After tailgating for the first time ever this week (check out the awesome pic of Joe manning the grill), I've decided to compose a short list of rules for tailgating.
1. Arrive at least 3 hours before the show. This will give you enough time to cook and ingest food and drink, and properly expel any liquid waste before the show begins. Otherwise, you're going to be running to and from the bathroom once the show begins, and no one wants to do that.
2. Make sure to bring just enough food. Anything less, and you're going to be salivating over your neighbors' burgers. Any extra, and you're going to give it to the vulture of a neighbor who's been eying your grill since you started cooking.
3. While cooking and eating, it's sometimes pleasurable to listen to music. Do not listen to the band that you are about to see. Whether you agree with my "no music the entire day for the band you're about to see" rule or not, you absolutely cannot listen to that band in the parking lot. It's just plain inconsiderate to others in the parking lot.
4. Do not crank your music so that everyone in the parking lot can hear it. Arrange your grill near your car doors so that you can hear the music, but so it doesn't destroy everyone else's ears.
5. However, no matter how hard you try to not make your music heard by others, it's going to be impossible to entirely block it from their hearing. With that in mind it's important to listen to music that will be respected by everyone, and won't bother anyone.
Good bands to listen to: The Strokes, The Velvet Underground, Fugazi, The Raconteurs, Okkervil River, or any other rock band that has achieved the status of "cool" by fans and rock critics alike.
Bands to avoid at all costs: Pop (except for Prince), rap (except for Talib Kweli, Arrested Development, and Aesop Rock), and all classic rock. Yes, this means no Zeppelin, no Who, no Skynyrd, no Allmans, no Journey, no Boston, and definitely no Aerosmith. However, you are allowed to listen to the Grateful Dead. I'm not sure why, but somehow they slipped under the radar.
That's basically it. Try to be considerate to those around you and to think of them when you blast your tunes. Your playlist can be status symbol that either defines you as the guy who really knows good music, or as the guy who's listening to the Dave Matthews Band to the chagrin of the rest of the concert going-patrons.
So make sure to print out these rules and bring them to the next show you go to. Hell, print out a dozen copies and hand them out to everyone else. Because it's important not only to listen to the arbitrary rules that someone else made up and to live your life based on them, but to project those axioms on other people- telling them how they should be living their lives.
Oh, and just a note about the songs posted: This Raconteurs song is probably one of the coolest stories ever told in the form of a song. Listen to it all the way through, and make sure to pay attention to the words. Jack White at his absolute best.
The Strokes- Is This It?
The Velvet Underground- The Black Angel's Death Song
Fugazi- Waiting Room (live)
The Raconteurs- Carolina Drama
Okkervil River- John Allyn Smith
Buy The Strokes, VU, Fugazi, The Raconteurs, and Okkervil River @ Amazon.com
4 comments:
"After tailgating for the first time ever this week...I've decided to compose a short list of rules for tailgating."
You're bold; I usually wait until the second time I do something before considering myself expert enough to give advice to others.
Amen on Dave-I'm-so-boring-Matthews! thank YOU.
man, what a bitchy comment.... clear grill envy.
Dude, you forgot another important aspect of the tailgate: the food. Don't be that guy grilling gross hot dogs and drinking Natty Ice. Get some good meat--be creative--and some craft beer. If the show is out in the country like so many summer shows are, find a farmstand and grill up some local corn.
Add that to your list of rules and you'll be king of the parking lot. Unless it's a Dave concert and everyone there is 17 and piss drunk.
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