By: Jason Harter

Friday January 22nd 2010:

No Rothbury 2010

It was announced today that there will be no Rothbury 2010. Just as plans were starting to be hatched this was handed down from Rothbury management:

"During the past three years, all of us involved with ROTHBURY have greatly appreciated the tremendous outpouring of support for the future of the festival. For 2010, we have had to make the tough decision to postpone our efforts. A contributing factor in our decision is that, due to various artists recording and touring schedules, we now believe that timing will not allow for us to assemble the cutting edge roster that everyone has come to expect from ROTHBURY. The result for this year is that we are not able to move forward with the integrity and high standards that we demand from ourselves and for the festival.

Despite the 2010 postponement, we intend to move toward continuing ROTHBURY in 2011. This event is something very special, and we are unwilling to potentially tarnish what ROTHBURY is, and can become, by working under conditions that will produce anything less than a magical experience.

ROTHBURY is more than a festival. It is a mission intended to discover strength in community, and what it means to be a large-scale sustainable event in these times. Our efforts are certainly not coming to an end.

It is important for us to thank the people of Michigan, Oceana County, The Village of Rothbury, Grant Township, and the Double JJ Resort. Also, we thank our team members, volunteers, creative contributors, media partners, and sponsors. We have made many friendships that will last a lifetime.

To all who attended the first two years of ROTHBURY we thank you for the soul you gave the event. Those times entered rarified air because of your energy.

We hope you have a fantastic July 4th this summer."

It looks like the Hoxeyville, Dunegrass, & Earthwork Harvest Gathering, Michigan Music Festival, Power Trifecta finally dealt the death blow to the upstart.

By: Jason Harter

2009 Traverse City Film Festival

Thursday July 30th, 2009 - Follow The Sun Up North

Now it has only been 4 weeks since Rothbury but already the old map is out and the new one is in. I am not sure what to expect. Now I like movies and I like festivals, but I have never been to a film festival, and I'm not sure how I will handle being indoors watching movies all weekend. Especially in such a beautiful place when the weather is so nice this time of year.

Names Like Bass, Bluegill, Pike, and Walleye are out. They have been replaced with Eighth, Pine, Union, Front, Cass, and Park. I will be staying next to one of the venues. Lars Hockstad Auditorium. But they are all within an 8 square block area. There will be movies at The State Theater, The City Opera House, The Old Town Playhouse, Milliken Auditorium, Lars Hockstad Auditorium, and The Open Space.

I roll into town about 11:00a.m. on Thursday. Now I have only been to Traverse City once and it was only for an hour, so I want to have a balanced weekend. Divided equally amongst Movies, Nature, Friends, and Food. Really see Traverse. My exposure has been made up mostly of seeing those old tourism advertisements. You know, the "Follow The Sun Up North" and "Make A Scene In Traverse City" posters (pictured below).

The first thing that I notice is that there are no driveways in the downtown neighborhoods. It is all alley's for parking. My first movie of the weekend is the Noon showing of "Rachel" at the State Theater. I check in and head to The State.

The State Theater

The Traverse City State Theater (pictured below) is alot like other State Theaters all accross the country. It had seen it's better days. But Michael Moore was part of a group that helped resore it to it's former glory and then some, a few years back. The seeting is spacious, reclining, movie seats, while the ceiling is speckled with lights that substitute as stars. At first glance they look stationary, but if you look close they are all slowly turning on and off. Weaving in and out of each other. Outside there is not one light or letter missing. Just like it used to be, just like it should be.

I originally thought that I would give a review of all the movies that I see this weekend. But I don't want to spoil the movies for those who haven't seen them. Besides it would simply be my own opinion anyway. Movies are different things to different people. They bring out different feelings and reactions from different people. So I will try and tell you what the movies made me feel or think without giving away any of the movie.

Rachel: Noon - The State Theater

Now I am neither Israeli nor Palestinian, and I am ignoring the usual media preconceptions, and I am looking at this as a fresh neutral slate. But I think what happened to the Jewish people during World War II should be a warning for all generations to come. First, for the methodical brutality that our species is capable of. Second, for the blind following masses that were rationally taught to condone it. And Third, for the fact that everything changes, nothing is absolute, and everything has an ark.

Congratulations Israel! You have gone from being persecuted to being the persecutor. The aggressor. The Palestinians stand about as much chance against you as the Hell's Angels would against the entire U.S. Armed Forces. Haven't you in a way become like the 1937 German's. Isn't that what you share in common? A deep, unneccessary, hatred for another people? Do you not see a small part of yourselves in them?

