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Beyond
Babylon Gallery II
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Beyond
Babylon....'Way Beyond'
Reflections
of 'Rainbow'
by Brother Yama
"As
I make my way down the crowded boulevards
of my hometown metropolis, I realize the adjustment
I have made to big-city intensity: road rage,
competition, deadlines, hostility, mind games.
I have formed a kind of intangible armor which
helps me withstand this constant assault. I try to
ignore it. We all do. The condition is an all pervasive
ugly vibration. It is an unhealthy, aggressive energy
which we respond to with a constant on-guard mind
set, vallium, alcohol, and Prozac. We are so submerged
in it that we hardly realize that it exists, but it does.
We call it stress. We accept it and consider it normal.
I get clobbered by it almost every year immediately
following my annual reprieve. It can be quite a shock
when I come back to the city and forget to put my
armor back on. Yep, I get away from this crazy
pressure by hitting the road. I escape from Babylon,
driving for as long as it takes to get my ass to one
of the most amazing things I've ever seen.
The thing is called the
Rainbow Family Gathering for World Peace and
Healing.
Once
each year, during the week of the fourth of
July, thousands of peace-loving people assemble
in a national forest. All Peaceful people are welcome.
The location is different each year. The tradition began
in 1972 in the Arapaho National Forest of Colorado.
No one speaks officially on behalf of the Rainbow.
Thus, what follows here is one man's impressions,
opinions, and feelings.
For the most part, rainbow people are hippies. I'm
not sure I can tell you what a hippie
is, but I'm pretty
sure I know when I'm talking to one, and I'll bet you
do to. Everyone has some idea in their minds about
it. This one sister told me hippie is an acronymn for:
Hihgly Intellagent People Practicing Inner Evolvement.
My friend
Bill Burgdorf first made me aware of
the Rainbow Family in 1985, when they announced
that they were coming to Missouri. I'm a professional
photographer and so I was curious. Bill is an old
hippie himself, so he and I decided to go check it
out. That there would be thousands of hippies
from all over the country converging on the Mark
Twain National Forest, and that some of them like
to run around naked in the woods was all we knew.
Burgdorf and I have attended many gatherings
together since then. I don't know what Bill expected
on our first time around, but my preconceived notions
of what we were going to encounter did not at all
match what I actually witnessed.
I expected an ugly mess. I expected loud, amplified,
abrasive music. I expected trash, cigarette butts,
and beer cans littering the trails. I expected
excessive consumption of alcohol, barbiturates
and amphetamines, and insensitive, obnoxious
behavior and attitudes. This is what I saw at
outdoor rock festivals. I anticipated subject matter
that might be worthy of a documentary photographic
project. While the richness of the subject matter far
surpassed my hopes, the distasteful expectations
never materialized. What I found instead was
peace,
love, harmony, and reverence for the environment.
The
encampment of a gathering sprawls out for
miles and is typically very obscure. Come prepared
for quite a hike. Within the general encampment
are many smaller camps: Boogie Holler, Turtle
Camp,
Dragon Camp, Camp Purdy Bird, Michigan Camp,
Missouri Camp, so on and so forth. I love the sight
of a cluster of teepees, or a yurt, or a pavilion made
of a suspended parachute sheltering one of
the many kitchens.
I also
love Bus Village. I can't tell ya about
bus village.
You gota see it.
Kid
Village is a good place
to camp near if you have
small children. Alternately known as Kiddie City, it is
there every year. Kid Village has its own playground
and kitchen.
Another
thing I really dig about the Rainbow is the
absence of electronic media. No news. No commercials.
No blather. No TV and scarcely a radio. No freakin'
telephones. Well, almost. Huge Dog had his cell phone
with him at the '96 Missouri gathering. We spoke to
his wife in Chicago one night. At least the damn
thing never rang. No e-mail or answering machines
either. Imagine it.
Musicians play unamplified! What a relief to hear
nothing but good old accoustical music. I did see
one rare exception to this in Nevada, 1990. Out
in the middle of the vast desert, I encountered
an amplified Reagea band. Far away from camp,
three miles in fact, next to the parking area. They
ran off of a generator. They were top notch. Usually,
though, music happens where and when it pleases.
Never a stage. Never a cover charge. Someone
carried in a full size upright piano at the '86 Missouri
gathering. I swear, some of my bitchenest musical
memories are from Rainbow gatherings.
I love
the Rainbow. I love it madly. If I had known
about the Rainbow in the early '70s, my life would
have gone in another direction. I can't say how,
but I'm sure it would have had an impact on me.
I can't stop thinking about it. I have thought about
it every day since July, 1985. The Rainbow intrigues
me, haunts me, baffles me. The Rainbow is supremely
exotic. Exotic like hell, it's downright weird. It is the
most otherworldly thing I've ever seen. It's mysterious.
I can't quite figure the thing out. But it follows me.
It lingers in my mind. Yeah, I'm obsessed with it. It's
outrageous. It's fantasy land. It's ethereal.
Sometimes it's even dangerous and scary.
No, it's not all good. Of course not. What the hell is?
It's hot, and sweaty, and gritty, and primitive, and
uncomfortable...sometimes. Sometimes it's sad
and infuriating. Some of the most fucked up people
I've ever seen, I've seen at the Rainbow.
And then there's "A" Camp. I call it A-hole camp.
The "A" stands for alcohol. While alcohol is
strongly discouraged, those who can't live without
it stay at "A" Camp.
Don't get me wrong though. Most Rainbows are
wonderful people.
The Rainbow
is not for everyone. While at
the Pennsylvania gathering in '86, I saw a troop of
teenage freaks trudging up the trail toward the
parking area . They had their packs on, so I said,
"Hey, are you guys leaving already?" They're response
was, "Yeah, man. We're bored."
Inspite of the occassional troublesome occurance,
I am still drawn to these generally beautiful and
harmonious gatherings. They beat the hell out of
huge ugly Fourth of July celebrations like the
VP Fair in St. Louis. If you're an advenurous,
open-minded type, then maybe the Rainbow is for you.
Consider attending. Expect the unexpected.
One last thing: Personally, I feel that every attempt to
explain the Rainbow makes it more obscure.
The reader may want to gather other
impressions of the Rainbow as expressed
on other web sites. "
Love
ya madly,
-Brother
Yama-
All photos
by Brother Yama © 2004
