[rjcjanMom]

Yep, Virgil B! That is so cool! Actually, I was trying to google Jennifer to find her when I decided to do the search on the Rooney Fest. I lost touch with her in '88 and I really would love to see what she's up to. She was the sweetest, nicest person. If there is any chance you can point me in her direction, I certainly would appreciate if. We were roommates up at New Paltz.
Thanks,
Catrina
.

[JDINNC]

Originally Posted by Byteman

Hi, Good to hear from you, Catrina! The Silver Bullet is still there.
I think you were friends with a family who owned a big farm just up the road from where you turn in to go up Rooney Hill. Her Dad's name may be Virgil B.? Know them well, if that's the same...

And you too, JDINNC!

JD:> I probably know you!
I will get some of the pics and send them on to you, but, should tell you, not advisable to post a real email address like that in fourms, spambots will pick it up...unless, it's just an extra addy you don't care about or have filtered so spam goes the way of all good spam>>
so I will not edit out your email addy for you, (you can if you like) I have saved it, and as soon as I am able will pass some pics your way, is there anything in particular, like the bands, stage, you'd prefer? Have some nice shots from the hill looking down the valley, and most everything else.


Rooney till yer puny!

The yahoo addy is just that,the one I only use for situations like this,it can get all the spam it wants,for all I care.
I only check it once a month or so,to find the good stuff,and dump the spam.

Looking for any and all pics,people mostly,from our campsite area.
If you know me you might recognize my name in my e-mail addy,and screen name.
My campsite did the "Mad Cow" banner one year,and featured an Elvis bust in multiple years.
I also knew Dave and Liz,very well,but never really got to know Dave`s wife (whos name escapes me now) very well.
I currently live in North Carolina.

Thanks for the responce,and I look forward to the pics!!

[Hawng]

Holy crap!!!! I cant belive ya`ll are talking about the Rooney fest.......went to that 5 years in a row . We used to camp out on the hill in front of the stage. Big time fun there.

When did they stop having the fest?

[angelize56]

Hawng: Weird how you've been here since 2004 and the thread was started in 2003! Still celebrating the Rooney Fest are ya!

[Byteman]

Hi Hawng- Last Rooney was about 5 years ago ---We didn't start counting from Rooney 1, and there were about 23 numbered Fests...the 21st was in 1997. There were some after 97.

Links: There is some bad language in the songs, and commentary....
You can download (Or Stream Live) some Horse Flies tunes here:

http://www.archive.org/details/horse...989-08-06.shnf Horeseflies<< "Human Fly" etc.

Collection

http://www.archive.org/audio/etree-d...b.php?id=15938 <<More Horse Flies
One of the Horseflies' website> http://www.richiestearns.com/bio.cfm

(You may remember the tune "I Need a Plastic Bag to Keep My Brains In" ?

Play some Heartbeats tunes and other bluegrass old time:

http://www.funkyside.com/funkysidelive.cfm <this is good!

[Byteman]

Originally Posted by rjcjanMom

Yep, Virgil B! That is so cool! Actually, I was trying to google Jennifer to find her when I decided to do the search on the Rooney Fest. I lost touch with her in '88 and I really would love to see what she's up to. She was the sweetest, nicest person. If there is any chance you can point me in her direction, I certainly would appreciate if. We were roommates up at New Paltz.
Thanks,
Catrina
.

I will Private Message you the phone number for Virgil B's - I think Jen got married and moved away, so I can't give you any phone or address right now. If I do get it, I will also email or PM you. Great to hear from all of you Rooney-ers!

I am trying to get together some pictures to post soon.

[valley]

Interesting thread. I've never heard of Rooney Fest but have a couple of aging hippies in my family. My sis-in-law was at Woodstock. I bet she has heard of Roony Fest. I'll have to ask her!

Have to admit...I thought the thread was about a Mickey Rooney marathon on tv or something. sorry bout that.

[Byteman]

Hi valley, This Rooney Fest started just year or so after Woodstock.

Ask sis if she has ever heard of Deposit, NY, that's where Rooney Fests were held. We are 30 miles East of Binghamton.

[valley]

I will.

[esawicki]

Rooney til ya lose your car keys...

I have camped all over that mountain, I cannot remember that last year, but I slept in my car parked at the top of the hill just outside the entrance to Elm Street
I have camped in the field, on the slanted hill (where I felt like I was walking at an angle for a few days later, in the middle of the big hill and over by the pond.
We used to go there Thursday night and leave Sunday late...

One Rooney, I tried to use my car keys to make a hole in a Beer Ball box and bent the ignition key off - Woops... Sunday I pushed the small part into the ignition and used the other part to turn the car on, then I pulled it out... Never needed a key for that car ever again...

I still remember the posters had a picture of a floating hillside with musical notes eminating - and when you were driving you could see the glow of the mountain fun from the highway...

We used to go to Dabe B.'s Birthday Bash - Right around this time of year, I my memory is correct....

