Tag: Busta Rhymes

BottleRock Napa Valley 2026 Festival Journal, Day 2

(You’re reading Day Two. Be sure to catch up on Day One’s fun!)

Saturday dawned sunny and cool in Napa Valley. I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to get back to the Expo for another fun day of music. 

First up, I caught some of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ set at the Prudential stage. This isn’t the first time this act has played BottleRock, but I didn’t catch them last time, so I had to make sure not to make the same mistake this time. I enjoyed hits like “Cherry Bomb,” “I Love Rock & Roll,” and “Bad Reputation.” Continue reading “BottleRock Napa Valley 2026 Festival Journal, Day 2”

Rock the Bells: A Journey Through Time and Memory

CaptainKirk1

It starts at the gate on a wooden table, security searching bags, removing water bottle caps. It’s not a line, but a mass of people, compressed into a singlularity, squeezed through metal detectors like orange juice through a strainer–the pulp left behind: water bottle caps, drugs, Diet Dr. Pepper cans piled in neat towers around the parking lot (each layer an epoch) and something else…something less tangible. Metal detectors root out invisible men with sirens: a novel assimilation process to remove their weapons and expose their water. An invasive beep accompanies me through the plastic archway, where a woman– African American, in a yellow staff polo– asks me if I’m wearing a belt. I pull up my sweater and t-shirt, the small metal belt buckle is proof enough of my identity; a gentle pat down proves that I am indeed visible and physical. No, I am not an invisible man, merely an inappropriately dressed white male with a balding pattern and an open bottle of water, covering a culture I know only through books, Boondocks episodes and BET. Continue reading “Rock the Bells: A Journey Through Time and Memory”