What are your best TBF memories?

[Dewstar]

Couldn't resist! so many mems!

Hi,

I have traveled so many times to Teehelluride Fest. I've camped, condo'd, cramped, froze, soaked, stoned, Deerunked, laughed, cried, upstage, backstage, met incredible people front of and backstage, bunked, bonked and boinked, uptown and downtown, in bars, under the stars, up the stairs, under umbrellas and great big bikes. I've Illiumed, cow pastured, town parked, driveway camped, Werner Fielded, questioned authority, smoked, drank and ate remarkably fine food, wined, whined & Beer'd, hugged, kissed and boozed. I've photo'd, been photo'd tented, shower housed, caroused, experienced being a pottiratzi, hacked, sacked, thrown up, thrown down, befriended, farted, belched, biked, cabbed, bumped into Oprah, bused, bar'd, barred, skied (ok not in summer), coffee'd, tea'd,  breakfast burrito'd, restaurant'd, food booth'd, lemonade stand, cookied, copied, library internetted, wifi'd, been lucky, been alone and been with my irish honey wife.

Telluride and its festivarians have it all. Emotional and Tasty! Treats on the senses abound, musically and culinarily. A coupla times, whole foods gave out free fruit ( the watermelon was deelish) and last year, someone came through the campsites and gave out free CD's, no questions asked! Another time, someone sold unique t-shirts and someone else was selling dingoballs made with a certain type of hemp product that made your hoola hoop go around a little smoother and sometimes a little faster. Then there's the icecream vendor and you just want to keep it simple have'm whip up a little strawberry shake!

Funny how your food senses go crazy, you pack up, pack in, unpack and peak. Suddenly you're checking out the food lines. You start with a glass of Wine or one of dem beers mon. You peer at the counters, always appreciating the vendoree that puts out sample lookyloos. You glance at the Rustico Sign ... pause .... bewildered and unaware that the outpost is an authentic italian stallion resplendent with field greens salad, creamy pasta with mushrooms, southern greens or a mix N match. But what your really eyeing is the huge bowl of strawberries and cream that is one of the cheapest eats at the fairefest... O course your a bit hemped and you REALLY want those berrys! You trudge on to see more:  Killer Corn, Tri Tip Sandwiches (watch out they drip!) now corn dogs, curly fries, Sirichi everywhere! Fried rice, yakitoris, thai bowls, mexi mix up, teas, beveys. and PIZZA! Oh why do they have to have PIZZA? now what to EAT?! har har!


 It's cold in the mornings and just after the sun comes over the peaks, you have to doff all the extras you put on just to get to the PortaWC while you stretch your legs and drink extra cold water to cleanse the kidneys and clear your self induced fog.

Evenings always have a dilemma: Should you go back and change, are you getting a little drunk? Did you take your vitamins? Blow your nose cause of all the dust you didn't deal with? What about the SunBurn you neglected?  What about those nifty powerful squirt guns you bought at $am's Club to randomly gun down strangers you in turn beg you to 'do it again!', ... and you do with a smile.

How bout the handmade breakfast you make to take to those who valantly stand in line, their personal loyalty to the cause and set up your tawrp each and every day without complaint? You never worry about their choice for a snack you bring them cause they are so awfully grateful and a little dead that you thought of them and you are eternally grateful for their service as well.

A visit to the back tent to see, talk story, squeeze and touch your favorite band artists and their gear... Giving into the price of something at the gift shacks or going through the bargain baskets and finding your SIZE! Walking past the food vendors and seeing one line longer than the rest and wondering what is all the fuss. Filling your drinking water jugs at the public fountain in the fest grounds, topping off water guns and sprayers and realizing the temperature will always be about 57 degrees as it has been for the last 20 years. The absolute joy of a band member or celebrity who tells you that they are on the next flight out, they'll see you again next year and would you like to take over their empty room for the next 3 DAYS? WoW! 5 Star showers for all your new best friends.

Or perhaps it didn't happen like that it all and you used the quarter showers in the camp mud huts or contributed to charity showers at the high school down yonder. Speaking of camping, what about the festivarsamaritans that bring extra goop, equip and kitchen aid to come to your aid? There is a micro epcot center going on here and no one's stoppin it!

