Man, the Cow Palace! Umlaut has seen so much ROCK in this building over the years..I got alot of my ROCK education within these walls. Ozzy - 'Diary Of A Madman' Tour with Randy Rhoads.. AC/DC - 'For Those About To Rock' Tour.. Iron Maiden - 1983-85 shows... Ted Nugent with Humble Pie - 1981 (before The Nuge became such an outspoken Right Wing dick). So many Metallica shows - 1986, 1989, 1992, etc.. Black Sabbath - 'Mob Rules' and 'Born Again' shows.. Judas Priest - 'Screaming For Vengeance' Tour.. etc. etc. etc. SO MUCH ROCK!
It was a rainy day and it totally brought back memories of that AC/DC show in 1982.. My friend and I sat in his car and drank Southern Comfort while waiting for the doors to open.
"We're just a battery for hire with the guitar fire!"
Cow Palace Parking Lot - February 1982
The 2005 S.F. Flower & Garden Show. Remember when the Flower & Garden Show had an edge and there was that element of danger in the air?? Me too.. Now the F&G is totally mainstream and neutered. You could tell simply by looking at the bill, which has been identical for the past several years. This year's show featured 23 major garden exhibits, plus hundreds of smaller displays and vendor booths. This year's F&G was so much more DIRT than ROCK.
There were A LOT of suburban weekend gardeners in the crowd. I heard the orchids have their own tour bus this year and aren't even hangin' with the other plants.. There were A LOT of newbie orchid supporters in the house. You could tell most of them had never been to the F&G before. They had that elitist attitude that most orchid followers have now. Remember when the orchids were all Indie and had an edge?? Now they're fucking EVERYWHERE.
Once again, The Bonsai were the token Asian representative on the bill. Whatever.. They still have that complex way about them, but they've always been too delicate for Umlaut. I'll give props to The Bruthas, but they're just not heavy enough for me.. SLAYER!
There were some promising side stage acts, like the Bromeliads and the drought resistant plants. Some of them were HARD.. Hopefully next year the F&G will put them on the Main Stage instead of in the Display Gardens.
Moody Blues shirts = 1. Joe Satriani shirts = 1. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. Skychick kept getting bumped into by people. Pit etiquette was non-existent.
