With more and more festivals crowding the cultural calendar, it’s hard to survive, let alone stand out. But a number of DIY events are still managing to thrive.
Matthew Smith has spent three decades documenting street culture at its rawest, from rural raves to political protests, in the face of police pressure.
Wearing googles—and at times little else— the short-story and non-fiction writer experiences the annual California desert counterculture festival by making a road trip out of it for his father and couple of elderly pals in this selection from The Best American Essays 2014.
