End of day 4: It's all over

So that's it, that's the end of the 2006 Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival.

This year's festival was marked by record attendance, some big shows and enough hippies and dancing to fill a year's worth of shows. The buzz today in the media tent and around the festival was still about the Flaming Lips show last night and the "Jesus Christ Superstar" show this morning had quite a crowd of its own.


Eric Mardis in the title role of Jesus Christ Superstar.

A group of local musicians fronted by Eric Mardis as lead guitarist and Jesus Christ had the Sunday morning audience moving with its faithful recreation of the original soundtrack. The crescendo was the big chorus at the end asking "Jesus Christ, Superstar, do you think you're who they say you are?"

People were noticeably more relaxed on the last day of the festival with some leaving the grounds after waking up. It was definitely easier to walk around and take pictures, and even though many people had been on those festival grounds all weekend, many were in a good mood.

For more post-event coverage, you can read my wrap-up story that appears in Monday's Topeka Capital-Journal.

And don't forget to check Spotted.cjonline.com for photos from the festival.

That's all for this year.

~JJ Duncan

End of Day 3

Two words: Flaming Lips.

If you've never seen them, see them. I've thought about it and I don't think I can give a fair unbiased opinion of this show. It was easily one of the best shows I've ever seen in my life.

This was my second time seeing the Lips. I saw their short, yet memorable, performance at day two of Coachella in 2004, but it left me unfulfilled after only four or five songs. Saturday night, the Flaming Lips gave everyone nearby a show to remember with aliens, smoke machines, glowsticks and more confetti and streamers than I've ever seen in one place.


Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips.

The band satisfied fans and newcomers alike with a mix of material from many of its albums and a cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" early on that took the Queen song to new places. And as with all Lips shows, crowd participation was key on songs like the bombastic ballad "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," which had the whole audience singing "Yoshimi, they don't believe me. But you won't let those Robots eat me."

Fans were packed all the way to the back fence as the Lips played a full set before coming out for an encore that included "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton."

I was pleased with some of the photos I got out of the set. Feel free to check them out.

I'll be updating again soon with a final entry. Look for a feature in Monday's Topeka Capital-Journal.

Night, day 2

All right, so day two beat day one in my opinion.

First of all, as soon as the sun went down it was a beautiful night with just the right breeze. It was the kind of night that reminds you why outdoor festivals exist. Secondly, I had a little more sleep. And lastly, the Reverend Horton Heat put on the best show I've seen so far.


The Reverend Horton Heat

The Rev got things rockin' at Wakarusa and had the crowd in the palm of his hand by the time he hit "Wiggle Stick" on his third or fourth song. The trio took the guitar solo out for a ride and didn't bring it back for a good five or six minutes as the Rev showed what that Gretsch hollow body guitar could do.

If you've never seen him play, he uses everything the guitar can do to fill out a solo: creating a tremolo effect with his volume knob, reverse wah on his wammy bar and even a little feedback next to his Fender amplifier. Sure you could say those kinds of effects are a little cheap compared to some of the ridiculously virtuoso abilities of some of the musicians at the Wakarusa festival, but at least I don't get bored listening to him play.

Although I would have enjoyed the small irony of the Rev playing "Eat Steak" at a festival full of hippies, he didn't get to that one, but the band never hit a slow spot. They closed with "The Devil's Chasing Me," before coming back out for two encores -- neither of which really topped that closer.

After that, I stopped by to see Robert Randolph and the Family Band headlining the Sun Down stage for a little while and caught a big pedal steel version of "Voodoo Chile." The large crowd loved it, and it was definitely one of the more innovative ways I've heard to pay tribute to Hendrix.

I'm looking forward to Saturday's shows, featuring the Flaming Lips as the big pay-off. People also seem to be loosening up, as it was much easier to take people's pictures day two.

Well that's all for now.

Afternoon, day 2

The Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival has gotten into full swing despite sweltering heat and police checkpoints.

The last I heard, the temperature was hovering in the mid-90s, which made the shade of the Revival Tent choice when I stopped in to see Tim Reynolds. Known for his guitar virtuosity, Reynolds did not disappoint the mellow crowd. Even if you don't get into the long jam-style work he does, you've got to respect that he keeps that guitar going for about a solid hour with his fingers never leaving the fretboard. The tendons in his wrist must be made out of high tensile Japanese spider silk.