Then the jammer neighbors who pluck gently in the mornings, jam harder in the afternoons and even harder when those who didn't go back in cause the wanted to see the outrageous camps that take days to set up and find rumballys to suck on and trade disney pins (just kiddin about that last one). One never is bothered to pitch in the right bin or purchase ice from the outhouses (whoops) i meant ice huts just around the corner cause its one extravegance you allow your food and beer in their coldspace to keep you coming back to the chillin Bloody Mary Mix, salsa and eggs, brewskis, lunch meats and choco fun in ziplocks. Weeks previous, you carefully start re-arranging the neighbor's, mom's and your freezer so that everything you have can be frozen solid so that you can beat last years record for buying icccccccccccccccccccccccceeee.... don't you just love ice and chocolate and the cutie at the tentsite next door? Yes, you do...

Stoppin by the Supermarche and pickin up a pint of that creamy sante fe chicken soup to sup on. After that, (now that you have escaped the fest grounds) scouring bars to see how many Guinness taps you can count and drink from as many as possible while stopping and checking out peoples and their amazing amount of gear they drag along with themselves: Dogs, dreds, childs, tevas, gypsy garb, stink and just plain no make-up beauty. You greet the same cops and marshall's you have seen working their beat since your first visit back in '77... my were all getting older. Always the compulsory glance to see if your karma is in check at the free box, a long standing tradition. But I have to admit, I hadn't heard of free box fashion shows until today!

Tuning your car/condo radio to KOTO to catch the craic, the town breeze, and townfolk and celebrity DJ's play the most amazing music ever heard, you wonder where they store it all and all of the sudden, you find yourself there and see the most amazing collection of music ... its everywhere. Sometimes listening in, you'll hear the thumping bass of my brother mike with his unique and personal string slap that always puts a little extra electrical impulse in your left or right hip to get the dancin rhythm that makes the rest of your body shake and rock and roll and make you think of the last time you had sushi, saki and a handroll. You peer into the last dollar bar, confidently strolling past the ID checker and soak up the atmosphere, smile and recognize that a few time one was here, truly on my last buck.

Camp has taken over the love of condos and now the love of condos has returned. I have a friend, john cowan's biggest fan JumpinJaney, that vows never to camp again and only wishes condo karma. Lately, I have been feelin kind of the same way.

Telluride Festivals take on a life of their own. One you want to own, but can't take with you, except in memory and photos and in cups, and tan feet and the music your ears/brain have absorbed and the love you take in and give all at the same time.

Your notes and bits o tid here, helped me remind my of the best and worst times of some 18 or 19 festivals. As I always say, I always want to visit Telluride, but never want to live there for more than a few weeks at a time. Its a pleasure to meet the locals, the survivors and those that make the annual pilgrimage with so few regrets year after year. Last year, I thought that it would be the last time for a while. So many acts that I am used to seeing won't be back this year. Then I start thinkin about being grateful for Ferg's Vision, scooping up the possibility of a festival's charms and holding it, nurturing it and playing with it to produce a lovely offspring...

We'll all miss Tim O this year, but at least it will give him time to change course and find new musicians to play and compose with and discover old and new talents and be more remarkable than ever.  I am grateful for all the musicians that have made the trip, the list seems endless and wish I had the time to list them all down and write for another few hours. Easily I think of Strength In Numbers (The Gospel of Tride Instrumentals), Johnny Cash wheezing through his harmonica, Jr.Brown rocking the house, Willie Nelson actually with Blue eyes crying in the downpour,

Now if I was to think of all the muscians that have I have seen, or had break, fastlunch or dinner with and made me come back year after year it would start with a list o pals a mile long, here I'll give you lil examp:

Sam&Tim&Edgar&Emmy&Tim&RedKnuckles&Yonder&Salmon&Bela&Del&Mike&JT&Robby&Ronny&CaseyD&KaseyC&allthebands thatmademecry&BlindBoysFromAlabama&JerryFlux&AlltheAllisons&Prine&SinginTony/SilentRice&Sutton&Rowanandallhisairforces&Slade&DrBanjo&
Rowan'snewhotchicks&bonnie&Mollie&Nick&Thieles&thefussofPastorMus&myfirsttimediscoveryofNewGrassRevival&seeingthem liveforthefirsttimewithinthreemonths&OlVas&HotRize&Grisman&Narell&Skyline&RobErKeen&subdudes&rarelyherd&GitarEaton
&LooseTies&Barenburg&NashvilleBluegrassBand&Stubob&Iris&Sawtelle&mikebub&guyclark&Lyle&fairfieldfour&railroadearth&
theFlecks&Waifs&boomchicks&WendyWass&oldcrow& so so many, many tothers...Wow, a custom made festival devoted to the music I love! I'm going! I'm going! Pulled the tix off of craigslist (brilliant!) and ebay, now everyone that wants one has one! Yupee!

