10-10-2016, 03:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-10-2016, 03:28 PM by Drunk Monk.)
I woke up and got breakfast at the pop-up cafe. Lou Reed's Walk on the Wildside was playing on the high fidelity sound system and it hit me like a hammer. Luv that song. A true masterpiece. An ecstatic trip often leaves one emotionally raw the next day and that song brought me right back to my NY trip with Stacy (an operatic Italian version was playing at the first amazing pizza joint we hit) and all my interactions with Lou (I still can't believe I didn't visit him when he asked me to meet him in his hotel room again, the day after we met at Yang Sing for dim sum). I didn't have to come on until 2AM Sunday, so Saturday was all mine.
I was back at the Juke Lagoon for Nicola Cruz and more circus at the big top for the morning, both very enjoyable. Then Gaudi in Dub rocked the heart of my bottom, again at the Juke Lagoon. I've heard Gaudi many times before - he plays SNWMF dancehalls and adds a theremin to his ones and twos. Well, this time, he nailed it. It was a gorgeous day. Everyone was skanking and shaking it and Gaudi threw it down, made me his slave, with a brilliant mix of old reggae standards, dancehall riddems, and EDM bass drops. Took all I had not to give it all up right then and there and just follow his soundsystem until there was nothing left of me but a skid on the asphalt. I blame it on the theremin.
There were these sketchy bamboo bridges crossing some of the lagoons. I got on one and it was wall to wall traffic jam. That bridge could've collapsed at any moment. It was long, several hundred feet, and only wide enough for two across, one coming and one going. It was amusing nonetheless. After some people hugged in front of me (jamming the traffic jam even more) and then separated, the woman started screaming 'You're caught on my nipple!' - it was a prank actually, but just as well because no one really stopped. Actually, a lot of the structures were sketchy, especially the voodoo houses at Juke Lagoon, but I couldn't resist hanging out in them and on top of them. There were points when the bass shook the structures so hard that I really had to pause and wonder, but then a reggae fairy would share her spliff and all was irie.
I went back to do a pre-load of my car - all the non-essentials - while the sun was still up and discovered, much to my dismay, that I was blocked in again, just like RotR, despite planning a decent exit strategy. It was a van and the occupants were there, some young Asian burner, his gf and his buddies. I patiently explained my situation, wanting to exit Sunday. They said they would move as soon as I had to leave, which left me with great trepidation. What if they weren't there when I came back?
In the big top, I caught Delhi 2 Dublin, another old fav - a fusion between Bhangra Indian drumming, celtic fiddle and dancehall rap. They've moved me in the past, but this time not so much. Gaudi already wrecked me. Their drummer is still great. Caught Balkan Beat Box there later - it was too packed and the tent became a big dust bag because it was such a stomp in the dirt. I had run into an old friend, Monica, a gemstone seller, and was hanging out with her and her brother outside. She had this football sized quartz crystal she was carrying around like a purse dog and she let me carry it for a while, which was surprisingly fun because people get into a big ass crystal like that and ask you to energize them with it in a euphemistic and literal way. I caught Santigold at The Fringe, but that was so packed I could barely see her. She struck me as a Euro-EDM version of J-pop at first. I might have enjoyed that more if I had stayed longer but the crowd was too exhausting.
I pulled my all-nighter shift easily, except for the fact that there weren't enough places to sit and nap. All the clients were dozing and it seemed wasteful for all of us to stay awake, but the way Zendo was set up, it was hard to cop a little snooze. Still I managed. In the morning (10 AM is too hard - they should cut the shift earlier, closer to dawn) a big IPR came in, and everyone helped to try to contain him. He wound up groping this cute vol and then running away. Some gave chase. I didn't. I knew I could catch him, but he was big and I would've needed help to restrain him. Besides restraint isn't part of the Zendo protocol. So I stayed back and observed, and made sure the cute vol was okay (she was fine).
After my shift, I knew I was awake for enough hours to make it home so I packed up my tent and made for my ride. The kids that blocked me in were there and happy to move and I was on my way in a matter of minutes, that is, until I hit the exiting traffic, which took another half an hour, for no reason whatsoever. I was home before nightfall.
Next year, Symbiosis is combining forces with Rainbow Serpent (from Oz) and Universo Parallelo (from Brazil) for the solar eclipse in Oregon. It'll be two weeks after RotR. Zendo will probably do that. If they do, I'll have to think about it. A lot can happen in a year. I doubt they can swing that AND Symbiosis next year. But I'll follow Symbiosis if I can. It has been a truly magical event. Despite the hassles, it opened that holy space for ecstatic experiences to which I am so addicted. Not many events give me that kind of bandwidth anymore and that's really what keeps me in the scene.
I was back at the Juke Lagoon for Nicola Cruz and more circus at the big top for the morning, both very enjoyable. Then Gaudi in Dub rocked the heart of my bottom, again at the Juke Lagoon. I've heard Gaudi many times before - he plays SNWMF dancehalls and adds a theremin to his ones and twos. Well, this time, he nailed it. It was a gorgeous day. Everyone was skanking and shaking it and Gaudi threw it down, made me his slave, with a brilliant mix of old reggae standards, dancehall riddems, and EDM bass drops. Took all I had not to give it all up right then and there and just follow his soundsystem until there was nothing left of me but a skid on the asphalt. I blame it on the theremin.
There were these sketchy bamboo bridges crossing some of the lagoons. I got on one and it was wall to wall traffic jam. That bridge could've collapsed at any moment. It was long, several hundred feet, and only wide enough for two across, one coming and one going. It was amusing nonetheless. After some people hugged in front of me (jamming the traffic jam even more) and then separated, the woman started screaming 'You're caught on my nipple!' - it was a prank actually, but just as well because no one really stopped. Actually, a lot of the structures were sketchy, especially the voodoo houses at Juke Lagoon, but I couldn't resist hanging out in them and on top of them. There were points when the bass shook the structures so hard that I really had to pause and wonder, but then a reggae fairy would share her spliff and all was irie.
I went back to do a pre-load of my car - all the non-essentials - while the sun was still up and discovered, much to my dismay, that I was blocked in again, just like RotR, despite planning a decent exit strategy. It was a van and the occupants were there, some young Asian burner, his gf and his buddies. I patiently explained my situation, wanting to exit Sunday. They said they would move as soon as I had to leave, which left me with great trepidation. What if they weren't there when I came back?
In the big top, I caught Delhi 2 Dublin, another old fav - a fusion between Bhangra Indian drumming, celtic fiddle and dancehall rap. They've moved me in the past, but this time not so much. Gaudi already wrecked me. Their drummer is still great. Caught Balkan Beat Box there later - it was too packed and the tent became a big dust bag because it was such a stomp in the dirt. I had run into an old friend, Monica, a gemstone seller, and was hanging out with her and her brother outside. She had this football sized quartz crystal she was carrying around like a purse dog and she let me carry it for a while, which was surprisingly fun because people get into a big ass crystal like that and ask you to energize them with it in a euphemistic and literal way. I caught Santigold at The Fringe, but that was so packed I could barely see her. She struck me as a Euro-EDM version of J-pop at first. I might have enjoyed that more if I had stayed longer but the crowd was too exhausting.
I pulled my all-nighter shift easily, except for the fact that there weren't enough places to sit and nap. All the clients were dozing and it seemed wasteful for all of us to stay awake, but the way Zendo was set up, it was hard to cop a little snooze. Still I managed. In the morning (10 AM is too hard - they should cut the shift earlier, closer to dawn) a big IPR came in, and everyone helped to try to contain him. He wound up groping this cute vol and then running away. Some gave chase. I didn't. I knew I could catch him, but he was big and I would've needed help to restrain him. Besides restraint isn't part of the Zendo protocol. So I stayed back and observed, and made sure the cute vol was okay (she was fine).
After my shift, I knew I was awake for enough hours to make it home so I packed up my tent and made for my ride. The kids that blocked me in were there and happy to move and I was on my way in a matter of minutes, that is, until I hit the exiting traffic, which took another half an hour, for no reason whatsoever. I was home before nightfall.
Next year, Symbiosis is combining forces with Rainbow Serpent (from Oz) and Universo Parallelo (from Brazil) for the solar eclipse in Oregon. It'll be two weeks after RotR. Zendo will probably do that. If they do, I'll have to think about it. A lot can happen in a year. I doubt they can swing that AND Symbiosis next year. But I'll follow Symbiosis if I can. It has been a truly magical event. Despite the hassles, it opened that holy space for ecstatic experiences to which I am so addicted. Not many events give me that kind of bandwidth anymore and that's really what keeps me in the scene.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse