Ever since I moved to the Bay Area 12 years ago, I’ve had friends who went to Burning Man. The Maxham family, Kym, Rus and Mark, friends from back home were already heavy into it in 1997, as were my east band musician friends, Idiot Flesh playing it annually. Interest was piqued, but it seemed a little over the top for my (slightly) conservative sensibilities.
Fast forward a few years, I was in a comfortable relationship and boring job, got tired of hearing so much about Burning Man every year, tired of seeing people in pink fur and cowboys hats, hated dance music, and generally had become a curmudgeon. My partner agreed, we weren’t that interested. The thought of spending a hot summer week in the desert with a bunch of dirty raver hippies, enduring dust storms and miserably extreme conditions with little to no amenities sounded like about the WORST thing imaginable.
I have however, always given it due respect that it is a pretty amazing and pure people-driven event. Even as they have had to ‘incorporate’ to continue running it, only because it gotten large beyond belief and some order has to be kept. No corporate sponsors, no commerce, a focus on art and music… and hedonism. A city is built for a week of partying, then torn down and gone. I have many friends who hate it, but many people I respect (like my friend Cynthia who took the photo below) say there’s nothing like it in the world. People come from all over the world to experience it.
What changed for me? I don’t know really, a bunch of stuff. My world travels played a part for sure, friends to go with, days off needed badly. Having developed more of a “you only live once” mentality, this year seems like it’s finally the time.
A lot of work has gone into getting prepared for this the last few weeks. You could just show up with a few gallons of water, sun tan lotion and not much else and have your needs met, but it’s a lot more fun (and comfortable) to grab the bull by the horns. That’s part of it all, it’s fun, I am enjoying it. Even better, I’ve heard that ticket sales are down (a good thing, I predicted weeks ago that this would be the first year attendance declines) and the conditions on the playa are relatively good. So I’m excited.
Outside of that though I’ve been feeling pretty uninspired, uncreative, and stuck again. Some things have been great, but other things are not doing it for me. Music has stalled out again and that always puts me in a foul mood, although I have some potential things brewing. I haven’t really taken many days off work since new years and that may have more to do with it than i want to admit. So we’ll see how this whole Burning Man thing goes, full report and pictures to follow.
But first things first. I obviously didn’t make the Top 50 (of 30,000 entries) to win the 6 month job in Australia. Oh well, you can’t win if you don’t play. Honestly, Australia is one of the last places on my list to go. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to go diving on The Reef. But the rest of it? It’s the United States in the south Pacific, with less culture and worse food. pass.
For years now I’ve wanted a tattoo, especially during and after my rtw trip. I was searching for some Indonesian designs but couldn’t come up with any good ones. So it’s never been a matter of would I do it, just finding what I would feel strongly enough about doing.
If I was going to do it, it would be something completely one-of-a-kind. Something culturally significant and interesting. Not half-assed or small. I’m not much into word tattoos. And since I’m not an artist, I’d better find a good listening artist that would work well with me.
I realize now it’s a better thing to tell people what it is before they see it. Unless I’m trying to get a strong reaction, heh.
It’s a Dia de los Muertos mermaid. The idea struck me one day when I was thinking about one my friend Adrienne’s paintings. It hit me, mermaid tattoo, aquatic life has become a big part of me, culturally awesome and relevant to several facets of my life, the southwest, the caribbean, colorful, celebratory, and most of all, dead. In addition to those things, it represents marking the first half of my life being done. Reminding me of the good, the bad, the mistakes and not to repeat them.
Here’s how the plan came together…
And here it is currently, but still need to add more water and fish. and then, who knows?
Finding the artist was a challenge. I tried a guy at a shop I heard was good, I liked his art the best of the artists. I booked a session with him before I left for Honduras, he had about a months wait anyway. When I got back, he’d lost the picture copies I gave him to work from. not good. then his drawings looked terrible, he wasn’t getting the style I wanted at all, even when I said “I want it exactly like this!”
My friend Tom then recommended Tanja Nixx, a friend of a friend who owns the famous Lyle Tuttle shop in north beach. He said he wanted her to do his next tatt, and that women tattoo artists are better listeners and would probably be what I needed. Also that she’s German, so she’s detailed, haha. I looked her up and her art matched the style I wanted a lot, she’s done Dia de los Muertos tatts, and she’s a traveler! The style of it being Central American folk art is not something you see often in tattoos either. but that’s exactly what’s nice in my opinion, i needn’t go down the list of overused, cliche’d, tattoo art.
