Jun 27 2009
The first one of the Season…
I am sitting here in Baca Raton, FL. at a friends house helping him(not really though) get ready for the trip up to Michigan for the Rothbury MUsic Festival.
I am still remembering certain moments and times at Bonnaroo this year and I am searching through photos, hoping to get them up on my Facebook and a few on here today as well.
I left Oregon early so I could fly to Florida and help my friend get ready for Bonnaroo this year. That was fun! I even met some “Festafarians” in the Atlanta airport. It’s good to see and talk to Family wherever you go! I got into to Palm Beach, around Midnight, and my friend picked me up and whisked me away in an air conditioned car; “we are on our way to get a drink and catch up”, he says. Fine by me!
Driving around West Palm Beach was a bit of a culture shock. I am from Oregon(and Idaho, and Wyoming…)and the heat at midnight is NEVER like what I was experiencing sitting there at midnight! The buildings and my surrounding were all “cookie cutter”! I felt like I had entered a really long Gap commercial, and I was the extra in the WRONG place! Oh well, I guess I forgot for a minute there that I like being ME, no matter where I am! I felt comfortable in what I was wearing, and yes I had feathers in my hair, I felt like a Pixie in a strange land…
I slept like a baby that night, finally off the plane! Seeing my friend again after a while was really great and made a flood of memories come crashing into my mind from last years great adventures we had. We did a lot of amazing stuff, and saw so much of the country, it made me happy to re-live that with him again!
Getting ready for Bonnaroo was fun. Always work to be done, but like I said I AM not used to this heat! So my schedule turned upside down as we started working at night, loading the trailer, emptying out the garage and cleaning the RV. It all had to be done, but in the daytime…Please! I asked Glen why the construction crew was working so hard at night, now I realized why… I even saw people out exercising at night, jogging, biking, full on running, at Midnight! So I have became one of the “night people” and it’s nice, different, and I know it won’t last forever!
Finally everything is done! Except that my packages didn’t come…. Oh well, I guess I didn’t need contacts at Bonnaroo or my Faery-Magic-Amazing Hair Falls that I had made in Oregon and mailed out! I was going to sell out of them, I just knew it! Damn the mail service!
We left in the late afternoon, all we had to do was go pick up a “newbie”. Glen’s friend has been everywhere, but NEVER to Bonnaroo. He wanted to see the Festival from a Vendor perspective, and take notes, in case this would be something he would want to get into later. Jack brought his espresso machine ( a teeny one that he takes to Burning Man every year),4 BEAUTIFUL, Bolivian masks that were quite large (thank god for the trailer), these were his “art” projects. These masks are very detailed works of art in the daytime, then at night, Wow!! He covers his masks with EL wire, and creates a whole new thing at night. He takes them out to the Playa every year, now I see why! I new right then that this Bonnaroo was going to be a bit different… Riding in the RV with 2 hilarious dudes who have so many funny stories to tell was the best start to my Festival season!
Getting to Manchester a few days ahead was perfect! We got to see the place become saturated with the craziness that IS Bonnaroo. The Walmart parking lot. The Koa. The main drag in and out of town. All the gas stations. Everywhere you look there are Bonnarooians, some “hippies” and the occasional circus freak! Jack was taking it all in. He had no idea about this Festival world that goes on. He liked the “carnie” aspect of it all!
Driving in was hot, but I was so excited that I didn’t notice! I had become ansy, and just wanted to get started on our camp, and booth. We kept looking up at the sky, we were told rain was coming, but when? We had to hurry, just in case! We were in line waiting to get drove into to our spot when I saw one of my “Festival Friends”. Yay! I hadn’t seen this guy since last Season, I knew I was “Home” at that moment.
I am going to skip over the parts of us setting up, building a floor(because of the rain), and working in and out of the rain. It was a hot, and wet beginning of Rainaroo 2009!
Day 1 came and so did the weather. We were lucky, we had built a floor and we always set up a HUGE tent. The booth is a car port, the mobile, super tall ones, with big poles and more ways to tie it down than a regular easy up. In and out of the tent we went. Rain, no rain. Lightening. Thunder. Rain, lightening AND thunder together. WIND! Then it was over. Oh wait, it came back. No, it’s gone again… Put the products back out in front of the booth, fix the tables…. “Hurry, here it comes again, pull it back in and under the tent, NOW!” This is what our first day and part of the next was like!
