Monroe County Church Sign of the Week

I liked this side: Stop drop and roll will not work in hell...

And the kicker: Being a good person will NOT get you into heaven

Street Teaming

Sethro and I spent the day with our 9-month old pup, Ginny, in Blacksburg, Virginia today. We left Rock Camp around 2pm, and began handing out flyers and posting posters up and down Main St. It was Ginny's first time ever on a leash (who needs leashes when we have ~500 acres of gorgeous mountain-top farm land?) and she did such a great job. She's so smart, and sweet. She was a big hit in B-burg.
We printed some posters at the Kopy Corner and sent out TWENTY SEVEN promo packages from our new official shipping-shop: the Easy Way Packaging & Shipping Center. They were fantastic, and super helpful. We took up the entire shop, sorting flyers, filling out forms, packaging flyers and organizing addresses. Ginny was even allowed to come in, and was treated like the princess she is (they gave her the most wonderful organic dog treats)!!
We had hummus and fried calamari at the Greek restaurant next door (very good) and continued our street teaming mission. It seems a number of businesses in Blacksburg have gone under...but we made sure to drop flyers and posters at every head shop, and cute boho boutique on the strip.
By the end of our long loop down Main St. and through the center of VA Tech's campus, all of us (Seth, Ginny and I) were all hot, sweaty (or panting) and exhausted. We stopped to see Jenny on our way back to Rock Camp...dropped her off some flyers and talked about Pink Moon logistics.
Overall, I think we were incredibly well received! Met a bunch of cool people and sent/handed out a ton of promo material. Not to mention it was a pretty fun day.!

Another great work weekend!

Paul, Jillian, Jamie, and Isaac showed up from Richmond on Friday night! I was still painting the living room, finishing the brown trim. We chilled and they set up camp, and finally after hours of cleaning up, puttering around, and good conversation, we all went to bed.
Saturday morning started around 11am. We all got to work: brush-hogging the fields, mowing the yard, painting, cleaning and weed whacking. A mother and son team arrived from Princeton. We probably had 20 people here!

A group of us cleaned out the grainery, and found an old "Thrift-T" oil can and a jar with some sort of cool crystal growing inside. Sabrina and a team tore all the creepy charlie and poison ivy off the side.
Another group of guys pulled all of the tires off of the pole in the park. We found two (possibly three?) black snakes nested in the tires. They were huge!
Paul cemented all of the cracks in the mini golf course and brought us glue and the tools necessary to astro-turf it. The pink turf didn't arrive for the weekend...it was supposed to be here last Thursday...and is now supposed to arrive this Thursday...but we'll see. Let's just say I am NOT impressed with Express Global Shipping.

One group of guys dug a ton of post holes (to move the teeter-totter, merry (jane) go round, and balance beam. They were troupers...incredibly hard workers.

Liz came by and brought us some awesome artwork and a blank canvass for festival goers to paint at Pink Moon.

We grilled a kick ass dinner...Sabrina manned the grill while a group of us made burgers. Broman  cooked saurkraut  for the hot dogs and we had ourselves a Rock Camp feast.
Unfortunately we didn't have a band Saturday night...but that did not prevent the rager. We all chilled around the mountain, playing music, talking and listening to The Grateful Dead. Rusty,
Seth's uncle, came by with his five year old Isaac. They grilled fish, but everyone had already eaten. Little Isaac goofed around with big Isaac and some glowsticks. Luckily, Rusty found his puppy, Gingerbread, who he'd lost on the mountain the previous week.
Sabrina and I got some glass art for Broman. I got a beautiful blue pendant and a tiny glass jar and Sabrina got a pendant.  His stuff was gorgeous.

It was a great party! A bunch of us chilled in the newly painted/cleaned and now roomier living room. Paul cuddled with puppies, we made s'mores over the fire in the fire place, Seth played guitar and good conversation was plentiful.
When my head finally hit the pillow, I was out.
Sunday was incredibly productive as well. The morning began with Paul & friends cooking the dankest breakfast I've seen in a long while.  Scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits...and I didn't have to cook any of it! It was delicious, and with the sweet sounds of JGB in the background it was the perfect way to start the morning.
Then the work began. An amazing group of people cleared out the briars between the park and bird city. A ton of mowing and brush-hogging got done. The gallery got a second coat of paint. We all carved our initials in cement by the mini golf course. The trash pile grew, and the farm really got cleaned up.

We decided to paint the trampoline pink, and hang it up as installation art. That was a fun process. We all painted our hands pink and made hand prints on the trampoline before it got painted pink! I made a "dream catcher" out of an old wagon wheel and some black light reactive rope. We've got black light reactive drip candles to burn on the rock piles and create awesome glowing drips on the golf course.

Everyone had a great time; it was an incredible group of people and really felt like a family event. People who didn't know each other at all before, became great friends. Not to mention everyone worked incredibly hard!!!
After everybody left Seth and I drove off the mountain for a minute to visit  grab a Subway sandwhich (the only restaurant relatively close and open). Then back home to veg out and recover from the weekend.

Ronnie came up today, helped us with some repairs to the seat of the riding lawn mower and brush-hogged a few fields. Roarke, a friend of ours from Cleo is visiting as well. He's from Jacksonville, Florida, and is headed back to Trinity. Cause of "Irene" he's taking I-81, which goes right by us, so he's spending the night. I always love Cleo visits to the farm. He helped us bring a desk up from The Rock Camp Store and helped us fix the tractor. I made dinner and now we're making s'mores in the fire place and watching Waterworld.

