My trip started out at the beginning of July. I left Oregon and off I flew to Florida. Wrong time of year, I know, I know, but I work with a cool guy who owns lightupwire.com and he needed a TON of help to get his season started. He lives in Florida, had a garage FULL of problems and also needed a companion on the journey from South Florida to Manchester,TN where Bonnaroo is.

Getting ready for this years Bonnaroo was different for me. I usually drive there from Oregon or from the West, but coming from Florida this time was great. I got to see yet another route to Bonnaroo and check out new and fun places along the way! Needless to say, I am great at organizing someone's garage, driving a big RV and trailor, going to and working HARD at Music Festivals, and being FREE! I work hard, play hard,and learn so much! This is why I keep coming back to this kind of thing every year!

This year we decided that this trip was like a mini series that we were on. We could totally film one of our journey's and our fun times at a show, people would watch and get a good laugh too! We called it "The Glen Show". Glen being the Star, and Boss, me being the Co-star, and John, AKA Mr.Trash being the Intern. We had so much fun pretending we were a "HIT" show. Now come on movie and TV offers, we are ready, and willing..... I'm serious, we're waiting......

Bonnaroo is a good place to see music, soak up some sun shine, and if you're a vendor, to sell your wares. Again this year, lightupwire.com successfully "lit up" parts of Bonnaroo! We had a booth in the campground vending, complete with some amazing masks that were all decked out in our EL wire. It was fun to look at in the crowd and see tonz of our light up wire! How fun! We had a blast, even with the bad weather at the beginning of the event. It was ok though, it meant the rest of the Festival was going to be gorgeous, and it was!

The crowd was big again this year, it will just keep getting popular as more and more people come out to have a fun filled, music filled long weekend.

I saw some bands this year, not as many as last year though, as I worked more this time around...... oh well, I got to see my beloved David Byrne! That was spectacular, his show blew me away! All I wanted was the David Byrne show, I knew I would be there and any other sets I wanted to see were going to be a treat. So my "treats" were some od the Beasties, NIN, and out in the campground, I saw an awesome musician by the name of Zach Deputy perform on a bunch of hay bales to a small crowd and a large bubble machine! That was great! This is what Bonnaroo is all about, in my opinion. Seeing a small act that blew my mind, while under the sun, playing and dancing with new found friends! If you haven't yet heard of Mr. Zach Deputy, get on it! A one man show that is full of so much love and talent! He is such a great human BEing too!

One of the high lights of hanging out at our booth this year happened at night. Our booth is a beacon of light and crazy blinkies, to any one that may have ingested anything, I would say it's "very inviting"!! On the crew this year was a man whom is called "Mr. Trash", he came with some giant, and beautiful masks that he also decorated with light up wire, therefore at night they become ALIVE! We had them displayed at the booth, so people could see them, touch them and even try them on if they wanted to. For many this was the first time they'd seen EL wire; for other's this was the first time they had seen light up wire being used in such a creative manner, it was such a great way way to get people interested! For some though, the masks actuallu SCARED them! Allright, we did something! We moved people! I know that Mr. Trash was excited to get SOME reaction out of the folks that looked like sheep, or cows just moving along the roadway in front of our booth, some folks just don't LOOK around enough! Get interested! Get creative! I loved to see how the art we had always brought the "right" people over to us. The best was when some of our crew put the masks on and jumped out on the path, in front of everyone! People had to interact, wanted to touch, take pictures, and try one on too! A few younger girls were really afraid, and the masks came off, they needed to see that there were REAL people under there...... Bringing a bit of art and the "wierd" to Bonnaroo was amazing! I mean, most things at Bonnaroo are nuts anyway, so we just added to everyone's festival experience. More than just a vendor booth, a place to play, meet people, and LEARN.... wow, what a concept!

All in all, Bonnaroo was a great place to be. Great music (I really wish Panic would have been there though), mesmerizing faces in the giant crowds of beautiful people, and of course new friends made that I know I will meet again and again!

We drove back from Tennessee, not in much of a hurry at all. We made our way back to South Florida with out any RV issues, happy as could be! I couldn't have asked for a better trip, thanks to those that made it BAD-ASS!!

We got back from Bonnaroo and we began our preparations for Rothbury 2009! I was extremely excited over this one! Last year when I left, I said I would be back next year, and I could not wait! We needed to start packing, start getting all the products ready and we had to get the HUGE amount of wire that Glen and crew were putting up in the forest ready as well! Boy it was BUSY time!

