The great heist of ‘o8

The greater heist of ‘o9

Sylvia says some words for the tree.

Most successful tree mission to date.

Brett playing jingle bells here for his Christmas album.

Brett is making his Christmas list.

Everyone is making a list for Santa.

Trina gets on her winter wear.

Mrs. Clause is getting Santa a picture of herself while Jerome calls Santa and discusses what he wants for the holidays.

Trina thought she heard Santa on the roof and gets up in surprise.

Meanwhile, Brett practices “Oh Christmas Tree,” at the studio.

Trina is trying to figure out what to get me.

I mistook this tree for a Christmas tree. I didn’t realize till after I cut it down though.

Sometimes I think about what life will be like after Christmas, and how long I will have to wait till Christmas again, and it makes me sad.

I was gonna put these three together but my computer crashed and I lost photoshop. Maybe I’ll get it for Christmas…wink wink.

OH MY GOD, YESSS! (Santa does it again.)

Trina wants a puppy for Christmas. This puppy looks like the dragon dog from Never Ending Story, which I watched recently so I know.

Santa Says: ”In your face Chanukah!”

And heres a little cell phone movie my roommate and I made while waiting for some film to develop at Walgreens.

Halloween, sorry for the tardinesssesseesss.

Vintage PP T. $200. Modeled by roommate.

Spencer Keeton Cunningham.

Yogi roommate.

Roommate limo steeze.

Creepy Australian/ Avid Game reader.

Mexicans.

Yeah right.

Depressing, right Roommate?

Psss. I got a new acoustic album coming out in like two weeks. Happy Jew Day

HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!
BUY MY BOOK HERE

And…

check out photos from my art opening here
=D

While getting off the 4-5-6 at 14th Street Union Square, I heard the beautiful sound of a saxophone. I walked over to the opposite platform and saw this man playing for tips. There was something about him that interested me so I talked to him a little bit and asked him if he would like to work on a project. Meanwhile I had a digital recorder in my pocket recording his music. I got his number and took off.

When I got home, I listened to his music over and over and let it haunt my thoughts as I thought about a project I could do with him and how it would be put together.

I called him the next day and arranged to meet him at Nut Roaster Studios. My friend Kevin Hayden and Dan Witrock filmed as I did the interview. All of a sudden I began to realize that this wasn’t your average street musician. This guy played with Miles Davis and had numerous albums. I even found a Wikipedia on him when I got home.

Wikipedia:
Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre is an American free jazz tenor saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. After his 1981 live album, McIntyre recorded very little, playing on the streets and in the subways of New York.

Here is a teaser I made for the full documentary that comes out around Christmas.

A Slice of Life : Teaser from danilo Parra on Vimeo.

He has a recording date coming up in January and needs to make some money to fix his saxophone. If you would like to donate then I’ll try and figure out how Paypal works.

These photos by Danilo Parra.

I’m tired… spent 12 hours at hamburger eyes yesterday. all work, no play.
sorry i havent been updating, so so so busy. and if you’re in town dont miss my book release/art show/
it’s going to be the most epic show everrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

12/03/09 FIRST THURSDAY

ever gold gallery
441 O’Farrell st. (btw Taylor & Jones)
San Francisco, Ca 94109

be there or be a square!

There were many unique rest stops in the middle of the dessert that had some good food to offer. I don’t recommend the fish tacos in the middle of the desert though.

Lauren Cynamon filming some beautiful landscapes out the window. She was the second shooter and the editor who is working on the documentary at this very moment.

I cruised on the back of Kye and Harvey’s bike every once and a while to get those epic shots.

Our first stop was this place called Quatro’s Casas. It was a beautiful location with a very fun empty pool to shred. I was happy about learning some switch carves.

Harvey shakes down a dead cactus thing for the fire pit later that night.

We found a abandoned church in the middle of no where. We lit up the place with some fireworks.

After we had our fun at the church we headed back to the hostel. Arto prepares for the bumpy dirt road back.

I set out some left over tuna for the feral cats that occupied the hostel.

The cactus made a awesome fire.

Pat searched for more stuff to burn.

Arto is quite the Axe handler. He cut the wood and cactus for the flames.

Keagan Sauder and Kye were sleep renegades who didn’t bring tents so they slept in the motorcycle trailer.

We fueled up and took off further south towards Pescadero.

As we came around a cliff we found heaven. The first beach on the Gulf side of Baja.

Lots of pictures were taken.

We got to a town called San Ignacio and it had an amazing church. We were there on Halloween and a lot happened that night.

I set up a helmet camera on Arto’s head while we rode around the town looking for a place to camp. Arto’s head seemed the sturdiest.

Jesus was hanging out in the church.

I guess “Let the Right One In,” was a true story.

Heath got into a boxing match with a local heavy weight named Carlos, on Halloween night. Arto filmed the fight on his digi-cam and everyone watched the footage to see who won the match. I filmed the fight for the documentary, so you will have to wait for it to come out to see the brawl.

Arto seemed to attract all the local musicians.

This guy made some great sound effects while he played the local folk songs. His facial expressions were even better though.

The next morning we woke up not feeling so pinnacle, but the views helped ease our hang-overs.

This guys job was to trim the palm tree’s. Seems like a pretty cool job.

This guy was a little cutie, thats all I can say about this photo.

We hit the bottom and now we headed back north for the trip home.

Kye was very well prepared for the desert and the dust, sand and butterflies it had to offer. It was butterfly mating season which meant there were many butterflies to smack against your face as you raced down the road. A few smashed into my face when I road on the back of Kye’s bike. Arto had a lot of smashed butterflies on his sun glasses.

Kye stood up on his bike at like 85 mph. It was kinda scary to watch.

Keagan took to the side of the highway on the dirt path at 70 mph. His bike ended up getting totaled the last day of the trip so he joined the back seat of the car. (Photo by Chris Grosso)

I got sick the last few days of the trip with a mixture of sun poisoning and some sort of parasite I got threw bug bites to my feet. My whole body became itchy and I had some weird red spots all over. I wore this wrestling mask on occasion to keep the sun out and so I wouldn’t scratch at my face.

Harvey chopped down a cactus. We were all going a little crazy.

We went snorkeling in Loreto. Kye had bites all over his arm that made me more itchy just looking at them. The water felt good on the skin as we looked at colorful fishes.

Our snorkeling guide found us a prickly black sea urchin.

Heath examines it’s alien face mouth thing. I was dared to stick my tongue in the alien mouth but since I have a girlfriend I backed off.

After snorkeling we hit the road once again. Only 2 days left.

We stopped in Ensenada to find some skate spots. No one really wanted to skate though so just Harvey and I went out on a mission to skate one last time.

This was the last photo on my roll on the last day of the trip. I’ll miss Baja. I think everyone will.

Towards the end I was itching to get home. Literally itching. But now that I’m home, I already feel nostalgic about that good time. I guess the grass is always greener.

Special thanks to Chris Grosso and Lauren from VBS.TV for bringing me on another amazing trip, Bill, who lead the moto gang, Matt, who drove the scary truck the whole time and gave me advise on women, Harvey, who taught me a lot about living the free life, Heath, who taught me it’s ok to wear pants all the time, Arto, who taught me you can cut through anything if you put your mind to it, Kye, who let us crash at his house, Keagan, who is always happy, Hime, who is always funny, and Patrick, who showed me the ropes at Lord Blacks. Oh and Love Bryan himself for letting me borrow his tent and sleeping bag.

