Woke up this morning thinking how quickly the time passed between receiving confirmation from Vic Rek (over 6 months ago) that I had one of the beds at Oke and it actually happening. I was a little nervous and apprehensive about going � I mean, apart from trading email with Vic, chatting with a few people on mIRC (Morgan Marks and Dell Outland) and seeing most of the others� names on the tadream list, I did not really know any of them. This was also my first time going to the swamp. But I wasn�t going to back out; too much time and money was spent preparing and I had been looking forward to this event.
A friend dropped me off at the airport and I went through the check in with no problem. However, going to the departure gate, I was thoroughly searched: I even had to undo my belt. I couldn�t help but think, Increased Security� now there�s an oxymoron!
The flight went well, but there were many young children on board. There was one little girl across the aisle from me who was giving her mother a hard time� she couldn�t sit still for any length of time and she was very vocal. I just tried to bury my nose in a book I brought with me, The Big U by Neal Stephenson. [I read half of the book on the plane and didn�t pick it up again until the flight home.]
We landed pretty much on time and had no trouble getting my suitcase; as soon as I got to Baggage Claim area, I saw it. I called my wife, Beth, from a pay phone and she was happy to know that I got there safe and sound. Went to the MARTA station and bought a token, called Vic and let him know that I was on my way to the North Springs station, where he would pick me up and so my adventure continued. I had a lot of time to think on the 45-minute ride; thought about some of the things I�ve done in the past and what I�d be doing in the future. Reading The Big U made me think about my college days, of the time I wasted and the experiences that I missed out on, worrying about my studies that have long-since been forgotten. I am a much different person now, and I�d do a lot of things differently, but those days are gone.
I had to wait for Vic at the station for a few minutes and thought, �Does he even know what I look like?� But before I knew it, I heard my name being shouted behind me. The trip to Vic�s house is a blur now, but we talked a little about music (He was playing a Bernd Kistenmacher CD I was not familiar with) and who was already at his house. Seems like I was the last one to arrive that day. We got to Vic�s and I was introduced to some of the other �swampies.�
I am terrible with remembering names at first, but I was able to learn them again over the course of the evening: I met Dave Brewer, Steve Whiteley, Morgan Marks, Tom George, Jim Moore, Deb and Roger Johnson, Marion and Dave Horrod, and Vic�s wife, Natasha, who was a very gracious host. Vic had copies of the Oke 2001 CD and the new Tangerine Dream disc, 'Inferno,' and I purchased those from him. Funny, I was only there for a couple of hours and I already had some new music! A little later, John Christian and Peter Ruczynski from AirSculpture, as well as Steve Schroyder and Jens Zygar (Star Sounds Orchestra) came for the pre-Oke pizza party. These four were all staying in a hotel in Buckhead that evening. Vic and Natasha ordered from Papa John's and I made it a point to avoid the anchovy pizzas when they were brought back.
I was thrilled to meet Peter and John, as I�ve been listening to AirSculpture since �Thunderhead� came out in 1998. Shame that Adrian could not make it, but as the saying goes, �Two out of three ain�t bad.� I confessed to Peter that I used a couple of his pictures from �Jelly Leg�d Chicken� for a compilation CD I made, but I could not ask for permission because he was probably at the airport when I found them. I was also hoping that they would not be upset or mad about it. I have the single tracks AirSculpture have done for Various Artist compilations and I put them on a CDR, which I call Sound Gallery. The pics from �Jelly Leg�d� were appropriate, as they were taken in an art gallery.
Bill Fox and Greg Waltzer came by later to say Hi and to find out the game plan for the morning. We stayed up late talking about what we were going to do, came up with a grocery list for the food/supply caravan (which, by Connecticut standards, was sounding quite expensive) to Valdosta and then it was time for bed. All I needed was a pillow and a spot on the floor, which I think took Vic by surprise. I was simply happy to be there!