08/16-18/07 Camp Bisco @ Indian Lookout Country Club, Mariaville, NY

Disco Biscuits
08/16/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: Bernstein And Chasnoff, Boom Shanker1 > The Great Abyss, Hot Air Balloon
1unfinished

08/17/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: Glastonbury1 > Basis For A Day > Gangster2 > Shem-Rah Boo3 > Basis For A Day, Rockafella
Set 2: Jigsaw Earth > Above The Waves4 > Jigsaw Earth, Magellan > Termites > Magellan
Set 3: Rainbow Song > Spacebirdmatingcall, Reactor > Orch Theme5 > Reactor
1Tractorbeam style
2ending only
3unfinished
4inverted
5with Simon Posford and Zach Velmer (STS9)
Set I started at approximately 3:45pm in place of The New Originals because Simon Postford was delayed; Sets II and III occured in tDB scheduled evening time slot

08/18/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: 10 Ton Foot, Astronaut > Munchkin Invasion1 > Astronaut, Story Of The World2, Take A Bow3
Set 2: Caterpillar > Cyclone > Caterpillar, Pilin' It High4, Papercut5 > Sound One
Encore: I Wanna Be Sedated > Digital Buddha
1inverted
2preceded by "Strawberry Girl" fake-out
31st time played (Muse); with Tom Hamilton (Brothers Past) on vocals
4Perfume version; with Johnny Rabb (BioDiesel) on drums
51st time played

Umphrey's McGee
08/16/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: Nothing Too Fancy, Much Obliged > Mulche's Odyssey, Resolution > Norwegian Wood > Resolution > Sociable Jimmy, Wizard Burial Ground, Push the Pig, 2nd Self

Sound Tribe Sector 9
08/17/07 • Indian Lookout Country Club • Mariaville , NY
Set 1: Tooth, Aimlessly, We'll Meet In Our Dreams, F. Word, Arigato, Be Nice, Somesing, Lo Swaga, One A Day, Instantly1
1with Rent tease

Despite not having a significant source of income or transportation, I managed to get my girlfriend to her first proper music festival, and it was a doozy.

We enrolled in the Work Exchange Team, pledging 18 hours of labor each in exchange for free tickets. Thankfully, the labor did not turn out to be of the hard variety.

Sadly, we could not afford to attend the Disco Biscuits/Umphrey's McGee show the preceding night at McCarren Pool, due partly to not completing a pair of t-shirts meant to fund our adventure. However, we were able to find a fellow fan on a Biscuits message board willing to take us up to the festival.

We arrived a night early and set up camp outside the gates, ensuring a short wait and a premium camping spot once the festival officially opened in the morning.

After setting up camp and checking in with the W.E.T. crew, we caught an earlyish Umphrey's set that catered to the Biscuits crowd, meaning it was a bit more danceable and electronic than previous Umphrey's sets I had witnessed.

Then it was time for the Biscuits. Truth be told, I did not really know enough about the band to accurately review these sets, nor do I remember much.

We had signed up for the 9AM-3PM shifts, so unfortunately, late night acts were out of the question.

As a matter of fact, I recall very little about the actual music. In retrospect, i don't think I saw all that much of it for a festival. I enjoyed STS9. I was a bit disappointed by Infected Mushroom. Girl Talk was a dance party as expected. The Biscuits were standard. I remember rushing towards the stage when the Biscuits played a surprise Friday afternoon set and getting down to Slick Rick the Ruler. But what really stands out is the overall experience.

The next morning we discovered that the greatest job at a festival like Camp Bisco is running the kids tent, the reason being that Camp Bisco is no place for children. For the 6 hours we sat there, one kid came by and he was accompanied by his dad. So we basically just played with all the toys ourselves for the entire morning.

That night, there was ostensibly some music. But what i will always remember is the galeforce winds that ripped through the campgrounds, nearly taking down the stage and sending tents swirling through the night sky like Dorothy's farmhouse. Equally memorable was the stunning starscape that followed.

