rain/weather/fall/OH (A in Oregon)

WELL WELL WELL, suzy.  you were in my dreams last night, its blurry but it had to do with you and “boys”.  go figure.  

anyway, i always begin lately to hear a statement you made to me about a year ago about your friend in portland that you would never hear from all year until it was winter in portland and all of a sudden you would get depressed calls from him all the time.   

i kid you not, every single day has been absolutely beautiful since probably MAY… JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER.  and BAM, this week the temperatures dropped and today I was all set to bundle up and ride my bike to m volunteer thing… i got outside into the drizzle and thought, FUCK NO..   don’t know why it makes me so guilty, that i should really be taking my bike, when my other option is the bus anyway, that’s still good.  but i can’t forgive myself for getting lazy so quickly.  then again, its just the transformation right now and in the next few weeks i might get used to the new 60 degree highs and get back on the bike.    we’ll see.

my garden is amazing… so much kale.. i made kale walnut pesto and it was just so amazing.

SASSY’S (A goes to a strip club)

without getting into too much detail about my saturday night back in portland – it was out of a postcard …  i went to a gay-club-night party that i predicted would be all lesbian and it was, not to mention they played bad lesbian music (like shoop and montel jordan’s ‘this is how we do it’) and played dirty dancing on the big screen, i guess the MJ craze is over and now its patrick swayze.  anyways, i ended up going with some folks to the bar across the street, sassy’s.. a regular ol strip club… that was fun for  a while — but i kinda forgot the rules (you know in some states when the ladies wear panties, thats where you put the money right? but in this state, they take it all off), well while one girl still had on panties, i thought it was ok to put the dollar there and when i did, in a FLASH, she called something out and pointed at me and i was abruptly lifted from my chair and thrown and carried out the back door.  i didn’t even pull the gay card, just had a cigarette and waited for my friends.  later headed home, the cab driver is having a huge laugh over my story and i say, “well i just forgot the details of the rules” and he said “if you ever have trouble remembering, just think that if there is both vagina and alcohol in the room, NO TOUCHING.”     true story.

THAT’S GAY (from a, of course)

Just found this series on CURRENT (al gore) network… this guy does a good job of debunking the cliche way that gay’s are become commonly portrayed in the media, and I totally agree with his sentiments. 

if you are in ny

you should go to these things! three people i like who make art i like are having shows! wooo
i will be there <3

ONE
Event: SEX AND DEATH PAINTINGS
"Open Studio during DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival"
What: Exhibit
Start Time: Saturday, September 26 at 1:00pm
End Time: Sunday, September 27 at 5:00pm
Where: Jonathan Herbert Studio

TWO
"High Tide" is a show of my new work opening Saturday, September 26th
at 7pm at WORK Gallery in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The show will be
running through October 12th. I would love to see you.
Chris
www.chrisdomenick.com

THREE
UMWELTEN – The GSS Pre-Build Bash
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26th
The Gowanus Studio Space is MOVING!!!
7000 square-feet of raw garage space
TEN Artists – FOUR Bands
5PM – BOAT-RIDES on the canal launch from 2nd Street near Bond Street
6PM – EXHIBITION OPENS – 166 7th Street's big garage door rolls up
7PM – FILM SCREENING The Escapists by Andrew Gori
8PM – BANDS PLAY
11PM – DANCE PARTY

PIE (sweet and savory) home-baked by 4&20 Blackbirds
BEER from Kelso of Brooklyn
SWEATERS for SALE knitted on the building's former factory looms
$8 Entry – Help us raise funds for the reconstruction of The Gowanus Studio Space

166 7TH STREET
between 2nd and 3rd Avenues map

to make it real. i will shut my eyes very tightly. (suzy. in a crazed hormonal state and hopefully a full moon or something else is added to this. so im not this crazy on my own)

a part of me wants to buy myself a wedding ring and marry my self and my soul and meditate for a million hours in a month and make art (make art make art how fucccccking long have i been saying that) and just DO IT RIGHT and know myself even more than i already do, than i can even fathom>>> inside and out. can you help me? no. a little, but no, not really. can i help me? yes. yesyesyyesyesyysysysysyysysyessss

am i going to? hopefully./ maybe/ YES. somehow.

you know what i just emailed that to you. but im going to blog it. because i believe in this and want it so much.

