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July 6, 2011

elephant @ Electric Forest: Saturday, July 2, 2011

elephant journal [was] at Electric Forest Festival at the Double JJ Resort Ranch in Rothbury, Michigan. Click here for a preview. Click here for The Journey. Click here for Thursday’s update. Click here for Friday.

Tough Life

Saturday got off to a slow start. The girls went to yoga at 12 noon only to find it had started at 10. Tom and I barely joined them before brunch ended at 1.

(Yes, it’s true — we were treated to all you can eat breakfast buffet everyday, with all the bacon and orange juice one could ask for.)

After brunch, climbing back into bed was the most popular option. We missed Keller Williams’ 2 pm set; same with Janover, who I’ve never seen or heard but was on the short list of people I wanted to catch a glimpse of.

Soon enough though, we began to build momentum. We prepared our backpacks and set off to catch the shuttle from the water park (right near the Thoroughbred Suites, where we were holed up) into the festival grounds. While waiting for the shuttle, we procured life-saving root beer floats and arranged to go horse-back riding the next afternoon (one of the activities included in the Good Life package). We also called the pro shop about a tee time, but no one picked up.

10 minutes later we were still waiting for a shuttle. The driver was on break, because he was only allowed to work a certain number of hours per day, so we were left standing. Unacceptable. I made a call. Soon we were on our way:

As it turns out, there was no happy hour that day, and we weren’t missing REO Speedwagon, so we immediately walked back to join the ladies at Rubblebucket on the Sherwood stage. On the way we found this cabin (please excuse my French at the end):

Now here is Rubblebucket performing, “Came Out of a Lady”:

We missed REO Speedwagon in favor of Lettuce:

Now here’s a brief tour of the Forest by day. The camera doesn’t quite capture it, but the acoustics were excellent even back by the hammocks:

Then, as promised, here we are at Future Rock, on the Tripolee Stage:

This is a better clip of Future Rock:

The crew reconvened in the VIP section for String Cheese. At both the Ranch and Sherwood stages, there was an area sectioned off right at the front for those fortunate souls with the right wristband. This is the only way to live. If nothing else, it provided an effortless way to find each other without resorting to stressed out texting.

Two-Thirds of the Official elephant journal documentary crew

Giant balloons joined us during “Land’s End” in the second set of String Cheese:

There was also live art being produced during the show — this, by Sarah Tracy of Atlanta:

Then our little video camera (called a Bloggie) ran out of battery. Sad that it runs out of juice before it runs out of memory. So, we switched to the iPhone cam. You can hear Boulder’s own, Big Gigantic in the background at the start of this video. They played one of my favorite sets of the weekend. Then you can see Ln’s neon hair on our way to catch That 1 Guy, starting a super-funky track entitled, “Butt Machine.”

Just because it’s cracked, doesn’t mean that it’s broke. / Just because it’s a butt, doesn’t make it a joke.

Late-night Saturday featured Bassnectar (in the running for Best Set of the Weekend), the Shpongletron Experience (Shpongle), and Skrillex, though by the time we’d been Shpongled, we were ready for bed. And hey, our guy Joe set us up with a tee time at 9 am the next day!

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Born on planet Earth, David Telfer McConaghay has since wandered across its surface in search of something which, when found, kindly insists that he continue searching. His immediate family lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, though he also feels at home in Washington D.C.; Grass Valley, California; Bogotá, Colombia; and now, almost Boulder, Colorado. He completed his B.A. in English & Creative Writing at The George Washington University in 2008. Experiences at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm are the primary source of any yogic inspiration David aka Sri Nivasa may express. He plays on Facebook Here and can be followed on Twitter Here

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