The Green Room

Sethro and I just spent the last four hours painting the living room green! I've actually probably been painting for 7 hours. It looks fantastic! The green matches the green of the leaves of the flowers on the old wallpaper (which I saved a swatch of...'cause I'm a hoarder). I have to put a second coat on the whole room tomorrow, paint the shelving unit, and paint all of the trim brown. But all in all, the room looks awesome.
We finally hung up our gorgeous art from Larry Carlson too. It really compliments the room, the farm house, and the mountain. The sword from my grandparents house is up above the fireplace. This place is really coming together.
I talked to DJGB's road manager today while Seth was napping. Got a list of the equipment we'll need. He was very cool, and easy to work with. This is so exciting!!

Work day with Jenny!

Jenny came up to the farm today to start the ball rolling on some Pink Moon stuff. She and Seth wandered around the park going through the schematics of stage placement, vending, etc. I cracked open some cans of paint and got to work painting the "telephone" booth and some rock work on the wishing well. I'm covered in paint! Got some good work in though!
Our cat, Ophelia is still missing. I'm very sad about it...I fear she won't be coming back ever. The kittens, who have been weened, are being cared for by their daddy, Oedipus. It's actually quite cute, except that they often try to nurse him, and his nipples are red and chaffed. I miss Ophelia dearly.
On another note...there was a 5.8 earthquake in VA today! It's coming: the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.
Seth's on the phone with the road manager for Donna Jean. This is so exciting....Less than a month away and things are really coming together.

Day of Rest

So today started out awfully. I woke up dripping with sweat, suffocated by the heat. When I came downstairs I noticed Seth had lit a fire, despite the ninety degree weather. I think sometimes his ms messes with his temperature recognition. Anyway he was particularly grumpy, and I ended up going back upstairs to avoid him and the heat. I tried to open the window, but they're old and oddly designed and I ended up whacking myself in the eye with the window. I started bawling my eyes out immediately, damn it hurt. I busted my eyebrow open, and it's decently swollen and black and blue...and hurts. Finally I composed myself a little and went back downstairs for a cigarette and some pity. Seth did very well...fetched me some ice, put the fire out and held me till I stopped crying.
Partially to cheer me up, and partially because we'd both been craving Chinese food since last night, Seth took me to lunch at a Chinese restaurant on 219 in Lewisburg. We had a wonderful buffet lunch, then headed home. After watching the end of Goodfellas and an episode of Jeopardy, Seth went upstairs to take a nap. He's been asleep since around 5pm! I guess I'll go join him soon as it's past 11:30pm. I'm watching recorded episodes of Jeopardy and Law & Order and futzing around the internet. I kind of wish Seth would wake up and hang out with me, but then he won't be able to fall asleep again, and he'll be up all night. Oh well. Lots to do tomorrow...I want to paint the living room green in the next couple of days. We're having a work weekend this weekend, and I'm going to NYC for two days to see DMB and hang out with my Dad and his girlfriend Lynn. Busy busy with Pink Moon less than a month away!

Spot in front of the fire

Camp Barefoot Five

We left around 2pm on Thursday...we stopped at The Rock Camp Store and packed up our gear, which only took ten minutes. We stopped in Lewisburg to pick up some Pink Moon posters we'd had printed at The Greenbrier Printing Company and had dinner at The Irish Pub. I had stew and Sethro had a corned beef and cabbage sandwich (and a bloody maria: a bloody mary with tequila instead of vodka). Dinner was wonderful! We stopped to stock up for the weekend before leaving Lewisburg and heading down 92 N towards Bartow.

We got to Barefoot, checked in, found our camping spot in "band camping", and set up...all before dark!  We took a walk around the venue, hung up some Pink Moon posters (which came out perfect), got some food and visited the vendors. We`decided to dragon after it got good and dark, but it was just the two of us, so Sethro took Puff's head and I strapped on the 50+ pound battery back pack with the tail boom tucked in it and shouldered all three of Puff's ribs. Luckily, we found two volunteer-dragoneers halfway through the set, so I only had to hold the battery and two ribs! We dropped the dragon at a friends vending booth and headed back to camp to cool off, warm up and relax. After hearing a couple bands from our cozy campsite we decided to dragon one more time for the night. I double knotted my sneakers and we headed to the vendor strip to pick up Puff. We found two dragoneers to help, so I was on the double-rib-battery routine (which is pretty difficult, but not that bad) while we did a short second set. We were escorted by Mr. Tambourine Man, jingling away throughout our whole set. Back at camp, Sethro and I happily curled up in the truck for a good nights sleep.
I woke up SUPER early on Friday morning...maybe around 6 or 7am. It was very cloudy all morning...looked like rain, felt like rain. I puttered around picking up camp till Seth woke up. When he finally got up around 8:30am, it REALLY looked like rain, so we threw a tarp over the truck and ez up and battened down the hatches. It was sprinkling lightly as we worked, and as soon as we were done it came down. We enjoyed the dryness and warmth in the truck, until Seth got the end of the mattress all wet, and still we remained relatively comfortable. Eventually the rain stopped, and the sun peaked out. I don't particularly mind morning showers at fests, as the sun throughout the day usually dries everything out. It's evening rain that really sucks...cause soggy nights are no fun. cMind you, through all of this, we had no clue what time it was. I geared up with bunny ears, big pink glasses, and an orange faux-fur shall. On our way to breakfast I asked a vendor for the time...when she told me it was only quarter to 11am, I freaked out! I couldn't believe it was so early! I must've looked like a crazy spunyun but I was merely surprised!
We got [delicious] breakfast burritos and smoothies from the bicycle-blended-smoothie place and bumped into a couple of friends. I got a pair of [awesome] tie dye pants from our friend James of Beandawg Artworks (they vended at Pink Moon II). We headed back to camp and picked up some fliers to pass out. We wandered all across the venue, meeting cool people and promoting Pink Moon. It's amazing how much more receptive people are to me compared to Seth when we're "street teaming". People who refuse fliers from him have turned around and doubled back to take fliers from me. It's amazing what boobs will do! Seth and I split up at one point and met up back at camp after a couple of hours. We promptly curled up in the back of the truck. It was an epic nap! So epic, it felt like a night's sleep and threw off my internal clock for the rest of the weekend.
It was dusk when we woke up. We rubbed the sleep out of our eyes, chugged some red bull and got some dinner. We both were feeling incredibly groggy...each festival we go to on tour gets harder and harder. Especially when you're carrying an entire dragon on your back. Despite the fatigue, we felt good....we were super prepared for this fest...with plenty to drink and munch on, plenty of clean clothes, sheets and blankets and pillows, and some spending money. It felt nice to be so together. It was also kind of nice sans crew...Seth and I really got a chance to spend some time together at this fest, which almost never happens.
We bumped into a friend of ours, Kenny, running a kick-ass gem booth on the vending strip: East Coast Rocks. He helped us with our first dragon set of the evening. I took the back pack and three ribs and he grabbed the tail (Seth is always on Puff's head). I was red faced and sweaty by the time we got back to camp. Zick and Jennie and their friend Whitney stopped by to say hello, and after a good conversation, some festie-tag creation and a couple beers they helped us with our second dragon set for the beginning of Kyle Hollingsworth's set. It was such a relief to have a proper compliment of 5 dragoneers to run around with. It makes it so much easier to give Puff some life and animation.