Kenny Scharf in his studio.

The turquoise beaches are on the Gulf side of Baja, and this was the first one we came across. We were all pretty excited. But then we just kept on seeing more and more amazing beaches and I think we became kinda jaded.

Arto Saari lives up this Corona moment.

Harvey Foster’s bike got messed up early on in the trip, so he had to travel in the truck where I was. He was pretty bummed out, but it was cool because his Canadian stories made travel time much more bearable.

This dead cows gapping butt-hole made for a delicious treat for flies and vultures. But the eyes were the first to go.

This doggy had a nice set-up.

I wish this was my set-up. Maybe one day. I hope my mom doesn’t read this.

Kitties love to play on beached whale bones.

Another dead cow on the side of the road. The heat kills them sometimes, but it’s mostly cars.

Heath Kirchart having a blast.

These road kill scavengers found this Cow 5 hours after impact. The body of the cow was too destroyed from impact too try and salvage, but the head was left in mint condition. So off with the head. They eat the eyes, tongue, and the brains. It kinda looks like he is taste testing the brains in this photo.

Keep your head up, there are many more photos to come.

i sang her songs til she couldnt talk.
i let the beat of em slowly take her mind off.
it was a ringing i held up high.

we were the oceans floor,
we held it all.
but we couldnt hide away all the things we lost.
they sunk into us.

its a low lying tide comin back,
like a red tambourine shakes to crash
shakin trees of their leaves,
shakin needles our their reach,
holds up the horizon lines for us.

we wanted perfect but we didnt know why,
or how to get there.
im sorry i thanked you.
i wont bury the truth,
tremble with out you,
i can carry us through.

a week without water wont make it stop comin down,
your feet in the air leaves your hands on the ground,
a sleepy girls stare without wanting an answer,
makes the silence carry and the leaves turn faster.

Roll Away.

Color spray.

In preparation to print.

So many different font styles and sizes. The options are endless.

Cash Money.

Rich showing his printing technique.

Nice execution.

Putting it all together.

I chose these letters for my first printing experience. Rich was a good teacher.

Lining it up.

and printed.

Another drawer full of symbols.

Work left on the drying rack.

I think I found a new interest.

I have a book coming out december 3rd.

Unpiano

Now the candleflame is out, the wine spilled,
and the lovers have withdrawn
somewhere beyond my squinting.

The amount I thought I’d won, I’ve lost.
My prayers become bitter and all about blindness.

How wonderful it was to be for a while
with those who surrender.

-RUMI

Whoa there Marsha.

Special thanks to Marsha, Claudia and Katie for letting me roll with them.

But I need to try here. I can do it…

Bean got hired for a job in Moscow.

Gabby’s dad took a picture of me.

I reconnected with Leah and Jaygo.

Leah cut off my hair.

I made it to Canada.

Tim is back in Philadelphia.

Adam built a brick oven.

My mother made some big decisions.

The dinosaur consultant for Jurassic Park lives across the creek from my mother’s house in Pennsylvania.

Come through if you’re in San Francisco.

Different T-shirt tags were used to assemble the states. Pretty unique idea I thought. From Brooks Brothers to Fruit of the Loom.

These paintings were properly placed in a cage setting outdoors.

Someone has a love for hats…

Clipboards in motion. Looking Busy.

Some were creating music, while others observed.

A nice cardboard structure of sorts.

Julia Gartrell had a beautiful installation. This was my personal favorite from the show.

Strong Arms and Bolts.

Baby Corns.

Last, but not least, Made In The USA. For more information about the exhibition, please check out www.musanc.com

Sorry I haven’t been able to update my blog. I know I know this update is longggggggg overdue but I was on tour with Girls in Europe!!! Anyways here’s a link to the UK Guardian blog. A few photos I took while I was on the road…

Young love. Coney Island 2005, right before big J left for Russia.

Jesse went on to move to Russia for a year and I got involved with a Russian rock star. Yeah, you heard me. Denis was a drummer on tour in NYC in October and I was a grad student at SVA. I didn’t think much of our initial attachment, I had some butterflies in my stomach, but I was already sold on someone else. Plus I already had a ticket to visit Jesse over Christmas in Russia that I bought before I met Denis. I was really looking forward to it. It was a present from his parents – my ticket to visit him. I flew to Russia and spent a couple days with Jesse but found myself thinking about Denis. I will spare you the crap details of how I broke Jesse’s heart and left him. To make a long story short, I lived in Russia for two years with my Russian boyfriend, but it didn’t take long before it occurred to me that I might of made a big ugly mistake. Jesse is the kind of person you don’t come across twice. A magical individual.

New Year’s 2005-2006 in St. Petersburg, right before the shit hit the fan.

I hadn’t realized how much I loved him and how amazing he was until I screwed it up. I spent a lot of time in Russia burning a hole in my soul and holding onto the possibility that maybe, one day, I could get Jesse back. I was more or less convinced that he was “the one” and that I had thrown it all away. It was like a bad children’s story or a bittersweet country song reminding you not give up the guy next door for the glamorous rock star. Everytime I heard one of the 5 billion songs about lost love, I was immediately brought back to my situation. I made bad mixes for him. I wrote long desperate letters and didn’t send them. I made my friends uncomfortable talking about him. I hurt my boyfriend. Eventually Jesse had to break off contact with me. It was a pretty unhealthy time of my life.

After Russia, I came back to the states with the intention of being alone and getting my head together. Moving on. Focusing on my photography. Loving life again. You know, learning how to live again. My friend Rushina told me to write down on paper exactly what it was that I wanted in life and I got it: I got hired to work in Egypt, where I am living today.

This brief trip back to Portland was big for me because I was able for the first time ever to just be Jesse’s friend. I still get choked up sometimes, still want to vomit on him, but I think for the first time in years, I can say with strange confidence that we are better as brothers. I love the guy and I want him in my life forever. Like family. I’m feeling good about things because I think they are headed that way.

We crashed at Pontus Alv’s house when we got to Malmo Sweden. He woke us up every morning with a fruit smoothie, orange juice, cream cheese and cucumbers on toast, and a cup of coffee. It was a great way to start the day.

This was a bowl he built which the city came and destroyed. But now they Love skateboarding in Malmo and even have a skateboard school.

This is the Pontus crew of homie skater’z. Very official!

Some cool kids hanging out at the spot.

Stockholm, 11:34am.

This guy is named Love, but pronounced Louvre. He was really cool and hit up this front tail with ease.

Art Room in Denmark.

There was a pretty legit fingerboard park next to this pretty legit skate park.

These guys made a sick photo book called the Sheralton Years. Its about skating in the parking garage of the Sheralton Hotel back in the day in Stockholm. This photo was taken of them at the Sheralton parking lot.

This guy captured most of the skate scene in Denmark back in the 80’s, 90’s and nowD’s.

This is Alain Saavedra, a gnarly skater from Bilboa, Spain. We smoked a lot of hash while hanging out with him.

Copnhagen, 9:30am

Mac is the man. He has a website called skatefilms.tv He films and edits things together like a pro.

This is a Vale-drone that surrounds a sick skatepark in Spain. I took this one for Marzyo.

