Metal, Mud and Tears

I considered crying at Rockfest. Three hours into the music festival I was already soaked to the bone and desperately hungry. I knew I couldn't leave for another nine hours. With all the brawling, slipping and sliding going on I was sure a situation like this or this would shatter my trick knee. I took this picture of a brawl and shot this video before my camera broke. Happy birthday to me. The news that Rockfest would be allowed to return to Penn Valley Park in 2011 reminded me of my early afternoon misery. But a funny thing happened that day. The quality of the music gradually improved. And more significantly, the mud-soaked freak show grew so surreal that I became completed captivated by the calamity.