7/28/19. Cisco Grove. 8:16am “Festival in the Trees.” “Spirits of the Humans.” “Late night parties.”
There’s something magical about a festival in the trees. I was talking with Josh and Chloe about it last night when I had just come back to camp after a walk-about during the the Kinky set, which was not all that great for my old-dog tastes at least.
“I feel like the trees like us here. Like the festival, I mean,” I said. There was a pause as they waited for an explanation.
“They can feel the vibrations of the music and the spirits of the humans walking about them,” and they nod. I am tempted to explain this further, but one just has to see a forest at night during a festival. The lights and the shadows of the large pines & cedars, the occasional aspen that glows in the ambient light. The festival beneath the canopy. The sounds echo in the woods.
This is a family friendly event. But late night it parties. The kids were in bed last night and the adults were out in full effect. It was a good party yesterday. During the day, the Yuba was the spot; the sun warms the river rock and fuels the human spirit. Summer in the mountains is unlike anywhere in the world. A heavy winter made for massive amounts of snow to keep the rivers flowing full with cool water all the way up to the first rains in autumn.
Bikes are everywhere. Moon-rockets at night gliding on the paths. Old, fuzzy, dusty burner bikes repping The Man. This is Tahoe. It’s its own vibe, culture. It parties. It loves nature. It’s mountain life.
We’ll begin breakdown later today. Josh has to get back to the Bay for a gig, so the timing must be early. We’ll see. There may not be much biz this evening, however the last band goes past midnight.
7/29/19. Cisco Grove. 8:29am “Camp Sounds.” “Kudos to the Production Team.” “Doubling Up.”
Mornings in the camper. I’m sipping Yerba mate. Writing. Birds are chirping outside and there’s the hum of a small generator. Someone is hammering a stake.
GF has the magic of the river, plus a festival in the forest in always amazing. The sound system on the main stage was great. The vibe was epic. It has all the elements of a festival that will grow in popularity. Kudos to Barnett and the Jtree production crew: Kali, Sarah, Cassie, Lynn, and team. These guys inherited GF and have turned it around. It’s amazing to see. They’ve raised Jtree. They also want to buy land, like Bonnaroo did, for their festival. Talking with Kali yesterday, I heard the issues & struggles and hard work it takes to make a festival run; they did it with a team, family style. I can see them turning into a great events production company.
Jtree and Desert Daze are on the same weekend this October. Gonna be tough logistically, because we normally do two booths at DD. I think that we can pull it off, but I’m gonna need a good team for both festivals. Yeah, I think we can do it. It’s all just about people and logistics. Might be the last weekend of the year, unless we pull off Hangtown, which would be a ton of fun. Barnett said that it’s one of his faves. If that’s the case, then it must be an epic fest.
