March 29, 2024
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2015 [Scottie’s Review]

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Alright Juggalos and Juggalettes: here it is!  I have procrastinated long enough on this review of the 2015 Gathering of the Juggalos!  We have all of our Gathering Videos edited and posted, and pictures are up on the FLH Facebook as well!  The Gathering plague has come and gone, and the outline for this monster has been sitting on my desk for a minute now. This is the last step before I can move on from the Gathering this year, so let’s go ahead and get it started!

Just a note that I usually include in my reviews.  I am amazed that a lot of you like reading these every year.  I do these more for archival purposes because my short-term memory is horrible (and I don’t even smoke!).  Five years down the road, it will probably be hard for me to remember whether something happened during the 16th GOTJ, or the 15th.  So a long-form review like this helps with that.  That being said, I hope you enjoy a view of the Gathering through the eyes of myself and the FLH crew! Enjoy!

Pre-Gathering preparations:

Every year, we seem to have a different plan of action as far as our lodging accommodations go.  Since 2008, we have gone the Ballas route with either a camper trailer, or full RV.  I did the camping thing from 03-07, so I paid my scrubby dues!  Anyways, we have gone from renting, to owning, to borrowing, and this year back to renting again.

A few months back, things were still up in the air when I found out that a homie of mine (Nemo, who has done reviews for FLH) here in the Dallas area actually worked for an RV dealer.  They ALSO happened to rent out trailers, so of course I asked if we could get some kind of hookup through his employee discount! He said that he was sure that he could make that happen!  I told everyone in our crew about it, and started making plans (including borrowing a truck from my dad to tow the 30 foot bitch that we would be getting), and everything seemed to be falling into place!

In the meantime, my wife Amanda hasn’t been to a Gathering since she was 7 months pregnant with our son back in 2011. This year, she would be making her triumphant return!  There was one issue though: we have an extremely active toddler, and there’s no way in hell that I would feel comfortable taking him to a Gathering…not for at LEAST another decade.  With Amanda being in school full-time and us relying on my single income, paying someone for 8 full 24/7 days of childcare really wasn’t in the cards.  Her parents are both retired, but being in their late 60s/early 70s, we weren’t sure how equipped or prepared they would be to handle a 3 year-old.   We went ahead and asked them how comfortable they’d be with the challenge, and they agreed to it! It’d be some good quality time with the grandparents!  We have never both been apart from Pierce (my son) for more than a couple of days, so this would be a huge change for all of us.  For right now though, we chalked this up as a win, and preparations began for our trip to the 16th annual Gathering of the Juggalos!

Let’s fast-forward to the week before we left for the Gathering.  It was Friday, and everything was going as planned.   The in-laws were ready for our son, all of our gear was packed up and ready for our trip, and the trailer hookup would be waiting for us on Saturday morning…or so we thought.  At around lunchtime on Friday, my boss and coworkers were going out for a bite to eat.  I started getting these FRANTIC texts from Nemo, and things started to fall apart from there.  Without boring you of all of the details, the owner of the company he worked for jacked up the price of the rental from the hookup of $300 to “at least” $600.  We didn’t exactly have an alternative plan, so I agreed to it.  Not more than an hour later, he said that someone had pulled the trailer over a giant pothole in the lot and broke the axle on it.  We were officially shit outta luck.

I had told PsykoScott about the trailer bone as soon as I found out about the price increase.  He must have been skeptical of it even happening at all, so he started calling trailer rentals everywhere from his place in Fort Smith, Arkansas to Columbus, Ohio.  Many of them didn’t have anything available on that short of notice, but he DID find a spot locally that had a nice 19 foot one that was basically brand new and ready to go!  He put a deposit down, and we were officially ready to gather!  Thank goodness that shit was resolved with the quickness, because that was one of the most stressful lunches I had ever had.  (I still ate the entire Freebird’s burrito though!)

That weekend, we met up with my pop to exchange vehicles and celebrate his birthday. Then we went over to my in-laws to spend some time with them and drop Pierce off for the week.  We said our goodbyes, and promised that we would Facetime with Pierce as much as we could, provided we had a decent connection out in the middle of a field in Ohio.  Sunday was spent doing last-minute preparations, and then making the 4 hour trek to Fort Smith to stay the night so we could pick up the trailer on Monday morning.  On Sunday, we stayed the night with Kevin and Kelsey, some homies of ours, and got to kick it for a bit with our friend Ty too.  Since it was Sunday night, they had to work the next morning, and we had a 15+ hour road trip ahead of us.  We called it a night pretty early.

Monday morning we met up with PsykoScott, loaded up all of his gear (including his Corgi dog Girlie), and went to get our home away from home for the next week!  It ended up being a pretty nice 19 foot trailer which was perfect for 3-4 people.  I think we’re planning on looking for one about that size to purchase for next year since this one worked out so well. We’ll see though! After signing all of the paperwork for the trailer and getting it hooked up to the truck, we were on the road by 11 AM!

truck&trailer

Picking up the trailer. (You’ll find out about the heads later…)

I’m going to include this detail so you can feel my pain.  My dad’s truck is a 2003 with a stock radio and 6 disc CD changer.  There’s no auxiliary port, and we found out that the CD player didn’t even work.  I bought one of those cheap wireless FM transmitters so we could at least listen to music off of our phone for the duration of the trip.  That thing SUCKED ASS!  We kept scrolling through stations to choose, and they would immediately get fuzzy and sound like shit. We fought it for the entire trip up to Columbus, eventually just trying to find stations that WEREN’T country music. If we borrow that truck again next year, I’m putting an aftermarket radio in that bitch.  It’ll be the best $100 we spend.

Anyways, back to the trip.  It was pretty uneventful, and extremely boring.  We weren’t in any kind of huge rush, and kept tabs with people who had left a little before us to see how the parking lots were looking.  Plus, this year, anyone who purchased a Big Ballas pass got hooked up with entry a day early to get all of your shit setup and situated!  This was by FAR one of the freshest things they added to the Balla package.  I am STILL hoping for a water hookup like we had at Hog Rock, but won’t hold my breath. We rolled through city after city, state after state, making several pit stops for food, bathroom breaks (for us and Girlie), etc.

One stop that we made along the way was in a town called Uranus, Missouri.   Basically it’s a tourist trap that has a bunch of restaurants, a tattoo shop, food trucks, etc. The thing that had us sold on making a stop there was Uranus Fudge Factory.  They had signs lining the highway for miles before, and on a boring ass trip, you need something to look forward to.  So we stopped, and everyone there was as nice as could be.  Their motto is “The best Fudge comes from Uranus!”  I’m telling you, that place is a fucking goldmine!

One other tidbit that will probably come up a few times in this review is the fact that we brought cutouts of our homies’ heads on the trip. We have some great friends named Marty and Courtney who live just a few minutes from us that unfortunately weren’t able to make it to the Gathering this year.  Courtney is pregnant, and they had to make a decision between going to the Gathering and scraping by over the next few months before their son gets there, or saving all of the cash they would have spent at the Gathering and putting it towards the pending expenses of having a newborn in their home. Adulting won out, but instead of them missing out on the Gathering completely, I had my work print out pictures of their heads on some foam board so they could experience the Gathering vicariously through them!

The best fudge comes from Uranus!

The best fudge comes from Uranus!

Much love to you both! Hope you get to make it out again next year!!

About an hour outside of Columbus, the fucking air conditioner stopped blowing cold air.  That last hour wasn’t so bad, especially since it was after midnight and cool outside. We were just dreading the drive home.  We checked in with Menace of TrueJuggaloFamily.com to see if the crowd was still light.  We were there over a full day before the Gathering officially started, so we didn’t think we’d have much to worry about.  He said we were good, and that they’d rope off a spot for us in the parking lot for when we get there. That’s the shit!

We stopped at the Walmart in Hebron, which is like 15 minutes from Legend Valley, and loaded up on supplies for the week.  Between snacks, water, meals, fruit, and supplies that we forgot back at home, we spent about $150 between the three of us.  It lasted us the entire time, and we still had food leftover!  So if you have the means to keep everything cold and fresh, that’s definitely the way to go if you’re planning on Gathering in the future!

Menace also told us about a Travel America (TA) truck stop where we could fill up our trailer with fresh water that we could use over the week.  It was about 10 minutes out of the way, but worth it so we didn’t have to pay any fees at a KOA.  We stopped there and filled up the tank.  As we were getting ready to leave, I walked around to get into the truck and noticed that water was steady pouring out of the bottom of the trailer.  Fuck!  PsykoScott crawled underneath it, and noticed that a hose clamp was missing, and a hose was just hanging there shooting all of the fresh water onto the ground.  We were luckily at a truck stop though, and not in the middle of a field at the Gathering, so I went inside to see if they had a clamp we could use.

My dad’s truck is a work truck, but wouldn’t you know it…we couldn’t find a SINGLE fucking screwdriver in it! I spoke to the guy inside the TA who sold me a clamp for $3.00.  I asked if he had a flathead that I could borrow, and that old crotchety fuck told me that “We aren’t in the business of loaning out tools.”  He then pointed me to their selection of 6 dollar screwdrivers (!!!)  I didn’t have a lot of options, so I bought that, went outside to put the clamp on, refilled the trailer, and we were off to Legend Valley!  I know $10.00 isn’t a lot of money for a fix like this, and not having to pay for a KOA for the night more than made up for it.

We pulled into the Legend Valley parking lot (where the main gate was closed) at about 6 AM Tuesday morning.  We woke Menace up via text, and they moved their truck/trailer so we could squeeze in-between them.  We were all set for the cattle call that would come early the next morning.  Since we had been up since 8 AM Monday morning, we decided to try to try to get a little bit of sleep before the Ballas were allowed in.

When I said a couple of hours, that’s all that it ended up being.  We woke up a little past 8 AM Tuesday. I guess the pre-Gathering jitters had Amanda anxious to get inside the gate!  We went to check out the ticket line and see if we could get our media passes for Faygoluvers yet.  Luckily they were ready to be picked up, so we snagged them with the quickness.

Menace of TJF and Scottie with press pass

Menace of TJF and Scottie with press pass

They unfortunately DIDN’T have anything ready for the Balla spots, and said it would be another 30 minutes or so before they would. We then walked through the main lot to see if anything was going on.  We ran into quite a few ninjas out there including my Philly Scrubs crew (who I finally got to properly introduce Amanda to), and the Marvelous Missing Link (Found) was on sale from a tent in the parking lot as well!  That got us the album a full 10 days early!  We picked up our copy of that, ICP Theater, and BloodyMania 8 on DVD!

We also ran into JPK and Bluntman’s whole crew, Hazin and The Foot of Juggalo News, Notslim1, Mikey from FIST (aka Juggalo Batman), Insane Eric, a lot of our Dallas crew,and several others! I also had a chance to start slinging our all new 8Legz designed T-shirts who everyone said was SUPER dope!

Those new Faygoluvers shirts though!  (Click the pic to get one of your own!)

Those new Faygoluvers shirts though! (Click the pic to get one of your own!)

We went back a few times to the ticket trailer to check and see if the Ballers passes were ready for us, and by the 3rd time or so, there was a pretty big line forming, so we hopped into it.  This was the beginning to the line clusterfuck that so many complained about this year, but not EVEN close to the worst of it. There was a lot of confusion as to who needed to be in the line, whether general admission tickets were being sorted out at the same time, etc.  It just wasn’t very well organized, which is surprising since last year’s seemed to run far more smoothly. I don’t blame ANYONE at the ticket trailer for this though.  It just needs some more forethought before next year no matter what venue the Gathering will be at.

After about a 2 hour wait, we got to the front of the line.  They had a packet with a sticker and purple wristbands that allowed us in a day early.  Everyone else who was media got those fresh slip-on wristbands that had the Gathering logo on it.  I asked Natalie the Ring Girl (who was helping run the ticket trailer) why we didn’t get a set of those, and she just said “Don’t worry, we know who you are.”  Hah!

Not long after we got our passes, we packed our gear up and got ready to go through the main entrance.  I think it was around 3 or 4 PM at this point. They actually had security in the streets directing traffic, and this part went surprisingly well!  Balla after balla made their way through the gate, and when we made it up to where they checked for tickets and Balla stickers, they stopped us and asked where our wristbands were.  The event security was about to have us pull to the side, but luckily Jumpsteady was there to save the day, as he is known to do.  He told them that the press passes that we were wearing were better than the Gathering wristbands, and sent us on our way!  We passed SCUM and the LSP crew on the way in, gave a quick dap, and proceeded to our new home for the week.

I know I haven’t mentioned it yet, but over the past few days before this, the area had been nearly flooded with the amount of rain they had. The parking lot was full of mud pits, but didn’t seem to effect anyone’s partying!  When we drove in, everything was fine until they routed us to the Balla’s spots.  The person in front of us quickly slowed down and actually came to a stop.  Once we had stopped, we sunk a bit and got stuck.  This truck wasn’t equipped with 4 Wheel Drive, so we had to wait. We tried putting boards and other shit underneath the tires, but it just kept spinning and flinging mud everywhere.

That’s’ when Steve Trickle, who owns Legend Valley, came to the rescue! He went and grabbed his tractor, hooked it up to our front bumper, and pulled us out of the muck. We thanked him, but he seemed a little stressed out at the moment.  We started to pull forward, and he stopped us and said “That’s where you’re camping.”  Unfortunately, we were quite a ways away from the main road, so it was kind of difficult to see us from the road once everyone else was setup.

For those of you who have never gathered, the first day is ALWAYS a clusterfuck!  That’s why I’m glad that ninjas who purchased a Ballas spot got a full extra day to get everything setup.  At this point, generators weren’t even setup yet, so we had a bunch of food potentially going bad, and no electricity in sight.  I wasn’t sweating it too badly…yet.  A few hours went by, and we had heard of people getting their trailers hooked up, so I was now on a mission to find someone to help us out.  The electric box had been placed by our trailer, and looked like it was ready to hook into.  I went over to where the generators were stationed, and the guys there were busy and weren’t able to help.  One of the venue’s security guys said that someone would be around to hook us up soon, but I wasn’t about to wait on them.  I looked at our trailer’s electric connection, and it didn’t match ANYTHING on the electric box.  Of course when you’re at day one of a nearly week-long festival and you see that, you immediately start thinking the worst.  I thought that the place we rented the trailer from may have forgotten to give us a hookup.  I flagged down Hazin who I saw on a cart, and he said he may have the piece we were looking for.  We went by the info tent where my homie Will Sigler was, and he said if we couldn’t find one, that he would loan me his car to go into town to find one.  This motherfucker…he is about as selfless as you can get!  Will, if you are reading this, you are the fucking man!

