Good GOD, but it’s hot out there! F*ckin’ A! We need something seriously cool to listen to. But what would that be? Who’s the “coolest” artist or band you can think of?

Groundrules:

1. No singling out particularly cool members of an otherwise uncool group (see high-steppin’ frontman Peter, beshaded drummer/schmo Steven Jo, and leather-clad guitar-slinger J. in video above)

2. No artists or bands from climatologically cool places, like Rush or Bjork.

3. Extra demerits for being the first to suggest the Rolling Stones.

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

Towsman Rick sends in the following report from the recent Newport Folk Festival.

I spent the weekend at the Newport Folk Festival, where they sold beer and wine for the first time. They and the town were nervous, of course, about the potential problems, so they made a beer area way at the end of a pier (the festival is at a Revolutionary War fort on the water). And they charged $6 to $8 for lousy beer.

And people thronged to it. The second they opened the gate, the wait was 20 minutes. By mid-afternoon (the festival went until 7:00 pm; beer closed at 6:00 pm) the wait was about an hour. And people were doing it!

We’ve spoken of beer before, but I don’t recall us actually discussing the appeal. Because I don’t get it at all.

I’m not a big drinker; that might be one thing. But while I drink the occasional beer, neither I or anyone I know would ever wait in line for an hour to pay $8 for a beer in a bar. Does anyone have any idea what it is about being out hearing music that suddenly makes it worth it for so many people?

(It’s even more baffling at sheds: At least at this festival you could still hear one of the three stages; why anyone who has paid $75 to hear one band volunteers to miss 2 to 3 songs for the privilege of paying $8 for a beer is even more alien to me.)