Tag: Grey Fox

Post-Fox

I got back from Grey Fox late last night, and it was certainly a good time. I ended up staying with my normal camp, which I think may have been a mistake. Most nights we went out to other camps, since that’s where the people are. Next year, that’s where we’ll be. The bus did a spectacular job, and there was only one minor malfunction (there has yet to be a trip of considerable distance where nothing went wrong). On the way home there was a bizarre exchange between another car and myself, where they looked up the bus’ website while driving alongside me. That caught me off guard.

Back to Census work, for as long as they’ll have me. I’m hoping I can stay on for the next operation, since it seems that I will be staying in Middletown until mid-September. I have to challenge a tax assessment on my bus, since they valued it about $22,000 more than it’s worth. But once that’s taken care of, it seems like I’ll be heading for Flagstaff. I think.

On To Grey Fox

Just as the next Census operation is kicking off, I’m leaving for Grey Fox. The bus is receiving some TLC to make living a little more comfortable, and things are looking good. This will be my first year with my own camp at Grey Fox, so I’m really looking forward to that. I love the camp I grew up with, but the current members are quite different from those of twenty years ago, and I’m not sure they would appreciate us jamming well into the night. Anywise, it looks to be a good year, and I’m looking forward to being back.

Jim

Jim is this really cool guy I met at Grey Fox when I started volunteering. He taught me how to cook fries just right, which is good because I was making really shitty fries before he arrived. He is an incredibly nice guy, who used to teach art to kids (elementary/middle school). He’s shown me a Christmas card he drew, and made me a really cool print of my name, with just magic markers he had in his car.

Jim is always pretty easy to spot – he has a shirt that he uses for festivals. It has seen many, and I’m really amazed it still holds together. He’s usually wondering around the hospitality tent doing odd jobs and helping people out. Every time I saw him he would say how much he loved it there. He’s in his late 70s, lives alone, and doesn’t go on vacations, so Grey Fox and Rhythm & Roots are how he relaxes.

I didn’t see him this year, possibly because the new location is an hour farther away. I didn’t make it to Rhythm & Roots, so I don’t know if he was there either, so I wrote him a letter. A real handwritten letter. Certainly the first that I’ve written in a long time. I hope I hear from him soon – he’s a good dude, and if he won’t be making it to festivals anymore, I’d like to go visit him.

Grey Fox 2008

Grey Fox was pretty damn cool. It shouldn’t be surprising, but I wasn’t confident in the new place. When we first arrived, we drove through the (new) ghetto. Even though its a lot nicer than the old one, its not really a great first impression. The next thing I saw was flat. It turns out this isn’t as bad as I figured it would be, and really makes the whole place much more accessible. And the view from the amphitheater isn’t bad, although nowhere near the old place. It was the top of the amphitheater that sold me on the place. From there you can look down on the stage, and past that the camping. I was able to camp up there, and I’m certain it made the whole experience better.

Ron Thomason, in his infinite wisdom, put it well. He said, “I’ve talked to a lot of people who’ve mentioned that they miss the other site. And that’s just the way it oughta be, because think of all the good times we had there. And the way I kinda look at it is: I ain’t done havin them yet, and I hope you all ain’t either.” That pretty much set the tone for this year’s fest.

One thing that bugged me more this year than in previous years was my allergies. For some reason, living in a hay field for a week didn’t sit well with my allergies, and I was almost constantly congested. I quickly found out that if I was working on something, or walking around, my nose wasn’t clogged. So I would go for walks instead of sitting around, just so I could breathe comfortably. It was kind of like Crank, with snot.

It struck me as weird this year, because I realized that I probably won’t be there next year. Granted I won’t be too upset about missing it for the tour, but there are many great people there who I only see once a year. I think I’ll have to bring the bus to visit some of them.

I’ve got a bunch of pictures of the new site on Flickr. Someday I’ll probably take pictures of people or things that happen there, but it’ll probably be a while. I think I take pictures of the physical place because the environment there is so hard to explain and convey, in either photographs or text. Video could work, but anything short of being there just doesn’t do it justice.

I’ll try to write a couple stories about Grey Fox (both past and present). Its weird that I wrote so damn much about my one time at Bonnaroo, but I’ve barely written anything about a festival I’ve been going to for twenty-one years.

Storms

Isabel by microphone FLy~
[audio:http://john.paganetti.com/wp-content/uploads/Isabelle.mp3]

One of the things I’ll probably miss most about the old location for Grey Fox was the storms. It might sound weird, but they were so incredibly central to the Grey Fox experience. Nearly every year (we can remember two exceptions) there was a good sized storm that rolled through during the festival.