The one moment that struck me the most was when one of her friends was asked if he had any regrets. He said, "yeah, I regret not having a video camera." It really struck home the power of video that we can often overlook.

Now I have not actually seen where I will be staying this weekend yet. I need to meet up with my Traverse City Goodwill Ambassador, Federov. Once the movie lets out I head back to meet up with Federov and grab a bite to eat.

My escort this weekend will be the "Blue Bomber" (pictured below).

Now this is Traverse City traveling at it's best. I mean have you ever seen blue tires with whitewalls? But there are rules and I will have to learn them to stay alive in this area.

There are 5 main groups in Traverse City. The flip-flop wearing bicyclers, the skateboarders, the rollerbladers, the grinders, and the car travelers. The rollerbladers and skateboarders are all but extinct, the grinders grind at all hours of the night with impunity, the cars have to compete with more and more bicycles every year, and the bicyclists can't ride on the sidewalks downtown (pictured below).

Where I come from it is more dangerous to ride in the street so we are expected to be on the sidewalk. I will be riding in the streets and using hand signals for the first time in a long time.

Lars Hockstad Auditorium

Lars Hockstad Auditorium might be my favorite venue of the weekend. It is a Junior High School auditorium with seats that look like they were made by the same company that made all of the old elementary school desks (pictured below). There is also a sculpture of Abe Lincoln in the corner under the United States flag.

Sugar: 6:00p.m. - Lars Hockstad Auditorium

This movie shows the disparity between the perception of America and the reality. It made me think of how much we can take for granted as American's, while other's are willing to leave their families and everything they know to come here.

It also showed how tough, if not dangerous, it can be to not know the language of the country you are in. There was a saying that stuck with me, "Life will give you lots of chances, but baseball only gives you one." Things don't always work out the way that you want. But they do always work out for the best.

After the movie Federov's intestinal urges are calling. He needs to go for a swim. We head down to the Bay, catch the sunset (pictured below), and head out for a bite to eat.

We head over to the Mackinaw Brewing Company (pictured below), where Joe, Jen, Marco, Stevie, and the gang are 3/4 of the way thru an all day rush. With Screech and Newman are already entrenched, I decide to go with the Open Face Brisket Sandwich. This turns out to be a very good choice. Plenty of Brisket piled on top of fresh Sourdough bread with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Now this is the type of meal that would put mom's and grandmom's out of business all accross the country. You could do just about anything after a meal like that. If you failed it would not be for lack of fuel.

After the meal we head over to "The Dock" (pictured below). We have Egon and Luke Winslow-King on tap. Brandy is racing around, while Luke Winslow-King played a nice solo accoustic blues set sandwhiched by Egon. Egon is a local Funk/Soul group that I don't think we have heard the last of. Don't miss either one of these acts.

Once we are inside I notice something strange in the corner. It is a Gottleib "Shaq Attack" pinball machine (pictured below) which was obviously made back in the ninties when Shaq still played with the Orlando Magic. Can't be too many of these floating around.

With day 1 drawing to a close I get back on the Blue Bomber, entertain a few cat calls, and call it a day.

Friday July 31st, 2009 - Gyro-Scopter

There is any easy start to the day. I only have 3 movies today and the the first one doesn't start until 6:00p.m. I put some fire under the griddle and proceed to make breakfast. I will be having the usual. Or will I? Red potatoes and farm fresh eggs with cheese. After a flipping and rotating 45 minutes I pile everything onto a plate. Now I have made enough for 2 or even 3 people. It's a mash of 5 potatoes, 4 eggs, and 4 slices of cheese, piled high.

But I have to admit I burned the eggs. Have you ever seen how people in the African bush cook Ostrich eggs covered with coals and ashes? This is how they looked.

I head upstairs to take a quick shower before I eat. I come down only to find the entire plate of food gone, with a smear of hot sause where the food once was. After seeing the burnt eggs I wasn't that dissappointed, I didn't say anything. Federov obviously thought I had already eaten. But while we are checking the weather report on TV Federov says, "I don't feel so good, I think it was something I ate." I am like "you think?" Volume wise that was enough food to keep a bear from coming back for 24 hours. I'm sure the burnt eggs just put the unenjoyable, finishing touches on it all. I wonder if a bear would have accepted those eggs?

Now yesterday the battery in my camera was dead. So I spend the afternoon taking all of the pictures that I missed the day before. Once work is done I head to the home of the glowing brisket, the Mackinaw Brewing Company. Having missed breakfast, this meal will make up for it.

