d-fest decompress..
d-fest decompress..
I spent the weekend at d-fest. Broke my ortho boot. drummed a lot. Got some “honey tincture” mead from some dude on the merchant row. Really good stuff. read the rest of the details by clicking below… d-fest. Hundreds of pagans from all over the place. doing ritual, workshops, socializing. I’d not been there since 1999. My life’s changed a lot since then. Camped with I&D, M&I both differently gimped, so needing to be supported some. Which is not to say that I didn’t raise my own tent nor do a share of the packing out. I just had to have the crutch nearby most of the time. First night I went up to Freedom Circle with Diarmid. Lots of people, but mostly a party kinda atmostphere. I was totally fooled by the propane fires, though. There have been fire restrictions in these parts, so they installed a big propane burner in the community firepits, with a gas line going away from the pit over to a nearby tree, where they propped a big (like 5’ tall) propane tank. No woodsmoke smell, but otherwise, a great alternative to no fire at all. The second night, I went up to trance. I’d heard from Pat that it was where he drummed, that it was good, etc. To get there was a long, dark walk up a hill from where I camped. I stopped at a couple camps on the way up, including Pat’s. He was sitting drinking while his wife read Rumi poetry to him. There was no noise coming from the circle when I finally got to it. Did I mention I hauled my djembe and backpack with a minimum of percussion goodies? When I got there, I was greeted with “oh yea, a real drummer”.. hmm.. not sure how to take that sometimes. It has a certain amount of adulation, and that’s nice, but I’m not usually the one that pulls the train myself. I played a little with Warren a little bit, and even had a few dancers who had been standing around waiting for there to be drumming, I got a very sincere thank you for playing at the end. Friday nite, I went to the drumming as my workshift. (your job: stand near a drumcircle where a propane fire is burning for two hours. Make sure that people are dancing safely with said fire - no jumping would be preferred, for instance - either with or without a drum or percussion instrument. That circle was very nice, adn it was interesting to see who was playing at it: Warren, George Moyer, Pat, kelrick.. all people I knew as drummers 10 or more years ago. Saturday night I went to a wedding ritual at the serpents’. Afterwards, I was called on to drum (fortunately, for me, Michelle had driven the car up to the site, and it still had my drum in it) Drummed for the dancing after the ritual, but when the dancing became people just hanging out near the fire cuz it was warm, Diarmid first, then I left to go to Trance. Once again, when I got there, nothing was happening. It was 15 minutes to closing time. I took my drum out of its case, announced “I have come here to play drums and chew bubble gum, and i am all out of bubble gum” and launched into a “Bethany” 6/8 rhythm. I was joined by other drummers (Diarmid joined, as did George), and soon was able to dance around in a whole bunch of 6/8 variations that I made up on the spot. Oh yeah, and the dancers really seemed to dig it. Dragonfest is a little like Brigadoon. It’s a magickal place that exists outside of our normal space and time. Once a year, a portal opens up and those who wish to, those who remember what it is they found there and want to get back to, enter it and play. I went to several d-fests in the 90’s, but I hadnt been there in several years. In some ways it was like an old friend, but in others it was a whole new thing. Probably at least half of the people there were new since I had been there. One lady I overheard say she’d been coming here for so long that it felt like coming home. Her friend asked how long she’d been coming. “Five years”, she said. I’d been gone for more than that long. Another thing that kept freaking me out a little was people who I don’t think I know very well recognizing me from a distance and calling out my name. There’re a lot of people who come out to my house to drum. Upon being reminded of the drumming, the guy was like “you go to those?” I said “I live there.” Oh yeah. Crutches.. and that damned boot. I don’t recommend doing a d-fest in an orthopedic boot, even if you do have a crutch to lean on. Second night of the fest, there i was, went off for a moment with my friend, and on my way back, I stepped on a root or a rock or something, and heard a big CRACK. and the next step, my ortho boot felt a bit odd. A little checking showed that I had snapped the sole of the boot across the ball of the foot. a few minutes later, I set my drum on it, and it snapped almost as loudly the ohter direction. Great. 3 more days and I have a broken boot. I made it through the fest but had to be extra careful. And I was apparently not letting myself be tied down. I used the shuttle as much as I could, but there were a few end-to-end camp walks that I did that were probably not recommended for someone as hurt as me. Ever been to something like that and notice that there are people who seem to be driving around the fest instead of walking. I’ve always had kind of an attitude. After the boot broke, Michelle started insisting on driving me to far-away places at the other end of camp. Came in handy as I had drums with us in the car, as well as having Diarmid’s drum fron the night before. We were able to quickly whip up some drumming. Of course, I didn’t see everyone I wanted to see. While I was somewhat mobility restricted, I did get a little bit of wander alone time, which is often important to me at a fest. Those I didn’t see, including those who might be reading this, were still on my mind. The fest was a little off for me because of certain unresolved interpersonal issues, and I hope I don’t have to attend a fest like that again. Michelle had a good time. She’d not ever been to something that big before. We went to a workshop called Polyamory 101 that was informative and thought-provoking. It’s surely been necessitated to some extent by our mutual injurious states, but we seem to be be ok around each other, more connected.