Oregon Country Fair 2009 - Sunday & Monday

Sunday morning arrived via rainfall. I heard it sprinkling down and I checked outside, but I'd put my huge blue tarp over my & Dutch's tent and all of our stuff, so we were good. So, I went back to sleep (I'd gotten in at 7:00 am or so). I'm a little embarassed to admit that I felt quite happy because I was warm & snug but I could hear lots of people squishing about making their things as safe as they could. It was like huddling by a hot stove and being toasty while listening to the icy winter wind howl outside. Their misery amplified my content... which is kinda mean for me to feel. But, I did, and the result is that I slept like a log until 2:30, an hour before our show.

Then I popped out into the rain to go pee and see what was up. Uli told me that our show had been canceled. It was sad; I love performing. But at the same time... a show in the rain would be so, so not fun. Dangerous and frustrating and freezing and probably painful. So, I went back to sleep for a few hours! Yay! A huge amount of morning sleep before the final day and night of wild Fair partying!

The White Album show was on, however, which was exquisite. I love that show, even if it wasn't M4. Since it is M4 I love it very much. So we ran through some things (remember the Triple Base rework idea?...) and got food and just kinda stayed out of the miserable mud & rain as much as we could. Then we schlepped stuff to the fire stage, which provided ridiculously ample dry space.

There was a very large crowd, and as M4 began to play the crowd kept swelling. We had a side-stage, but Dutch and I bounced on it a little and quickly determined that it wasn't Kazum-friendly. It was okay for All About Love, though.

There was yummy food and friends to hang out with backstage in the green room, plus lots of friends hanging out near the stage where we could talk over the fence, plus Fair security just loves its performers and they let us go and do anything we want, so I wandered all about and saw lots of people. I love being part of this whole big extended family. There's nobody I'm aware of who doesn't like me, and I certainly don't have anyone I don't like... that's a little odd, come to think of it. Isn't some degree of enmity just a basic fact of life that becomes more prevalent as the number of relationships increases? *shrug*

I hung out a bunch with Melissa Orien's son Zen. That kid is so awesome. He came up to me frequently and demanded my attention with "Scott." He's about 5 or 6 and he was having obscene amounts of fun. He had a beach ball that we kicked and threw about for the longest time. I love hanging out with Orien, too, but she's very social and I don't do very well at maintaining high social involvement for long periods of time. She typically gets bored of me and flutters off as she so enjoys doing. And that's totally fine! I've actually been bumping into Orien all the damn time lately. Pretty cool.

All About Love was pretty good. But the mats were a little wet, which was scary. Still, it went well and people seemed to dig it. The song we performed to was short, which was disappointing. We had to skip the Lib cradle-down-back-up-to-Angel, which is pretty freakin' cool and pretty freakin' sad to not perform for thousands of M4-invigorated folks. I swear, M4 can whip a crowd into a frenzy of fun that produces applause and screams of delight - levels I've not seen rivaled elsewhere.

So, we cut early and bowed and stripped down mats.

While we were preparing to go onstage, a beautiful girl whose name I should probably know flashed me a huge smile and a very friendly wink. I was flummoxed, of course, and probably gave her signs of disinterest as a result. Lame. If nothing else, I felt extremely complimented and happy. I noticed several girls wink at me during the show, actually. Right on. I emulate "sexy" well as long as I get to lift people and do backflips and not talk. :)

For Birthday we asked the crowd to open a space in front of the stage, and we set out mats. Noah barked us in, which always builds anticipation and makes both the audience and Kazum a lot more full of energy and excitement. But as he was barking the drizzle was coming back. There was a light sheen of dampness on the mats... that's bad. Not as bad as slippery wet, but still scary.

Birthday went very well despite the sheen! A few things were slippy - the Cupie was hit-and-drop, like it so often is in performances despite rock-solid practices. James slipped a bit on a few things, including the final dismount from Double-Base Chinese Star. He was all upset about his performance, which is too bad 'cause we rocked it out there.