Hazin brought me over to his trailer, but we didn’t have any luck finding the adapter we needed.  He took me back over to the generators, and they had some adapters laid out around them that looked like they may work.  We had a 20A plug, and so I snagged one while nobody was looking and ran it back over to camp, seemingly triumphant…arms raised and everything!

There was another problem…while the plug from the trailer went right into the adapter that I found, the other end didn’t plug into the box to get us power.  I was persistent as fuck though, so I ran right back over to the generators.  I found a 50A plug which plugged into the 30A adapter and ran onto our 20A trailer.  I held my breath, plugged it into the box, and VOILA!  IT’S ALIIIIIIVE!  Needless to say, after the AC was cranked on for a few minutes, everyone’s moods did a complete 180 for the better!   We got our beds and all of our clothes and gear put away and hoped that this would be the end of the most stressful part of the week.

There had been talk of a commercial that was being shot for RIFT (Rhythmic Illusions Fire Tribe) by Kuma and Ryan from Psychopathic, and some of their crew. Once it got dark, we heard a bunch of shouts and cheering coming from the main stage.  Amanda and I went over to check it out, and sure enough, some fire dancing and spitting was happening, and all of it was being filmed.  We were asked to help bring some hay bales to surround the area where onlookers could check it out, and everything turned out super fuckin’ dope!  RIFT has some talented motherfuckers in it, and I can’t wait to see the outcome of the footage!

riftvideo

R.I.F.T. (Rhythmic Illusion Fire Tribe)

Our homie Brice had made his way into Legend Valley with us, and since Ballas were able to bring up to 5 people inside to setup camp a day early, he came in with us!  If you’re not familiar with shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, especially at the Green Elephant, then you probably don’t know that this ninja can COOK!  He brought his own steel grill where he cooked up goodies like chicken, steak, pork chops, etc throughout the entire weekend!  Tuesday night, we had some BBQ chicken wrapped in tortillas that he hooked us up with.  It was fucking delicious, and a far better alternative than the sandwiches that we had prepared to eat.

Remember, we were still on roughly two hours sleep, so after getting things setup, helping with the RIFT commercial shoot, stressing about our electricity, and kickin’ it with everyone who had made it inside so far, we were pretty spent.  We called it a night at around midnight hoping to get a full night’s rest before the insanity of the Gathering of the Juggalos ensued the next morning!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22ND

We made it to Wednesday, which is the first official day to GATHER!  We all woke up at around 8 AM, and felt awesome after nearly 8 full hours of sleep! Since Juggalos with general admission hadn’t been let in yet, Amanda and I went over to the shower trailer to see how those were.  Only one trailer was working at the time, but since only the Ballas were inside, we didn’t have much of a wait.   The showers were hot, and clean, at least for the time being! All of us in our camp had made the decision NOT to use the shower in the trailer except for MAYBE on the last day after Faygo Armageddon.  That way our water reservoirs didn’t fill up and render the sink useless.

After showering up, I got my cookin’ on and made everyone some sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast burritos.  They hit the spot, and got us ready for the day ahead.  We did a lot of walking the grounds that day.  We checked out the Psychopathic Merch that was all setup and in full effect, got our Faygoluvers banner setup so our FLH Forum Meetup Massacres could take place there, met up with Rachel Paul and checked out her assortment of paintings and tarot decks that she was slinging this year, checked out Bluntman’s shop, and pretty much killed time until the first act of the day was scheduled on the Carousel stage.  I was fortunate enough to pick up a painting from Rachel this year before they were all sold out!  I had been following her work through her status updates on Facebook and had my eye on a Dark Lotus one that she had in her arsenal.  The company I work for prints up her tarot decks when she needs them, and she is forever grateful for that! She hooked me up with that painting, and it’s hanging on my wall next to 3 other Rachel Paul originals!

rachellotuspainting

Amanda D, Rachel Paul, and me! LOTUS!!

One other note of interest though.  We already had our t-shirts out there that we were selling, but we also promised that we’d have our new FLH charms available too.  Our charm vendor (who is the same guy that Twiztid uses) said that they’d be there on Wednesday. Wolfpac was waiting for theirs too, and ours was to be shipped to Wolfpac’s hotel.  Unfortunately, the shipment got held up due to a delay in manufacturing, so they didn’t make it on Wednesday.  Here’s hoping for Thursday!

At some point on Wednesday, we all swung by the info tent where the homie Will Sigler was chillin’ and helping anyone out that needed it.  I introduced Amanda to him since they had never met before, and PsykoScott and I gave him a dap. He had this big ass box of red clown noses sitting there, and told us that we should take some.  Of COURSE we did, and I liked it so much that I decided to sport it right away:

Clown nose courtesy of Will Sigler! Pic courtesy of MonkeysOnCrack.com!

Clown nose courtesy of Will Sigler! Pic courtesy of MonkeysOnCrack.com!

That definitely put a smile on ours, and a lot of other ninjas’ faces!  Thanks once again for being so fresh, Will!

Note from Scottie: From this point on in the review, you can pretty much follow the official Gathering schedule to see where we were, and what our days looked like. We try our best to cover EVERYTHING that’s listed, but of course that’s impossible with there being multiple events happening at the same time.

In the meantime, everyone inside had NO idea that those waiting to get inside via the General Admission line were having such a horrible time.  Word spread quickly that people had been in the same line for upwards of 8 hours waiting to exchange their tickets for wristbands and medallions.  I have seen a few Juggalos voice their concerns and complaints since returning from the Gathering, some saying that most of their weekend was ruined due to baking all day in the sun with no tree cover.  Look, while nobody could have expected to have to wait in a line for 8 fucking hours, you ninjas have to prepare for the worst.  Bring your sunscreen and/or umbrellas to shield you from the heat!  Even though we barely made it above 80 degrees the entire weekend, it’s STILL HOT…especially with the sun beating down on you directly. I genuinely feel for those of you who got stuck in that line, but Psychopathic has assured future Gathering attendees that they will be far better organized next year, and even add a second trailer.

4 PM was quickly approaching, and the first thing that I had on my agenda was to check out the 50 Shades of Snuff performance by Lyrikal Snuff Productions!  This would be an hour-long set dedicated to the entire LSP roster!  We got mini sets from SCUM, Dark Half, SmallzOne, Liquid Assassin, Insane Poetry, and the newest member of the LSP crew: DFW’s own CLAAS!  They filled the entire hour and it was a perfect way to set the Gathering off with a bang!

LSP's 50 Shades of Snuff!

LSP’s 50 Shades of Snuff!

Since it was the official first day of the Gathering, the Faygoluvers Forum members were scheduled to meet up at FLH HQ for the first time at 5 PM.  We call this event the Faygoluvers Forum Meetup Massacre!  We’ve done it for the past few years now, and it’s always fresh to put a face to a name!  Wednesday’s meetup brought way more than I expected!  I’m sure some of them were still outside in the general admission line, but we had quite the gathering!

FLH Forum Meetup Massacre!

FLH Forum Meetup Massacre!

Now it was time to get ready for the first night of main stage acts!  Big Hoodoo was the first act scheduled at 7 PM, and from that point on, there was something scheduled that we all wanted to see until 4 AM!  We had a busy night ahead of us!

With Big Hoodoo being the first act on the main stage, it was time to flex our press passes to see if security worked any differently this year.  We were told that we had to walk all the way around the side gate to the backstage area, and then walk right back up front to show our press passes.  We made the small excursion and noticed a bunch of shit going on backstage.  I found out that it was the All Star experience which some Gathering-goers paid $150.00 each for meet and greets with ALL of the artists who were there, a big ass buffet, not to mention taking part in the Clownpocalypse and Faygo Armageddon during ICP’s set on Saturday night!  We walked past everyone who was getting their All-star on, and made our way into the photo pit for Big Hoodoo!  He set the main stage acts off on the right foot with an extremely energetic performance that got the crowd poppin’!

Big Hoodoo!

Big Hoodoo!

Before I forget about it, one thing that they did differently in the photo pit is that they put these gigantic speakers that I’m guessing were about 3’ x 3’ x 3’ and lined them along the front of the main stage. They were spaced maybe 2 feet apart from each other. Last year, we had a TON of room to move around in the photo pit. This year, we basically had to choose our spot and hope for the best!  It wasn’t a huge deal, but made for some uncomfortable times for us and security.  Good thing most of the security guys were fucking awesome this year!  Being right on top of the speakers REALLY fucked with the sound this year too.  It wasn’t until I got home and started editing footage that I found out how bad it was.  We did the best we could with it, but I think that if it’s got the same setup again next year, if you are filming with a GoPro, just keep the waterproof case on it. I had mine setup that way for ICP’s set and it’s by FAR the best sounding audio I got from the main stage at the Gathering!

After his first three songs, we went the long way to make our way back out to the grounds, and I wondered if our press passes allowed us to cover the All Star experience as well.  Well, all they could say was NO, right?  We walked right into the area where everyone was chillin’, and apparently fit right in!  EVERYONE was back there including J and Shaggy, Bonez Dub and Otis (aka Young Wicked), Stitches, Kottonmouth Kings, Wolfpac, ho99o9, ABK, Mike Busey, and a grip of others!  I even got to say what up to Chop and made a Worldstar / meat comment to him while he had a chicken tender in his hand.  Lol.  It was here that Amanda finally got to meet Violent J and Shaggy face to face.  She’s the type to get a little star struck, so she didn’t have much to say.  But they were of course extremely nice to her, and she got herself a picture to commemorate the moment.

Shaggy 2 Dope, Amanda, Violent J

Shaggy 2 Dope, Amanda, Violent J

Unfortunately, we were in a line to meet up with ICP during KMK’s set, but even with just the current roster of Daddy X, Dirtball, and D-Loc on the stage, we kept hearing that they killed it!  Sucks to have missed them, but hopefully everyone who saw them dug it!

After leaving the backstage area, we had a short time before our native homie Anybody Killa was due out on stage!  We got ready to head back to the photo pit.  Luckily, this time they had us enter through the gate right in front of the main stage so we didn’t have to make that pointless walk backstage.  After Keyola, Decker, and Treebok (from the GOTJ infomercial) came out and introduced him, some zombies came out on stage to accompany Killa during his performance (what up Bake Lo?).  Soon afterwards, ABK came out donning motherfucking WOLVES for his sleeves!  He had fire breathers and zombies roaming the stage while he performed, and started his set with his title track from the upcoming album Shapeshifter!  He did a short verse from the track “Close Call” off of the Hatchet Warrior album, and then straight into “Hey Y’all”, “Stick and Move”, “Mental Evaluation”, and then we were kicked out of the photo pit.

Anybody Killa!

Anybody Killa!

Before I get too far into this review of performances, let me tell you ninjas about the awesomeness that is Periscope!  If you don’t know about Periscope, and you have a smart phone, then you need to download that shit with the quickness!  Twitter bought them a few months ago, so if you have a Twitter account, you can just sign up through there!  What Periscope does is allows you to stream a live broadcast from anywhere at any time using your cell phone coverage!  I knew about it a few months back and used it sparingly at some Dallas local shows, but it blew the fuck up while we were at the Gathering!  We have nearly 1,500 followers now, and got a TON of praise at the Gathering for streaming performances and seminars live as they were happening! This shit is gonna change the game provided it stays free!  If you haven’t yet, get your download on and make sure to follow Faygoluvers on there!

After Killa’s set, we watched a portion of it in the crowd, and then went back to the trailer to swap batteries/storage cards and take a breather!  I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but Brice had cooked up some thick ass pork chops that night, and that was probably my favorite meal of the weekend!  God damn ninja you can cook!

After stuffing our bellies with goodness, it was time to hit up the Hopsin set!  We only had five main stage acts on Wednesday night, so it would just be him and Tech N9ne, and then we’d start the late-night festivities!  I hear some shit talking here and there about Hopsin every year that he plays, but I’m of the opinion that if you don’t like his music and don’t want to see his performance, then go the fuck back to your campsite and bitch about him to your homies that feel the same way you do.  Hop has a TON of fans, and has shown his gratitude a number of times onstage while performing! He always gives it his all, and I hope that he becomes as much a staple of the Gathering as Tech N9ne!

DJ Hoppa came on, started a “Hopsin! Hopsin!” chant, and Hop emerged from backstage to the uproar of the crowd!  He started out with “I Need Help!” from Knock Madness and then jumped right into “Rip Your Heart Out”!  After doing that whole track, he prepped the awaiting Juggalos and Juggalettes for a huge stage dive as he busted into the track “Trampoline” from RAW!  To this point, it was the most hype set of the Gathering in my opinion! He exudes energy unlike anyone else, and I wish we could have stayed up there the entire time!

Hopsin!

Hopsin!

One of the fresher things that we decided to do after leaving the photo pit and dropping off our camera supplies was to ride the Zero Gravity ride during the last portion of Hopsin’s set!  You could hear “Crown Me” and “Ill Mind 7” being performed in the background while we were flipping and spinning all over the place.  I had a GoPro in my hands, so I had to hold onto it for dear life, but it survived and you can see the footage here:

ZERO GRAVITY VIDEO:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/bpqeQQLvc-U[/youtube]

Now I know we were running short on time before the headliner of the evening: Tech N9ne!  So we grabbed our equipment, waited a few minutes for Tech’s stage crew to put everything into place, and got setup in the photo pit! Tech came out with his Band of Psychos and started rapping to “EBAH”! The audience erupted!  Krizz Kaliko emerged from backstage after a verse and schooled the fuck out of “SPAZ!”  They followed up with “The Industry Is Punks”, “Straight Out The Gate”, “Einstein”, and got the crowd REALLY moving with “Riot Maker”! Krizz and Tech danced back and forth across the stage in organized chaos using choreographed dance moves with the backing of an extremely talented band, especially the drummer Alien Warr.  Tech once again proved why he deserved the headlining spot of night one of the Gathering of the Juggalos!

Tech N9ne!

Tech N9ne!

After Tech’s set, PsykoScott went to the seminar tent to grab a spot for Godfrey, while Amanda and I got ready to watch what I think was the sleeper set of the Gathering: Ho99o9! I guess you’d describe the group ho99o9 as punk rock meets horror rap, but I’m not in the business of classifying a band’s genre.  All I know is after seeing their video for “Day of Vengeance” , I HAD to see what they were like live!

Ho99o9 – “Day Of Vengeance”

[youtube]https://youtu.be/jzpXhUrKxgY[/youtube]

They didn’t disappoint!  I listened to the free EP that they released shortly before the Gathering and dug it, but had no idea what to expect from their live show.  They were super theatrical…jumping and falling all over the stage! They screamed their lyrics at the top of their lungs, and I honestly don’t know if the audience knew what was going on.  At one point, EADDY had the mic cable wrapped around his face several times, and also poured a can of Busch bear down his pants.  Fucking bizarre, but dope!