All turned around in Oakland, CA (By Alexander)

suzy, for so many who don’t know us and for even how little we sometimes know each other, i can’t sometimes comprehend the way that you and i, specifically, live our lives.  east coast/west coast/europe/other.. we’re just so all over, i don’t know why we aren’t actually writing more and more about travel and airports.

this trip was portland>philly>bethlehem>philly>chicago>oakland>portland.   well that is if i make it to portland.   the flight via chicago got to oakland super early, leaving me nearly 3 hour window to the short flight up to portland.  i am so so so so so so so tempted to skip out and head into SF and find all my loves there.  but i’m a little burnt out from the weekend/week/entire summer that i’m pretty eager to be in my house with my cat and friends and garden.  but i’m in a small lull, probably happy too, beacause this final return to portland is FINALLY the FINAL one… jeez!  and of course it’s now… it’s just that this entire summer since the move to portland was filled with events and this wedding in PA was the last and so there is nothing left but to settle in for real, get a job for real, and make my life for real.   that is, until more stuff starts to happen!  (and i believe i have an early nov wknd in SF trip planned, anyway)  the holidays seem meaningless to me right now after all this travel and stuff, i hope to be working for time and a half come thanksgiving day, new years day, etc!    you understand.

last night i was 3000 miles from here in my favorite bar in philadelphia with you and so many people i love.  and wasn’t the quick whirl through manayunk so fun?   aww, dawsons pub would be my corner hang out too if i had it.  after you left so did the boys and me and jill sat there after closing watching tv and laughing and be exciting we got to be in a locked down bar drinking there.  and after jon with the stolen hipster art, i got feeling very clepto myself and stole a cool pint glass.  jill thinks the owner saw it happen too, but, eh.  when your from out of town you kinda dont give a shit.

i liked meeting nate as the milkman… more questions arise over life in a costume.  but i’m sure there will be a whole trend and reality show on it in due time.

i think i mentioned this book ages ago, but it was big and daunting and i finally opened it.  very good.

the author is great (she will be at the DC and the SF green fest in nov)…   its alot of things i knew, but more more details and great info on the layout of grocery stores and food politics and fish and meat and organic and everything you want to know… 

i forgot food today and REFUSED to buy anything, it was all 10 bucks+ for something with bad meat or a salad not worth it, etc etc.  well i did buy chex mix.  oh well.  not in oakland, thank god there is a subway and i can have a pile of veggies on wheat bread for $4.  amazing.  i hate chains but someone should lobby to put subway in all airports for this reason….

so now i’m going to eat that and read the rest of the book and write loads more later.   and send pictures from the wedding and abbaye and my garden that i can’t wait to roll around in!

from rafting on white rapids in WV to drinking at the abbaye in philly (suzyyyy)

took an insane car trip home from rafting all through a bunch of state forests in west virginia. it took a few hours longer, but was really pretty and much better than the ride in on all the highways. made it to DC moments before my bus took off, drank red wine from a juice box (they sell these at target!! boxed wine in little boxes! for the suburban winos? so you can bring it to your kids soccer game?), had fitful sleep on the busride to nyc, and… here i am.

home for a few hours, eating leftover indian fish curry for breakfast for some god knows why reason. wearing a dress that i will wear to philly today and tonight, to work tomorrow, and, to dinner after work tomorrow. must plan ahead. must always carry cash, mascara, and clean underware.

white water rafting was soooo fun. my brother stupidly brought his gf, who i did not know had a fear of water. that sucked bc i was very concerned for them, and she was miserable, but hopefully it was a good experience all in all. i loved it and want to do it again as soon as i can! i like being scared! its so fun when nature shows its force, and we just have to stop thinking and instead react to what it gives us.

and now that i have accomplished that, i will celebrate with beers with you at the abbaye!!!!<3

more moore (a)

Hi Suzy…. here’s Micheal Moore’s new film.

Maybe see you tomorrow night briefly in Philadelphia, right?  Good.

THE POINT (by A)

Suzy…. I was just turned onto this film from the early 70s… THE POINT …. its music by Harry Nilsson and narrated by Ringo Starr….  it is very trippy and cool.  Wiki says this…  

The Point! is a fable by American songwriter and musician Harry Nilsson about a boy named Oblio, the only round-headed person in the Pointed Village, where by law everyone and everything had to have a point.

Here is a scene that I love….

suzy leaves you with this for the moment

i am waiting to get more of these back. i loveeee what i have seen from the shoot so far!
xoxoxoxo

happy almost weekend! i have work then more work (2 job thursdays) then an art opening then drinks with people then more work tomorrow than bus to dc then early the next morning driving to WEST VIRGINIA yay

(by adam courtney)

Alex writes from Denver

This might BE ONE oF MY fEW BLOGS  EVER WRITTEN FROM MY IPHONE AND OBVOISULY IT IS PRETTY ANNOYING TO DO… I JUST WANTED U TO KNOW IM USING  THE BAMBOO SPORK U GOT FOR ME  IM A LITTLE DRUNK ON BLOODY MARYS BUT IM USING BAMBOO TO EAT SPINACH WALNUTS AND TOMATOES THAT ARE FROM MY GARDEN  … SO IM SO HEALTHIER AND MORE ECO THAN ALL THESE TOOLS AROUND  ME.     HAHAHA     LOVE LOVE, IM GETTING ON THE PLANE….  IM SO ECO IM ABOUT TO GET ON AN AIRPLANE, SO NEVER MIND ABOUT THAT –   LOVE THE BAMBOO THOUGH  CANT THEY FLY PLANES W/BAMBOO ??

