Showing posts with label granola funk theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label granola funk theatre. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Geranium robertianum: Rainbow is rebellious, like the 4th of July, against the powers that be, - so be hippies.



Rainbow is rebellious


Rainbow is rebellious,
like the 4th of July,
or the French Revolution,
against the powers that be, -
so be hippies.

Walking through Rainbow
on the 5th of July, I hear
"'He can't get along in normal society,' and I can't either ... "
'Normal society is so
messed up.'

'This forest is so nice,' someone else,
later, says, walking across
lodgepole bridge over a water way.
I see so many people in bare feet.
And after living outside for days,
people here start to darken a little,
as they merge with forest life.
And at this Rainbow, people
walk a lot, wandering & meandering,
up and down the forest paths,
from Warrior Camp, to the main meadow,
through the trading circle,
to Montana Mud, to Lovin' Ovens,
to Bread of Life, to Instant Soup,
to Bees on Earth.
The nicest camps are farthest
from the main Gate, but also entail
carrying stuff the farthest,
including the food to serve large
numbers of people.
No electricity or engines here,
at around 3200 feet elevation,
except for the solar panels on
G-Funk theatre, and one-bicycle-wheeled
platforms, that take two to move, ...
and this little wagon, that push cart,
and occasionally a bicycle in the woods.
All this walking makes people well,
and happens so naturally.

At G-Funk and main circle,
and the information hub,
ideas are shared.
And voices from the stage share ideas
of who we are, of Rainbow philosophy,
theatrics, song & dance ...
I hope some of these will be posted
as video
to the internet, - I'll add them here.

So, so many colorful clothes,
and so many young folks.
Rainbow family speaks to a vision:
disjunction from society, back to the woods, goes forward.
Everybody is going native,
so colorfully, in the woods.
At Instant Soup camp behind me,
I hear a Rainbow playing harmonium,
and singing Om na pa shivaya,
as I sit in the shade
by a creek, writing .

While I see Rainbow identity here,
as an anthropologist,
I also see native Americans
reclaiming living
in camps and villages,
close to the land,
for 7 days,
with no money exchanged
in these forests -
it sure makes bookkeeping easy,
and it's kinda radical.
Rainbow is about being
All Ways Free
as a peace & healing gathering in 2011.
And people are smiling here a lot.

I hear drums now, and see
a kind of music of life,
all around.
Come to Rainbow,
come home to this family.

Across from me,
over the swampy biggest meadow,
is Kids' Village,
with lots of tents,
and a way up to the back gate.

To the left is another village,
with eight teepees.
There's much tie die here,
and the large number of dogs
is amazing - dogs are happy here at
rainbow.


music under a nice tarp
with unique drums,
homemade - only kinda gamelan -
which we all make together.
I sing high, falsetto harmony,
with good drummers & a Thai stringed instrument.

We find space & bliss again & again -
in maybe 5 musical explorations -
and travel,
far in sound.

The Thai instrument player
speaks a few lines of
poetry of his truth ...
I've heard relatively little such poetry at Rainbow -
of '60s truth here,
but it percolates, sometimes
finding clarity.

It's the vibe here,
that I engage as watcher,
that's so connecting & intuitive.
Not growing my hair long,
talking pot these days, or ...
I have the pleasure of viewing.

This forest parade is
beautiful,
with people coming home.

A smell of pine brings me back
to hiking the Pacific Crest Trail again,
living outside, in 1980 & 1982,
exploring, very healthily,
high with the world,
finding new Wilderness, for me, -
it was first time ever in
summertime, rain-free,
back country California.

I watch the large trading circle
from behind 2 teepees.
Such a stream of people.
Many are already leaving,
yet I heard a young guy
in tie die, who could go
to an east coast prep school,
say he was staying until July 10,
long after the 7th - he said, too,
he had taken half a dose
of psychedelic mushrooms
this morning,
after eating more yesterday.
Someone else, earlier, spoke of
bicycling the longer way home,
along the Washington coast, -
and spending extra days in the forest,
after Rainbow has gone,
are all Rainbow philosophy,
which I know from the Pacific northwest.

