Pre Reggae On the River Post

It's that time of year again, where I mark the almost end of summer with the yearly trip to Humboldt County to see the largest Reggae festival in the northern hemisphere. Here is the link so that you can check it out. Click the read more to read more.
To be honest, I have hardly checked out the site myself. I love reggae but enjoy going to the show mostly to see friends I've made thoughout the years of going. It's a great time to relax and catch up on what's happened over the past year.

I see that they are going to have a big announcement at this years show. I have a feeling, as I've heard from my friends that live up that way, that they plan to move the site. I'm not happy about this as the site has been the same for 20 years and is partially what makes Reggae, well, Reggae. The inside scoop is that they pay the people who own the current site about $50K a year which compared to the millions they make not real fair. The reason they are planning the move is because they don't want to give them anymore than $50K and found a different site. Understand, I'm relaying hearsay, so this may or may not be the whole truth, but it's the word on the street. If they move, it's bound the throw a wrench in our well developed Reggae plan of attack.

But anyway... The show this year is star packed even more so than last year. It seems that the show gets more and better acts each year and this year is no exception. This year, some of the top acts are as follows:

MAXI PRIEST
JUNIOR RIED
MICHAEL FRANTI
DAMIAN "JR. GONG" MARLEY
STEPHEN MARLEY
BUJU BANTON
TONY REBEL
ALPHA BLONDY
ANTHONY B
OZOMATLI

and there are 3 times that many acts, so you know it's going to be a long 3 day weekend.

I'm planning to head up on Wednesday morning so that I can unwind and get settled in at the campgrounds. It's the time where I can catch up with friends and hang out by the river before the madness begins on Friday.

I still need to go shopping for food and drinks, freeze some water bottles, and gather up my camping gear. I think I'll get the shopping done over the weekend so that I can marinate and freeze the meats. Everything else I can break out on Tuesday after work and put directly into the car so that at the crack of dawn I can be on the road. It takes anywhere from 3:30 to 4 hours to drive up there and I'm hoping to be at the campground around 10 AM to get the party started. Most of the people I'm planning to see will have already arrived. My friends from the bay area, Sam and Jess, are going up on Monday and then Cheryl, Moody, and Laura are probably going to drive or fly out from Colorado about the same time. Also, Steve and his girlfriend, who are friends of Sam and Jessica, will be coming up on Thursday after work.

I just read over my post from last years show and I sure hope this year will be as great. I wonder what little side trip we might make on Thurday like our trip to Benbow Lake last year?

Anyway, look for the post-Reggae post around August 10th or so. Oh and if my phone works up there, which my old one has in years past, I'll be attempted to take some photos and do a little mobile blogging.