The Thing About Pam 1x05+Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 (2022) 1x01-1x03 Reviewed

She's Not Who You Think She Is

Pam dried money with a hairdryer. Pam is made out to be the worst person in the world. It is hinted that Pam killed someone in Florida. Pam is now infamous due to a 'Dateline' takedown by Russ' defence lawyer. A man runs for office on an anti Pam platform. Pam yells about stuff. Pam has a son?!?!?! Betsy's daughters want her insurance money. Pam babbles madly on the stand during a lawsuit over the life insurance. Russ won't speak to his stepdaughters. Pam gets to keep Betsy's money. Pam literally stole money from orphans. Pam giggles madly. Pam caused irrevocable consequences. Will she be rumpled? This was like a cartoon.

Best Lines:

“Money.”

“Whose?”

“Mine!”

“Do not do this!”

“Are they literally skipping?!?”

“Anti Pam platform.”

“Chased out.”

“Keep our money!”

“Pam and her creepy husband.”

“They're so weird.”

“The whole town has turned their backs on me!”

“Bug me and bug me.”

“Hard to look like a victim when you keep winning.”

“I came to see Pam lose.”

“I didn't kill my mom if that's what you're asking. The balcony did.”

~
How The F**k did This Happen

This 3 part limited series is about the infamous music festival that had such poor infrastructure and planning that it led to riots. This is a fascinating and thought provoking look at how toxic vibes led to major escalation by irked frat boys.

The 1999 festival took place several months after Colmbine but was very different to the 1969 festival. The 1999 event took place in Rome, NY. In the aftermath there was trash and wreckage and the place looked like a war zone. Huge crowds went to a former military base with no shade, copious drugs and it was all a disaster waiting to happen. The crowd would eventually take severe action due to particular grievances causing a national shame. Overpricing by vendors, leaking portapotties and showers that didn't work caused fury. I'm sure there was devastating psychological distress. The frat boys were menacing and engaged in abhorrent conduct that even now doesn't really discommode TPTB. Some people had terrible times there.

It would all end in fire and a spiral of violence. This is all compared to the hippy dippy 1969 Woodstock footage. Gavin Rossdale talks about Woodstock 99. The Woodstock and Woodstock 99 organiser Michael Lang speaks. He died months after the interview.

The Woodstock 99 festival was a reaction to Colombine. There was bad traffic and festival goers food and water and drinks were all confiscated. More bad things would happen. The festival cost a lot to stage. The military base had been closed. There was a previous Woodstock in 1994? There was 'mud' that wasn't really mud.

Scorn is poured on the undesirable product that is Woodstock 99. This was interesting. There were disputes about sub contracting out the sewage, water and food. Woodstock 99 was advertised as not your parent's Woodstock. James Brown was the opening act as the festival kicked off at noon on a friday. The festival had a beer garden and underage drinking and drugs and nudity and pay phones.

There were 2 stages, a peace wall and a rave hanger. We see Woodstock 99 footage. There was an action park and a movie hanger. The lack of real security was particularly inconvenient. This leaves you concerned and disappointed. Pervs heckled Sheryl Crow. The Offspring played as did the oaf metal no talents Korn. Tibetan monks did monk stuff. Frat boys are blamed for destroying the place.

There are talking heads. They hosed the crowd down. Local yokels speak. One festival goer said it was so hot you needed to drink a gallon of water an hour. Prices started at $4 for a water bottle. The price gouging would only get worse. Peace and love and understanding went out the window. The festival was broadcast on PPV. There was crowd surfing and bad security and Bush (Gavin Rossdale's forgotten band) managed to calm the crowd. But the trouble just wouldn't end. This was good.

Best Lines:

“Until this happened.”

“Not allowed to watch MTV.”

“Best era of music.”

“Is this fu*king Bosnia?”

“A history making moment.”

“High as balls.”

“The music was good.”

“Ominious feeling.”

“Worst demons of human nature.”

“Music and art fair...peace and music.”

“That generation.”

“Big fat naked dudes. Don't want to see that.”

“Impenetrable 8 mile wall.”

“Naked people everywhere.”

“A lot of asphalt.”

“Didn't make any money.”

“Doing Woodstock again.”

“Long remembered in the world.”

“The bottle would just not break.”

“Reeked of possibility and optimism.”

“Woodstock dream.”

“Beta tapes full of stuff.”

“Crazy footage.”

“Wild behaviour.”

“Nobody could afford that water.”

“Came here to screw.”

“Drunk and unruly.”

“Very male ego...white college students with their shirts off screaming: show us your tits.”

“There to be dicks.”

“Sexuality from a male perspective.”

“Is a money making venture.”

“Selling the food rights.”

“Current biggest bands.”

“Human zoo.”

“Aggressiveness of the audience.”

“Has a lot of rage.”

“Nu metal scene.”

“More intense bands.”

“Intensity of the crowd.”

“Whipped up into a frenzy.”

“Waterfall of bodies.”

“Tore up the stage.”

“That amped up.”

“Hard rocker fans.”

“What it deteriorated into.”

~
Kerosene. Match. Boom!

