All photographs © 2007 Jason Kaczorowski
It’s the end of an extensive, exciting week and Pollock returns one last time to his booth to sign and number his on-site printed edition. There is a light breeze entering from the rear of the tent but there’s an eerie silence compared with the past few days’ poster pandemonium. Determined, Pollock puts pen to paper dutifully authorizing each piece. Previously displayed artwork is packed away and all that remains are stomped out cigarette butts, craft paper strewn about a table and a muslin backdrop dividing the tent with safety pins and binder clips still affixed to it. Voices can be heard from the merchandise booth next door as the occasional consumer inquires regarding the availability of the on-site poster being unknowingly autographed behind the thin white plastic wall to their left.
The “Prince of Prints” (as he’s been affectionately dubbed this week by “Lor”, another local shakedown street coordinator and general merchandising manager) holds reign over the pen, occasionally pausing to flick a dead mosquito dried in the still slightly damp oil-based ink as the stack slowly continues to dwindle.
on rolling posters for distribution with
the Lake Sallie General Store crew.
Photo by Jim Pollock (above)
There’s still so much to see and do and it feels like we’re just now – on the last day of the festival – beginning to stretch our legs.
We proceed to the VIP tent and realize they’ve been offering up complimentary food and beer all weekend. Where’ve we been? Before departing the VIP tent, we gulp down a couple beers while enjoying the live backstage entertainment.
I’ve been fascinated by the ice cream truck rumored to have been slinging 2,000 bars of free ice cream backstage all week. Do you know the Ice Cream Man? Check out the site http://www.icecreamman.com/ for his inside scoop.
The weekend’s headliners were just plugging in on the main stage and the anticipating initial roar of the crowd was an early indication what an amazing night of music we were in for.
I’m photographing approximately 5 feet from former founding Grateful Dead member Bob Weir and his band Ratdog as he opens the evening with a wailing jam into “Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Liberty” and on into “She Says” before the pit is cleared and we are ushered away from the stage. I don’t recall ever pulling the camera away from my face aside from reloading memory cards or quickly changing lenses. The swell of the crowd meshes with the movement of the music as I pack my gear and am beckoned onto the VIP tent’s massage tables. The long weekend has taken its toll on my lower back transporting gear around constantly. I am soon passed out, face down on a table being kneaded and worked as Weir and band perform “Tennessee Jed > Cassidy > Lazy River Road”. Getting a massage while listening to Grateful Dead tunes being performed live only a few hundred feet away is an experience I can’t highly recommend enough. Simply as relaxed as I could’ve become, I am the last client of the evening and me and my therapist are telling tales from our hometown on a couch in the VIP lounge. She’s from Lawrence, Kansas – home to the Wakarusa Music Festival. She tells me about a time when she was giving Phish’s Mike Gordon a massage but continued to call him by the wrong name throughout the treatment. I promise to keep in touch for another massage if we cross paths in Kansas next year.
The first set comes to a close with a “Watchtower” tease out of “Lazy River” and into “Bird Song” which melds into a “Big Railroad Blues” which featured Warren Haynes on guitar & vocals.
The second stomped in with “Mexicali Blues” followed by “A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall”. “Milestones” proceeded into “Lady with a Fan” on into a presumed “Terrapin”. “Come Together” went back into a “Bird Song” reprise then on into a “Cassidy” reprise followed by a set closing, crowd pleasing “One More Saturday Night” all also featuring Keller Williams on guitar & vocals. With an encore showcasing “Slipknot!” again into “Franklin's Tower”, by the time the American flag came waving on stage during “U.S. Blues”, the only thing left to do was blow up the sky with fireworks and start gearing up for next year’s 6th annual 10,000 Lakes Festival.
The second stomped in with “Mexicali Blues” followed by “A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall”. “Milestones” proceeded into “Lady with a Fan” on into a presumed “Terrapin”. “Come Together” went back into a “Bird Song” reprise then on into a “Cassidy” reprise followed by a set closing, crowd pleasing “One More Saturday Night” all also featuring Keller Williams on guitar & vocals. With an encore showcasing “Slipknot!” again into “Franklin's Tower”, by the time the American flag came waving on stage during “U.S. Blues”, the only thing left to do was blow up the sky with fireworks and start gearing up for next year’s 6th annual 10,000 Lakes Festival.
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