Earthdance

After driving the dusty dirt road due west over the coastal range, I came down into Laytonville and easily found my way to the Black Oak Ranch. I parked amongst a number of dusty VW busses, grabbed a beer and made it down to the main music bowl in time to catch Les Claypool’s latest project, Electric Apricot. I expected to see Les going crazy on stage, slapping the hell out of his bass while wearing some weird hat or mask or something, but no. I could hear Les’s distinctive singing style but the dude playing the bass was standing well back from the mic. Then I noticed that Claypool was playing the drums. I didn’t know he could do that, but it was pretty darn funky, in a good way.

Besides the main music bowl, there were a bunch of other stages set up inside of big domes and tents, and they even had a storytelling tepee. The Electronica Dome had yoga classes during the day, and at night had DJs bumpin’ dub ‘til dawn. I thought one of the big tents, The Diner Divine, was really quite chill. It had couches all along the walls, throw rugs, beanbags and big fluffy pillows all over the floor. Mellow gypsy bands played in the Diner Divine and Wavy Gravy even did a little comedy show. Funny guy, that Wavy Gravy.

Besides all the other cool stuff around the festival grounds (like all the little meditation shrines, activist ally, nudie beach, sweat lodge and all the trippy artsy stuff) the main music bowl was where it was crackin’. Lyrics Born was giving it to us and had the crowd pumped up and ready to party throughout the weekend as he headlined Friday night. Saturday night, Spearhead headlined, sticking us deep with some sweet, rockin’ tunes. The crowd was fully getting the freak on and the place went completely nuts when Steve Kimock came out with Michael Franti and jammed out a fifteen-minute-long “Freaky People.” Prezident Brown laid out the reggae roots in the early afternoon, and the commander in chief was blazing out some of his best for the crowd.

One of the most interesting things at Earthdance was the big spiral dance. They had us all form a big circle in the music bowl with our backs against the vendor booths. Everyone joined hands, making a huge human chain, and began slowly skipping along, spiraling towards the center of the music bowl. With nearly 5,000 hippies holding hands and skipping around in circles, we were successful in making the largest slow-motion mosh pit I have ever seen.

By Sunday evening all the grass in the main music area had been smoked and the bowl was pretty much dust. People were walking around with bandanas tied to their faces. After taking the long dirt road over the hill to Laytonville, I figured I had about enough dust for the weekend and decided to peace out.

Overall, Earthdance was a great time and a firm reminder for us all to love one another and enjoy life. Is that too much to ask?

Words and Photo By Harry Canyon

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