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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
randnorm repeating monday event in black rock city 2006
makeout monday
tea at dawn/tea at dusk mondy-monday come by templewhore at dawn and dusk for herbal tea blends to boister you on the playa. there will be coffee as well for those in pure need. if you're feeling illin', please feel free to ask one of our herbalists for some advice. hosted by: templewhore within area 2257 @ 7:00 and chance photo by scott london
randnorm one time monday event in black rock city 2005
sacred sexual massage for women 11:00am-1:00pm about 40 participants will be welcomed to an intro to the principles and practice of tantra. the focused on women receiving sacred spot massage to open emotional, energetic, and spiritual paths. discussions cover the tantric path, yin&yang energy, anatomy, the sacred spot and g-spot, female ejacualtion, kundalini, breathing and whole-body orgasms. hosted by: ascension tribe @ esplanade and 4:30 photo by cocky bastard
randnorm mind grenadethe real spirit of burning man isn't about destruction, its about creating, participating, contributing. building a community that needs you, relies on you. its about allowing yourself to become part of the whole, and then coming away from it with more than you brought. aah, there's no feeling like it in the world. its a mind altering journey son, if you're willing to take it.- stanley's friend, malcolm in the middle season 7 premiere
randnorm pikcha little islands pikcha by adam c
randnorm video
where do i begin - the chemical brothers normdate 28.8.6
i actually planned out my outfits for the burn by drawing a pikcha of myself for each day and what i'd be wearing, then i packed accordingly. i'm such a fag sometimes ;)
i woke up this morning in a queen size bed that i shared with kristin at circus circus, reno, nv. this would be the last time i woke up in a bed for the next week, and i was beyond excited! tomorrow i will greet the sun in black rock city. this morning i greeted the sun in reno, and it was shining warm and bright.
mike and i left kristin and daemond to sleep some more while we went to raley's grocery store to buy our food for the week and of course our supply of boozeahol.
i was hungry, so i got a delicious panini and washed it down with a king can of coors light. i love that you can buy booze in a grocery store...and holy shit boozeahol is cheap here. a 60oz bottle of vodka for only $12.99!!! you know we stoked up on that isht.
2hrs and $400 later, mike and i packed up the truck with more food and booze than we needed and headed back to the hotel. we made a quick stop at a piercing parlour so i could grab a new hematite ball for my nipple piercing (mine fell out at shambhala).
this was the last opportunity i had to take a hot shower for the next week, so i made sure to enjoy every minute of it. aaah, the feeling of being clean. life is about to get very fukkin dirty and dusty. i can't wait.
kristin rockin her new cruiser
after czeching out of the hotel, we secured our bikes and gear on the truck and began our journey to black rock city.
we made a quick stop at a hardware store to pick up some last minute supplies.
the gas station was full of burners.
you could feel the excitement. the time had finally come...next stop, black rock city.
the drive to black rock city is a bit less than three hours. brc is just outside of a little desert town called gerlach. the convoy of burners was a solid line from reno to brc.
the gas station in gerlach is the last stop before black rock city.
and was full of both burners and the last concession stands we would see that accepts money. other than ice and coffee at center camp, burning man is a cashless society.
inside the porta potties in gerlach
seeing the dust of brc in the distance brings out such an overwhelming feeling of excitement, wonder, and possibility. a temporary city of 40,000 people built in the middle of the desert where the possibilities are endless.
the last turn off to black rock city.
the theme for burning man 2006: the future - hope and fear
the time limit is 10mph
the sun was setting behind the mountains and we were in the middle of a rather intense dust storm by the time we reached the entrance. i was stoked to see that the last signs before the entrance were of marrianne williamson's return to love poem...very appropriate.
we were finally home.
kristin, mike, and dae had to ding the ceremonial bell and declare that they were no longer burning man virgins.
our greeter was named ling ling. she took kristin aside for a few monents and shared something very powerful with her.
kristin returned to the truck, but something had changed. she refused to tell us what ling ling had said to her, but kristin was quiet and deep in thought after whatever it was ling ling shared. it was actually quite wierd to see kristin's demeanour of excitement and joy turn into one of quiet self reflektion. yup, we were definitely at the burn.
the streets of black rock city are set up as rings with the man at the center. the rings are named according to the theme, the future: fear and hope. from the center esplanade ring, the streets this year were anxious, brave, chance, eager, fate, guess, and hope. the streets that connected the rings were times on a clock, starting at 2:00 and ending at 10:00. here is what the map looked like this year.
the burning man maps are designed by lisa hoffman at stuidioninedesigns. czech em out here.
we headed to the mad hatter's society and the church of respect at 3:30 and fate to link up with our calgary burners. despite the sun having already set, it wasn't hard to find them...the theme camp was set up right at the corner of 3:30 and fate.
there was no way we were going to setup our full camp in the dark, so we put up our individual sleeping tents, grabbed a few beers, and headed out into the glowing and blinking utopia of black rock city...sans bicycles.
burning man is simply out of this world. it is overwhelming. there is so much to look at, so much to do, so much happenning everywhere you look. its as if your mind explodes with every breath you take.
we made a quick stop at a tent that was bumping house music. the people, the energy, the environment...i couldn't believe that i was finally home. unfortunately there wasn't a bar at this tent, so we left in search of our first playa drink.
we arrived at a camp called chillonia on the esplanade near 3:00. the music was being provided by a blonde guitarist and a dread with marraccas.
aaah! rum and coke, our first playa drink. its good to finally be here...and what better place for kristin's first playa drink than the tent with turtles!
we stopped at the disco wall of lights for a group pikcha
this colour changing wall can be seen from very far away...its really that bright.
me at the wall last year
goddess caley at the wall
our next stop was the centre of the entire festival...the man.
the structure that the man stood on this year was very art deco. there were multiple stations within the structure that you could interact with, encouraging you to answer hope or fear. the answers would be recorded and at sunset every day the man's arms would rise or fall indicative of our collektive view of the future, hope or fear.
one installation was called you x 360. there was a circular platform that you could stand on with a bike to the side of it. the back tire of the bike came in contact with the platform. two people would stand on the platform and someone would ride the bike causing the platform to spin. a camera would take pikchaz of the duo on the platform every three seconds for a total of 27 pix. then a printout of the pikchaz (a laser printed page) would pop out from underneath the camera and you'd walk away with a youx360 souvenir.
i got on the bike as two unsuspecting burners decided to stand on the platform. i guess i kinda pushed it too hard, because the two people on the platform didn't last long and ended up on their asses. maybe i shouldn't have ridden so fukkin hard ;)
after leaving the man, we made it to the esplanade and 7:00 where we came across the prometheatrics camp. they had a large silver box of cool shit, encouraging people to get inside it and experience how fukkin cool it is. they would close you up and then spin the box around.
you also could pick some extra tingz from the little box of kewl shit to make your time in the box of kewl shit even kewler. i'm not shitting you!
i ran into my friend martin and anna from my toronto burner krew at the prometheatircs camp. they were my first of many randnorm encounters that i would experience all week.
radical self expression, self reliance, creativity and imagination constantly served up at random for a week. this place is nucking futz! the costumes, the art, the bikes, the people. there is nothing like being a citizen of black rock city.
i tried to catch up with the disorient bus, but they were at capacity and was not picking anyone else up. boo...and i ran hard too catch up to it too. hey, who wouldn't want to party on a bus that looked like this with 100 people raging on it?
we stopped at center camp and took a little rest. free booze everywhere can really creep up on ya. i love this place. free booze everywhere. free beats everywhere. art everywhere. fire everywhere.
drunk, overwhelemed, and tired from walkin around the playa (bikes are a good thing), we walked back to our camp and called it a night. tomorrow is going to be a new and insane day.
its good to be home. there is no place i'd rather be...ok, on top of a mountain covered in powder would also be prrrfekt too.