When we were done for the evening we headed back into the venue to catch H-worth's Talking Heads set. The crowd really filled in and Kyle killed it. His Psycho Killer encore was butt-shaking, spine-tingling great.
On our way back to camp we came across a spun-yun laying in the middle of the unlit path screaming. There were two guys there attempting to control him. We stopped to help, cause this dude was out of control. Slowly we got the whole story, this super-spun dude had torn apart these staffers cabin, and when they returned to find the place in tatters discovered him hiding in the bathroom. He decked on of them, twice...and they were still trying to get him under control. They had no clue who he was. Captain Spunyun got himself tangled in an orange plastic fence and while Seth and staffers 1 & 2 kept an eye on him, I went to get the medics. They were two, rather small, rather young girls, so even once I'd brought them to the tangled spunyun the rest of us stayed to make sure everything went ok. Dude had gotten violent once and it didn't seem like the gals would be ok on their own. The six of us (me, Seth, EMT 1, EMT 2, Staffer 1 and Staffer 2) half guided half dragged this guy back to the first aid tent, where we proceeded to give him water, and try to calm him down. As we delt with him, EMT #1's (a.k.a. Amanda) boyfriend showed up with a few friends. The boyfriend, Mark has been an acquaintance/facebook friend of mine for a while now, and also happens to be an incredibly cool guy.  Finding and truly befriending him was the karmic award for our good sumaritan-ness. There was now a solid group of between 6 and 8 people giving this off-the-wall spunyun defensive-circle-dance-party-therapy...keeping him chill and under control and with us by dancing around in a sort-of circle, and cutting him off at the pass any time he got too out of control or too far away. It was hysterical really, and an awesome experience. The people involved were mostly concerned, responsible, caring festie goers...with the exception of the two emt girls, who had to deal with this. Turns out this was their first ever festival, and both of them (nurses) were extremely straight edge. Mark (Amanda/EMT's boyfriend) kept tossing them hints on how to deal with the spun kid, and they did extremely well, still I felt bad for them. Eventually we decided to turn him lose on the crowd, hopefully to find his friends again. We danced him out to the middle of the crowd, and danced away. We all chilled by the first aide tent to be sure he didn't come back to harass the EMT/festie-first-timers. Good thing too, because not five minutes after we left him he'd spit in some dude's face, and was about to get a serious knuckle sandwich. We dragged him back, and kept an eye on him for a little longer till all of a sudden, his friend stumbled upon us. I grabbed this friend, Colin, who was almost as spun as spunyun, and told him to take his friend back to camp. They wandered off together and the rest of us convened to relax and unwind. We gathered in a close circle, immediately in front of the Headstash booth, funnily enough, and performed our unwinding rituals. We were all happy, light hearted, and glad to have been brought together (not to mention glad to be rid of dude). I was, I'll admit, very surprised there had not been some sort of "Official Barefoot Plan" to deal with something like this. It didn't seem practical for the only two, inexperienced-in-festival-land, tiny EMT girls to babysit this out of control spunyun all night. In fact, there seemed to be absolutely ZERO security at Barefoot, at all. Although that might seem cool...you need security at a festival, not to mess with people, but to keep everyone safe. A lot of crazy shit can go down during a fest, and the mere presence of some security can keep people in check.
Seth and I stumbled back to camp, unwound from the crazy spunyun experience, and went to bed.

Saturday morning was bright and sunny. We got breakfast from the best food vendor on lot: Shady Grove Wraps and hung up some posters. Most of the day was spent at camp cause it was too darn hot. Bunches of friends stopped by...Zick & friends, Mark from the trip sitters last night, and a  some cool glow guys...including another Mark (who'd helped the dragon by guiding him through the crowd at All Good XV) who glow-painted Puff. They used this cool spray paint which glows when activated by lasers.  At one point Sethro helped a small boy fly his kite (he is a kite expert after all). It was incredibly cute, and the kite got left behind, so Sethro gave me a quick lesson too!