Out and about getting ready for the journey: hoop materials needed to be bought, inventory needing to be done, packing the trailer, RV, my own personal stuff, plus all the normal camp out, festival necessities needing to be purchased, packed and thrown in(in a orderly matter) in the trailer and RV. It was a busy time but we made it! I had a lot of help from some amazing young ladies who wanted to learn how to tape hoops, so we had a "hoop tapin' party"! We got a lot done, thanks to them!

We knew the drive was going to be long from Southern Florida, we got the directions and realized just HOW long of a drive we were lookin' at... only about 25 hours, no biggee! I thought we were going to have a few people on our journey, but everyone had to cancel so it was just "The Boss" and I. No problem, just more driving between the two of us, thats all. The star and his co-star, people would love to see our shenanigans as we road trip across this wide country of ours! The drive there was just fine, until we hit Indiana. That state has THE worst roads of any I have ever been on! I have drove across the Country 4 times now and have even drove North and South many times, nothing compared to these BUMPY, pot holed, uneven lanes of corn country. Having a trailer really made it worse, but looking at all the cars that drove by us, they were having just a bad a time as we were. Please someone, fix that road way system!

We arrived in the little town of Rothbury Michigan 2 1/2 days early. There was a bit of a buzz in the little town but not the craziness that it would see in the following days. We were meeting a friend there who had gotten in earlier and picked a camping spot and saved us a place. Thanks Mike, we were in prime real estate yet again! Gotta be in a good spot for every show! We got some food, and other "provisions" and made our way into the grounds. I remembered how cute and serene the town was, and how the way into the "Double JJ Resort" was a nice drive, so I was really looking forward to that again! We arrived at the resort where early check ins were happening, and I look and what do I see? A car with a Jackson Hole license plate! Wait a minute, here we are in Northern Michigan and I see a car with a license plate from where I'm from! It turns out he is the new Property Manager, and knew the same people as me! Small world, huh!?

We got our wristbands, they were organized this year! They gave us pretty good directions of where we were headed, so off we went, it was time to get to the "Prime Real Estate" that we had saved for us.

After getting parked and settled a bit, we had to start forming our plan of getting the 2200 feet of light up wire ready to be shown off in the Sherwood Forest! Thats why I got to be a cool kid and go in early, we were installing 2,200 feet of EL wire in the Forest! I was excited about that! Walking into the forest during early evening was a sight. So many people working on so many things. Everywhere I looked there was someone up really high in the trees, installing something. Lights were being tested,golf carts were speeding around shuffling people here and there. it was quite an operation. There are many, many people who put in LONG hours to make that place so special. Cheers to them!

After all the long hours we spent putting up all the EL wire, we got to take a stroll through the Sherwood Forest. I was so excited because we were in the place before all the crowds showed up. It was amazing and magical to say the least. I was so honored to be able to look at all the art work and installations without being distracted, and without all the noise. I think I like the forest with all the patrons in it better, but being able to be in the middle of the quiet trees was so peaceful. i talked to the trees and got some fun pictures as well. I was lucky this year! I met a lot of the production crew, and got to see the place unfold, what an experience!

The next day was the start of the festival, so that meant work time. I was happy to get to work on my fun little roaming vendor cart. I ended up naming my cart "The Tripper Catcher", can you guess why? I love being in the middle of all the chaos, controlled chaos I should say! People coming out of every nook and cranny to check out our wares and to stop and play for a minute. I met the most amazing people, and heard some funny stories while out with my cart. I always do, people say the damnest things to us vendors!

I want to say thank you to all the artists at this years event. I enjoyed being apart of it all!

Seeing String cheese Incident again was the highlight for me! I was able to take the evening off and go play. Man I hooped so much that night. I needed that! I frolicked all over the place, and ran around the whole area. I moved around a lot because I wanted to see Cheese from every angle. I ran as close to the front as I could get when the fire show was going on, I wish I would have had my camera but instead I had my hoop. I guess that was more fun anyway!

I now have a new favorite band... "Big Gigantic" played on the last night at the Tripolee dome and I was so impressed by them and their energy throughout the show. They were amazing! They had a great light show, a LOUD sound system and some of the best Hoop performances I have ever seen. Thank god I was so close to that stage with my cart. One of the guys I was working with stopped by to watch my cart so I could go shake it for that one, thanks Happs!

After their show was over the mass exodus from the forest happened. I was right in the middle, and was happy to get help with my cart, I was almost in the middle of a stampede of crazy trippers! What a funny sight!

All in all I would say that besides Burning Man this is my favorite festival. It has everything you could ever want in a music Festival. I think it's going to grow quickly because of all the positive press it keeps on getting. I suggest you go before it gets TOO big, like say, Bonnaroo! I like Bonnaroo but it has it's drawbacks....

Next year I can only imagine what they will dream up. I can't hardly wait to go again!

Till next year....

Melissa Magic