Rainbow -
O, how to invite
World University & School in to
your peace, healing & sharing vision.
WUaS is wiki - so, sharing-centric -
and centers MIT OCW's open, free courses, as sharing.
Wikipedia is one big trading circle or
an open, free encyclopedia, now in 281 languages.
Shall we build from the virtual
Harbin Hot Springs, as early WUaS classroom,
and make some changing natural forest meadows?
... WUaS as virtual, forest classroom
and for Botany, as well?

The main meadow was a marsh.
The big big circle didn't happen this year due to a swamp.
Hippy thinking can be a little backward.
Yet site / place selection for weather, water & hippie diffuseness is key.
West coast is good because the summers are often sunny,
but Rainbows, as ethos, don't really always care, anyway, -
the party goes on wherever.

Rainbow is very self-organizing and selecting

the traffic movement, the food camps, the freedom ... All of it ...
it's a pretty cool organism





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(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/07/geranium-robertianum-rainbow-is.html - July 5, 2011)

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Skookum Meadows: Rainbow - Relax in the sun - wait in the light - 3 July 2011

Relax in the sun - wait in the light

Relax in the sun - wait in the light
Rainbow is in the forest
and a'happening ...
in the Gifford Pinchot.

Many folks are here
hippies of all stripes
gathering around the meadows,
just a little lingering snow,
still aground.

These folks are hardy,
all camping,
with so many dogs,
all alive,
but with very little woodcraft.

Rainbow is sometimes so random,
but there's lots of music,
guitars and more,
over shoulders -
wandering minstrels
among us all.

Not very much food from the kitchens so far

There's wisdom here,
and indirectness, too,
and altered consciousness, low,
from substance use,
of many kinds.
The clothes are wild,
and get wilder,
as time grows.

The latrines are dug,
and the dish washing stations,
with bleach, are around.

This Skookum meadow
in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest
will bounce back when
we tramplers disappear in
5 days ...

Grandpa Woodstock is here -
he honked a handheld horn,
standing on his bike and trailer,
statuesque and random,
in a meadow,
earlier,
while talking with someone,
all dressed up in a raggy,
red, Santa Claus suit,
of yesteryear,
and pointing nowhere into the distance.

At Granola Funk theatre,
people are gathering for
'Rainbow the Musical,'
a Rainbow Kids' show,
in an opening in these woods,
far from Main Gate.
A Rainbow kids' play room, cloth, engine car
with guitar and nice singing
comes through the audience - a
Harbinger of the show ...

It's sunny now, kinda cool
and mellow.
This meadow in front of
Granola Theatre
is filling with folks,
all resting on the grass.

Someone hangs a big sheet
mural from
the stage-left, upper,
castle, proscenium parapet -
It shows a rainbow
over mountains,
with forests on both sides.

Stringed instruments -
a harp, two fiddles,
and a guitar start playing,
some other nice acoustic instruments nearby ...


The G-Funk show begins.
3 men dressed in khaki shirts and shorts
as law enforcement,
ride in on toy ponies on sticks.
They're handing out tickets
for the show -
someone naked runs up -
and there's a little bawdiness by the
toy riders.
A jester stands up
and says let's 'om'
the forest service.
Is this an opener?

Rainbow the Musical
the woman actress asks ...
32 years of research ...
You guys have a ticket?
"Get close
3 days, 8 days in
we smell
get close "


you guys ...
and Rainbow the Musical begins

some flying hula hoops come through
with a hitch hiker in tie dye with a
guitar case
In comes the engine
stops
Ever gone over the rainbow

guitar playing engineer
picks up hitchhikers,
starts singing
this train is bound for glory
and circles the audience

Hitchhiker starts singing
an adaptation of
'Why am I here? from
Hair the tribal
love rock musical

...