Around dusk, once it began to cool off, Sethro donned the red dancing bear mascot and I the skeleton suit and we went on our last round of promotion. It went over pretty well!
Seth needed some time to recover after the nasty bear set, while I began packing up camp. After dark the glow guys came back, we grabbed Kenny, and we dragoned one last time. I took the tail this time (a dragon part I'd never done before) and we raged it. We chilled, rambling with the glow guys for awhile, threw the dragon in the back of the truck, and left. I was so glad to be going home...Barefoot was fun, but I was exhausted and looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and getting the house an Pink Moon together. It took us about two hours to get home. We watched some tv before passing out around 4am.
Barefoot was our last stop on tour before Pink Moon! We raged the dragon every night, and gave them an extra bear set. We got the word out on Pink Moon and met a ton of super cool people. It was a fun and rewarding weekend...but now it's time to put our noses to the grindstone and get Pink Moon up and running. It's going to be a great time, we've got a ton of good ideas, and we've met a bunch of great people willing to help. This party's gonna be crazy!

Hump Day

Front O' Flier!

Today was one of the few days that I actually got up before Seth...since the beginning of our relationship! I futzed around online and watched an episode of  Law & Order till Seth got up. I spent awhile chatting with Rautio about flier design, banner ads etc.

Back O' Flier!

Seth and I ran out to Lindside to mail some checks and get an oil change. We ate lunch at the Shalebank Diner which was actually delicious. I couldn't finish my delicious chocolate milk shake. We drove through the newly renovated park once we got home. Just as we plopped ourselves on the teeter-totter, Joel rolled up! He and Sethro went to work siting out and designing the Shangri La stage, and I headed back to the house to deal with the mess of social media I've been using to promote Pink Moon online. Rautio banged out the fliers...they look awesome:

We'll be sending them to print any minute now, and should have them after Camp Barefoot (it's a bummer we're not going to be able to unleash these in Bartow, but it'll be fine!)
Anyway, I think Eric did a fantastic job on these, I just love them!

Also, our JamBase ads are up! The large banner is geo-targeted to VA and WV...but we also have an ad under the "Featured Festival" section: here! I was working with Marcus Schmidt, and he was just wonderful!! We also have an ad up on Leeway's Homegrown Music Network, on the home page! We are so getting there!

A screen shot of our JamBase ad

 I'm learning so much as I do this as well! Charlotte, Seth's step mother, once asked me (at a Channukah party) if Seth stifled me as an artist...well the answer to that (which at the time I stumbled over due to utter shock at the question) is: no. Not at all. He's helping me grow as an artist and giving me new and exciting opportunities to express myself in genres that are important to me.
Pink Moon also has a TWITTER page now!! Check it out and follow us (PinkMoonFest)! I'm quickly becoming overwhelmed by all of this social media! I'm only  20 years old...shouldn't this be my "thing"? And I suppose, at one point, I did this all for myself (rather than a company or festival or giant glowing dragon, you know); but I shunned it for almost a year, and jumping back in is pretty difficult. I also feel like a couch potatoe....might have to get a desk from down at the Rock Camp Store, cause my back is killing me!
Looks like we're leaving for Camp Barefoot tomorrow! We're going to have to pack Puff into the truck (geeze, I hope our mattress is dry from Elysian Fields!) Last year we only went up for one night, to hit up EOTO (because they were playing Pink Moon II). We got there late, super late, and then it started to POUR! Jesse, who had been living with us at the time, wandered off with his friends, and Seth and I sat in the truck, waiting out the rain. When it finally did stop...we dragoned like I've never dragoned before! I was wearing flip flops (stupid! stupid! STUPID!) and lost first one, in the thick of the crowd in front of the stage, then the other, on our way back to the truck walking through the woods. It was the WORST! Rocks and twigs and wet rain, probably poo, glass and unknown-biohazardous sharp things threatened my poor tootsies all the way back to the truck. I dragoned Camp Barefoot 2010 barefoot!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to doing Barefoot right this year! They gave us great billing on their site and we're rested and ready! Maybe not packed yet, but ready!

P.S. PRESALE TICKETS GO UP TO $85 IN ONE WEEK!! Get them now to save $15 on the door price! Get them here.

Just another manic Tuesday

We've been busy busy bunnies today! We ran around town working out some financial stuff (band depostis, designer costs, etc.) got lunch at K.C.'s and mailed some things off. Since we've been home Seth's been working on banner adds for Jambase and Leeway's Homegrown Music Network. I've been ordering pink astro turf, black-light-reactive candles, and organizing/ordering the advertising on the aforementioned sites. I've also been working with our friend and fellow Cleo, Eric Rautio, on a new batch of fliers that are turning out just stellar.
Let me just say, I adore the Cleo contingency we're forming in Rock Camp Productions! Just this season we've worked with Brendan Paul Clarke, Jessi Beaton-Hellman, David Slatkin and Eric! (On a related side note, a Cleo is running for Mayor of NYC...check out Christine Quinn!!)
Anyway...we got some pretty great ads up. We're really making progress on Pink Moon III! I'm so excited I can barely contain myself! But there's still so much to do, so much to spend money on!

