How to prepare for a Music Festival with Rock Camp Productions!

Seth and I have been very busy planning and preparing to go to Impulse Music & Art Festival this coming weekend! Getting ready for a festival is always, in my opinion, fun but stressful. I'm always completely convinced that I am going to forget absolutely everything. Well, I usually forget some things...but it hasn't happened yet that we show up to a fest completely empty handed!

A lot goes into prepping to leave the farmhouse and head off for a weekend (in this case almost a week)! We are leaving Rock Camp early Tuesday morning headed for the Durhamtown Plantation in Union Point, Georgia. Some of our crew is riding or caravanning with us, and some of them are meeting us there. I have the whole crew, and their contact information, on a list in my RCP binder, as well as directions to the fest, our contact person, Jared Parfrey, and his contact information, a copy of our contract, and my packing/gear list.

DJ RahBee is one of the featured members of our crew. He is coming with his DJ equipment (turntables, speakers, monitors, etc). Our friend and RahBee's girlfriend, Jennie Morse, is coming also with her glass art to vend. Crazyredbeard, a.k.a. Jonathon Blake and his 4.5 month pregnant girlfriend Julia are also featured members, and will be attending with Redbeard's painting gear and art to vend. August J. Heisler is yet another featured member of the crew, will be our photographer on site, and comes with his photography equipment!

As far as RCP gear we are bringing Puff T. Magic-Dragon, Dr. Molly and Siddhartha Glo, as well as all of the tools and materials we need to tweak them (and all of our pieces and installations): 

wire snips, pliers, at least one hammer, electrical tape, gaff tape, duct tape, clear tape, pvc tape and glue, gorilla glue, wire, chord, multiple sewing needle and plenty of thread, scissors, a slew of high tech gadgets to use as sound and motion sensors (sequencers, rechargeable battery packs, control boxes etc.),  extra kite fabric (rip-stop nylon) and pvc, extra lighting equipment (everything from EL wire, to rope lights, to compact flourescents, to christmas lights and lasers), TONS of 9-volt batteries (as well as a few AA, AAA, C, D...just in case), at least four extension chords and several powerstrips, the "dragon-battery" (Puff T's power source) with adapter and heavy duty backpack, frame packs for puppets, and as many zip ties as we can get our hands on.

Bear suits on a crew member's tent!

We're also bringing a lot of spandex/lycra (a.k.a. stretch fabric), heavy duty plastic tubing, aircraft cable, anchors, tent stakes, rope, bungee chords, several small posts, body paint in a variety of colors (including glow in the dark), lots of paintbrushes and sponges, clothespins, a number of different kites and windsocks, a projector and laptop with charger, and our seemingly-bottomless-and-yet-recognizable box of costumes including many silly hats and sunglasses as well as men's, silver, glittery, knee-high, platform boots.

Camp and costumes at GOTV 2010

Aside from all of that production and performance gear, we also have to bring a small suite of camping and survival gear, so that our six days in Georgia are spent in pique festie comfort! We are going to have a very large crew at Impulse...probably 15 people! They each have been told to bring their own food, drink, and gear, but that being said Seth and I still try to take really good care of our crew members. 

Me & Seth - Truck Bed Perspective at All Good 2011

We'll have to bring at least two coolers (with ice!), lots [and lots] of Coca-Cola (some to share, but mostly because I am a Coca-Cola addict! I can't get enough of that brown, syrup-y goodness!!!), plenty of Gatorade, at least twice as much water as we think we need, plenty of beer (but no glass, festival rule!), granola bars (some vegan), Oreos, beef jerky, tuna fish (if we get cans we have to remember a can opener), and [of course] candy!

Seth and I do not usually pitch a tent...instead we pop up a couple of ez-ups at the end our pick-up truck. We have a surprisingly comfortable, floppy, twin mattress we throw in the back of the truck (which has a Leer cover) and that's where we sleep. I'm thinking of investing in two battery-powered fans, because once the sun comes up that truck bed gets HOT! And it's sure to be hot in Georgia in June.