We had one really bad, scary storm come through and we closed up the whole booth, put the walls down, tied everything down and I started looking around the booth… there were about 5 or 6 people under the tent that I didn’t know! What a good time to make new friends! We all ended up laughing and one of the girls we met came to our booth everyday after that to say hi and she fed us as well! Thanks Michelle!! Chance meetings are the best!
Now I will skip a bunch of stuff and write about my favorite part of this years Bonnaroo…. David Byrne! I was excited and I kept talking about him, I think I was a little obsessed. I had made a deal with Glen that this is the time I NEEDED off for the festival, no cares about anything else. He knows how I feel about my favorite musician. I left early on the evening. I wanted to see the sights of the temporary city and get a good spot. But I had a conflict. I really wanted to see a bit of the Beastie Boys, but their set overlapped into David’s set. I got a message from my friend who happens to have a golf cart at Bonnaroo….”wanna see the Beastie’s? Then I’ll drive you to David Byrne!” he said. Well what do you think I said?! Hell yes! He came and picked me up and we sat on TOP of the VIP hill looking down on the stage! Room to move and groove and take pictures! It was great! Thanks DGreg! We were rocking out on the hill when I started to get really excited and a bit ansy for MY show, I asked really nice if we could go to Mr. Byrne’s show NOW, and he said sure. Off we went. The anticipation was deep within me, I wanted to be there quicker. But, I was really glad to be able to ride in the cart, drive through VIP and go into David Byrne from BEHIND the stage area! I managed to get toward the front (not super close), but not in the back either. As we drove up, I here, “This aint no party, this aint no disco”…. Life After Wartime,is in my top ten favorite songs EVER! There were a few really tall people right by me who offered to take pictures for me, this night was awesome!
I loved hearing some of my favorite songs, but most of all the energy of him, and his show was what I wanted to experience. He is such a showman! I wish there were more shows around like his. He brings all the elements to the stage. Dancing, props, music and even theatre. He even wore a tutu. I am telling you, this is my kinda man! I didn’t want it to end. But all good things come to an end, and was it ever a GOOD thing!
I had to go back to work, it was getting later, and that is our busy time. Selling light up wire, blinkie toys and having the masks covered in lights made our booth the
“hip” place to be at night especially! As I was walking back to “work” I had a huge smile on my face, and a spring to my step! I wasn’t upset about going back to the booth, I like meeting people, and seeing what kind of freaks come to our booth is always a treat!
Basically I have a million more funny stories to write about but I will do that later. I want to stretch it out over a few days. I am still soaking it all in. All in all I had a blast and will be making another pilgrimage to Bonnaroo again next year!
I learned a lot about being patient this year. I think I have become more aware of myself and how patient I can be. I like that I recognize that in myself! Patience is really important and I am glad I have the mind set to understand this great part of me…especially this year. Especially at a place like Bonnaroo, patience is needed in a space like this. Not everyone goes for the same reason I go, and I get that. It angers me when I look around and see people doing LAME stuff, like not throwing their trash away, BLANTANT drug use RIGHT NEXT TO THE VENDOR’S BOOTH’S, or being so “closed off” to humanity and all the amazing folks around that ARE there to dance, play and make new friends. I tend to focus on the good stuff, to attract the “good” people. I make it a point every year when I am on my in to say to myself, then out loud that I “will have an amazing, drama-free time with only loving, beautiful people”. I think it works because I meet the coolest, most friendly people at Bonnaroo every year!
Now I am (almost) ready to get on the road to Rothbury, another music festival that has spectacular scenery. I can’t wait to see those rolling hills and big red barns again…..
In Love~
Melissa Magic
So I am hoping to be able to roam around to all the sweet places of the whole festival, showing off my hoops in the daytime and playing with the light up wire at night. I would love to have a bunch of LED hoops for our carts at night, but do you know how expensive it is to get a bunch at once to re-sell? Man, it’s a lot!