I could tell that Amanda wasn’t digging on ho99o9 like I was, so we headed back towards the seminar tent where Godfrey’s set was already goin’ down.  We found PsykoScott and caught the last 10 minutes or so of Godfrey.  That dude is hilarious! PsykoScott said that the first part of his set was even better, and he put some hecklers in check with the quickness! Godfrey seemed to be having a blast on stage, and he had the respect of the Juggalos in attendance.   While I was there, and Upchuck was suited and painted up in all his glory, I went ahead and got my annual picture with him! I think I started that way back in 2003 and 2007 (for some reason) is the only year that I’ve missed ever since!

Scottie & Upchuck: 2003 – 2015!

Shortly after Godfrey, Zug Izland was scheduled to perform on the Carousel stage.  We got into our designated photo pit spots just as Syn, Mike P, and DJ Clay took their positions on the stage.  There was a drummer too, but I can’t honestly say that I know who it was.  He had a hood and shades on, so he wasn’t exactly recognizable.  Zug started out with Juggalo favorite “Sunny Day”!  After that, they jumped into the track “Licks of Flames” which can be heard on their Toxicology release.  “Y” was soon to follow, and that was the end of our session on the photo pit.  I don’t know how much Zug plays the rest of the year, but their Gathering performances are always live as fuck!  I know they talked about touring not too long ago, so hopefully someone makes that happen soon!  Props to Zug Izland and all of the Zug Thugs in attendance!

Syn of Zug Izland!

Syn of Zug Izland!

I ran into a bit of a problem with the 2:30 AM time slot.  Both Stitches and Danny KAE were booked at the same time, and I wanted to see both of them.  Stitches was just a fucking spectacle, and you couldn’t possibly predict the outcome of his performance. Would he get the Tila Tequila award this year?  Or would Juggalos embrace him and demand him back again?  Danny, on the other hand, I have never understood. I know he is said to be an influence to Violent J and Shaggy, as well as Kid Rock and Eminem among others, but I just don’t get it.  Violent J described him as someone SO stale that it goes all the way around the suck-o-meter and turns fresh again. While I wish I could be at both places at the same time, Stitches won out, and I don’t regret that decision for a second!

Now with that out of the way, it was time to see what the infamous Stitches brought to the Gathering!  He came out to a roaring audience and immediately asked “If you are on drugs, let me hear you scream!”  He then went into the track “Facts” (aka “High off My Own Supply”). He started up a “Fuck a Job” chant, and immediately went into the “Molly Cyrus” song. His entire set was fucking ridiculous!  On my footage you can hear me laughing maniacally through every song he performed.  About halfway through, he stopped his performance and asked the completely captivated audience if anyone wanted $500?  He looked for someone worthy of that gift, and dodged a few flying objects.  “I’ll tell you right now, if something hits me, I’m gonna get down and FUCK YO ASS UP!  TRY ME!”  He then picked a lucky ninja from the audience, pulled out a stack of cash from his pocket, and gave the dude $500!  Overall, Stitches schooled it.  I think he may have played 5 tracks for a total of around 25 minutes, including his banter with onlookers.  Still though, I’d love to see him back to possibly perform some of that new shit that he’s working on with DJ Paul!

Stitches!

Stitches!

Almost everybody seemed to be having a great time!  Then there was this guy…

Wrong place, wrong time?

Wrong place, wrong time?

After Stitches, we hung around at our trailer waiting for Da Mafia 6ix to start at around 4. We still had about an hour to kill though, and I was about spent.  So rather than waiting around and hoping that they’d be on time, I called it a night.  Even with this killer lineup for Wednesday, it was all just the tip of the iceberg.  Time to get some shut-eye and prepare to Gather on Thursday!

We took footage of ALL of the performances that we mentioned and put them together in a highlights video for every day of the Gathering!  Check out Wednesday’s footage here:

Wednesday’s Gathering Highlights:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/jf8J2vhnxGI[/youtube]

 

THURSDAY, JULY 23RD

Thursday marked the first FULL day of the Gathering if you’re going by the schedule.  There were 15+ full hours of events on the schedule without a whole lot of room in between!  I woke up early by Gathering standards, at about 10:30 AM.  Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s still 6+ hours of sleep.  I must be some kind of pussy to need that much while I gather, right? Anyways, I woke up completely refreshed and ready to get the day started.  The first thing I wanted to make sure to catch was the Psycho Auctions which started up at noon.

Amanda had already been up for a few hours (she’s a mom, and our son wakes her up when he’s good and god damn ready at 6:30 AM), so she went to take a shower at the shower trailers.   She said they were ice fucking cold that morning.  I woke up and thought that I needed one, but after hearing that nonsense, I went the baby wipe route and roughed it for a day.  If you Gather, trust me, baby wipes are your friend!

Like I said, the Psychopathic Auctions were the first event we planned to go to that day, so after clearing off our camera’s SD cards and making sure they were fully charged, we headed over to the seminar tent.  A few weeks earlier, Psychopathic had listed all of the items that would be available to bit on.  I was extremely interested to see just how much these would go for, especially the Shaggy 2 Dope dreadlocks, the unreleased ICP song, and the infamous Mystery Box!  Who knows what dope flavor, or complete bone wait inside for the winner?

Before the auction, I spoke to a ninja who pretty much guaranteed that he was going to win the mystery box. These guys were all high rollers, and nothing was going to keep them from their prize! He said he was willing to spend up to $5,000 on it!  Holy shit!

Anyways, bidding got underway for all of the smaller items.  They had banners, movie props, clothes worn in Big Money Hu$tla$ and Big Money Ru$tla$, a date with 2 Tuff Tony, and more!  The Shaggy 2 Dope dreadlocks ended up going for $390 if I remember right. They were in a fresh shadow box with a certificate of authenticity and everything.  Our homie Bukshot was one of the ones bidding for the unreleased ICP song.  It was between him and a Juggalette who kept bidding back and forth.  I’m guessing Bukshot would have taken it, added a verse of his own to it, and put it up as a single or on his next album.  Ultimately, he lost the bidding war at somewhere around $1,400.  When the Juggalette was asked what she was going to do with it, she said she was going to keep it and not let anyone else hear it unless they were with her personally.  She said she’d be playing it around her campsite that day for people to hear, though I don’t know if anyone took her up on it.

Finally after a few dozen items, the time had come for the Mystery Box!  This was the headlining item, and it was EXTREMELY small at only 3” x 3” x 2”!  What in the world could have been inside?  Bidding started at a furious pace with the ninja we spoke to before the auctions started upping the ante several hundred dollars at a time.  Bidding slowed down at around the $2,000 mark, but quickly shot up again.  I’d estimate that they went back and forth for about 5 minutes, when finally they hit the $4,000 mark.  The final opposing bidder tapped out, and the ninja who said he’d stop at nothing to win the mystery box actually did!  So, now it was time for the unveiling.  He was handed the box and a key to open it.  Inside the small box was a giant lug nut, and a scroll that granted the winner a pass to be Don for a Day at Psychopathic Records! This entitled the winner to spend a day at the office, be on the Juggalo Show for that week’s broadcast on Psychopathic Radio, and all kinds of other flavor!  He also got a pass to what remained of the All Star Experience for this year’s Gathering. Not only was that super fresh, but inside the box, there was also a key to another, MUCH BIGGER box that Jumpsteady was called to bring to the seminar tent!  When the box was brought out and opened, inside there was a sealed copy of Morton’s List, SEVERAL outfits from Big Money Hu$tla$ and Big Money Ru$tla$, and lots more that I’m sure he kept to himself.  We were also Periscoping the auctions LIVE, so some of the comments ninjas were making had us rolling!  If I had an extra $4,000 laying around, would I have tried my luck at this?  Maybe.  But I also may have bought a good used car.  Either way, this ninja was overjoyed with his winnings, and that’s all that matters!

The winner of the Mystery Box!

The winner of the Mystery Box!

While I wanted to go watch Big Silva smash a bunch of shit at the carousel stage, the auctions ran over their allotted hour, so it was over by the time we went to check.  I also stopped by Wolfpac’s tent to see if they had any word on the charms yet, and they said mail had come, but there was no sign of a package, and they had no tracking info.  Stale.

After checking back in at the trailer and eating a quick sandwich (or three), we raced back over to the seminar tent to check out what Bonez Dubb and Otis aka Young Wicked had going on!  We got there and setup just in time for them to come on stage.  I think that for the past two or three years, Young Wicked has seen and acknowledged me on the side of the stage, and he alludes to the fact that we are good homies now after dealing with some bullshit in the past.  We’ve got nothing but love for AMB on both a personal and professional level.  Looking forward to that new SLAUGHTER album for sure!

Anyways, Young Wicked dropped some acapella raps, they both told a few stories, and a few tidbits of news came out.  The idea was that they were going to play the Young Wicked album all the way through during the seminar, but nobody could find a working CD player.  So instead, they just talked about it.  One piece of info they released is that the Slaughter album would be 14 tracks, have features with Jelly Roll, ABK, and of course Bonez Dubb. They also said they would announce the name and release date of the next AMB album inside Young Wicked’s solo!  Instead of me recapping it, you can watch it in its entirety here:

AMB Seminar:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/VIgB8LNa1hU[/youtube]

Their seminar went on for an hour, so after that, we walked around a bit and eventually ended up back at the trailer.  I wish we would have made it to the Gong Show, because that’s ALWAYS entertaining, but after being at the trailer, charging cameras, swapping out cards, etc, it was already time to head out to the Big Hoodoo seminar!

Hoodoo always has a lot of fresh stories that he includes in his seminars.  He spoke on the first Gathering that he ever attended when ICP took him under their wing before he was even considered to be an artist at the Hatchet.  He also released the name of his next album: Asylum, which is due out in January 2016! He spoke on his merch, and revealed his new Crystal Skull Hatchetman (complete with top hat) to those in attendance!  As with AMB, instead of going minute-by-minute, we’ll just let you watch it here:

Big Hoodoo Seminar:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/npKv23sg-Cc[/youtube]

Our homie Liquid Assassin was the first performance that we made it a point to see on Thursday. We had seen him perform with the 50 Shades of Snuff set the day before, but he had over 30 minutes of solo shit scheduled for 5:30 PM on the Pendulum stage!  Amanda and I made our way over there right after he had started his set.  Liquid Assassin performed track after track as the GoreFather of LSP, SCUM, looked on.  LA had the crowd hype as fuck through his 30+ minutes performing tracks like “Clubber Lang”, “Liquid Buddy”, and he even did “Fucked Up Sense of Humor” with Donnie Menace and SCUM!  After the first few tracks, I put the video camera down and just enjoyed the show.  L.A. is a true showman, and he’s been holding his own in the game for years!  It’s only a matter of time before he gets his proper shine!

Liquid Assassin!

Liquid Assassin!

It was getting close to 6 PM, and when we went back over to the FLH HQ area (our trailer), there was a crew of FLH forum members chillin’!  I had completely forgotten about the Meetup Massacre that day, but most of the people who showed up stuck around to say what’s up and grab the exclusive t-shirts we had printed up this year for forum members only!  We had a crew of eight including myself and Amanda show up for this one, but there weren’t as many as yesterday.  Would we break the record for Friday’s meetup?

Meetup Massacre #2

Meetup Massacre #2

It was closing in on 6:30 PM, and time to hit the main stage!  I had yet to visit the Twiztid Shop booth, but had been in touch with their manager George and we were gonna meet up later that day.

Aqualeo were given the honor of opening up the main stage for Thursday night!  Our homie Kevin Gill was the host for the night, and with him being one of the best ringside commentators in the business, he knows exactly how to hype up a crowd!  He said “we’ve got Faygoluvers, and media from all over the world, and a drone covering this shit!”  lol.

After they were announced, a masked woman in a unitard with a big ol’ ass (hey, she was wearing a thong…it’s not like it was hard to notice) came out and did some acrobatic moves for about 30 seconds.  Aqualeo came out in the hottest part of the day in full suits and ties, and started an impressive set! They had their moves choreographed, and synchronized at some points. You can tell they put a lot of work into their stage show, and I’m sure that several in attendance of their show became fans!

Aqualeo!

Aqualeo!

At this point, I checked in with George who asked me to meet him at merch in five minutes.  I told him that we were going to make sure to catch Boondox’s set so we could get pictures and footage, but I’d be over there right after that.  He said not to sweat it, and that he didn’t want us to miss Boondox.  So after a short rendezvous at the trailer, we came back up to the main stage photo pit area.

It was now time for the muthafuckin SKARCROW!  For some reason, small beach balls were flying all throughout the audience and onto the stage, but that quickly stopped once Boondox came out and started rockin’ it!  A Boondox banner with the Abaddon cross in flames was hung as a backdrop, and Boondox appeared and started his set with “Seven!”  Boondox donned a jersey with his logo, but with no Hatchetman patches, similar to when Twiztid was in limbo at Psychopathic.  Keep in mind that this was before any of the seminars where the speculations were addressed. Back to his performance…he moved back and forth across the giant main stage playing to the entire audience like the seasoned vet that he is.  He then played “Pillin’ Spree”, “Torn Possession”, and “Color You Dead” before we got out of the photo pit.  It was a solid set, and what else would you expect?

Boondox!

Boondox!

It was then t that I hit up George and met up with him at the Twiztid Shop booth.  Twiztid and Blaze’s crew were setup at the Gathering for two full days this year, and always had a steady crowd around getting their merch on!  I hooked George up with a new Faygoluvers t-shirt which he swapped for a Twiztid t-shirt for the wifey and I.  We talked for a few minutes, chopped it up, and he showed the new shirt to Mike from TwiztidShop.  Mike proceeded to completely berate it.  I think he was only halfway joking, but who knows. Lol.  He’s in charge of quality control for Twiztid, so I get being picky.  Either way, I told him to fuck himself, and we were off!  In all seriousness though, Mike and I are completely cool with each other. It was just some friendly ribbing, and me, being an asshole, can appreciate that.

Myself and George of Majik Ninja Entertainment!

Myself and George of Majik Ninja Entertainment!

We were running a little behind according to the schedule, but still were able to make it up to the photo pit in time for the next main stage’s act: Puddle Of Mudd!  If you have been keeping up with the Juggalo show or ICP’s Twitter account, you’ll know just how excited and honored Psychopathic, and Violent J especially, were to have Puddle of Mudd booked at this year’s Gathering.  They have a ton of hits, and have sold millions of albums!  Lead singer Wes Scantlin seems to have a couple of screws loose though.  When speaking to ninjas at the Gathering, we all agreed that they were the act with the highest probability of not showing up.  They shocked ALL of the naysayers when they showed up and brought our first taste of rock to the main stage!

