You may remember me telling you about my friend’s Jedi talk at Glastonbury one year.* I also mentioned that there was more to that festival. Glastonbury is a huge affair. It takes a month just to set up with a crew of around 30,000. Matt is one of the first on site as he works with his brother setting up all the security cameras, etc. I’m not going to go into all the rights and mostly wrongs of Glastonbury Festival. It is a huge environmentally catastrophic monster. I could go into the whys, but that would be digressing, so I shall stick to the party.
It was an incredibly hot June that year. A mini whirlwind made it’s way across the field we were setting up in, picking up tents and furniture in it’s path. It missed us. I damaged the witches hat of the flue when it hit a branch whilst siting my caravan. Then I got a horsefly bite. It was horrible. My hand swelled in no time and I could literally see the poison travelling along my veins up my arm. I had to go to a local hospital for antibiotics.
We had a great little busy pitch. The Land Rover had a site pass, that meant that I could move freely on and off site unhindered. Ali was part of our crew, too. A British-American guy called Derek joined us. He is amazing. Interestingly, he had been deported from the States after being caught with LSD at a Grateful Dead concert. As he had not been born in the United States and despite growing up there from a very young age, he was deported back to his country of birth. He clearly understood the vibration of Feng Shui. Whenever the café was empty he would float through, moving things as he did, sometimes hardly noticeably. Within no time, the place would be packed with people again.
I think one of the funniest things that happened in that café was early one morning when the café was empty. I was chatting with Derek and could hear some Scouse bloke trying to get a bite to eat. I didn’t take any notice. It was Ali who was dealing with him. Max was in the kitchen calling back that he was not going to prepare anymore food. The Scouser eventually gave up and left. Just after he had left, Ali suddenly went, “Ah. I know who that was. I thought I recognised him. That was Craig Charles!” We all looked around. Max also appeared, saying, “What? I really like him.” We all laughed and let it be known to all that Max had told Craig Charles to ‘fuck off, he’s not getting anything to eat’!
It wasn’t long into the party that it became obvious that all the younger members of our pitch were enjoying some good acid. They were running around with the most ridiculous smiles. All they kept on about was an ‘older hippy chick’ called Genevieve. At some point in the very early hours, I was sat in the café chatting to all and sundry when an attractive woman caught my eye. Apparently, I had caught her eye, too. She spoke first. She remarked on my aura and asked for my name. I told her and likewise asked her name. She told me that her name is Genevieve. I immediately cottoned on. There was no way there could be two Genevieves! “Ahhh, so you’rrre Genevieve.” I knowingly said. The look on her face was a picture. “So you’re the culprit, are you?” I mischievously enquired. Genevieve was flummoxed. I went on, “You are responsible for all the silly grins around me, aren’t you? Well done. Keep it up!” She was great and kindly offered me some of her magik potion which was in a phial hung around her neck. She may have been an ‘older hippy chick’ to some, but she wasn’t that old! 20-something, probably. Matt and I took a dose just before sunrise. We went for a lovely walk around the Green Fields. It was beautiful acid. Genevieve caught up with me a day or so later and was very pleased that we’d enjoyed the trip.
That wasn’t my only trip at that gig. Matt and I had partaken one evening in time to go to see Steve Hillage do a System 7-Gong fusion. He was standing in for the wonderful Daevid Allen who had become very ill. It was a great gig. On the way back, Matt and I had become separated in the throngs. He could move about the site with ease due to his AAA pass. I on the other hand, got caught in the one-way system. The problem was that it started and ended right on the corner of the Green Fields. So, whilst tripping nuts, I got caught in the nightmare one-way system. It was like being herded; like cattle. It was barmy. Eventually, I found myself in a field full of installations; kiosks of players acting out depressing scenes. Once I got through that I found myself in a wild party town environment. Then came the Unfairground, an apocalyptic world of madness and mayhem with cars sticking out of the ground and adorning some of the installations. There was even half of an actual ‘tube train’ carriage sticking out of the side of one installation! Finally, I found myself in the serenity of the Green Fields. I seriously had to hang on to my head!
*see entry Arian and Rowan, part 6....