Oregon Country Fair 2009 - Saturday
I felt great on Saturday morning... the previous loneliness had been washed away by delightful sleep. We booked it over to the Daredevil Stage for our first show. It was nice not to have to cart gear over there.
Plus, it was mostly cloudy. Cool & refreshing! Yay! I wasn't the SweatMonster after every routine. Delightful.
The show was rough. At least for me. The others didn't feel too badly about it, but I was just not on my game. The cupie hit-and-fell, which isn't too bad. The Triple Base flopped, though apparently nobody else thought it flopped as badly as it looked from my perspective. Uli and I messed up All About Love - how the hell do we mess up All About Love? We did, somehow. Lions was okay, Birthday was choppy as could be, and Planet Claire led the show with "adequate". *sigh* I was bummed, but luckily I have accumulated quite a bit of experience at getting past failures. :)
We did the Cart Bark back to camp... it's ridiculously fun for some reason when Noah's involved. I'm really getting closer to that freakish and scary man, I must say. I had a great many wonderful experiences with him at Fair this year. I dig Noah, bigtime.
M4 was playing on the Main Stage so Noah & Dutch & I went to see. We got there for the final bit of Nanda's number with them... it was spectacular even from the way-back of the enormous crowd. We moseyed closer to see some more delightful M4 joy, and then booked back to Stage Left for our 5:30 set.
It was wonderful! Not everything was tight, but almost everything was. We delivered a really great show to the crowd and it felt spectacular. Since we were the last show we left the mats out and James & I put lion heads on to play with munchkins. There were 7 or 8 kids who screamed and squealed and rode lions and emanated joy. It was so much fun. Those kids had the time of their lives and I got to participate.
We all wandered about together - I got a Frisco Burger which was really really good. We found friends and parties and fun, and while I can't recall many specifics (simply because so much was going on all weekend) I am left with memories of laughter, happiness, comraderie and joy. Kinda nebulous, and I'm sure I'll add more details as I recall them.
Dutch ran into a friend - Bre, a delightful lesbian girl who turns 21 soon. We hit it off quite well and the three of us were pals whenever we were together. Very cool. I'll see more of Bre at Monday Funday.
Stage Left was getting mobilized for the Midnight Show. Wacko was there in a sparkly shirt that he claimed was too hot, so he swapped out to something else. I claimed the shirt with his permission, and put some simple face-painting on myself so that I looked at least mildly spangled. Then I got myself invited (by Anna, whom I love to death) to march with them. At last! I've seen them march off to the Midnight Show for two years now and yearned to participate. This time I did!
Aspen and I practiced a shoulder-stand with his base drum. I also got Uli & Miranda & Anna in the lineup so that I could stunt with them as well. And then we were off!
I stunted a bunch... Angels and Chairs. People loved it. The torch bearers were nervous but I think they were okay with adding stunts to the parade. There were lots of pictures - I hope to find some on Flickr, perhaps. We stopped at one point for a few songs and Aspen mounted my shoulders. That was awesome. I had to bring him down, and I didn't realize that I was doing so right before the song ended. :( Otherwise it was sweet.
I also got to carry Uli in a Chair most of the way through the roaring crowd in front of Main Stage. We finished up in an Angel and peeled off, then I darted down to sit behind Anna. She was the only person in front of me... I had the best seats in the house. I felt bad later, 'cause the Stage Left family sits there and even though Anna invited me I felt a little like an interloper. I ducked out eventually, but first I got to see two amazing numbers.
Faith, who camps near us at Stage Left, is 92 years old and has done OCF all her life. This may be her last fair. She played guitar and sang a beautiful song and I bawled & bawled & bawled. Her tent was behind mine last year and I heard her playing & singing often, though I didn't know who she was then.
After her song she asked, "Can I sing another?" and her daughter stepped up and said, "No. You sit down right here, mom, and listen." Her daughter began to play guitar and sing. Faith couldn't see it 'cause she was facing the audience, but behind her the stage filled up with her family... kids & grandkids & close friends. On the chorus they all joined in through their tears, and Faith was astounded as she turned around and saw them all. I cried so hard. It was a really amazing thing to watch.
Then her grandaughter Alex came out with her German Wheel, bawling like crazy. She did a really incredible show with it. I'd heard her in camp worrying about having to rechoreograph the routine for a smaller stage... but it was superb.
After that I ducked backstage, where I found Uli & Aspen and others. I stunted and hung out with them and just had a ridiculously wonderful evening. At one point I wandered out to the behind-the-stage area, where I was invited to hold a big banner for a really cool song. That was way fun; my moment of glory on Main Stage. :)
Nanda did a ridiculously cool routine that I saw from directly behind the stage, and I got to congratulate them afterwards. Then I returned to the backstage party until M4 went on. I dug that very much, too. Finally it was done and people were moseying away. I'd lost track of my people, but that was okay; I was ready to shower and sleep.
I wandered into the Ritz in the early morning, and relaxed and soaked and sweated. I hit the Sauna 3 times, each time getting really overheated and sweaty and then washing it off. I stretched, did some handstands (kinda odd naked, but I did my best to be at least somewhat chaste about it) and just relaxed for about 2 hours. Dawn arrived whilst I was still there. It was great. Then I headed home and got to bed at around 7:30 am.
