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Red Barn
Its super early in the morning. You can smell the dew from the wet grass. Sounds of excitement is roaring everywhere. Summer Camp has officially started and people are pouring in!
Entering early Thursday was a great time. We were running everywhere through the woods looking for a spot. hundreds of others were fighting for spots trying to get closer to the 4 corners. We were a little late for that but still had a blast finding a new site to camp. After we set up the site and got everything in order we had to take a much needed nap.
When we woke up we refreshed ourselves with a little bit of food. I had a gyro that was delicious of course and my girlfriend had a meaty bowl from the Chinese food stand.
Around 5 p.m. I made my way to the church to meet the other counselors and to see where I would be writing for the next couple days. Its pretty nice. I have a/c and flushing toilets so you can start being jealous now. There was a press meeting where I learned about summer camp a little more than what i did.
We left the church after the press meeting and I went and got more food. I love eating and food and eating and food and food and eating with food to eat. After we ate, me and my girlfriend made are way to the general store to get our complimentary shirt and then to the VIP lounge to get our free beer. Because everyone loves free beer. Thanks SCAMP!!!
Walking through the trails all night. Meeting new people and seeing how they got here was awesome. I met this guy named Trent who was pretty sweet. He sat nest to us out in the parking lot when we were partying and i met up and saw him again when we made it inside. Our campsite neighbors is the grassroots gang so we really didn’t get to sleep a whole lot. Oh well, we are at summer camp, who needs sleep.
We took the rest of the night pretty slow, just relaxing and getting ready for the party to start. Went and saw Minnesota at the red barn to start our festival of right. After the red barn we went back to camp site to get some rest for another day tomorrow.
Well rested now, with a nice clean pair of underwear I’m ready for my Friday!
Happy Camping everyone!!!

Let’s Make A Difference this year at Scamp…let your SOULSHINE.
We are a mere 3 days away from raging with friends and some of your favorite bands. Let that sink into your collective craniums for a minute. Schedules are being filled out via Summer Camp Music Festival’s mobile app. Last second runs to general stores to secure camping equipment and the necessary items to make a grand totem that will make you stick out amongst the throngs of folks jammin to TAB come Sunday. In short…it’s about to be ON in Chillicothe and the weather is looking like it will be perfect. Mid 70′s no freak storms to make a mud pit near Moonshine. Tis gonna be epic…
But you know something that most festival attendees miss out on simply because they are chilling at their camp site eating a banana (which is portable by the way)? The opportunity to see Everyone Orchestra featuring Victor Wooten, Al Schnier, Joel Cummins, Vinnie Amico, Allie Kral, Mike Dillon, Roosevelt Collier, conductor Matt Butler and more.
In order to make sure you aren’t turned away in what each year is a great performance at the Red Barn make sure to find your Treasure Hunt card on the back page of the program to earn your entry into this year’s very special Make a Difference Everyone Orchestra set!

Arrgh matey…get your booty in gear and do a few things to Make A Difference…it’ll be worth it’s weight in gold come Sunday!
It’s really easy. Participate in helping inform yourself about efforts to keep our planet healthy, participate in a yoga or hooping workshop, or simply bring an old cell phone to recycle. Then make sure a Make A Difference Staff member punches your card. 3 is the magic number to get your hot little hands on a sweet prize. Don’t be that person turned away Sunday…be the person that is in the know and spread the word to your fellow campers.