After the show a dance party erupted and I shuffled back and forth between camp and the party for about an hour, running errands. Most of those errands involved getting what we needed to get together for a night of wild fun - no more performances, so we could finally cut loose. I love Sunday night at OCF. :)

D'oh! I just remembered what happened on Saturday night! The Midnight Show! I'll go back and add details later to the Saturday post. Woohoo! Ooh, plus Bre.

Most of us eventually assembled at camp. We set off for the Ritz, where the Ding-Dong Singalong (or something to that effect) was taking place with various M4 members.

Dutch and Bre and I hung out a lot on Sunday and I really dig her a bunch. She's not into me and I'm not into her as a result (she's lesbian) but we have the basis of a great friendship and I can't wait to spend more time with her soon. :)

At the Ritz they set up a huge flip-book with lyrics on it that can be seen clearly from way back. And they began to play. I was smoking with Bre & Dutch & Uli, but as I heard the introductory notes of "doo-doo-doo-doot-doot-doo-doo-do-do-do-do-do" of Aha's "Take On Me" I leapt into position among the singers. Noah was there and I stepped up beside him to sing loudly along. I know all kinds of lyrics & tunes, but I usually can't sing 'em because my voice only hits high notes when I put my full diaphram into it. Me singing high notes is very loud, and I don't do it unless I'm only around friends and far from those who'd be bothered. Tada! These conditions were met on Sunday night!

I sang my heart out, and people kept looking at me. Not in a "shut up, BullfrogBoy" way but in a "Hey, who's singing their heart out?" way. Singing alongside Noah as he laughed in pure joy was probably the very highlight of the Fair for me this year. I had to keep thinking of sad things so that I didn't bawl with happiness. Jason Wells was leading things, and he's an excellent leader. And the songs they sang! I can't remember all of them, but every one of 'em is excellent for karaoke. Somehow. We did "Let's Dance", and ... crap, I can't remember very many. Lame. I'll add more as I recall them. I remember that we finished with "Across the Universe." To my amazement, I know that song very well. I fell in love with the movie, which is probably why. Anyway, with the lyrics I could really belt it out and it sounded (to me) like I was singing it well. Ugh, hopefully nobody lets me know if I wasn't, 'cause then I'd be too scared to belt it out again at the earliest opportunity. :) I had *so* much fun singing.

There were some songs I either didn't know or didn't like... in particularly "Smells Like Teen Spirit" 'cause I loathe Nirvana. I dodged Nirvana in search of water (the water at the Ritz wasn't flowing, which sucked). I bumped into Andrew, who really wants to do some stunting. I hope to see him at Monday Funday next week.

After the Singalong finished I just circled amongst people, being touchy with those I knew or those I met who seemed amenable to touchiness. Oh, two guys started singing Bohemian Rhapsody and I joined in. They were hesitant but I knew it and belted it (for the most part). That drew John Averill's attention and he joined us, pumping it into a truly amazing performance. Very, very fun.

I did a couple of one-armed handstands against a huge statue of a dude doing a one-armed handstand. Someone took a picture; I hope it gets published where I can run across it. While doing the handstand I met a delightful girl named Proton who stunted with me and enjoyed herself immensely doing so. As usual, it kinda seemed like she was showing interest in me but of course I'm incapable of indicating my own interest. *shrug* But I made a new friend at least.

Then someone suggested a rerun of the Singalong, and I added my request for at least "Take On Me." Theresa (Jason Well's lady) was there, too, and that girl's got pipes. I was really excited to sing with her. Dutch was there for the whole 2nd run-through as well, which was awesome. :) More blissful singing of wonderful songs.

Then I moseyed about to another fire to make new friends. I saw a way-too-young uber-hot girl whom I'd noticed dancing earlier. I smiled bashfully and averted my eyes, but she jumped in with a "I really enjoyed your show" and I met her and her friend. The dancer-girl was Laura, and her beautiful friend was Mary. They were blatantly interested in me... even my bashful stupidity couldn't fail to notice their overt friendliness. I chatted with them and was touchy-feely and they were quite pleased. Then Mary became increasingly friendly with the touching - nothing inappropriate, but the caresses and hugs and shoulder-rubbing was certainly charged. I was ecstatic... forward girls, finally at last! But then it seemed like Mary was attached and I'd been being friendly with the wrong girl. Laura commented, "Oh, I see, so I'm leftovers?" She was smiling, but I felt bad anyway. Still, both of 'em remained very friendly. I started to feel like an ass, being so flirty with both of them. But they were the ones leading, so I just gave up & followed along.