Now I’ve never seen Puddle of Mudd live, but it really seemed like Wes was just going through the motions.  The other guitarists were a little more lively and interacted with the crowd a bit.  There were still beach balls everywhere, and one occasionally would fly onto the stage.  One of the guitarist’s soccer kicked one of the beach balls smack in the face of a ninja in the front row!  He of course didn’t mean to do it, and apologized as much as he could from the stage.  The ninja who felt the wrath of the guitarist’s best Beckham impression didn’t seem to mind though. After the song they were in the middle of when it happened, the guitarist gave the ninja his pick and apologized again.  I have to say that I got a pretty good laugh out of it!

I am sure I said this before, but I grew up in the 90s listening mostly to alternative rock, so I was pretty familiar with Puddle of Mudd.  It was still somewhat startling how many tracks of theirs were hit singles. They played song after song, and everybody was familiar with most of them!  They started off with “Control” and went immediately into a cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs!”  I guess they weren’t finished playing “Control” though, because shortly after “War Pigs”, they went into a lengthy guitar solo and then finished the track.  It was pretty fuckin’ dope, and spanned nearly 10 minutes!  They played “Drift and Die” after “Control”, and went on to do basically a whole set of hits from there!  We stayed up in the photo pit for nearly 20 minutes, which I think was the record for this year!

Wes of Puddle of Mudd!

Wes of Puddle of Mudd!

Did I mention earlier how bad it sucked having to work around those giant speakers? It distorted the hell out of the audio from the video footage we got too. Fuck!

I have to be honest with you, I don’t remember every single sequence of events that happened between sets, but mostly it involved going back to the trailer, swapping out memory cards, eating, etc.  There was some work being done too, of course, but with the schedule of events being one right after the other, there was very little downtime!

It was starting to get dark, and what better way to set that off than some dance music?  To my knowledge, in its 15 years of existence, the Gathering of the Juggalos has NEVER had an EDM act perform.  That was all about to change.  Flosstradamus was the next act scheduled to perform on the main stage!  I didn’t know anything about them other than the fact that they are an EDM group.  I can’t say I’m a fan of that scene, wasn’t really sure what to expect by guys playing a turn table on a stage.  That was my preconceived notion of what we were about to see anyways.

Holy shit was I wrong!  The 2 man crew came out wearing all white suits and masks with bulletproof vests.  One guy was on the turntables, and another one took a mic and danced around the stage to get the crowd hype!  Less than a minute into the performance as one member danced on top of the turntables, he was pelted in the cheek with what he claimed was a rock…

Now let me get on my soapbox for a minute.  I think I say something about this every year multiple times before and after the Gathering.  If you DON’T like what’s going on at ANY stage at the Gathering, there are ALWAYS other things to do!  Go kick it with homies at your camp site!  Go on a search to find Burrito man!  Chill in the back and shoot your middle finger up if you must…but why ruin the act for everyone else?  Is it for the notoriety you anonymously get for being “that guy” who threw something that potentially ended their performance?  The Tila Tequila/Redman/Methodman incidents aren’t something to be proud of.  Fuck whoever threw shit with malicious intent.  I saw beach balls, glow sticks, etc flying, but those are all fun.

That being said, the dude from Flosstradamus was a fuckin’ trooper!  He said “I just got hit in the face with a fuckin’ rock, but we’re still turnin’ up with y’all!”  They weren’t lying!  The bass was so heavy for their performance that my lens shook every time it hit!  I turned around to look at their audience, and there were mosh pits like a motherfucker, and the whole crowd was moving, eating this shit up!  Glow sticks were flying everywhere, and I don’t think there was a person who didn’t enjoy it.  Needless to say, I think EDM has found a place at the Gathering. I hope to see more acts back next year after Flosstradamus flipped the wigs of everyone in attendance!

Flosstradamus!

Flosstradamus!

Since most dance music sounds like one long song, I think that the event’s security got a little premature with booting us from the photo pit. We were only in there for about 7 minutes before we were told to scram.  Still though, I enjoyed the hell out of it, and stayed in the crowd for a bit to watch. Even when we went back to the trailer for a few minutes to prepare for the epicness that is Dark Lotus, the bass rattled everything inside!  Crazy dope!

Speaking of Dark Lotus, their set was scheduled for nearly 90 minutes! When the main stage went silent after Flosstradamus finished destroying the crowd, we knew it was time to get ready for the 5 petals to annihilate the stage!  Security unfortunately only let us stay up for two songs.  The first track they all performed was “Garden of Evil” from The Mud, Water, Air, & Blood!  All 5 members were completely on point, moving back and forth across the stage showing love to the Juggalos and Juggalettes watching.  Their bass game was ridiculous too!  They continued on with “Kaboom!”, and then went straight into “Bitch I’m Sexy” as we were leaving the photo pit area.   I stayed for another couple of songs watching from the middle of the crowd, but then returned to the trailer and opened a window to listen to the rest of the set.

Madrox during the Dark Lotus performance!

Madrox during the Dark Lotus performance!

Then, I had an idea.  Remember that baby wipe shower that I talked about earlier today?  Well I was starting to feel a little bit funky, and not in a good way.  Dark Lotus still had about an hour left of their performance, and you KNOW the shower trailers weren’t gonna be full.  So I grabbed my shampoo, soap, and a change of clothes, and I was off!  As expected, I walked right into the shower trailer with no delay.  The acoustics in there sucked, but you could still make out the Lotus tracks happening just a few yards away! Unfortunately, the shower’s water pressure sucked ass, but at least the water was warm…for the first half of the shower.  They’ve really gotta get that shower situation addressed for next year.  There needs to be double the trailers, and shit needs to be worked out and tested prior to the gates opening.  I know, add it to the list, but just something to note.

So after I finished, I reached for the towel…which I left back at the trailer.  Of course! So I had to dry off with my old shirt, threw my clothes and flip flops on, and was back to the trailer.  I saw a few people that I knew on the way back and started to think: do I get my Juggalo card revoked for showering during Lotus?  Lol. Seriously, even though I only get to see Lotus once a year, I don’t regret taking the time to wash my balls, ass, and face (not in that order) while the sounds of the Lotus reverberated through Legend Valley.

With the Lotus set coming to a close soon, it was time to start the late-night festivities!  PsykoScott and I talked about what night would be best for him to setup his suspension gear in Bizarro World, and he thought that tonight would be best.  I told him that I’d be down to help, but did NOT want to miss Myzery’s performance.  The suspension rig that he brought consisted of a ton of heavy ass poles in a big awkward bag, and some other supplies in another bag.  While I was at Myzery’s set, he got all setup while Rachel conducted tarot readings and jugglers and fire breathers did their thing.

Meanwhile, it was great to see Myzery back at the Gathering onstage!  I know that we Periscope’d his set, but I unfortunately didn’t get any other footage of it. Myzery and his hype man set it off though!  I handed my phone to Xanarki who was in the audience so he could Periscope while I snapped pictures.  At some point over the weekend, I had asked Hodge who manages Myzery about how to get a hard copy of his latest album, and where all of the merch was.  He informed me that long-time Myzery affiliate/hype man Ponch no-showed to the Gathering.  He apparently had a truckload of merch and just let them know that he wasn’t going to make it.  Wow. I don’t know any of the details other than that, but I was pretty bummed that I couldn’t get my hands on a copy of Demon/Angel.  Hopefully it surfaces in a web store online soon!

Myzery returns to the Gathering!

Myzery returns to the Gathering!

After a few songs from Myzery, I went over to help PsykoScott at Bizarro World.  He had his whole rig setup, and was already putting hooks into his knees.  I helped him a little bit with his supplies while another dude juggled, and then he told me he was ready. I’m not sure what the name of the suspension was, but he pulled a rope that was on a pulley system until the hooks in his knees supported his entire body weight! He was hanging upside down, swinging back and forth a little bit from a few hooks in his knees! I snapped pictures while he did his thing.  Onlookers were watching in near silence, just in awe of the entire spectacle.  I have never suspended myself, but the look on his, and any veteran suspension artist’s faces can only be described as euphoric!  Rachel Paul even stepped out of the tarot tent to check it out, and described it as “beautiful!”  He hoisted himself up and down a few times, and then called it a night.  I helped him with the clean-up supplies, and then helped take apart and haul everything off to the trailer.

PsykoScott suspends at Bizarro World!

PsykoScott suspends at Bizarro World!

We had a little bit of time to kill between now and G-Mo Skee.  I think King 810 is pretty dope, but we had Miss Diss Lexia wrestling with the Exotic Ladies of Wrestling, and we wanted to make sure to at least go check her out.  Unfortunately, by the time we made our way over there, her match had already happened.  I did hear that she was victorious though, so congratulations Lexi!  While watching another match that was happening, there was this CRAZY bitch in the crowd who kept screaming shit like “CALIFORRNIAAAAA!” While it was funny the first 10 times or so, it quickly got annoying.  Even the wrestling talent got annoyed and told her to shut the fuck up!  It was a spectacle for sure!  The commentary by Mosh Pit Mike, who I was standing next to, made it all worth it!

JCW Action!

JCW Action!

After that match, we knew we HAD to at least go see what was going on with DJ Clay’s Horny Nutts and Big Butts Party!  I mean I know this isn’t the first year that this party has happened, but when Mike Busey and the Busey’s Beauties are involved, ANYTHING is possible!

I think it’s safe to say that over the whole weekend of late night parties, this one was the most packed consistently!  We stayed there for around 45 minutes and I think it just continued to get more crowded!  We had Periscope rolling for a majority of the time we were over there, and threatened to only have it available live as it was happening, but we left it archived anyways.  DJ Clay played up for the camera, there was all kinds of dope music and remixes to Psychopathic favorites playing, and let’s not forget about the ladies!  There were two stripper poles with a swing in the middle, and every single one of Busey’s Beauties were on it at all times! They grinded against each other, did pole dancing, had volunteers up from the audience to get dances, and all kinds of debauchery!

So there were two notable incidents that happened while we were there watching.  First off, DJ Clay asked everyone in the audience if there was ANYONE in attendance who had been to All 16 Gatherings.  I of course raised my hand, and Clay said “Homie, your wife would divorce you if you got picked”.  Since my wife was right there beside me, (and of course because it was the right thing to do… *ahem*), I opted out.  Lol.  A ninja was selected, and the Busey’s Beauties immediately began stripping him down.  They got him down to his boxers and even attempted to take those down, but he refused. They laid him down on the stage, and every girl that could fit on him sat and grinded against him.  He seemed a little fucked up, but looked to be enjoying it either way.

The second, and more infamous incident was the buttcrack vodka shot.  As with the last guy, Mike Busey asked for some audience participation.  A Juggalette volunteered to take a blindfolded shot while laying on the stage.  She was blindfolded, laid down, and in the meantime, the 500 pound ninja Big L.A. hoisted his belly over the swing that I mentioned earlier and positioned his ass right over her mouth.  Busey then proceeded to dump vodka down Big LA’s back, through his buttcrack, and into her mouth.  Guess who happened to capture it in its entirety on her phone?  My wifey, that’s who!  We posted the footage on our Facebook page, and later the next day, made a deal with TMZ (thanks to Mike Busey himself!) to use our footage on their website!  If you didn’t see it already, you can do so here:

Click the pic to watch the video @ TMZ.com!

Click the pic to watch the video @ TMZ.com!

When speaking with Busey the next day, he said that we left the party too early, because things got even MORE weird!  I didn’t’ want o miss G-Mo Skee or Twista, so I decided to roll out to the Pendulum stage!

G-Mo was due up on the Pendulum stage at 2:30, and we got there just in time! We ran into Claas and his girl Sheri who were chillin’ on the rolling Riddlebox cart.  G-Mo had one of the best crowds at Pendulum that I saw all weekend!  You could tell that he was just happy to be playing the Gathering, and he fit right the fuck in!  He had a little back-and-forth with the crowd after performing “Sabotage”, and went right into fan-favorite “Die In The Worst Fashion”!  He played one more track, “When Did It Become Cool to be a Sick Fuck?” before we parted ways with the Pendulum stage.  I hated leaving his show, but wanted to make sure to be there for Twista when he came out!

G-Mo Skee!

G-Mo Skee!

When the schedule was first released, Twista and Playboy The Beast were both scheduled to perform at overlapping times on two different stages.  It sucked that I had to make a judgment call like that, but PTB ended up not being able to make it due to personal obligations, so I luckily didn’t have to choose.  I still KNOW that PTB would have won out, especially since I pushed so hard to get him there. But hopefully he’ll be able to make it to a Gathering in the near future.

Now we get to Twista!  I could have stayed at G-Mo’s set for quite a bit longer, because it took quite a bit of time for him and his hype man to get ready to come out.  Still though, to have a legend in the game performing at 2:30 AM in Ohio in front of a thousand or so Juggalos and Juggalettes was surreal!  I think the track that he performed that got the most pop was “Slow Jamz” which was 2004 Kanye track that Twista was featured on.  He then jumped into another artist’s track that he was featured on with Jay-Z’s “Is That Yo Bitch?”  Then it was onto Notorious B.I.G.’s “Spit Your Game”!  You might forget how long Twista has been in the game, and he’s still making hits all these years later!  On a personal note, he did a track with The Prodigy back in the mid 2000s called “Get Up Get Off” that really hooked me on his chopper flow.  I knew there was no chance of him doing that one, but I could always hope!

Twista!

Twista!

Soon after that track, we were asked to leave the photo pit, so we went back to the trailer to drop off our gear for a few.  We took it easy for a little bit and readied ourselves for the Carousel stage headliners: the Psychopathic Rydas!  When Amanda and I got to the Carousel stage at around 3:45 AM, the R.I.F.T. crew was performing a show of their own set to ICP’s “Tilt-a-Whirl”!  It was dope intermission entertainment, and made the remaining time before the Rydas pass with the quickness!

Not long after R.I.F.T. left the stage, a track introducing ALL of the Rydas started playing, and Foe Foe, Cell Block, Sawed Off, Bullit, Lil Shank, and Full Clip all entered the stage in that order!  They immediately went into the track “Dumpin’” from the OG Dumpin’ LP!  Talk about getting the crowd hype!  The Rydas followed up with the track “Search Lights” off of Eat Shit N Die, and then “Pap Pap!” from the same album!  The last track I caught filming was the beginning of “Who?” from the Dumpin’ album.  I have always been a HUGE fan of the Rydas, so this set was one that I definitely didn’t want to miss!  I feel like this year’s set was a lot more fun than last year’s, but maybe it’s just that it was closing in on 5 AM and I was delirious. Lol.  Still, much props to all of the Rydas, who seemingly only perform one show a year and schooled it once again!

