EDC 2014 - Day 1 - Friday

EDC 2014 - Day 1 - Friday
Wow. So much awesome happening at the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC).

We drove out of Portland on Thursday afternoon. The bus trip was delightful... talk, music, sleep, and fun. Creature and J-Money were our drivers. Jenna is the world's best shotgun rider... she drinks booze and talks incessantly to the driver (and anyone else in the vicinity.) It's impossible to feel highway hypnosis when she's beside you. I love her so much!

Dutch is suffering from a wounded knee, poor guy. He ran us through choreo from his Gimp Seat of Power. Anngela and Joesai and I huddled at the back of the bus in big piles of blankets and mattresses. The Wanderbus is delightful to travel in! It was great to spend time with Brandy and Johnny... EDC wouldn't be the same without those two.

We arrived late Friday morning at the warehouse we're staying at in Vegas. It's delightfully air-conditioned! We picked up Amanda and Leah and Dominic. I got a shower before heading in to the festival - yay!

Rolling in to EDC is so exciting. All the memories of the previous 2 years flood over me as we drive through the tunnel and pull up in front of the performer's headquarters. I see familiar faces, and I remember that I won't recognize any of them in a few hours because they'll all be homogenized. "to form by blending unlike elements; make homogeneous" They take dozens of beautiful girls with perfect bodies, and they paint them up in groups so that they look very nearly identical. Anyway, it's a powerful effect, but it has the side-effect of making it very difficult to get to know any of the other performers because they all look exactly like their pod - a flower, a futuristic chrome-warrior, a candy-cane, you name it, there is a group of girls decorated like that.
Leah and I got right down to business with the hair dye. She's the best hair dyer ever. She gave me jaguar-spots last year. This year we went with blue-and-black stripes. She did her usual bang-up job. I'm so excited for my annual crazy-hairstyle!

Then Wanderlust piled into our costumes. Friday night's theme was Colors. I was Blue - sparkly blue wrestler-onesie and black/white/blue mohawk. Dutch rocked Pink. Dominic got loud with Orange. Joesai had Green all dialed in. Jenna and J-Money and Amanda held down Purple... Amanda has a feathery top that surrounds her chest in fluffiness. Money has purple hair, nice work. Anngela brightened up her White with amazing rainbow eyebrows and a rainbow belt. English did his usual Teal. Brandy got super Yella, which makes me miss DubSteph somethin' fierce. Creature was bright & vibrant in his Red and Belt color. We were a vomitous riot of Circus Color, and we looked good.

Dutch ran us through our routines, which we foolishly felt we had dialed in. *snort* He stayed behind to conserve wear on his knee... entertaining the Entrance Line means walking up the stadium stairs, then walking around all the lines. It's kind of low-impact, 'cause people are anxious to get into the festival, and they don't particularly want to be distracted by circus tricks from across the fence-barrier. But Creature was big and stilty, and he cajoled and goaded them into some applause for us, and then we started into our various routines.

At first it was a disaster... we kept forgetting what tricks came next, and milling about like lemmings whose leader has had a heart attack before jumping into the ocean. Creature was flat-out unimpressed, and he politely directed his powers of cajolery at us. We rallied, and trimmed some fat from our presentation. He wanted more big-bang stuff but less time-filler, so we cut out a bunch of tricks and added in a few extras. I quickly realized that this meant a Scott-fest of stuntery. It went a little something like this, which will only be of interest to the stunt-minded folks:
We start with a Basket Toss Toe-Touch, with me & Dominic chucking little Anngela high enough to require oxygen supplements during the flight. Then I front-mount to his shoulders, and Jenna pops up on front to form a 3-Headed-Dragon. (Joesai did this part twice, but then his bum knee took a pounding, so Jenna replaced him.) What can you add to a 3-H-D to bolster it? Side flyers! Amanda & Anngela mount the sides to transition into a Little Sexy. By the end of the 5th or 6th repetition Amanda was grabbing my hand the right way from the get-go! Proud of her! ;)
The Little Sexy always gets some comments from the crowd. Usually, "Wow, dude, you are so strong!" directed at Dominic. It's amusing. His job is to stand there. It does take a bit of skill and strength, but honestly, the Front and Sides do way more work than he does. Not to dis on him; Dom stands there very adequately. He has been rocking everything on this tour. I'm super-proud of him. He's the best base I've ever taught.

Then we break into partner tricks. I do a J-up with Anngela 'cause the Ball-Up sometimes misses, plus nobody wants the delicate little 90-lb sixteen-year-old flyer to lie down on her back on asphalt at the start of the trick. We pop to cupie, and the crowd blinks and gets big eyes. Then Anngela squats a bit and waves her arms at them to encourage them. The first time she did this, I thought she was jumping out of the cupie. Freaked me out. But it works - when she stands up there and cajoles them, they roar with approbation. Then I pop her and she does a Toe-Touch down to Cradle, at which point we reset her foot and she does a spinny-thing into a reverse straddle-catch. Joesai says it's too sexual. He may be right, but I'm not convinced yet. The crowd seems to think it's cool, at least.

