High Bias

I just want to point out, for the record, that in the course of covering all three days of this past weekend's Pitchfork Festival, Jim DeRogatis makes absolutely no mention of the VIP areas.

This is important because it will undoubtedly take up about half of every article he writes when covering Lollapalooza, leading me to believe that the implied douchebaggery of paying top dollar to be away from the madding crowd and get some additional benefits apparently isn't a big deal when it's at an event DeRo thinks is "cool."

Are they comparable? The one year a friend and I "won" VIP tickets for Lolla (there's a reason it's in quotes, but it's a long story), the main benefits were mostly just free food and drink and no lines for bathrooms. The view wasn't all that great. Shade and chairs were certainly nice. It sounds like the Pitchfork experience, according to a friend, was similar but maybe a bit cheaper in terms of food, bathrooms, etc., which is in line with the difference between the festivals themselves. So why not outrage? Why not even a mention?

Having read and listened to Jim over the years -- and I can never get too angry with him after he compared me to Bill Bruford and Terry Bozzio in a review of my old band -- I know he's a big fan of the old saying "I reserve the right to be inconsistent when it supports my argument." But sometimes that reaches a degree of absurdity that I can't let go by without commenting on it.