* For a company who sells products to make men clean, why did I feel so dirty and sticky when I walked by the Axe tent?  Oh, it was the girls in tight, short shorts and winged, angel dresses, and the strip club vibe of their portable lounge.  Classy, Axe.  Very classy.

* Animal Collective headlined Friday night.  Neither I nor my photographer, Mara Robinson stuck around.  If you’ve followed I Rock Cleveland for any amount of time you already know that I’m not the biggest AnCo fan.  It’s more than that.  Last year at the Pitchfork Music Festival, Animal Collective’s Panda Bear delivered a big fuck you to his fans with a 45 minute set of atonal noise.  I took that personal and, like I said, I barely care for him or his band.  Any goodwill I had for this group and its members was lost in that set of aimless blips. They did have a fantastic stage set-up with all sorts of glowing decorations, however.

* Talking with people who supposedly know things, that rumor that the classic Guided by Voices lineuup may release a new record is not only showing serious staying power, but might turn out to be true.  Don’t be surprised if/when a formal announcement is made for a new Guided by Voices record to be released in early 2012.

* Sticking with the topic of Guided by Voices, the winner for the best t-shirt of day one was a toddler, no more than two, stumbling about in his custom-made “Hot Freaks” shirt.  The only thing that could have made that sighting any better was if dad had a matching “My Son Cool” shirt.  Scratch that, any kid in a “Hot Freaks” shirt rules, no competition, no caveats.

* As in past year’s I took some time during the first day of the festival to do some crate digging at the record fair.  I can’t say I made any major scores, but I did get the latest Hozac release, Mickey’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Dreamer, an import 7″ of Dinosaur, Jr’s “Feel the Pain,” and the Sub Pop reissue of Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff.  Yes, my recent grunge binge shows no sign of abating.  Hell, I may show up at the festival today with a backwards ballcap, hi-tops, cut-off shorts, and dirty, strangly hair.  Don’t doubt me, I still have time this afternoon to add some mud to my Axe hair gel and mess up my mop.