Poopgate: Neverforget
Yesterday I ranted like a crazy old man about how Lollapalooza just isn't really Lollapalooza anymore. In response to that post, @jacobotothe left a comment about an upcoming music festival near them that The Dave Mathews Band will be playing at. Neither of us are fans of Dave Mathews. For me, it is his voice. I simply find it very unpleasant. But that is just a matter of taste. I understand that many people love his voice and enjoy following him around in an almost Grateful Dead-like way. But I'm guessing there is one unpleasantness about Dave Mathews that we can all agree upon.
This Friday August 8th marks a day that will live in infamy forever. It is the 21st anniversary of a day when more than 120 people lost their dignity (and most likely their lunches). [A moment of silence for the over 120 victims... thank you very much.] You see, that was the fateful day that Poopgate happened.
OK before I continue, will society please stop slapping "gate" to the end of controversies? It comes from the Watergate scandal. But "Watergate" was the proper name of a hotel. It wasn't a controversy involving "water". Please just stop' Its dumb and then people like me need to reference it that way because that is how everyone knows it. Put an end to the madness!
Wait. did I just say that was dumb? yes I did. You know what else is dumb? DMB (Dave Mathews Band). See how that spells "dumb"? Coincidence? I think not. But I digress.
Anyway, back to that fateful day. On August 8th, 2004, the Dave Mathews band's tour bus was driving around the city of Chicago. The band had a gig at a nearby venue in southern Wisconsin and were staying in Chicago because... it's freaking Chicago! At about 1:00 in the afternoon, the bus was crossing one of the many drawbridges that pass over the Chicago river. (Yes we have many drawbridges in Chicago. Did you know that?) Because these bridges need to obey the laws of physics, they are constructed out of metal grates so they can be raised and lowered easily. This means that basically anything can pass through them to the water... or boats below. The driver of one of Dave Mathews' buses decided this would be a perfect place to empty the "black water tank" of the bus. You know what a "black water" tank is connected to? The toilets. So this genius decided a river would be a great place to dump over 800 pounds of toilet waste. Brilliant! What could go wrong... aside from polluting the water and smelling up the joint during the lunch hour?
The pollution would have been bad enough to make me hate these guys forever. But sadly it wasn't just pollution. You see, Chicago has some awesome buildings. Some people like to view them by taking a tourist cruise down the Chicago river. These boats routinely pass under all of the draw bridges. Unfortunately for over 120 of these architecture lovers, their boat happened to be right below Dave Mathews' bus. So when that genius driver dumped 800 pounds of waste, it didn't hit the water... it hit those 120 people! Yep Dave Mathews dropped 800 pounds of toilet waste on a bunch of tourists. Oh and being the class acts that they are, they denied doing it... until their GPS was checked. Geniuses!
So when I say that Dave Mathews sounds like shit... I mean he literally sounds like shit to me.
I saw DMB a long long time ago when the Palace of Auburn Hills was still standing. It was a great show and I was really impressed by Macy Gray who opened for them.
I do like Macy Gray's voice a lot. very unique.
The story is as unbelievable as it is hilarious! It's hard to believe that the name DMB could actually be so "dumb"!
Such things happen in our lives that even after a long time, whenever we remember them, we just feel sad. If only these things had not happened, many things in our city would still look good to us today. Those who used to come to visit this beautiful place have been abused like this because of the dirty water
Who would think of throwing fecal waste into a river so visited by tourists? There are people in this world who are incredible and in order to take advantage they are capable of anything, even harming nature and their neighbors.
The Dave Matthews Band has truly made history—one that will never be forgotten!
What could go wrong? No doubt it's all because they're polluting a public and natural environment that belongs to everyone. Prisoners should have gone.
The way you built up to that infamous dump (pun intended) had me hooked. It’s wild how a single poor decision can literally stain a band's legacy forever. Also, your commentary on the overuse of "-gate" made me laugh out loud. Honestly, I’ll never look at a drawbridge—or the name DMB—the same way again.
I see what you did there. Great puns!
My answer to that is always "no you don't" XD
I would like to say that every now and then I put on the grumpy old person back in MY day visage but that would have made me old since I was like 20 when I was simultaneously young and too stupid
That is kinda gross x _x
LOL. Yeah I was saying that tongue and cheek.
Lollapalooza might’ve changed, but this story? Timeless.
This is a very ridiculous and shameful thing. Such irresponsible behavior towards the public is not desirable for a band in any way. One thing everyone forgets is that popularity is a responsibility as well as a pleasure.
I remember hearing about this years ago and thinking it had to be a joke—like, how does a band accidentally dump that much waste on people and just drive off? Honestly, this whole thing is more memorable than any of their music for me. And I totally agree about the overuse of ‘-gate’ for every little controversy. Not everything needs to be turned into a scandal headline. This one was wild enough on its own.
When someone becomes famous, they are given more responsibility. If they do something, people will follow them. If they do something wrong, they will face problems in the future and the respect they have built up will be lost. So, you should not treat people like this at all because they love you and come to where you invite them because of your love. And you should not do this to them at all.
How exciting. Thank you for letting us know.