Always always traveling makes me always always sleepy. I took this when we got to this hotel in Rome.

Rome, 12:35pm

Tre-flip in Milan.

Two police officers roamed into the foreground as I took this photo. I think there is a photo god.

Giorgio Zattoni is one of the big Italian pros that came to the US. He used to ride for Powell and now he is a personal trainer but still rips at skating.

London, 1:23pm

This was a news film crew filming at the Tate Modern museum. The videographer had sick steez.

This is inside one of those double decker bus’s. My friend Daniel Tapper showed me around London and some of the sick skate spots.

This Chaplin impersonator might have been better than the original. He was really good and funny and dressed a random kid from the crowd like himself.

Mustache and all.

There were many street performers near the London Eye Ferris Wheel.

London, 11am

I followed this old woman around for a while since she interested me so much. I watched her stare at the Big Ben for a long time, then walked across the street and watch it some-more, then she stole a newspaper and disappeared into the subway. I think she’s my guardian angel, but she didn’t want to tell me yet.

English Puppy, 3:30pm

Daniel Tapper let me crash with him at his girlfriend Thea’s apartment. They were both so hospitable and kind. I wish I had a photo of her. Wait I do. Heres one from when they came to New York and we went to Montauk right before this whole trip.

Montauk, 30 days back in time.

London, 30 days forward in time, Daniel took the day off from school to show me around on my last day before I went back to New York. I’ll miss him and Thea and hopefully one day they will both move to New York. Any modeling agencies wanna give my friend Daniel Tapper some gigs in New York? Well goodbye Europa…thanks for having me.

Special thanks to Chris Grosso, Vice and Vans for letting me go on this fantastic journey.

Mr. Ramon Hess.

North Carolina Sand

None other than J. Fyle.

SF architecture

Made you look

Rock Quarry

The middle of summer

katparra.com for more info.

can i get rid of the ocean,
can i open up the ground,
can i sink these tidal waves,
oh lord dont take me now.

Watch the band play a sacred harp song at a houseshow. Low light but good sound.

Right now I’m on tour with the Girls (my favorite band in the world) and Swanton Bombs who also rule. Anyways I’ve been forced to use a digital camera because other blogs want me to do a daily update on the trip. Here’s a sneak peak. I’m not sure if im even allowed to put these on here…. ahhhhh I really do hate digital photography.

Check out this interview.

This last story was my favorite. Midge Wilker was diagnosed advanced colon cancer. After months of depression, she decided to quit focusing on death and appreciate the life she had. Truly a beautiful woman.

..this little punk kid shows up and starts playing shy and straight cold macking on my targets..

He was killin’ it and then he started making fun of me to make the beezys laugh..

I was dying and he wouldn’t stop laughing in my face..

It was a nightmare the girls were loving him.

Finally he started running out of jokes, and started acting shy again..

..He told the girls he’d be back and then he started showing off his drumming skills…I was like “Damn this kid!!!”

Soo talented…

I thought it couldn’t get any worse…

Then this hip beer drinking beanie wearing mutha fucka shows up with a shirt he designed and swooped..

Pulled the same shy bullshit and stole one of my yellow shirt honeys.

I had to think fast, so I started playing the guitar and had Joe sing my pain away. She sang songs about some man leaving her…
(Photo by Spencer Keeton Cunningham.)

It definitely hit the spot and I think one of the hos was feelin it but utimately they got bored with our songs..

Mr. T picked up the guitar and it was magic, I had no chance, but luckily the little boys mom took him home cuz it was past his bedtime. Mr.T left with both the Yellow ladies..

I did manage to catch this fairy while walking home tho. She led me nowhere.

Before any of this though, is training. I have to admit (and I know my bosses from camp are reading this) I was a bit put off at first. I had never been to a camp before and I knew to expect singing and cheers and the whole shabang when the kids were there, but I was not expecting it before the kids got there. Because I am somewhat of an introvert, this took some getting used to it… Before long though, I was making up my own raps to represent the ‘Blue Unit’.

Long drive to PA.

The highlight of training week was a party at Anne Hamilton’s house. She, or maybe her husband, owns Campbell’s soup. She is a huge contributor to the camp.

She had an ice cream truck come and bring everyone free ice cream.

Skip to week 2 of camp, blood conditions:

Most of the events turned into dance parties.

Week 3 of camp, Asthma:

There was a record book where kids could make up any record they wanted and have documentation they are the best at it. Record for longest time having a glass suctioned to your face: 15 minutes and 1 second.

The pool was complete mayhem.

This was the gnarliest pool brawl I saw.

Messy Olimpics was my favorite event all summer.

The ropes coarse was a major highlight too because I got to climb up and swing from ropes in the trees as I shot kids climbing up.

Pirate day.

Kristen talks to her favorite camper during a dance activity. This kid has two brothers with asthma and when he was diagnosed with it, he was overjoyed because it meant he could go to camp.

Russel came form Asheville too and took any excuse to dress like a woman. Camp is the least judgmental place I’ve ever been and therefore probably the best place to dress like a woman that I can think of. Go Russel.

Josh (another installment of the Asheville crew) prepares to cross the Delaware.

Will had a similar story to me in that he had a hard time adjusting to camp, but ended up… well you see.

Chinatown is definitely one of my favorite areas to explore in SF.  Always loads of photo opportunities.

Twins that were psyched to have their photo taken.

Posted up everyday.

Tough as Nails

Muni Lines and Buildings on Market St.

Always something interesting happening in the Tenderloin.

Ready for War.

My good friend Alicia in San Diego!

Me…showing off my sweet guns.

ST walking threw puddles. Is water foreshadowing? Hmmm..my english teacher said it was.

This is Diana with her camera and her awesome shorts. She is kinda like the girl version of Basquiat in my eyes.

We waited for the right weather at first, but then we said the hell with it and started filming.

It was a very laid back shoot.

Brett got down and dirty in the mud between the corn stalks.

RELOAD. Luckily this went smoothly and the film didn’t get too exposed. I think my hat helped.

Miho, the Pyro Technic busted out his skills and delt with fire and safety of fire. We were scared the whole corn field was gonna go up in flames. That woulda been a cool shot though.

FIRE

We stuck some toilet paper in a hole we made in the guitar and smothered it with gasoline. Worked out pretty well.

Brett was mad at me so he threw the broken guitar in my direction. Luckily my force field was working.

Brandon Bales let us borrow his Grandfather for the video. He was the harmonica player who in my mind, symbolizes Brett when he is older. But you can come up with your own story. I had ten feet of film left for this scene, which is like nothing. But it worked out.

A moth flew onto my camera and blessed the music video. I think it’s blessings worked.

That’s a wrap. Party Time! Or maybe sleep. I forgot what happened after.

Here’s the video….enjoy.

List of inspirations: palm trees, sea air, Terrence Malick, slasher films, Agnes Varda, jewel thieves, Greek myths, taco trucks, faded loafers, Les Quatre Cent Coups, super 8 cameras, blue skies and lemon trees.

Note: no band members were hurt in the course of the shoot, though not for want of trying.