One ez-up serves as "camp", where we sit, hang out, eat and relax, and the other serves as a sort of dressing room/costume-closet/storage tent where we keep all of our gear and prep for performances. We have a special pile of tapestries which we hang with string and clothes pins from the ez-ups to serve as makeshift walls. My favorite is a small one, bright yellow, that simply says "rage" in big purple letters...it's a great "identifier" ("My camp is the one with the "rage" flag over there!").
The weather in Union Point is looking just a little bit wet and rainy  for the weekend (30% chance of rain/isolated thunderstorms Friday and Saturday, but 0% chance on Sunday!) so we'll have to bring a bunch of big tarps! I have learned to keep all valuables, as well as clothing and anything you really want to stay dry locked in the car (or in our case, the cab of the truck)!

Camp at Camp Barefoot 2011

During a festival "camp" is your base of operations. Camp is essentially your home for the 3 or 4 (or 6) days you spend at the fest. It might seem tough at times, but keep your campsite clean and somewhat organized...you'll be thankful in the long run!

RCP gear at All Good 2010

 And of course we cannot forget the essentials:

plenty of garbage bags (which we give out generously), extra blankets, at least two pillows, a fitted sheet and a couple of top sheets, several camp chairs (and a round, leopard print chair we inherited from Tom Johnson at GOTV '10), lots of sharpies (plenty black, and a few in various colors), a couple extra sweatshirts and jackets, extra socks, all RCP merchandise for sale, any promotional materials we need (for Pink Moon and other festivals we are attending this summer), a battery powered boombox with a small collection of cds and extra batteries, a first aid kit, hand sanitizer and wet-ones (it's almost like a shower...), bug spray and sun block, extra hair elastics, tampons and maxi-pads, a number of camping lanterns, headlamps and flashlights (bring a few headlamps as these always seem to sprout legs and walk off), plenty of toilet paper and a few roles of papertowels, ten times as many lighters as you think you can possibly go through, two or three cartons of cigarettes, matches, and in the case of Impulse, a little bit of firewood.

Seth at Camp Barefoot 2011

I think that about covers it for Rock Camp Productions festie essentials. Personally I bring:

two outfits for every day I'll be on site (in this case 6 day, 12 changes of clothes). I try to bring a good spread of hot weather clothes and warmer clothes for the [usually] cooler evenings. Comfortable clothes only...I have no interest in working or partying in uncomfortable attire...even if it is sexy. I'd rather wear body paint. Anyway my typical festie garb includes shorts, jorts, leggings, t-shirts, a couple of apron tops, some comfy sundresses, sweats, and mostly just my skeleton unitard!

Other personal festival essentials include a fully charged cell phone with charger (wall outlet and car charger), camera with clean memory card and fully charged battery with charger, fully charged iPad with charger, my notebook and a few pens/pencils, wallet with photo id, plenty of lighters, my knee brace, a toothbrush and toothpaste (perhaps even mouthwash!),  cheap sunglasses, sneakers, flip flops, Crocs, and galoshes!

RCP artist, crew member, and bear engineer: Christian Chritzer

The day before we leave (so tomorrow) we clean out and pack up the truck completely. I always try to clean the house up, especially our bedroom and the bathroom. It's always nice to come home from a festival, all grimy, stinky, sore and exhausted to take a nice clean shower and crawl into a clean, comfortable bed. Seth washed the sheets and blankets today, and yesterday he and I finished painting and cleaning the bedroom. It looks phenomenal, and is way cleaner than it's been in upwards of a hundred years!

I usually shower the night before and  the morning we leave, so I can at least begin the weekend squeaky clean and comfortable. Shave legs, brush hair, brush teeth, brush teeth again, possibly paint finger and toe nails. I lay out a comfortable outfit the night before, something presentable but still soft and loose enough to not get incredibly annoying over the 7.5 hour drive to Georgia.

So Tuesday, after we shower and make the bed, we'll be out the door and on the road! I can't wait...IMPULSE is going to be our first festival of the year. I feel incredibly fortunate to do what I do for a living...and appreciative that I am able to enjoy work and play pretty simultaneously.

See you at IMPULSE!!