My first Mecca
Origins: Conservative Hippyism began as a worm crawling up my sweaty north Florida dust-sand cloaked and sunburnt back during Wanee ’10. This inchworm was not annoying enough to swat, but gentle enough to feel and inspire as it tentatively and blindly found purchase up my spine, and gathered its ass to its ears. each miniscule step , whether an actual inch or not, felt distinct. The time off from a busy work schedule to be freed upon the campground at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, a small stretch. Letting my bare feet hit the grass and dust-sand, and not caring that I was getting dirtier by the minute, ass to ears. Finding my way around and discovering the festival grounds-the enormous Peach stage and quite and dug out Mushroom stage which had commotion already, a small stretch. The inchworm was making its way up to my head.
I’m not sure at what point i realized that the small and very significant feeling could not be swatted away. The feeling had burrowed into my skin and was traveling in my spinal fluid. I am guessing it was right about the time that George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic took to the stage. I had only seen his Jive-Ass on TV and seen a handful of shows based on his influence: Fishbone, Weapon of Choice etc…I became conscious of the inchworm influence when I finally heard JJ Grey and Mofro sing Lochloosa the next day. I wanted to write a song about Belmar-by-the-Sea. The inchworm was in my head and giving me lyrics that I can barely scrape together today. More on that lesson in the Moron Lessons section.
The Allman Bros Band and Gov’t Mule shows set the inchworm firm. It had spun a network of silk throughout my body, loosely attached and easily broken, but endless. The organic silk could be remade if I let it. And it wasn’t just the music, it was the people: vagabonds and degenerates, ne’er-do-wells and good-for-nothings, idle slouches and idealist leaches, loafers and wastrels, the marginal and the borderline, Heck’s Angels and yuppies, all cavorting and swaying in unison like waves in a dirty retention pond teaming with organisms and steaming with orgasms reflexively to a piper each understood individually. Then there were the bad people.
coroNAtion 