The following photos were taken by Andrew White during the filming process.

you can never touch the sun if your eyes get sore.

golden rows, golden rows.

they all line the pearly roads.

let’s keep this thing on the ground.

let’s weigh this thing down.

help me tie the cables to the back and keep the chatter down.

and the sign says the sun will shine today.

the sun will shine, rise and fall.

fire truck red ahead of her, it’s earned its color.

the holster struck a chain door, and we’ve got holes in these floors.

the rain’s gonna flood in a change of tide, don’t let the time get by.

don’t let me close my eyes.

spill all the gasoline.

if it burns by you, it burns by me.

don’t forget the smell of skin under your fingertips.

don’t take the velvet in.

run for cover. take it down, take it under. shoe straps, loose ends, clouds and thunder.

words like sleet that didn’t make you angry but made you wanna to leave.

eyes like the storm, give warning.
her hands were little.
wrapped blankets round the shoulders
we got lost in the middle.
her breath was like a fingerprint,
they ate us alive,
we died doing time.
i’ll love you like noone never could.
never will, never would.

I was asked to not use the names of any of the campers.

This is one of the most interesting kids at camp. This photo was taken on day 1. He refused to talk to anyone. He thought camp was stupid, all of the kids and counselors were immature idiots, and the color purple was ridiculous and girlie (purple was his unit color).

This is Kevin, the camper’s counselor. If any other counselor would have been assigned to him, they would have had a horrible week. Kevin, however, found an amazing way to deal with his cynicism and unwillingness to participate.

Basically, he turned hating each other into a game. Kevin would tell the camper that he was going to sneak in his room and at night and put a snake under his pillow. This camper would light up and reply with some demonic plan of putting the snake in Kevin’s ear. All the while they both had a absolute blast and took great joy in pretending to hate each other. It’s apparently a great way to bond. This camper gave Kevin this back tattoo during an activity called tattoo parlor.

After a rough first night, one of our campers (in purple) decided to leave on the second day. Her friends and counselors were very supportive and understanding.

This was probably the longest meltdown I witnessed. She was up in the tree in the ropes coarse for about 30 minutes singing/yelling “I’m gonna climb up”.

Here is my other favorite camper/counselor pair. This camper was a runner. He never stopped running all week. Malcolm, his counselor, found a great way to keep him in check. Any time he yelled “Check in”, this camper would come running from wherever he was and touch Malcolm’s hand.
Also any time there was a microphone on this camper would run up to it and start beat boxing into it. I think Malcolm taught him about that too.

“Goldilocks” was a great fortune teller.

One of the favorite camp games was “dead fish” Everyone lies on their back and tries not to move/flinch/laugh while one person walks around trying to get someone to crack. Once you get someone, they are on your team and so on until there is only one person left lying.

Another of my favs. This kid knew everything about animals and loved them all… Especially snakes. He only trusted scientifically proven facts. During the opening night after the ‘Dragonfly Story’ (the mythical story of the origins of the camp), he raised his hand and said. “Um, how would that story hold up in the court of law? Is there any scientific evidence to back any of this?”

Will, Kristen and my brother, Justin all came out and worked as counselors.

Sylvia, my brother’s girl friend, runs the autism week at camp. She is the one who got us all hired.

Sylvia takes a harsh crotch punch from Will’s camper.

School of Rock!

These guys are twins with Autism. They also both suffer from a disorder that effects their muscles.

Consequently, they use people as furniture a lot.

Red Carpet night.

It has survived several generations of Millers, divorces and re-settlements, cousins, great aunts, and seemingly immortal grandmothers. Today it revolves around two central figures – Tom and Nhu, husband and wife, and their four children – Toby, Teddy, Nathalie, and Gabby. Millerama boasts pianos that play for themselves, urban legends, ancient oak trees with superb tree houses, and probably one of the best views in the Bay Area.

I was introduced to the Miller family through their youngest – Gabby Miller. We met at Reed College in 2004. I was returning from Russia for the 2nd half of my junior year. I had heard about Gabby even before I arrived in the States. She was the half-Vietnamese girl with crazy jet-black hair who had won over the heart of many a Reed student, including several of my best friends.

Like those before me, I was immediately taken with this Gabby character. She was pretty much unlike anything I had ever seen before. I was initially pretty smitten. I got that warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach sitting in her dorm room looking at all the random scraps of paper and objects on her floor – the kind of feeling where you just want to be around someone all the time. We spooned once. It was swell. Am I allowed to say that? I don’t care.

Our friendship was a sporadic one, and then at some point she joined the Rugby team – the only serious sports team at Reed. During spare moments on the field, at drink-ups, the coffee shop, and around campus, I got to know her better.

(PHOTO ON LEFT BY STEWART STONE)

But it was really my senior year at Reed when I got to know Gabbers for real, when I shared a house with her and Layla and Leah, my favorite ladies. The house was appropriately dubbed “the Stables”; we were the lovely steed and gazelles of campus, after all. It was great, despite the fact that I was half-insane, staying up all night on dip writing my thesis and then downing Benedryl or Ambien in the middle of the night to fall asleep. I also recall we had no heat, slept in jackets in the winter, and I lived in the screen room, which had no door separating itself from the kitchen. Huff.

(THESE 2 BY MIKE WILKES)

I do recall how at Renn Fayr – the end of the year 3-day party – she ate a live scorpion during the bug-eating contest, an act which she repeated last year when I visited Reed for my final Renn Fayr. She did it like a true warrior. All zen. The thing of legends. All I managed to pull off was eating a worm with my friend Julia, Lady and the Tramp style.

But I think what I admire the most about Gabby is that life is never boring around her. And I’m not saying that she’s a party animal – nope, she likes her downtime just as much as anyone. Time to sit and reflect and work in her scrapbooks and write. It’s more about this ability to be a child and an adult all at once. Because of her infinite youth – she has this unique ability to connect with children, which is quite magical.

Gabby picked me up from the airport in San Francisco and driving home, remembered that she had a present for me, sitting in the door pocket of the car. A large knife from France, hand-painted.

Gabby adores her dog, Rocko. They have a special relationship that cannot be explained by the laws of science.

A family trip to the beach.

Here she is making a stop-motion movie. I have recently taken this up and become totally addicted. Movies to follow this post. In the meantime though, you can watch hers.

The newest addition to the family, Gabby’s nephew Xavier. Half Vietnamese, half German, 100% superstar. He always has this expression on this face. I think he will be a writer or a film director. He loves pushing the buttons on cameras.

Tom – the father of Millerama. Tom works as a lawyer saving ordinary people from corporate and bureaucratic evil. At present he is working on a project to help save a huge forest in Cambodia, the last of its kind. I cannot say enough good things about this man.

Tom is responsible for filling me in on much of the history of Millerama and on all of the projects he is involved in all over the world. He is full of stories. Take the story of piano tuner extraordinaire Ben Treuhaft, for example, who Tom has been defending for years. Ben runs a project called Send A Piana To Havana, which grew out of a trip Nhu led to Cuba when she introduced him to the head of the national music school in Cuba. Ben tuned the piano there and refused to be paid. But the director insisted that he be paid, so Ben reluctantly accepted a sum of $2 – which, as a good citizen, he duly reported to the U.S Treasury. This humble act of honesty resulted in a continuing battle where Ben is basically accused of “felony tuning”. The Treasury threatened to fine Ben $7,500 for “tuning with the enemy”. Therefore, today Ben ships donated pianos to Cuba (with a license from the Commerce Dept. giving him permission to donate them to Cuban schools and churches as long as they are not used “as instruments of torture”) while the Treasury refuses him permission to go to Cuba to make sure nobody is being tortured, and Ben goes anyway.

