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Summer Camp: Day 1

Lisa and Amy stalk the Flaming Lips and answer the question, "Can hippies dance to Girl Talk?"

It’s muddy, there are hippies everywhere and clouds of smoke are ejecting out of crowds. Camps line the outlying areas of the stages, and barefoot is the preferred footwear. This is Summer Camp. Set in Chillicothe, Illinois and basically ran by renowned jam band moe., Summer Camp provides an interesting experience for a city girl like me. Being thrust into the world of hippies and jam bands, Amy Dittmeier and Lisa White traversed through a variety of amazing and frightening experiences, all in the name of music.

Summer Camp, Day 1

6:45 am – In a totally stuffed van with the sound guys for the band that Lisa manages. I literally have all my bags stacked on top of me and I’m almost sitting on Lisa. The sound boys are talking about past Summer Camp experiences (seeing as this is Lisa and I’s first one) and the words “tripping,” “Frisbees,” and “djembe” (Lisa: and don’t forget copious amounts of pot) are brought up multiple times. Lisa and I look at each other in fear. We are not the Frisbee, djembe playing types. We’re the stay indoors and listen to vinyl types. This should be interesting.

10:06 am – Hiding out in Rob’s house. (Lisa: A very nice house, kudos to Rob’s mom) The rain is coming down in sheets, and there’s no way we’re going to venture out to the festival just yet. Rob is the drummer in the band Lisa manages (Lisa: Waterstreet, get on the fan wagon folks…), and we’ve decided to stick together with Rob acting as our Peoria/Summer Camp guide. It’s comforting to know that we won’t be left alone with stoners. We wait inside for the rain to stop and play a little foosball.

1:51 pm – After grabbing some grub at Maid Right (which is quite tasty), we’re finally at Summer Camp. The rain has stopped, but the after effects are definitely present. The entire campground is a muddy mess (Lisa: So much mud, so many hippies). Combined with hippies and stoners, I fear a mud fight coming on. Rob, Lisa and I walk around the grounds and explore. It’s pretty typical earthy stuff – tunics, flowing dresses, crystals (Lisa: Man, nothing like turning down a five year old who is trying to sell you healing crystals). I see a lot of people with dreadlocks. I do not fit in, neither does Lisa.

2:51 pm – We settle on the Moonshine stage for one of moe.’s five performances of the weekend, trudging through the mud to get to a clear spot. moe. is in mid-jam session and someone is shredding away (Lisa: On a song that is seriously ten minutes long. Seriously guys?). Flags are waving, ribbon dancers are feeling the beat and someone’s blowing bubbles. It’s a very different experience than the testosterone-filled music events that I usually frequent, but I rather like it. I actually feel like these people aren’t out to harm me or be purposely an asshole (Lisa: Unless you consider hippie folk to be the pure essence of assholes, then you are shit out of luck). The entire front of the stage is pumping their fists in the air as moe. comes to the close of their solo and the energy is amazing (Lisa: Why does moe. have to have a freaking period after their name, because it’s really unnecessary). moe. may not be my type of music, but they sure know how to work a crowd. Maybe I’ll catch an entire set tomorrow…

3:12 pm – At first there were only a handful of people jamming to the Lee Boys, but their bluesy beat drew the dancing, or possibly high, to the Sunshine stage (Lisa: So much bad dancing). I’ve never heard of the Lee Boys before, but Rob says this band is amazing. I really thought that Summer Camp would just be a bunch of jam bands and pysch rock, but this band breaks my preconceptions. Based in blues and gospel, it’s a welcome juxtaposition to moe..

3:42 pm – I finally find the truth in the statement, “White people can’t dance” through the Lee Boys set. And my first djembe sighting happens. Stereotypes ahoy. We decide to cut out early and check out the Camping stage, which ends up being a tiny shack in the middle of the camping ground (Lisa: Way to drop the ball on set up Summer Camp). I’m not sure how anyone could play here, but by the time we get there Dark Meat had just finished their set (Lisa: Dark Meat just released their latest album on Vice Records. For a freak out rock time, check them out). They look happy, but I’m not sure if it’s because they love the music or if it actually went well. There is no space for anyone to get down at the Camping stage. I don’t really plan on coming back, because I’m planning to get down.

5:23 pm – After wandering around and using our passes to their fullest extent, we catch the end of Future Rock on the Starshine stage. It is one huge dance party with no way of getting close to see the good action. We perch ourselves at the top of a hill and watch their last song, which is pretty bitchin’.

