Summer Camp (Part III)

Sunday did not have a whole lot going on during the day. So when 3:00 pm rolled around we headed over to the Sunshine Stage for Umphrey's to play an acoustic set. It was pretty awesome. I got to hear songs I have never heard before and then others that I have never heard acoustic versions of. It killed. Here is a little taste of an acoustic Prowler:



The whole set was really solid even though, being in the second 'row' i could not see Brendan at all. Boo-urns. Here is the whole set:

One Set
Hangover, Prowler > Resolution* -> Professor Wormbog, That's the Way^, Ride On Pony^, FF -> #Search 4, August

Notes
Sunshine Stage
Brendan and Jake on acoustic guitars
* with A Go Go teases
^ with Mike Rackey on steel pedal guitar
# with Dead or Alive tease

After that we met Jess and Zach over at the main stage to see Medeski, Scofield, Martin, and Wood. It was decent. I am not a huge fan. I did have fun just chilling, listening to music, smoking a little something, and drinking some margaritas. When that ended, we stuck around for moe.'s first set. We then headed over to see Willie Nelson. I stayed waaaaay to long there. It was slightly boring and started to get a little chilly. On the upshot, the sunset was beautiful.

After leaving that, we changed clothes into something warmer and sat at moe.'s last set of the weekend and waited for "things to kick in." It took a long while but eventually did. We were trying our hardest to get into the late night show at the Red Barn (which costed $125 extra, psh). Jess had an extra wristband so we were going to try the old 'don't latch and pull the switcheroo.' It didn't work. SVG tried first and they immediately took it from him and threw it away. Luckily, Zach's friends had gotten a laminent which was all access. So we met up with them outside the Barn and pulled the switcheroo. Hurrah! Free music! The late night show was sick. It started with the Easy Star All Stars (featuring Andy, Kris, and Ryan of UM) playing a reggae cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. It was so awesome to watch. After them EOTO came out and rocked my face off. Who knew two guys from String Cheese Incident could rock so electronically?!? Not I. After they left the stage Bassnectar came out. Once he started, I never once stopped dancing. It was really awesome. The whole late night set, I was really talkative, but no one would talk to me. So I basicaly talked to everyone else around me. Nice people. After that, around 4 am, the night/morning wound down and we hit the hay. Waking up was very bittersweet. The weekend was over and all I had was 60 some odd pictures and a brain full of memories. This was by far the best festival I have ever gone to and I can't wait for next year. Summer Camp 2010!!

GOERG out.

Summer Camp (Part II)

The second day, Saturday, started early around 10 am-ish. The sun was beating down super hot on our tent and I could stay asleep any longer. SVG and I woke up and pretty much went right to Jess' tent to cool our asses off. After putzing around all morning, I headed to the Port-O-John and, like a moth to a flame, I was distracted by the funky jams coming from the Sunshine Stage. I zombie-like walked over there and stood and listened to a good 35 minutes of a band the Family Groove Company. It was so funky and awesome. I was immediately a fan. The second song I saw them play was The Beatles' "Blackbird." It was awesome. Later they brought out Allie Kral from Cornmeal and played "Bennie and the Jets." It rocked. I didn't know anything else by them, but I loved every minute of it. The next band on the stage was Cornmeal so I stuck around. It was pretty decent and very folky rock. SVG and I lost some interest in it and went to meeet Jess and Zach over at the Campfire Stage to see Brainchild. They were killer. They had an early, unpolished UM feel to them. Apparently, they cover UM songs from time to time, whcih is unheard to me! The had this hilarious song, "Moon Party Dance Party." Some lyrics were: 'You have Keith Moon, we have Keith Earth. You have Looney Tunes, we have lunar tunes.' And in the middle of the song they played the Sesame Street theme and the Fraggle Rock (!) theme. Sweet new band. After that set, we shot over to U-Melt who was also very good. Their cover was Zappa's "Dancing Fool." I can definitely see myself listening to more of them. We only caught a mere one or two songs of Les Claypool before we went to wait for Umphrey's. Slight disappointment. But oh well.

The main event: Umphrey's began playing around 7 pm. The first set was pretty good. There was a nice sit in from Claypool himself in a monkey mask on Mulche's Odyssey on the whamola (it's like a stand up bass, kinda, look it up).

