Harmony Festival - Day 1

Getting there was a pain in my ass.

I picked Cucumber Rob up at LAX around six, six-thirtyish. He was outside and waiting right where he was supposed to be. Originally I was planning to pack up the car and drive up to the Bay Area straight from the airport, but Cucumber Rob had sent four large (read heavy) boxes of Jefferson Starship CDs, plus I had my boxes of stuff that would be sold. And if that wasn't enough, I was also taking a coffee table (mounted on the roof of the Jeep) up to my girl child. I decided it was best not to provoke the airport security into searching the car so we stopped back at my place to do the loading.

That was the problem. After waking at 7am and spending the day working, packing/prepping for the trip, I still had a bunch of pictures to print. I thought it would be cool to show the Starship some photos of the band I took way back when, and we were also planning a side trip on the way back to see the lead singer of a mega UK band I shot in '75. Scanning, retouching, printing...it all had to be done. And Cucumber Rob needed my wifi to take care of some biz back in the UK. And I had to make and print a sign for him to advertise the CDs. And, and, and.

By the time all the 'ands' were done with it was 10:30 or 11ish pm when we got back on the 405 heading North. We didn't get very far out of town before we needed to stop for food. I went to Mickey D's for a 1/4 pounder meal, knowing that if I ate it all I would definitely be able to stay awake for the long haul. Finicky Mr. Vegetarian Cucumber Rob refused to order from Ronald, so we found Mike's diner (his new favorite place) where he picked up a cheese sandwich.

Within a half hour of eating (and me driving), Cucumber Rob fell asleep in mid-sentence, maybe a couple of miles past the Grapevine, leaving me to navigate the darkness of the I-5 all by myself. Between the flapping of the sheet (meant to protect the roof of my car from the potentially scratchy coffee table) and Cucumber Rob's incessant snoring, it's a wonder I wasn't lulled into a permanent sleep. By the grace of somebody, we managed to hit the Bay Area around 3:30 but didn't make it to Chez Jaimie until at least 4. Due to the brain damage caused by my lack of sleep and Cucumber Rob's surplus of snoring I took the wrong turnoff and ended up on the road to nowhere, then forgot to make a turn to the 101 S after crossing the architectural anomaly known as the Richmond Bridge.

By the time my head hit the pillow I was dead asleep. I was awake again 5 hours later, although it felt more like 5 minutes, to help Cucumber Rob unbungee the coffee table from the roof before he, me and the girl child headed to girl child's fave restaurant for breakfast (this was required in lieu of payment for the accommodations). Oh before I forget, there was a list of rules that came with the privilege of staying at the Chez. These were emailed to me and forwarded to Cucumber Rob prior to our LA departure.

I figure I should reprint them here just in case you find yourself booked in at Chez Jaimie:

No Shoes inside.
No Gum chewing.
No whistling.
No Coffee inside.
You will be expected to clear your sleeping area as soon as you awake, this includes vacuuming (provided it is after 8 am).
No towels will be provided without a $5 service charge for laundering.
The toilet seat must always be down when not in use.
You must turn out every light before leaving a room.
All doors are to remain closed except when entering/exiting.
You must be mindful of the cats and not let them out.
You will be expected to wash all your own dishes or incur a $5 service charge for each dish.
All cell phones must be turned off in my apartment to avoid unnecessary electromagnetic radiation. OFF, silent mode does not count.
You will walk lightly on the stairs and refrain from conversation in outside corridors.
You will be charged for water for showers, brushing teeth, flushing toilet etc.
You absolutely must flush the toilet. You must flush twice if it smells and then light a match. Please bring you own matches.
You may not move furniture around... if you are not comfortable with the space provided for sleeping then go to a hotel.
You will be kicked out for loud noise or sudden movements.
You may not open closets or drawers.
You must be respectful of the hostess at all times.
Telling jokes pertaining to race, religion, or politics are grounds for being kicked out... unless you are poking fun at Jesus.
You may not leave anything in the bathroom. IE take your toothbrush in when you are brushing your teeth and then take it out with you--otherwise I will throw it away.
If you walk into the kitchen for any reason you will be required to mop the floor.

And finally, I reserve the right to refuse service and kick you out, or to charge you a service fee for any inconvenience you may cause me.

Enjoy your stay and look forward to seeing you.

Fortunately, we were not there long enough to break many of the rules. Although, as I recall, Cucumber Rob's matches were confiscated on boarding his plane in Mexico City.

Enough of my blathering...here are some photos from Day 1...

The car and the coffee table...

C. Rob tries to unbungee the coffee table.
We discuss taking it to the festival.
I eventually lent a hand...really, I did...

C. Rob does whatever it takes to keep the rulemaker happy.

Yes, it was a hippy-dippy fest...

With Eco-friendly folks...

And the globally bizarre Cucumber Rob...

Did I mention it was a hippy-dippy fest?

Hula-hoops on our way to the stage...

