Crazyredbeard Productions

Set 2: Lock, Confiscated Stock and Two Smoking Barefeet

08/19/09

Well then. I hope the line at the port-o-potties wasn’t long and that you’ve had enough set break time to rehydrate and refuel as you see fit. It’s on to set two:

LOCK, CONFISCATED STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BAREFEET

Set 2 began with us leaving from Charlottesville in a rented Pontiac Toronto, a car that had plenty of space for us to bring the cooler, all of the art gear and all of our camping gear. With decent gas mileage, Julia and I hoped that this sucker would get us all the way out to the west coast and back in good shape and it did! That car was our mobile operations station for the next two weeks.

The long road to Denver was actually pretty nice. We did the entire 24 hour drive in one shot, with Julia and I taking turns at the wheel whenever one of us got tired. We stopped once to sleep for about three hours and then the Rockies were unfolding in front of us in the coming dawn hours. At some point in the drive, we hit upon an amazing radio station that rocked some Particle, which, at about 4:30 am, with bleary eyes and a brain that felt like it was leaking out of my ear, helped out quite a bit.

Huge thanks to Erika and Dan who opened up their home to us for the next four days so we could have crash space for Red Rocks. Your hospitality was fantastic and much appreciated.

The first night of Red Rocks saw us almost too tired to show up after almost five hours of sleep in the last 48 hours, most of those hours spent driving. We came to Red Rocks ticketless (as I have terrible lottery luck) but were intent on exhibiting at The Mock Show, an art and poster exhibition that featured a number of scene indie artists that was set to go down on the 3rd day. We ended up climbing the hill and caught a few of the first songs before retiring for the night. We hit the lot again on Friday but left once we couldn’t snag tickets so I could get back to our digs for the week and complete some works for the next day’s art show.

The Mock Show itself was great if for no other reason that I got to see some amazing artists’ creations. Awe-inspiring and humbling all at once. Jason Kaczorowski is owed huge thanks for helping coordinate these events and bringing such a large amount of the scene’s creative minds together in one place. When we got there, he asked if I was going to paint. Though I hadn’t thought I’d be live painting, I thought, why not? It’s what I do!

So I set up my art and easel and began a Mock Rocks work that I’ll show off a bit later, once I have a shot of it. Jason also informed me that The Heavy Pets (members of) would be coming in at some point to play for the event. The Heavy Pets had just used one of my designs for their tour flier so it seemed like kizmet.

Though we only sold two pieces of art (thanks Wolfsis and Tripp!!!) in contrast to the MANY we sold at the BPCIII: Phamily Reunion, we had a great time. And it got better.

As I was standing and painting, a guy comes up and we start talking about the art. He asked if I’d seen any of the shows yet and I told him that Julia and I had come up ticketless but weren’t worried about it because we got to see everyone at the Mock Show. I told him I was grateful to even be a part of it and that it was enough to warrant the drive from VA to CO. I then explained that we thought we’d try and get tickets in the lot again tonight and Sunday.

After saying this, the guy (please contact me if you read this!) takes an envelope from under his arm and says, “Well, here’s half your battle, man.”

I open the envelope and inside was a Saturday ticket.

He says, “Don’t worry, it’s real.”

I ask, “How much?”

“I just like your art…I don’t need anything for it.”

My eyes lit up and I grabbed him and hugged him while saying thank you. He laughed and told me he was happy to do it, walking off with a, “HAVE A GREAT SHOW!”

So to say that this gesture felt like redemption after some of the other things that had happened on first leg would be absolutely on point. And when Jason miracled Julia a few hours later??? I WAS GOING TO SEE PHISH AT RED ROCKS WITH MY LOVE!!!! Having never been to Red Rocks, I was absolutely psyched to see the boys in this setting and it did NOT disappoint.

After packing it all up at the end of the show we set our sites on the Rocks. I even set up and continued painting the Mock Rocks painting prior to going in the show. The show itself? Hands down one of the best Phishperiences I’ve had in a long time. With bust outs like Mound and The Curtain With, I was already extremely happy during the first set. Esther knocked me on my ear. When I heard the opening notes, I honestly started freaking out. Jumping up and down…that sort of thing. I don’t think anyone around me even knew why I was flipping so hard but I kept thinking, “WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?!?!?!? THEY’RE PLAYING ESTHER!!!!”

Getting to see live painters Scramble Campbell and Frenchy (who inspired me to start doing this) paint on the left side was awesome as well. Their paintings were something to aspire to. Amazing stuff.