Work Weekend - Part Two

So, the work weekend is over. Jesse, Sampson, Sethro and I just ate dinner; I made chicken and rice with onions, garlic and green peppers, Now we're vegging out watching Family Guy.
Today was SUPER productive! Even more so than yesterday!! We made a ton of progress in the park and mini golf course! It looks AWESOME!  We painted everything, the gallery, the teeter totter, the merry (jane) go 'round, the mini golf course, the "phone booth", the swing, etc.  We mowed and weed whacked till our fingers bled and we even got our tractor (after waiting on it for a year...) Tom and Brenda let us borrow their brush hog and post hole digger, so we'll be tractoring in no time. Everyone worked incredibly hard, and we're truly making headway.

It was nice to  throw a good party this weekend, and to really clean up the farm. It was a lot of fun...but I'm exhausted. There's a kitten liking my toes and it really tickles.

Work Weekend - Part One

Today was a wonderfully productive day...I had the hardest time getting out of bed this morning, and when I  finally did I realized there were a BUNCH of people here. Jesse (and his friend Sampson) had arrived in the night, as well as a few other additions to our little party. Seth ran down to Riffe's to get gas for lawn mowers and weed eaters. Sabrina rolled up with Boo, Seth came back, and Jesse and I left for Princeton. We went to Lowe's (I prefer Home Depot, but you work with what you've got...) and got four sheets of plywood (which they graciously cut for us!!!), seven or so gallons of variously colored paint, some brushes, some stakes, a redbull and a gatorade! The paint-mixing folks were either morons or scammers, and that's all I have to say about that.
On our way out of Lowe's I was chatting up Pink Moon with the guys who helped us load the truck. They asked if it was like FloyFest...to which I replied "It's cooler than FloydFest". I think that's true....smaller, definitely...but still, way cooler.
Jesse and I stopped at the peek-a-boo shop in Princeton (by the Mercer county Animal Shelter) to look for nipple ring ball bearings. I dropped off a bunch of fliers there for the fest.
As soon as we returned to the farm I started painting Pink Moon signage. A bunch of the girls helped me and, shit came out great!

Sabrina and Boo took off, but not before mowing the whole backyard. I set some folks out to painting the mini golf course and finished my signs.

Even more people showed up. AND THEN...the band showed up! Atoadaso, some cool cats out of Roanoke, VA - Griff, Billy, Max, and Cuba. They had some trouble on the way over with the tire on their van. But they got here, and even though I think they're just starting out, they fucking rage!!! They've already played a couple good Phish covers tonight (nobody covers Phish! cause nobody can cover Phish!) some good moe. stuff, and in general. I'm sitting on the front porch, enjoying the jam in my front yard. This is crazy...and so awesome.

We moved the old couch off of the stage to make way for the band, and dropped it ~25'  away. It's great! It's got the perfect view of the music, and it's super comfortable. We threw a tarp over it when showers hit briefly. Paired with the rug and the bonfire it's an outdoor living room.

I'd guess there are solidly 25 people chillin, and Atoadaso's been on stage for two and a half hours already. They've gone into a very cool space-y jam.  We've had kid's glowstick and fire poi-ing. Some led hula hoops would look awesome from this vantage point.
Going to go sit on the couch and watch the band.

Twas the night 'fore the Work Weekend...

Today was a weird day. Seth woke me up around noon (teehee) - then he left to go to the bank, send off some band deposits and run some errands. I puttered around the house cleaning up and doing some online promo. I got the kitchen clean and picked up the living room a bit. Around 2pm Kitty arrived with her two kids in tow. The helped pick  up some trash and pick up around the house and yard a bit while I finished cleaning, ate lunch and jumped back online. I've been spending countless hours in front of this carcinogenic screen lately. It's tedious, but necessary, and our Pink Moon numbers have been slowly but consistently ticking up.
Seth came home with groceries, a garbage can, and a few other goodies around 4pm. Kitty left, to return tonight or tomorrow. And Seth and I worked out some Pink Moon literature including a sponsorship write-up, facebook and jambase adds.
Seth made BLT's for dinner and we chilled out - enjoying the calm before the storm. SO MANY PEOPLE are coming tomorrow (according to le facebook). That's good though, we have tons to do.
Seth's gone off to spend some time with Joel...he's been gone for like two hours. Since he skidaddled four cool folks (from Richmond I believe) rolled up. They've set up their tent in the front yard and are lighting bottle rockets. It's freaking the dogs out, but I'm enjoying it. They seem like super cool guys.
We'll start working at 11am tomorrow. I'm going to go out to Princeton, WV early to get some supplies and materials. Paint, brushes, wood, etc. With enough man power we can really whip this place into shape.
I'm still spending a lot of time trolling the internet for cool visual/performance artists, vendors and non-profits to present at Pink Moon. I'm really looking forward to blowing this festival up and burning this mountain down in September.

