My Vacation to Okefenokee

From April 19 to April 25, 2001, I drove (!) to Georgia to join a bunch of Tangerine Dream fans from the tadream@yahoogroups.com and tangerinedream@yahoogroups.com mailing lists.   Six of them had gathered there in 2000, but I was unable to go that year.   However, I was not going to miss out a second time.   Here are links to people's memoirs and pictures and other things Okefenokee oriented.

Morgan's pictures are, imo, the best of the lot.   He was the second to get them on the web, but the first to get his memoirs posted.   I like how his comments are interspersed among the pics.

Roger Smith was one of our fantastic cooks at the event.   And he made the musicians feel like royalty!   Roger was the first to put his pictures up on the web.

B R O K E N    L I N K

Marion Horrod came all the way from Scotland.   Since Marcel came from the Netherlands, she doesn't win the "Traveled the Furthest" award, but still scores a lot of points for effort in my book!   Her pictures are on the web for your viewing pleasure.

B R O K E N    L I N K

John and Peter are two thirds of the AirSculpture boys and it was a thrill to play music with these guys.   Their pictures are on the AirSculpture web site.

In 2000, Dave and Marcel were the only musicians to attend the Electronic Swamp Music Celebration.   Heck, there were only six people there, musicians included!!   But beautiful music came out of their love of EM and TD.   And that music was released on the Groove label.

There's a review of the CD at the Synth Music Direct site.

Of course, there's a review at the Groove Unlimited site, too!

In 2001, Dave and Marcel were joined by 2/3 of AirSculpture (John Christian and Pete Ruczynski) and me.   Plus the total group of attendees "soared" to about 16.   Once again, beautiful music came out of their love of EM and TD.   And that music was cooperatively released on the Quantum Records and Neu Harmony labels.

There's information about the CD at these locations:

• Quantum Records
• SMD
• Groove Unlimited

Personal comments were made by:
Stephen Humphries.

"I must say that I found Bill Fox's guitar work quite nice, occasionally sounding much like Froese!" - Craig Padilla on the Ricochet Gathering list.

In 2002, even more people attended and the musician count went up, too.   But no official CD release came to fruition from the last gathering in the Okefenokee Swamp.   All that changed in 2003 when the gathering relocated to Nipton, California in the Mojave desert.   Dutchman Marcel Engels (Free System Projekt) returned after having missed the 2002 event.   Dave Brewer (USA) has never missed attending any of the gatherings and this year was no exception.   Bill Fox (USA) hasn't missed an event since his inaugural visit in 2001.   AirSculpture (UK) returned at 100% capacity (finally!) with Adrian Beasley joining Ricochet Gathering veterans John Christian and Pete Ruczynski. Star Sounds Orchestra, consisting of Jens Zygar and former Tangerine Dream member   Steve Schroyder, made their second trip to the event.   Newcomers included Wolfram Spyra (DE) and Paul Lawler (UK).

The Groove Unlimited site has an entry just waiting for you to add your review of this double CD set.

Looking for something to do at the Okefenokee swamp or a place to stay? Here's a link to some site I found somewhere in my surfing.

Here's a link to the Stephen C. Foster State Park in southeast Georgia near Fargo, Georgia and the Florida border.

Of course, no Okefenokee site would be complete without a link to the home page of Vic Rek, our fearless leader and group organizer.

Starting in 2002, the event's name became RICOCHET DREAM GATHERING.   These are special gatherings/festivals for the enjoyment of electronic music in a unique and remote setting.   The next event will be held in Gomera in the Canary Islands during October 15 - 21, 2005.   This event is limited to approximately 30 people, so you must contact Vic and make a reservation.   A deposit will be required.

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