Tim Reynolds plays the Revival Tent.

Reynolds makes a lot of noise for one guy with a guitar and he's playing to a crowd that really appreciates those long drawn-out guitar solos. Well, solo actually. Basically his set is just one long guitar solo with intermittent singing as he slides into song after song.

While I was listening I think I experienced the best and the worst he had to offer in back to back songs. The bad news is that a solo acoustic rendition of James Brown's "Sex Machine" = abomination. Tim Reynolds is many things, but funky just isn't one of them. The good news is that his instrumental rendition of the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" was really incredible even though it was just a segue into a big solo.

Tonight will be the show I'm looking forward to the most aside from the Flaming Lips: the Reverend Horton Heat on the Sun Up stage. It will be interesting to see how a primarily rock-a-billy band will fare with the crowd here.

Later on will be more guitar virtuosity as Buckethead takes the campground stage at 12:30 a.m.

After that I plan on heading home to my own bed. I'm done with my camping experiment and I want a decent night's sleep. I'm waiting to tear down my tent until after the sun goes down because I touched it earlier and it's really hot, especially the zipper.

Remember to keep checking back for more updates over the weekend. And keep looking at Spotted.cjonline.com for pictures. I'm going to try and get some nice up-close pictures from the Lips show. We'll see how that goes. Sunday morning also offers something to look forward to. The local group of musicians that has been putting on shows featuring the entire "Jesus Christ: Superstar" soundtrack will be playing the whole thing in the Revival Tent at 11 a.m. Sunday morning. Think of it as the festival's version of church.


That's all for now. I'll post again before bedtime tonight.

Morning Day 2

It's the beginning of day 2 and I'm already tired.

Turns out my instincts about that tent were right. I didn't get a shaded spot so as soon as the sun came up, the heat got me out of there.

Last night was a good night for the festival. The two main stages weren't running shows yet, but Disco Biscuit packed the Revival Tent with an overflowing crowd of zealous dancers. I mean seriously packed. You were lucky if you could see the band.

For those unfamiliar with the band, as I was until last night, Disco Biscuit plays a set of long straight-up jams that get the crowd moving with thick bass and acrobatic percussion. But the crowd really got moving when Disco Biscuit would move into one of its big guitar and keyboard-laden crescendos. How do you know it's the crescendo? Well if you can't tell from the crowd's screams of approval, the guitar gets faster and higher. That's about it. And they really packed that tent.

From there I headed out of the main festival area to the campground festivities to see Wichita's Gooding on the Homegrown stage. It was a thin crowd at first, but as the Pnuma Trio finished on the Campground stage, Gooding's crowd grew to a pretty decent size. This trio is a more pop-oriented band than most of the stuff at the festival, but Gooding appealed to jam fans as well when frontman and namesake Gooding dueled himself on separate guitars. It was pretty impressive.


Gooding

After that was a stop at the Electronica stage at around 2 a.m. where people were still dancing. And what fun is a big festival if you don't have naked dancing hippies? Well one hippie actually. I guess she made it past the checkpoints with whatever she was on.

Speaking of which, did you hear about the checkpoints? The Kansas Highway Patrol is running a checkpoint to search incoming drivers exiting off the westbound Kansas Turnpike at the Kansas Highway 10 interchange. Officers are reportedly seizing small amounts of drugs without arrests, but arrests are still being made. Bottom line? Don't do drugs.

Well that's about all for now. Shows to check out today: Truckstop Honeymoon, Tim Reynolds, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Reverend Horton Heat, and Buckethead.

I'll check in again later today.


Yours truly

Evening, day 1

It's evening now and so far the only song I've actually had a chance to stop and listen to was a guy with an acoustic guitar on a small stage doing a Tom Waits cover.

I'm already dirty, sun-burnt and covered in sweat, and so is everyone else. Hopefully things will cool down a little when night comes.

For anyone who doesn't know, getting into the festival today was not fun. I know it took me about four hours in all to get in and I heard some people complaining of longer waits than that. It blew my schedule, but I have seen some colorful people today, and hey that's what half of this is all about.