But the second set was the effin shit. The set break was quiet as everyone went to go see moe. play. Fuck that. We smizzed a bizz with some dude in front of us. This guy literally pass out from exhaustion during BOTH UM shows. And I was right by him both times. Scary shit. I thought he died. As the sun set by the stage, anticipation crept in. I started to get super antzy. We met this awesome girl who gave us glowsticks and a pot caramel. Delicious and sticky. There was also some awesome dude with a milk carton mask who was just my same sense of humor. Good dude. Did I mention I was tripping my balls off the entire time? Anyways, the music began with a sick 1348 (or was it 3x? hehe) followed by Triple Wide (really) and a The Floor that was off the charts. Felix Pastorious came out and dazzled the whole crowd with his boss bass during Bright Lights. A huge hightlight of this set was the fact that fire works were going off during 1348, Miss Tinkle's, and Wizard Burial Ground. It was sick!

After that sick shit happened, we went to moe. for a few songs and wandered and hung out with Jess for a bit, only to eventually catch the last part of moe.'s set which was pretty good. They are no UM though. Here is the whole set, if you care:

Set One
2nd Self, Spires > JaJunk, Tribute to the Spinal Shaft > Red Tape, Mulche's Odyssey^

Set Two
1348$, The Triple Wide, The Floor, Bright Lights^^, Sad But True / Clint Eastwood, Miss Tinkle's Overture$

Encore
Cemetery Walk > Wizard Burial Ground$

Notes
Sunshine Stage
^ with Les Claypool on whamola
$ with fireworks
^^ with Felix Pastorious replacing Ryan on bass

(Sweet wax covered shopping carts at night)

Well, one day left.

GOERG out.

Summer Camp (Part I)

Well, SVG and I have been back from Summer Camp for a couple weeks now and I am finallt getting around to posting this:

We started our trip on Friday at 1 AM. We left the apartment and headed out onto the long dusty trail. It took us a good 6 hours or so to get there (thank gods for GPS). We pulled into the campsite around 7 am or so (their time) and pace around the campground until we figured out what to do. No one told us where to go or where to camp...or even where to park! So we hoisted all of our shit onto our backs and made the trek into the park. After settling on a spot just outside of the tree line. It quickly became blistering hot under the May sun. I, being the moron that I am, fell asleep for almost 2.5 hours in the hot sun...which eventually burned my skin. Ouch! At one point, this guy, Drew, who I always run into at UM shows, found me sleeping and took a picture of us. The picture is below. I barely woke up for it. He ended up being camped right behind us.

After waking up around noon or noon-thirty. Claudio and I made our way over to moe. It was, not surprisingly, boring. We only stayed for about a half hour before bouncing. We spent a good chunk of the day avoiding the sun over at Zach and Jess' shaded campsite. At 4 pm, we went to see Dark Star Orchestra...which also sucked. Finally, 6 pm rolled around and we mad our way to the Moonshine Stage for Buckethead. He was so awesome. It was him and an iPod and he still captivated the entire audience. Very awesome showman! Here is a little "Jordan":


Umphrey's was playing at the same stage after Buckethead so SVG and I ate some fungi sandwiches and hung out near the front row for them to start. Needless to say, UM fuckin rocked. The entire show was filled with jamming and they really tore it up. The opener to the 2nd set was The Who's "Baba O'Riley" which they brought out a fiddler Allison Kral, from Cornmeal. She is smokin' hot, IMO.

It was so awesome. The rest of the show rocked. Highlights from UM's set: Ocean Billy, jammed out Turn & Run, 11 and a half minute long Smell The Mitten (complete with killer bass action), and the huge fleshed Bridgeless. The entire setlist is below. After UM, we just walked around finishing off our trips. We went to some disco and I bought a beer, but nothing special. Rockin' first day!

Set One
40's Theme, Turn & Run > "Jimmy Stewart" > Turn & Run, Ocean Billy -> The Bottom Half, Mail Package, Last Man Swerving -> Believe the Lie

Set Two
Baba O'Riley^, Nothing Too Fancy > Ocean Billy, Smell the Mitten > Much Obliged, Cemetary Walk II, Bridgeless* > Nothing Too Fancy

Encore
#Soul Food I > Preamble > Mantis

Notes
Moonshine Stage
^ with Allie Kral (Cornmeal) on violin
* with Xxplosive jam
# with Partyin' Peeps tease

Umphreakin'

Umphrey's McGee! That's right, another UM post. Hock, Claudio, and I just went see Umphrey's in South Bend, IN and it was fuckin' sweet!

