~*...earthdance...*~

randnorm friday event in black rock city 2006

how to be a ninja
12:00pm-1:00pm
learn the secret art of the ninja, including vital skills such as weapons, hand-to-hand combat, invisibility, and if we have time, how to fly. no experience necessary. wearing of black is encouraged. hosted by: duck pond @ chance and 9:00

photo by steven fritz

randnorm mind grenade
the opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. but the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. - niels bohr

randnorm pikcha

tadashi fuse, frontside 360 one oooter, whistler backcountry, b.c. canada
photo: dice-k maru

randnorm video

ninja tune vs. burning man - video by halcyon

normdate 15.9.6



my friend tyson and his brother ari were responsible for organzing the calgary earthdance festival. tyson and ari, founders of the tekno collective, have been holdin it down for the calgary edm scene for the past 7 years, and are known for throwing successful intimiate jams. i met tyson in toronto in 2004. he was living with my friend kally just down the street from my place near queen and bathurst.

normurai and tyson at om 2k4


it was awesome to reconnekt with tyson here in his hometown of calgary. it was even better to contribute to the vibe of this city's young and thriving rave scene. yes it is a rave scene...and yes, it is young.



the earthdance mission:

our mission is to promote peace by joining participants worldwide in a synchronized PRAYER FOR PEACE and to support humanitarian causes through the global language of music and dance.


listen to the prayer for peace here

340 locations in 57 countries! truly, a global gathering of celebration. i was stoked. its an incredible thing to get a group of people to do one thing, yet alone thousands of people all over the world...and there just aren't enough people dancing in this world ;)

i re-invented an old outfit with make up.


the inspiration for the make up came from a wise jedi master named shaak-ti


kristin, crystal, and i arrived at the venue just after 10pm. the space was an industrial wharehouse in the southeast of calgary. the weather was cold, really cold actually. good thing we didn't have to wait long to get in.



thanks for takin care of us tyson.



the evening was just starting, and the place filled up quite fast. there were sofas against the wall for chillin, and a decent lighting system. some slick house beatz were being dropped by local female dj isis. i was impressed with her mixing and track selektion, and shook my ass in appreciation.



the scene here in calgary is raw. it reminds me of the old days where people left their attitude at the door and came to get down. the average age of the partiers here is also very young, about 19yrs old was the average age at this jam.



some people don't enjoy all age parties. perhaps being around youtz make people feel old? maybe some people don't like seeing young kids fucked up on drugs? perhaps these kidz remind people of how young and immature they were when they were that age.



to be old and wise, one must first be young and stupid.

the scene here reminds me of the vibe at hullabaloo parties in toronto. hulla kids are colourful, happy, accepting, plurtastic, and as a whole rather young.


hullabaloo spaced invaders, 2000

its as though the ideals that hold raving together, peace, love, unity, and respect, somehow dissipate as ravers get older. i've found that those ideals are preserved and practiced more with youth. at least one thing hasn't changed...raving is for beautiful people ;)







kristin was tired so her and crystal left. i was having a fukkin blast, and the house beats were all kinds of awesome.









i'm such a sucka for blonde dreaded goddesses *drool*


bigups to music first for organizing this event. bless ups to the calgary scene for keeping the p.l.u.r. mentality alive. congratulations to the earthdance organizers for creating this global celebration. and thank you to the goddess i shared the evening with.

~*...normaste...*~

~*...9/11...*~

randnorm monday event in black rock city 2006

liberation by photo
3:00pm-4:00pm
don't like your photo taken? get over it at liberation dome. liberate your self by taking photos and having yours taken. from mild to erotic. bring your camera, costumes, sense of adventure, and something to record email addresses for photo sharing. libration dome is a safe, non-judgemental free space for respectful expansion of boundaries. hosted by: terra nova @ destiny and 9:00

photo by steven fritz

randnorm mind grenade
in wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies. - winston churchill

randnorm pikcha


randnorm video

loose change pt.1


loose change pt.2


loose change pt.3


loose change pt.4

normdate 11.9.6


je me souviens

question everything

~*...normaste...*~

~*...happy birthday toby...*~

randnorm saturday event in black rock city 2006

young jedi training for little burners
11:30am-1:00pm
calling allpadawans! jedi training is in session. in this workshop your children will learn ho to 'use the force' by practicing secret jedi techniques of yoga, qigong and the healing arts. all 'little burners' and their parents are encouraged to attend. hosted by: ascension tribe @ esplanade and 4:30

photo by scott london

randnorm mind grenade
there are only two ways to live your life. one is as though nothing is a miracle. the other is as though everything is a miracle. - albert einstein

randnorm pikcha


randnorm video

jay and silent bob strike back...the word fuck is used often in that clip.

