In Sacramento, Playa today!

Labels: festival, flickr

So we have been super busy getting ready for Burning Man, still trying to sort a ride to Seattle, but from Seattle we have a ride all the way!!

If I haven't replied to your emails, I'm sorry, when I'm back on the UK I'll have a lot of free time . . .

Check ya in 2 weeks

Labels: flickr, vancouver

So a lot has happened since the Zombie walk on Saturday, Sunday brought more great weather and the Latin festival at trout lake at commercial and 14th. I picked up some new clothes (shock) for cheap and had a swim in the lake with Primer before catching up with Devin to go to Heba and Gemma's for a wine and a curry.
Yoshi gave me a call as we were leaving and convinced me to head downtown for a drink which turned into an amazing night or partying and 4 people riding 2 bikes at top speed around the city at 4 in the morning before catching the sunrise at English bay.

I awoke hours later in someone's chair at a flat in the west end and biked home for some real sleep. Monday was a little bit of a write off after that, ended up catching a movie with Amy (Mean Creek). Tuesday I spent playing with logos for Solar Sonic, called my Gran and recharged.

Wednesday was wreck beach day followed by a family dinner at Larch, watermelon gazpacho, pine nut and feta salad with sun-dried tomato dressing and sweet corn risotto. Francis also arrived back on Wednesday, the boys are back in town.

Thursday began filled with promise, Francis and I got on bikes and rode to the camera store to get him a SLR, had a decent crash on the way and fucked my foot so I bought a new 35mm F1.8 DX lens for my camera to ease the pain, at least this purchase has a guarantee! I went and saw "Shine" with Amy, a burlesque musical playing at Waterfront theater on Granville island, It was pretty wicked, I think the catch phrase right now is "sex-positive", and with lyrics like “I miss spreading your cheeks / and licking your bum / I miss kissing your lips / when they’re soaked in my come.” it's pretty hard not to have a fun time. The evening concluded with a trip to the Astoria (I painted that sign!) for a night of reggae and dancing til about 0330.

Friday involved more naked sunbathing and sleep until about 5ish to get ready for Philistine at the rickshaw theater, was an ok show, not quite what I was expecting but I had a good time until the amazing after party at the "red gate", this crazy underground club on hastings down a back alley, nice a sketchy, had a great night. Made it back to Larch about 4, just enough time for a quick nap and a shower before Amy took me out for birthday breakfast.

I'm 26! Jesus. More sleep after breakfast, then the setup for Zaireeka began. 4 Stereo's, 3 iPods, 2 computers, 1 projector and a shrine later we were ready to roll. But before we kicked off Paolo, Yoshi and I went out for Mexican where it finished up with a round of tequila, a sparkler and a sombrero, after which Yoshi picked plants and flowers on the way home and made an art piece out of her head.

Zaireeka was Incredible! Is soundgasm a word? Thanks to everyone who made it possible, I've been waiting for 5 years to listen to that album. . . so happy :)
Still no ride for Burning Man, I'm sure it will happen thou, the Universe is on my side :D

Labels: vancouver

Checkout this new video from Natalie and the Solar Sonic crew that we are hooking up with at Burning Man! Tickets, Campsite and hopefully transport have jut gotten sorted out, now I can focus on getting prepared for the festival itself, is it hot in the desert?

Red Lightning
Solar Sonic

Labels: vancouver

Zombie Walk 2009

The Zombie walk was happening on Saturday, never made it down before so had a look, and it was a pretty cool day, from the art gallery to English bay, there were moaning bleeding Zombies terrorizing tourist buses along Robson and Denman, small children hiding behind Mother's, classic. Some of the costumes were pretty well done, the nurses were many and there was makeup being done for about 3 hrs at the art gallery.

I ran outta memory halfway through the walk, but a quick stop to pick up Yoshi to help and a quick delete, we managed to catch Zombie Jesus for a few minutes down at English Bay with some other random zombies that turned up.

Crossed the bridge to 4th ave street festival where there were a bunch of classic cars on display, 3 stages playing, and other assorted hippy things. There was a super sweet black and gold 77 Trans Am there, it was my favorite matchbox car as a kid, it was kinda surreal seeing it up close, American cars are so over the top.

Still working out how I'm gonna get to Burning Man, also need to get involved with Natalie and Solar Sonic this week so I am on low consumption mode til then.

Peace

Labels: vancouver, zombie

Drove up to Whistler on Thursday to fetch Sara's Passport, stopped at Shannon falls and took a few pics.

Labels: flickr, vancouver

So last week I decided in a moment of 'clarity' that I would buy a vehicle to gt myself to Shambhala, then use for the duration of my holiday, then sell it at 60% of the purchase price before I left. I found a vehicle on craigslist (of course) took it for a drive, conducted an amateur mechanical inspection and everything seemed hunky dory. I replaced the headlights and a tail indicator bulb, topped up her fluids and gave her a good clean.

On Thursday we loaded her up with gear and were on the road to Shambhala by 7pm. By about 8:30pm we reached Hope, and a small ticking noise that had started about 40 mins into the trip had been gradually getting louder. We stopped at Hope for dinner and I had a quick check over things, oil was a little low but above the line, but the coolant in the reservoir had taken on a slight brown tinge. I didn't think too much of it at the time and decided to change the coolant when we got back to Vancouver.