On the way to Milliken Auditorium I see a sign of just how bad things have gotten. Not only for this state, but for the country as a whole. Hall Of Fame baseball player Mike Schmidt (pictured below) is now selling houses in Traverse City, MI just to get by.

Milliken Auditorium

Milliken Auditorium (pictured below) is the only venue outside of downtown. However, even on the Blue Bomber, it is only 15 minutes from the base. It is your nice, average, college, auditorium.

Entre Nos: 6:00p.m. - Milliken Auditorium

It makes me think of how intolerant and exclusive we can be as a country. And it re-affirms that no matter what the odds, If you give something your all, and want it bad enough, you can do anything you set your mind to.

Bruno Outakes: 9:15p.m. - Lars Hockstad Auditorium

Director Larry Charles of "Borat" & "Bruno", is a founding member of the Traverse City Film Festival. He has a special showing of the "Outakes" from Bruno. I love me some Borat and I have not seen Bruno, so I am sure this will be a good showing. Nevertheless, I give my 2 tickets away and head to the beach.

The clouds ruled yesterday. Hardly any sun came thru for the sunset. So I wasn't going to miss the great sunset (pictured below) that we surely had in store.

The Open Space

The Open Space is, an open space, on the Grand Traverse Bay. A large inflatable movie screen (pictured below) is put up for the outdoor portion of the Film Festival. They are all free shows, and they are all classics.

The Goonies: 10:30p.m. - The Open Space

Now it isn't all just sunsets and cherry juice. Do I need to even marginally say anything about The Goonies?

I head back to base, and meet up with Federov. He tip toes around the fact that he is hungry. I ask him who has some must eat food that is still open this time of night? "U and I Lounge (pictured below) has a really good gyro (pronounced 'year-o'). I told him that I would ride a bike for a gyro, and so it be.

The place is packed. 2 gyro's coming up. For anyone who hasn't had a gyro it is a Greek staple. It is made up of shaved lamb, wrapped in a pita, with a tzatziki sauce.

It doesn't take long and here they are. They come wrapped in a wax paper sleeve and for good reason. I eat the whole thing only to find an 1/8th of lamb still in the wax wrap. It has thus turned into sliced lamb, potatoe chip, tzatziki pie.

This is the best gyro I have ever eaten.

Bike-Food Coma-Base

Saturday August 1st, 2009 - The Mission For Old Mission

I have reserved Saturday and Sunday for the majority of my work. I have sent myself on a mission to head to Old Mission Penninsula. I'm gonna shoot video of the drive and take all these great pictures. There are a lot of Wineries and farms on this penninsula. In a way it is kind of like being in France, with all of the rolling hills filled with grapevines. Although I got some alright pictures (pictured below), the video has it's issues.

The clouds have been moving in all day. Although I am not on the road that I thought I was, I make it to the Lighthouse and Old Mission Settlement. I stop at Chateu Chantal for a quick pic (pictured below) and as I do the rain starts ever so softly. I am disappointed. I will definately need to come out here with someone who can show me the spots off of the beaten trail.

Twenty minutes later I am home and it starts to downpour. It rains solid for a couple of hours. But it doesn't take long and the sun is out yet again. I can live with this.

Jeff Garlin Sneak Peek: 6:00 - Old Town Playhouse

Larry David co-wrote Seinfeld with Jerry Seinfeld. When the series Seinfeld ended Larry moved on to HBO to do a show called "Curb Your Enthusiasm." It is a similar humor, but a fresh show in it's own right. Jeff Garlin is a main character from Curb Your Enthusiasm. This movie was just listed as Jeff Garlin Sneak Peek. Nobody knew what we were actually lining up to see.

What a great surprise. Jeff gets up on stage, talks for twenty minutes, and introduces our viewing tonight. The first 2 episodes from this upcoming season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, on the big screen. Nice.

One of the movies I was looking forward to the most was the 20th Anniversary showing of Michael Moore's 1st documentary, Roger & Me. However, upon further review, I do not have a ticket for Roger & Me. I will have to head down and get in the Stand-By line to try and score a ticket.

I don't think my chances are very good. I can't see alot of people wanting to give up these tickets. And there must be alot of other people looking to buy tickets as well. I must at least have a long wait if I am able to gain entry.

I get down to The State an hour before showtime. Although the line to get in extends 2 city blocks, to my surprise there is no one in the stand-by line. Still feeling as though I am on a fool's errand, I wait patiently. It doesn't take more than 10 minutes and someone comes up and offers me a ticket. That was a lot easier than I expected and I have time to spare.