So Saturday at Red Rocks was officially epic, replete with two miracles (the Jerry birthday miracle…still shocking my brain) to arguably the best show of the four at Red Rocks and certainly one of the top three of the summer.

No luck on tickets Sunday, so it was off to California for team KittyBeard. Another long drive found us pulling into San Fransisco at about 7 in the morning. Julia wanted to show me some spots she used to frequent and both of us wanted to hit the Haight, as well as Chinatown, which we did. After seeing the Pacific for only the second time in my life, we walked the Haight, window shopped and then finished off the day on a rooftop Chinese restaurant. Good times. We then met up with our friend Jamie who was putting us up for the Shoreline show and bedded down at her place in anticipation for my first Cali Phish.

The lot scene at Shoreline was one of the best of the summer for us.  The LiveNation reps came over and told us we could vend anything we wanted except for food and alcohol. I busted out the art and several times the LiveNation staff came by and checked it out. A few of them are new fans, I think, after hearing then say things such as, “Wow!” and “Sick!!!”

We sold a few framed pieces, ground scored something heady and got some last minute tickets from Uncle Ebeneezer in trade for a piece of art.

The show itself, I thought, was a lot of fun. Stealing Time is quickly becoming one of my newer favorites, Cities>Maze was a lot of fun and the Bold As Love in the second slot during the encore was perfect.

After waking up late the next day and saying our goodbyes, we hit the road for THE GORGE.

The next two days were amazing. The Gorge is something to behold and I’d advise any music lover to make the trek at some point during their lives. Seeing Phish continue to reclaim their jam mantle with mother nature reclining languidly behind them will not soon be forgotten. A first night Pebbles and Marbles was a treat, as was Destiny Unbound, a tune I’m hoping they’re dusting off for rotation after hearing it at the Fenway opener. It’s a great song that gets played all too infrequently in my opinion. It reminds me of a Tom Robinson novel for some reason.

The only Sneakin’ Sally (I think) of the tour had me gyrating and groovin’ something fierce. One of the best covers in their arsenal. Thank you, Mr. Palmer.

The rest of the show is best left listened to. Phish at their best. Download it. Now.

We awoke the next day and found our friends Dave, Caroline and Becky…better known as Central Part of Town. These guys make the best pins on lot and are some of the kindest folks I know. There may be a CRB/CPOT collab coming up in the near future, so keep your eyes open, Jack-o.

We proceeded to set up the art bomb in their camp and I started painting. We had a lot of interested browsers but I don’t recall selling anything, really. At one point, these two guys come up and check everything out and then go t o walk off. The one guy has a Boston shirt and I yell out to him, “Hey! I have a Phish related Fenway piece you might like!”

He comes back over and I grab the piece off of the ground. I’d made prints of the work I created live at Mike’s radio studio prior to Fenway and began showing him some of the smaller details.

He then asks, “Do you have more of these?”

I’m thinking he means prints in general, which confused me because there were plenty of matted and framed works right in front of him, so I say, “Yeah.”

He then says, “I wish you hadn’t called me back over here.” He turns to his friend, “We gotta take ‘em all.”

“What?” I reply.

“Yep. The word Phish is in this one. Where are the rest. We’re confiscating all of your stuff.”

My jaw drops. I’d made the most amateurish, rookie mistake in the book. In my excitement painting the Fenway live work, I’d included the Seussian quote, “One fish, two fish, red fish, NEW PHISH.” I hadn’t even THOUGHT about it. After having taken such care to not encroach on Phish’s rules when making the Hampton posters I felt dumbfounded that I completely FORGOTTEN about this completely.

They guys threatened to rip apart my car if I didn’t produce the rest of the prints I had. I went through every single part of the car and had to show them all of the other art and gave them four other framed prints of the Fenway piece. As they were getting ready to leave, I realized that I still had the original. And it was out in plain view. I snagged it and put it behind another painting. I honestly didn’t want to give this momento up, as it was MY personal piece and wasn’t going to be sold.

One of the guys saw me doing it and raged. He started cursing at me and telling me they could kick us out and not let us back in, etc. etc. and why hadn’t I told them before. I apologized for being dishonest and honestly said,

“If I’d told you I had it, would you have let me keep it? I mean come on? What would you have done? This means a lot to me but go ahead and take it. I didn’t mean to infringe on the rules and I could easily change it right here if that means I could keep it…”

“No.”

“…well there you go. At least tell them to give it to the Mockingbird Foundation or use it to auction off for some kids charity.”