We kept rocking east and as "The war of the worlds" was playing and everyone drifted off to sleep while I settled in for the drive. The ticking noise was very random, but generally when the engine was creating a lot of torque the noise got a little louder, I was worried but felt there was nothing I could do.

Osoyoos

By the time we reached Osooyoos, the noise had been coming and going, we stopped for gas, started up the hill and she started making a foul noise so we stopped to take pictures of the view and we noticed that we had a major leaking problem. I checked the oil and she was almost dry. Shit. Checked under the engine and sure enough there was oil leaking from somewhere, so we turned around and went back down to Osooyoos and rolled to the gas station where we stocked up on oil.

Problem solved! Temp normal, noise gone, leak still there but minimal, worry about it later. Bought 2 extra litres of oil and continued east into the night.

We arrived at Salmo around 5:30am Friday, gates opened at 8am, and as the others slept, I wandered around wired on coffee til it was time to cue up. We got through in pretty good time, were setting up by 11am at the Arctic Embassy with Eugene, Ryan and assorted associates.

Nude swimming and some granola prepared me for the Rock Pit, but I only lasted a while before crashing as soon as the sun went down. Saturday and Sunday were amazing, the music was the best I have seen there so far, Eprom was so intense, on Saturday met up with Siobhan, Isaac and Will at around 2am and danced in The Village until about 6am. It's hard to explain just how incredible the night was, people who know me will know that I'm very against pseudo science/ astrology/ telekinetic energy etc, but everything in the world seemed to be in alignment, it was great to be able to share it with my friends and feel it wash over us together.


















Annnnyway, the sun kept me awake for most of the day but I got about 3 hours of sleep around lunch before another hard days night of dancing til the wee smalls. I went on a couple of photography missions, but had a financial problem with my camera costume so just went out and took shots. Met some new cool people, soaked up a lot of inspiration and had a very reflective time at the campsite.

Monday morning we packed up the gear, I went and got the truck and we loaded her up and spent 4 hours waiting in line to get out. We got about halfway up the long dusty road when the temp gauge started shooting up for the first time, so I checked her levels, oil was lower but still safe, but the radiator had sprung a leak (not sure when/where) and was near dry. Used all our water plus many other passers by, eventually made it to Salmo for more water with 4 cool down stops, but the damage was done she was not looking good. The leaks became worse and worse, we were getting about 1 Km per litre of water and the oil slowly dropping too.

I was hoping to make it back to Vancouver, but with each hill came even greater moans of agony from the truck and by the time we got to Grand Forks she was giving up on a very regular basis. Called the CAA and they offered little help at 9pm, so we rolled (literally) back into Grand Forks and settled down for the night in a ghetto camp where we slept under the stars.

About 3 am the sprinklers turned on and we all got a bit wet, but managed to get some more sleep before getting to the auto repair shop at 8am. Guy came out and gave me the news I was expecting, blown head gasket and broken coolant pump, cost of repair, about the same as the cost of the vehicle. Shit. I got $50 for parts, and our mechanic (who also doubled as a preacher) sat down and gave us the most horribly constructed fundamentalist christian arguments against evolution ever.
For example;

"Those scientists say that evolution makes us better, but I see old people get sick and die all the time they don't get better, what do the scientist say about that? I'm taking pills for my knee but I'm not getting better. Evolution MUST be wrong!"

It was scary because that was his strongest argument, Issac dealt with him well, I tried very hard to keep quiet and focus on getting us home.



$95CAN each later we were on a 10hr bus ride minus a bunch of our gear we had to leave behind, but we got in to be greeted by Paolo at the station.

Long Trip.

Labels: festival, vancouver

Back from Shambhala less one truck. Cracked head gasket + radiator pump fail = dead truck. Shit.

Labels: festival, flickr

Saw Devin for a few hours before he flew to Turkey to meet up with this girl he fell in love with, pullin' a Francis!

The crew are here, I bought a truck, and we are packing and leaving today!

SHAMBHALA!!!!

(The Crew)

Labels: flickr, vancouver

It wouldn't be a real trip to the Americas unless I bought a car, so yesterday I shelled out for a 1992 Ford Explorer. . . Kinda fucked my budget a little and the serious fraud office in the UK were a little concerned, but I have Shambhala and Burning Man to get to, as well as a last minute trip to the Yukon next week. Shit thing is that when I went to insure it my premiums are pretty much double what they were last time because I have made a 'claim'. CAN$900.00 for 3 months reg and insurance!!

I have been spending most of my time in the sun, chilling and partying so far, wreck beach, kits beach and the classic hangouts: the Naam, Bennys, 49th parallel and Darbys :) Went to glitch mob on Friday night which was pretty good, then the dollhouse til 6am. . . . ahh sun!
It's been amazing weather for the last week, the temp was 26 degrees when I got here and shot up to 35 degrees 2 days later and this morning is the first it's been a little cloudy. It could rain for shambles but now I have a vehicle to sleep in I'm not too worried :)

Anyone want to buy a truck in September?

Labels: vancouver