Elysium Music and Arts Festival
I have to say, after all the poop slinging that this group of monkeys made over the course of the last year, there were some serious doubts as to whether this festival would happen, or if it did, what kind of festival it would be.
I'm here to tell you all that it was a smashing success. So many old friends and new ones from far and wide came out to this festival and I managed to stay awake for a hefty portion of this wonderful event (even without chemical help #tea #coffee).
FRIENDS!!!!
I showed up at like 1pm on Friday, got camp set up then headed over to the Elysium stage to start the festival off with a workshop with my boo and the opening DJ slot. Turns out, when I got there, the stage wasn't set up, so I got to make some new friends and earn my talent pass. After about 6 or 7 hours, the stage was ready for the snake man. I claimed my rightful place as opening DJ and rocked the shit; people were loving those breaks and I was loving that people love the music that I do. I had a blast.
Then, after the party it was time for me to head to the Nirvana stage for a shift. Now, by this point I am fully exhausted, asleep on my feet, but I make it there for a couple hours of my four hour shift. Praise be to Geosphere for letting me go to bed (maybe some trap on the way home) so I could function the next day, and function I did. So, bed by 3 o'clock or something on Friday.
Saturday brought some live music. I couldn't believe how amazing of a vocalist the young woman I drove out turned out to be. Janaye. So amazing, wow, hit some really sensitive parts of my being, could have sworn she was literally singing to me, but maybe not... I sure hope not.
Saturday night I partied with Natalie and we forced ourselves to stay up all night. How much 4 on the floor does one night of a festival need?! I was begging for breaks by the end of the day. And, hardstyle? Wtf is that? No offense, but some of y'all ravers have some fucked up tastes.
Sunday we did a workshop at the Nirvana stage. By we, I mean the Helicon Studios remaining Saskatoon crew. It went extremely well and I learned about the ecstasy of sober dancing, charing my seratonin-dopaminergic receptor system and then literally felt amazing. This bass set was what I played and it was pretty darn good, though I didn't do a lot of mixing, it wasn't about that, it was about the experience.
Def Poet, Snakeman and Lilith rocking the Sunday workshop steeze.
After the workshop, there was still one more night of partying. By this point I was exhausted and had shared with my friends as many experiences as they needed, if you catch my drift. They were all having a great time and the energy of the grounds and this festival were what kept me going for another night through the dark and into the day. Fortunately the solstice and full moon meant that the night was short and bright.
Nat went to bed just before the sun came up so I went for a little chill by the river with a friend, scared off the bear that was staking out our festival for free food (learn to clean up after yourselves) and enjoyed the first rays of sun on the tops of the trees.
Here's my bass set from the Nirvana workshop amazingness. It was described as "That bass, but with the softest touch". Love it.
SET HERE