Where music would soon abound...

Meet the Green Woman

Did I mention it was hippy-dippy fest?

Our tent city...

And my tent - naked.

More to come. A couple of photos of Mickey Hart from the night of Day 1 and then Day 2.

I know you can't wait.

I certainly can't.

Back...barely

As of around midnight, I returned from the five-day sojourn up to Santa Rosa for the Harmony Festival.

Had a great time, which I promise to write about in the coming days. Part of the fun and games included shooting tons of pictures of pictures, which I promise to post a sampling in the coming days. In addition to shooting the interesting people I saw after some time machine jettisoned us back to the 60s, I shot some great musicians such as Jefferson Starship, Arrested Development, Charlie Musselwhite, Mickey Hart and Damien Marley.

And I slept in a tent. After I get some sleep in my real bed, I'll hopefully be able to collect my thoughts and tell you all about it.

What's Going On?

Tons of things. And what really bugs me is that by the time I get a chance to post the events I'm involved in, they're happening the next day or already past.

So, this is my round-up post of what's going on and what's coming up. Or maybe I'm just throwing my datebook online so I can check in and make sure I'm where I'm supposed to be. I've been so busy in the past few months with so many different projects, I keep getting that feeling that I've forgotten to show up for a meeting or not done a job I promised to do.

Here's what is currently on tap:

NBC TV Show - On Monday afternoon I'm shooting a segment with Mo Rocca that I believe will air on a show called 1st Look NY (check out his interview with Clay Faiken - I hope I can be funnier than him) that is supposedly going national. Mo is a comedian and as you may have guessed by many of my posted I thrive on sarcasm. I'm looking forward to creating some humor within in the theme of a dead rock star book. I plan to take photos (hopefully throughout the interview) which will be posted here. Any suggestions on how I should rock Rocca, lemme know.

Book Expo - May 29-June 1. This year it's in L.A. so, Yay!, I don't have to travel. But being in L.A. gives me this false sense of security that I have plenty of time to prepare. I don't. I still haven't done my follow-ups from the London Book Fair and I haven't decided how I'm going to proceed with the retail distribution of the book. I think I have a part of a booth where I can have a display. The US book expos are heavily attended by booksellers so I could possibly take orders from bookstores so it will be in stores for the gift-giving season this Fall. But I'm also considering taking it out of the stores and just doing it exclusively from my site and Amazon. Shit. I don't know. Decisions. Decisions. Gonna have to decide soon.

Harmony Festival - Three days after Book Expo I'm heading upstate for the Harmony Festival. The festival is June 6th, 7th and 8th in Sonoma and will be their 30th anniversary. I'm really excited to go because I'm going to shoot a bunch of pictures, including Jefferson Starship...for the first time since I shot them in '75. This whole deal was instigated by none other than Cucumber Rob. One of those "Do you fancy a camping trip in June?" Yup. We're doing the road trip and camping at the festival. In tents. On the ground. Yikes. I'm kind of a Ritz Carlton type of girl. I prefer porcelain to splintery wood. But what the hell? I've always wondered what it was like to go to Woodstock. And I'm going to break out some old pictures of non-dead rock stars, including Jefferson Starship and the non-dead members of the Grateful Dead. My book will be there too. If you're going please track me down and say "Hi." And if you're not going you should check out their website and think about showing up. We're gonna have a helluva time!

House of Blues on Sunset - June 10th. I'm shooting Fish. No, not Phish. Fish. The Scottish prog rock musician. Be there or be square.

NEARfest - June 20-22. A prog rock festival in Philadelphia, PA. I'm sharing a selling table with Cucumber Rob and in addition to my book I am going to break out some never-before-seen photos I took of Yes. Yes! And also shooting Fish again and hopefully some of the other cool acts that are appearing. Do I have any blog readers in the Philly area? Suggestions on where to go if I have any time off? Where to get the best Philly cheesesteak? Any of you planning to attend NEARfest?

Fest for Beatle Fans - Yup. Another one. June 29-July 1. This time in Vegas at the Mirage. I had so much fun meeting all the Beatle fans at the NY fest that I'm signing on again.

And with all that I have a bunch of writing to do, more bats (baseball) to shoot, pitches (not baseballs) to create and a whole pile of prep to do (scanning, printing, framing, organizing) for the above-mentioned events.

Anybody looking for a non-paying assistant job?

Edited 10 minutes after posting to add:

Shit. I totally forgot to put up the bit that was the reason I decided to do this post in the first place. Shit. Shit. Shit.

I donated a Starart Limited Edition book to the Grammy charity MusiCares. They are currently having an online auction of all sorts of cool rock'n'roll stuff. So...

Grammy Charity Online Auctions - Now thru May 22nd. You can check out the full list of items here and my book here where they have pictures I gave them of some of the artists signing the books. Check it out and start bidding. It's a worthwhile cause.

Shit. I can't believe I forgot to put that up. D-u-m-b dumb.