Friday, October 5, 2012

The Post-Wasteland Weekend Blues


You know, it's always hard to come back to the real world after spending over a week out in the Southern California desert and lending a hand to the fine people who put together the 4-day long festival. From driving in and only seeing about a dozen other people ready to get to work, to the sight of those same dozen people in my rear view mirror as I drive off into the dusty sunset, I'm always really sad for a good month or so after the events have ended.

Over the last 6 months, my friends Brian and Rob and I have spent many many days with the build crew, creating things like the Atomic Cafe, the Wasteland Gates, the Info Tire and the Stage. After putting all this work into the event that we've come to love so much, it was beautiful to finally watch everything come together.

Mike Darling over at Mike Darling Photography put together this awesome time-lapse of our build crew putting up the Wasteland Weekend gates. Many thanks to the entire build team for lending a hand and putting this together.

Our tribe "The AHTCK Squad" grew in population almost 3 times as much as last year. Our members stretch from all over the country - from Los Angeles to New York - we have a pretty nice mix of friends and family members.

But our friends and family don't stop inside our camp - we shared camp space this year with Captain Walkers Scrounge Lounge and Road Rash - both Northern California Tribes - both of them fucking insane! (In the best way!) We had a lot of fun this year - Rivet brought "Happy" out again - it's a strange, apple-like drink (mead?) that tastes super awesome (smoooooth) but gets you super messed up - really quickly. It's our favorite part about Wasteland Weekend!

Once Saturday night rolled around, it was time for us to take the stage - All Hail The Crimson King not only put on a bad-ass show, but in the middle of the madness, I proposed to my long-time girlfriend - I even got the crowd to shout back "I HOPE THAT SHE SAYS YES!" instead of the usual call back of "THEY DROPPED THE BOMB ON US!"

Well, if you're wondering what her answer was (and how the rest of the show went)... watch this:

We wrapped up the weekend with lots of wine (what I'm drinking in the video) and beer (what I'm ALSO drinking in the video) and lots of new friends and new family members. Like I mentioned before, Wasteland Weekend is always the highlight of my year and I'm glad I get to share it with so many friends and buddies while out in the middle of nowhere.

Wasteland Weekend is meant to be a celebration of life and survival. Once a year, we all come together to celebrate the survival of another year - one more year in the real world, surrounded by the comforts of society. This year was a defining moment in my life - the celebration of life and freedom and happiness - and now, love. I'm super excited to marry this gal and I can't wait to see what future Wasteland Weekends hold in store for us.

Now... time to tackle the album! Headed into the studio at the end of the month to churn out - The Ascension! See you in the wastelands!





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