Comments on: Bohemian Grove pilgrimage starts http://freepressinternational.com/2008/10/bohemian-grove-pilgrimage-starts/ Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:10:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Norcaliriverboy http://freepressinternational.com/2008/10/bohemian-grove-pilgrimage-starts/comment-page-1/#comment-966 Norcaliriverboy Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:06:48 +0000 http://www.freepressinternational.com/2008/10/bohemian-grove-pilgrimage-starts/#comment-966 You know most of the employees of the Bohemian Grove are locals to the Russian River area. Im very fortunate to have been born in Sonoma County and made it my home. If you are not familiar with the area, its a bunch of small deverse rural communities in the heart of wine country. So the Bohemian Grove is basically right in my back yard. My father (now retired) was one of the longest employees. I forget the number, but it was something impressive between 30-40 years. He started as a young boy as a Valet for a few of the camps. So when the opportunity arose for me to work at BoHo, I jumped on it, if for nothing else but the experience. Although come winter time, being an employee of the Bohemian Grove meant you were working in the freezing, dark, damp Redwoods, usually doing some miserable jobs. Youre either painting, splitting firewood, Antiqueing, or just humping lumber up the side of a hill to get get to some of these remote camps. Believe me, it wasnt fun. You would think being what the Grove is that the pay would have made it all worth while, but i think I was making something like $9.50hr. But, I held in there, because come summer time I got to be right in the middle of all this mystery and mingle with more powerful and influentieal people than 90% of the population. Who else can say that they got to paint President Bush's bathroom, built a bar for L.L.Bean, Drank a beer with Steve Miller, received a cigar from the founder of Microsoft and the experiences go on. As far as all the Peagan and cult rituals which many think are going on thoughout the encampment.....well, I didn't see anything like that besides the main ceremony, which from my understanding is suppose to represent letting go of all your concernes of life outside the grove and to rejoise in the serenity of the grove...bls bls bla. That was it! There is no doubt in my mind that somewhere in one of these camps someone was making some kind of deal. But let me assure you that the majority of the members were there to get waisted on enjoy some of the most talented musicians. A surprisingly large amount of the Grove members are musicians. Go figure, since musicians are usually thought to be the more tainted and in no way on the same social level as some of these world leaders and financial powerhouses. I tell ya what, they got so drunk that they would be staggering from camp to camp. The grove employees had it pretty good during the events. We would usually be driving golfcarts around to deliver baggage or deliver something or another. Most of the camp Valets were very generous to us, offering us cocktails or part of their meal. I dont think Ive ever eaten so well. It was quite the experience. But my fingers are cramping up, I could ramble on all night. Perhaps I'll continue with my experience some time. Basically, I wanted to say for someone who was there for a few years right in the middle of it all, what I saw for the most part were the most powerful people getting together and enjoying one of the dozens of concerts held each day, drinking, eating and acting like school boys. More often than not traveling from camp to camp I would have to stop my golfcart in the middle of the road while one of the drunken camp members urinated in the middle of the road. Being a grove employee we had to have the upmost respect and just let them do whatever they wanted. T You know most of the employees of the Bohemian Grove are locals to the Russian River area. Im very fortunate to have been born in Sonoma County and made it my home. If you are not familiar with the area, its a bunch of small deverse rural communities in the heart of wine country. So the Bohemian Grove is basically right in my back yard. My father (now retired) was one of the longest employees. I forget the number, but it was something impressive between 30-40 years. He started as a young boy as a Valet for a few of the camps. So when the opportunity arose for me to work at BoHo, I jumped on it, if for nothing else but the experience. Although come winter time, being an employee of the Bohemian Grove meant you were working in the freezing, dark, damp Redwoods, usually doing some miserable jobs. Youre either painting, splitting firewood, Antiqueing, or just humping lumber up the side of a hill to get get to some of these remote camps. Believe me, it wasnt fun. You would think being what the Grove is that the pay would have made it all worth while, but i think I was making something like $9.50hr. But, I held in there, because come summer time I got to be right in the middle of all this mystery and mingle with more powerful and influentieal people than 90% of the population. Who else can say that they got to paint President Bush’s bathroom, built a bar for L.L.Bean, Drank a beer with Steve Miller, received a cigar from the founder of Microsoft and the experiences go on. As far as all the Peagan and cult rituals which many think are going on thoughout the encampment…..well, I didn’t see anything like that besides the main ceremony, which from my understanding is suppose to represent letting go of all your concernes of life outside the grove and to rejoise in the serenity of the grove…bls bls bla. That was it! There is no doubt in my mind that somewhere in one of these camps someone was making some kind of deal. But let me assure you that the majority of the members were there to get waisted on enjoy some of the most talented musicians. A surprisingly large amount of the Grove members are musicians. Go figure, since musicians are usually thought to be the more tainted and in no way on the same social level as some of these world leaders and financial powerhouses. I tell ya what, they got so drunk that they would be staggering from camp to camp. The grove employees had it pretty good during the events. We would usually be driving golfcarts around to deliver baggage or deliver something or another. Most of the camp Valets were very generous to us, offering us cocktails or part of their meal. I dont think Ive ever eaten so well. It was quite the experience.

But my fingers are cramping up, I could ramble on all night. Perhaps I’ll continue with my experience some time. Basically, I wanted to say for someone who was there for a few years right in the middle of it all, what I saw for the most part were the most powerful people getting together and enjoying one of the dozens of concerts held each day, drinking, eating and acting like school boys. More often than not traveling from camp to camp I would have to stop my golfcart in the middle of the road while one of the drunken camp members urinated in the middle of the road. Being a grove employee we had to have the upmost respect and just let them do whatever they wanted. T

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