One of these storms prompted my dad to ditch camping in tents and buy a trailer. It had been raining all night, and a section of the tent’s roof had started to collect water. When my dad woke up, he pushed it to knock the water off the tent, but his hand went right through it, and he got a nice cold wake up shower.

The first year I was ever on the mountain, I was about 10 weeks old, and my parents carried me up the mountain, because they had closed the road due to the rain. I obviously don’t remember this, but I’ve been told many times about that year.

I watched a dome tent roll down the road, blown by a strong wind. After a beat, a half dozen people appeared, chasing after it.

I can remember standing on top of the hill after we thought the storm had passed us, and looking at the massive cloud over us, we realized that it was just circling above us. It is really incredible to see. It ended up hanging around our general area for a few days.

In 2001, we nearly didn’t go to Grey Fox. The Tall Ships were coming through, and I guess it was a big deal, because we went out to go see them during the first part of the week of Grey Fox. Late in the week, I started to bug my dad about how we oughta go for the tail end of the festival. He talked to some of our friends already on the hill, and they told him it was rainy, and gonna stay rainy. He checked the forecast, and it said 8-10 inches of rain over the course of the weekend. We went up anyway, and slept in the back of the Pathfinder. The mudfest that year was actually caught on tape in A Bluegrass Journey.

But the one storm I hope I never forget was a few years ago (three? four?). I remember it was a beautiful afternoon, but as evening approached, I noticed some big clouds in the distance. We climbed up on someone’s RV to get a better look. I had never seen a wall of clouds like that before – it was really incredible. It looked like a tidal wave, visibly moving closer and closer to us. When it reached us, we found it that it was a really powerful electrical storm, and they actually had to close down the main stage for a while, something I had never seen happen before. The sound of thunder when you’re outside, in the middle of a gigantic thunderstorm, is not to be missed.

Fests

Lots of Drops of Brandy by The Chieftains
[audio:http://robin.paloch.net/Irsk%E1%20hudba/The%20Chieftains%20-%20Lots%20of%20drops%20of%20brandy.mp3]

I’ve finally uploaded my pictures from Bonnaroo. You can see them here: http://flickr.com/photos/somjuan/sets/72157600844666808/

Most of those pictures suck, but there is the occasional worthwhile shot. There are also a couple shots of Hopper in there for anyone interested. All those pics were taken on disposable cameras, so the quality is a bit grainy (although a good deal of that isn’t the camera, but the dust in the air). I also haven’t quite figured out what every picture is of. Most of the pics were of bands I saw, because that was a good deal of my time at ‘roo.

That said, I’ll be leaving for Grey Fox tomorrow morning. So its doubtful you’ll hear from me for at least a week. I realized earlier today that I’ve gone and done this huge write up about Bonnaroo, and I’ve never written anything about Grey Fox/Winterhawk. I hope I remember that, because as time keeps going on, the little memories that make the place special go with it.

Maybe I’ll do that when I get back.

Greyfox 2005

I finally got my pictures developed, and they’re on Flickr right now.

Amp5

I’ll update this post with an actual description of things later.
EDIT: Don’t have time to do that, I guess. I’ll make another post for that when I get back.

Oh, almost forgot. I found another good site online with decent pics from Greyfox 05 and years past.
http://www.larrygc.com/bluegrass.html

I’m Back

Yup, I’m back.

Greyfox 05 was excellent, and the promise of another year on the hill made it even better. (Since I’m sure none of you know what I meant by that) There was much talk that this was going to be the last year at the Rothvoss Farm. It has been in other locations in the past, but all before my time. I’ve never been anywhere else. They announced Saturday night that it would be on the hill at least one more year, which is some of the best news I’ve heard all year.

Thinking this was the last year at this location, I brought cameras (those one time use things) to take loads of pictures. Once I get the pics back, I’ll throw em up online for you all to see, and I’ll probably explain more about the festival then, for those of you not familliar with it.

This was definately the best I’ve been to yet. The music and people were excellent, and I had a great time. That doesn’t do it justice, but to really go into it requires more energy than I’m willing to commit right now.

But, I’m back – and the weather here blows. Hot, humid, and I still don’t have air conditioning. Coming out of the world on the hill, back to real life, and crappy weather no less, sucks. Also, I’m lacking a project.

I need something to keep my mind busy. Before Greyfox, I think it was this site. Leaving it for a week or so has made me start to think about other things I could start / try to be doing. I’ll probably get back into the swing of things over the course of this week.

I was feeling sorta down when I started this post, but I’m feeling better.
Real life got to me, but I think I lost it, so no worries.

#239: I find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving; To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it–but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes