Just got back from an absolutely amazing trip down to Watson’s Glenn to see Phish.You, gentle reader will already know thta it was my first live Phish show and I’m officially hooked. There’s something magical happens when the band is on stage.. I’ve been to lots (and lots and lots) of live music shows.. and I think this was my favorite ever..

 

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Not only was the music great .. but the weather and the setting were very good too. Watkins Glenn is on Lake Seneca

I went out on a short boat trip on the lake with friends.. and it was beautiful . The lake is 39 miles long and over 600 feet deep in places.

There were places where waterfalls emptied straight into the llake like this… it was a couple of hundred feet of drop. . other places were sheer cliffs.. pretty and cragy…

The boat ride was a great way to ease into the day (except that I left my wallet on the boat…!)

From there I drove on over to the concert venue and got a good look around in the light. The theme this year was about the evolution of power.. all types..  Most of it revolved around ‘ball square’.. thee was a factory. a mill, a forge,  and a self storage facility.. everything attached by moving ropes. There were some other cool themes mixed in… Today there was a running of the bulls.. I dropped in to see the folks making very cool bull heads out of craft paper and tape..

 

Wierd art was everywhere.. it was a little like burning man.. but about half the temperature.. and twice the amount of clothing.

I rant into my friend Liggy  on the crew and he told me that they were having electrical problems with one of the set pieces… a huge tent set up as a giant piball lounge…. I sensed an opportunity to make myself useful so I volunteered to take a look. Turns out the installation boss was none other than my freind Kat….a great metal worker friend..

 

I spent the afternoon set working on two of the set pieces tat seemed to have been damaged by some sort of over voltage event…

here are some pics of the insallation during the day

and during the night

the power supply for the lights and bells in two of the bumpers were fried….

I climbed into each of them, tested the supplies, found which ones were bad and spliced in the new ones..

and did a little customizing while I was in there.. 🙂

Here’s Kat   she did the metal and plastic work for the whole set..

here’s here assistant for the job.. Tom (i think)

I also ran into Kat and my mutal freind John (Aka Yolk) .. Yolk runs the burlignton Iron Pour.. and awsoem event where folks cast multon iron into thins of great beuty and soemwhat lesser utility..

 

Yolk was there ‘working’ in the little forge they set up as part of the theme.. Trouble is, fire code prevented him from having a real fire. Instead he had a fake forge with a red light in it.. and he spent his days hammering on cold metal.. He said he  was forging ‘irony’..

in the old forgery..

 

I ran into several other friends from the Burlington crafts community I knew..I got to hang out with hem at their camp for awhile..

It was then time to head back for the evening set..   I ran into friend Josh

and nick and his young friend Rosie.

As the sun dropped, people found their perch for the eveing show.. it was a beutiful evening.. warm and dry..

Then out came the band .. and I lost tracl of time.  The music put me in such a good place.. my face hhurt from smiling by the end of the night !

I particularly dug the lights.. I spent a long time watching the lights and the control panel thay run them.. I want to learn to make devices like that !

One cool tradition is the throwing of glow sticks.. they were EVERYWHERE.. there were millions of them.. at good parts of a song everyone heaved their bundle of sticks into the sky.. it was a magical effect.. difficult to catch on camera.. but so amazing.. then .. everyone would bend down and scoop up a noterh handfull and let fly at the next crescendo

I saw how folks found creative ways of using the glowies to outline their possesions for easy finding..

 

So I did the same..

The show.. went to abotu 1:30. I wanted it to keep going..

abou 1:30 the band snuck out to a ‘secret’ location in the ball square and did a surprise 4th set ther ein teh ‘sefl storage’ building. It wasn’t much of a secret.. thee place was packed by 1am  with folks eager to here more

 

The set was mostly a jam.. you couldn’t see the band.. they played behind very cool translucent sheets. that reflected and diffused light in amazing ways..

 

The guys ended witha great version of Sleepy Monkey.. a great way to end my experience.. I drove back to the hotel and got there around 4 am.. tired and happy

I woke at 8 and started the long drive home..

Still sleepy.. still happy

 

I want to thank all the folks at the festival for putting on such and amazing show.and for letting me and everyone else there be part of it. . I love the folks I met and appreciate the huge energy and passion that folks put in to soemthing like this..

 

so . Thanks to everyone .. !.. and very special thanks for some !

Nite all .. nite sam !

-me

 

ps. Oh.. one quick additional chapter.. as I headed back towards Vermont, I realized that i’d get within 4 miles of my inlaws Gabe and Marcia.. so I payed a surprise morning visit to them !.. It was great to squeeze that in to the trip.. Love you gabe and marcia..