Pre-show: We set out at roughly 3:30 and got there in no time. It took about 2.5 hours. We found a parking spot in a lot right next to the venue....for only $5. Killer. We wandered a little ways down the main street until we thought, "let's just grab a few drinks right next door to the Morris." and we did. Hock and I downed a few brews and SVG suckled his (excessively strong) Long Island. We moseyed the fifty feet to the venue with an hour until the band was slated to start. So we grabbed another beer in the lobby (and another one eventually). I managed to embarrass myself like 3 times in only ten minutes, for instance:

Woman doing a raffle for UM poster: "Wanna win this poster?"
Me: "I wanna win this poster"
Woman: "Five dollars to enter"
Me: "I don't wanna win this poster"
Woman: "No Freebies"

...or me trying to bring a beer into the venue, when it was obviously a dry venue. I suck. So we got to our rockin' seats in the Upper level two rows from the rail. And the show began:

Set I: Glory>2x2, Wappy Sprayberry>Soul Food I*>White Man's Moccasins, Birthday^, End of the Road>Much Obliged>Hajimemeashite>1348

Set notes: They kept the set on the slow side except for when they needed to RAWK. The Wappy was sick. They played The Beatles' Birthday (with an old Ali Baba's Tahini member on drums) for the first time in like almost 1100 shows. Lucky us! Highlight: Sould Food I (my first!)

Set II: JaJunk>Cemetery Walk>JaJunk, Partyin' Peeps, Cemetery Walk II, Ringo$>Eminence Front>&Ringo, Preamble>Mantis

E: All in Time

(*So What teases, ^with Steve Kronjniewski on drums, $My Name is Mud teases, &Eminence Front teases)

Set notes: JaJunk with CW1 in the middle is crazy awesome and they really killed The Who's Eminence Front. Even after they went back into Ringo, Joel was still rockin' some EFront teases, it was pretty tyte. I wish the encore would've been something else, since I have seen AIT so many times, but the version they did was pushing 20 minutes and really let loose on some good jams (despite Jake's malfunctioning guitar cord).

All in all, it was a very boss experience.

GOERG out.

Umphreekend!

::This is the attempt at a recounting of the days dated March 12-14, 2009, in which I, and others, saw Umphrey's McGee 3 times at Royal Oak Music Theatre, and two nights at the Murat Egyptian Room in Indianapolis::

Now with two full UM weekends under my belt, I would have to say that there is no way in hell that anything can top it. This past weekend, Claudio and I drove from Okemos to Rochester to Royal Oak to Rochester then to Okemos then to Bloomington then to Indianapolis then to Bloomington then to Indianapolis then to Okemos. A lot of back tracking (my arch nemesis)! It would be almost impossible to recount this entire weekend by going straight through it. So I will split it up into categories: Music, drugs, road trip, friends.

Road Trip: The traveling to and from Indiana was about 18 hours total. This included the driving to and from Indianapolis from Bloomington twice (an hour and half drive). Thankfully, the ride down to Indiana was easy-peasy (lemon-squeezy) due to the rockin' UM tunes and the copious amounts of pot. Since Scott and I had to work on Sunday morning, after the show on Saturday night, we left right from the venue and accidentally stayed on the wrong highway for too long and ended up adding an extra 30-45 minutes. Boo that.

Friends: Along this journey, there were many friends. Besides me and my P.I.C.S.V.G, we met up with Jessie Francis, Pat O'Brien, and their friend Sarah at the Royal Oak show. It was sweet! It was the first UM show for all three of them. Frankly, they got a damn good show. For the next nights of rockin', JCottonmouth was hanging and tripping with us all day and night. It is always Glory-ous to see him. Jessy and Zach were also at the Murat shows, but we were not with them very much.