But lo and behold, 10 months go by and friends from near and far like Rosco the Bluegrass MetroSexual (who I taught to camp), BanjoRicky, Tride Scotty, GitarMeesha and the lovelies Sarahbelle &  IrishAv start up the Festival love making process and the excitement of the journey beckons ... once again.  time to buy a new tent and some cangas and some mantles (will I ever give up coleman?) Nah! Some chocolates and stop by trader joes, and wally mart in cortez (hey they are always giving away something)! and bustmove! Its Field time ... again


I'm sure you can all relate in one way or tother and if you ain't never been, you have now!


See you there, seems I'm always ... there.

All the best,

Chow!
 Dewey j Bub

 Listening to: Tim O, Who Else?
 
 
« Last Edit: Today at 01:09:00 AM by mikebubsbrother »     71.209.206.110 

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Life is but a dream, so dream big!

               Dewstar

[Dewstar]

Muscially:
Bela Fleck, Stanly Clarke and Jean Luc-Ponty is right up there
Sam's set last year after coming out of the hospital ("Friends you have no idea what it's like to be lying in an ambulance thinking you are about to die from a heart attack, listening to KOTO as Bonnie Raitt is inviting you to come up on stage and play with her")

Sometimes words like that just come out and instantly become a cultural icon! That, was a great moment!

DEWSTAR

 Listening to: computer fan

[John R]

way too many, but...

Rowan, 2000, Land of the Navajo
Flecktones/Hornsby, yr?, Sojourn of Arjuna
Welch/Rawlings, White Rabbit

Paul and I have a co-worker that loves to play pranks and make art.  one year his art/prank was to fill some garbage bag liners with helium, make superballoons with them, add a lot of adornment and let them fly.  well, it was pretty windy that day and instead of going up, they went over, right in front of the stage and whoever was playing at the time.  he must have had a few hundred feet of cord attached to them, so it took a while to reel them in, again going in front of whoever was playing.  i laughed so hard i was crying.

every year, when the catering area is built, and i get to festivate.

the annual reunion of wednesday in line.  seeing and greeting those you haven't seen in a year and only see at TBF.

monday night's music transfer/trading session.  it starts at around 4pm and lasts until around midnight.

[Dewstar]

The first one of course! With Mike Bub and the Weary Hearts and Tucson Milo, Davos Gee and friends.

It was awesome!

six posts to 100!

 Listening to: neil young

[scouter]

"Telluride Festivals take on a life of their own. One you want to own, but can't take with you, except in memory and photos and in cups, and tan feet and the music your ears/brain have absorbed and the love you take in and give all at the same time"

I couldn't agree more!!! LOVE IT!! 

[Dewstar]

Peter Rowan!!

There's a few bands I rarely miss. Peter Rowan and whatever incarnation he happens to be in is one of them. Although I have seen him backstage many times, he itimidates me totally and I have never spoken a word to him (and a tbfbtw he is larger in real life!).

But I do have so much respect for him. Remember the year that weird band came on stage? The Ten Gallon Cats? Holy Chit mon! That portion of the show knocked me out with a huge one, two punch! KAPOW! We bought their discs and tried to see them when visiting SFO but couldn't seem to time it. So that was the only time I saw them. ooh mao mao!

Then there was the RastaRowan year setting bluegrass and reggae on its ear with the burning spear horn section! How does he do it? Incredible!

And the PRowan Jerry Dobro set. An unbelievable adventure in sound.

And all the times the Free Mexican Airforces were conscripted into service and did their duty to Gawd and the TBF countrymen. Man were we patriotic.

After seeing Peter play so many times on the TBF stage, it becomes a little blury. But I do know that having heard Peter go through his set list, most of the times covering his 'greatest hits' and sometimes going out on a limb and NOT playing what the crowd expected... It never seems to matter in the end.

One time I heard the truly great version of the FreeMexicanAirForce. Peter was in rare form and his chops were tight and belicose. Peter began the story from the very beginning with all the requeset sound effects and shanangins and gestures and great sound and he was very animated. 

 Always a pleasure to observe ...  absorb ... listen to ... and enjoy. I don't know that I had ever heard that version cause it seemed like he went on for a good 15 minutes before the band broke into song. It was like watching a man possessed (def: controlled or strongly influenced, especially by a supernatural force or a strong emotion). That day, I was totally blown away!

Another song that Peter often sings is 'Land of the Navajo', and this song is played in various forms depending on the back up band members and can often be heard best when its just PRowan and a small handful as to put full attention on what he does best. I have heard less than inspiring versions, but one time, again perfect weather, perfect players and a totally jacked crowd (most the chix screaming I love you Peter!!!) And Peter absolutely wailed and wailed and wailed! It was like standing in the Kalihari or the Gobi (uh huh huh, he said Gobi uhhh huh huh!) and listening to a wild animal. I never saw his eyes roll back into his head but he was in some sort of ... well, what I call the Telluride Trance. Its when you are on stage and you never have been there (not in peter's case) and all the sudden as a performer it hits you right between the eyes and for a few minutes you are completely in awe of the surroundings. It was a joy to hear such a unique and beautiful and masterful voice in the heavenly place. I look forward to his set every time I'm there.

One time back in the days before Iris Dement (for some reason I think she's the shit, I told Mike to tell her that his brother was her number one fan!) was known and hadn't been on too many stages and had produced two albums with a huge record label, Peter offered to go on the road for a few dates with her and he was going to OPEN for her! That was to draw the crowd and put Iris in the spotlight. I thought that was really COOL of him to put himself aside for another performer. So here I am in a little Scottsdale bar, enjoying the chit out the show and damn near fell in love with Iris right there! She is so smart and beautiful and cute and sings like no one I've ever heard. Did I mention that I really like her?  I digress ...

Peter Rowan then returned to the stage once again to preach the ever present possibility of the Buddhaverse! A friend who had come to many of the previous fests took the program in hand and read the story of Peter's newest incantation and from then on, everything fit, everything was one, everything had transformed into the

BuddhaVerse!

Didn't it for you too?


Ahh Peter, we can't wait to see your next set!


 Listening to: peter rowan

[Cindy Lou]

To Dewstar, Yep, you just about covered it all!  Then there was drunken hammock hopping in the dark in the old days That takes a team effort getting in AND getting out ( I think I still bear a scar from a hidden rock)
31 years and counting. Well here I go again, fallin in the mud with you oo oo oo, my heart won't beat slow again, since I fell out of the hammock with you-hoo ooooo. (just a twist on Red's lines)

[Snowpeak]

Wow, these are great stories.

This will be my first time to the Festival.  I have always wanted to go to the festival since forever.   Well, forever has finally arrived.

This really puts the sparks under my butt, catapulting me into the category, of I can't wait to get to Telluride.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Snowy

[gwg123co]

Stumbling across the path into Camp Happy with Vince signing chicken songs until I couldn't stand up any more and stumbling back to the alley with my friends.

Seeing Jeff Austin ("getting ready for church"), so so excited before Yonder's first set on main stage.

I too, remember to ceremony at the bench in Chautauqua. Talking with Tim at Telluride about how much things have changed and his point that things are pretty much as they always have been.

Slade Lives !

[AllFourDays]

1999

Willie Nelson Mosh Pit

[merrson]

I just had my first bluegrass experience this year but I already have my favorite memerory!

Yonder Mountain was just in their jamming mode when we all broke through that stupid pink rope and the security guy could do nothing about the 200 hundred people dancing as hard as they could in the once blocked off section!!!

[Capt. Telluride]

Slow dancing with a pretty girl during Alison Krauss was a great memory.

[hufftrader]

It's gotta be Rushad in Crooked Still leaping off the stage into the pit in his pink jumpsuit.  That took the whole audience by surprise.  That guy is hillarious!

[KyleeS]

I was lounging in the shade across from the stage in town, and Noam Pikelny came and started jamming in between sets! It was a free, private concert...there were only two other people there! Every moment in Telluride was wonderful

 Listening to: YMSB

[hufftrader]

Another big surprise for me was Dougie Maclean.  There was so much emotion packed into every tune that he had the audience on the verge of tears.  I ordered "the Essential Dougie Maclean" CD as soon as I got home.  Had to order it from Scottland!