[cajun607]

Amazing,..Rooney still lives, we would camp by the pond in a homemade camper dubbed "The camper from hell"..used to get there on Thurs night and ..well.... Rooney till yer dog dont; know ya! Been to a lot of festivals nuthin quite like that

[luckydawgz]

I can't tell you how happy I was to stumble across this Rooney Fest (RooneyFest) thread.

Yes, we all regret the demise of the fest, but I am happy to report that Rooney Mountain is more beautiful than ever, and small musical gatherings there are still happening there... and there are even quite a few "Home Improvements" such as a pavilion, with electric, and a land line phone... most recently a paddle boat for the pond S.S.Rooneyfest (see photo links below)

The owner & former promoter of RooneyFest, Dave Baskerville would like to put together a RooneyFest Museum as the festival brought many notable musicians and bands to Deposit & the mountain. Peter Rowan, Vassar Clements
Leftover Salmon, just to name a few.
Despite that we all find it interesting that there is absolutely no mention of the festival at the Deposit Historical Society's Museum.
So... if you are ever in the area, please stop in there and ask WHY NOT?

The Luckydawgz, (formerly the Purple People) a group of original Rooney-ers, have been holding Pickin' Picnics up on Rooney Mtn for the past few years.
We have now joined forces with many of the local folks who have been friends with Dave since way back to the first RooneyFests.

We just recently had a pig roast with 2 bands back on June 23rd 2007, that drew over 300 folks, many of which had not been up on the mountain since the last official fest.

At any rate, "This ain't no Picnic" no longer holds true... this is now a Picnic and a safe place for all of us aging but still raging folks to go, and have a good time.


If there are any of you good and kind folks from this forum who would like to attend one of our decidedly UN-Rooneylike events up on the mountain please contact me for details. There is another Pickin' Picnic is coming up this September.

Jim


PS:
Please see the attached photo slideshow links to the most recent Rooney Mtn Events:

Rooney Mtn Pig Roast 6/23/07 http://entertainment.webshots.com/sl...60097735hJNJog

Howling at the Harvest Moon, Pickin' Picnic 9/06
http://entertainment.webshots.com/slideshow/554546804SmRBJl

Strawberry JAM 6/06 http://entertainment.webshots.com/sl...52025550CNctsh

Luckydawgz @Rooney http://entertainment.webshots.com/sl...50904470brfuIT

[61 pan]

Yea, I loved the rooney fest. I think the oldest T shirt I have is the 89 shirt that luckydawgs posted. Nice pictures of the early fest times before it got too crowded and too insane. the first year I went it rained so hard almost nobody made it up the mountain, My 61 pan didn't and I ended up camping next to a guy from Louisiana that had a canoe mounted on the chasis of a side car on his harley. Yea his side car was a canoe! the next years I camped with the guys at attica hotel. We were young then - I guess as I got older, things got too insane for me and my wife. I remember when one bunch of guys who were so rude to the women that when they left in an old station wagon on sunday afternoon, people threw rocks at their car. I think the 87 - 90 years were the best. good people, good music, and good times. Rooney till your dog don't know you.

[stonewall554]

not sure if anyones looking at this thread anymore but I got pretty excited about seeing other people from Rooney posting I figured I give it a shot. I hit the last 7 on the hill. The first 5 were some of the best times I have ever had! the last two were a little too out of control and there were alot of people coming that didnt care about bluegrass music, they just wanted to party and do drugs, it was a real shame that it got that way and it had to end...but it was still a great time. I was with "Jive Turkey Junction" campsite, we were at the split in the road right before you got to the top. we had a real nice campsite with a lot of great friends, (and great people who just wondered over). I'll never forget Hypnotic Clambake jaming "old joe clark" man that was awesome. Sippin some shine with the Red Hots and slingin some mub on the dance floor...great stuff. And i'll never forget the "this aint no picnic" sign. I was lucky enough to get a copy of the book, some t-shirts and some great bluegrass music cds. (i'm still listening to the red hots CD I bought in 1994 (I think it was 94))......I could go on and on about the great times I had on that mountain!

[stonewall554]

man I guess I didnt see the newer posts.......its awesome that people are still getting together on the mountain! Like the rest of you I was getting tired of how crazy it was getting. Like I said, the last two years were out of control. I guess because our campsite was right at the road split we had a lot of people hanging out there that werent really apart of the site and who were just getting too out of control. The last two years it seems like we were constantly trying to get people away from our site because we just didnt want that kind of sceene. We wanted to be with good friends, listen to good music and meet good people. Rooney crazy was ok.....but some jerk off from jersey standing next to our camp site yelling "crack" at people and crabing females was not ok. I remeber he was about to get in a world of trouble, lucky for him the security guys came up and told him to knock it off. It was at that point that I had a feeling Rooney was close to being done...sure enough the next year it wasnt held.

...but Hell I still miss the (good) people and the music.

ROONEY!!!!!!!!!