I should mention that my drum works well in large circles because it is a steel shell dumbec... this means the sound will carry well over the sound of wood-skin drums... anyway, I start to hit it up, and i soon realized that that kick-ass mitsubishi had transformed me into a drum god of considerable power (no joke). After about two hours had gone by, I was now standing hunched over my drum in the center circle of four or so people. It was crazy, when i would stop drumming the whole circle would lose it and start to mesh into a chaotic mess, but it would get it together when i came in again, not to mention the fact that the crowd went bat-shit every time i did that. 

Before I digress any further, let me get back to the "odd phan" I know you are all dying to hear about. I don't know how many hours i was in that circle for, but i do know that my hands looked like 16oz's of uncooked meat the next day... anyway, all of a sudden a security dude in a yellow jacket jumps into the center of the circle (right in front of me) and starts waving his flashlight all around and up into the trees. I look up to see this dude like directly over my head about 25 feet in the tree, lookin' all phucked up. 

So I stop drumming and take a few steps back, and soon all the drums stop. I think this was not too good for this dude in the tree as I think he was feeding off the drums, and he was seeing all of it from his unseen spot. Being over a 40+ people drum circle in the forest at night must be pretty cool, but I don't think this guy was ready for no drums and hundreds of people staring at him. Maybe one or two full mins went by before this guy fell right where I was just sitting. 

Then, screaming, he gets up and tries to run away with a now obviously broken leg, and he proceeds to fall down again. That was it for me...I took off running. I didn't go near that forest until late the next night where I found them playing the same beat as the night before. I carried the drum over my head, made my way to the center of the circle, and I hit it up drum god style. The crowd went bat-shit. It was like they were waiting for it. Even though that dude fell out of the sky that night, it was hands down, the best night of my life.

- Matty P

Editor's Note: That's pretty evil, man... I doubt a broken leg would make my festival a fun one.  Some weird shit went down in that forest at Big Cypress.