Aside from the driving part, I have walked a lot. If you plan to come out, check out the map at Wakarusa.com before you come out so you know where to park and where you want to go. You don't want to waste more than an hour just walking to your first concert.

Festival-goers seem to be loving things so far and it looks like there are more vender booths than last year. Looking around, here's a quick rundown of fashion at Wakarusa: no shirt, no shoes, let's party. Guys and girls have a few things in common here. They both seem to prefer sandals, though they will bo barefoot in the grass. They both avoid shirts. Many girls stick to the bikini tops. A guy in the media tent with me is going with the leather vest sans-shirt -- always classy. Even I've shed my shirt in an attempt to stay cool (in both contexts).

Pictured: The man with the leather vest interviews a guy from Disco Biscuits.

Lastly, I hate to be stereotypical, but hair is everywhere. And I'm not talking about 'oh those darn long-haired hippies.' No, I'm talking about chests, faces, legs and armpits. Yes the girls too. Nair would do well to keep its distance from this market.

I set up my tent at around 4:30 p.m., but now I'm really questioning my fortitude. Should I suck it up and camp like everyone else? Or should I drive the 10 minutes it takes to get to my house and sleep in a real bed with air conditioning after taking a long hot shower. I shouldn't even think about it because when it comes down to it, that $30 Wal-Mart tent just doesn't look like much fun to sleep in.

I really should toughen up. I met a guy earlier who rode a bus 18 hours to get here from Wisconsin. He then implied that it wasn't an entirely drug-free trip, (pun intended), but still, they guy cares about his music.

Really, I'm not all doom and gloom. The day isn't done yet and I've heard a buzz going around about the Disco Biscuits show at 11:45 p.m. and local band Ghosty will play at 1:40 a.m. Check back for more pictures and reviews.

P.S. -- I need soap... and I'm not the only one.

Note: Dictated to staffer at the home office by cell phone.


The carful of young travelers three cars back looks interesting, but I don't know them yet.

Other than that, I'm stuck in traffic between an old white Nissan and a nice new copper/gray Ford -- both pickup trucks, and I'm getting to know my neighbors while waiting to get into the Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival.

People seem to especially cagey about giving their names to me so far. The couple in the white Nissan said they were from Lawrence, but only the girl would give her name for the picture I took. Behind me in that Ford are four guys from Iowa who said they want to see Les Claypool. None of them would give me a name for the picture I took.

So far, passing by my car on foot, I've had three guys from Michigan and a few other hippies. I'm already seeing a lot of dreadlocks.

I've been waiting in traffic for a good two hours, and it looks like I might have another hour before I get in.

There goes my schedule.

Judging by the traffic, it doesn't seem unlikely that this will be the biggest Wakarusa Festival yet, and looking at the various states' license plates, not many of the people I've seen are from the area.

I've taken a few pictures while I've been waiting in traffic and I'll get them posted as soon as I get to Wi-Fi spot. Check back soon for some information that's a little more interesting, as well as pictures from inside the festival.

Before it all begins

The Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival begins tomorrow at 11 a.m. the same way it began the last two years: with a performance by Arthur Dodge.

The Lawrence singer/songwriter will open the four-day festival for the third time and I plan on being there to see him.

I've got my supplies: tent, cooler, camera, laptop, suncreen, etc. And I'm prepared to spend some time with a large diverse crowd of people that, on average, will be several shades tanner than I am.

The turn-out this year promises to be the biggest yet and with acts like the Flaming LIps, Mutaytor and the standard line-up of jam bands combined with the word of mouth this festival has gotten online it wouldn't be a surprise. I've already noticed the out-of-town hippies shuffling through Lawrence the past couple of days and I'm interested to see what the crowd is like this year.

Here is a short list of must-sees I've highlighted on my schedule: Arthur Dodge, the Hackensaw Boys, Tim Reynolds, the Disco Biscuits and Ghosty. I'm sure there will be more than that actually.

Not much else to add right now. The festival kicks off at 11 a.m. so check back and I'll have three to four entries posted for today.

Come back later for more.