Another attempt at the Communal Experience
Intermittently for about 6 months
Ramona, CA - (Sept 2001-Feb 2002)
Pictures by Vicente Contreras
An enchanting setting allows the Circo gang to extend their first collective experience in Lake Arrowhead and stretch it for almost 6 months. A private home in the mountains of Ramona, near San Diego California, allows groups of arriving and departing souls, to constantly crowd the house and ignite the celebrations. A ‘recreational cave’ is not a bad metaphor –in the comfortable house there was just one room saved for indulgences, called Salon Marroqui –Moroccan Hall-. In another area of the house, instruments were perennially plugged in. Each room had enviable views and the days went by lazy, amid the smells of coffee, toast, mate and tea. Just outside the house and down the hill, amazing hiking trails and a small creek. Some ecstasy sessions were started at the house and magically, most ended down here. Something about the rocks and the water under the canopies of trees… this was perhaps, Circo’s most innocent time as a collective still trying to define what brought and kept them together. Here also, a group of canadian friends introduced by Carmen Mackinley, begin to come in: Marc Tuters, Lesly Farley and Mitch Akiyama, an amazing minimalist electronic musician.