What Went Down At The Great GoogaMooga Festival
Last weekend's Great GoogaMooga Festival took over Brooklyn's Prospect Park for two straight days, bringing in some 35,000 festivalgoers each day.
The Superfly Presents event may have been splotchy on Saturday, with long lines, gross bathrooms, and vendors on short supply frustrating Tweeters (not to mention the lack of cellphone service), but Sunday was the festival day everyone had hoped for.
In the food vendors tent, M. Wells reappeared with a horse bologna and foie gras grilled cheese, while Luke's Lobster had the longest lines all around due to their weather-friendly fare. The Roots packed the park on Saturday, while Fitz and the Tantrums got the crowd dancing and Hall & Oates brought everyone back to the '80s on Sunday.
Meanwhile, in the $250-a-ticket Extra Mooga area, Umami Burger ran out of their first day's stock at 3 p.m. Saturday, and disappeared off the map on Sunday. Saturday's Blue Ribbon fried chicken party sparked a full-on fist fight, with people standing in long lines for two drumsticks.
At the Noshing With panel, David Chang, Aziz Ansari, and James Murphy reminisced about their Tokyo trip, with Chang calling Tokyo his favorite city for food. "New York's amazing because of the variety, but Tokyo might be the food capital of the world for me. And that's no disrepect," he said.
In his separate Q&A, Anthony Bourdain agreed, saying, "You could spend your entire life learning about the culture and food of Tokyo and still die ignorant."
As for whether food is the new rock, almost every speaker vehemently disagreed with the sentiment. James Murphy called the idea "dumb," saying, "You can't download food for starters, and you can't become a millionaire overnight because all of a sudden everyone buys your food."
David Chang compared being a chef to a plumber, while Bourdain told wannabe rock star chefs to pick one. "We are not rock stars," Bourdain said. "There is no semblance, there is no relation, there is no connection... I'm happy to benefit from that bullsh*t, but come on."
Check out our slideshow for more snapshots of GoogaMooga, including Pat LaFrieda's fully cooked 876-pound steer.