I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
August 04, 2015 - 9:25 p.m.
It's taken me long enough but I'm finally going to start writing about Falcon Ridge 2015. An hour ago I put the computer on my lap to start writing. The next thing I knew I was waking from a dream. Today is catch up on sleep day. Tomorrow is Circus Day.
I don't have my usual post FRFF high. That often lasts a week or more. I had a great festival so I'm going to have to write about it to kick it in gear. But where do I begin? I always write multiple entries about the Festival. I go day by day. I give at least one overview. I sometimes give two overviews. I post pictures. I talk about the music. I talk about the people. It seems this year I talk about what I talk about.
I just stopped to watch an episode of the Dick Van Dyke show that Beth posted on my Facebook Timeline? Why? Because we talked about it at Falcon Ridge. That's the festival in a nutshell, a walnut shell. If you don't know why I said that just google walnut Dick Van Dyke Show. There's so much goodness at Falcon Ridge but what I look forward to the most is the people. OK the people, the food they give me, and Taste Budd's Chocolate.
This is how Falcon Ridge pretty much goes for me. We camp on top of the hill. I arrive and go to set up. This year I didn't have to set up my tent. It was already set up for me! Thank you Steve. I lost all my camping gear so have to borrow. But I still have set up. I have to unload the car, inflate my air mattress, and get things in order. Then I race to the lounge stage. What actually happens; I drove up with Fred. When we arrive I say hi to everyone at Budgiedome. Then I go over and say hi to everyone at the Steeple Tent. The Steeple tent is perpetually in the process of changing its name. It's the camp of the Steeple Coffeehouse. There so many people I love there. OK this is scary, if I make a list you know I'll forget one, maybe two .They will spend the rest of their life thinking I don't love them. So here is a partial list with people deliberately left out chosen randomly .Yes that's it. There's Emily, Joe, Sarah, Drew, Liz, Carolyn, Matt, about a zillion children, the Professor and Maryann. I got to meet Carolyn's boyfriend John. OK now I’m just showing off I remember names. They have a spreadsheet with everyone who camps with them every year. These are my people. They also give me bacon. Mel camped right next door. She made me chocolate peanut butter oreos wrapped in bacon. I gave one to LORi. I saw the expression on her face and asked if she just orgasmed She said, "No this felt better." Emily made me a bacon, potato, and cheese tart. Those two things would have made the entire trip worth it. I went back to the Budgiedome, saw Steve, Lori, Paul, Sarah, Charles, and Abby. Then Brianne and Katie arrived. Oh wait Dorothy and Chris, Brianne's parents were there earlier. Hey I can't get all the timing down. Somewhere in there I mooched food off the Steeple Tent. I'm their tapeworm.
Then I head down to the Lounge Stage. I should be listening to music but I spend most of my time talking to a whole slew of other people that I don't see often enough. There are a lot of people I love at Falcon Ridge. God knows how many hugs I got. When did Mark, Carolann, and Felix show up? Were they at the Budgiedome before I left? Maybe. Somewhere in there Arpie showed up too. No I'm not going to attempt to list everyone I saw at the Lounge Stage. That list would literally have scores of names on it. As you probably know until I get my cataract surgery I'm pretty much blind. I can only recognize people by the shape of their body and hair. That's interesting. I was looking for Ethan and someone pointed to him from across the stage. Ethan is shall we say large. I could not see him but I did see a shape in the general direction that was pointed. That got me close enough. Jake's a bit smaller. He was standing right near Ethan. I didn't spot him at all till he said hi. It's a weird way to experience things. I did spot Heather and Kristen from ilyAIMY. Somehow the cute women get in focus.
Friday was the Emerging Artist Showcase. Six of the twenty four were playing the Budgiedome. I had to see them. Somewhere in between I had to get my press credentials so I can shoot from the photographer's area. You, My Gentle Readers are the ones that let me be press. I went to Kathryn to get it. I used to get musicians to vouch for me. I figured after all these years I shouldn't need that. I was right. It helps that Kathryn is one of My Gentle Readers.
Oh I have to give Kirk a shout-out. Why? He angled for one on Facebook and invoked chocolate, or was that bacon.
So here I am racing to get back to the Main Stage to see the Emerging Artists. Mya was on second and Mark 14th. So I had some time but I like to catch more people. Some were my friends even if they weren't booked to play the Budgiedome. But instead I walked around running into people. My mean free path is about 20 steps. That's on average how many steps I take before running into a friend. I followed somebody to the far end of the Festival which meant I had to stop by the WFUV booth to talk to whoever was there. At some point or another I saw Linda, Janeen, Lori, Rona, and Bob there. Falcon Ridge is a pinball machine and I bounce from bumper to bumper occasionally falling into a hole and popping up someplace random. I had to stop by the Lost and Found. No I didn't lost anything. I had to say hi to Crystal. I never remember her name is Crystal, I know her Hebrew name Chaya. Another station of the cross is Taste Budd's. I not only need to get a frozen cocoa chiller I need to tell them how much I love them and that they are the only reason I go to the festival. I just discovered it was founded by Merritt Budd. Till this year I never noticed the apostrophe in Taste Budd's. I pledge my undying devotion to his stand every year.
At the Budgiedome people come looking for me and I talk to them and get hugs. Lots of the Chicks with Dip were there this year. In addition to Carolann who is a regular part of our camp, I saw, Catherine, Katherine, Karen, Karyn, Allison, Sharon, Amy and Honor. Is that it? Were there more? Oh duh. Meg but I had already mentioned Meg. Or did I? No I didn't. I forgot to say who was in the Emerging Artists, it was Annika, Mark Allen Berube, Meg Braun, Mya Byrne, Scott Wolfson, and Teresa Storch. Did you notice that the Chicks aren't very original when it comes to names? She wasn't there but there's another Allison. There were of course also the affiliated men. OK they are all husbands now, right? I think so. There was Mark, Jay, Claude, and Joe. Joe is Allison's husband. The other Allison's husband is also named Joe*. These people really need more onomastic diversity.
There are people that I only see at Falcon Ridge that aren't musicians that I become friends with through chance encounters. There's Kat who wears cat ears and gives people s'mores. There's Ellen whose name I always forgot. I also see her at Clearwater and I used to see her at SMAF. There's so many people whose names I don't know but I know that I know. A lot of that goes on at Falcon Ridge.
The Festival ends on Sunday but I stayed till Monday. That gives me another night hanging with the people in the greater Budgiedome Steeple Metropolitan Area. I got to play with Joe and Emily's kids. The kids and dogs of friends are the best thing in the world, you get all the joy and none of the responsibility. I was playing hand clapping games for the first time since I was a kid.
Oh there was a new member of our community, Angel. She just camped by us and was adopted into our family. I spent late Sunday after everyone else was asleep talking to Angel, Matt, and Mel sitting around a fire. Matt is pretty much a pyromaniac.
On Monday Lori drove me home. As is my tradition since I started we stopped at the Martindale Chief Diner. I always called it the Chief Martindale Diner because that's what the sign out front says. Now I eat there with LORi. This year Steve joined us. Steve drives their truck and trailer and LORi her car. So they have to go separately anyway.
Tomorrow I'll start talking about music. Today is about people. I could write a book on talking to people at Falcon Ridge. I should say talking and hugging. Oh and proposing. I propose to people that give me food. There marital status and sex does not come into it. I'm bromasexual. Broma means food. I actually got married to Sarah but it only lasted till Drew, her husband arrived. Then I lost our wedding glow stick bracelet when I was dancing. She was heartbroken. When Drew left we were married again. She gives me a lot of bacon. I also as is my tradition proposed to Susan Werner. As is her tradition she turned me down. I proposed to LORi, Liz, Mel, Matt, and people I can't remember at the moment. Who did I apologize to for not proposing last year? It was someone.
Somewhere in there I have to point out that I insisted that Katherine mooch a meal off the Steeple Tent. I am not just a tapeworm but I'm contagious tape worm. I convince others into adopting the parasitic lifestyle. Unlike sexual orientation parasitism is a lifestyle choice.
The Steeple People think the relationship is mutualistic and that they get something out of me. I think it's like that parasite that makes other animals like cats.
I better get this done and eat. Here's the takeaway. There's a lot of love at Falcon Ridge; that's why it's the happiest place on earth. If you weren't name checked don't worry. You will be. Well OK some of you will be. I know I'll forget somebody important.
* The other Allison's husband's name is Jamie not Joe. I could have edited the body but I liked my jokes so I'm doing this.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018
creative commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Horvendile August 04, 2015
| site search by freefind | advanced |
Follow on Feedly