normdate 9.9.6

its good to have a place to decompress. thank you kristin for your kindness and hospitality.

last night, kristin and i went to hear freq nasty play at the wharehouse. yup, calgary has a permanent edm club and they get some pretty good names. the place was packed and freq nasty dropped some siiick tunes and broken beatz.


freq nasty and lorin bassnectar at the oppulent temple

seeing as i missed his set at the burn, i was looking forward to hearing him play at the wharehouse. its taking me a bit to get used to having to pay cover, and pay for drinks. you get so used to hearing djs for free and open bars everywhere on the playa that assimilating back into normal society can be a bit of a shock to the system.


photo by scott london
^^^ this guy has the siiickest pix of the burn i've ever seen, so i'm gonna be postin a lot of his work. make sure to czech out his site.

there are tens of thousands of burners around the world who are also feelin the same thing. the world that exists outside of black rock city is such a contrast to generally accepted and created society that we live our everyday lives in. the challenge is taking the energy that is so concentrated on the playa, and rekognize that it flows everywhere we just have to rekognize it, and feed it.


shiny happy people pik by jared michaber

i had 5 hemp bracelets left that i had made for the burn, so i randnormly gifted them to people at the wharehouse. the effects of random gifting is amazing...gifting for the sake of gifting. what a fukkin awesome way to spread light. its one of the ideals that make burning man so incredible.



i met a radiant goddess named sarah last night at the wharehouse. she came up to me and asked if i knew jamie campbell from london, ontario. i've know jamie since his first year at western. turns out, i met sarah in london at a bar called old city hall when i was there for elsbeth and regan's wedding in 2004. i randnormly ran into jamie that night in london too, and thus the introduction to sarah. it was sarah's birthday last night, and i was glad to gift her a bracelet and dance with her on her day...the birthday card is trump ;) happy birthday sarah!

today was my friend todd's birthday. i've known todd from public school in markham. holy shit that's almost 25 years ago! i went to highschool with him at mdhs. his snowboard was the first i ever rode when i was 15...aaah, so many good memories of that kemper raceboard. daam that thing was big.

todd moved to calgary about 5 years ago and worked for west jet. he's now a real estate agent, married, and recently moved into a new home in the northwest of calgary. todd didn't know i was in town, and i was excited to surprise him at his birthday party.

fred and his partner stacy-rae picked me up just after dinner and we made the short trek to todd's place. todd's last name is skoby, so in highschool we used to call him toby skoby. i was excited to surprise him.

holy shit calgary is booming! there are new housing developments being built in every available spot. this town is definitely the place to be if you want to make money, espceially in real estate.

as we walked up todd's unfinished property (ain't no grass in his neighbourhood yet), todd was talking on his cel phone on his front porch. i'll never forget the expression on his face when he saw me. good friends reuniting. it was awesome!

todd's home was beautiful, and filled with his friends and family. there were lots of children there too, from babies to toddlers. i guess that's the age group i'm in now, my thirties. people are settling down, buying houses, starting a family.



toby doesn't have children, yet, but he has a beautiful partner in life, lori, to have a family with and a gorgeous home to raise his children.

toby showed me an old pair of full length long underwear from highschool that he still wears when goes snowboarding. silk screened on it was a race relations logo, my first entrepreneurial venture from high school. i remember getting the screens made and then silk screening any piece of clothing i could get my hands on in the basement of my house. i still wear long underwear with the logo on it today, and it was wikkid to see that someone else is still wearing their race relations long underwear. the ideals behind the brand was the blurring of races, the celebration of diversity. aaah, we were so young back then.


yes, i still wear flourescent underwear.

those pix remind me of high school when i used to lay out my outfit for the next day on the floor before going to bed. that way i would wake up and have my outfit all ready to go, no decision making in the morning just shower and get dressed. my friends used to make fun of me and ask "norm, did you make your little man yet?" ;)



i spent some quality time getting to know lori, her parents, and of course catching up with toby and fred. markham massif! there's something about our markham connektionz that stand the test of time, and its not just with my circle of friends, i've noticed it with most people who went to markham district high school. perhaps it was the small town community that markham was when we were there, or the fact that many of our parents still live there. whatever the reason, i'm glad to have old friends from the 'ham in my life still.



happy birthday toby. it was amazing being able to share your birthday with you...and nice ink dude.


~*...normaste...*~