Samois Festival Guide

DjangoBooks · June 2015

Samois Festival Guide

By Denis Chang Every year, without fail, I get emails from people all around the world telling me that they’re going to Samois for the first time. So they ask me for help/advice. So here’s an article that will save me lots of time! Before I start, since information and sites may change over...

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MichaelHorowitz · June 2015

Samois is just around the corner! Thanks to Denis for this informative guide...

Lango-Django · June 2015

Thank you for this, Denis.

This may embarrass a smartass young fella like yourself, but please allow me to say that your generosity of spirit, deep knowledge and love of the music is much appreciated to all of us regulars at Djangobooks.com.

So on behalf of the regulars, it would be my pleasure to buy you a drink while at Samois if I see you there.

Will Wilson
Niagara On The Lake, ON

PS And thanks once again for your previous tip about renting a car at CDG airport to drive to Samois, which did turn out to be more economical and easier.

Micheal Irwin · June 2015

Very helpful, Thanks Denis!

James523001 · June 2015

Or, you can hike back from Samois to Fontainebleau through the Fontainebleau woods in the dead of night, as I did one summer in the early 90's, when the festival was still small and gypsies still came to it, and there weren't as many cars going back and forth, and the whole scene was much folksier, friendly. Now, it looks like what happened at Winfield, Kansas (with its "land rush" and "best campsite contest"), is about to happen there. Ah, you have to love the tourists and gawkers. -James

bbwood_98 · June 2015

Denis- great stuff. Thanks. I highly recommend camping at samoreau, if you want to hang out and meet a lot of great musicians. You won't sleep much, but you can play with the greats quite a bit, and it's a very nice campsite as such things go, but a bit crowded. Two other major important tips for that camping- the patisserie is one of the best in France (no, really) and just up from the camping (away from the river), and past the tabac. Also- the tabac serves coffee, for those that don't bring a way to make their own.
Finally, this is less important now, but when I first started going (like Denis, in the early 00's) I always brought a bunch of American cigarettes to trade for things like coffee or a meal, or to throw down if I really liked a jam as an appreciation.
to all of you who are going- I'm envious as I cannot attend this time. Someone please take a lot of film for me!
Cheers,
B.

kevingcox · June 2015

@Lango-Django I don't think you'll have much luck buying Denis a drink, he's a teetotaller.

Still, it is always worth noting and appreciating just how much he has done being a bridge between the European GJ community and other such communities around the world.

Mitch · June 2015

Well you if get lost with all the details given by Denis in this article, you seriously have a problem!!!
Please people; don't be scared too much by the transport, connections etc... You'll find your way but as the Denis said, plan your move during the festival. No shuttle past a (relatively early) time. Walking to Samoreau from the festival or vice-versa is a big walk, not the kind you like at 5am when you're exhausted, drunk and cold. But the reward during the hot days (it can rain like hell also during the festival, like last years) is that mesmerizing fog covering the Seine in the early hours of the morning... and the filthy porta potties ah ah ah.. They're much better since a few years because they use organic stuff (shredded wood etc...) in wooden/new age toilets, way much better than the plastic ones that were definitely filthy from 3 or 4 hours after the opening.