Day Two And Still No Forbidden Fruit

By Tony Billoni

Saturday, July 13, morning

The Tao says if you remove control there will be no chaos or was it... William S. Burroughs. Who said that? Wandering around the entire grounds of Eden Fest most here still seem bathed in the frenetic grind of Bush and the pulsing hypno smoke of Robert Smith's Cure. It looked as if the entire population was front and center for these two closers as the meadow and the hills leading out to the camping areas were body to body. The Cure was the only act to play completely in the dark and made the most use of the extensive computer light show. Their 3-D backdrop seemed to come to life as powerful patterned beams pierced the wafting smoke to bounce off the painted textures.

The Cure's sonic textures seemed to put the Edenites into another state as crowd riding held to a minimum. What is crowd riding? Why it's the tool of the devil, and if you kids don't stop someone is going to get hurt, someones going to break their neck, or at least poke an eye out. Let's get serious.

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96-07-13: dr-030

I was caught up in the faces of sheer delight and bliss of the boys and girls who suddenly went airborne and like some sleepwalkers rescue mission or a Zen amusement park they would get passed around the general vicinity of their spot until some less concerned crowd member didn't put up his arms to keep our floater buoyant. Whoops, where did he go? It's not a big drop after all.

The security is all up on this as well. I dont believe there are training classes on the proper care of air borne crowd riders but one told me they are out to keep it safe for one and all. The red shirted guards first act is to form a wall at the stage barrier and when a kid gets too close they act as a sort of road block or repeller to send him back out among his own. If the force of energy is too much for the security they will go with the flow and let the rider fall into their beefy arms, escorting him back out front.

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96-07-13: dr-027

Another key function the stage security has provided is to lift out the folks who end up being pressed against the barrier by the throbbing masses. Never thought getting to see your fave would involve loss of breath or some bruised limbs did you? fight for your right... to see Bush up close and personal. About every three minutes or sothe big guys up front would lift some pleading boy or girl up and over, letting them pause long enough for a quick once over from the EMT at the side of the stage.

Back to the crowd riding:

Click to view an image:
96-07-13: dr-031

Tips:
Don't stiffen up. Be flexible but not limp. Always remember that the next arms may not be there and you can never really know which way your body is going to go down. Be ready to go down because like all good things in life, nothing last for ever. The average time up is about 10 seconds although I have seen some lucky balance artists hang for twice that long. Remember, as always, no wagering.

CONVERSATION HEARD ON THE BUS ROUNDING THE TRACK AT 9:15AM

A: Does anyone have a map?

B: Sorry, we are map-less.

C: Where do you want to go?

A: That's the problem I don't know.

B: Oh, you need a map with your campsite on it.

A: Yeah, I guess so. You know where the Player's bridge is?

Still more to come: video interviews, fan Karaoke, piercing up close and personal and your suggestions.

see ya. . .


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