Also, during the conversation it came out that despite looking like teenagers, both of them are older than I am. *blink*

They kept talking about me in third person, which was way cool. Mary said to Laura, "I'm thinking that we need to drag this boy off somewhere." I was dumbfounded, with the biggest and goofiest grin I've ever produced. Both of them were all over me - again, not inappropriately or anything, just very forward and randy.

So, eventually we wandered off to walk through the Fair together. I had a gorgeous, not-teen woman on each arm. It was amazing. We found a nice secluded spot and they took turns making out with me. The whole thing was surreal and exquisite. They were just interested in fun; it wasn't like they were trying to take me to a tent or anything. It was still fantastic, though.

We couldn't find the Daredevil Stage, which I wanted to show 'em for some reason I've now forgotten. We found a bench, though, and Mary got quite a bit more friendly. Laura set boundaries, which I was happy to abide by. Boy, was I blissed out. I'm gonna slip into vaguaries at this point.

They both wanted to cuddle up with me and sleep. I believed Laura... Mary I suspected of harboring ulterior motives. I invited 'em back to the Circus camp at Stage Left. Poor Dutch woke up at 3:00 am to find Scott bringing two beautiful girls into our tent. He handled it like a pro... he made room for Laura and shared his blanket. She lay down and he dropped an arm around her and they snuggled up. She was asleep within minutes. Dutch, I fear, didn't get back to sleep as easily.

Mary & I didn't sleep. We talked some, later on when dawn struck and people were up & about. I was delighted to learn that she has a 19-year-old daughter... the last girl I was romantically involved with was 19. That amused me to no end. She, of course, was appropriately horrified. She's got a 22-year-old son, as well. She looks 19 or 20. Laura looks 16. It's a little eerie.

Later in the morning when Laura woke up I got to escort two beautiful girls from my tent and introduce them to everyone. Poor Naia was devastated - Alex had charged her with ensuring that Scott got no action at Fair, and it happened almost under her nose. *preen* Uli was impressed that I'd hooked up at all, and when the 2nd girl popped out of the tent she was astounded. It was pretty cool, though I felt bad for the ladies. 'Specially Laura... she wasn't too keen on waking up in the acrobats' tent of Circus camp. But she handled it well.

Mary had a car with no passengers, so I invited myself to a ride home with her. She was pleased to offer it.

I walked the ladies back to camp, then brought Mary back so that I could pack up. She hung out with my people and listened to all manner of teasing and joking, which she took really well. I'm glad... she got a really good introduction to me and my folk, simply because she made it happen that way instead of letting it be akward and uncomfortable. Kudos for Mary, for sure.

Mary and I talked a bunch all the way home. She digs me a lot. :) I also dig her a lot. I don't know what'll happen, but I hope to spend more time with her for sure. She dropped me off and we napped for a while at my place.

And that's the end of my OCF 2009!

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.

March Fourth Birthday Bash

I love this show. It's the show where I first stepped on stage with Kazum, in 2007's birthday bash. In 2008 we stomped and danced hard enough to drive a stage-support through the floor of the Crystal Ballroom. And in 2009 we threw a raucous show that evolved into a crazed afterparty that rivaled the New Year's party. That's saying something.

We did a matinee on Sunday (Wednesday was 3/4). Kazum performed "Comes Love" in the noon matinee, and it was a good show. Then I hung around and watched the 4:00 show, which was also very good despite its lack of Kazum. Nanda was there, instead, and their set was delightful. Near the end Chen begins whaling on John Averill, then the other Nanda guys jump in against the drumline, but the M4 drummers beat Nanda down and stab them to a gruesome death with their drumsticks. I got a little choked up.