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Rainbows wander up and down these forest paths
around Skookum Meadow in the Gifford Pinchot
day after day


*

... walked up to my car,
and the solar shower was warm.
had a very welcome shower.


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lots and lots and lots of folks
with blankets out
in the trading circle - wow.


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food circle - big om, good vibe, abundant food


*

Later I walked long with Anta & Alna, new friends I met ...

She seemed to be blissing naturally ... A kindred spirit


talked for a long time about bliss


came back to a Rainbow angel walk:

one person walks through 2 lines of people facing each other, who love, and say they love the person walking through, in so many ways, and stroke and touch the person

it's an amazingly wonderful love generator ...


Anta, next to me next to Alna - we were giving the love - was blissing a lot throughout.

Nearby a circle of drummers and guitar players were singing sometimes very beautiful 'devotional' hippie music


Around 10 I headed up one and half miles away along this creek, up a hill, and to the road, then walked a half mile to my car to sleep


Relaxing all day in the sun - waiting in the light


















(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/07/skookum-meadows-rainbow-relax-in-sun.html - July 3, 2011)

Monday, December 22, 2008

Solar Power, and the Granola Funk Theatre at the Rainbow Gathering, Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming (2008)



The Granola Funk Theatre at the Rainbow Gathering in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming in early July 2008 was powered solely by solar power.

Granola Funk Theatre folks used a solar panel, an inverter, and a battery. They also used a meter, and lights, of course. They wheeled in this system about 2 miles, and it worked very reliably, giving enough light for night performances. Solar power is here, and it works.

From Rainbow Family Gathering of Living Light 2008 Wyoming - Scott MacLeod


All of the equipment is easy to get, and relatively inexpensive.


Here's "How to Make a Solar Power Generator" ~ 
formerly - rain.org/~philfear/how2solar.html

Solar energy can't easily heat a warm pool to 98 degrees Farhenheit to soak in, yet, in northern climes, but given improvements in efficiency ... ~ to a solar-heated, warm pool, everywhere, soon.






formerly in title link - 










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Sunday, July 13, 2008

Lodgepole Pine & Meadows ~ Connectedness

July 7, 2008

Connectedness

Someone walks by as I'm writing this on my electronic organizer which can connect to the Internet, but not at 9000 feet in a remote National Forest - and asked me if I was "getting a signal?"


States of Consciousness

I talked with Beetha oustide the Early Birds' kitchen-camp. I was exploring the idea of accessing states of mind that psychedelic compounds offer access to, but without compounds.

He mentioned "controlled folly," that is, letting go, as well as "angel walk," as an exploration of positive affirmativeness, where people praise and affirm each other over extended periods of time. Right there at Early Birds' camp, I also talked with two young folks who trip a lot, to find out their thoughts about tripping naturally. One mentioned DSM extracted from Robitussin (an over-the-counter cough medicine), which gave him an experience of tripping in synch with a friend. The woman mentioned complexity as a way to access trippy states naturally, through music, for example, but other ways as well. She also mentioned a book by some French researchers, - Paulwell and Bergier "Magic of Egyptians." I'll look it up. I think I got the worm. Rainbow is a fascinating resource for this kind of anthropological research. Are psychedelic compounds kinds of technologies, that then offer access to novel kinds of information technologies - one's own ideas? Rainbow is an amazing source for perspectives on psychedelics, - technologies for the mind. (I'm only interested in these effects naturally).

When I asked Beetha about how he would access loving bliss naturally - a question I'm interested in - he observed that he saw drumming as a way for him and others to access loving bliss, as well as natural trips, and as a group. People can do this together - by coming in sync with one another through music, like drumming, which is a relatively accessible way to make music. Beetha also mentioned music and dancing as ways to do this.

Yes! - Ethnography of counterculture is a great lifetime project ...


Counterculture


Circle in the meadow is like what I imagine Indian festivals in India to be like. Food was served to us, as if to mendicants, with two rings of people - all hippies - facing each other, and 2-3 people bringing around a huge pot of food and serving us in our bliss-ware, our bowls and spoons, - ah, bliss, this food is good, and we're hungry.