Then, for variety, I do another trick. Like I said, it's a ScottStuntFest. Exhausting. I do a Calf-Pop with Amanda and she gets to showcase the skill she's been working like crazy for the past few weeks. We do a High Hand-to-Hand, and then she straddles and we do a Death Drop. She's done fewer than 5 of these, total, so far, but she's doing great. It's a crowd-pleaser.

Then, instead of taking a breather, I face Anngela for a Walkup Extension Fulldown Barrel Double-Barrel Walkout... our staple trick that feels unmissable. It's super-low-effort but very-high-impact. I love it. It's my current favorite trick.

Finally, I get to rest. I calf-pop Joesai up, and Anngela climbs up our backs, and I basically stand still and take it easy while she tops the 3-High. The other acrobats pose and Jenna leads the salute, and the crowd cheers happily and makes comments about how strong I am. It's so silly; I stand there. I mean, I gotta balance them well, and that's a skill worth complimenting, but it's not a strength trick.

We dismount, hold hands and bow, and there's some scattered clapping. Entertaining the line just feels lackluster.

Then it's back to performer HQ, where the Go Go's are swarming. It's kind of intimidating. I try to avoid eye contact and stay back in our area. We're all sorta clique-ish, really. We're a tightly-knit crew.

Then it's time to head out for Crowd-Bombs, and Stage Sets. We did one Stage Set last night, on the Circuit Grounds stage. It was really cramped - about a 5'x5' area with speakers and lasers and fog-machines staggered all around us. We split in half and did a bunch of couples' tricks. It felt really effective - they seemed to adore us! It's so exhilarating to be up there in front of thousands of people, holding a trick up and spinning slowly, feeling the drop build, and then *BAM* the flyer comes spinning earthward on the drop and the crowd goes monkeynuts. *happy sigh*

The Crowd-Bombs are probably my favorite thing at EDC. We push to very near the front of the crowd, and clear out some space with the bar, with Brandy up there being all leggy and graceful and hot. Then we jump into various trick-sequences, with tons of material. The crowd just loves it, and they shower us with adoration and compliments and recognition. It's so heartfelt, and affectionate... the closest folks get to interact with us and feel personally-connected with the circus, and we get to interact with them and feel personally-connected with the crowd. Their eyes shine as they watch us. It's very humbling.
Our final obligation was a stage set at the Aerial Stage, where our aerialists (Joesai, Amanda, and Brandy) rock the sky. I asked two girls for a sip of liquid, and they were thrilled to hang out and talk with me. Normally I'm tongue-tied with ridiculously hot girls I don't know, but when I'm dressed up and made up and mohawked, I don't get intimidated. They were really excited to hang out with an acrobat. It was very complimentary. But they were 19 and 21... not girls I can do more than talk with. It was still very nice, though. :)

So that's how the night went. At about 2:00 we were off-duty for 2.5 hours. I stuck with Anngela and her I.F. friends for most of it. They were super-excited to be at EDC, and they were super-excited to see their best friend be a super-flyer soaring above the crowds. We did some crowd-bombing, where I watched us inspire a near-fatality. I was stunting with Anngela and a big fella asked if he could take one of her feet so she was standing on both of us (a Double-Base Extension). I shook him off; we're not allowed to stunt with anyone not on the Performer Roster, plus I don't ever just hand my flyers to bases I've never worked with, 'specially not in a packed crowd. So, he noticed a guy with a girl in a Shoulder-Sit nearby, and squatted down behind them and lifted them up into a 3-High Shoulder-Sit... a very sketchy trick that we don't perform 'cause it's super-hard to keep stable. Dude and girl were way surprised, but they did their best. I popped behind them to spot it, and when it crumbled and they tried to nose-dive, I caught them and helped them down. They thanked me after. :)
Anngela's friends wanted to chill a bit, so we sat in the grass near the Aerial Stage, and Joesai wandered past and joined us, yay! I was getting sleepy, so I did a handstand, and a backflip, and then Anngela's besties wanted her to stunt so we did, and everyone around clapped and was super-excited. Joesai did a handstand on shoulders - the best we've ever done. I asked a random girl nearby for a sip of water, and ended up having a wonderful conversation with her. She was rolling, so I massaged her hands, but then we had to go and she was sad she didn't get to massage me back. It's so cool to connect with people instead of being my typical shy self! I'm proud of me.

We found Dutch & Jenna and went back out into the crowd and did a buncha tricks. I must've done over 120 tricks last night. I can't believe how my body just keeps going. I didn't have this kind of energy and stamina when I was 19. Getting old is awesome.

I rushed back and showered, and ended the night clean! So wonderful! As we walked out to the Wanderbus at 5:00 am, the birds were chirping happily. We were exhausted, but so blissed out.

The ride back was soothing and full of camaraderie. Our circus is a family, and although we sometimes bicker, we love one another. We rely on one another. We watch out for one another. We do what we do as a group, and everyone contributes, and everyone supports other peoples' weaknesses with our own strengths. I'm so honored and grateful to be part of this Work.
We arrived at the warehouse, where Noah was napping in wait for us. We all settled down, and I got a good solid 4 or 5 hours of sleep - wonderful! I feel ready to lift every single person at EDC today.

I'm living a dream, and I'm in love with it.

(Facebook Note from 6/21/2014)