5:36 pm – At the Sunshine stage again, but this time with folk rockers the Avett Brothers. The bouncy bass parts make the perfect beat for hippies to bounce around to. Between the banjo, acoustic guitar, stand-up bass player and cello player, the Avett Brothers are tearing it up. My desire to see Girl Talk, who takes the stage after this act, makes my patience for their folk styling starts to wane (Lisa: Don’t get us wrong, the Avett Brothers were very good, but after a while we just wanted it to be over). I want to get my booty-shaking on, not my bounce on. But watching the kids play in the mud is quite amusing. Also, Lisa and I make our first Wayne Coyne sighting, the front man of the Flaming Lips. We squeal like little girls and run away (Lisa: We didn’t run away! But we totally screamed like little girls).

6:50 pm – Waiting for Girl Talk in the front row. After the Avett Brothers ended, everyone cleared out leaving a nice gap for Lisa and me to run ahead and secure excellent spots. We’re on the look-out for the famed Lips roadie Animal Wrangler, the person responsible for putting dancers up on stage. Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis) starts setting up his computer equipment and these drunken kids behind us start yelling out how he “tore up” the New Haven show. He’s very polite and gracious, sporting a beard and long hair. Can hippies get down to Girl Talk? We’ll see.

7:20 pm – Within twenty minutes of his set, Girl Talk has people on stage dancing and has taken off his sweatshirt. As Lisa stated earlier to me, it’s not a Girl Talk show until Gregg (aka Girl Talk) gets almost naked. He’s spinning some work that’s due on his next album, which he states will come out in a week, or a month, or sometime soon on the internet (Lisa: And the new stuff was pretty damn good, looking forward to it). The new tracks sound amazing next to old favorites, and everyone is getting down with their bad selves, me included (Lisa: Meanwhile just like in the words of Kanye, I am currently going “apeshit”). Unlike most DJs, Girl Talk moves with his music, bobbing up and down to his beat and dancing with people nearby. He even leaves his post and crowd surfs for a while. Girl Talk is crazy energetic, just like his music.

8:45 pm – The Flaming Lips are setting up and Lisa and I are geeking out. This is our third time seeing the Lips together, with the last time resulting in a tattoo of the famed pink robot from the Yoshimi album (Lisa: Word to the wise, don’t get a tattoo right before a concert, because it will really hurt as it heals, just ask Amy). A big electronic screen starts projecting some strange images, and we know it’s only a little more time before we rock out.

9:43 pm – Confetti. Lots of confetti. The Flaming Lips are in mid-set and I can feel the entire crowd pushing me forward. Too bad I have nowhere to go. I’m hanging onto the guard rail and jumping up and down, screaming out the words to “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” to the point where I think I won’t be able to talk in the morning and loving every minute of it. Even if you don’t like their music, the Flaming Lips put on an incredible show. I’m sure the stoners and trippers are freaking out. Wayne brings out a gaggle of naked women for their Led Zeppelin cover and I’m truly amazed. They never fail to entertain. The coldness from the rest of the day has disappeared as me and Lisa jump around.

11:10 pm – I can’t believe this is happening. We’re following the drummer of the Flaming Lips Kliph Scurlock around backstage in search of the rest of the members of the band. We are slowly meeting the Flaming Lips. Lisa and I had discussed earlier how I wanted the Lips to sign my tattoo so I can further the design of the pink robot and it’s actually happening. Traveling around in search of people, we get to go on stage, in the artists rooms, and get pretty damn close to the tour bus. Eventually the members sign around the robot, the last being Wayne. He commends me for my dedication to music and the band, and Lisa and I get to take a picture with him as he proudly displays my signatures. These guys are so down to earth and love what they do. My respect for them has increased tenfold (Lisa: I feel the same way. These guys are incredibly nice and grateful to every fan, and despite the fact they’ve been around since the 80’s, they don’t seem the least bit jaded or bitter from the busy yet incredible life they lead). They never question my sanity as I tell each one I plan on getting their names permanently inked on my body, but rather are honored that I would even consider the idea. I even meet some girls who remember Lisa and me from the Chicago show in September as we exit backstage together (Lisa: And proceed to jump up and down and scream like twelve year olds, but every music nerd has that right after an event like this). Walking back to the car all hyped up and muddy, I wonder if Summer Camp can get any better than this. I still have Saturday and Sunday to find out.

Posted by Lisa White, Amy Dittmeier on May 24, 2008 @ 12:00 am