Unexpected DIY Community: Phish (and other hippy) Concerts

Many moons ago, before I knew that DIY existed as a community, I found a "craft fair" of sorts at Phish concerts.

Now, honestly, I'm not a fan of Phish. I find their music somewhat annoying outside of concerts unless I'm dressed in hippy clothes and in college and too stoned or drunk to really notice the music in the background. They also work for camping. But, I digress...

Husband is a huge fan and, as a result, I've been to several shows. And my favorite part is Shakedown Street. The name came from a Grateful Dead song, although I'm not totally sure how it came to be what it is today. You can find some version of "Shakedown Streets" at just about any hippy show you can think of: Oysterhead, The Dead, Phish, Widespread Panic, Moe, String Cheese Incident, and probably lots more. Basically, it's just a big fat DIY fair. People are selling all manner of handmade goods: original screen-printed T-shirts; handpainted T-shirts; blown glass beads, pipes, and *cough* water pipes; jewelry--both the hemp hippy kind and the normal (and often gorgeous!) kind; handmade clothes; and more.

Of course, there's also DIY brownies, carmels, and other baked goods with "secret" ingredients and some other delicious food free of secrets. But best of all, it's always CHEAP! Because the hippies want to stick it to the man. They just need to make enough money to get to the next show, Man!

So, I'm going to the show tonight in Mountain View. I'll scope it out for you and let you know if I get anything good while I'm there. :-)

PC: Brian J. Craig on Flickr