I got to hang around and watch the whole second matinee performance, which was a rare treat. I saw Scarlett dance... she's absolutely incredible. I saw a bunch more of the M4 dancing & stilting. It's been a year or more since I've caught more than a backstage glimpse of an M4 show. They're amazing. They had a short-term dude dancer - Oberon - who's a little taller than I am, but built like Alex. He was incredible, and he seemed a great fellow. I got to hang around and talk with Eros, who I met at LiB last year. He's one of the best stilters I've known, and he's an amazing guy as well. I hung out with him for quite a spell at the afterparty, when he's about as normal and unremarkable as one could imagine.

I also stopped by on Tuesday afer practice and caught quite a bit of the show, though we weren't performing or anything. I was supposed to be working on the Kazum stickers with Miranda & Uli, {whine}but they ditched me and never called back, so I guess I get whatever they come up with.{/whine} I did get to hold Aspen on my shoulders as he drummed, and carry Amy around in a Chair, which we've not done for many months.

On Wednesday the fourth we had the big birthday bash. It was wild & crazy. Gaelen was there, which was awesome! She doesn't usually want to go to fun things, for some reason, but she made a special effort for the M4 show. The show was really exciting, and it turned out well overall. Miranda & I missed our walkup, which killed our Cupie. :( And the ass-catch overthrew (which I should've anticipated) and it was an assisted landing rather than a catch-and-cradle. Still, overall, things were spectacular. As the final number built to a frenzied climax Gaelen had a horrible experience on the dance floor with overly-amorous drunken bastards. It really hit her hard and utterly ruined her evening. It was horrible timing, 'cause I was trying to stay alert for people telling me where to go for the final number. Plus it was so loud that I couldn't hear Gaelen at all, I could just see that she was upset but I didn't know why. I ducked out as soon as I could, leaving the wild raging beginnings of the afterparty with Gaelen. I left to take her home but she went home on her own instead. I took some time to calm myself from the whole ordeal, then I moseyed back to the now-in-transition afterparty.

It relocated to one of the M4 guys' house, which was a spectacular party house. There was an amazing music room downstairs, plus a pull-out bed that hosted quite a tangled mess of cuddling & kissing bodies. It wasn't as lecherous as it sounds, but it was pretty wild & crazy. I spent a lot of time in the backyard by the fireplace as light rain fell, talking with Eros & others. There were a lot of fascinating people wandering about, some of whom I knew and most of whom I either didn't know, or I've met but I don't remember. I re-met Kyle, whom I don't remember talking to my kids about (but I talk about my kids to a lot of people). I bumped into Rictor the photographer a few times. I stunted (an arabesque) with LaTisha. Claire (one of Alex's good friends) tried to make out with me, which was adorable, but even though Alex insists she's an adult I perceive her as about 12 years old. She & her gorgeous young roommate Mika were entirely occupied with the love-nest until becoming a portion of the chosen ones who relocated to a more private location for all manner of debauchery.

But that happened elsewhere. At the house party there was drinking & laughter & talking until the sun arose. I helped a new friend (Lila, I believe?) clean up quite a bit, then I gave another new friend (Andy, I think?) a ride home on my way to work.

The nightmare Gaelen went through was horrible, but other than that the evening and the event were spectacularly successful! It was one more in a crazy string of "Best Nights of my Life to-date" for Alex (who participated holehardedly in the more private after-after-party celebration). After listening to a handful of his stories I have to join him in opining that it's not likely he'll ever top that night.

I find it odd that I'm not jealous. Very encouraging, and a relief. I'd so much rather have kids than recurring nights of hedonistic satiation. That ain't good for me. Maybe Alex will get different results; I hope so. He seems to be truckin' along pretty well, and he's a pretty amazing dude so maybe he's got a shot at something I never did.

So why do I feel worry more than I feel happy for him? *shrug*

Kazum may do a show with Alex's group (The Hades Ladies) in San Diego, this October. That'd be way cool. He's leaving in 2 weeks and I don't know what I'll do when that happens. It's been really wonderful having a best friend for the last 6-8 months or so. *mopey sigh*