Roger & Me: 9:00p.m. - The State Theater

Now Roger & Me is the one movie I will talk about a little bit. Everyone has had twenty years to see it. Even though the line extends for 2 blocks, the line moves fast starting at 9:00 on the dot. On the way in they are giving away mini Roger & Me lint rollers and buttons.

Once inside Michael talks for about 20 minutes and he tells the story of how they were on their way to the Toronto film festival and got stopped by customs. They had all of these lint rollers and buttons as promotinal material for the film fest. The Candaian Authorities didn't like it, and didn't allow them in. Here they are 20 years later. Nice.

He also asked how many people had not seen the movie before and about 25% of the crowd raised their hands. I think this is a good thing. This movie is as relevent to what Michigan is going thru today, as it was back then. If not more.

I myself have not seen it in a while so it will still be relatively fresh for me. Roger & Me is the story of Flint, MI and one man's quest to talk to then head of GM, Roger Smith, during the first round of massive closings, in the 80's. He does a great job of showing the history of the UAW and GM from their heyday to present.

But this isn't just a story unique to Flint or Detroit. Above all else this documentary shows what will happen to cities when tens of thousands of workers all lose their jobs at once. And also the cyclical nature of life. There were some gasps in the audience when the scene showing a woman killing and gutting a rabbitt came up. But that is survival. It's back to the land time. Some people won't leave no matter how bad it gets. For good or bad, that is their home. But it also exposes the Law Of The Golden Mean. If she could make more money doing something else, she would.

Different people in Flint are affected by this in different ways. Some are hardly affected, some lose everything they have, others make a successful leap to something new, and some don't notice at all. Michael does a good job of weaving them together in a way that emphasises the contrast. You would have a scene where he is interviewing members of a country club, and then immediately cut to a county sherriff pounding on a door to do evictions.

This was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. I think Michael should work on new documentary of the new soon to be announced CEO of GM. I guarantee it will be just as tragic and comical 20 years from now.

After the show I head towards the blue bomber. I have her chained to a street sign next to "The Catch" (pictured below). Being a little hungry, I stop in for a bite to eat.

It is an island themed restaurant. Having an island streak in me, I feel right at home. I order the conk fritters and listen to buffett, as he sings about A Pirate Looking At Fourty. I like Jimmy Buffett, but I don't listen to him very often. Sammy the bartender tells me he hates it. Don't get him wrong, he likes Jimmy Buffett, but you learn to hate anything that you listen to for 10 hours a day, every day. I suggest some Link Wray.

I got here just in time. They are only open for another twenty minutes. The conk fritters are exactly what I needed. Soft, buttery, ocean, goodness.

Blue bomber-Park-Eighth

Sunday August 2nd, 2009 - Big Oil Shines

Today is a busy day. I am up and at The State by 9:00a.m. I have 4 movies today, and a couple of treks to Milliken. It's coming to a close.

The Only Good Indian: 9:00a.m. - The State Theater

What is the price of success? What is the price for survival? People are more important than money. Your soul can be dead while your body is still breathing.

Once the movie is over I head back to base and head down eighth. I am on my way to Milliken and that's a 15 minute ride. I have an hour until Football Under Cover. Having not had breakfast yet, I stop at Rounds. It is a local diner, and to be honest a couple of eggs and toast would suffice. But the country fried steak, with diced potatoes and gravy, 2 eggs, and 2 big slices of homemade bread, looks inviting. As the car people air their grievences about the bike people, the bike people smile and nod. It is not so much a transportational struggle, as it is more of a generational struggle. But nobody says a word about the grinders. Of course.

But the food comes fast here and I am brought 2 meals on one plate. Oh the heavenly breakfast. I have not had every country fried steak Traverse City has to offer, but if anyone thinks they have a better Country fried steak than Round's, I would like to hear about it.

I strap the second meal to the back of the blue bomber and head to Milliken.

Football Under Cover: 12:00p.m. - Milliken auditorium

Do you remember when you just played sports for the fun of it? Do you remeber when you just liked hitting the ball, or kicking the ball, passing, shooting, or running with the ball? Do you remeber the pure and simple joy? Did you ever have to pretend you were someone else just to play? Risk your life? The look on all of those men's faces outside of the arena was the same. Things are changing, and for the better.

I have an hour and a half until Crude at 3:00. I bike to the base, put the second meal in the fridge, and head to The Old Towne Playhouse.

Crude: 3:00p.m. - The Old Town Playhouse

Have you ever heard of an offer to good to be true? Ever bathed in, ate, and drank, gasoline? Have you ever been told it was okay for you? Right is right and wrong is wrong. Please email Chevron and ask them to settle their lawsuit with the Ecuadorian people, all people, and possibly get out of the oil business altogether.