So she’s worked out great and I love it.
What else is going on? Taking Spanish class again and it’s kicking my ass. I almost dropped it, but got B’s on both tests so I’m kinda hanging in there. But truthfully i’m lost. I’m also taking a 30-day hiatus from booze and first dates. A spring cleaning and detox. I’ve never done one before, and my health and liver could use it after the last several months.
Still doing lots of yoga and running more too. Been super busy between work, gigs, rehearsals, social life, class, yeah. All in all, not bad.
Traveling… want to hike Machu Picchu with my friend from Honduras. Anyone want to go? If that doesn’t look imminent, I may do a quick trip to Oaxaca to house sit, or I don’t know, Argentina.
Ok, so for those that haven’t heard, the tourism board of Queensland Australia has hosted a contest to win 6 months of ‘The Best Job in the World’… as paid ‘caretaker’ of an island on the Great Barrier Reef. Of course I had to apply! They got waaay more entries than they anticipated as the contest buzz crept across the internet. But one glance at the entries, if you have time, shows easily 50% of them are unwatchable crap. A lot of them are good too, but I like my odds.
Please go watch my video and give it 5 stars! We’ll see what happens, if I win you can come visit me on my island. Click the picture to see it.
I do have a little more to write about my adventures in Honduras. I’ve been kinda busy since I got back.
ah stumbling across the internet never ceases to amaze. Some roundabout surfing, due to finding some old friends on facebook led me to… some of my old college handiwork.
It is called Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz by the band Mr. Bungle. Transcribed and arranged by me for percussion ensemble, Magnolia High School performing it… a few months ago!
I spent many late nights in 1996 on this very involved percussion ensemble arrangement, but by my third year of North Texas and my 5th year using Finale, I was in the zone with doing this kinda shit. It’s funny it was one of the last things I did before I left school and never REALLY heard it performed well, only sightread once.
So to see a HIGH SCHOOL ensemble, especially one this big, tear it up and have fun with it, is really really cool. You can buy my arrangement here, although I get no royalties .
ONE of the reasons why I moved and live here – the CRAZY amount of amazing music shows that plow through the Bay Area in the fall. I swear last fall was the same.
So we started off with Radiohead/Beck/Manu Chao a month ago. It was ok, but I have completely tired of “festivals.” Not worth the masses, sound problems, and short uninspired sets.
But in the next TWO weeks we have: The Silver Jews, Calexico, Ry Cooder/Jim Keltner/Nick Lowe (oh my), and rounding it out with Deerhoof. Also tempting me with tickets on Craigslist are Spoon this week and Sigur Ros next week. That’s just ridiculous… in a span of two weeks!
The cost of all this entertainment I’ve purchased thusfar… bout $530. I’m thankful I can afford it and hopefully will be worth every penny. I’m also glad I can be a jaded musician and still be a rabid fan.
As much as I enjoy spending my days traveling around the world, hanging out in coffee shops, enjoying leisurely lunches with friends who happen to have a day off, and lounging around the apartment in my underwear… 4+ months is probably enough of that kinda nonsense eh? And hey, the sooner I start working the sooner I’m saving for my next trip!
Walking through downtown San Francisco on my way to my second job interview 2 weeks ago, I peered in the first floor windows of a Market Street office at all the cubicle workers in front of their computers. I was filled with dread. I’m not ready to go back!
But the job hunting process went very well. Scary well. I guess the job market is good right now, and…
I have a new job. My first in many years. i start on Monday. crazy.
I was honestly a little worried about this because I was with IDG for so long. However, my trip gave me a buddha-like calm and patience with it all. sounds silly i know. probably also made me not look desperate in interviews.
I had my choice of 3 jobs: design/print company in a non-corporate environment, hot buzzy .com startup that seemed a little too chaotic, or video game software developer owned by a well known multinational. I chose the last one. I want a job that gives me a chance to learn some new things. After my travels, an opportunity in a multinational company is also very appealing. Not at all saying I’m going to bail on this job any time soon, but I know I don’t want to stay at the same company as long as my last one. And I’m also thinking about going back to school to somehow come up with a career change down the line. I don’t want to be an I.T. Manager forever, and i’m not at all interested in the corporate ladder.
… I was driving across the country, with everything I owned in the back on my Jeep Cherokee, and a U-Haul trailer. I pulled into my new town on Easter Sunday. It was the early evening and I will forever remember the sunset and color of the sky on that day parking at my friend Mike Chamber’s house.
10 years of being a Californian.
This move came to fruition after my first trip to California on tour with Little Jack Melody and his Young Turks in ‘96. Fell in love with with San Francisco, was dissatisfied with life in Texas, and music school, so I picked up and moved.
Funny, reflecting on this now, after my amazing trip… feeling dissatisfied with my current state of affairs… maybe it’s time for another move
A lot of people asked about whether language would be a problem on this trip.
When I saw Indonesian people talking to French people…
Thais talking to Danes…
Germans talking to Israelis…
Vietnamese talking to Portuguese…
North Indians talking to South Indians…
Guess what language they all spoke?
ENGLISH!
What language do you speak? English! This gives you a decided advantage on traveling to faraway lands. A lot of southeast Asian people also told me I am easier to understand than a lot of people they talk to. Let me tell you, language is no excuse not to go somewhere in this day and age. I don’t speak any of the languages of the countries I went to and got all of my needs met. (I made the not-so-brilliant choice of studying Latin in high school. /cry) Just try to learn a few of their words, speak slowly, don’t use contractions, and smile a lot.
And… always carry a pen. I’ve actually formed a rather close bond with my pen, we’ve been through so much together. Or it may be a sign of losing my mind due to traveling this long alone.
(From what I’ve read, Russia and China are two big countries where you may run into zero English, if you are planning such a trip.)
Almost everyone I encountered in Asia would actually try very hard, and even apologize for bad English, to which I always would apologize in return that I don’t speak their language and tell them they speak great English. Many even were trying to learn, or would want to talk because they wanted to improve.
An interesting note I picked up is that people from countries where American films and TV are dubbed in native language, as opposed to hearing English with subtitles, makes a huge difference in their learning English. Notably French, Spanish, Chinese, and German, countries where the population is big enough to spend the money to dub foreign films. Vietnam for instance, the only place I went to see a movie, they get subtitles, so they hear English more.
Last night I watched E.R. in Spanish, it was difficult and kind of disturbing.
Speaking of Spanish, this is the one language I actually know a lot more words, phrases, and the basics going in. But I am far from conversational, sadly, and definitely can’t keep up with the rapid pace.
Spain however, is so far the worst country I have found at finding English speakers. It’s kind of what I pictured France to be like. They don’t speak it, and some are a bit snobby about it. But it’s going ok and I’m going to know a lot more when I leave. I bought la diccionario.
One major note, the official countrywide language of Indonesia is called bahasa Indonesia. There were literally hundreds of tribal languages in the Indonesian archigapeligo before they put this common language together. It uses english (cough * Latin) alphabet and no tones like other southeast asia languages.
hello = halo, name = nama, doctor = dokter, beer = bir, polisi = police, etc…
If I had known how easy it was to speak, read, and learn, I would have started that one before I went. It also explains why they can easily learn English. So if you are planning a trip there, I highly recommend learning it if you want to interact with the people, I certainly will.
I’m Chris, Texas native, now living in San Francisco.
I’ve traveled all my life, but haven’t quite realized a lot of travel goals I’d always thought about. And what I mean by that is I’ve seen 45 of the 50 United States, lots of them several times over, and with the current state of affairs here, I’ve just about seen enough. I’ve also, from an early age, studied and been interested in many cultures, and in particular music, of other parts of the world. I still have not been to see any of them in person.
I’ve been into Canada a few times, Mexico on a few vacations, and Costa Rica in 2005. I finally made it overseas in 2004 to tour the U.K. with a band I was playing with at the time, which was great. But I’ve been longing to see more…
NOW… I just got laid off from my job with a company I’d been with for 9 years! Can you say severance? vacation? a nice bonus for being a good sport about it… ?
So off i go in December 2006 on a round-the-world trip.
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