They then said, “If we come back and we see ONE thing…”

At this point I just wanted them gone. I’d made a mistake but they’d been rude, aggressive and pretty mean in general.

“You have everything, okay? Even the original which was a special thing…just take it.”

So they did. That one hurt. The original. Ouch. I understand that they have to do their jobs but I hate it when people won’t compromise or even allow for mistakes. I honestly could’ve changed the original right then and there (which is what I plan on doing with my master file for this work so I can still use it), but that wasn’t good enough.  Threatening to take everything out of my car scared the crap out of me. That would’ve been ALL of my business. Gone. Ah well. So it goes.

The lesson learned is to never make a mistake of that nature again.

Did I let it get me down, though? NO WAY!!! We ROCKED the second night of the Gorge!! Not that it didn’t affect me, it did…but I wasn’t going to stop myself from having a blast with all of my friends for the last day out west (and my last day on tour).

A Mango Song opener was a nice treat and another great Rock and Roll jam (with Undermind teases) were nice additions. A welcomed Wedge, fun YEM and danceworthy BDNTL made the rest of this show really great. And the Tweezer? Yum.

So after this show, we convened with our C’ville posse for our last Phishy moments before having to pack it all up and drive back to VA.

After about three days of driving, Julia and I got back home. For a day. We unpacked the rental car, repacked HER car, returned the rental and then almost immediately started our drive to Camp Barefoot 3. This would prove to be an oasis after few sales, confiscated merchandise and first leg mishaps.

In fact, Camp Barefoot 3 has been the highlight of the summer. Seeing Phish again and being on tour were amazing. AMAZING. But the whole feel of Camp Barefoot 3, the mad respect and love we got just for being there and performing and the wonderful people we met all weekend combined for a truly memorable weekend.

Many, many thanks to Scott McLain and the rest of the CB staff who truly treated us like royalty all weekend and made it very easy to be a live painter. We had plenty of refreshments and food for the weekend and had our pick of positioning for painting at all of the stages. We kicked it off with good friends Basshound late Thursday night. The result was a finished piece that was begun at the Gorge. Something I’m calling Vultrey.

After a night of much needed rest, we awoke and erected the art booth. With Julia’s help, it looked really nice this time around and we had plenty of festival goers stopping to check it all out over the course of the weekend. Huge thanks to Yuri Freedman for being our pal for the weekend and for taking some wonderful shots that I’ll be posting in a minute.

Jazzam was our first venture of the day. This Pittsburgh based psychedlifunkifest is an amazing spectacle to behold. The lead singer belts it out like no other, the bassist is from outer space and Jeremy the keyboardist is a mad scientist behind his set up. These boys have CHOPS…every last one of them.

Here’s what their Friday set yielded.

The Breakfast was up next. I’ve been trying to hook up with Palmeiri and crew for awhile now and I’m glad it finally clicked. I decided to rock a scrambled egg…let me know what you think. This work was raffled off for Souls4Soles…a non-profit that provides shoes for people in need.

Up next was Perpetual Groove’s closing Friday night set. I painted a larger 24 x 48 piece that was given to the head of the festival. P Groove brought it and forewent their setbreak in favor of jamming straight through. Replete with firedancers, fireworks and a motley crew of masked and winged dancers, this set was a sonic boom amongst jam whispers. GOOD STUFF.

We broke down during Lotus’ set and headed back to camp, happy with a full day of art work and ready to rest up for the next day. Listening to Lotus while prepping for the next day’s artsplosions was a perfect way to wind down.

We got to relax for most of the next day, set to paint only for Jazzam (again, as Jeremy had asked me to paint a version of his tattoo, a chicken playing piano) and Lotus.

Jazzam tore it up again and made some new fans (how could they not?) while Lotus played two inspired sets that had the entire crowd rocking all evening. Here are the works created to both. More photos coming.

Also, check out this little video of Lotus, which includes my painting, from the fest.

Lotus with CRB painting at CB3

Again…so many thanks to everyone involved. Set 2 ended by answering, which came first, the chicken or the egg? According to the order of my paintings, you can all rest easy. It was the egg. A scrambled egg.

If we can get some people to pre-order matted and framed prints of the Lotus, Jazzam and Basshound pieces, I’ll be able to take them to the shop and get the images captured. Matted and framed prints will be $70 ($60 +$10 S/H).

Up next? The encore: PHANPHEST THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get your butt to PA for one of my favorite fests of the year!!! And bring your clown nose!

Until next time…with peace, light and love,

Monsieur Crazyredbeard