One of the people that belong to Millerama, but absent this post is Leslie Balog. Leslie and her mother (who was living alone on top of a mountain, while Leslie was down in Cuba working for Radio Havana), purchased Tom’s mother’s house with him. When Leslie is not traveling back and forth from Cuba, she lives at Millerama in the small, slightly cramped space called the Kaczynski cabin, a reference to the Unabomber who once worked in the area. Leslie is also a lawyer from the Bay Area, long active in progressive politics.

Tom tells me that when the Millers moved in there were graduate students living there. It was during this time that the Berkeley police discovered the city’s largest marijuana patch right there on the property. After the confiscation, “visiters would emerge from the ravine with plants that the Berkeley police failed to uproot.” They never uncovered the mushroom patch above the ceiling in the house.

Gabby recently suffered an ankle injury and now goes to a Chinese massage therapist for regular acupressure treatments. They cook this combination of herbs on a pan all day and then wrap the wounded area in it after the treatment.

It’s an interesting time for Gabbers. She is seeing more than one lady at a time. First time trying this out I think. The ladies are polar opposites as well, one rugged and buff, the other a bombshell – both total sweethearts. Gabby’s newest tattoo here: Xau Ho literally “ugly tiger” the expression in Vietnamese for “embarrassed” or “ashamed” – the ladies at the local grocery store told her it was a bad word though.

This is Nhu – Gabby’s mom. As far as mom’s go, Nhu (pronounced “new”) is pretty phenomenal. I mean, I think my mom is pretty phenomenal, so it’s kind of hard to meet other moms that impress me. But Nhu takes the cake. She leads tours for Global Exchange in Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Iran. Working with Afghan women and Bianca Jagger (Mic Jagger’s ex!), the Millers established Parwaz, the first Afghan-run microfinance organization, providing small loans to thousands of Afghans caught up in the conflict. Nhu and Tom are walking encyclopedias. You can start them on any subject and talk for hours, always with homemade food on the table, fresh figs, and intermittent sips of tea and rare imported beverages from Cuba.

Natelie is Nhu’s oldest daughter, Gabby’s older sister. She is equally amazing in her own right, working on a micro-financing project in Vietnam.

Gabby preparing an English tutoring lesson in the driveway.

I then thought that it might be a great location to do a music video for my flat-mate Brett. Brett was also very interested. So I picked one of his songs, wrote a secret idea for a video, and away we went. What fun right?

We took off Monday morning and drove two days straight…well, my license is expired, so I slept for two days straight….muahh haha ha ca doo da doo..I pee in your shoe. Well I did drive for an hour but almost got in a major accident so I was relieved from that duty for the rest of the trip.

This lady was our road trip competition but during a rest stop I stuck some exlax into her coffee and we took the lead. JK!…I don’t have a comment for this foto.

Weed was smoked often on the journey amongst other things.

This ice cream place reminded me of an episode of Pete and Pete. Ice cream makes me regurgitate…yucky.

This is the fourth installment of our trusty brigade…Diana…she’s french and wanted to see America too.

After a long haul of grave yard shiftyness lead by B-Nels, we arrived in St. Louis, Missouri. I had no idea there was a epic arch there.

Jump for joy my boy.

I found a grass hopper that two construction workers were gonna smash. They didn’t though.

We got close and personal.

I learned a lot from our conversation.

I found other bugs…dead bugs…don’t cry, these are the ugly unlucky kind.

Tessa, Branden and Frank the doggy.

We went to a pool and swam with Frank the dog when we got to Oklahoma.

Sooo Free. We searched for a corn field that we needed for the music video.

We found some cool locations but still no corn field. They are hard to come by in Oklahoma I guess.

Brett used his magic powers and levitated high enough till he could see a corn field.

Wala!…We found one. We brought this fake guitar to smash for the video. I’m not spoiling anymore.

After the filming Brett took a break. We filmed 2 days straight with no sleep so we could get the nice lighting in the nice location during a nice storm. It was my first time taking aderol…it really got me focused and kept me awake. Don’t worry, I won’t become an addict…but I bet it’s sooo easy to become one.

Brett played a few more songs into the sun set before heading back to base camp.

Before heading home we stopped in at Homeland grocery store and loaded up the car so we didn’t have to make so many stops for food on the way back. We all over-shopped, but we got the car back to the rental place in the nick of time. Thanks to all those that helped us on this trip.

PS: The music video is at the lab but will be premiered here in two weeks…Be on the look out.

Heres a video that will tide you over till then:

An Okla-Awesome Adventure from danilo Parra on Vimeo.

dont draw me with the devils hand
cover me shake and shout
shake me til the dirt falls out
i went down down down
i saw the things that made the lights turn on
that shut the power off
it took me away
i never gave it a name
the colors wont stay
theyre low down dirty
take me away
dont leave me lonely
i carried on
i tore it down
i caved in on leavin this town
dont bury me
dont leave me lonely
take it or leave it
give me back to jesus.

Sweet Tooth Nelson Music Video – Don’t Say Goodbye from danilo Parra on Vimeo.

 On a road to nowhere.

 Chillin’ by the lake.

 Highlands, NC.

 Lightning Strikes these rocks often.

Schoolhouse Falls, NC.

Brett with Paris Hilton, Bill Clinton, and Colin Farrell.

jkjkjkjkkjkjk

Hey everyone, I’ll be in New York this Sunday! Anyone know where I can get some work done? =D

A friend of ours came upon 300 dollars worth of shrooms. Neither Brett or I had ever done shrooms before, so Brett planed a trip to a place where we could get some psychedelic psychotherapy. Everyone knows that nature is the best place to do shrooms, so Brett looked up a few natural spots near by and came across a town called Tuxedo. Next thing we knew, we were on a train to Tuxedo to find nature, with 300 dollars worth of illegal nature.

We left early and took a train north bound.

The front of the train was eerie.

We arrived in Tuxedo eager to find the lake. Some said it would take 2 miles to get there, some said less. They were all wrong.

We searched through the woods for hours. I think our first reason for being lost was that we decided not to follow the trail early on. When we found this valley, the groups Iphone helped us figure out how far we had till the lake. It had been 2 hours of hiking and we were less than half way.

We finally found this highway, and followed it for a while. We were on a high way to a high day.

Brett packs in earth tone making him appear ever so free.

WE FOUND THE LAKE! FUCK YEAH!

We all turned our favorite child hood snack into a sandwich full of Psilocybin. Peanut butter, jelly and magic. (Psilocybin: a hallucinogenic organic compound of the tryptamine family, found in magic mushrooms.)

While Brett and I were tripping I burned these sticks and it was the most amazing thing ever. I recommend doing shrooms and burning things. It’s awesome.

We woke up the next morning to pouring rain. Some had a tent, some didn’t. I guess it takes more than being the trip planner to get a roof over your head.

While shrooming the night before Brett broke a trees arm somewhere in the woods and brought it back to the camp site. Then someone dared him to throw it in the water.

The trip back felt pretty cracked out. It’s always nice to come back to society, even if it has so many strange rules.

