| So, I was flying by the seat of my pants, so they say. And, yes, I was actually wearing pants. i didn't know what was gonna happen when i got there, i didn't know if i'd have access past friday night, and i had no idea how i'd get home (and i wanted to get home for a sunday-afternoon party). i had faith that everything would work out. and boy did it! Ross picked me up at 10:30am on Friday, we stopped by Weggies to stock the cooler, and we headed down to Trumansburg. We set up camp, and just sat around, for maybe four hours. It was great to just be lazy and do NOTHING! well, actually, ross taught me to play the didgeridoo. SO awesome! We were waiting for Ross' friends cause they had his ticket - the ticket that he's supposed to exchange for the wristband which will gain him access to the festival all weekend. i got tired of waiting. well, really, i just got anxious cause i wanted to see terence and the rest of the guys. so, we decided to head over to the festival site (via shuttle bus) and just see what was up. i figured my ticket (that terence arranged) would be at will-call. nope. the woman there gave me a "hall pass" (heehee...) so that I could walk through the festival site to the back gate, where friends of the bands were supposed to check in. i just took ross with me and no one asked any questions! we found our way there and i checked in. and boy do these people know what's up! so many times i just get ushered in and let go, or just given a ticket, or my name's scribbled on a scrap piece of paper at the ticket window, or my musician friend has to come up to the guy at the door and say "she's with me" or something else not terribly organized. but, these cats... my name was on the dirty dozen envelope, and inside was a weekend pass wristband, a backstage pass, and a meal card (so i could eat for free all weekend). f'real! ross still didn't have anything, but we were already inside the festival site and if anyone asks him, we can just show them the "hall pass" right? heehee... we wandered around a bit to get the lay of the land - tents, stages, food stuffs, bathrooms. and then headed again to the back gate to see if we could find the guys. i'd been talking with terence periodically throughout the day, but his phone kept breaking up, so i wasn't sure exactly where they were, but i knew they were on their way to the site, so i figured we should wander between the back gate and the grandstand (where they were to perform later in the evening). we found them at the back gate. yay! got big birthday hugs from t and john and jake. a few of us walked over to the stage so they could see where it was and see what was up. then me and ross and t and jake went to the hospitality shed for that free food. while waiting in line for food, i told terence how grateful i was that i got all this good stuff - the full weekend pass, the backstage pass, and even a meal card! what a great birthday - especially the free food! he said, "i told you i'd hook you up. i take care of family." i love him! then i gave him $20 to pay him back for the cash i borrowed from him when we were together in nola. he just looked at me like i was crazy, took it, and gave me a big hug. heehee... we headed back to the grandstand cause we knew that roger'd be wondering where everyone was. ross just followed like he was supposed to be there, and no one asked any questions. nice! we all sat around behind the hospitality tent. but, roger was no problem - the dirty old man was getting a massage! terence wanted one but was concerned about how much it might cost. i asked a nearby organizer and i was told that they're complimentary for performers. seriously, this festival's got it goin' on! before we'd left for dinner, jake asked around if there was anywhere we could get some beer. stephanie (super-awesome organizer) said she'd take care of it, and jake told her what he wanted - only a twelve pack or so. sitting near the massage tent before the show, stephanie shows up again with a couple big guys hauling CASES of beer. here comes a cooler, two bags of ice, and four or five assorted cases of beer. stephanie looked at me and asked if this was alright. lol... yes! we all drank as much as we wanted all night - the eight guys in the band, plus me and ross - and there was still some left over at the end of the night. it was also keith's birthday, he's the trombonist. he and i had a little birthday toast right before the show. the show was it's usual sickness. the place really filled up - a great crowd! kevin was singing to me at one point. we were all dancing around like crazy - what a great freakin' vibe at this festival. really, it's a "festival of music and dance" and people are really dancing