Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

Ha! Gotcha here, didn’t I?

So I thought I’d throw in a couple more pictures and a different perspective on yesterday’s Live 8 extravaganza.

As you know from Chris’ post, we started the day with intense G8 Beer Blogging. We had some initial concerns about the availability of French and Russian beer, but thanks to the beer computer at the Foodery, our fears were quickly soothed and we left the place with 8 beers, one from each G8 nation. Actually we ended up with 9; I really liked one particularly cute Belgian beer with a pink pig on the label and I guess I forgot to put it back once we found the French beer that we were going to substitute with the pig beer. Alas, the beer looked more girlie than it tasted but since I’m a knowledgeable beer chick, that wasn’t a problem.

So we started the long walk from Washington Square West to the Art Museum. The weather wasn’t too hot and the walk was pleasant, but the beer quickly got the best of our bladders. I’m a bit of a dive bar connoiseur, as is Chris, so Oscar’s Tavern was the perfect beer, trivia, and bathroom break. The age gods must have been smiling upon me, because both Chris’ wife and me were carded by the bartender. If I’d been drunker, I may have gone straight behind the bar and kissed her feet, but I was sufficiently sober to maintain an appropriate level of decorum. But really, can I tell you how long it’s been since I was carded? I don’t even remember the last time, it’s been quite a while. Here’s a quick plug for Oscar’s. Most Saturdays (except for yesterday), beers on tap are $2.00 from 2-7PM. Their tap selection isn’t the best in town, but it’s not that bad either. We didn’t eat at Oscar’s yesterday, but they have pretty decent food too. Here’s a picture of my new favorite bartender.

So we continued along and hit the Parkway just a bit later. Along the way, we found Cindy, a Upper West Side Manhattanite who was wandering around the festivities while her son played at a chess tournament at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza. There’s always good bit of stuff to see in Philly, but she really couldn’t have timed her visit any better. Here’s a picture of my happy companions.

Come on now, you didn’t think I’d actually post the real picture did you?

We walked along the north side of the parkway, in what are normally the outer lanes of traffic. Here was the scene at the Rodin Museum.

The fire department had their big trucks out, using the long arm as a nice big sprinkler. The firemen seemed to be enjoying themselves, as did everyone else.

We managed to get pretty close to one of the jumbotrons and found a nice spot on the grass. That’s where we came across this character. He just looked so retro, I had to waste some memory card space on him. He was definitely grooving to something. At this point, it might have been Def Leppard.

The crowd was pretty mellow. I think it’s hard to maintain a lot of intensity for a live concert when the stage is incredibly far away, particularly when it has a big statue smack dab in front of it. The best performer I heard was probably Sarah McLachlan. Her duet with Josh Groban was beautiful.

I was surprised at the fast pace the concert managed to maintain. Chris and I walked to his parents house for a pee break, I got a quick tour of the place, and by the time we left, Stevie Wonder was finishing up Superstition. We got back to our group just in time to catch Paul McCartney finishing up the Hyde Park portion of the program.

Here’s a image of the aftermath of the concert.

Keep in mind, this is what I saw right by the trash containers. But trash was strewn everywhere. I know the city does a good job of clean up after these events, but I can’t help being disturbed at the amount of trash that people abandon. To be fair, I think the city might have underestimated the amount of receptables needed, but people need to take a hard look at themselves when they go to an event like this and just cover the place with trash.

It’s nice seeing happy, positive images of Philadelphia being broadcast all over the world. All in all, it was a fun day.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 3rd, 2005 at 10:48 pm and is filed under General, Freshly-baked Cookies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.