Devendra separated the hippies from the rockers, and I made the unfortunate choice of joining the hippies after catching the first part of the Mission of Burma show, which was pretty rocking. I don't know if Devendra was pandering to his crowd, but after introducing one song as a cover of a popular song in Israel, he rambled on about how he knows the wind blows and carries, and who knows what the positive vibe of this concert might do for the ongoing conflict between Israel and Lebanon.

Actually, I could answer that for query for you Devendra. Absolutely nothing.

I was a bit disappointed. I think Devendra would have sounded better if it had been just him and an acoustic guitar because with a full backing band his songs sounded totally bland. Devendra himself appeared more than a little spacey. Pitchfork interviewed him after his set. Here's an excerpt: "The idea of focusing on a word and focusing on it enough until you reach your center space, your fundamental space, your fundamental essence, is based on the condiment mayonnaise." Right. I'm pretty sure whatever Devendra was using to reach his "fundamental space" backstage wasn't mayonnaise.

Band Who Rocked Me the Hardest From Afar - Mission of Burma

I watched until I heard "Donna Summeria," which was great, but I was by myself because all my friends had went to grab a spot for Devendra. I made the unfortunate decision to go join them, but even from a few hundred feet away, "That's When I Reach for My Revolver" let me reach my inner space of rock, even in the midst of so many hippies.

Best Dressed - Man Man

These guys were the first band I saw at Pitchfork and they set a high bar. Probably the third-best act I saw live. Totally energetic and weird and crazy and Captain Beefheart-ish, but they were also dressed to the nines in all-white tennis outfits with headbands, warpaint, feathers and tats. "Black Mission Goggles" was one of the best live songs I saw all weekend. Later, two of the Man Man dudes joined the Walkmen on stage for "Louisiana" and both had "Man" written on the front of their white polos with precise penmanship and on the back of their shirts one had the word "Rap" and the other "Snacks." I don't know what "Rap Snacks" are but Man Man were freaking awesome.

The Richard Simmons Award - CSS

I watched a little bit of The National but left early because I wanted to catch the Brazilian girl band CSS. I didn't leave early enough. The Biz 3 stage was a tent reserved for more experimental acts, but the place was packed for the dance pop/punk music of CSS. The crowd loved CSS and it's easy to understand why.

Lead punk princess Lovefoxxx (What? That's her name.) was nutz. She totally earned her name and the "z" at the end of "nutz" in that last sentence. She stage dived even though her friend had broken her arm earlier in the day doing the same thing. She ripped her T-shirt off, rocked the coolest spandex pants I've seen in a long time and never stopped dancing. Closer "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above" gave the crowd dance fever and two days later I played the song at a club in Iowa City to a similar response.