“It’s raining, that kinda sucks,” my friend Jake said with his eyes locked on Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. One hour later in a last ditch effort to save my car, I fought through knee deep water on Washington Avenue with debris floating down the river that was forming. I was able to move my car to the higher ground of my friend’s driveway, only after creating waves with my car that pushed over three trash cans.
As I walked up to the Yellow Lot of NRG Stadium for Free Press Summer Fest a couple weeks later, I didn’t know what to think. Having gone to Summer Fest the past two years, I knew the last minute move from Eleanor Tinsley Park was going to be interesting to say the least. I had wanted to see someone like Houston rapper Devin the Dude under I-45 with the skyline blocked by the old, gray concrete highway separating the crowd from the onslaught of cars racing above. Instead, I was in a parking lot with this weird felt path under me.
Chance The Rapper at FPSF
With a lineup whose diversity is only matched by the city it takes place in, FPSF was somehow a success.
The gravel parking lot surface exacerbated the Houston heat; logistically, the crowd was a nightmare, especially given the amount of people; and it was much more out of the way to commute there.
Give it to an old favorite to remind me that even in a terrible situation, Houston is the type of city that faces disaster and comes out stronger after it.
As he yelled out “Who?” with the crowd responding with a “Mike Jones,” my middle school self was jealous. I also drove to the festival in a car and live in an apartment (with no parents!), so my middle school self would probably be jealous of me for a bunch of reasons, but this time there was also a sense of pride. I love Houston. It’s not that Weezer, Skrillex, R. Kelly, Oodeza, Chance the Rapper, Welcome to Houston, or Major Lazer had to remind me about that feeling, but there’s nothing like being in a large group of people who are enjoying your city. Hell, even when I’m dating a girl, she’s really just the side piece to Houston. Anyways, it’s only mental cheating so that makes it okay; Houston, you’re the one for me, baby, you know that.
There I’ll be, posting those stupid Business Insider articles— they’re really not stupid, but I just don’t know if I can take the website seriously, so I’m trying to play it cool— that ranks Houston #1 in job creation or the Forbes article that has the city as the coolest..Whenever I see Independence Day, I’m kind of proud that the aliens realized how important Houston was and felt like they needed to blow it up early on. When people talk about Beyonce and Dennis Quaid, I’m like “yeah, and they’re from Houston”. Maybe not Dennis Quaid but still, The Rookie and The Day After Tomorrow, man.
I can’t imagine really going through what the thousands of Houstonians had to go through over Memorial Day Weekend. Homes were destroyed and lives were lost. The city and its people undoubtedly took a hit.
I don’t actually have Houston tatted on my back, sorry Slim Thug (although after writing this article, I’m considering), but I just wanted to say thanks to Free Press Summer Fest despite its imperfections. Because of you, even after a disaster, I got to share with everyone who joined in on the festival the one thing I know for sure; Houston, I love you, and I don’t care who knows it.