Drugs: As previously mentioned, Claudio and I picked up quite the large amount of [ommitted]. It was the perfect amount to keep us comfortably smizzing all weekend, including the end of the road trip. At the Royal Oak show, I did have a few beers and smizzed a couple bizzes, but was pretty much sober by the end of the first set. But on SATURDAY, Claudio, JC, and I decided to slip into another dimesnsion and eat some fungi. After THAT amazing experience, we asked ourselves the very important question...Do you want to do it again the next day? And we said yes. So as far as drugs stood, the weekend was a blur.

Music: This is the most important part of the weekend. The other things did make the weekend better, but the shows were off the chain!

a.) Royal Oak Music Theatre: We got to hear a couple of the Mantis tracks the first night, but nothing out of this world. Made to Measure did have a kind of jammed ending. The 2x2 is super extended and fleshed out and the Phil's Farm is banging, definitely highlights. And finally, my first Utopian Fir! It took 25 shows for me to see one of my favorite tracks. Rock!

b.) Murat Egyptian Room (1st Night): Opening with a strong Mantis track like Spires was a good idea and then they kept up the energy. The covers at this show were crazy awesome. They played Wings' Let 'Em In and a Thriller / Another Brick in the Wall mash-up. Killer stuff! I think my favorite part of this show was the Cemetery Walk II that went on for nearly 13 minutes. I could only describe what I was seeing as "light and sound being splashed around on stage." I really hope they play 2nd Self!

c.) Murat Egyptian Room (2nd Night): Hurt Bird Bath as an opening song was the coolest fucking thing ever. The lights were on point, the jams were tight and loose at the same time (somehow), and it all came together perfectly. During one of their jams, Nick Blasky came out on stage and conducted UM's jam. He would cut instruments, quicken the tempo, or even change the music style completely. It was hilarious! There is a tie for my two favorite songs of the night: 1348 and The Floor. Both of these songs really allowed me to let my long hair fly.

So I guess I am done rambling and bragging about my awesome weekend. I hope every is having a happy St. Patty's Day.

GOERG out.

PS: I am at 46 movies! So close!

Quick Math Problem

(Don't worry its multiple choice)

X-Mas Time + Me + JCottonmouth + Hock + Rambo + The Biz + Doodlepoops - Claudio + Bar = ?

a.) xmastimemejottonmothhockrmbothebzodepoopsbar
b.) the best idea ever
c.) the worst idea ever
d.) impossible to pull off
e.) happening ASAP

Choose wisely....

But seriously, bar tonight (Tuesday)?

Tgiving

Thank you all once again for such an amazing break. I am truly blessed to have the friends I do. I don't think there was a single moment I frowned until I was packing up my things to leave.
Much love

ps. I want to see this picture of me and pat :)

Thankful Givings

Happy Thanksgiving, Mother-Clusters!

I hope your days are wonderful with your families everybody.

Some thoughts:
Last night was fuckin' awesome! At the bar, we all got super gay and wouldn't have had it any other way. It was nice to see all my far-away friends: The Biz, B-Don, and even Kiznox (who really shouldn't and WON'T be a "far-away friend" anymore). After the bar, JCottonmouth, Hock, Kiznox all went to JC's house to after-partay...and who should show up, but Geggles and Justine Luttrell! So at two in the morning, a second round of awesome started. After putzing around for a while (and Kiznox passing out, and Hock taking him home) we decided to head into the hot tub, which is exactly what the doctor ordered. It was so relaxing...and plus Justine is super hot in a "bathing suit". So after an hour or so in the jacuzzi, we pulled our pruney selves out of the hot water and directly into the snow covered outside hell. We dried off and we went our separate ways. And I finally arrived home at 5:45 am. So I would like to THANK all of you for GIVING me a great night. (Double pun?)

And today the fun doesn't stop. Marky is having dinner with my family and later Claudio, Gegs, Justine, and possibly Hock are coming over to hang out after dinner! Fuck yeah!

Peace and Love, (Cluster) fuckers.

**Hope you all get super fat today!**

Burcham Reunion

Well, JCottonmouth came to visit for Thanksgiving and we had a Burcham Boys reunion of sorts. Once Hock got home from work (around midnight), we began the usual drinking (slash other stuff) shenanigans. It was great. We played Euchre and listened to Umphrey's. Then after the game, we watched Clone High. Then I went to bed.

This story sucks. I thought I would post this because it is nice having Mark around.

Love, GOERG