Things have changed. Nicole is now married and the mother of two. She even changed her last name from Lafleur-Vetter to Karr. She delights in her children and approaches motherhood with such flair. She lives in a 19th-century church with huge stained glass windows that her husband, Adam, converted into a home. Meals are prepared from fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden. Diapers are made by hand from old clothes. Adam built a sauna next to their bedroom. He converted the one-room school house nextdoor into his woodshop where he makes luxury furniture for rich people in Manhattan and all over the Tri-State area.

I stayed at the “Nicole spa” for a week or so in July spending time with the growing family and trying to get my health back up to par. I came in a zombie and left a much more relaxed and healthy human being. Nicole is a crazy good mama. The task of motherhood seems very daunting to me, and the prospect of “wifehood” still as alien as organized religion, but I anticipate that this will be my world some day. They really have everything they need out there. Between the garden and the chickens and home-made beer, if there were ever an apocalypse, my sister’s family would be just fine.

This was the perfect swim spot for a summer day after a night of camping.  

Rorey comes through with a gainer while friends show concern.  

Nothing beats a little relaxation after a full day.

A bit more of an adventurous day. 

lost boys.

The day was going so well until we were about to leave.  A local sheriff showed up and wanted to issue everyone a ticket for trespassing.  After an hour of telling him how he as ruining our day, the sheriff decided to make a deal with us…..he would let everyone leave if all the trash was picked up around the area.  Needless to say, we made this happen.  

Colby plays with Holy Shit now. Matt’s an amazing songwriter, check it out man! And look at this cooool shirt he gave me ;)

I’ve had many brief conversations with my mailman, but the last one was too long and towards the end he said, “We should get a drink sometime,” and because I wanted to still receive my mail and not to be rude I said, “Sure that sounds like a good idea.” He ruined my life by saying, “Great, I’ll pick you up at 8.” And with a big smile on his face he laughed, “Don’t worry, I know where you live.”

“So how many dogs have you been bitten by?” I asked. Then I yawned.

He looked at me while squeezing his lime into the gin and tonic and said, “A better question would have been: How many dogs have been bitten by me?” He took a sip.

I wondered if this was a date or whether I was about to be a serial killers first victim. I hoped it was the latter and excused myself to the restroom hoping to find a suicide bomber who was having second thoughts so I could convince him to go through with it.

It’s hard for me to accept the truth that my girlfriend and my dog lead way more interesting lives than I do. One has recently left on a sojourn to Mars to research the effects Myrtle Beach-gray colored sweatshirts have on E.T.’s.
And the other has started her own posse of easy riding canines. They call themselves the LegHumpers.

It’s been my theory that when aliens vacation here they arrive from the deep blue sea. If they do bring luggage, which doesn’t happen very often, their suitcases are always clad in shiny silver.

Letters never sent, shouts lost to the wind.

We have two kattens: bubbles (cos he ate detergent), and an as-yet unnamed gray lady.

Crazy thunderstorms happen regularly…

The east-coast experience is blessed with train rides

Mano a mano.

Old friends!

Only in America… God-bless diversity.

An art show of this work opens in Brooklyn on Friday.
American Standard
Friday, July 17th, 2009. Six p.m. until dawn.
Red Hook Labs
46 Beard St., 3rd Floor
Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY

Our float was called “Fallen Angels.” It didn’t move cos the engine melted, but it did spew bubbles and fog. We doled out “angel juice,” a modified version of coffee-brandy milk.

Brother and sister.

Our very on Smithereen farm angel (she ain’t fell yet).

Our fallen angel.

Right before I took this picture I got pelted right in the face with a water balloon… my camera did not escape unscathed.

Michael Jackson featured prominently on at least three floats. This was a keg-boarding take on the man.

These guys ended up winning the contest. Not pictured here: homemade covered wagon with spinning life-sized wheels. It was pretty awesome.

This town isn’t big on authoritay.

That’s Petey in the wig and nighty…. since our float didn’t move, he took it upon himself to terrorize the other ones.

This float was amazing – piles of trash mixed with old mashed potatoes and god knows what else. Oh and this chick in a bikini under a giant magic mushroom.

Thug life.

Fish, hunt, eat cunt – what more could anyone want?

When the play started, two things happened: a torrential downpour began, and I ran out of film. So I’ll leave you with the West Athenian reenactment of God’s 5th day of creation: when he brought out Big Pharma to heal our imperfections, and it’s side effects.

Amen!

The bow and arrow was invented by Franklin Bowenairo in the summer of 1983 as a response to the ever-growing popularity of the Atari game system. Franklin sold his invention to the Native Americans along time ago so he could finance the projects that would inevitably make him very, very famous.
A few of his most famous contributions:
1. Walls: F.B. was born with an allergy to breeze. At the age of 4 he erected his first wall.
2. Mustache: At the end of an intense 6 day battle of D & D F.B. invented the mustache. He sold his idea to the pornography for a tidy sum-load.
3. Magic: Sometime during the 1990s (no one knows for sure) F.B. combined the backboard shattering hugeness of Shaquille O’Neal with the lady-slaying prowess of Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, thus creating magic.

Toyama prefecture, Japan, September 2006 – May 2007.

Never married, and with no children to help, Sakai-san subsists on a government pension, living in an abandoned house in rural Toyama to avoid paying rent.

With dementia already in play, Sakai-san has a difficult time with short-term memory. Old notes and newspapers scatter the floor, figures from the past imagined from the present.

Left: Oranges and laundry, armchair and rice cooker. Everything has it’s place; remembered, forgotten, then found anew.
Right: Two 40-watt bulbs light a narrow front room Sakai-san has turned into his primary living space.

Kitchen and bathroom all rolled into one.

Left: Seventeen when WWII ended, Sakai-san worked a variety of jobs to put food on the plate; the first was as a traveling medicine salesman, a job with historical precedence in Toyama dating back to the Edo era.
Right: Neko-chan, one of two cats that keeps loneliness at bay.

Left: With no gas connection and only one extension cord, Sakai-san is ingenious with utilities. The rice maker functions as a cooking device with which weathered hands prepare everything from tea to boiled fish.
Right: After a chance encounter with the art world in Tokyo, Sakai-san decided to sell pictures to various businesses and government offices in the Hokuriku area.

“I couldn’t draw worth a damn when I was young, but I’ve always been interested in the arts. People don’t buy much in the way of that out here, so it’s hard to convince them to spend money on a print –- have to go to the man at the top, you know, the number one in charge -– number two won’t do.” Sakai-san on selling art in the countryside.

“This one. Yeah, this one. It’s interesting isn’t it? Problem is, I can’t just cart it around with me everywhere – too heavy you see. Besides, can’t walk in and see them [business/government executives] with the real thing. So I take photographs instead, that’s what I show them, copies.” Sakai-san on his approach to potential clients.

“Might be able to sell this. It’s good but the background is unfinished, see. If it were mine I’d fill in those patchy areas with some solid color – something flat, make it smooth.”

“Have you ever thought about doing it yourself?”

Chuckling, “Oh – no, no, I’m not a painter.”

Old age and lack of mobility have made selling paintings a practical impossiblity now, but old art history books help keep the dream alive.

Sakai-san’s dilapidated, yet homely kitchen.

Left: A lone bottle of spirits sits on a run-down kitchen counter.
Right: Cold water flows constantly through the kitchen tap, conveniently rigged to the offshoot of a water treatment plant nearby.

Sakai Shouta.

