07-17-2012, 07:57 PM
Dm took the coast starlite out of Oakland, which was and hour and a half late, so he boarded around midnite. All his gear was in his brand new backpack - this was its maiden voyage and it not only performed superbly, it received numerous compliments and drew some tips from some serious backpackers. He wound up sitting next to a charming young lady from Fremont who was also headed to OCR, which was delightful because it was coach, and better to sleep right next to a hottie. She wound up sleeping most of the way. It's was a nasty ride as dm couldn't sleep well. Those chairs were like some kind of torture - they reclined all sorts of ways except for one that you can sleep comfortably in. Dm awoke to the glory of Shasta, and from there until Vancouver (as dm has taken this ride before) it is gorgeous. The train was a freak show - about a third was OCR people who were already starting to fly their freak flag freely. Upon arrival in Eugene, dm was picked up by one of his crew. The four-man crew was dubbed the A-Team by the main enabler, aka Hannibal. He was actually working but he arranged the rest of the crew to be 'observers' which meant they were given all access staff passes and not expected to work at all.
The A-Team had graciously carved out a coffin-sized nook by the stove for dm to lay his tent. Then the crew took dm out on walkabout. The OCR is extremely complex, with lots of little nooks, crannies, alleys and wormholes. There are main thoroughfairs, but even those get confusing as there's something to engage at every step. The architecture is like Neverland, funky booths built respectful of the majestic oak grove, fully integrating the trees into the design. There were fairies, pirates, lost boys (and girls), mermaids, injuns. There were also deadheads, star wars fans, musicians, jugglers, acrobats, and circus people. It was nuts and dm never quite mastered the map as that would have taken a lot of the fun out. That eve, dm was escorted to a pina colada party with a live bluegrass band, stilt walkers, and this was just a space in the staff lot.
Patrons see a small portion of the grounds only; they are there from 10 to 6 or so. But the staff, the staff goes nutz all night long. There are additional shows, both officially staged by the fair and unofficial by various staff camps. It never stops. Some of the food booths stay open all night. Its three straight days of hedonism, exhibitionism and many other unnamable isms. To be honest, it's all rather blurry. There was a showing of footage of a Grateful Dead show there in '72, with a clip from the '82 show too, after hours on the mainstage. That was amazing footage and sound. It was over 100 degrees and the instruments were coming out of tune, which opened the door for Jerry to let loose a warped Darkstar, a real show stopper. There was also 20 mins of recovered footage of the very first fair, which began as a Renn Faire, until they were sued by the CA Renn Faire. Dm caught some wonderful music, most of it played on corners, bluegrass style. One of dm's campmates was a rigger and tipped dm off to the shows at his stage - Stable, which was this wonderfully weird aerialist, Umo, which was this skit/play with kids, clowns and some borderline dominitrixes, and Nanda, which was acrobatic juggler ninjas (and they were awesome - can we say swordfights? oh yea, baby. watch for future KFM coverage. Caught several bands that were previously unknown and will remain so as while they were competent and entertaining, they weren't memorable enough for their name to stick. Saw a really bad magician, a lousy clown and a mime too. But they can't be all good. It's hippies after all. Dm ate really well. The A-Team were serious carnivores - two of them split a pound of bacon between them for breakfast - so dm's vegetarianism became very amusing and he played it up by eating stuff like a vegan philly cheesesteak (which was delicious, but not anywhere near what dm remembers as a cheesesteak, however as that booth had the balls to offer such a thing, dm couldn't resist). Saturday night foudn the A team bouncing back and forth between two staff shows, one local jam band that the rest of the crew was into but dm found repetative and a bluegrass jam band that played some dead favs.
Sunday, dm took the shuttle out early, walked across eugene to fix his ticket (the web only provided one that transfered in sacto) and chilled at the steelhead brewery. The ride home was very pleasant as dm figured out how to be comfortable in that stupid train chair...or maybe he just passed out when the sun went down until sacto.
The A-Team had graciously carved out a coffin-sized nook by the stove for dm to lay his tent. Then the crew took dm out on walkabout. The OCR is extremely complex, with lots of little nooks, crannies, alleys and wormholes. There are main thoroughfairs, but even those get confusing as there's something to engage at every step. The architecture is like Neverland, funky booths built respectful of the majestic oak grove, fully integrating the trees into the design. There were fairies, pirates, lost boys (and girls), mermaids, injuns. There were also deadheads, star wars fans, musicians, jugglers, acrobats, and circus people. It was nuts and dm never quite mastered the map as that would have taken a lot of the fun out. That eve, dm was escorted to a pina colada party with a live bluegrass band, stilt walkers, and this was just a space in the staff lot.
Patrons see a small portion of the grounds only; they are there from 10 to 6 or so. But the staff, the staff goes nutz all night long. There are additional shows, both officially staged by the fair and unofficial by various staff camps. It never stops. Some of the food booths stay open all night. Its three straight days of hedonism, exhibitionism and many other unnamable isms. To be honest, it's all rather blurry. There was a showing of footage of a Grateful Dead show there in '72, with a clip from the '82 show too, after hours on the mainstage. That was amazing footage and sound. It was over 100 degrees and the instruments were coming out of tune, which opened the door for Jerry to let loose a warped Darkstar, a real show stopper. There was also 20 mins of recovered footage of the very first fair, which began as a Renn Faire, until they were sued by the CA Renn Faire. Dm caught some wonderful music, most of it played on corners, bluegrass style. One of dm's campmates was a rigger and tipped dm off to the shows at his stage - Stable, which was this wonderfully weird aerialist, Umo, which was this skit/play with kids, clowns and some borderline dominitrixes, and Nanda, which was acrobatic juggler ninjas (and they were awesome - can we say swordfights? oh yea, baby. watch for future KFM coverage. Caught several bands that were previously unknown and will remain so as while they were competent and entertaining, they weren't memorable enough for their name to stick. Saw a really bad magician, a lousy clown and a mime too. But they can't be all good. It's hippies after all. Dm ate really well. The A-Team were serious carnivores - two of them split a pound of bacon between them for breakfast - so dm's vegetarianism became very amusing and he played it up by eating stuff like a vegan philly cheesesteak (which was delicious, but not anywhere near what dm remembers as a cheesesteak, however as that booth had the balls to offer such a thing, dm couldn't resist). Saturday night foudn the A team bouncing back and forth between two staff shows, one local jam band that the rest of the crew was into but dm found repetative and a bluegrass jam band that played some dead favs.
Sunday, dm took the shuttle out early, walked across eugene to fix his ticket (the web only provided one that transfered in sacto) and chilled at the steelhead brewery. The ride home was very pleasant as dm figured out how to be comfortable in that stupid train chair...or maybe he just passed out when the sun went down until sacto.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse