This is the third installment of Suwannee Rising and why the great jumpin’ Jahoosaphat not? The Florida spring festival season remains in full force and there’s nowhere better to be and no more fun to be had. April 7-9, 2022 brought St. Paul and the Broken Bones, George Porter Jr. and Dumptsaphunk, North Mississippi Allstars, Melody and Vaylor Trucks, Neal Francis, Maggie Rose, The Nth Power Ball and more to the forest. Guests included T-Bag, Janaenae, Lisa, JuJu the Jordanian, Fran Drescher, the Gulf Coast Swamp Hippies, Pound Town, the Buttscratchers, kamp happiness and the rest of the Rising faithful. Welcome to Swannee Rising ’22: The Melody Trucks Interview with Sunnie Rae and festival wrap-up. You’ve found your way back into the pocket.

The wook wranglers are proud to showcase newcomer correspondent Sunnie Rae a.k.a Shanaenae and her fantastic photographs and Melody Trucks live interview. It’s a long way from selling bath salt and candles under 275.

Friday Girl Power: From the kampground to the Amphitheater Stage the ladies ruled the roost. Bedazzled sunglasses and tight harmonies were the order of the day as blinking hula hoops flew through the night air.

Strange sounds seeped from the Gulf Coast Swamp Hippy camp, right in between kamp happiness and Pound Town. You must be this tall to ride this ride and don’t ask too many questions. Those were the special portobellos.

Who was that girl singing with Magnolia Blvd? She had eyes that stared right through Baitbucket’s soul. He could feel a tingling energy being shared between them that could only be true love.

Was that a rare Jason Sumpter sighting? Can we get a ride to Pound Town? Welcome to the Jason waterfall. After that, it would time for the daily eleven dollar walk to the store for American Spirits.

The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park is still one of the premier camping/music venues in the country for good reason. The forest, the river, the perfect weather and the twisted fun company all meld to create an environment conducive to the celebration of the ego death.

Lucy made it all the way to the Future Joy renegade set before she began to slip. Double vision and waves of sweat returned and she began to rant about being drugged against her will by a stranger with a jar full of expired narcotics. Truly stranger than fiction.

Free Palestine! She claimed to be Palestinian but her birth certificate showed she was from Jordan. Refugees unite!

Has Jeff Zbar teamed up with St. Paul and the Broken Bones down on the beach? It sounded just ludicrous enough to be true. Check the shadows on the photograph and make sure it hasn’t been tampered with.

Was that Penny Lane riding an emu down the street like Swiss Family Robinson? Believe what you want but that girl was riding bare back.

Lisa remained crouched down next to the fire and grilled fresh broccoli and coconut shrimp. Welcome to the good life.

Lucy found someone’s stepped on cocaine in the microwave and accidentally took a sniff. What she didn’t expect was the burning sensation that crawled up her face and planted itself behind her left eyeball. His eyes watered, he gagged, a little later it seemed better. Either the coke was getting better or his brain hole was acclimating.

Stop the presses! Like a spunnest wook, Gummy lost his bracelet sometime Friday and was stonewalled into purchasing a new ticket in order to get back in the park. How now brown cow? Shanaenae dragged the crowd to see Brothers and Sisters before jamming late into the night at the Bill Monroe pavilion.

Check out Brian’s butt.

(Ed. correction- In a recent article, the wrangler staff published that Shop of Fools and Mi Kulture were present and vending at Suwannee Spring Reunion which they most surely were not. They were present at Rising and with festivals bumping up against one another, who can really remember? Crushed velvet and Japanese kimonos of days! There were also no credible witnesses to Chase Holiday running through the woods naked. Probably just another hansom streaker skirting the forest. More hyperbole and conjecture from your number one source for festival rumors.)

Grab a partner. It’s the dance of the spit bubbles.

Thanks to Paul, Karla and the rest of the Rising team for letting the wranglers get behind the scene for another year. Visit the Suwannee Rising website and like their social media channels on Facebook and Instagram. Revisit some Rising memories from the vault with The Spring Road?” Suwannee Again Rises and Suwannee Rising Memories: Virtual Festival Scrapbook.

Why were there crying sounds coming from Ted’s school bus? Who was driving the golf cart? Kendal or Kendal? Either way it wasn’t safe.

