Pitckfork and the rest of the Weekend

I'm doing this post with my phone during my commute so I can stay awake:

This past weekend, two friends came to town: Z, a friend since 3rd grade, visited to see the Saturday performances at the Pitchfork Music Festival with Kumar. He wasn't too happy with 10mph rush hour traffic. J, a girl I know from college, rode down to hang out with her high school friends. She opted for the bus, which was an hour late. Neither were happy with their trips.

After eating dinner, Z and I stopped by J's friends' apartment for a few drinks. Though I like living in a simple walkup apartment nice ones (with working appliances) still look better. After an hour or so, Z and I walked to Kumar's apartment. The rest of the night was filled with people playing guitar, discussing how ridiculous it is that parents are joining facebook, and Old Grand Dad 114 whiskey. Old Grand Dad was pretty cranky.

On Saturday, Z left for the festival while I met up with J and her friends on Michigan ave. As much as I enjoy buying clothes for myself watching other people do it isn't as fun. But at least I'm not spending my money. Our nighttime plan was to go to The Violet Hour for a few drinks and then go from there. While J walked to the bar with her friends, I rode my bike from Rob's apartment while he took a cab with his girlfriend. I wouldn't say that Rob is the quickest person to get ready. Pair that with waiting for a taxi and traffic, and I was there 20 minutes before him. Violet Hour is probably the one bar in Wicker Park that you have to wait in line for (thankfully it's worth it). The bar is owned by the owner of super-nice restaurants Blackbird and Publican. When you go into the bar, you get seated by your party size. When Rob and gf arrived, I failed to explain this to him and let him refuse to skip the line (he didn't want any dirty looks). Long story short: we got in about 35 minutes before Rob. Luckily the drinks and atmosphere was great. Following paying for 10 drinks (of $10-12 each) between J's friend and I, we were in need of some cheaper drinks.

On to Crocodile and its $2.50 Pabst tallboys and free personal pizzas. Yup: when you order drinks that cost something like $6 total or so, they give you a small pizza for free. As a reference, mixing scotch with pbr and dirty basement dancing will likely make you black out.

Sunday was my turn to go to Pitchfork with Kumar, Jay, and a few others. Like last year, it was a great time. A quick recap od the acts I saw:

Pharoahe Monche: a rapper who hangs with the likes of Mos Def and Talib. He put on a great show, aided by a DJ from the group the Xecutioners. Apparently MF Doom from the night before wasn't great due to the audio setup, so I'm happy I saw Pharoahe instead.

The Walkmen: NYC via DC indie rockers. These guys were amazing. They played most of their songs from last year's You & Me, which were great, but a little slower. In songs like The Rat and In the New Year, the sounded their best.

Mew: Dutch "Opera Rock" (as described by Jay). These guys have a pretty big following I guess. They sounded unique, but definitely European. I saw them instead of Grizzly Bear because Jay said that GB would be in town during September.

The Flaming Lips: indie rock gods 2nd to Pavement. If last year's headliner Spoon had an arrogant cool, this was the complete opposite, but just as fun. I'm not a big Lips fan, but this live show left me wanting more. The band had more confetti than I've ever seen. They blew up giant balloons until they burst as well as shot it from cannons. And oh yeah, their 90 minutes of music was great too. Of all three days, I definitely picked the best day to go.

So that sums up my weekend. Lots of running around and hanging out. One thing that I thought of was the fact that my effort toward meeting girls has been at zero for quite a while now. All I've done recently was say Hi to D at the cafe.
So I'll ask a question either single or dating people can answer:

Do you find it's easier/more productive to kick back and not pursue the opposite sex or to be proactive about meeting new people?