Amazing and Ridiculous - Two Words with Dual Meanings

That is what BellaVida was indeed. A music festival I attended in Gevena, MN last week, BellaVida is what hecklers would call a big ole’ hippy-fest, and supporters would call the best damn time they have all year. I found myself experiencing the weekend as a curious mixture of the two.

What was + Amazing/ Ridiculous was the music. I felt so at ease and blessed when I laid my blanket down under a huge shady tree between the two stages, positioned just so that each set could be heard with relative distinctness. Looking up at the gentle breeze swirl through the huge old trees while hearing a bad-ass saxophone wail away is certainly an out of the ordinary and welcomed combination. Additionally, I got to meet some pretty fun people and camp out under the sky, cooking my food as quickly as I could on camp stove to encourage my booze to calm down. Lastly, and seemingly one of the most important reasons it was + Amazing/ Ridiculous was the change of pace it provided. Though I still have not managed to nail down a decent routine after what seems like several months of toil, a change of pace is always welcomed by someone like me, whose gypsy-tendencies seem to scratch at their stomachs more often than they should.

What was - Amazing/ Ridiculous: I was amazed at how many people I assumed to be there for the music we so gone from using that they missed a lot of music. There were times when I would look around at the crowd for the headliner and wonder “Where is everybody?” They were back at camp, getting ripped. Now, I do not consider myself someone quick to sentence judgment, it does not take me long to decipher my own leaning toward something. I found myself leaning toward sadness that it seemed to take many people too many out-of-the-body elements to condition their vessel to respond in a way deemed to be exciting enough, big enough. The other – ridiculous that really caught me off guard at this one was how many people truly seemed to be trying to emulate an era that has passed. Don’t get me wrong – Ms. Jazz Dance Crusader is all in favor of preserving the best parts of history, however, allowing them to come back hollow and rot from inside out does not do anyone any favors. History’s elements come back best when they are made to be fused with the greatest of elements that have been seen since and are developing now. In short; Woodstock is over, kids.

So there it is. Amazing/amazing, Ridiculous/ridiculous, much like most things we encounter in this crazy world.

Peace.