Now that the second big holiday of summer has passed, it's time to admit that this summer's plan is not working so well. The plan was to visit as many festivals as possible in high-altitude towns of the Four Corner states. Towns tolerate boondockers a day before and a day after the event, since many of the artists and musicians get by like that. People are fun to be around, during festival times.
It was such a brilliant idea. But I'm used to them not working out. I got the idea while enjoying the free Blues Festival in the Little Pueblo in southern New Mexico. I quickly found out how rare free festivals are, and the closer you get to Colorado, the worse it gets. No doubt, the reader thinks that RV boondockers have an obsession about the word 'free.' Actually, the problem with paying to hear music performances is what it does to my expectations. It's more fun to stumble in to a free performance, with low expectations, and be surprised on the upside.
A second difficulty with this summer's brilliant plan is that I must accept the concept of a calendar, a schedule. What a monstrous recrudescence! Unacceptable.
Recently I went to the Taos Solar Music Festival. It was supposed to good Fun with a Feel Good theme. I decided to be a camp follower, without actually paying to get in. I boondocked four blocks away from the festival. The music was raucous rock music that was uncomfortably loud even where I was camped.
The festival advertises that it uses solar energy to power the musicians. Didn't anyone appreciate the irony of emphasizing rock music, which is built around electrical power consumption, at a festival that was supposed to promote 'sustainable living?'
Actually the performances take place on two stages; only the secondary acts use solar energy. The 'headliner' entertainment, like that obnoxious rock band, uses conventional power! There are times when environmentalists seem to go out of their way to be hypocrites. How much electricity is required to run stringed instruments, woodwinds, drums, or the finest musical instrument of all: a woman's voice?
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