The Meaning of Life is Martin's

Seth and I got back from Roanoke, Va maybe two hours ago. We went out because we thought that Sol was playing at Martin's (because of a Facebook miscommunication, he's actually playing Saturday). Anyway, we got some important errands done! For example, I am posting this from a new computer! It was really really necessary: the "b" on my keyboard no longer worked (so every time I needed a "b" I had to copy-paste it), my "r" key was completely missing (though the button nubbin worked most of the time, so I didn't have to copy-paste "r"), the screen only worked when it was tilted all the way back, and it was s-l-o-w-a-s-s-h-i-t! This new thingy-majigger has been such an enormous improvement...I'm nearly crying!!
Our one other splurge was a fax machine. Ours hasn't worked since Sethro dropped it in the mud in a rainstorm on the mountain. And with all the festival booking and such we truly need a fax machine. I mean there just isn't a Kinko's down the road in Rock Camp!
We stopped for dinner at Martin's (like I said, we thought Sol was playing...we were wrong). Tony was there working sound for the band that was playing. I LOVE TONY. He's my favorite. One of my favorite memories from Pink Moon II is standing with Tony and Sethro in "Bird City"  after the music stopped, watching the sun come up and smoking cigarettes. If we lived closer to Roanoke I'd volunteer/apprentice for Tony, just to learn.
We dropped off a bunch of fliers at Martin's, with Tony, with Melrod and around town. It was nice to spend an evening "on the town" even if we didn't get to see Sol & Funk Root. Dinner at Martin's was FABULOUS. The spinach dip is our favorite appetizer there, and when Seth couldn't figure out what to get I ordered fetuccini alfredo with grilled chicken for him. He loved it. Consider this my five star review for Martin's: the best music, the best food, the best people, period.
So I'm sitting on the couch, watching Monty Python's The Meaning of Life and setting up this new laptop. Sethro's eating our leftovers and has a wonderful little fire going in our fireplace. Everything's really looking up. Pink Moon stuff is barreling along. Work weekend this weekend - gonna get this farm in shape!! Atoadaso's playing Saturday night! It's gonna be GREAT!

hurt body home bodies

Well, hello out there. Jess and I are just sitting on the couch, Jess' watching Phantom of the Opera and working away online doing mostly Pink Moon stuff. We’ve been running really hard this summer, and having a great tour with landmark accomplishments. That being said we’re super-pooped. It seems to get harder every festival we do, even though all of the remaining shows are in the region. We’re also mysteriously missing a cat. Ophelia, the all white mother of the kittens, has been MIA for a couple of days now. We think she might be running away from her babies for a while to ween them before they suck her dry. Other than that everything’s kind of a mess. We’ve a lot to do on the farm just to get it back to normal, but that should happen in the next day or two as we collect ourselves a little bit more. We have one last show at Camp Barefoot then on to Pink Moon. Jess looked up Chinese Moon Festivals and the parallels are deep. I guess we might have been Chinese in a past life or something... this is just what we do. I don’t really believe in this, but it’s fun to think that our little team is made up of reincarnated artists spread throughout history taking our opportunity this round to play with new media and technology in art and entertainment. I guess that’s not so far from how we do it, but it’s a fun daydream. So I’m on to kitty litter damage control and the removal of the broke down fridge (including the now defrosted squirrel Jeremy gifted us in the freezer… but that’s gonna have to wait for another blog entry).

Chinese Moon Festival

Check out this cool information I just discovered:

"The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.
The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. With the full moon, the legend, the family and the poems, you can't help thinking that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival.
The Moon Festival is also a romantic one. A perfect night for the festival is if it is a quiet night without a silk of cloud and with a little mild breeze from the sea. Lovers spend such a romatic night together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even for a couple who can't be together, they can still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour. A great number of poetry has been devoted to this romantic festival. Hope the Moon Festival will bring you happiness."

-Moon Festival - About.com 

Some Chinese Moon Festival Traditions (Wikipedia)

• Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns
• Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang'e 
• Erect the Mid-Autumn Festival: It is not about planting trees but hanging lanterns on the bamboo pole and putting them on a high point, such as roofs, trees, terraces, etc.
• Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members
• Fire Dragon Dances
• In Taiwan, since the 1980s, barbecuing meat outdoors has become a widespread way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

More info on the Chinese Moon Festival

Preparing for the Work Weekend

We finally unpacked the truck today. It had to be done as everything was damp from the showers at Elysian Fields. Now Seth's upstairs napping and I'm puttering around watching Law & Order and promoting Pink Moon on the interwebbernets. I need to clean up the house before this weekend; it looks like we're going to have a good turn out for the work weekend for Pink Moon. We have a TON to do around the farm.

• Mow everywhere
• Paint putt-putt course
• Haul off trash
• Clean-up, touch-up, design park/Shangri-La Village
• build second stage platform in Shangri-La Village
• Create installation art around farm
• Paint signs
• Parking arrows and directional
• Rules/Reminders
• Camping areas
• Porta-johns
• Off-Limits/Artist & Family Only
• Poison ivy warnings
• Etc.
• Re-fence graveyard
• Driveway work
• Gardening
• Collect wood for bonfires and grilling (at work weekend)

If anyone wants to  bring any of the following to use for the weekend it would be greatly appreciated:

• Gardening tools including rakes, weed whackers, lawn mowers, shovels, etc.
• Paint brushes, paint trays, rollers, and miscellaneous old paint, etc
• Scrap wood pieces for construction projects and signs
• Pallets
• buckets, trash cans, bins etc
• Food/Drinks

Check out the even page on Facebook...Work Weekend for Pink Moon III

Pink Moon III Ticketing Info

Get your tickets for Pink Moon III here!!

