Music, Sex & Cookies - Hippie Parties Pt. 2

My month of hippie parties is well underway. I spent this past weekend hanging out on an organic farm in Berks County (outside of Reading, PA) at the Father Folk Fest. This music festival features approximately 50 musicians/ musical groups from the mid-atlantic region and about 200 spectators. It is an "invite only" festival, meaning that only family, friends, and friends of friends of the "fathers" are invited to attend. My family and I are lucky enough to be friends of two of the "fathers."

This festival is very home grown. Some guy donates the use of a big glade on his farm for the festival each year (this was the 7th year, I think). It is a beautiful location with lots of green trees and chirping insects. The mid-size bandstand is hand-crafted out of logged trees from the farm. People come for the weekend and camp on the far side of the glade. 48 straight hours of music. It's pretty fantastic. Where else do you get to hear bluegrass, folk tunes, acoustic classic rock, country, sitar and dijeridoo music at once?

The highlights of the weekend:

• Hearing my brother perform - he kicked major ass
• Lots of laughs with Caitlin and sharing the FFF love with her
• Great food, great friends, great family
• The festival's vibe, period
• The cool-ass original T-shirt I bought - these festival shirts are legendary

I had an interesting conversation with Dave Martz, one of the musicians. Dave is in his 60s, I would imagine, and has a long white beard. He played 2 great sets of original tunes on his 1932 dobro (steel-infused, old-sounding guitar). Also known as "the Road Man," Dave travels the folk festival circuit every summer spreading the joy of music. His songs are catchy because he talks about fun, every-day life things that color his life. He said to me, "You know, so many people tell me that they wish they lived as interesting a life as I do. But really, we all lead interesting lives... the difference is that most people don't take the time to step back, realize it, laugh, and appreciate the things that happen to them."

So true. Many of these things, to me, are what embody the philosophy of 21-humor.

Dave dedicated a great little tune to Caitlin and I during his second set. It was entitled, "Music, sex and cookies" and it talked about how they make the world go 'round. He talks about how there are other things in the world that are fun, but these are the best - the song ends with him talking about how he got rejected by a woman at a bar, but then he went home and put on some blues and got out the old chocolate chippers, and realized that "two out of three ain't bad." I suppose this was this man's testimony to the younger generation of hippies...

Despite the heat and not taking a shower for two days straight, I had a wonderful time at Father Folk. I spent the weekend knitting and taking in the lovely sounds of Americana and feeling the 60s love and idealism that is still very much present if you know where to look for it. Oh, what a feeling!