getting into the music. and smiling and chatting with strangers all night. so my kinda place - and i was probably the least in the hippie category, save the band. ross and i kept trading the backstage pass back and forth during the show so we could each head backstage to use the bathroom - WAY quicker than making our way out to the public bathrooms. perfect! and at the end of the show, terence got on the mic and gave me a big birthday shout-out. yay! heehee... we spent the rest of the evening just sitting in those chairs out back, drinkin' beer, and havin' a good old time. i talked with efrem - it was the first time we did more than just chat, and he's a damn cool cat. AND, i got to play around with his horns. he's a trumpet player, so he had a trumpet, a pocket trumpet (that was all beat to hell), and a fluglehorn. i figured quickly the difference between big buzzing, like with the didge, and little buzzing, like the trumpet. he said my intonation was good! it was good, sometimes, but i was pretty inconsistent. but, it was fun! then he started playing "close to you" by the carpenters. he LOVES that song, and i think that's very funny! so, he would play and i would sing and he got SUCH a kick out of that. he did it four or five times in an hour! i also did some catching up with a few of the other guys, also. there are so many of them (seven plus john the sound guy), and i've seen them so many times but i'm still just getting to know some of them. they all had to get up early for a flight (yes, they actually flew into the ithaca airport!) so, they headed out. i hit the bathroom one more time and on my way back to find ross, the festival sound guy, michael, asked me if we had any merchandise. i said i didn't think so, or the guys would have brought some out with them before the show. sorry. he looked confused and it took us a minute to figure out why - he thought i was the band's manager! a couple people had told him so. apparently, my approving the beer along with inquiring about the massages made people think i was in charge of something! ross and i had a good laugh over that. then we headed back to the camp site. we finally met up with his friends, and we did the campfire thing. but i was SO tired, i didn't last too long. it was maybe 3am when we headed to bed.
by 8:45am we were blasted out of our tent by the heat. oh, GOD! but, we spent the next three hours just laying around - we pulled out a couple blankets and set them in the shade and napped. but, we each had to move every half hour or so to stay in the shade, so it wasn't like real sleep at all. but, so lazy and great. the we sunscreened up and headed to the creek. is it a creek? i don't know, some water. lots of people were around - but most of them were swimming or sun-bathing or sitting around reading and eating. ross and i wanted to walk. we walked and walked in the water almost the whole time. it was a glorious day! beautiful trees and walls of rock, little swimming things and friendly passing people, even some shade. we hussled back to camp and then to the fairgrounds just in time for the tail end of the lunch period - terence had given his meal card to ross the evening before, so he got to eat for free too! after tasty bbq (yes, they had grilled tofu for the veggies) we headed to the dance tent to check out the lee boys. they'd played two before the dozen the prevoius day and terence had been super excited to see them - they're buddies. so, i had chatted briefly with a couple of those guys then and again while ross and i ate lunch. the show was killer - they really know how to work the energy of a crowd. i chatted with roosevelt, the slide guitarist, after the show and he gave me a message to give to the campbell brothers when i see them later this summer! heehee... then to the grandstand for samite. from senegal, i think. dark and beautiful and well-spoken. with those box drums that i LOVE!!! and a ga-dong-ga-dong! (a kalimba, or finger piano. callid calls it a ga-dong-ga-dong.) they were super, but we only caught the tail end of their show. it started to rain again. (it had rained while we were having lunch.) so, we decided to take advantage of our backstage access... we went behind the grandstand and took over one of the couches under the tent. through the hanging fabric, ross spied the cooler that had been our beer well the night before. i reached in and grabbed a couple - they were still cold. the previous night, i'd had two before i took a break, but this time, because i was so tired, i almost didn't finish the one. but, we waited for the rain to stop, chillin' on those couches, drinkin' beer, and watching from the side some wacky hippie dance troupe. what a life!