There were irrational actions. The whole festival was peculiar and ill founded. Nobody is humbled. There is grumple and contempt. Disquieting things happened all through the festival. This has narrative thrust. The whole thing should be deservedly forgotten. TPTB have voluntary silence. TPTB have costiveness and spew painful and inane nonsence. Bands did bellicose denigration. This was dull and rambling feebleness. People are terribly long winded and impenetrable..

It is perplexing how badly it was all done. There is irritating deliberation and personal sentiment. There are photos and lies. Frat boys seem utterly moronic. This was all monetised nostalgia. This was largely awful and full of awful music and empty directionless anger and frat boys in 3/4 length shorts.

A rave went awry. This covers saturday aka day 2. People lie passed out on the ground. There are tents and the bands mostly seem all male and all the roadies seem to be male. TPTB flitter. The porta potties overfloweed and there was NO trash collection. The so called stage security did nothing. There is talk of subcontractors. The sewage services went awry. Wyclef Jean did a Hendirx cover version.

The stage was pelted with trash. Woodstock had free kitchens. Woodstock 99 did not. Canada flags were waved. Day 2 had furnace like heat and Kid Rock in a fur coat and a first aid tent that could barely cope. People got heat stroke. There was no shade. The artists compound was well tended. Fatboy Slim had to abandon his set. The heat reached 100. There was price gouging and Kurt Loder was there. There is talk of VJs and corportate monoliths. Security was called the Peace Patrol

This was wholly unremarkable rambling nonsense. Things got into a tragic state. TPTB did nothing to stop it. Decisions were made. The festival was touched by horror. We see shocking footage. People no doubt have trauma induced PTSD. This was a joyless Hobbesian nightmare. Limp Bizkit come in for a lot of blame. Mini Me was there.

Limp Bizkit caused pressure. The organizers did nothing and Limp Bizkit provoked the crowd leading to blood on the ground. There were no mature conversations. This was not an epic story. Stars and MTV evacuated. The riot was perceived as normal. The whole thing was strange and unremitting. There was elation at the riot. This was unshowy.

The festival was a troubled place. This discourages hope and diastrous things unfolded in never ending sisyphean travails. There was existential horror. It was all doomed and fevered. So much for the utopian project. There were ceaseless torments and lumpen and mirthless frat boys. This was so unshowy. Frat boys were aggressive and unpredictable. Women were accosted. Fatboy Slim ran for it. This was okay. Harmful things were done.

Best Lines:

“Issues existed.”

“Keep Woodstock 99 beautiful!”

“A disaster.”

“Tried to burn my ass with a cigar.”

“Sponsored out of its mind.”

“Started to throw stuff at us.”

“Generational shift in youth culture.”

“The downfall of Woodstock 99.”

“Trashbags for your area.”

“No control.”

“Most of them are naked.”

“Living in filth.”

“Outhouse facilities.”

“How nasty?”

“Greatest day of the greatest rock festival of the decade.”

“They did nothing.”

“They did not do their jobs.”

“Doesn't care.”

“What a jerk.”

“Dead at Woodstock.”

“Destroy sh*t.”

“What could I have done about it?”

“Lack of respect.”

“Champions to the underdogs.”

“Relate to him so much.”

“Multi day no sleep bender.”

“Incredibly frightening and shocking.”

“I've been hit in the head with a frisbee, a shoe.”

“Break some sh*t.”

“Building up to something serious.”

“Not having fun no more.”

“Riling up the crowd.”

“Ominious feeling.”

“It's a bit chaotic out there.”

“Laws and security didn't mean much.”

“How the fu*k is this going to end?"

“Lawrence of Arabia type sun.”

~
You Can't Stop A Riot In The 90s

Willie Nelson sang on Day 3. Where were the police during all this? There is no accountability. There was trepidation. There were unproductive doings. There was no interest in or understanding of the ongoing catastrophe. There are accusations and ridiculous and deceitful assertions.

There were no washing facilities. The drinking water was tainted with raw sewage. People got sick and left. Vendors ran out of product. Water bottles now cost $12. There were rumours. Jewel sang to lairy and laddish frat boys. TPTB are glib and patronising. Men simmered manfully. People pondered the challenges they faced. There was weathered experience. This was properly entertaining. Flea is shown performing naked onstage. Why was he not done for indecent exposure?

This was just after Colombine. There was an anti gun candlelit vigil which turned into an arson attack which became a conflagration on the scale of Vesuvius. There was miasma and riot police. This was chaotically exhausting. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers stirred up the crowd and wouldn't stop it.

Things get terse. People were gripped by sense of dread. There was mayhem and irrational violence. There was endemic violence and a dire situation and drunkness, violence and property destruction. Emergency services wouldn't go in. The vendor village and ATMs were destroyed. Here was desperation and people exploding and anarchy and the staff hid behind barricaded doors. Wreckage was left behind. NDAs were talked about. Some suggest the riot was deliebrately arranged for publicity. Was it? This was good.

Best Lines:

“Walls of Jericho had fallen.”

“Stinks in there.”

“Best time I ever had.”

“Rome burned.”

“Never be another Woodstock after this.”

“Burn it to the ground.”

“Everyone else is doing it.”

“Pervasive entitlement.”

“Destroy list.”

“Cheap out.”

“Sense of anger.”