Camps or kitchens at Rainbow are open to anyone coming in for food when it's served. When one camp stops serving food, another starts, but in a distributed way - intensely distributed - but organized very organically or loosely.

Technologies are adopted at Rainbow but very slowly. There are dish cleaning stations, which are three water containers for wash, rinse and bleach, with foot pedals, - very quaint, but effective. There was one solar generator for electricity for the Granola Funk
Theater (at Rainbow for 14 years). People use technologies of tents and camping gear, including solar showers, but apart from the one solar electrical system, there was no electricity so I didn't see one laptop computer. There were no vehicles powered by engines, or megaphones for group communication, and no sound amplifiers, even in the largest circles, so communications were curious. All this expressed to me a kind of back to the land hippie-vision, in sync with nature. I liked this gathering a lot. It was 1972 in many ways, except in date - how was it not? - but I also wondered where the creative developments in instantiations of hippie-mindedness are. Perhaps Harbin Hot Springs in northern California is an example of this. Rainbow is a partly a gathering where a lot of people take trips, - drugs are technologies of the mind here. I could imagine Beetha from NY as a kind of Carlos Casteneda-like teacher in these ways. At Rainbow there's a geography of countercultural memes, with freedom at its core.

Things emerge and happen in hippie ways here, - it's far out.


Rainbow is pretty harmonious and wondrous - a hippie life emerged around a couple of high mountain meadows and lodgepole pine forest over 4 weeks - and people tuned in, turned on and dropped out. From this connectedness, love emerged, - counterculturally. How did this happen?

In the 1960s and 70s, people gravitated pretty naturally and fulsomely to the the counterculture, partly in reaction to Babylon. The 60s were a very innovative time, as well as very attractive and sensible to many. Everything was questioned and explored creatively, and a counterculture with its own language emerged. This is still around, but not as widespread as then, and the Rainbow Gathering creates it again.

This black guy who has been cooking a lot at the Early Birds' camp says to people sleeping around its fire, - "Wake up - everybody's going home" :)

Welcome home.

Rainbow Gathering is free ~ "All Ways Free" is the banner on its news sheet. It doesn't cost anything. And so it brings out the salt of the earth, hobos, hippies, Ram Das, and everyone else - the human condition, America today - and it's harmonious. There might have been 10000 people attending .... Rainbow is wild.

This Rainbow Gathering was also very American - surprisingly to me - I only overheard one young British woman. There were very few folks from other countries that I saw.

And the food is free and good. Camps & kitchens make it in abundance. These are tucked around the meadows in the woods. And each camp is a budding culture itself. People gravitate toward them because of affinities they feel: "Crucual kitchen," "Early Birds' camp," "Popcorner," "Handicamp," Kiddie village," etc.

I see this Rainbow Gathering as a kind of people's action, a "Be in," - occupying a national forest for a month. And it just happens because of a shared vision. And some stragglers probably stay on my the summer.

Thanks to the 150 law enforcement from 2 different regions outside Pinedale, WY, for (mostly) staying away. The way to lessen their influence, someone observed at the Vision Circle on July 7, 2008, is to not hold a gathering on National Forest land or BLM from 2 - 3 years, and then their budget would dry up.

The shortest distance in to the meadows was about 1.5 miles from the gates or parking areas, so everybody carried a lot of stuff in for their own camps.

"Hey brother," "hey sister" were familiar greetings, as were "take it easy brother - loving you."

"We love you" was shouted a lot, by circles and individuals.

Body cleanliness questions at Rainbow are rewritten for a week vis-a-vis American culture here - everybody got dirty and dusty. Everything is seen a new in counterculture.

At the Vision Council on the last day, the feather was passed around a large circle of people and most everybody spoke.

Loving Ovens', a person, first choice for a site for the Rainbow Gathering next year is the Vince Lombardi parking lot along the Interstate in New Jersey. But many people talked about New Mexico, New England, and Washington State.

Fire!