“Can I take your portrait?”

“Yup…”

An evening glimpse into the front room of Sakai-san’s home.

Although he often tries to go to the city, it takes more than 1.5 hours for Sakai-san to walk from his home to nearest major road. From there he hitchhikes or takes the bus. The journey has become increasingly difficult, leaving Sakai-san more and more alone in his old age.

Check out the book for the whole story.

You can see the full, unedited feature over at unpiano.com. The photos that I appear in where taken by Evelyn Lee.

Harvesting pea shoots on one of our plots.

Poison ivy is kind of an issue out here.

The pig in transport to it’s new home.

We had a big event that required a lot of clean jars.

Fresh from the pond.

Harvesting elderflowers to make syrup.

This old barn had such thick beams! And a giant vulture roosting inside.

U-pick strawberries are infinitely more tasty straight from the field.

We killed a goat for an event. These guys are pros and handled it quickly.
If you were upset by this image, the next (and last) won’t be to your liking.

Petaluma ain’t too shabby.

The one on the right is called Buttercup. She has a dread over each eye.

Ted and Courtney, my successor.

The main man lets the little bulls spar with him every now and then, but everyone knows who’s boss.

Yup.

In 1933 all the residents of New York City could have stood on top of one another’s shoulders and touched the moon. It may have been possible that the person on top would have been able to caress the moon. An attempt at this great feat was just out of arms reach in 1934. When the last citizen was placed on top of the human tower the population realized that he had no arms.

Major competitors always live in very rural areas where it is quiet. They think that peace and quiet for the manok during their upbringing is crucial in raising a winning cock.

There are markets where you can go by manok either for fighting or eating.

Some owners have huge farms with hundreds of manok while other just have a few in their yard tied to sticks.

The roosters are trained for months before they get into a ring to fight.

When practicing they are given some kind of small gloves or pads over their spurs.

Vitamins are injected just beside their heart once a week. This is always done at night because the medicine makes the manok hotter.

When the day of the fight comes, the first step is to find matches. Big circles are made outside of the ring and competitors make rounds eying up other roosters trying to find a good match. Once a few challenges are made and excepted, they get ready to fight.

For the fight, a sharp metal blade is tied onto the spur. This is actually much more human the Muslim Filipino version of cock fighting which does not involve a blade. The fights go on for hours and carry to the next day in some cases.

The most exciting part of the fight night is the betting. The whole arena comes to life. The spectators resemble howler monkeys as they try to find a bet. The idea is to find someone who wants to bet the same amount of money as you on the opposite manok.

Different hand signals indicate the amount of money you are trying to bet. Whatever number of fingers you have held up if you point them up it means x10, sideways means x100 and down means x1000. This is one of the ways to find someone in a crowd that’s betting the same amount as you. It gets confusing though because a lot of people just wave their hands frantically.

Along with the hand signal the better yells either the amount of money they want to bet or the rooster they want to bet on. At the beginning the judge decides which rooster is “Inilog” and which is “Biya” Inilog is the favorite and gets higher odds.

The betting only lasts about two minutes so it is very frantic.

In the start of each fight the manok get free pecks at each other to get them riled up.

The fights last anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes.

The losers are sold to be eaten.

After all of the matches that were arranged outside are through (usually just two or three) the dust settles and the crowd moves back outside to watch another round of match making.

At each Cock Pit (arena) there is a doctor on duty to care for the winner. The wounds are cleaned and they are sewn back up so they can fight another day.

An ex-pro boxer and cock fight enthusiast borrows money to karaoke sappy love songs at a bar after losing all of his money (800 pisos) at the cock pit earlier that afternoon.

During fiesta, a different bread of cock fight emerges. This is called “Tari-Tari” These fights are held outside of the cock pit and are illegal. Cockfighting is legal in the Philippines, but only when it’s done inside a cockpit.

These sometimes take place on the sidewalk or in a back yard, and sometimes they are in small fenced in arenas such as this.

The events of the rest of the night after the cock pit are very much determined by if it was a winning night or a losing night. This is Opow, he is the better and best friend of Al Romanillos (a small time, but passionate competitor). A few nights before this he won all of the bets that he made and the whole family and all of their friends partied all night until the money was gone. Many of the guys were still drunk and stumbling through the streets at noon the next day. On this night however, he lost every bet, including one on Al’s manok. They planned on fighting two roosters, but took the pattern of bad luck as an omen to quit. The ride home was quiet as was the rest of the night.

this is the old one, its the slower one

bend it back at the knees

hook it up to your machines

lay it down one more time and sing for me

you’ve gotta hold on

if you were above all the clouds in the sky

then you could see the lightnin storms before they arrive

you’ve gotta hold on

and the sand burns our feet

and i can feel the salty skin

its goosebumps in the breeze

and lets pretend we’re there again

close your eyes with me

you’ve gotta hold on

Our Site- work done by New Nairobi Dam Group- used to be a flood plain- but community Dug a 500 m drainage ditch, built 100 m gabion to create one of the only open spaces in all of kibera right by the dam. Kibera is denselly packed with Mud and Waddle houses, people, dogs, chickens, goats, pigs, sheep, and streams of human shit. we are working on a playground and a toilet block design.

(a silly limerick that sums up a beauteous week spent on the north coast)

candied peels at Lulu’s

ran into these kids in mendo

Oh, life!

During a stroll through one of the back roads in Dalat, this man saw us walking and yelled for us to come down and take a shot of rice wine with him.

Kristen and I spent the better part of a day trying to find “Chicken Village” which was something that looked cool in our guide book, but it proved to be very elusive. Turns out Bryan tried to find it when he was in Dalat a few years ago and couldn’t track it down either. We found this community of rice farmers instead.

This process is called ‘rice threshing’. The machine removes the grain from the stalks and the shells from the grains.

Bryan and I have been arguing for a long time about which of these two photos is better. I like the one above and he likes this one. For the blog… you get both.

Those are the bags of rice behind her ready to go.

Another farm right down the street.

All of the graveyards were at hilltops and made for good treks on the moto.

At one of the Buddhist pagodas this guy showed us around a bit and creeped Kristen out.

We hung out with this farmer and his wife for a while. There was no verbal communication (language barrier) but it was a cool interaction none the less.

Tilling on terraces is fucking sketchy!

He explained that one time before while he was trying to get the tiller over this little bridge it toppled off and fell down the hill.

When he was tilling near the edge of this hillside he would swing it around and let his weight go completely off the side of the cliff using the weight of the tiller to keep him up. It was about a fifty food drop off under him.

After we left Vietnam we spent two more weeks in the Philippines working on a story that we will be going back to finish. Then back to the States for fresh crisp air and hot showers.

open road. 8 hour car ride.

the young gun car. we left a day later than everyone else. go figure. myself, rorey, j.fyle…

and jacob. also on the trip were rob, ryan(MVP), rj, layne, kevin (sometimes steven), and matt. wylie made it out for a few days at the end.

a blessing?

rain was a pretty constant theme to the week.

somewhere just past the peidmont region there is a town called mount olive. it is shockingly flat and no one there seemed to mention olives. it is, however, the pickle capitol of the country.

were a very mature bunch.

surely there was more to this town than pickles, right? nope. its all anyone talked about. that is, at least, at the one gas station we stopped at. this man had 3 teeth.

these two slept 80% of the time they were in the car, even if it was only a five minute drive.