Elysian Fields IV - Heavenly

Seth and I had a little trouble getting motivated on Friday...the task of packing the truck and driving ~4 hours to Boyce VA was daunting. We finally got on the road around 4:20pm and stopped for lunch at our favorite place in Peterstown: KC's Dawg and Burger Haus. We dropped by Sabrina's house to pick up Justin and say goodbye to Jeremy, who left for California this weekend. (Good luck Jeremy, we miss you, we love you and there's always a place for you with RCP!). And so, Justin, Seth and I began our journey to Elysian Fields.
As we drove up route 81 to the sweet sounds of a great JGB show on Sirius Satelite's Grateful Dead Channel, I noticed the car ahead of us: a little gold sedan with the license plate "MIS JERY". I pointed this out to the boys and we pulled up closer and noticed his Jerry window sticker. As we passed I flashed him a peace sign, and he nodded back. I wondered if he too was headed to Elysian Fields and made a mental note to search the lot for his car. (I never did...womp womp)
The sun went down as we approached our exit. I always think of Dugald when we pass the Rt. 66 exit on 81N. Last year, around this time, we met Dug just off that exit and exchanged tickets and fliers in a random gas station parking lot. We looked so sketchy shuffling around that day, but it was just some goofy Pink Moon business. God I miss that kid. We actually first met Dugald at Elysian Fields last year...it's odd to think how close we became in less than a year. He was such a wonderful person.
As we got off the highway I got super excited. We passed the ice cream shop with the pink picnic tables that Jesse, Andrew, Brandon, Cree, Seth and I stopped at after the fest last year. It was about 10:30pm when we finally pulled into Elysian Fields.
We checked in and headed all the way to the back of the camping area, next to the huge stack of round hay bails. I HATE setting up camp in the dark, but it didn't take us very long. We could hear PBR and then The DJ Williams Projekt from our site as we laid Puff out and popped our EZ-up and introduced ourselves to Kristy, our neighbor who excitedly agreed to help us dragon for The Bridge.  And dragon we did! I threw on the 50+ pound battery back pack, grabbed the front two ribs while Kristy grabbed the back rib, Justin the tail, and Seth the head and out walked Puff. We slinked around the venue and picked up a few more dragoneers, including Dylan who graciously took the front rib from me and was an absolute natural. The fluidity with which he moved the dragon, beer in hand even, was incredible. At one point I tapped him on the shoulder and told him that if he got tired he could give it back, and he smiled and said "I've found what I want to do with the rest of my life". Note to self: find Dylan, invite him on a gig.
After a killer set we brought Puff back to camp and chilled with our new found dragoneers. We did another set for The Bridge's encore (feat. DJ Williams)...and then another silent late night set after the music ended (around 12:30). Back at camp we met Katie, an incredible woman with a wonderful head on her shoulders. We discussed her journey from Oregon to the Native American Reservation she now lives on. We talked about Pink Moon and Puff and our lives in WV. We talked about politics and festie rituals. It was wonderful.
Tom & Beck's son, Christian found us and chilled at camp for a bit, as well as the PBR guys (they'd helped us dragon as well earlier!)
The best reunion of the evening though was seeing Jesse again. We met Jesse at Elysian Fields last year. We has a great time and he ended up coming to the farm, living with us and helping a ton with Pink Moon II. He found us during our first set with The Bridge and camped with us all weekend this year. It was so fantastic seeing him again.
I think we finally drifted off to sleep, to an unusually quiet  festival scene, at around 4:30am.
I woke up at 9:30am to the sounds of dogs barking, babies cooing and a strong breeze. Jesse had not slept at all that night and was sitting in camp bleary eyed. Justin was asleep in the backseat of the truck and Seth was asleep on  the mattress in the back of the truck. I started the morning off by hanging some tapestries on the EZ up and painting some signs...one for Dugald and one for our Pink Moon website. I placed the "We miss you Dugald" sign right in front of our camp and the www.pinkmoonfestival.com sign up in the venue.

When Seth and Justin finally woke up we headed down to see PBR play. They killed it! No one was dancing though, so in my pink dress, sparkly sunglasses, and pink party hat I raged my butt off. I handed out a few Pink Moon fliers and we headed back to camp.
At some point, it started to rain. It started off light...enjoyable. Just a sprinkle, fun to dance in even. Then, all of a sudden...it came DOWN! I had just been commenting about how remarkably dry I was...when suddenly all of our stuff was getting soaked. Quickly we yanked the tarp out from under our mattress in the back of the truck and threw it over both truck and EZ up. This stopped most everything from getting soaked, but most of the damage was done. The end of our mattress was oozing brown water, Puff was kind of puddly, and I was finally very wet. Not to mention, our Pink Moon fliers do not hold up well in wetness. So all the fliers I'd handed out so far were ruined for sure.
We were all huddled together under our tarp/EZ up construction when I realized we'd have a lot more room if we weren't hanging out on top of a pile of trash. I spent a few minutes spinning in circles, standing in place, picking up trash in the 3-foot radius of me...and everyone laughed at my display. I did, however, create a lot more room and order.
Once the rain ceased, and the sun peaked out again, we emerged from our soggy campsite to hit the lot with a new round of fliers. I donned a pair of bunny ears and my big pink glasses and Seth his pink party hat, and we hit the town. We fliered and talked to tons of people. I think it meant a lot that we weren't just street teamers, but the people who throw the fest, the dragon people. I choked up every time I met one of Dug's friends.
Once we finished our street teaming we finally went to hang out with our super cool neighbors in their awesome hay bail/tarp tent. We were kicking ourselves for not going over there sooner....these folks were the bomb and their huge shelter was super dry. And when we finally heard the sounds of Keller and The Keels, we picked up our dragon and danced out to the venue for "Mr. Keller! Mr. Keller!"...we kept it to a short dragon set cause we have this hunch that Mr. Keller doesn't like Puff. Last year at Elysian Fields we came out during "Focus on the Bass" which, admittedly wasn't very good timing. After our dragon set, I wanted to see the rest of the show, making it  back to the stage in time for "Bird Song". Keller's "3 minute" encore was a cover of Cee-lo Green's "Fuck You"....and it seemed like an odd way to end the fest. When he warned the parents in the crowd "earmuffs" I got all excited that it'd be his gatecrasher song, but oh well. We headed back to chill with Kendall and Lynn (our hay bail neighbors) till we finally passed out before dawn.
I want to give a shout out to the security guy for Elysian Fields. Dude was awesome, and effective at his job.
I woke up on Sunday at 8:30...(ugh so early!) and the fest was already clearing out. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I started packing up camp and picking up trash. When everyone else woke up we finished packing the truck, said our goodbyes to Kendall, Lynn and crew, then went for a walk to do one more round of fliering. We met  a few cool cats who'd been to Pink Moon II, and said it was the best fest they went to all season!! I also met one of the members of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, who was wearing a great pink fuzzy party hat, and gave him a hug and a bunch of fliers.
Finally, sweaty and tired, we said goodbye to Jesse and piled into the wonderfully air conditioned truck and headed home. The drive back took a lot less time (we didn't make any stops and didn't take the back roads). We stopped at home before taking Justin to Sabrina's, to grab a bite to eat and chill for a minute. It was incredibly difficult after spending a wonderful half an hour on the couch to get back in the truck and bring Justin home though. Seth and I were beat, and got the best night sleep ever.
I really miss Dugald, and I'm really glad we went to Elysian Fields. It was a great cathartic experience. Every one of his friends that I talked to could feel his love and his presence there. We raged our dragon for you Dug...we love you.