Thanks to Holly for operating the camera during the Melody Trucks interview. Thank goodness for Mom’s Dance Weekend.

Lucy and Baitbucket had been in Florida since October and the Home Invasion Tour had taken some unexpected turns. In a few days they’d be heading to Chillicothe for a month gearing up for Summer Camp and the wookish insanity that would surely follow. Look for the kamp happiness Fallout Shelter near the intersection of Shakedown Street in the forest. Restricted Access.

After that the road would shoot back into the mountains for a few months of hillbilly fun 828 and Roanoke Mafia style. Who could possibly see what kind of foolishness lay ahead? Keep up with the wranglers as they set out in search of mediocre string music, colorful thugs and unbalanced adventure in the womb of the summer festival season.

Where is Mr. Beautiful?

The post Swannee Rising ’22: The Melody Trucks Interview with Sunnie Rae appeared first on wook wranglers.

The 2022 festival will feature a headlining set by St. Paul and the Broken Bones, the eight-piece soul band from Birmingham, AL, who have just released their fourth album The Alien Coast, plus a top billing of Durand Jones & The Indications, the retro-soul outfit from Bloomington, IN whose most recent record, Private Space expands into funk and disco.

The eclectic billing continues with a special set by George Porter Jr., bassist and New Orleans funk legend, playing the music of his band The Meters with Dumpstaphunk; more New Orleans funk with Galactic; American southern rock/blues band North Mississippi All-Stars; groove and soul piano prodigy Neal Francis; funk, electronic dance five piece group out of London, Franc Moody; Americana soul singer Maggie Rose; Richmond, Virginia-based funk quintet, Butcher Brown; Seattle based progressive funk, psychedelic rock, and modern afro-beat collective, Polyrhythmics.
More bands on the lineup include Magnolia Boulevard; Joe Marcinek Band with Jason Hann, Steve Molitz & Ola Timothy; Brother and Sister; Daniel Donato; Bonnie Blue; Electric Kif; Erin and the Wildfire; Cowford; Heather Gillis Band, Ernie Johnson From Detroit; Lemon City Trio; Savants of Soul; The Headtones; Fusion Jonez; Beartoe; Albert Simpson; Revival; and more.

Attendees will enjoy three days of music (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) on two stages: The Amphitheater and The Porch Stage. There will be three nights of Primitive Camping (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday); upgraded sites will be available for additional fees. Kids 12 and Under Free Admission for Kids 12 and under is free when accompanied and supervised by a parent or legal guardian.

Click here for GA, VIP tickets and camping passes. Visit the Suwannee Rising website and like their social media sites on Instagram ,Facebook and Twitter.

Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park:
Set in the midst of 800-acres of Spanish moss-draped oak and cypress along the black Suwannee River and complete with the largest bat house in the southeast U.S, Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is one of the most beautiful live music venues in the country.

The park also offers guest comforts including a general store, full-service restaurant,
free showers, indoor bathrooms, and water stations.
Visit their website and like their etherweb shit on Instagram ,Facebook andTwitter.

Stay concurrent with the wranglers and kamp happiness as we continue the Home Invasion Tour right up the sweet spot of the Florida Festival season. It’s Okeechobee, Grassroots at Virginia Key and Spring Reunion. Stay informed yo.

The post Suwannee Rising Bringeth the Funk: Preview and Information appeared first on wook wranglers.

Jesus, it had only been a week since Fool’s Engagement and that hot mess of fun had permanently loosened the yolk in the egg. Wow. Both Lucy and Luke were still trying to process exactly what had happened in Branford. Details were sketchy to say the very least. After a few days of “rest” on the banks of the St. Mary’s River they were headed back into the maelstrom. Back to the park where the Suwannee Rising was already in preparty mode.

For the second year Rising found its way into the North Florida woods on the banks of the Suwannee. Leave it to Paul Levine to put together another full tilt get-down at one of the best music festival camping venues anywhere. With resurrection ferns popping off the oak branches it was a perfect pod party with plenty of A-listers manning the controls and steamy headliners like Umphrey’s McGee, Goose, Eric Krasno, Lettuce and many more dropping the mad beat.

The Friday show included delicious weather to the likes of Big Something and the ever spectacular Melody Trucks Band. A classic rail girl, Lucy even enjoyed the pod environment which they’d pimped out with chairs, coolers and blinking lights. After making friends with the podfolk on their perimeter she occasionally ventured out to explore the lay of the land, which was a predictable freakshow. The late night party in the park brought a freight train of fun that had been building up inside the hearts of these festivarians for a long time. On his way to the Pound Town late night bar, Luke made it clear he had been cooped up for over a year and was entirely ready to scoop out his brain with a salad spoon and toss it in the middle of the fire.

Podhopper Jones: 9-21: Jess and Josh, 21-12: Oldsmar, 1-19: Moonshine and Tim, 3-09: 3-12?: Jeff and Barry, 3-6: Patrick and Sarah, 19-19: Dr. T., 6-2: Dr. Paint and Brooke. Who knows?

Big Betty opted to leave the music early and set up Kamp Happiness for the Friday party when she ran smack into Josh and Jessica who made the trip all the way from Michigan. Talk about real Umph Love. Things just moved up to eleven on the meter. May I speak with your manager? Visit their website at Mi Kulture for all the coolest hippy shit anywhere.

Luke could feel it in the air. That special tingle that comes when an army of campers join in a chorus of howls toward the stars. It was Friday night and the music was over somewhere around eleven. There was lots of time to get in trouble.

“Never for me the lowered banner, never the last endeavor.” Sir Ernest Shakleton

Friday night Family Jam: Thanks to Chase and Dr. Paint for the late-night acoustic slickery at the Kamp Happiness Lakeside Retreat. Mandolins, guitars, basses and harps kept the musac lifting through the forest into the wee hours of the night. Eventually eyeholes began pointing in different directions and the common tongue became Brookanese. Moonman language for the uninitiated. Oldsmar provided the drums and pillows for the late night ballyhoo and created an inviting camp for all to partake. And partake they did.

And then there was the moonshine man who brought no moonshine. Lucy wasn’t sure how she could be expected to get through the weekend without moonshine. A few swigs would often hold her together just when the weight of rampant chemical abuse began to hamper her faculties. In lieu of the shine the entire camp was introduced to Bulleit whiskey laced with acid. She figured baby steps might not be necessary when walking in the world of high science.

Among the more bourgeois pods, the one hosted by the incomparable festival savages, Jeff and Barry offered free back rubs and pickle back whiskey shots to anyone that could do a cartwheel. With the beautiful people on the third row they certainly rode the Goose train in what was a spectacular set. Good advice. Great vocals, great guitar, great jams. Visit their website at RoadtripMojo and always plan on seeing them down the long festival road.

Saturday Night Umph Love: There’s nothing more fun than a Saturday night with Umphrey’s. Just ask Liz the Biz, Umphrey’s makes girls dance. They always made Uncle Clayopheus dance as he stood right next to the speaker. The two loaded set were full of banging covers like “Shine On”, “Dr. Feelgood”, and a David Bowie “Fame” closer that sealed the whole deal. By the end of the show Lucy had managed to move up to Patrick’s pod on the third row. Would you liker a coffee and a dab? Sitting in a lawn chair that close to the stage, she knew it was unlikely she would ever enjoy such an unobstructed view of the funk again. Thanks Covid.

Sunday Spunday: Luke slept later than usual due to the morning rain. It was a slow Sunday drizzle that said, “There’s nothing going on. Stay right where you are.” He eventually grabbed the nearest water bottle and ended up brushing his teeth with vodka. Thank you Cody and Andrea for providing shelter from the storm at the Bill Monroe Pavilion. What was supposed to be a pack and travel day quickly devolved into Sunday music and groundscore feast. When the rain finally stopped all that was left were tent straps and magical cases of warm Yuengling.

Never miss a Sunday show.

Wookish Innovations:  For the monkeys who paid for camping but failed to procure a festival bracelet solutions were scarce. Friday showed the orange tape from the pod dividers served as a reasonable substitute for the orange bracelets. The award for first-place wook ingenuity went to Gumball for his use of the yellow stripping from an Aquafina package. It didn’t get him through VIP Artist Entry but it worked fine for general admission. (ed. note. The wook wranglers do not endorse or condone this type of tomfoolery.)

Groundscore the World: Sarah always said that when it rains Sunday morning folks tear out in a hurry forgetting much of their sheeite. She and Luke had been a  roving groundscore team for years and had it down to a science. A half bottle of Rumplemintz later it was jalapeno quail eggs and cheese puffs for brunch. Don’t drive dirty.

Atheist Don’t Drink Champagne: It started with a pair of pliers and a bottle of lukewarm Champagne. A perfect Sunday combination. The small crowd of leftover thugs huddled close ready for a well-deserved mimosa. Kyle pried and wrestled with the cork until, in the blink of an eye, the bottle exploded into a torrent of jagged shards. Kyle and Pollen, sitting at ground zero and would have been vaporized had it not been for Chase’s quick thinking. Nary another man would have sacrificed himself in such a selfless manner. The entire squad would have been ripped apart had he not thrown his face into the path of the splintered glass. When later asked what would inspire a man to throw himself on a grenade, he calmly replied, “I though I might look good with an eye patch.”

Tommy Thermometer’s Rainy Day Sunday Exit Strategy:  Unhook your tent poles and leave everything in a wet pile next to the road. That’s two times in three weeks but sometimes spring festivals get wet in Florida. As always, the LaRosa Nostra Kitchen was in full effect all weekend. Tempe, potstickers, mango chutney and peanut butter hoglegs were on the daily specials menu.

Bad Choices: Lucy realized she’d left her phone in the hands of an admitted degenerate. Her sandy footprints all over the dashboard of the Mercedes C450 she screamed at the hairy beast to drive faster. It was likely too late.

The good news was Luke knew exactly where Lucy’s phone was. The bad news was he knew it was in a van on the way to Mobile to see Billy Strings. He’d just lost two phones in three days, neither of which were his.

Thanks to Nehal, Lauren and Chris for everything and all who contributed photographs for the article. Keep up with the wranglers as we get ready to join with Kamp Happiness, the Buttscratchers and the Lawyer for Orange Blossom Jamboree and all the gristly fun that comes with it. For roll call visit the wook wranglers Facebook page. The party is May 13. Get on board, there’s plenty of room.

Spirit of Suwannee Music Park: Chase Holiday Lives Here

The post The Spring Road Part? Suwannee Again Rises appeared first on wook wranglers.

What’s a wook to do?

All the freaks at Okeechobee got one in at the last minute. Spring Reunion and Rising would be cancelled soon after. A small concession of festivarians still made the trek to Live Oak to enjoy one last weekend in the forest. Hobbies like camping, hiking and fishing still seemed like some of the best ways to self-isolate.

It wouldn’t be long before Disney World and Disneyland closed, then the Price Is Right cancelled its shows. Things had obviously gotten serious. Next the kids got out of school and they shut down all the restaurants and bars. Hmmm. The bartenders are out of work but the pork packaging plant is hiring…

The festivals were all cancelled or postponed. Each festy hound, each wook queen, every merchant to the drummer and lighting guy had to let that slowly sink in. Sure, the basketball tournament was cancelled and then just about every other sporting event.

But the festivals? That’s striking some folks real close to home. Like so many other, this is what the wook wranglers do. It’s fun and work. Sometimes it’s two or more festivals a month and during spring and summer there are multiple festivals around the country each weekend. Some folks hardly ever stop.

So this is the new idea. Sharing across the etherweb is what’s happening for a minute. Welcome to Suwannee Rising Memories: Virtual Festival Scrapbook.

Where were all the police?

The interstate still showed plenty of cars, semis and recreational vehicles. But no cops. At least not the usual swarms. Even in Georgia, a state widely know for using drones and robot tanks in advanced speed traps was strangely calm.

Welcome to Kamp Happiness? What pairs well with bleach? Have a quarantini. Bleach, vodka and peach juice. They said the Corona virus couldn’t stand up to moonshine. Possible ways to strengthen the immune system? Walk barefoot, drink moonshine, communal showers, bat quano…It was going to take some hard science to find a vacine.

Rising Up!

They were celebrating the life of the Roanoke Mafioso and sometime late night poured his ashes in the lake. In another ancient Mayan ritual, his remains were ingested along with mushrooms and corn whiskey. This was the old way and would not be seen again. In perfect Wanee tradition, neighboring camps came together and formed supercamps of degenerate party slugs. At some point as is want to do, things devolved into a perfectly out-of-hand camping experience. Most of the details would forever be lost to the forest. Thank ye gods.

