more than Oregon State.

November 13th at CAL. I know I don't have a very good track record of watching the Ducks play on the road, but it still means a road trip with friends and a few nights of home cooked meals with Mom & Dad. There's a real good chance I'll be in Berkeley come November, especially if- sorry, when we're still in the hunt for a BCS Bowl bid.

November 26th vs. ARIZONA. We beat a lot of good teams last season and ticked a lot of people off in the process, but I don't think anyone wants to beat us more than Arizona does. Their fans were literally out of the stands and ready to rush the field! Last year's double overtime, comeback victory against the Wildcats probably goes into the Top 3 game I've ever watched.... in any sport. What I'm trying to say is I'd be fine if we just beat them handily this time around. It'd be easier on my nervous system.

December 4th at OREGON STATE. What can I say that hasn't already been said? The Civil War is the only way to end the season. Last year, it was a battle for the roses. The year before we just knocked the Beavers out of the Rose Bowl. Hard to believe that a Beavers' win in the 2009 Civil War meant they'd be heading to the Rose Bowl but a loss meant they'd go to the Emerald Bowl. I have one more shot to see the Ducks play in Corvallis before I graduate. This year the Civil War is the Saturday before finals week. I hope I don't have any exams on Monday.

The Ducks made it to the Rose Bowl last season but the team left Pasadena empty handed and left us fans heavy hearted. The expectations are high for this team and I'm hoping they can do work some magic for my last season in the student section at Autzen Stadium.

Countdown until Ducks Season Opener: 2 Days!!!!

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Waste Warriors at the Eugene Celebration

Trafton B.

August 28, 2010 - 4:24 PM

The Eugene Celebration is somewhat like a community pep rally. It's a weekend dedicated to strengthening neighborhood relationships between citizens, small business owners and students alike. Consider it a massive block party with great food, parade floats, live music and friendly people sharing a common purpose of celebrating the city they live in. Earlier today, I had the chance to join the celebration for a few hours, but not in the exact fashion you might be thinking.

 

Around noon, Steven and I volunteered to represent the University of Oregon as Waste Warriors at the Celebration. It was a behind the scenes gig that I'd heard about from the PPPM email list serve a couple weeks ago. According to the email, we would be helping to sort materials generated by the event into recycling, compost and waste and in return we'd receive a free t-shirt and a weekend pass to the festivities.

The t-shirts is pretty cool, I'm not going to lie, and being your average college student I was stoked to be able to work my way into the event rather than pay, but whether or not the fruits of our labor outweigh the vulgar nature of our duties still remains in question. Allow me to elaborate.

 

Our task was to take the contents of somewhere between twenty-five and thirty trash bags and separate them into compostable material, comingled recycling, glass recycling, waste, etc. Simple, right? It was exactly what the job description explained. It was around the time when our two leaders, Lupe and Willie, started handing out smocks and vinyl gloves that I started to worry. The next two hours was spent sorting through oodles and oodles of Lord-knows-what people had thrown away throughout the weekend.

 

Bag after bag was dumped onto our sorting table. Our team of five UO students and a Eugene community member sifted through the remnants of several different food stands, all of which looked like they were very appetizing at one point. We saw a few cartons of melting Ben & Jerry's ice cream, lots of disposable plates and silverware and an unlimited supply of empty coffee cups. Let's just say that I'm really happy that Café Mam in downtown Eugene serves their fair trade coffee in compostable cups. And based on how many people are drinking it, I wish I could say the same for Starbucks.

 

I already know what you're dying to find out. What was the worst smell you encountered, Trafton? There was some heavy competition between diapers and leftover Greek cuisine, but the clear-cut winner goes to a few bags of soggy cigarette butts. I'll spare you the details of that foulest of stenches and leave it at that.

 

It really wasn't nearly as bad as I make it out to be. I could have done without the smell, obviously, but aside from that it was no more than few hours chatting with new friends and learning what can and cannot be composted by Rexius' compost facilities. I learned that any recyclable plastic that has touched food could no longer be recycled. Sadly, it gets sent to the dump. Those 99¢ Arizona Ice Teas that we all love don't have any CRV value in Oregon, whereas the majority of all other aluminum cans and plastic bottles can be returned for 5¢ a piece at Safeway or Market of Choice. And, like I said before, I'm really glad that most disposable cups are compostable these days, because Eugeners sure drink a lot of coffee and soda.

 

I'm certainly glad I went, although I wish I could have stayed at the Celebration afterwards. After our shift ended around 2:30, Steven and I quickly bolted home to rinse off the grunge that comes with two hours of digging through trash. We never did make it back to downtown. Oh well, I guess there's always next year.

 

 

Coundown until Ducks Season Opener: 7 days!!!

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Eugene Emeralds vs. Everett AquaSox

Trafton B.

August 26, 2010 - 10:31 PM

Earlier tonight my roommates - Ross, Steven and Winston - and I headed over to PK Park to watch some Minor League Baseball action as the Eugene Emeralds took on the Everett AquaSox. Okay, we may have been lured to the park by Thirsty Thursday, but at least we're supporting our local team, right?

 

The highlight of the night happened around the 3rd Inning when a foul ball off the bat of the AquaSox clean up hitter found its way to our section. It ricocheted off the top of the stadium behind home plate and plopped down in the row in front of us. The ball actually landed directly into a girl's cup and splashed soda all over the kid next to her. At the same time, I became overzealous trying to catch the ball and happened to spill some of my drink on the kid too. I felt really bad until he leaned over to his mother and laughed, "I think I need to take a shower when I get home." His spirits remain high and the girl gave the ball to him afterwards, so it all worked out in the end.

 

Meanwhile, the game turned out to be a big victory for the Ems. They were down a run until the bottom of the 5th inning when they scored two twice lands to a subpar defensive effort by the Everett infielders. First, Wes Cunningham whiffed on a change up for the third strike, but the ball scooted past the Everett catcher to the backstop, which allowed Cunningham to take first base and Oscar Garcia to steal home to tie the game. Later in the inning they scored again when the second baseman booted a groundball. We concluded that any player still in Single-A short season at this time of year probably deserves to be there. We noticed that everyone was lacking a certain polish and shine that Triple-A and Major Leaguers shared.

 

At that point, the score was 2-1 and the Emeralds never looked back. They tacked on four more runs in the 7th inning to go up 6-1, which ended up being the final score. For the rest of the game, we sat back and enjoyed the show. Winston recognized the Emeralds catcher, Rocky Gale, who he'd played with at McNary High School in Keiser.

 

Meanwhile, Steven and I were doing our best impressions of Major League scouts as the Emeralds bullpen took over in the later innings. A little known fact about me is that my dream job is a baseball scout in the major leagues. I would literally drop any job and any future plans if I were given the opportunity to become a scout. Getting paid to watch minor league games. All I have to do is hold up a speed gun and jot down notes every once in a while. Sign me up!

 

I'll make one bold prediction. Mark my words; we'll see Xavier Esquivel in the major leagues in a few years. He pitched a perfect 7th and 8th inning for the Ems - six up, six down with three strikeouts. Watch for that name coming up through the Padres farm system. We'll see if I'm cut out to be a scout or not.

 

Hopefully, we'll be able to make it to another game before the summer ends. The Salem-Keiser Volcanoes are coming into town next weekend. They're the minor league affiliate of the Giants, so I might actually have a little vested interest in the game. The Dave Matthews Band concert at the Columbia Gorge next weekend might get in the way though. I'll keep you posted.

 

Countdown until Ducks Season Opener: 9 Days!!

 

 

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