The Psychopathic Rydas!

The Psychopathic Rydas!

Like I said, it was close to 5 AM, and since we wanted to catch some of the first things scheduled in the morning, we decided to call it a night.  I don’t know if it was the adrenaline from the Rydas set or what, but I had a hard time actually getting to sleep on Thursday night.  After playing on my phone for a few minutes though, I was out like a rock.

As with Wednesday, we have a whole Thursday Highlights video that you can see below:

Thursday’s Gathering Highlights:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/WibH7YX8p9A[/youtube]

FRIDAY, JULY 24TH

Friday morning, I woke up at around 11 AM if I remember right.  That didn’t leave me long to dump all of the footage from my camera to my external hard drive, get dressed, and get ready for the Juggalo Auctions that were scheduled for high noon!  I think I may have mentioned this last year, but this year is no different. I lived off of Quest Nutrition Bars!  This is no commercial…I’m just letting you know that those things are the fuckin’ shit!  I scarfed one down, Cookies and Cream flavor I believe, before leaving towards the seminar tent.

I didn’t really know what to expect from the Juggalo Auctions. I know that Jumpsteady had said that there were some items in there that even HE wanted to bid on.  When we walked into the seminar tent that morning, there were piles and piles of merch laid out on the tables!  There were everything from rare jerseys, action figures, T-shirt lots, custom-made Jugga-merch, and more!  It was like everything you see on these Juggalo Garage Sale pages all piled up into one room!  One of the fresher items that I saw on the bidding block were some custom mannequin heads painted up like the original 6 Joker’s Cards!  If I remember right, they only went for about $100!  Had I been there when those were being bid on, I may have scooped them up!  For real though, in the 20 minutes or so that we watched item after item get sold, ninjas were getting DEALS on this stuff!  Some people brought their own items with extremely high minimum bids, so they didn’t get bid on at all. If you happen to make it to the Gathering next year and want to bring home something memorable, the Juggalo Auctions should be one of your first stops!

One of the MANY items at the Juggalo Auctions!

One of the MANY items at the Juggalo Auctions!

I have to admit that since we weren’t bidding on any of the auctions, the whole auction scene got old fast.  Upchuck and Will Sigler were doing a great job keeping things moving along though, and much props to both of them for sorting through hundreds of items seemingly without a hitch!  Our homie Nik from MonkeysOnCrack.com suggested that we leave to find some other things to cover, so we followed him out.

This is where I have to give some HUGE accolades to Nik. We went over to Psychopathic Radio where Wolfpac was about to start one of their competitions.  They had their girls dancing on stage while music played, so Nik, Amanda and I went backstage to get ready to get some good pictures of whatever was going to happen next.  Nik looked at Amanda’s camera settings and pretty much explained to her why she needed to have them set a certain way.  He got it all ready to go for that lighting situation, and basically took her under his wing. He takes some AMAZING photos, so to be his “apprentice”, if you will, isn’t an opportunity you want to pass up!  Amanda is shy…that’s just her nature.  She was taking pictures from a good distance away so as not to get in anybody’s way.  Nik basically told her to get up in people’s grills.  Most people, especially performers, like having their pictures taken.  He said that if you are taking a shot that could potentially get you into trouble, then you’re doing it RIGHT. We both kind of forced Amanda out of her shell up on the Psychopathic Radio stage that day, and I think she’ll be a better photographer because of it!  Again, much respect to Nik for this…she really needed the confidence booster!

Back to the matter at hand…when Wolfpac returned live on the air, Amanda and Nik started snapping pics of everything from their broadcast, to the Girls of Wolfpac, to a challenge that was getting ready to go down!  Amanda started out apprehensive about getting too close, but Nik stepped in and got her right up in their faces and buttholes.  I hope all of the pictures turned out!  As they were both snapping away, a shot challenge was being setup behind us.  2 competitors had shots of alcohol and hot sauce lined up in front of them, and then had a beer bong full of Pabst Blue Ribbon to cap it off.  Daddy Long Legs made sure they were both ready, and it was off to the races!  They both downed their vile-looking shots with the quickness!  Then it was up to them to conquer the PBR beer bong.  Puke buckets were put in place, and would soon be put to good use.  I don’t even recall who won, but I know that both of them ended up with their faces buried in their vomit troughs.  Lol.  The winner received a Wolfpac price pack full of goodies!  After snapping a few more pics, we were off on our next adventure.

There was a LOT of hype built up for the opening act on the Pendulum stage on Friday.  Who was it?  Our Scrub homie JPK, that’s who!  By the time we got over there, there was a sea of red “Baby K” shirts worn by everyone in the Scrubs crew.  On a side note, I got my Baby K shirt at Juggalo Day in Detroit this year, and somehow it didn’t make it into my luggage for the return trip home. I thought the Detroit Scrub house had taken it as a sacrifice, but luckily was contacted by Krissy prior to the Gathering who somehow managed to track it down and bring it to me!  I threw it on over my shirt to show some JPK love, and then he started his set.  The Scrubs crew had a constant mosh pit going throughout JPK’s entire performance!  JPK tore it down, and I even got into the mix to mix it up with everyone! At one point, our homie Rocko got up on stage as JPK was performing, and dive-bombed an unsuspecting scrub in the pit!   I was a giant sweaty mess after it was all said and done, but god damn we had a lot of fun!

JPK!

JPK!

After copping the latest JPK album and kickin’ it with the scrubs for a few minutes, I was off to fulfill my press duties at the Boondox seminar.  I think that this one and ICP’s ended up being the most talked about post-Gathering.  After telling us all about how nervous he always is during his seminars, and sharing a few stories from the road, he opened his seminar up to questions from the audience.  Of course the first one that was asked was whether or not he would be signing with Twiztid’s Majik Ninja Entertainment label. He said it was speculation and that he couldn’t talk about it right now…so take that however you want to.  I won’t go into all of the details about what he spoke on, but we put the entire thing up on YouTube for you to see:

Boondox Seminar:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/GLngtfxLJ_c[/youtube]

I do have to give tremendously huge props to Boondox for taking some time afterwards to remember a Juggalo who passed away late last year.  A few Juggalos from Dallas brought the ashes of a ninja named Davis who tragically died last year. They told Boondox that he and Twiztid were Davis’ favorite artists, and it would have meant a lot to him to say something in remembrance.  After the seminar, Boondox stepped out to the back with Davis’ homies, said a few words to Davis’ friends and family, and poured his ashes into the grounds at Legend Valley.  It was incredibly moving, and he obviously had no obligation, but he did it for the love of the family. Much love and respect to you, ‘dox!

Boondox helps lay Davis to rest.  RIP.

Boondox helps lay Davis to rest. RIP.

While I’m as big a fan of boobs as the next guy, my growling stomach got the best of me.  So we skipped out on the wet t-shirt contest and went straight back to the trailer to make a few sandwiches and get our grub on.  We didn’t spend too much time there though because the Twiztid / Blaze Seminar was making its triumphant return to the Gathering of the Juggalos this year!  We knew that seminar would be packed, so we headed over there a little bit early. Fortunately, nobody was on the stage by the time we got there, so we stopped by the Scrub Care Unit, who was stationed right next to the seminar tent!  They had TONS of water bottles, and a whole tent’s worth of supplies for those who weren’t prepared enough to Gather for 5 days.  Much love to everyone involved in the SCU for sacrificing their time and effort to selflessly help Juggalos and Juggalettes out.

Much Love to the Scrub Care Unit!

Much Love to the Scrub Care Unit!

Now, it was time to go squeeze in with all of the other people with press passes to record the Twiztid/Blaze seminar!  If you’ve ever watched one of their seminars, either live or via YouTube, then you know that a majority of it is more like a stand-up comedy show than something informational.  Sure, they give you little tidbits of info from the “Twiztid cloud”, but mostly they cut up with the audience, and with each other.  This one was a little different though because at one point, Madrox got straight PISSED at a question directed at them.  Someone asked them why they REALLY parted ways with Psychopathic.  Look, Twiztid hasn’t been a part of Psychopathic for what…over 2 years now?  It’s time to LET IT GO.  I think everyone has gotten acclimated to the change.  Other than that, there were some good pieces of info including Blaze’s Casket Factory release date, new artists (not specifically named) would be announced on the MNE roster in the next 30 days, new R.O.C. album early next year, the status of their upcoming movie, and lots more! Watch it in its entirety here:

Twiztid / Blaze Seminar:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/aZnFcS3O1UA[/youtube]

Jamie, Paul, and George also deserve some extra props.  Remember those ninjas from the Boondox seminar I mentioned a few paragraphs ago?  Well they asked if Twiztid would give the same treatment to their homie Davis as Boondox.  Madrox was genuinely skeeved out at the thought of it, and both were hesitant.  In the end though, after the seminar, they both came through. Davis’ homies dug a hole behind the seminar stage, Twiztid said some words and had a moment of silence, and they all gave a “1-2-3-DAVIS” at the end.  You can see how everything went down here:

Davis Tribute Video:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/qoMfX5NMSF8[/youtube]

By the time all of that was said and done, it was a little after 5 PM, and we knew that the Juggalo Wedding probably already started! We didn’t want to completely miss out on that though, so we went over there as fast as we possibly could.  Even though Legend Valley is much smaller than Hog Rock, the seminar tent and the carousel stage were about as far away from each other as you could get.  Still though, it only took us about 5 minutes walking briskly to make it.  We joined the wedding, which was already in session.

To my understanding, we missed a few things prior to the actual ceremony, but caught most of it on video to share with the rest of the world.  You can see their vows, a Faygo sipping/dousing, some Jerry Springer-esque drama, men being hurled through cakes and tables, and finally their Faygo shower send-off all on this video:

Juggalo Wedding footage:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ShfyCDs8ivQ[/youtube]

Congrats to the new happy couple on their nuptials!

Our homie Jason Voorheis (find his YouTube channel right here) was there covering the wedding too, and he pulled me aside and asked if I could take a little bit of time to do an interview with him.  This is a bit of a change for me, as I’m usually the one asking the questions!  I, of course, obliged, and we sat there and talked for what seemed to be 5-10 minutes.  I know another ninja came and asked me something in the middle of the interview, but he didn’t even know it was happening.  I haven’t seen that footage surface yet, but hopefully I didn’t make too much of an ass of myself.

Scottie & Jason Voorheis!

Scottie & Jason Voorheis!

Since the Juggalo Wedding didn’t take anywhere close to a full hour, we headed back over to the trailer to relax a little bit before the main stage acts started.  It was a FULL night tonight with performances by SIX different artists!  On our walk back to the trailer, I got a call from J-Webb (of Psychopathic Records). He hit me up asking if we could provide any pictures of things happening at the Gathering of the Juggalos so that they could share them out on all of their social networks!  I told Amanda about it, and she started frantically getting some of her best shots together on the laptop.  It paid off, because hours later, they used a picture of Boondox that she had taken from his seminar on their social media feeds!  While this was going on, our homie Rachel Paul knocked on the trailer door and came in to get a little cooled off.  We all talked for a little bit, though Amanda was focused on getting those pictures done before main stage.  (So Rachel, don’t think she was rude! She felt bad but her *ahem* “boss” was cracking the whip!) Rachel had also mentioned that she was one of the winners of the Juggalo Psypher audition, and would be taking part in the video shoot on Saturday! Holy shit that’s dope!

Time flew by, and after emailing those pictures off, we heard Jarren Benton being introduced by The Rude Boy, and made our way up to the main stage just in time for him to start!  Jarren came out with a DJ on a foldout table behind him, Tech N9ne’s drummer Alien Warr from Band of Psychos, and of course sported his signature Davy Crocket hat.  Jarren used every inch of that main stage to put on a show!  That dude is all over the place, and is right up there with Hopsin as my favorite artists on FV’s label.  He started drinking some PBRs after the first song of his set, so you know shit was about to get live!  By the time his second song hit, he had quite a crowd watching him for it being just past 6 PM!  He started throwing PBRs into the crowd and then started into the track “Hallelujah!”

Jarren Benton!

Jarren Benton!

Since that was the end of our time in the photo pit, we came out of there just in time for him to ask everybody to get onstage.  There were probably 50 Juggalos and Juggalettes up there as he performed “Gimme The Loot!”  He said that everyone who was already up there should just stay for his entire set, but security escorted everyone off. He said he thought there was no rules at the Gathering, but apparently there were, so you gotta get the fuck off of the stage. Lol.  Shortly after those 4 or 5 tracks, we went back to the trailer to grab the recharged batteries, dump footage, etc.  I know that at this point you are probably thinking “Why do they have to go back to the trailer so often?”  Last year, we had so many digital and video cameras going that we ended up losing some footage due to overwriting cards, not copying them to drives/computers, etc.  So we just made sure that we were good on that tip.

It wasn’t long before we had to make our way back to the main stage for our Humboldt homies: Potluck!  I always love seeing Potluck at local shows here in Dallas, but if I remember right, it’s been 4 years since they last performed there!  It was definitely a welcome return for 1Ton and UnderRated!  After the Rude Boy introduced them, UnderRated came out and started just spitting straight FIRE!   He started with his verse from “Blow Ya Head Off” from the new album #StonerProblems!  They jumped right into “Hotbox Anthem” while jumping from speaker stack to speaker stack.  It made for a pretty entertaining performance, and their stage presence was on point!   Then, they brought up a ninja with a 6 foot bong which 1Ton took a hit off of as they started into the track “Let’s Take A Ride”.  They were only doing short versions of these tracks at this point, so we got to stay an extra track in the photo pit which was “Say What You Wanna Say”, one of my all-time favorites from 1Ton and UnderRated!  The guys continued to hype the crowd up where Jarren left off!  Let’s hope it’s not another four years before we see them again.

1Ton and UnderRated of Potluck!

1Ton and UnderRated of Potluck!

After a quick trip back and forth to the trailer (you know the drill by now), it was time to get ready for everybody’s favorite deadman: Blaze Ya Dead Homie!  I’m not gonna tell you this year how big of a fan of him that I am, but I fuckin’ love Blaze.  From  grabbing his EP at the first Gathering of the Juggalos in Novi, and seeing how far he’s come since the pantyhose era, this killa puts in work!  He was introduced by Rude Boy as a part of the FAMILY, of course, and shouted out to the fam from backstage before coming out to perform “Ghost Bars” off of Gang Rags: Reborn!  It was hard to tell since his face was fully covered, but Blaze’s hype man on his last tour was Big Dustin from Twiztid’s crew.  I saw a hint of green Mohawk under the mask, and knew it was him again.  I don’t know if he ever had rap aspirations, or just jumped in to fill a void, but I gotta give him props on staying hype as fuck the whole time and supporting the dead man!  The next track they did was “The Touch Of Death”, which was followed by “Juggalo Anthem”!  Blaze was up there for close to an hour, and had the audience captivated the whole time! I don’t know about you, but I’m hype to hear what his first ALL NEW LP from MNE sounds like in a few months! Lookout for Casket Factory!

