Electric Forest was - as Kevin Smith would say - a big bucket of win. It was also a sort of homecoming for me. Rothbury 2008 was not only my first camping music festival, but also my first interaction with a well known voter registration organization by the name of HeadCount. I was hangin' out in the forest on a Saturday afternoon when a volunteer asked if i was registered to vote. I replied "Yeah, but what are you doing here?" He explained the organization and a couple years later I was interning at the HeadCount office in New York and another year later I am on the road returning from the very site that sparked my interest. The whole weekend I was on the lookout for the next me. Who knows? Perhaps I planted a seed.
The weekend started off without a hitch. We arrived early enough to beat the rush of traffic and got excellent camping spots. We even had time to make a Wal-mart run to purchase a healthy amount of Dunkaroos and water. I need to add, those Dunkaroos created quite a stir at the campsite, since not a single person, myself included, had seen a package of Dunkaroos since they were in our paper lunch bags in the 2nd grade.
Some people said six sets of String Cheese was a bit much but in my opinion it wasn't enough. String Cheese was definitely the highlight of the weekend with the always goofy and fun "JellyFish" and a great Talking Heads cover. A few other acts did stand out, like Conspirator which featured a sit in by Adam Deitch and Darren Sheerer from the New Deal.
Not only was the music great but the HeadCount booth was chock full of interested people most of the day. Perhaps it was the signed Electric Forest poster we were raffling or genuine intereest in democracy. Either way, we talked to a lot of people who seem ready to hit the polls with a vengeance.
Well, I'm now on my way to Camp Bisco. Hope to see you there.
[Editor's Note: What Chris neglected to mention is that he lost the key to the HeadCount rental van, had AAA tow him to a nearby Chrysler dealer, and spent July 4th in Muskegon, MI waiting for it to open. Kudos to his co-pilot Liz O'Donnell, for not killing him.]