burners. white water rafting. office hang overs (luv suz)

i wanna wanna want to know what that is all like! next year or one year soon i will be there with you. it looks like space out there. and it looks like space feels good.

this is where i am going this weekend!:

yay white water rafting and driving through west virginia. looks great! i want to stop a lot at cute little towns on the way.

and, just so you know, hungover again in my office. spent a good part of the day yesterday drinking champagne in someone’s apt who was rich and weird enough to own lee harvey oswald’s statement of arrest, and, a map JFK used during the cuban missile crisis. weird. cool. that explains my nyc life in a nutshell, i think.
xoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxo

BURNING MAN 2009 (Alexander deeply misses home, but now I will share.))

where do i begin?   i’m a bit torn right now if i should even bother to get into this whole thought process.  i guess if i had a job to go to, i could be focused back on the real world and my place in it.  instead i’ve just been plopped back into my house in portland and i feel very turned around, the real world being a little more overwhelming than burning man itself.  

i want to still be there.. so much so that  i just bought on itunes some INSANE dance/techno/thumping music that i don’t think i’d ever want to hear in this world, but cause my soul is still stuck in black rock, i need this insane thumping twirling stuff to listen to.  and the house is empty, so it is LOUD.

 

this was my second time at burning man, by far better.  (how can it be better when the first time was the best?)  yes, there is a lack of shock and awe this second time around, but because i knew what i was doing/where i was going/what would happen there, i felt totally at ease and open to ALL OF IT.  that made it so much nicer.  it was like going to a strange foreign city that you had been to once before.  like the second time to london, still a huge place, but we sure figured it out quicker, right?    so it was better.  the best.  (now i can’t wait for next year to be fucking BETTER BEST).  

the wonderfulness started on the drive down… we were 4 friends in 2 cars and we caravanned from portland to black rock…  we had walkie-talkies and sang songs about burning man to each other the whole way.  and coming from portland is much better than coming through reno.  we avoided all the major traffic from reno/sf/la/etc…  we came with the much smaller set of folks from portland/seattle/canada.  and as we got further away from portland and closer into northern california and nevada, the ratio of burner cars to not got bigger.  started as 1 out of 10… 1 out of 5… every third car, until EVERY CAR on the road was a burner.  (you can spot a burner car cause if it isnt a huge truck or uhaul or hippie VW, then it is least a car FULL of people and stuff with a bike rack and a roof covered in bags and shit and camping gear.  we all wave and honk and blow kisses cause we all know were headed HOME.   and yes, when you see other burners on the road or at the gas stations in the small towns before the desert, everyone hugs and says WELCOME HOME.    such love.

we got in around 2am… but it took a couple hours to get through the gates and sort things and find our camps… by 4ami was settled-ish at my campsite, which was great real estate, as i’m so lucky to ride on the coattails of a great camp out of SF, FREESTYLE PALACE… who also host the LAWYERS FOR BURNERS – an organization of burner lawyers that offer free services to anyone in need if something arises on the playa.  -  so, now, what does one do at 4am on a monday morning when one just landed at burning man… ?  well… drink and party of course and watch the sun come up and forget about sleep for a while!

PICTURES  ….   !      !      —  please take a look at my small collection of only 100 or so…..be sure to read my titles on some.

CLICK HERE FOR MY BURNING MAN 2009 PICTURES

hopefully it works as a slide show!  but my favorites are coming up below.

suzy, i know you know many burning man details, but i wondered if you knew that there is a whole “carry your own cup” thing.. its actually best to get something you can attach to you. kid’s sippy cups work wonderfully.   everyone is always ready to pour you some wine/water/beer/tikisomething/whatever, but now bar or cafe will have stupid plastic cups.  you need your own.  i had an old klean kanteen that went everywhere with me… sometimes it tasted like beer/yerbamate/wine/mystery.  !  cause no, it was not washed once all week.  i just thought you should know since you want to make a world where we all get a cup at birth and use it for everything.  well IT DOES EXIST.  

man, a whole week and a half in the high desert.   a sand so alkalinic that life is not supported.  but WE BRING LIFE THERE for a couple weeks every year.  the only bugs at burning man are the couple of dead flies that come out of your camping gear.  the only water is what everyone brings for each other.  one giant sharing sharing sharing land.  no$$,  all love.  ”have-my-anything-you-want world….  ”.   again, the burts bees tied around my neck was loved by all and i realise next year i am going to make 50 burts bees on string and wear them out and give them all away.  