Blaze Ya Dead Homie!

Blaze Ya Dead Homie!

After a short intermission, Rudy came out to introduce the next act on the main stage: Dope D.O.D.!  According to Rudy, they wanted to play the Gathering so much that they turned down other tours and festivals just to be here!  Dope D.O.D. is from the Netherlands, and flew all the way over here just to party with us Juggalos and Juggalettes!  Soon after their introduction, a ninja in a clown mask and an orange jumpsuit came out to some creepy carnival music and stationed himself behind some turntables that were already setup.  I’ve seen a few music videos of theirs, but I’m not about to pretend that I know all of their music.  Skits Vicious came out in a pantyhose mask and officially started up their set.  He peeled out of the mask and revealed different colored contacts and a half-shaven head with pink hair on the other side.  His partner in rhyme Jay Reaper soon joined him onstage in a red/black jacket and top hat, and they continued to rock it!  I loved that Jumpsteady booked these guys who are fairly unknown in the states.  For not having much of a following here, they definitely impressed and won over the crowd! If they ever do tour the states anytime soon, I suggest you get yourself a ticket!  Unfortunately we were only able to stay up there for like two tracks.

Dope D.O.D.'s DJ

Dope D.O.D.’s DJ

It was a little past 9 PM, and time to grab another bite to eat.  I don’t remember what it was, but am almost positive that it was a sandwich or three.  Hey, when you drop a grand on a Baller spot and a trailer rental, you gotta save money where you can, right?  On the way back to the photo pit, we ran into Farris, the Juggalo lawyer and his wife Rema!  They are truly awesome people, and I love how passionate Farris is about the Juggalo family! It’s the shit to have someone like him on our side!

Amanda, Farris, & Rema

Amanda, Farris, & Rema

Back to the show, it was time for the female-led rock group In This Moment to make their Gathering debut!  I always love seeing a rock group at the Gathering. They bring a whole other level of flavor to the stage, mostly because there are so many moving parts to a show, and because they ALWAYS go over well with Juggalos and Juggalettes! The pits can be ferocious!  The only thing I know about this band is their song “Whore” still comes on every rock station I happen to be listening to very regularly. It’s a fresh track, and I was looking forward to seeing what else they had to offer!

After Rudy introduced them, some stage hands came out to get some shit setup for the band.  For whatever reason, they decided to play Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”  The THOUSANDS of Juggalos and Juggalettes in attendance were singing along with every word!  It was a bit of a strange experience, but that just shows that Journey transcends all genres.  In This Moment’s set started out with a ton of fog and strobes as the musicians took their positions.  Their guitarist had a sick, almost Predator-like mask while all you could see of lead singer Maria Brink’s silhouette appear.  Thunderous drums whip-kicked you in the face as they started their set with the track “Sick Like Me!”  She had the same long fingernails and top hat that she wore in the music video, but with the smoke and strobes, all you could see was a shadow of her.  At the end of the song, she removed her hat and jacket and started head-banging like a mad woman!  The whole scene was very seductive, and she’s a true show(wo)man!

After that five minute song, we waited for a wardrobe change, and Maria appeared as a sexy nurse with a fog gun.  She was accompanied by another masked nurse with a giant syringe.  They went into the track “Dead or Alive” and really got the crowd on their side! After finishing that one up, it was time for yet ANOTHER wardrobe change.  Is this what a Madonna concert is like?  Maria came out donning leather pants and boots, and a Slash-like hat with a spider on it.  She’s hot, and she definitely knows it!  In the middle of the song, she finally got brave enough to leave the comfort of her raised platform and came to the edge of the main stage.  This was my first time to see them, and In This Moment fuckin’ rocked it!  I don’t know of anyone who didn’t absolutely LOVE their set! I’m gonna have to see if I can catch them at another show locally when I can wyle out in the pit!  They got a full hour set too, and I was so mesmerized by them that I went ahead and checked about half of it out from the crowd!

Maria Brink of In This Moment!

Maria Brink of In This Moment!

After a brief pit stop back at the trailer, it was time for tonight’s headliners: TWIZTID!  By the time we got back to the stage, the photo pit was pretty jam-packed!  Twiztid had big MNE / Twiztid banners set as their backdrop, and started their show off just as they did 15 years ago at the very first gathering: with “Mutant X”!  No matter what size stage they play, they make use of it in its entirety!  Jamie bounces around while spitting his lyrics without skipping a beat, and Monoxide has one of the most animated faces you’ll ever see.  They both split equal time on either side of the stage so both sides of the audience get their fair share.

“Are there any Juggalettes in the house tonight?!” Madrox screams!

They go even MORE old school with the track “Old School Pervert”, playing off of each other’s suggestive gestures.  Some ninjas started shooting off fireworks, which made for a cool backdrop.  They stuck with the old school as “Second Hand Smoke” roared through the crowd. Halfway through the song, Madrox’s wireless mic went dead.  A stage hand grabbed it from him, ran off the stage, and Madrox rolled with the punches mimicking singing his parts as his mic was replaced.  He got one with a fresh set of batteries before his next verse kicked in, so all was well.  They stuck with Mostasteless through the next song, “How Does it Feel?” as we were booted from the photo pit.  People at home were LOVING that PsykoScott had Periscope going, so we went out into the middle of the crowd and stayed for probably ¾ of the set until his battery went dead, and then gave a little more of a taste with my iPhone.  I can’t tell you how fresh it was to see all of the ninjas at home commenting on how much they appreciated us making the effort to stream parts of the Gathering for them.  I just hope that Periscope stays free!

TWIZTID!

TWIZTID!

I’m not sure what song it was, but at some time during their set, they brought out four MASSIVE beach balls and rolled them out to the audience!  They stayed up and floated around until close to the end of their set!  Blaze came out for “Life Me Up” and I know they were still there because Amanda had split off and got a little shot of that song too.  Overall, Twiztid’s set was a hell of a lot of fun, and a great way to shut down the main stage for Friday night.

I know that this was the last of the footage that I got for Friday night, but we stayed out way past that.  PsykoScott grabbed his dog Girlie who had been cooped up for most of the day and walked her over to the seminar tent where Big Jay Oakerson was scheduled to go on around Midnight.  He saved us a spot up there as Amanda and I checked out the night life for a few minutes.  We swung by DJ Hoppa’s Funk Volume party and it seemed to just be getting started.  So we left there and headed up to the seminar tent to meet up with PsykoScott.  Jay’s opener was already on, and shortly afterwards, Upchuck introduced Big Jay!  He started out strong, but getting smoked out by Juggalos, he was kind of all over the place.  I still laughed my ass off through his whole set!

Big Jay Oakerson!

Big Jay Oakerson!

PsykoScott and Amanda called it a night shortly after Big Jay, so I roamed a little bit more.  DJ Hoppa’s party picked up a bit, so I went over there to hang out and take some pics.  He had some girls on stage dancing, but they were (no offense) nowhere near the caliber that Busey had.  I don’t know if they were hired to be there or just some girls from the audience. Still, everyone there was having a good time, and Jarren Benton was hanging out too.

Then I popped over to the wrestling stage to see what was going on with the Oddball Brawl.   The match that I happened to stumble upon was Zach Gowen’s “handicap match” where he teamed up with Greg Irons to face the American Viking Party.  The AVP were some big fucking brutes, and they were throwing the one-legged Gowen all over the place. I’m always amazed at Zach’s athleticism!  He does more in a ring hopping around on one leg than most two-legged wrestlers do…AND he has a sense of humor about it all!  To see full JCW results from the Gathering, you can go to this link!

I kept moving on, and migrated over to see how Nova Rockafella was doing with her set.  While at the carousel stage, I noticed that Wolfpac’s merch guy Chris aka Cookie had setup the entire Wolfpac merch tent over there. Wolfpac was performing in just over an hour, so it was the perfect spot to get some sales.  We spoke for a few minutes, and I checked with him about my charms.  Still no sign, but they had been in contact with him and he actually messaged me earlier too saying that they’d be here for the last day of the Gathering.  I know it wasn’t his fault that he just got the shipment, so I commend him for what he did.  When he got them on Friday afternoon, instead of him just saying “fuck it”, he jumped in his car and drove states away to make sure that both FLH and Wolfpac got our charms on time!  So go buy a shirt and a charm from us, dammit!

Nova hit the stage, and I really don’t know anything about her. She seemed a little nervous to perform in front of Juggalos…probably just due to the Tila incident 5 or so years ago.  Still, after a song or two, she broke out of her shell and started riffing with those in attendance.  She was bounding everywhere across the carousel stage, spitting raps, and hopefully winning some new fans!  There wasn’t much for security there, so after getting through the backstage gate area, I just walked right up this flimsy metal ramp and onto the stage. I snapped some pictures for a few minutes, and had pretty much had enough.  Again, I just didn’t know much about her, but she seemed to go over!

Nova Rockafella!

Nova Rockafeller!

There was one thing on my to-do list that I STILL hadn’t accomplished.  Tomorrow was the last day and I had STILL yet to find the elusive BURRITO MAN!  I started asking around, because I had heard that he was somewhere on the outskirts of the Carousel stage.  Everyone seemed to know where he was, though I got a few different sets of directions.  By the time I got there at a little before 3 AM, the lights were off, and the burrito man had closed up shop for the night.  At LEAST I knew where to find him the next day!  I wanted my burrito, dammit!

Now it was time for Wolfpac to hit the stage!  Sugar Slam came out and introduced them, and it was time for some late-night anarchy!  I Periscope’d the first part of their set and took some pics too.  They had a stage full of dancers, and of course their hockey-masked henchmen!  Wolfpac wasn’t two songs in when their masked crew jumped over the barrier and into the crowd to start a mosh pit! That was going on behind us in the photo pit, while the Wolfpac girls strutted their stuff on stage, and Buddha and Daddy Long Legs belted out their classic tracks! I wish I had taken video it, but like I said, I was rolling solo.  So I snapped pics and Periscope’d for the ninjas at home.  YOU’RE WELCOME!  After our three or four allowed songs, I was pretty spent, so I zombie-walked my way back to the trailer, threw all my shit on the table, and crashed out hard. I knew I would be woken up early the next morning since I was camping with a bunch of party poopers who dipped out at like 1 AM.

The Girls of Wolfpac: So hot...want to touch the hiney!

The Girls of Wolfpac: So hot…want to touch the hiney!

You can see the highlights from Friday’s festivities here:

Friday’s Gathering Highlights:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/KcYJGdUvmQk[/youtube]

SATURDAY, JULY 25TH

As expected, PsykoScott and Amanda rolled out of bed pretty early.  I was good though, because I had about 12 bottles of unused energy shots waiting for me if I needed them.  It was also the last day of the Gathering, and the thoughts of having to get back to reality were starting to fill my head.  FUCK THAT though…we still had a FULL DAY of flavor ahead of us!

There was still quite a bit of food that we had purchased earlier in the week that was still not eaten.  One of those food items was PANCAKES!  What better way to start off the weekend than with some delicious flapjacks?  We whipped up a big ass batch of them, and stuffed ourselves with all of their carby goodness.  After that, we decided to walk around for a bit with our Marty/Courtney head cutouts and grab some photos.  We stopped by Bluntman’s shop, took pictures of random ninjas with “Marty and Courtney”, and ran into Mike P and Syn of Zug Izland on their cart.  They took the time to pose for a picture too.

Marty, Mike P, Joy, Syn, and Courtney

Marty, Mike P, Joy, Syn, and Courtney

At some point, we walked by Wolfpac’s merch tent again.  Guess what they had? Our Faygoluvers Charms!  They turned out looking SUPER fresh, and much props to our supplier for making the impromptu road trip to get them there before the Gathering ended!

Click the pic to purchase a charm or shirt!

Click the pic to purchase a charm or shirt!

Our homie Brice who we talked about earlier got a call from Claas, who said they had to pack up and leave a day early.  Claas and his girl are the ones who brought Brice, so he started packing his shit up.  I stopped him and told him that if he wanted to stay, he was more than welcome to come home with us!  He lives in Dallas, so it’s not like he’s out of the way. I mean who would want to miss the last day of the Gathering if they could help it?  So he thanked us, let Claas know, and was off to enjoy the last day of the Gathering!

I also got a text from Bukshot this morning asking if we could spread the word about an impromptu Madchild/Bukshot Meet & Greet that would be taking place outside of Bukshot’s merch trailer.  Madchild had unfortunately missed his scheduled meet & greet time with ICP the day before, so this was a good way for those ninjas who missed out on that to still have their opportunity to meet him.  He asked if we could get the word out about it on Faygoluvers, so I shot the info over to PunkRockJuggalo, and of course he had it posted within minutes!

My initial plan for the day was to try to hit up The Neden Game, and then go over to the ICP Seminar.  It didn’t exactly work out that way though.  You see, for weeks prior to the Gathering, our homie Notslim1 who you might recognize from his Facebook posts of the “Why Would You Do That?” video series asked me to take part in one of his challenges.  He wanted me, him, and our homie Menace from TrueJuggaloFamily.com to participate in an eating challenge, but knew that schedules would be tight.  He found me late Saturday morning, and asked if we would still be down to do it.  I said sure, but asked him when?  He told me that there was no time like the present!  We had to wait a bit so he could get his gear together, get Menace up and ready (who was camped right by Notslim1), and find a good location for this to take place. He decided to call it the Webmaster Porkchop Challenge, or something along those lines.  We decided to set his table up by the pork chop stand in front of the main stage.  It was early by Gathering standards, so anyone passing by slowed their pace to try to figure out what was going on.  Notslim1 purchased 3 gigantic pork chops, and set a 2 liter of warm Faygo on the table.  I filled up 2 Solo cups a piece with Faygo while the cameraman finished setting everything up.  The challenge was to eat the entire big ass pork chop which was purchased at that very stand, and guzzle down those two large cups of Faygo.  Whoever did it the quickest won!

What did they win?  Well, bragging rights of course!  Now let me set the stage for you:

Scottie, Notslim1, Menace after the Pork Chop Challenge!

Scottie, Notslim1, Menace after the Pork Chop Challenge!