As a result of the virus most people are stuck at home. This is leaving a large space in the common festivarian’s summer experience. Follow these simple tips and you can get that same festival experience in the comfort of your own home. That’s right.

Ways You Can Reproduce the Festival Experience At Home:

• Using a wet towel as a pillow, sleep halfway under your vehicle.
• Feed the Chihuahua chicken bones and marshmallows.
• Wake up and throw a handful of glitter in your face.

• Add two parts dirt and ashes to your morning coffee.
• Play loud music from your vehicle until the battery completely dies.
• Gather wood. Build a fire. Sit next to it and listen to “Morning Dew” while yelling at people to find more firewood.
• Take a cold shower at four in the morning using only ladies conditioner. (For Lockn’ only: Tear a ten dollar bill in half)

• Have someone else hide your phone and one of your shoes.
• Pour water down the sound hole of your guitar and step on the neck.
• Treat yosef to a breakfast of cold Spaghettios.
• Gobble down a “heroic” dose and sit in a Port-o-john for twenty minutes staring at your fingers.

• Wake up to a Bloody Mary.
• Stay awake for three days on nothing but tranquilizers and nitrous oxide.
• Eat edibles before going to bed and wake up soapy to more edibles.
• Pick a different neighbor each day and go borrow something.
• Pick a different neighbor each day and take them rice crispy treats.

• Listen to Billy Strings into J Rad into the Floozies. (for only the funkiest festivals)
• Drink three cases of PBR or Natties (or were you doing that already?)
• Throw up on a tree.
• Put lawn chairs by the street and using a megaphone yell at joggers as they pass.

So most folks are stuck at home. Even people that still work are likely to head straight home when it’s time. Hell, the bars are even closed. What else is there to do? The beaches are closed but not the launches.  For the festivarians it’s all the same. The feet are all clean. The hair is washed. Everyone’s playing music and sharing it on Facebook. The dogs are super happy. It seems they appreciate quarantine more than anyone.

It’s a perfect time to make some bracelets or wraps. Jade is sewing handwarmers and Sunnie is making candles. Here in high country the neighbors have been working on homemade explosives and we are sewing faces on dead cats. It’s all in good fun. It’s the perfect moment to focus on existing passions and hobbies and find some new ones. It’s a transcendent time and one that need not be wasted. Now get in the kitchen and make some tikka masala with jasmine rice.

Thanks to everyone who contributed photographs for this article. They each tell part of an amazing story. One of new friends blending into old ones and sharing in a spirit of love and fun. Festival photographs often tell similar stories and the canvas of Live Oak provides a perfect backdrop for all of these. Stay with the wranglers as we continue through the festival season with more virtual scrapbooks. Installation Station 20.

Thanks to Kamp Happiness, the Buttscratchers and all other versions of the ludicrous incarnate. It was the year of the Death Clown and Oteil. Hobo Kamps everywhere providing for all, wanting for nothing. This festival was born from the need to fill the space once occupied by Wanee, a party that was as good as anything anywhere. With great line-ups and ridiculously heady vibes it’s essence and feel were surely celebrated at Suwannee Rising.

By this time many of the Suwannee Rising camps had become detailed and homey. They had arrived two weeks earlier for Spring Reunion and had stuck around and built what the deputies would call “hobo kamps”. Drying lederhosen could be found hanging next to dyed tapestries. Things usually start to go south as soon as these types of campers get comfortable. Like a group of Bedouin traders, it’s best when they’re on the move. Best to walk before they make you run.

Don’t look at it Marion! The average wook goes to four to seven festivals a year. During the summer months the weekends begin running into each other in a haze of balloons and bubbles. For a devout festivarian the next party is usually only a couple of weeks away. Sometimes not that long. The energy and spirit that can be found at the festival gives back to everyone. Some folks just want or need more of it. There is no substitute for parties like Suwannee Rising. This church needs to be open. See you next year.

For online shopping support our friends at A Bazaar Universe and Mi Kulture.

The post Suwannee Rising Memories: Virtual Festival Scrapbook appeared first on wook wranglers.