My first festival of the 2014 season was Hoopla In The Hills, March 27-30. I went to Hoopla with the intention of linking up with the State chapter of Ohio NORML but before I met with them I made sure to have my far share of fun!
While the temperature was low, vibes were high. The first day of the festival went off without a hitch! Hooping galore, so many lovely ladies strutting their stuff as they showed us how they mastered their circle. I love to hoop and joined in with the troop for Moon Hootch and Twiddle, two of my favorite bands. Twiddle played an absolutely inspiring off the wall show. "Apples" was soon followed by "Box Jam" mid set, and my friend Tucker had brought a bag of "grapples" (grape flavored apples?) to the set. Surprisingly in a room filled with hungry hungry hippies - the "grapples" never got eaten but were instead met with a "just say no" attitude particularly uncommon in this scene. Instead of the gratitude we expected for offering free food, to our amusement we were met with a very blatant "HELL NO GMO" chant from each individual Wookie.
Familiar faces were everywhere I turned as usual. I ran into my friends at Humbled Extracts and we rondevu'd at our tent for a digoree-do jam session. That night we headed down to the main stage for what turned out to be the most INCREDIBLE Keller Williams performance I have seen yet. Months later I still find myself breaking out his "Hooopla in the Hilllzzzz, OoooHIIIIIIIIooooOOO" jingle and smiling. As Keller played on stage about 30 LED hula hoops flew through the air beside him in a colorful display only matched by the technicolor carnival itself. Papadosio came on soon after with a set that was truly transformative. Everyone in the crowd wore their smiles ear to ear that night.
When the late night started, the scene echo'd the popular phrase "the freaks come out at night". It was my first time experiencing OTT live. He is one of my absolute favorite DJ's and his song "Signals from Bob" was the inspiration behind my painting "Signals for Gaia" . Ott took us on a magnetic adventure, were each listener was drawn into his sound and then ignited like a bottle rocket back into the crowd. Despite some technical difficulties, it is still to this day one of my most memorable sets.
The next day was filled with freezing rain, but that wouldn't stop us from getting a little slice of Cheese! Chirs Berry and Michael Kang played a acoustic set on mainstage that was nothing short of inspiring. They had this way of filling your soul up with all of the best feeling, all your hopes and dreams and all your best memories and aligning them as one beautiful holistic "NOW" for all to contribute to, enjoy and experience. I am always so thankful for every moment spend in the wake of these incredible musicians, it is truly a blessing.
The festival ended with a shoeless Ellie and a hellish frost, the lands became totally frozen over and the morning brought SNOW in May! While the drive home entailed dealing with the early on set of hypothermia and frost bit (not kidding). All in all I had a blast! Meet with my NORML brothers from other mothers and had a great time getting my groove onto some killer tunes! See you in Hills next year!
Mini Documentary I made for Hoopla in the Hills 2014, take a look!
Some photo's I took at Hoopla in the Hills 2014, click through to view:
