Way better than Noise Pop and let’s not even mention Mission Creek’s quality control (sucks ass) , Mushroom International brings the best music festival of the year… built on a meth rock! What could be more 2008? Here is a preview of Thursday, the first day, of the three day music extravaganza!

To be honest, I am not familiar with Julia Holter. I’m totally gonna go to her show though, because she looks like a pretty girl. I love pretty girls when they do things like start bands, do photoshop or music videos. You know – when they do stuff dudes do… but better. And I love that because I’d totally be a pretty girl if I wasn’t some soon-to-be-45-skinny-and-AIDSy-looking male.

Raccoons are pretty cool; I have to admit. Their singer, Nick Stone, sings with a weird half-smile – the kind you only get when you have a boner. They play out of boutique amps. They remind me of the cool band Kevin Ink was in before I was born. They all have a pretty good sense of style, but none of them are gay or willing to embarrass themselves by taking off their clothes or wearing makeup. It’s kind of an ideal situation. I like their guitar player “Jeremy R.” the best. He is super inviting and seems like he’d be a good dad if I were fertile.

Creep Land seem to be one of the inbred bands that you can expect at one of these three day events. All the members are from other bands. Expect inde star power. Who knows what will happen?

The record label Human Ear Music is home to most of the acts. Artist Jason Yates of Fast Friends Inc. will have his art all over the place.

1st night of Mushroom International
Thursday @ Amnesia
853 Valencia Street
San Francisco

Faces of Meth

My favorite Rufus Wainwright video is the fan video, Faces of Meth. Sometimes it makes me cry but most of the time I just laugh super hard. What other video/music thing can do that?

I’m so confused about what to think of Wainwright. When it comes to gay men, every single one seems to have a different opinion on the swollen cheeked Gap ad crooner.

I’ve heard that while at Badlands in the Castro, Wainwright once got so upset that he reminded all the bartenders that he was Rufus Wainwright by shouting out his own name. I’ve also heard that he used to hang out in the Mission before his career took off… whatever that means. I guess both of those things are cool. So whatever his behavior, he seems to be the kind of musician that is liked by gays who don’t really listen to music. I’m irritated by his overexposure, but I have to admit, I like some of his stuff. So, what do you think of him?