Those ninjas have a few pounds on your boy, and I already was full of pancakes! But I agreed to the challenge, so it was time to get this shit poppin’! Syn drove by on his golf cart again, and Notslim1 asked him if he would be the special guest host for this show.  Syn introduced us, said a few words, and then sat back and watched us do our best to choke that shit down!  Now this is admittedly the first eating competition I have ever taken part in, so I had no idea how I would fare.  I DO know that I can eat like a fat kid, and I’ve been told to slow down when it comes to consuming my meals since I was a kid, so why not give it a go?  I ALSO have seen those hot dog eating competitions where the competitors use water to basically liquefy the buns and make the food easier to swallow, so that was what I intended to do with the Faygo.  The countdown began, and it was off to the races! We all started at a feverish pace, but Menace quickly fell behind. I stayed steady throughout the competition, taking huge gulps of Faygo as I ground the chops down to something at least manageable to swallow.

Scottie, Notslim1, and Menace in the the heat of battle!

Scottie, Notslim1, and Menace in the the heat of battle!

At one point, it looked like Notslim1 was ahead of me, so I kicked it into overdrive and put the rest of my pork chop away, and dumped the last half cup of Faygo down my throat.  I was VICTORIOUS!  I know the video of this whole mess of a competition will surface soon, so I’m anxious to see how it looks! Any of you who were watching it via Periscope already know.  We did our post-interviews and Notslim1 wrapped up that segment of the show…in shameful defeat.

Watch the Pork Chop Faygo Chug Challenge (ft. Syn):

[youtube]https://youtu.be/6OjCAaEMCBA[/youtube]

We had already missed the Neden Game, but still had a little bit of time before the ICP Seminar started.  I said my goodbyes to Menace and Notslim1, and it was back to the trailer to grab our gear, my bag of T-shirts and charms, and the wifey of course and head to the ICP seminar!

We hustled a few shirts on the way, and eventually made it up to the seminar tent again.   It didn’t take long until the trash wars were in full effect.  I know it’s ICP, and I know it’s become a bit of a tradition at this point, but that doesn’t meant that I have to like it. Lol. We dodged trash left and right trying to keep our camera equipment dry.  I handed my phone off to Jules so she could Periscope the entire seminar while we filmed and snapped pics from the side.  Tickets were being given out on each side of the seminar tent, and if you’ve ever been to an ICP seminar, they are known for hooking ninjas up as long as you’ve got a ticket!  In previous years, the ticket lines have been HUGE clusterfucks. This one didn’t seem to be so bad though.  Amanda and I grabbed our tickets from J-Webb, and then got repositioned next to all of the other Juggalo media outlets to get our filming on. After a few more Faygos and smoke bombs landed close to us, we saw Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope pull up on their golf carts and went right up onto the stage.  After cutting up with Juggalos for a minute or two, he busted out the NOTES!  A “Notes! Notes! Notes!” chant started up, and Violent J started down the list of things he wanted to talk about. There were a TON of things covered, including Boondox leaving Psychopathic, focusing on ICP, Juggalo Day, the FBI gang list situation, and lots more!  You can the hour-long video of it here:

ICP Seminar:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/haevIu55G24[/youtube]

After they were done with The NOTES, J threw his copy out to a lucky fan, and then there was a mass exodus to go see what was being handed out in exchange for our tickets!  Amanda and I got in line, and in less than 5 minutes had ourselves a copy of The Phantom EP!  I knew that we had to hook the ninjas who weren’t lucky enough to Gather this year up with the album!  We got back to our trailer and I started to RIP the album on our laptop.  It took a while, and errored out once too.  I ripped it at 320kbps knowing full well that I’d have to upload it over a fucking cell phone connection.  Lol.  Anyways, I let PunkRockJuggalo know that it was coming his way via Dropbox, and hopefully he would be able to get a post up about it.  All of this took some time, so soon it was time to get to the ABK seminar.  I left my cell phone / hot spot in the trailer to (hopefully) finish uploading while I was away, and away we went!  I’m sure most of you know this by now, but an ABK seminar is basically just an hour of time for Killa to get everybody fucked up! Even though I don’t partake, it’s still a good time watching people get a little tipsy!  Moonshine has become a staple of ABK’s seminars, and nobody deserves it more!

We gave Amanda’s phone to Jules so she could periscope it out to those at home, and then got a good 20 minutes of info before everyone just straight up started to party.  Killa talked about how much fun he was having at this year’s Gathering, fielded a few other questions, and talked quite a bit about his own label: Native World, Inc.  ABK is building up quite the underground arsenal with Native World!  Make sure to check out their latest releases at NativeWorldInc.bigcartel.com!

After Killa did a shout-out to those at home watching via the Faygoluvers Periscope, and offering me shots and bong hits (to which I graciously declined), we wrapped things up and decided to move over to the Miss Juggalette Pageant.  You can see the 30+ minutes that we captured here:

ABK Seminar:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/4ysXLaeNY6A[/youtube]

We walked towards the Carousel stage where the Miss Juggalette pageant was about to happen, and noticed a pretty big group around Bukshot’s trailer.  The word must have gotten out, because he and Madchild were signing a bunch of people’s merch, getting Madchild’s new Silver Tongue Devil LP, and chopping it up with him for a minute or two.

Finally, it was off to the Miss Juggalette pageant!  We walked around to the side of the stage where the scantily clad Mr. Juggalo dancers were finishing up the pre-pageant BBQ, and soon heard Kevin Gill, our host for the year, introducing the judges.  This year, we had 2 Tuff Tony, Mary Dobson, and a Juggalo volunteer from the audience fulfilling judging duties! At some point, Amanda split off from me, but I didn’t realize it.  About 20 minutes in, I started getting a little bit worried when she wasn’t up there snapping pics.  I was only filming with one camera at the time (vs Periscoping too), so I started frantically texting her to find out where she was.  There was no reply, and I waited several minutes.  I ended up texting PsykoScott and he said he hadn’t seen her.  Fast-forward to the end of the pageant though, and she appeared from the crowd while I started walking back towards the trailer.  She said she left her phone charging back at the trailer, but I was just relieved to find her!

Back to the pageant though!  There were around 20 contestants, and they each had 3 rounds to show what they were made of:

  • Personality round
  • Talent round
  • Swimsuit round

Giving 20 contestants roughly a minute apiece for three rounds was going to take quite a bit of time, but everything moved along incredibly smoothly!  It all went down in about 1-1/2 hours, and for the final judgment, I broke out the Periscope and let the viewers at home see who their new queen was!  You can check out the FULL pageant footage here:

Miss Juggalette Pageant:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/TYs1w8QQebg[/youtube]

I’d like to send out a huge congrats to our 2015 Miss Juggalette winner:

Miss Juggalette 2015!

Miss Juggalette 2015!

With the pageant running well over its one-hour allotment, we unfortunately missed the first act on the main stage, which was the Axe Murder Boyz.  I hate that they were scheduled so early in the day, but I know that PsykoScott at least had a chance to run up and Periscope their performance! I truly appreciate Scott’s contributions to the site over the past few years…much love homie!

Even though we missed ALL of AMB’s set, we STILL just made it in time to see Rittz hit the main stage!  Our homie DJ Chris Crisis (formerly of REHAB) has been rolling with Rittz for a minute now!  He eventually caught a glimpse of me while he was behind the turntables onstage and gave me a nod.  Rittz started his main stage performance with “Shut Up!”  He wore his signature beanie with his full ass head of red hair spilling out from underneath it.  He had fans plugged in which made his hair flow like a fuckin’ Revlon commercial.  In a recent interview, he said that the fans aren’t there for show, but because he’s a big motherfucker and he gets hot up there!  He jumped into the track “Explode” and then went to the remix version of “L.A.F. (Lame As Fuck).”  I only got about seven minutes of footage from the Rittz set before they kicked us out of the photo pit, so I think I may have missed his first track.  Either way, he killed it with the few that I did get to see! I’ve been bumpin’ his shit since White Jesus, so it’s fresh to see just how far he has come!

Rittz Bitch!

Rittz Bitch!

We had been on our feet for a few hours including the Miss Juggalette pageant, and then Rittz, so we went over to take a seat for a few minutes in the trailer before Mushroomhead hit the main stage.

Since we missed AMB’s set completely, and the first part of Rittz’s, we weren’t there to witness the first couple of Mike Busey intros!  We DID get there in time for him and his beauties to introduce Mushroomhead though!  There was all kinds of debauchery going on!  Everything from simulated ass eating, grinding on Big L.A., twerking, girl-on-girl action, and other debauchery was all going down right there on the main stage.  Hell, I’m not even sure there was a formal introduction for Mushroomhead, but everything that Busey brought was incredibly entertaining!

Some of the Busey's Beauties in action!

Some of the Busey’s Beauties in action!

One of my only gripes about the main stage this year was the fact that Mushroomhead had to play while it was still light outside.  If you’ve never seen them perform in a dark venue, you are definitely missing out!  At the Shockfest Tour with ICP, they had all kinds of black lights, and their masks were reactive to it. It made for a super dope visual experience.  Mushroomhead still came out and rocked the fuck out of the main stage, complete with their water drums.  The fresh part about their set was that everyone was wireless, so they all changed positions on the stage throughout their set.  At one point, a Shamu blowup pool toy was spotted in the crowd by one of MRH’s vocalists.  He jumped into the audience and failed at his first attempt to get on it and ride it.  He was persistent though, and jumped on that bitch like a wild stallion as ninjas below kept it afloat!  Like I said, I had a hell of a good time watching Mushroomhead perform, and hope to catch them again when they hit Dallas on the next tour with (hed)p.e.!

Mushroomhead!

Mushroomhead!

Next on the scene was another candidate for the Tila treatment.  Not by us, of course, but just from what we heard around the campfire.  It was time for Waka Flocka Flame! I can 100% say that I don’t know a thing about this dude other than the fact that he says he is running for President of the United States.  As SOON as his set started, water bottles and other random trash started flying.  No more than 30 seconds into his set, I got nailed with a fucking egg that I assumed was meant for him.  It hit my hand and got a little bit of its remnants on the camera, but luckily all was good.  He was truly doing his best, and even had one of his crew out there batting down trash directed at Waka.  You could see it in his eyes.  He seemed visibly shook.  I thought to myself: there’s no way he’s making it to the second song.  Then, it was like a light switch went off.  He got on top of a speaker stack, jumped into the crowd, and started one of the BIGGEST mosh pits of the Gathering!  Talk about the audience doing a complete 180 on him!  He had the entire crowd jumping!  He stayed in the middle of the chaos for at least 3 or 4 tracks!  The fact that he jumped in with all of us earned him MASSIVE respect from those in attendance, myself included.  He could have easily walked off of the stage, collected his check, and went home.  Instead, he won us over!  AMAZING!

Waka Flocka in a sea of Juggalos!

Waka Flocka in a sea of Juggalos!

Because security had to watch over him the entire time, they only gave us 6 minutes or so up front.  Soon after that though, PsykoScott went into the crowd to follow him around as he made criss-crossed across the thousands in attendance.  It was truly a sight to see, and I can honestly say that I hope they have him back!

Between Waka’s set and Machine Gun Kelly’s, it got really dark outside.  We all knew it was getting close enough to time to go ahead and throw our signature Faygoluvers Jerseys on!  We snagged those, as they’ve been through the mill and back as far as mosh pits and Faygo Armageddon goes.  That, and they look fuckin’ dope!

Hailing from right down the road in Cleveland, Ohio, it was time for Machine Gun Kelly to take over the main stage! He came out with a vengeance with “Wild Boy!”  Shortly after he started the song, Waka Flocka even came out with him to support him on the track!  I guess he couldn’t get enough of us Juggalos and Juggalettes!

I haven’t seen MGK since he toured with Tech N9ne a few years back.  He was dope back when I saw him, but god DAMN he’s honed his craft!  That ninja is a spastic ball of energy!  He dances, flails his arms everywhere, and never misses a lyric!  Even Amanda couldn’t get very many shots of him because the dude just never sits still!  I’m gonna say it now, that motherfucker is a ROCK STAR!  Not like any of you who have ever seen him perform didn’t already know that, but he will mesmerize you with his performance and leave you wanting more! He broke into the track “Sail” which is fairly slow-paced, but you wouldn’t know it the way he jumped around onstage!

After “Sail”, he spoke to the crowd a little bit, and grabbed a line of beer cans that were duct taped together and then made some dick jokes.  I honestly don’t have a clue what the third track was that he played, but it was fast-paced, high-energy, and exciting to watch just like the other two that we got to stay up there for.  I’ve gotta catch his next local show.  Dude is a BEAST!

Machine Gun Kelly!

Machine Gun Kelly!

OK, before I start to talk about the headlining set of the 2015 Gathering of the Juggalos, I need to give you a quick back story.  This was my wife’s first time at the Gathering since 2011.  I had been lucky enough to participate in the Faygo Armageddon at the end of ICP’s set for the past 3 or 4 years straight.  I’ve done it in Oklahoma City, twice in Detroit, and a number of other times before that.  The shit NEVER gets old!  We had already fulfilled our duties for her to meet J and Shaggy this year, but in years prior, she just wanted to stay down and take pictures of the madness. This year, I had my GoPro ready, and I wanted her to partake in one of most ridiculously awesome experiences of the Gathering!

I reached out to Jumpsteady about getting up there several weeks before the Gathering, just as I had in previous years, and he was definitely down to make it happen.  One other thing he mentioned that hadn’t been talked about at that point was something called “Clownpocalypse”.  He just mentioned the name and said “don’t ask questions, just do it son!”  Who am I to argue?

Back to the present.  We went and dropped off Amanda’s big camera and just grabbed the Fuji waterproof one.  Since she was gonna be up there for Clownpocalypse AND Faygo Armageddon, we didn’t want to chance fucking it up!  I strapped my GoPro to my chest, and it was time to head to the front of the stage!  On our way up, we were stopped at the gate to the side of the main stage and asked to hold on for a few minutes.  Every media person there was eagerly waiting in line!  We bumped into our homies from DesertJuggalos who were all wearing their sick ass Killjoy Club inspired jerseys, and were painted up for the wicked clowns!  We also ran into this 14 year old ninja named Zeke. He had two GoPros on, and was super hype! I had run into Zeke a few times before. He was at Juggalo Day in Detroit this year, and we spoke a little bit prior to the ICP set too.  He actually was there filming for a documentary film for a school project.  I don’t know exactly what the subject of it was going to be, but back in my high school days I did some projects on ICP too, so more power to him!  Zeke is one of those ninjas that make you proud to be a Juggalo. He wasn’t even born yet when I had my first taste of the wicked shit, but you just knew that he really got it.  Much love to you Zeke, and keep us posted on that documentary!