Website Work

TJ and I have been working relentlessly on the Pink Moon website. It's still a work in progress but it's getting there! I've been typing away all kinds of literature for the site..."About Pink Moon" and "Home Page" sections and more...god knows how many words. Eh, it needs to be done and it's a good excuse not to have to help Seth pick up the trash our dogs have spread around the yard.
Right now Seth and I are sitting on the couch talking through Pink Moon stuffs and watching the interactions between out many animals. We both agree that there's pretty much nothing cuter than kittens in boxes....except maybe kittens on top of boxes that are pestering kittens inside of boxes. And now they're asleep. Awwww.
Anyway...PINK MOON PINK MOON PINK MOON! Only 42 days left!! We're supposed to get our first shipment of flyers today, although they haven't come yet. They need to be revamped (they're not quite the correct resolution and we need to add a couple new bands).
We're leaving for Elysian Fields tomorrow. I think we're bringing Justin and Jeremy (wonderful, reliable, sensible kids from Rich Creek, VA...they were on our crew at All Good). Our old roommate Jesse is going as well, so that will be a nice reunion. I'm also going to make a sign tonight, a sign for Dug. Something to the effect of "We miss you".

Check out the site: www.pinkmoonfestival.com

Also I have a new Rock Camp Productions specific email address: jessofrockcamp@yahoo.com

Some "Official" Pink Moon Information

PARTICLE -- DONNA JEAN GODCHAUX
Josh Phillips Folk Festival, Sol & Funk Root, The DJ Williams Projekt
Dj Rahbee, Funk Punch, Galaxy Dynamite, Marionette, The Kind, Materia Project, Triscale, Groova Scape, Levi's Gene Pool, Soul Stone Overdrive, Schak, Vern's Pot O' Chilli..., Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Dischordian Society, Silo Effect,The boatmen, RTFM, Catatonic and more coming!!!

Check out our new Shangri-La Village - Located under the giant Oaks at the base of Graveyard Hill! There you'll find a mystical village of life, love and
community. Visit for vending, our improved BLACK LIGHT MINI GOLF
COURSE, our brand new Shangri-La Stage and activity tent, First Aide,
Pink Moon Merchandise, and much much more.v

Keep an eye out for Puff T. Magic-Dragon and his friends Dr. Molly and Siddhartha Glo...they'll be chasing each other around and Glodeo-ing all weekend!

Body Painting For Charity! - We will have a Body Painting Booth set
up in the "Shangri-La Village"...come bare it all (or just show just a
little skin) for our artists and become a [completely washable] human
canvas. Suggested donation: $5 to be donated to the Music and Arts
Departments of Monroe County Middle Schools.


Ticketing Info:
Early bird special - $65/weekend before August 3rd
Presale (August 4-24) - $75/weekend
Presale (August 25-Sept 8) - $85/weekend
Door: $90/weekend

Children 12 yrs old and younger are free, but must be accompanied by a ticket bearing guardian (over the age of 18) at all times.

Day ticket pricing: tba

There are 2 more scheduled PINK MOON WORK WEEKENDS: August 13-14 and August 27-28. We'll be working from 11am till 5pm each day. Feel free to camp for the weekend. 10 hours of work earns you one ticket! More work weekends tba

Vending passes are still available! Message Jessica Mola or email jessicajmola@gmail.com for more information.

Make checks payable to: Rock Camp Productions LLC
Checks may be sent to:
Pink Moon Festival - Ticketing
c/o Jessica Mola
Rt. 1 box 137
Lindside, WV 24951


Rules:
-NO ATVS. NO EXCEPTIONS!!
-Absolutely NO pets. NO exceptions.
-NO GLASS
-NO GAS
-Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a guardian.
-No open flames. No fireworks. No exceptions.
-No Violence/Weapons

Late Night Flier Design

Seth and I are sitting on the couch, Ginny and Lucy and kittens galore asleep at our feet. We're watching a DVR'd "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" from Friday and designing the fliers for Pink Moon III. They look fantastic. We're both getting tired and grumpy though! Seth 's been working for four hours straight on the flier project. And he's got it! I'm a sleepy bunny...I think it's bed time!

Thanks to: Zach Korn, Brian Zickafoose, David Ashcom, and Eric Rautio for all of their help!

 
P.S. Happy birthday Jerry!