Luckily, our tent was too small to have blown away, but all our sleeping gear was soaked. So we were forced to spend the night in the front seats of our friend's car, whihc was made all the more uncomfortable by the 40 degree chill.

The next morning we woke up and helped clean up the grounds a bit, clad in our warmest clothes - hoodies and sarongs. We even put in a stint at the VIP tent, during which we were able to experience some of the VIP benefits like couches and hot food.

Finally, we completed our W.E.T. requirements and were free to enjoy the rest of the festival. We copped some Xanax off a friend to relax and then found some doses. Of course, that is not the greatest combination and, following an intimate encounter with a Blow Pop, we shut our eyes and slept through the rest of the festival.

08/18-20/06 Gathering of the Vibes @ Indian Lookout Country Club, Mariaville, NY

Ratdog 08/19/2006
Jam > Jack Straw* > Little Red Rooster > Bird Song* > Odessa, Friend of the Devil@*, Victim or the Crime@, Jus' Like Mama Said > Mississippi Half-Step* > The Other One > Stuff > Standing on the Moon > Bird Song (reprise)* > One More Saturday Night*
E: U.S. Blues*, Ripple*
*-with Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay (Vocals); "Other One" verse two; Stuff - Jeff/Jay/Robin/Kenny/MK; Bob sat in with Keller on "Dark Hollow > On the Road Again"; Bob sat in with Hot Tuna on "Walkin Blues"; Bob sat in with Rhythm Devils on "Other One (verse one, Gordon vox) > Fire (Glenys vox)" and "GDTRFB" (also with Donna)

The same friend who took me to my first Phish show and hooked me up with an internship at Rocks Off got me a gig working at the Rex Foundation booth at Gathering of the Vibes, both of which sprung from the Grateful Dead.

The Rex Foundation was founded by "members of the Grateful Dead and Friends" in 1983 as a charitable non-profit organization to "proactively provide extensive community support to creative endeavors in the arts, sciences, and education."

Gathering of the Vibes began in 1996 as Deadhead Heaven: A Gathering of the Tribe, a memorial gathering for Jerry Garcia, who had passed one year prior. Eventually, it evolved into one of the most venerable east coast jam music festivals.

The line-up wasn't phenomenal, but I hadn't been to a festival since Coventry and the price was right, so I hopped in the Relix van Wednesday evening to embark on another festival adventure.

Unlike previous festive endeavors, this was less about the music and more about the experience.

Working for Rex, my supervisors were a couple of old Deadheads, just as psyched to be there as I was. The duties were light and my co-volunteers were great company. We were also situated right next to the Relix booth, which was frequented by a neverending stream of colorful characters.

There was a podcast recording of Reid Genauer at the Relix booth. Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux and Woodstock clown Wavy Gravy stopped by the Rex booth to sign autographs.

In addition to the jam celebrity sightings, we also got benefits like delicious homecooked meals every day and VIP area access.

Musically, there was nothing too memorable, perhaps as a direct result of the generic Methadone I'd acquired prior to departure.

I saw Ratdog, the Rhythm Devils with Mike Gordon and Steve Kimock and Keller Williams, all of whose sets cross-germinated with each other for Grateful jambalaya.

Yonder Mountain String Band did not live up to the hype.

G. Love provided some much needed hip hop flavor.

One of my most anticipated acts, the Everyone Orchestra, got cancelled due to rain.

I was able to get some great pictures of Papa Mali.

Burning Spear was the highlight, with ganja fumes, rasta flags and morning sun making for an extremely irie time.

During the festival, I smoked weed in two entirely new ways.

On the last night, I found a small frog in my tent.

This was the last year Vibes would be held at the biker-run ILCC, but I would return many more times for Camp Bisco. I have yet to attend another Vibes.

Arriving home, in addition to the standard post-festival blues, I was struck by the abject emptiness of my abode, as my roommate and close friend had just moved out.

It was the spiritual end of summer.