It was time to enter the photo pit!  Most of the media ninjas were Juggalos and Juggalettes themselves, so we were just about jumping out of our shoes with anticipation!  Finally, the curtains opened, and a ringmaster came out to introduce Violent J and Shaggy.  The Marvelous Missing Link (Found) was the backdrop of this year’s set, complete with a 3D sculpture in the back with giant hands.  The Faygo barrels looked to be modeled after tree trunks.  They started up with “Explosions“ from their recent Lost album, and were accompanied by a quick cameo from Young Wicked who sang the chorus.  They then followed up with their classic fan favorite “Chicken Huntin’!” Two songs deep and there was still not a drop of Faygo sprayed yet.  I’m pretty sure they like to take it easy on the media with their expensive equipment in the photo pit, but you should definitely know what to expect from an ICP show before stepping foot there.

Shaggy 2 Dope!

Shaggy 2 Dope!

Being dry didn’t last long!  “The Show Must Go On!” was the next song in their set list, and just as soon as the first chorus hit, several clowns hit the stage, grabbed Faygo, and gave all of us a good soaking!  It was the same throughout the whole song…dry verse, soaking wet chorus complete with clowns!  “Bazooka Joey” was next, and we were all asked to leave the photo pit.  It was such a clusterfuck in the photo pit with the number of ninjas in there that it took us nearly half the song to get outta there!  This time, there was no going back to the trailer.  We were there to enjoy the last main stage performance at the 2015 Gathering of the Juggalos!  PsykoScott took my phone (complete with waterproof case) and Periscope’d a few more songs from the middle of the crowd.  I took some more GoPro footage, and even though we were pretty far back, we were still getting doused with Faygo!  We stayed and took footage of “Halls of Illusions” and “Play With Me”, and then just sat back and enjoyed it.

We were told that to be a part of Clownpocalypse, we needed to come over to the info tent when we heard “Let’s Go All The Way”.  The FLH crew as well as all of the ninjas who bought the All-Star package were lined up WELL before then, so we made our way over there.  Once the song came on, Jumpsteady was there to guide us backstage.  Keep in mind that nobody had told us what Clownpocalypse was all about yet, so we still had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

When we made it to the backstage area, there were racks of costumes and boxes of masks set aside.  They apparently were for us!  We were told to grab a mask and a costume, put them on, and get ready to go on the stage, dance around, and throw streamers everywhere into the crowd!   I just grabbed a handful of costumes and masks and brought it over to where me, PsykoScott, Jules, and Amanda were.  I think I was getting into a size XXS outfit while Amanda had a size 3XL.  Though I’m not a fat kid (only at heart), I couldn’t peel into the one I was in without having the male equivalent of camel toe.  After everyone was in their costumes, we got ready to head up the stairs to the main stage!

Ready for Clownpocalypse!

Ready for Clownpocalypse!

They had a staircase that was about the width of 2 people side-by-side, and it took a little bit to finally hit the stage.  When we did though, there was a box of streamers as promised, so we grabbed them and started to get buck wild!  What would be the soundtrack to these antics?  The Michael Jackson version of “Down with the Clown”, of course!  We all got to stay up there for the full song….dancing, screaming, and throwing everything but Faygo!  We got to stay up there for about 3 minutes, and then were asked to leave the stage until it was time for Faygo Armageddon.  Here’s the footage I caught on the GoPro:

Clownpocalypse (GoPro Footage):

[youtube]https://youtu.be/xbVOgXOJvCY[/youtube]

We got back to the backstage area, stripped off all of our clown outfits, and were all now ready for the granddaddy of them all: the Faygo Armageddon!  What song would close out the Gathering this year?  And how much Faygo would there be?  We were about to find out!

“If I Was A Serial Killer” belted over the speakers, and about a halfway through the song, they let us loose onto the main stage! It was a who’s who of Juggalos up there!  I saw JPK, the Wolfpac girls, ICP (of course), Rachel Paul, Mushroomhead, a bunch of the JCW wrestlers, our homie Esham John, Hazin and his girl, Menace, and a TON of others! I swear we were up there for over 15 minutes! Pallets of Faygo kept being wheeled out! The shit was nonstop!  Amanda and I had a mini Faygo fight on stage, and we got Rachel Paul as she had her back turned with a sneak attack!  She later came back and tried to ninja kick me, but I’ve got those defense skills on lock!

An incredibly blurry pic of me during Faygo Armageddon!

An incredibly blurry pic of me during Faygo Armageddon!

Jumpsteady was onstage admiring his handiwork, and the last thing I did while I was onstage was went up to him and give him props for making this Gathering so memorable!  By the way, I’ve gotta give myself a little bit of props because I think I finally have my Faygo launching game on point!  They were fuckin’ FLYING!  You can see the anarchy here:

Faygo Armageddon (GoPro Footage):

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ROqxD3rsSHQ[/youtube]

The FLH crew all followed each other off of the stage and looked back at the main stage to catch one last glimpse of it all lit up.  We luckily had the thought to get an after shot of us all soaking wet:

The FLH Crew after Faygo Armageddon!

The FLH Crew after Faygo Armageddon!

So don’t hate, but we had at LEAST a 15 hour drive to PsykoScott’s house, and then another 3-1/2 to mine to start in the morning.  We figured we’d roam for a bit and say our goodbyes, but there was NO chance of us staying out for Bloodymania or the Deadly Medley.  Maybe when I strike it rich, I can take an extra day or two off, but that’s not happening for a while. Lol.

We went back to the trailer to completely strip and get into some dry clothes.  Remember how I told you that we were saving our water reserves for after ICP’s set?  Well, guess what time it was?  We each took nice HOT showers in the trailer and got all cleaned up.  It was surreal once again that the Gathering was just about over, but we wanted to make the most of our last night there. After getting cleaned up, Amanda and I decided to walk around for a bit.  Remember, we STILL had one more mission to accomplish before we left the Gathering!  We started to walk towards the carousel stage in search of the elusive Burrito Man!  Luckily, after navigating our way through the trails of Legend Valley, we came across a fully lit-up trailer for him!  It was time to get our $5.00 burrito on!  This was our first time ordering from him, so I didn’t know that there was pretty much just one way to get them!  We ordered two, gave him his $10.00, and scarfed it down!  It was the ONLY vendor food that we bought over the entire weekend, and it was WELL worth the wait! Much love to the Burrito Man!

Finally got a Burrito Man burrito!

Finally got a Burrito Man burrito!

By the time I got there, Judah Friedlander had already performed, as well as his opener (and our homie) Kegan Ault.  Kegan was still there shutting the tent down, so I talked to him for a bit, and he agreed that it was probably the worst scheduled spot of the whole weekend.  Still, he said the shit was funny as hell and was a good set considering.

I headed back to the trailer in hopes of calling it a night and being refreshed for the morning drive.

You can view ALL of our Saturday Gathering Highlights below:

Saturday Gathering Highlights:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/rFl911-gy2s[/youtube]

SUNDAY, JULY 26TH

When we woke up, we had to let the jacks and awning down, and unfortunately, Brice’s tent was empty and we had to get the fuck outta there!   Amanda and I packed up his tent, and when we tried to call Brice, his phone was off.  Amanda decided to take a stroll across the grounds to see if she could locate him.  I swear, not 5 minutes later, she and Brice came walking back to our spot. Brice had been up all night and was chillin’ at the Native World merch tent when Amanda found him.  One of the last funny notes that went down this year happened as we were trying to make our way out of our camping spot.  We had an 18 foot truck with a 19 foot trailer on the back of it, so it’s not like you could turn on a dime.  We were also in the middle of the Ballas spots, and not everyone had packed up and left yet.  So it was going to take some crafty maneuvering to get the hell out of there and onto the main stretch of road.  We were pretty sure we had a clear path…all except for this one lonely tent that happened to have someone inside of it.  Brice actually knew the girl inside.  She had a cot inside of the tent that she was laying on, but she was passed the fuck out!  We all tried to wake her up, nudging her, shaking her, etc.  At one point, Brice even got into the tent to try to get her to move so we could get out of there.  She was somewhat responsive, but she couldn’t give two fucks about what we were saying.  So we did what we had to do.  We unstaked her tent, and started to drag her about 10 feet so that we could get by.  She and the cot were doing their best not to budge, so we gave the tent a good yank, and the cot tipped over, flipping her into the side of the tent. All you could hear was an exasperated “Fuuuuuuck” from the inside. Not a pissed off scream, but just a “Fuck” of defeat. We were able to get by shortly after that, and I apologize to the ‘lette who had the rude awakening.

As we rolled out, we caught a few ninjas on the way out including the homie Steven Eli who submits a ton of news to us.   We had no issues getting out of the grounds, and were quickly on the road.  We found the nearest KOA, dumped out the crap tanks in the trailer, and hit the freeway.  We still had no air conditioner in the truck if you remember like two hours ago when you read that.  After about an hour of rolling with no AC, we decided to pull into the nearest auto parts store and see if it was a simple fix.  I went into an O’Reilly, bought a $15.00 fuse, and plugged it in.  Unfortunately, that made no difference.  Brice was with us and took a quick look and was like “the belt fell off.”  We were all like “Nah, there’s no way”.  As soon as we got under the truck, we immediately saw that he was right.  We went into the O’Reilly, borrowed some tools, and put the existing belt back on the pulley.  We started getting some cold air, and we were back on the road! That was about a 45 minute pit stop.

Less than 30 minutes later, we started getting hot air blown back into our face.  The old belt must have been too stretched out to stay on, so we found the next auto parts store to stop at.  This time, we did it up right. We bought the $6.00 belt, took the main serpentine belt off, put the new AC belt on, and the existing serpentine belt back on. NOW we were good to go!  Other than that, we had several stops along the way including a stop in St. Louis at the arch for PsykoScott to juggle.  We ended up at PsykoScott’s house super early Monday morning, and had to get like 3 hours sleep so we could drop the trailer off in Fort Smith that morning.  After that, we said our goodbyes to PsykoScott, and were off to Dallas. I’ll spare you the details of swapping trucks and picking our son up, and just wrap this bitch up!

THE WRAP-UP

It seems like every year, the review gets substantially longer!  I apologize to your eyeballs, but appreciate any of you who actually read it from start to finish!  I also have some other shout-outs to send out before completely wrapping this up:

Shout Outs:

Jumpsteady – Homie, I hope you have some kind of idea how happy this annual event makes everybody! It was ALWAYS great, but there’s something special about when you are steering the ship.  Thank you for all of the opportunities!

J-Webb – Thank you for keeping us in the loop on everything year-round and never hesitating to reach out to us.  You’re the shit homie!

Will Sigler – I know you weren’t feeling well over the week, and seemed a little down and out.  But just know that there are thousands of Juggalos out here who really appreciate you and the work you put in all in the name of the family!

Amanda (aka my wifey) – you schooled it on your triumphant return to the Gathering!  Thank you for snapping pictures, taking videos, helping me Periscope, and just keeping up with our 90-nothing schedule the whole time.  I love you!

Kuma and Ryan – The Psychopathic video department. They were seen EVERYWHERE at the Gathering, hopefully capturing that epic footage for an even more epic DVD!

George, Mike, and whole MNE crew – George is that dude! He always goes out of his way to show us love, and we hope that you feel the same way about us!  Mike, you suck, but I love ya bro!  Everyone else, I saw how hard you schooled it over the weekend. You’re the shit!

PsykoScott – over the past few years, you have REALLY helped with our Gathering coverage.  You’re my road dog, and I can’t wait til the next one!  Much love homie!

Xanarki and Jules – Thanks for taking on impromptu Periscope and filming duties! You have no idea how grateful I am to you guys for all of your contributions, past and present!

Rachel Paul – Like you said, you WON the Gathering! The art contest, the Psypher, another successful Miss Juggalette pageant…you rocked it! Thank you for the painting (LOOOTTTUUSSSS!!), and we are extremely happy to have you as a part of our team!

FLH Forum Ninjas – it was good kicking it with you for a little bit this year! I always say I hope that it’s more next year, but let’s be real…you’ve seen me in action. Lol.

Brice – It was great hanging with you on the weekend, and on the ride home.  You’ve got the food thing on lock! See you at the next Dallas show!

Chad “Shifty” Novak (aka PunkRockJuggalo) – I would have been stuck in a trailer doing news updates the whole time if it wasn’t for you. Thank you for manning the site while I was away and keeping those at home up to speed!  Your ass better be there next year!

KG – homie, I know you went through some hardships shortly after the Gathering, but you fuckin’ ROCKED IT while you were there!  It was great seeing you again, and I can’t wait for the next time we get to kick it!  (Wrestlemania in Dallas?!)

Twiztid and Boondox – You went out of your way to show love to a fallen Juggalo.  Thank you for helping give closure to the family and friends of Davis Jay Thomas.

AMB, Hoodoo, ICP, Twiztid, Blaze, Boondox, ABK – All of those Gathering vets who continue to school it every year!  From seminars to your performances, thank you for doing what you do!

Photopit ninjas – Hazin and Nik already got their props in the review earlier, but much love to you guys!  Shaltz, Jordan, Igor, Vicki, the Foot, Menace, Zeke, the homies from DesertJuggalos and JuggaloNews, NEHip-Hop.com and whoever else I’m forgetting! It was a pleasure squeezing in between speaker stacks with you!

Steve Miller – It was great seeing you again, and I can’t wait to read this book that you’re working on!  I’m sure it’ll be nothing short of amazing!

Upchuck – You have a thankless job, and I even started a “You Fucked Up” chant directed at you this year.  You just roll with the punches with a smile on your face!

All the rest I can think of ATM:

  • Rittz and DJ Chris Crisis
  • Waka for stealing the show!
  • All the Scrubs crew!
  • Event security
  • All Miss Juggalette contestants for having the courage to enter!
  • Bluntman, Blunt Mama, Holly Menace, JPK and crew
  • Moonshine
  • TJF, Juggalo News, Desert Juggalos, NEHip-Hop, and any other sites still reppin’ the underground!
  • Blake Merchard (aka notslim1)
  • Trish for the Faygomen cutouts!

Much love to you all, and I’m OUT!

PS: Our little minion says “Whoop Whoop!” to you all!

Piercey D getting his clown on!

Piercey D getting his clown on!

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    Faygoluvers Comments

  1. scruffy

    scruffy

    Comment posted on Saturday, August 15th, 2015 02:29 am GMT -5 at 2:29 am

    thanks, scottie, for another good fuckin read.

  2. PunkRockJuggalo

    Comment posted on Saturday, August 15th, 2015 09:07 am GMT -5 at 9:07 am

    Great Job

  3. Xanarki

    Xanarki

    Comment posted on Saturday, August 15th, 2015 10:10 pm GMT -5 at 10:10 pm

    Awesome as usual!

  4. Radam

    Radam

    Comment posted on Sunday, August 16th, 2015 07:28 am GMT -5 at 7:28 am

    Scottie’s Gathering review is always the best, especially for us ninjas like me who can’t always go. Cheers again man for taking the time to write it up for us all. MCL

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