By Michael Hamad

3:05 p.m. EDT, July 20, 2012
Arrival at the media tent was a soggy trudge, but all is alive and well at the Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport.It's pouring rain, but nobody seems to give a shit. 7 Walkers, Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann's new band, took the stage about 10 minutes ago, and they didn't waste much time away from GD material. They noodled their way around to "Mr. Charlie," an old Pigpen-sung tune, and now they're having fun with it. Everyone around is draped in some sort of colored vinyl or plastic, grooving away happily. I haven't really made my way out to the crowd yet, but I'm digging what I hear from the media tent. More from me later. There's a pretty strict policy about sharing photos other than for promotional or personal "archive" use, so I'll mostly leave that to other folks.