I head back, regroup, and head down Front to Milliken for the last time. Burma VJ at 6:00.

Burma VJ: 6:00p.m. - Milliken Auditorium

Give me liberty or give me death. It is a human characteristic. What would you do if an overwhelming majority of your fellow citizens democratically elected a new President and the millitary decided to take control, and place your President under house arrest? For 19 years, while the world was shut out. What if after 19 years things had gotten so bad that every priest, from every religion, in your country, non-violently marched thru the streets, to show that they had gone to far. What would you do if they started shooting all of the priests? Shut down the internet? Shot foreign journalists?

Would you set up a personal satelite connection so you could beam the videos from your sony MiniDV to the outside world? To show the atrocities that are occuring in your country hoping that someone might take it upon themselves to help. At risk of death? Do you know where the millitary gets their money from? You guessed it, Unocal, which is owned by Chevron. Please email Chevron and ask them to leave Burma/Myanmar. They say they can do more good by staying. This is not what good looks like.

Well I think it is going to be a quiet night with plenty of red potatoes, corn, and bread with butter.

I am left with the feeling that Traverse City is one of America's great northern cities. Is she this seductive in the winter? We will have to wait and see. What a great weekend. Thank you Traverse City.

Ninth-31-115-131-Blue-Home.

The End

Rothbury 2009

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Thursday July 2^nd, 2009 - Where’s Carl?

Now I will be writing this from a groundview perspective. I will be camping, eating, sleeping, walking, and accumulating dust amongst the crowd. A communal experience for certain. This site is dedicated to Live Michigan Music and capturing, for good or ill, shows from the fan's persepective. I am sure my editor would love for me to be the first to break a glossy story, hot off the press, with an instantaneous and fleeting ratings boost that would surely make his bosses pop champagne cork's. But I must admit there will be no champagne. I am going to absorb the weekend. Gain some perspective, and try and give the most accurate account of the weekend that I can. I didn't go to Rothbury last year so I don't know the lay of the land or what to expect.

Rothbury aims to be the greenest, most minimally invasive, large music festival in the world. Now the greenest festival of all is no festival at all. So this is a balancing act. They have three trash cans at every spot that most festivals have one. One is for compostable materials (food,paper,coffee grinds,etc). The second is for recycling (plastic bottles, aluminum cans, etc). And the third is for Landfill (trash, everything else). They are color coded to help placement and they have people manning them inside the festival grounds. But in the end it is left up to the people to put stuff where it can do the most good. We will have final numbers as they become available.

The gates were supposed to open at 8:00 a.m. today but they were opened late Wednesday night to help minimize the back-up. I got here about 1:00 p.m. thinking that I would be early only to find 16,000 who were already losing things. I have a few different groups of friends that I am meeting from various places. I have phone numbers and a Nextel phone that barely works. I thought this would make things simple. But it hits you that even if you know where your friends are at, it might be a long walk to get to them. After a 20 min. slow procession thru the campground, and several thoughts of whether I was headed where I thought I was, I reach my final vehicular destination for the weekend. It is amazing how fast a tent city in Michigan can grow.

Now at this point names like Bass, Bluegill, Pike, Trout, Brookie, Catfish, Muskie, and Perch are just fish names. But I will need these because they are the names of the different sections of the campground. There are times when 2 plastic cups and some string get better reception and charge than my Nextel, so I will need to employ scouting, maps, smoke signals, and rendevous points to stay connected thru this festival.

I am all the way at the end of the main drag in camp Pike. I call some friends who are already set up as well. We use the highest flags we can see to relate our positioning to one another. It turns out I am only 100 yards away from them, by chance, they are in camp Bass. With one group of friends located and camp set up things are calming down. On my way to their site I see my first casualty of the weekend. It was a stuffed duck on top of a car with Mardi Gras beeds on (pictured below). His head with a tilt and a turn that signaled things were getting cranked up.

I didn’t want to come in with a set schedule of all the music I wanted to see. My 9 must see’s were Keller Williams, The String Cheese Incident, The Dead, Zappa Plays Zappa, Willie Nelson, Ani DiFranco, The Ragbirds, Steppin In It, and The Macpodz. I have never seen Ani DiFranco, Willie Nelson, Zappa Plays Zappa, or The String Cheese Incident so I’ll have 4 first time shows this weekend. I’m a huge Keller fan and who on earth would miss The Dead? All the other music I see will be based on the currents of the weekend.

