Bluegrass Indulgences at Suwannee Spring Reunion

Lucy hadn’t wanted to throw hands but that redneck in the golf visor should have known better than to touch someone else’s Squishmallow. Poor etiquette to be sure and a lesson that would certainly stick in the form of a racetrack around the eye. Grassroots was over and March Florida festival madness continued as the armada sailed for Live Oak, Florida and Suwannee Spring Reunion. With a sick line-up and a dance list of the coolest kids ever to cut a shag, this year’s party was poised to be slick, award-winning fun.
Dr. Titanium was in desperate need of a nebulizer but still pushing forward with haggard, rattled breath. Jesse joined the peace train and both he and Hollywood were also poised for a convergence in the woods. They would all come together at the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park for a weekend of perfect weather and stupid good times. Spring Reunion stems from a family of festivals that herald all the way back to the “source”. This year’s lineup was the hottest in a minute and for three days and what seemed like seven nights, the music certainly did not stop. It was home-grown, feel-good, late-night music fun and frivolity. It’s what we’ve come to expect from Spring and Roots and this time around, it f’sho delivered a knock-out punch. Welcome to Bluegrass Indulgences at Suwannee Spring Reunion. Weary traveler, maybe it’s time to wash that stink off. Some who wander are completely lost.

La Rosa Nostra pulled in to the park late Thursday night which can often be a sporting time to arrive because everyone is already drunk and unable to contribute in any meaningful way. Somehow as he entered the park, heading to Kamp Happiness and a space in the park he’d visited regularly for the past ten years, he got turned around and lost. Somewhere down Hippy Trail, somewhere far, far away. Nowhere near the lake, or The Bill Monroe Pavilion, or anything. Somewhere near nothing he began to run into high water. It had been raining in North Florida and he was pulling his new 1982 pop-up so there was no backing up. He slept where he got stuck in the mud. The next morning he tried to climb out of his van and ended up down, deep down in the muck. The mental image could not be forgotten. The corner shredded off the pop-up as the tow pulled it from the murky depths. Tommy Titanium’s hand rested just outside the window and was raked and gashed by protruding branches. He was a bloody mess and it was still early in the day.

A Song for a Sin?

Remember when Martin Luther spoke out against the Catholic Church’s policy of selling indulgences? You were there. Crack open a book once in a while. Festivarians sing their sins away through Bluegrass Gospel on Sunday morning in an effort to achieve salvation. This year the band started a mite early. They recognized there would be more sin than they could sing away on Sunday. So they started Thursday night and stayed just ahead of the high water mark of sinnin’ all weekend. It was a good formula and with Dr. Zimmerman on mandolin, Smittisha and Mitch on guitar and Big Betty on bass, the kamp happiness family band jammed non-stop. Martin Luther would have called them Bluegrass Indulgences. Who wrangles the wranglers?

La Strange.

The winner of the Shane Turner Mississippi Blue Ribbon Giterdun Award goes to Free Range Strange for their tireless devotion to all things savage. Sunnie Rae, Timber and Ni Lu were joined by a slew of magical musicians to the tune of Savannah Lee, Devin Harris, Nigel Ledford, Chase Holiday, John Watkin. Sunday night saw Tim and Sunnie join in with Donna the Buffalo on the Amphitheater Stage.

Jesse stumbled back around 3 am to find Mitch playing late night Chemical Bluegrass at the neighbor’s tent. “Jesus Christ, that guy is some kind of robot.” he muttered to himself as he slithered into his school van.

During the rain Emma enjoyed the lush confines of her new van, paid for by selling glass and spoons to hippies.

Hollywood and Jesse were living in sin together in Jesse’s van which had begun to smell like a Golden Coral. Slapping sloppy sounds along with Sade emanated from the van which seemed to hum with sexual energy. It was later discovered that Hollywood had begun using some new hand job techniques including the “Jamaican dry rub” and the “Caribbean Jerk”. Money well spent and a one song sin. The wranglers were not going to rendezvous with them at Shakori and that was a crying shame but it wasn’t just yet time to leave Florida.

Moose had run in to some street performer and bought out his inventory of percussion instruments. At any point during the day or night there were no shortages of jangles, shakers and clinckers. His headlights were barely working. Not enough to see in the dark but enough to keep the cops off him.

Feed the Children

at

Ka’aoli’s Low Country Boil 

with Ms. Jaime and her famous “howling monkey dance”

3:30 pm kamp happiness recreation pavilion and smoking patio

Stay late and catch one of Ka’aoli’s famous “yarns”. This week’s legend is “Bullshit history of Volusia County”.

Enthusiastic consent? Welcome to the pollination station?

Red Alert!!!  Defcom 2. Emergency dammit. The rains shut down Greensky Bluegrass and Jon moved in under Heather’s canopy. Emma’s shitter started to come undone as the seals were moving far down deep in the pooness. She left if for the groundscore squad on Monday morning. Congratulations Sarah. Three song sin.

Just what is wrong with Brie and Loraine?

Many who crossed their paths thought they were crazy, or special, or touched. They were known witches and could put spells on a man when needed. Both were sink drinkers. The kind of broken savages that would make force a man to watch Dr. Phil and listen to the Deliha show. Cruel mistresses to be sure.

Questions.

Was that Chase Holiday playing the standup bass and standing on one leg like a flamingo? Was that Roadblock Randy handcuffed to a golf cart, dragging it backwards through the woods? Liz the Biz used to say that one couldn’t save the world handcuffed to a golf cart. Truer words have never been spoken. Nuggets of wisdom.

Was that Nikki Tally’s daughter on stage singing? Gotta love Suwannee.

Haley and Duder brought their merch tent Shop of Fools to the row for the first time. The thugs from Mi Kulture brought their crushed velvet and butt drums to the party. Lucy figured to run into all of them at the freakshow known as Summer Camp on Memorial Day. Umph Love you know.

Thanks to everyone who contributed photographs to the cause and towed the line with the absence of Katie Magic and her ice chest of bad intentions. This is the way.

Thanks to DreamSpider Publicity for letting the wranglers be part of the continuing fun for five years running. These things don’t turn into hot waffles of buttery fun by themselves.

Toward the end of the weekend Lucy could feel the early itch of poison ivy and what appeared to be an unusually large number of insect bites. She’d only slept outside one night but that was enough. She was soon to be marked in seriously unattractive ways.

The Waterfall of Eternal Youth

“Follow me. I know the way.” Ka’aoli definitely did not know the way and he had broken his own code and began smoking the dope while the sun was still up. Lucy had walked far enough down what she was sure was the Florida Trail and was ready to throw her wallet at him and slit her own throat. Three song sin. Hidden meth lab on the Florida Trail. 3 song sin. Filet and release? What is the slot for a ditch mermaid in April?

Visit the Suwannee Spring Reunion website and like their social media sites on Facebook and Instagram. Visit the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park landing page to see what’s coming up in the future. There are still a couple of surprises left in the Florida Spring Festival season.

Visit the archives for more recent silliness along the lines of Grassroots at Virginia Key and No Resolutions Festival. Like our Facebook channels on wook wranglers and nailtravels and the nailtravels Instagram page. Are you not influenced?

Follow the wranglers as we head south to Ultra in Miami and revisit the beach fairy tale wonderland that is Virginia Key. After that, it’s back to Suwannee Rising, Rockville and and the gradual wrap-up of the Florida Home Invasion Tour. Chillicothe awaits.

Wrangled?