Friday, October 19, 2012

7th burn

my 7th trip to the desert proved inspiring and otherly-worldly as usual. this year i camped with the altitude lounge, a long-standing camp of friends i've known for years and new friends i'm anxious to see again. i used up my camera memory shooting video for an art project, so many of these are from friends.
 view of the playa from larry's plane, with an incoming storm
the altitude lounge camping area and lounging platform
 altitude lounge kitchen (train cargo container), waiting for the deep fryer to heat up
 the lounge at dusk
leroy reciting poetry during breakfast
one of the art structures was 'wall street'
 wall street meryl lynch bull
 free pussy riot! burners were encouraged to tag walls treet 
boise friends built this structure to represent idaho, each state could submit a piece of art
 the structure, called 'opalessence' had 3 wooden boxes hanging inside, with ashes from 3 of our friends who died over the summer (a couple who died in a car accident, and a fire fighter)
opalessence burns, the man glows in the background
 the building of osiris, the egyptian god of the afterlife
osiris burns
3 of our favorites in one shot- the man, opalessence, and our friend sam's giant squid
 campmates heading home from a dance club- kate hurt her knee falling off of our tower scaffold
 we work with the opulent temple sound camp, which draws large crowds with world-class djs 
 kim and justin get married at altitude lounge
 campmates
 spontaneous dance party gathers when an art car stops to play tunes
art cars cruise
 kristi and i get ready to rally
 at the neighbor's, enjoying their lounge
 playing barbie doll foose

 one of our camp art cars
 another camp art car (ex-fire truck) next to our tower
 brad, brian and kristi eating dine in my trailer
 on the queen beast art car during a storm

 chris, jessica and sam transporting sound gear
 cari and kaden
 the gang
 jessica djs
 bowling
 thunderdome fights are a great spectator sport
 jess on the carosel
the memorial at the temple, for our friends CJ and Zach 
 volunteer firemen monitor the burns
 campmate dan, he writes music for movies in los angeles, and made his own musical backpack
 opulent temple in full glory
 the temple at dusk
 
 the man burns
 the temple
 emily
 a lounge area sculpture made of nothing but zip-ties
 the man in a dust storm
 watching sunset from the pier
 last year we had the pier only, this year there was an entire 4-story sinking ship attached
 our crew reporting for duty
sam mans the cannons

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Memorial BBQ

july 31 was the year anniversary of my sister's family accident. she & the boys were too injured to fully participate in the memorials, and kris also believed tom would have much preferred a celebration of life. so she invited their friends to a campout on the moyie river on the canadian border. many of their friends from san fran, DC, and portland joined us for an amazing 4 days
 camp was conveniently at the take-out for tubers and kayakers
 jamie and his cape
 the boys
kris and ben
emma and norah sporting the bene tattoo (tom's his nickname)
friends in s.f. spent all year making 3 quilts for kris and the boys, using tom's old shirts as well as shirts sent in from across the country by friends. during the campout we finished the bindings
the finished quilts (amazing, simply amazing) and the crew
fire and convo during a set break- we spent a long night dancing to a fabulous local band
 kris and brett, tom's classmate, great buddy, and our bro. 
 june, una and i getting ready to float the river
so many memories & missing her 2nd half got a bit overwhelming for kris, but these amazing people had her back, as they've proven again & again & again
tom's best friend jamie hugs mark, while little nephew jamie reaches out to his namesake. mark was their 'dorm daddy' at sterling college, and got them into all sorts of trouble, and has been instrumental in keeping all of these classmates in touch. the prayer flags overhead were those hung at kris and tom's wedding
 the best toy ever? tubes! i think everyone in camp was eventually caught, piled, & tipped by these kids.


 mom and gordon on a hike
 camp clothesline
 extreme tubing prep
 norah, norah, ben and jamie- they were all neighbors in bethesda and are bestest buds
kris hangs with jamie as he warms up after playing in the river