this year also BLESSED ME because i stayed 2 extra days.  the event peaks on friday and saturday (my least favorite days) at around 40-some,000.  by sunday, people are high tailing out of there back to SF and to reno airport rides to australia and to LA and to work and wherever.  the temple burns sunday and it is somber and wonderful and sad.  i stayed another 2 nights until tuesday.  and monday night was just me and 2 friends, all packed up and wondering the few small parties happening in the night. the tuna camp was pushing all their leftover tuna and food onto us for dinner.  people were having bonfires and sharing the bottoms of whiskey bottles and having such an intimate time. tuesday morning we MOOPED our entire camp as a favor for those who had left earlier (this is the word for cleaning up MOOP – MATTER OUT OF PLACE – and the playa is meant to be left as it was found, every feather, glitter, leaf, and cigarette butt has to go home with you!)

 

here is a video made by a good dj this year.  thank you ELITE FORCE (for your music and dancing and for making this video)

 

some photos of mine:

(oh, i guess i should explain that having a camera there was also very strange to me.  last year i tried to capture everything.  this year i even had my new fancy dancy SLR and once i got to black rock, i realized this thing isn’t really capture-able.  which is ok, i told myself.  a couple days i took snap shots with my tiny camera, a lot of which ended up too X rated for this blog.  and otherwise, i FINALLY decided i should take my SLR out for a spin one evening when it was cool and nice out and not dusty..  the thing was it happened to be on the last day there around 7 pm.  the party was closed, things were in de-construction, but it was still a surreal world.  so that’s when some of these were taken)

 

the man (taken through my half shut lens) as the sun went down on saturday, just before it was burnt down.  this year he was made of neon lights and sat atop a very surreal wooden jungle that you could walk around and explore.

 

this is THE TEMPLE.  a magical place.  built by human hands for all to come into and put away the bad things.  they all burn away for us on sunday night and we can start the year fresh.  the temple is full of emotion and tears and screaming and holding and writing on the walls and pictures of dead loves or lost loves or whatever it is you have to LET GO OF.  the temple is for letting go.  i put some pretty important things in there this year and had more then just a good cry.  and on sunday night, when it burnt, i knew i would get what i had asked for from it.  

 

one of the most beautiful times on the playa is sunrise.  whether you are just going to bed, just waking up, or were trying to go to bed and some loves show up and took you out to see it….

 

these are called “yellow bikes” (though they are green) and there are thousands and thousands of them scattered around – they are community bikes: see one, use it.  and then leave it somewhere public.  granted, you may ride 3 miles to find yourself walking home, but hey, the playa provides.

 

this is the playa.

 

here, me and melissa are our dustiest, gray haired and all…

 

and what the hell would we do if we didn’t have the giant slide in the middle of nowhere to slide down and down?!

“fuck art, just here for breasts.”  ”art will save the world.”

 

 

 

NIGHTTIME:  ”mental”

 

this is the aftermath of the man on saturday.  we walked in and around it.  of course some yogis were walking on fire, i was too hot and i wondered away….

 

 

suzy, i am ensured that you will join me, if not next year, then the next.  it’s something everyone should see, even if for a couple days.  but of course a few days makes you want to stay the week and the week makes you want to stay the month.  if i have the means and time, next year i will gladly volunteer to my camp and the greater city and stay out there a full 2 weeks, the week of the burn dead in the center.  the build up and break down is the most magical part, and it feels so fulfilling when the weekend and the burn rolls around and everyone from everywhere shows up and you can stand back and just breathe and be glad you helped make it for them.  

 

to everyone i know there, THANK YOU.  melissa, thank you for showing me this place.  reese, thank you for bringing me into freestyle’s camp and being my brother.  thank you FREESTYLE and adisa and arty and kate.  I LOVE YOU melissa and reese and  sheena and dilan and chris and alex and flyn and katie and aziz and rachel.            THANK U ALL.  

alexander is happy and disoriented!

yes.  i am both of those things.

i am back from burning man, back on the planet.  got back tuesday.  i spent some extra time there.  ended up being a 10 day stay in black rock city.   i am so lucky.  i have stories and tales and excitement all inside of me, but probably will come out in another language if i tried.  the place is unexplainable.   but i will have photos and some tidbits!  i just wanted you all to know i’ve safely returned to portland, but i am missing my true home still.

suzy, are those pictures from portland with the guy who shot film who has my info?  they are grand and timeless.

suzy is happy!

probably not as burning man blissed out as you, but, i sort of quit my job today! all this talk of it… finally!!!
said i would stay til the holidays. they offered me an amazing work from home situation if i so desired. yesy esyesyesyes

im pleased.

now the big questions: what next/ with who/ where?

we/will/see!

(photos by jared [corpse on pumkin]/ from portland)