we headed up for dinner (stuffed ourselves, because we could) and then hit up the dance tent again - for the "swing dance workshop." ross said jerone had taught it the previous year, and we'd run into him the day before between dinner and the dozen show, so we knew he was around. but, as we approached the tent, we heard a woman's voice on the mic. kinda sounded like jojo for a second. i wondered who it could be and was disappointed that it was probably someone i didn't know. then, we squeezed our way through the crowd to catch a glimpse - of jojo and jerone in the middle of the circle! yay!!! we hung around for the lesson - ross entered the rotation cause it was follow-heavy. and i stayed out of the way in the back, giving advice every once in a while to a couple who was having trouble. chatted with jo for a bit afterwards - she's in ithaca for the time being, and who knows what will happen and when for her. ross and i had been waiting for the band to start - bobbie henry - but they were taking too long. so headed off again to the grandstand... cyro baptista and beat the donkey. yes, that's really the name of a band. they're from brazil and they're CRAZY!!! no, seriously, CRAZY!!! so much percussion and energy and direction and language and genres! i can't even really describe. at least once during each song, i turned around to look ross in the face - completely amazed. holy cow... a total blast! we tried to hit up the dance tent again to see if bobbie henry was gonna play anything we'd want to dance to - it's all good stuff, it's just not anything that makes me want to lindy hop - and he didn't really. but ross and i did a little charleston and we did dance a slow one. we then headed out to the infield stage to catch donna the buffalo. they were really good, but i was just too tired to really get into it - my legs and feet hurt and my eyes were so heavy. ross was wrecked too, so we called it a night. his friends weren't around, and that was cool with us. we grabbed a couple granola bars and headed to the tent for the sleeping. luckily is was overcast in the morning, so we didn't get steamed out of our tent again. but, we did wake up kinda early. we packed up camp, loaded the car, and headed to the festival site for breakfast. man, this free food thing was amazing!!! we were gonna try to catch a wierd dance/movement workshop at 10am but i think we were the only ones who showed up for it so it didn't happen. we talked with michael the sound guy for a while; we asked him what was good for the day and he went over the schedule with us. we then headed to the grandstand, for lack of anything else to do, and saw the last tune of the grassroots orchestra. they were so beautiful! then we made our way to the infield stage to check out a guy named hank roberts. michael had said that he's a sick cellist. i unpacked my bag and we sat on it on the ground (i didn't want to get my light linen pants wet or too dirty) and listened to this guy. he was SO good - really owning the instrument, and doing all kinds of fun and funky things with it. with some other cool musicians. ross and i each thought of corinne - she would have loved it. ross finally got a call from his cousin saying we could come to their lake house. so we headed there right away. three cheers for swimming - it was the first time i'd been swimming this summer. and i LOVE natural water - we were on cayuga lake. and we sat around and talked. but, then it was time to go - the visit felt SO short. but, i had a party to get to. my artist friends were having a party - part to celebrate alan putting on a new deck, part michelle's birthday. really, any excuse is a good excuse to party for them - that's one of the reasons i love them! ross and i got there early, but soon other's started showing and there was SO much food. shrimp, chips and salsa, pita and hummas, homemade cookies. and we listened to great music - alan had asked me for music recommendations a while ago and so he put those on - preservation hall with sweet emma, and a blues harp compilation. grilling happened, and we absolutely stuffed ourselves. ugh! and drank lots of wine. they sang happy birthday to me (the only time that happened this year, although i'm having dinner with my family tonight so it might happen then) and axel gave me a card with an iou - he ordered something from lakeshore but it's not here yet. so i have that to look forward to. and we cut tom's blueberry pie - which was ridiculous delicious! i got home around 10ish. i told ross to go right to bed when he got home, but i stayed up til midnight. and then, boy, did i sleep well. i generally have a birthday week, or weekend, or something like that. started when i was young and my family would go camping during the week of my birthday - i'd always be a little upset that i couldn't have a party with my friends on my birthday, so mom and dad made sure that it was worth it for me to be away from them. (wow, that makes me sound SO spoiled.) then i did community theatre productions in the summer that always fell on my birthday, so show weekend was also my birthday weekend. so, this past weekend felt like a great continuation of that tradition - not just a party, not just a dinner, not just an out-of-town friend, but a whole weekend of camping and music and friends and SO much food. it was fabulous. and a big thank you to ross for accompanying me - what a blast we had being busy and doing nothing. what a great start to my late-twenties! :)
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