Catch Nick and Dave around SCamp ’13
Saturday morning the crowds began to rise, but I’d been up for hours thanks to sunrise kickball (see my other post on that!). I spent the morning writing and posting photos in the Summer Camp offices in the church, and by 1pm I was on my way…
First I headed over to the Starshine stage and stumbled upon a game of capture the flag for Field Day. Being a proud member of team Red and seeing that they were short some players, I jumped in to help. Unfortunately, the Red team was eliminated pretty early on when the Yellow team crept into our home base to get the flag… we’ll get ya next year, Yellow.
A few more steps, and I was at my first show of the day, JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound. Their bio lists them as a “post-punk soul band”, and I think that’s a really accurate description. JC Brooks himself has stage presence like nothing I’ve ever seen… in 90 degree heat and a full-on suit, he kept the crowds entertained and dancing – it was a great way to start the day!
Next up, I met up with some of my buddies at the VIP bar for burgers, margaritas, and playing some bags.
Gov’t Mule had a really solid set at Moonshine, and the dust was really raging with the dancing. I like Mule, but I love Umphrey’s, so I left a little early to get a good spot and be ready to rage. For me, I actually like the second set of Umphrey’s the most, and they’d pretty much stole my heart when I heard Rush’s Tom Sawyer start pelting through the field.
All day I’d been looking forward to Brain Damaged Eggmen late night in the Red Barn, and boy it did not disappoint. It was a non-stop dance party and such a happy crowd.
Walking home through the darkness, I stumbled upon this artist working on a mural outside of the Soulshine Tent, and was reminded once again why Summer Camp is the happiest place on earth…
And there we were, pulling up to the festival, beautiful faces, beautiful weather, getting ready to just take it all in. This is my first fest and I am absolutely shocked by the energy here. I had no expectations other than good music and good music is what we got!!! We also got some damn good food too!!! Go check the Cresent Sensations right in the middle of the main vending area. Got in at about 3 and the first show we hit was Elephant Revival, and I tell you what, that chick playing the washboard was totally groovin! I recommend that you guys check them out, they’re kind of have a new age upbeat folk sound. They were playing just at the sun was going down and if you weren’t there on Thursday, the sunset was absolutely beautiful. Next up was Trichome and if they can’t get you to get your funk on I don’t know who will. They had a sax player that ripped it up, lots of energy and big sound. From what I hear Cornmeal is where the rage begins and they kicked it off like no other. I have never heard anyone play the violin with so much passion like she did. Next two bands we hit were The Werks and Future Rock. The Red Barn shows are amazing, I highly recommend that you guys go and buy at least one late night Red Barn ticket. Its a good time that you really don’t want to miss out on.
Lets see what Friday has to offer!
After shaking off the night before with some wake and bacon and eggs my Friday opened with Keller Williams on the Moonshine Stage. Front row center I was able to finally witness the extraordinary one man band do his funky bass thang and was not disappointed. I’m not sure if Keller’s facial mannerisms signal anything to the other instruments onstage, but they amused the audience as they baked in the mid-afternoon sun.
Keller came out with a black bandana draped over his mouth and moved between his three guitars and a mixing board as he started looping his masterpiece. His set highlights included a throwback gem in “Freaker by the Speaker” and bass infused covers of Cage The Elephant’s “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” and a baritone raspy version of Flight of the Concords “I Told You I was Freaky.” Keller is so tuned into the music he adapted to minor feedback issues in the monitor by simply moving it away from the speaker. Guess that’s what is to be expected considering he’s been working with the same sound guy for 15 years. For the last song special guest Al Schnier joined Keller onstage for Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild.”
Our crew stepped on over to Starshine to drop by and investigate the legendary Weir, Robinson, Greene Acoustic Trio. Slinking along the VIP fence I cozied up to a patch of grass just in time to hear “Truckin” which was played beautifully as cloud cover brought a hazy calm over the crowd. “New Speedway Boogie” with Chris Robinson on vocals followed with a nice little harmonization to end the Grateful Dead classic.
The soulful southern Dead classic “Deep Elem Blues” followed with Bob on vocals and transitioned into Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece” with Jackie Greene playing a mean mandolin. I left after “Uncle John’s Band” and headed towards the Campfire Stage which would be my home for the next three shows. I met up with my pals in Family Groove Company for the first course in The New Orleans Suspect. FGC went to school out in Los Angeles with one of their musicians who also plays in The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and it was a nice appetizer funk fest near the Red Barn before the main course in Elephant Revival and Cornmeal later that evening.
I had missed the Thursday sets of Elephant Revival, the five piece folk ensemble out of Colorado, and was not going to let another chance pass me by as the buzz around this band has been high. After fiddling with the sound to get things just perfect they launched into a new tune opening with “Woodstock.” Wearing long white gloves and straddling a stomp box Bonnie Paine’s feathery lilting voice brought back memories of Cranberries lead singer Dolores O’Riordan. She wore a perma-smirk for nearly the entire set as she strummed her washboard to an celtic influenced sea shanty jig with Bridget Law starring on a few timely placed solos. Bridget plugged the bands release of a new song book before Sage Cook and Daniel Rodriguez provided background vocals and plucking prowess on banjo and guitar with Bonnie on lead for the water inspired “Drop.” The energy of the set was felt on a changing tempo “Old Oak River” which was played a cappella style and had a Johnny Cash type feel as the late night revelers swayed and clapped along. I’m very excited that this group is touring the summer festival circuit more extensively and will get a chance to see them again later this year at Shoe Fest.
Cornmeal’s first two sets for the pre-party I also missed out on due to schedule conflicts, but was Allie side for the annual acoustic Campfire Stage set. They brought out Elephant Revival for the first few songs. It was awesome to see Bridget and Allie smitten and smiling and showing their collective fiddle chops in addition to Wavy Dave and Sage keep the time on dueling banjos. Wavy Dave Burlingame once again had his annual Summer Camp birthday and joked around that he forgot his geritol…good thing a handle of Maker’s Mark was present to help him re-remember as he instructed “the cap be left off” to celebrate in fashion. Cornmeal brought out Giving Tree Band violinist Phil Zee for a few songs during the second half of their set. Allie and Phil chased each other taking turns on fiddle solo as Wavy and Kris kept everyone in high spirits with a menagerie of Cornmeal classics. A final special sit in occurred when Floodwood’s Jason Barady got on stage to play on mandolin. I sat there and was amazed as sandwiched between Kris and Wavy he furiously moved his fingers around the frets with ease.
Well i’m currently sitting in the Church listening to Umphrey’s McGee soundcheck for a special off the grid set for rockstar guests. I need to wrap things up so I can set up and experience my third crazy music filled day here at Summer Camp!
More pictures to come later on:
