Plus, it was mostly cloudy. Cool & refreshing! Yay! I wasn't the SweatMonster after every routine. Delightful.
The show was rough. At least for me. The others didn't feel too badly about it, but I was just not on my game. The cupie hit-and-fell, which isn't too bad. The Triple Base flopped, though apparently nobody else thought it flopped as badly as it looked from my perspective. Uli and I messed up All About Love - how the hell do we mess up All About Love? We did, somehow. Lions was okay, Birthday was choppy as could be, and Planet Claire led the show with "adequate". *sigh* I was bummed, but luckily I have accumulated quite a bit of experience at getting past failures. :)
We did the Cart Bark back to camp... it's ridiculously fun for some reason when Noah's involved. I'm really getting closer to that freakish and scary man, I must say. I had a great many wonderful experiences with him at Fair this year. I dig Noah, bigtime.
M4 was playing on the Main Stage so Noah & Dutch & I went to see. We got there for the final bit of Nanda's number with them... it was spectacular even from the way-back of the enormous crowd. We moseyed closer to see some more delightful M4 joy, and then booked back to Stage Left for our 5:30 set.
It was wonderful! Not everything was tight, but almost everything was. We delivered a really great show to the crowd and it felt spectacular. Since we were the last show we left the mats out and James & I put lion heads on to play with munchkins. There were 7 or 8 kids who screamed and squealed and rode lions and emanated joy. It was so much fun. Those kids had the time of their lives and I got to participate.
We all wandered about together - I got a Frisco Burger which was really really good. We found friends and parties and fun, and while I can't recall many specifics (simply because so much was going on all weekend) I am left with memories of laughter, happiness, comraderie and joy. Kinda nebulous, and I'm sure I'll add more details as I recall them.
Dutch ran into a friend - Bre, a delightful lesbian girl who turns 21 soon. We hit it off quite well and the three of us were pals whenever we were together. Very cool. I'll see more of Bre at Monday Funday.
Stage Left was getting mobilized for the Midnight Show. Wacko was there in a sparkly shirt that he claimed was too hot, so he swapped out to something else. I claimed the shirt with his permission, and put some simple face-painting on myself so that I looked at least mildly spangled. Then I got myself invited (by Anna, whom I love to death) to march with them. At last! I've seen them march off to the Midnight Show for two years now and yearned to participate. This time I did!
Aspen and I practiced a shoulder-stand with his base drum. I also got Uli & Miranda & Anna in the lineup so that I could stunt with them as well. And then we were off!
I stunted a bunch... Angels and Chairs. People loved it. The torch bearers were nervous but I think they were okay with adding stunts to the parade. There were lots of pictures - I hope to find some on Flickr, perhaps. We stopped at one point for a few songs and Aspen mounted my shoulders. That was awesome. I had to bring him down, and I didn't realize that I was doing so right before the song ended. :( Otherwise it was sweet.
I also got to carry Uli in a Chair most of the way through the roaring crowd in front of Main Stage. We finished up in an Angel and peeled off, then I darted down to sit behind Anna. She was the only person in front of me... I had the best seats in the house. I felt bad later, 'cause the Stage Left family sits there and even though Anna invited me I felt a little like an interloper. I ducked out eventually, but first I got to see two amazing numbers.
Faith, who camps near us at Stage Left, is 92 years old and has done OCF all her life. This may be her last fair. She played guitar and sang a beautiful song and I bawled & bawled & bawled. Her tent was behind mine last year and I heard her playing & singing often, though I didn't know who she was then.
After her song she asked, "Can I sing another?" and her daughter stepped up and said, "No. You sit down right here, mom, and listen." Her daughter began to play guitar and sing. Faith couldn't see it 'cause she was facing the audience, but behind her the stage filled up with her family... kids & grandkids & close friends. On the chorus they all joined in through their tears, and Faith was astounded as she turned around and saw them all. I cried so hard. It was a really amazing thing to watch.
Then her grandaughter Alex came out with her German Wheel, bawling like crazy. She did a really incredible show with it. I'd heard her in camp worrying about having to rechoreograph the routine for a smaller stage... but it was superb.
After that I ducked backstage, where I found Uli & Aspen and others. I stunted and hung out with them and just had a ridiculously wonderful evening. At one point I wandered out to the behind-the-stage area, where I was invited to hold a big banner for a really cool song. That was way fun; my moment of glory on Main Stage. :)
Nanda did a ridiculously cool routine that I saw from directly behind the stage, and I got to congratulate them afterwards. Then I returned to the backstage party until M4 went on. I dug that very much, too. Finally it was done and people were moseying away. I'd lost track of my people, but that was okay; I was ready to shower and sleep.
I wandered into the Ritz in the early morning, and relaxed and soaked and sweated. I hit the Sauna 3 times, each time getting really overheated and sweaty and then washing it off. I stretched, did some handstands (kinda odd naked, but I did my best to be at least somewhat chaste about it) and just relaxed for about 2 hours. Dawn arrived whilst I was still there. It was great. Then I headed home and got to bed at around 7:30 am.
Labels: 2009, kazum, M4, March Fourth, OCF, Oregon Country Fair
posted by Scott | 2:16 PM
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