Phatty Photo Galleries

This photo gallery from The Washington Post explores the past week’s world events in a visually stimulating manner.  This particular gallery gave me awareness of things such as the death of Joerg Haider.  Haider was the ”governor of Carinthia and Chairman of Austria’s Buendnis Zukunft Oesterreich party.” Certain world events seem to be off the radar for most Americans — myself included.  Reading lengthy articles about world events often seems daunting, and unnecessary when the reader has no context of what they are reading about.  Telling a story with a single good photo, or a series of good photos with captions cuts right to the point and connects with readers who would not otherwise become aware of particular issues.

The Real Story About Festivals

 

I’ve done Bonnaroo, I’ve done Mountain Jam, I’ve done Gathering of the Vibes, I’ve done Camp Bisco, and I’ve done Mill Fest. Bonnaroo is certainly the largest of these festivals, and Mill Fest is certainly the smallest.

Many people rave about the amazing time they had at Bonnaroo, and yes – the line up is usually composed of well known touring bands like Phil Lesh and Friends, and more recently hip hop acts like Kanye West, and other groups that would be considered more mainstream. Camp Bisco is generally geared to the Electronica, Techno, Drum & Bass, DJ, Dub, House, and Trance crowd. Gathering of the Vibes was dedicated primarily to the crowd that grew out of the acid culture of the 1960′s – Grateful Dead followers, Bob Dylan, and Hunter Thompson fans. Mill Fest was indeed the smallest festival, but was perhaps the most diverse. Space age Metal bands, Live Electronica Trios, Raging Circus Freaks, and Neo-Math-Rock Crazies were all fixtures at this event. There was even a solo accordion act who played over his own programmed electronic beats.

The most beautiful festival site was definitely the old hippie commune that hosted Mill Fest. In Washington County, near the border of Greenwich, and Salem, Mill Fest included scenery such as the crystal clear Battenkill, abandoned rail road tracks, miles of corn fields, ponds, red farm houses, trails, cobblestone roads, wooden bridges, and fire pits. 

Like the 1960′s, Drugs (Big D) are still a part of what has been deemed the “counterculture.” Weed is still taken for granted as a kind of staple of the hippie diet, but there is a whole slew of other psychotropics available at most of these events.  As I walked around the campgrounds I heard offers of Magic Mushrooms of the Psilocybe, and Amanita Muscaria varieties, LSD (Acid) in liquid, paper, and gel varieties, DMT the psychedelic cannon, Molly, and Ecstasy (Molly being a supposedly “pure” MDMA, or MethyleneDioxyMethAmphetamine powder, and Ecstasy being MDMA mixed with whatever else the chemist decides to mix it with), Cocaine, Heroin, and a number of other pharmaceuticals — Benzodiazepenes, Amphetamines, and Opioids (synthetic Opiates). LSD, MDMA, and Mushroom users have never bothered me much, and indeed, I enjoy their company, but Cocaine, Heroin, and some pharmaceuticals seem a bit out of place in the hippie community.  Not that I am inherently against any of these, or that I look down upon anyone for using them.  It really comes down to the difference between recreation, and addiction. 

Like anything in life there are multiple sides to a festival.  At Mountain Jam there was an “Awareness Village” which offered things like free Yoga classes, conversations about “Green Energy,” the healing power of various minerals like Quartz, and Hydrogen Sticks to add to your water as a kind of super-antioxidant.  Michael Franti, a well known musician from California even hosted a small gathering of about 50 people where he played solo with his acoustic guitar, and told stories about a recent trip to Iraq where he met local families, and also American troops.  Among the hippie community is a certain disdain for military affairs which is both spoken, and felt.  Franti talked about his meeting with American troops in Iraq, and said that meeting them over there, (and realizing that for many there was no other option than to join the military) was a sobering experience, and he was able to release a lot of the tension within himself concerning the military — at least with relation to the soldiers themselves — many of whom do not believe in the cause they are fighting for.

Anyway, it is now 11 o’clock pm on Monday night, September 1st, and just to be on the safe side (with concern to submitting this for a grade) I am going to post it now, but I will keep adding recollections of the written, picture, video, sound varieties as they present themselves to me.