“Carl” was the only person arrested last year according to Rothbury lore. Hence the “where’s Carl?” hats, t-shirts, and stickers. It was said that the naked guy running around Sherwood Forest was Carl. I guess we can never be sure. I am sure there were many other supposed Carl sightings, but either way he had 2 options. If Carl was the only person to be arrested at Rothbury last year he could either come back in 2009 or vow never to return to Michigan again. If he vowed to never come back obviously there will never be another sighting at Rothbury. But if he did come back he has another 2 options. Either come back and lay low as not to draw attention to himself and enjoy his weekend, or try and be the only guy to get arrested both years at Rothbury. I don’t know Carl and I don’t know if he is here this year. But I have a feeling that he is and I think he is keeping it cool.

I think it would be hard to name another city of at least 40,000 people that goes 4 days with only 1 arrest. So on the whole it is a relaxed weekend, but don’t think this is just a free for all. The Michigan State Police are present in their new fuel efficient cars (pictured below). We will have the official police reports as they become available.

Keller Williams 8:45p.m. – 10:15p.m.

I must start off by saying I am a huge Keller fan. But other than Ms. Barbara (pictured below) making an appearance, to me it was a very flat set with no definition or contrast. But that is what live music is all about. Some nights are good and some nights are off. But it is all personal preference anyway. For me it was an lackluster set.

After Keller I head back to camp get something to eat and wander thru the Sherwood Forest, Tripolee Domes, and Main Street until it is time for bed. It has been a good day one, with perfect weather and legs tired, I crash.

Friday July 3^rd, 2009 - Half Sharted Shorts and The Big Red Ball

The sun kicks me out of my tent about 9:00 a.m. I have a working agreement with the Carney’s that breakfast is at my place, dinner at theirs. Breakfast is my favorite part of the day. Getting up, cooking red potatoes, eggs, and sausage with a splash a Ray’s Polish Fire, it doesn’t start any better than this.

It starts off partly cloudy and reaching clear and 80 by the afternoon. The weather has broke, or so I think, time for the life jacket. I always bring an old orange military style life jacket with me. They are designed to flip you face up, if you end up passed out face down in the water.

After breakfast I clean up and head to the Carney’s. On my way there I see a pair of Men’s American Eagle Boxer Shorts (NOT pictured below), with a prominent shart stain in them, in front of the port-a-johns. Their placement had to be a conscious descision. Either upon or after entry. Unless they fell off without someone knowing, they had to have been placed there, and for good reason. I wonder how long they will lay there?

I have a meeting at noon, make it, and hit the farmer’s market on my way home. The dried cherries, grass fed beef, carrots, snow peas, dragon’s breath sausage, and Ope’s cookies are excellent.

I finally found the Billdozer. He is staying in camp Muskie by the Minnesota Golden Gophers flag. It was a bubbly atmosphere and we exchanged stories that taint to be repeated. But I can’t stay for long I have to get ready for the String Cheese Incident.

One Gram At A Time

Now "Gram" is not "Gram's" real name. His true identity is being withheld. But I meet a guy named Gram. He tells me he is from Vermont. So I ask him if he likes the band Phish since they are also from Vermont. He says "No, I don't like Jam Bands." So with this festival being heavily Jam Band influenced I ask him "so who are you excited to see this weekend?" He says "No one." Immediately thoughts of mental slavery come to mind. Just another case of someone who doesn't want to be where they are at, sitting next to someone that does.

Totally unenthused. As if he was kidnapped and forced here. To each there own.

He asks about the String Cheese Incident. "Are they any good?" I tell him yeah I have heard their stuff, never seen them, but if he was looking for some good pictures this might be it.

I hope he steps outside of his box and goes to Cheese.

The String Cheese Incident 8:45p.m. - 12:30a.m.

Now I have never seen the String Cheese Incident. But on the average String Cheese fans are more prone to costumes, hula-hoops, stilts, and blow up balls/animals than any other group of fans. It has always been said that the people following the Dead, Phish, String Cheese, etc., are like a traveling circus. A string cheese show has more of the Circus/Burning Man feel to it than any other.

I am posted up in front of the soundboard when my friend Kyle from St. Louis spots me. It turns out he is camped in camp Brookie. The music started and he turns to me and says "Excuse me while I travel back in time." Kyle also turned to me and said "they must be warning us about the rain." I told him No way, the weather forecast 2 days ago said it would be perfect all weekend. He turned to me and said it again. I still didn't believe him. They were playing the song "Rain."

Everything was going well. There are Acrobats hanging halfway down a piece of fabric that extends from the top of the stage all the way down. They must be 40 to 50 feet in the air. Meanwhile String Cheese plays on.

They also had small platforms throughout the crowd that people got up on and hula hooped with large blinking light hula-hoops. There were also fire dancers. The show attacked on all fronts.

A lot of blow up beach balls about 5 feet in diameter were being tossed around. One maybe 15 feet across threatens the taper section that I am near. And then from behind I hear the roar. As I look back I see the largest Big Red Ball that I have ever seen (pictured below).

It had to be at least 30 feet in diameter. It was like a UFO and very slow moving. Other balls could be swated away, back and forth. This ball, with 50 people hitting it as hard as they could, could barely be moved. It creeped wherever it went and forced you to engage it. It threatened the taper section as well. But then veered off stage right. An hour later when tragedy was supposedly averted the tapers looked back to see the big red ball off in the distance, about a half hour away. Sure enough a tap on the shoulder a half hour later was all it took to realize the big red ball was here and headed right for us. It smacks their mic's and slowly moves forward like a wave from behind that hits unexpectedly.

Once the show is over I'm done. Spent. Now it is just a short walk thru Sherwood Forest (pictured below @ sunrise) and a long stroll down Main Street to the tent.

Saturday July 4^th, 2009 - Sunglasses Shartcake

It’s 9:40, breakfast is still at my place, but a new devolpment has occurred. A pair of red women’s sunglasses have been placed on the half sharted shorts in front of the port-a-johns. The cherry has been placed.

Kyle was right. It rained. It’s partly cloudy and sprinkles are threatening to get worse. The forecast didn’t call for rain the entire weekend. If it just spits for a hour and clears I will be grateful.

I am grateful. The weather has cleared and the sun is once again beating down. Should I grab the life jacket? No I think I’ll be alright. Today was the perfect example of the Michigan experience. If you don't like the weather just wait 15 minutes.

I see Gram. Thinking that he got some amazing photos of String Cheese last night I ask him if he went. "No. I didn't go to Cheese last night." With the most unenthused look on his face I think to myself, "Man, did he miss OUT."

Zappa Plays Zappa 4:30p.m. - 6:00p.m.

This was a tight, meaty set. I couldn’t get over how much they sounded like Zappa and his band. My buddy Kimebag would be enthused.

The Dead 8:00p.m. - 12:00a.m.

Now coming into this I thought that The Dead would have to play American Beauty for their first set and Workingman’s Dead for their second set, with Jerry, to top the String Cheese Incident from the night before. However, they didn’t top them in my eye's, they came damn close. It doesn’t get any more American than Ms. Barbara putting lit sparklers in her mouth, 20 feet in the air, while The Dead play "The U.S. Blues", on the 4^th of July, to the massive fireworks display. All 40,000-1 had to be there.

Once again the legs are tired. Sherwood-Main-Pike-Tent.

Sunday July 5^th, 2009 - In The Kitchen

I have Breakfast once again, walk to the Carney’s, and low and behold, the men’s underwear is gone from in front of the bathrooms. One can only pray that a stick was used in the removal. Today is it. Time to say goodbye to the metal boot, the half-buried bus, and the reincarnation garden (pictured below).

Willie Nelson 6:00p.m. – 7:30p.m.

Not seeing Waylon Jennings perform live is one of my regrets in life. So to see Willie live for the first time was a lifetime achievement. Now Carney asked me "what do you think Willie will open up with?" I thought to myself, that if I were Willie Nelson, I would open up with 'Whiskey River". You know, really punch the crowd in the face right from the get go. Sure enough he did. He also played "Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys", "On the road again", "Always on my mind", "Me and Paul", and on, and on, and on. He didn't disappoint.

Incident at the Broken Spoke 6:30p.m. – 8:30p.m.

Now “Randy” is not “Randy’s” name. His real name is being protected. But anyone at the Broken Spoke (pictured below) between 6:30p.m. – 8:30p.m. would have seen Randy pouring Southern Comfort right into peoples mouths from a fresh ½ gallon. Not everybody would drink from the bottle. Whenever someone didn’t drink Randy would drink for them. If someone did drink Randy would drink with them. One can be certain that after a couple of hours of this type of math that Randy was delivering drinks like Frankenstein, arms out, legs stiff, eye's up, chin down, one at a time. Even one at a time was too much. He needed to take a slow smoke break bar right. He got back behind the bar but I don’t know if he served anymore drinks.

Ani DiFranco 7:15p.m. – 8:30p.m.

She gets a reputation for being a man hater but that wouldn’t really be accurate. She is happily married with a 2 year old daughter. And let's not forget that more than a couple of those angry love songs are directed at other women. There are probably specific men she hates for specific reasons, but she hasn’t written the gender off as a whole yet.

She played a tight set and it wouldn’t take one long after seeing her to see how much Keller Williams has borrowed from her.

Umphrey's McGee: 11:00p.m. - Close

After Ani we head to the Carney’s for dinner. We regroup and head down Main Street one last time. We hit the Ranch area for the Umphrey’s McGee 11:00 p.m. set. This is the last show of the weekend, people are starting to head out, and we are just perched on the back berm. When out of the corner, from in front of the sounboard, stands, Ms. Barbara. We head down and as we do My favorite Umphrey’s Mcgee song starts, “In the kitchen”. We meet up with Ms. Barbara. Fish and Sethro Tull are there. She put a bunch of glowsticks in her hair and arose 20 feet in the air only to shake them out. And then shook profusely. Cherry on top.

Ranch-Main-Pike-Tent. Tent-Car-31-96-131-Blue-Home.

The End.

Tuesday's Gone

June 16^th, 2009 - Move Over Sundance?

While Cannes’ lock as the International film festival of choice seems secure, The Sundance Film Festival is quickly loosing ground to the Traverse City Film Festival as America’s Top Film Festival. With the concerns over crime, parking, lodging, and lack of cutting edge material, more and more people are choosing the Traverse City Film Festival as their vacation of choice.

It’s location, location, material. The Grand Traverse Bay boasts more world class resort’s, spa’s, beaches, forest’s, and golf courses than Park City, Utah. Last year, there were over 80,000 admissions to nearly 100 screenings, a number of them U.S. or world premieres. A special emphasis is given to foreign films, American independents, documentaries, and films which have been overlooked but deserve the attention of a public starved to see a good movie.

Will there be heads on a stick? One can only wait and see, but one thing is for sure, it will be worth the trip. July 28 - August 2nd, movie lineup will be available in mid-July.

June 9^th, 2009 - Giant Stilt Girl Hula-Hoop

The 2009 Rothbury Festival is 23 days away and you can already feel the wave that will crest on July 5^th building. Friends from St. Louis, Hawaii, California, and Colorodo will be calling while girls on giant stilts with giant hula hoops walk by, thru the trees, talking to real monkey’s, as men with heads on sticks pass. A 21^st century circus on 20^th century land, It is what Bonaroo aimed to be before MTV bought it, and more.

Rothbury will be The Dead’s only summer performance and The String Cheese Incident’s only 2009 performance. Along with Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, The Black Crowes, Sound Tribe Sector Nine, G. Love and Special Sauce, Umphrey’s McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Disco Biscuits, Les Claypool, Keller Williams, Ani DiFranco, Matisyahu, Railroad Earth, Toots and The Maytals, Zappa Plays Zappa, Peter Rowan & Tony Rice, Eoto, The Macpodz, Steppin In It, The Ragbirds, and Four Finger Five, It is shaping up to be the traveling man’s festival.

Above and beyond all else this is a national String Cheese Incident Family reunion. They disbanded a couple of years back and have not played together since. I can not think of a better place, short of Hawaii with free fan teleportation, than the remote shores of Michigan.

Get your tickets, 4^th of July Weekend, Rothbury, MI, USA, If you can’t afford a ticket you can volunteer some of your time to get in, don’t miss it.

June 2^nd, 2009 - A White Dog Named Blue

Now Blue was a White Labrador Retriever from Kentucky and he had 4 other twin brothers. Being and old style southern gentleman from the first quarter of the 21^st century, he was the softee of the bunch. But they were all travelers. He's a licker not a fighter, and he was an Astronaut before that. He had seen the world from a distant gaze and wondered why he had ever left. He now spends his time eating Michigan grasses and insects while washing them down with Michigan waters.

Maybe it was more about the landing than the take off. He made it to the moon just fine. He weightlessly chased tennis balls and laid in the shade of the moon. But when it was time to leave the thrusters were shot, no way back home. An immediate and oxygen robbing sense of panic overtook him. But then he remembered that he was in the land of dreams. He imagined a native space craft came and towed his craft to the earth’s atmosphere and so it be. And upon re-entry he realized he was no longer in the land of dreams, but the land of the physical. He didn’t have to dream, he could make it come true thru action.

So then he hits the water as if being tumbled by Pipeline in December. His craft intact and rescue complete, he wanted to reach land, and never leave. He had already done all the leaving that a lifetime would require. So he headed towards Michigan, as Michigan headed south, seeking the land that was wrapped in protective waters.

Anyone looking for the Astronaut would be hard pressed to find him. To the people that know him he is just A White Dog Named Blue.