I guess the lack of sleep was catching up with me because I woke up a little later than I had been, but I was still the first one up though. After a shower and going through the morning ritual, I went to see about helping out to make breakfast. I knew that pancakes were being made in #4, so I went to see if I could help. A full plate was ready so I brought it back with me to #2 where several hungry people were waiting. Morgan had made some scrambled eggs to use up what we had bought, as well as the bacon and sausage; there was even some fresh fruit salad to be had. I have to say that I don�t eat this well for breakfast at home on a regular basis.
Quite a few people were leaving today � Patrick Hill was going back to Alabama, Jim Moore was on his way back to Atlanta, and Jerry Wutzke had a long drive back to North Dakota (2300 miles!) � so we gathered one last time to take the group photo and all of the musicians hung around to sign CD�s. I forgot to take my sunglasses off for most of the pictures, so you really can�t see my face clearly. I stepped out once to get a shot of everybody else and then managed to get a photo of all of the musicians together.
Afterwards, I gave Vic a check for my share of the food and also bought a copy of SSO�s latest CD, �OOZ,� which I had Steve and Jens sign for me. Star Sounds did bring along 7 CDR copies of a pre-release called 'Qigong Dancing,' and these were snatched up quickly � I didn�t get one, unfortunately. But I finally had the opportunity to get John Christian�s autograph on all of my AirSculpture CD sleeves � and almost gave him writer�s cramp as I had eight for him to sign. We hung around for a little while longer and then it was time to say goodbye to those who had packed up and were ready to go.
I spent a little time on recording my memories of the previous evening in my journal. There were plans to either have the musicians play outside in the picnic area and perform in the museum, but in the end they decided it was too much to move all of the equipment out of #3. No music was going to be played in the museum this year, but Star Sounds Orchestra was going to play for us outside. We were going to attend a psychedelic trance dance party!
Originally, this was scheduled to occur at 5 PM and last until 7. However, many people had gone out on boats or canoes, some had even gone to the federal side of the park. It had been planned to prepare some food before the trance session, so Tom George and I set about getting two of the barbecue grills ignited and the hamburger and ground turkey made into patties. Once I figured out how to use the microwave, I cooked some corn on the cob � per Vic�s suggestion. To save time, I also boiled some. I guess the people who were eating at the time didn�t want to shuck the corn on the ones I put in the microwave since all of the boiled ones were taken, yet many of the �nuked� ones were left. A few guests/gatherers didn�t make it back to the cottages until 5:30, including Jens. He had gone out in a canoe by himself and came back with what looked like a bad case of sunburn.
After the food was eaten and we cleaned up a little, it was time to act like a roadie again and help bring the equipment to the picnic area for SSO�s trance performance. Set up took a little longer than Steve expected, so Jens filled the time with describing what happens at a Rave or Psychedelic Trance Dance Party. Jens asked Dave Brewer to go get whatever drinks (non-alcoholic) were left in the cottages, since we were going to need it. And he explained that it was usual to take off your shoes and socks, to be quiet for the performance except to be polite to your neighbor and to keep any bags, such as a purse or camera bag, away from the dance area. I thought it was a little unusual, but we all went along with it.
Picture most of us dancing to the music of Star Sounds blasting through big speakers in a very public area (several people visiting the park stopped and watched us) barefoot, flailing around to the beat, for an hour.
Hard to believe, but it really happened. And it was a lot of fun, despite painfully stepping on some pinecones and rocks. Most seemed to be having a good time and really got into it. We were right by some swings and several people took the opportunity to go for a ride� including Steve during one of the sets!
Since I was not familiar with the music from the band at that time, I could not identify any of the tracks that were played. The only title we were given was for the final piece (a brand new one!), Red Sun Tokyo � to be released on the next CD. I now know that Burundi from '...OOZ' was one of the songs played, as the sound of those bagpipes are unmistakable! There might have been a couple of others from Psy-Trance and �OOZ, but I don�t really remember.
Afterwards, Vic had arranged for us to be taken on a night cruise that evening, in two shifts as the boat can only handle 11 or 12 at a time. Originally I was going to take the later one but, after I made a quick phone call home, I was asked to go immediately and get someone else as the boat was waiting to be filled. So Dave B joined us and we set out. At first, it was a little hard to see the red eye-shine of the gators, but eventually I was able to spot them with no problem � and there were a lot of them, several dozen at least. The guide told us that there were some 15,000 alligators throughout the swamp! There were a lot of bugs out too, but they weren�t really biting over the water.
We made it back to the dock after about 30-40 minutes and walked back to the cottages, only to find that another meal was being prepared in #3: Morgan had made some bean-less chili and Roger Smith was working on another concoction of ground deer meat with wild rice, peppers and spices. The chili was good, but it was a little spicy to my taste buds whereas many others said that it was kind of mild. I�d hate to taste what they would consider hot.
After the others returned, the musicians decided they were tired and would not play any more music (some had to get up early for the return trip), so we listened to some CD�s instead. Many of us just gathered around, got a chance to get to know each other a little better and talked the night away. I�m not sure what time we finally turned in, but it was late.