On Wednesday evening, June 1, I set
out on my way to Ozark, Arkansas, for Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival, my
first ever campout mega-fest and my first festival of the summer.
After a cramped
14 hour ride (I sat with a full-sized djembe in my lap) with old friends and
some new, I was beyond excited to get to Mulberry Mountain. My ride had done
street teaming, so we had the hookup on a special camping spot. When we finally
arrived, there was quite a bit of confusion over where we were supposed to be
camping, and we were sent back and forth between festival workers who knew
little more than we did. But, that confusion made it possible for three of the
people in our car to sneak into the festival. Eventually we got our tent set up
right behind one of the stages, which was great for seeing music, but not so
great for sleeping (I went to bed Friday with Skrillex’s distorted bass
screaming in my ear – not exactly a lullaby).
My first show on Thursday was The
Pimps of Joytime, a funky FloydFest favorite that always puts on a great live
show. I’ve seen these guys several times all over Virginia, and even got to jam
a drum circle with Brian J. and Chauncey after a Floyd show. Immediately after
The Pimps, I raged front row at Papadosio, jamtronica currently residing in
Asheville, NC, and a personal favorite. I got to say hi to Billy Brouse (keys)
before the show and later ran into his brother Sam at one of the free water
stations set up throughout the festival grounds.
Papadosio |
(Sidenote: Thank you Waka for
providing free water; I hate paying $5 a bottle. The waterfall and the river
were pretty legit, too. Otherwise, the upward of 90 degree daytime temperatures
would have been unbearable.)
Some other memorable shows of the weekend were: STS9
(2 sets), Galactic, The New Deal, Big Gigantic, Two Fresh and John Brown’s Body
(it sounded a bit like the lead singer was losing his voice). Big G, members Dominic Lalli (production/sax)
and Jeremy Salken (drums), packed the Outpost tent Saturday night and played one
of the best shows of the weekend.
The New Deal |
Sunday morning I headed out to a drum circle,
got lost on my way to the stage, and ran into an old friend from last year’s
Pink Moon Festival. The drum circle, led by Brandon Draper of Quixotic, was
extremely refreshing and the high point of my festival experience.
Our plan was to leave Sunday night
right after the last show, because my ride needed to be back by 5 p.m. on
Monday (we didn’t actually make it back until 7 p.m.). However, it became apparent that we wouldn’t
have enough gas money to get home when we realized that the other three who had
ridden with us would be continuing on the festy trail, not returning to
Blacksburg.
Dilemma: Do I call my mom and ask for money (so lame) or do I try
to peddle the handmade jewelry I brought to make up the difference? I chose the
latter, and my ride and I set out to make a few bucks. Security had been tightened
on the last day, because someone had apparently blown up a porta potty (I don’t
know either), so now they were actually searching bags, where before they had
just been giving them a gentle rub down. Since unauthorized vending wasn’t
allowed, and I certainly hadn’t paid for a vendor’s license, we had to find
another point of entry.
Just a man and his van |
I guess we weren’t the only ones looking for another
way in, as a section of the fence lining the main camping area had already been
lifted. So we scooted under in time for the last show, a set by EOTO followed
by EOTO & Friends. EOTO & Friends consisted of Michael Travis and Jason
Hahn of EOTO joined by David Satori and Sidecar Tommy of Beats Antique. The
resulting sound remained pretty EOTO-esque; I was expecting more of a gypsy
house influence from Beats Antique. But it seemed to be putting people in the
mood to spend, and I was able to sell enough jewelry to get home.
All in all, Waka was a fantastic
way to start off the festy season. I met tons of cool people and artists,
danced, laughed, got lost and found myself again, all with beautiful mountain
scenery as the backdrop. I already can’t wait to go back to Mulberry Mountain
next year. Waka Waka WAKA!