WAKE UP BITCH

when we finally made it to the coast, the first stop of the night was eastern skatepark. its the best park ive ever seen. i fucked my ankle up pretty proper a few days prior to the trip , so i couldnt skate it. goddamit.

rorey, wallie up and over.

carolina beach. nightlife. short-sleeve button up posse.

justin swears he wasnt flexing for the camera.

johnny lives right on the beach. his house is the shit.

rj, a little dissapointed in jacob, maybe?

all the old guys (and rj) went to bed around one or so. rob gets really pissed when you fuck with his sleep. our car went and explored carolina beach.

were a really mature bunch.

this was at 4am WASTED. i really thought rorey was going to break his legs.

or faceplant.

most of us slept on johnnys porch. it was good.

its time for…

the beach!

ryan lookin pretty serious about boogie boarding.

rob, pondering.

ryan, tough boogie. jacob, camera go-to. rob, still pondering.

i guess he was trying to figure out how to tame a wave.

skimboarding is hard.

i gave up pretty quickly. somehow i gave myself a hot pocket on that fucking thing.

“you just gotta do it like this, bro”.

rj was a total local for a day.

back at johnnys to change and go to the park. this was justin and jacobs prep for pretty much everything.

lots of cool things happened at this park but i was too busy bitching about my ankle and not being able to skate to take photos. rorey, fs ollie.

after the park, jacob ollied this bump to bar a few times.

then he 180d it really, really good..but all my photos of it suck.

another enemy of the sun.

footy check

next spot needs the genorator. we had made it to wilmington by now.

technical difficulties…

started working after a few minutes though.

coupla tries…

jfyle, frontboard fakie.

next spot, the infamous wilmington double-set.

first go. the was the exact moment BEFORE justin flew to his head/rest of body. i though he was really fucked up, but he took it like a champ.

jfye, lipslide the kinks. perfect.

“that was really good”

jacob and rorey were putting down switch shuvs and 360 shuvs, respectively, but both were too beaten from the day to finish the job. and rorey credit carded down the double set. thatl end the session, too.

time for beer.

got a hotel room that night. jacob…reading the bible?

oh…

i see.

then we saw stevie williams on b.e.t.. he was playing a prank on a “non-celebrity”. skateboarding sucks.

steve-o is sober and doing wallrides.

the next day most of the crew went to a trade show. it sounded boring so jacob, rorey, and myself went to an aquarium. tourists!

people definitely made an effort to keep their kids as far from us as possible.

“the animals need the water to breathe, sir, please put that down”. come on, what cant hold its breath for 3 seconds for a photo op?

this shark didnt eat ANYTHING. i was so disappointed.

and nothing ate this woman. nothing even tried to. nature isnt as cool as it looks on tv.

except jellyfish. jellyfish fucking rule.

this little guy was skitchin.

this was on sale for the bargain price of $700. im not joking. $700.

they stayed at that fucking trade show for way too long. we went and checked out some random pier in fort fisher.

tourtist squared.

pelicans are pretty tight.

yukin it up with the locals.

somewhere, way the hell over there, is europe.

jacob wouldnt jump, no matter how much i called him a pussy for it.

25 cent telescopes on the pier are tight. photo opppps. no one was within 100 feet of the dude. mr lonely.

feed the animals

this is not intimidating when youre drinving a blue soccer van.

back to wilmington. great time to come to the coast.

great.

blind video premiere at some random bar.

stolen flashes.

anytime theres piles of free stickers, the sticker game starts.

this dude had no idea. he was that faded. he sucked anyways.

starry eyes.

rj drinks “prickley pears”.

lane drinks upside down.

jacob drinks out of fishbowls.

drunk/sad car ride home

until pokerface came on the radio.

we stayed at mirandas that night. jacob and rj shared a blanket. then jacob peed on rj. true friends.

rob wallrode.

ryan (MVP) grabbed it.

justin ollied into it frontside.

then he kickflipped into it.

rorey flyin high.

girl shredders! “im in love”- jacob

deathmatch!

on to morehead city. the “morehead” thing never got old.

rob took us to a beach he used to go to. it also doubles as where christmas trees go to die.

it was cold.

“theres nothing to skate here”

jacob entertains himself (and everyoine else) everywhere he goes, regardless of the moral of the rest of the crew.

and makes a weed reference every 20 minutes or so.

more driving. on to the outer banks.

ryan(MVP) did a doughnut after EVERY pit stop.

i dont even know where this is. it was fun though. i skated a little that day.

jfyle, bs noseblunt. we got tons of footage at this park.

and ryan(MVP) ate the shit out of this banana.

same random town. the older rippers wanted some food so we pushed around to look for spots.

this thing was unassuming. the sleeper spot took jacob and justin both out HARD. then they both ollied into it.

met back up with the other guys at this diner with a gap across the street. kicked out after one ollie.

outer banks, or somewhere. i forget now. i think this was near duck beach.

jacob, bs nosegrind the whole thing pop out 5 feet from the end going mach a billion.

we stayed at robs dads house that night. this was rob as a young’n. fuckin jock…

more drinkin on the beach.

layne.

ryan(MVP), the salty fisherman.

people kept forgetting the sea rises and would be attacked every few minutes.

the reason this is blurry is because my camera was moving. falling, rather. into the ocean. this is the last photo my camera ever took. i just found out d70’s are only 400 bucks on ebay right now, so i might get one of those. there was 3 or 4 more days to the trip with a billion photo ops that i missed. oh well. it was still fun.

i dont remember nothin after my eyes close,
when they open what’s behind em’s got nothin to show.
and the dust rose,
and my eyes watch my hands fold.

the halos keep the tides rollin,
they keep me goin real slow,
and the wake’s all alone,
but wipes the dirt off my bones,
like the sweat that cools my clothes.

changin for the payphone,
we’re hollerin to hang the tone,
change clothes and stay gone.

May here on down

I had to update the photo. Previously was a fountain in the Turkish Quarter in Sarajevo; drinkers of its waters will have many returns. This photo is just one that makes my heart swell.

i use to be alive, i use to be alive
i breathed it in and i breathed it out,
i tried and i tried.
i’m sinking in the sky now, i’m soaking in the lies now.
i’m reeling in the times and fumbling through the lines now.

the lakes are all too wide,
it jumps and sinks in the tide.
i use to be alive, i use to be alive.
no place left behind and nowhere left to find,
i’m seeing things collide,
these logs will build the fire to leave the truth behind.

new years.

went to marion or somewhere so george could get this crook.

this sticker was at a gas station there.

be dancin and shit

biba got older

so did george

“make a birthday face”

nohe had fun

emily quit being a mom for a night

new foundation spot. not much yet.

belleme, kickflip over the bar. this is big.

nohe, polejam back noseblunt.

jorge

more or less all i remember of halloween.

photo cred: molnar.

belleme

12:15am

12:30am

12:35am

12:40am

12:41am

12:50am

12:30pm. molnars 27.

This was a breakthrough role for Vlado. To become the VD germ he beat out Charlton Heston, Dick Cheney (who invented VD), DeNiro, Hoffman, and Liza Minelli. But Vlado won.

Sam’s trying to find the digital display of the photo he just took, but he has to wait for the little dinosaur in the box to come back from his smoke break.