I ran at full speed down Willis Street towards the bus stop, trying to catch up with my bus which had overtaken me almost a block earlier. If I was lucky, there'd be enough people getting on for me to get to the stop in time.
I was 10m away when the last person got on - and almost within reach of the doors as the bus pulled away, leaving me gasping (and swearing) in its wake.
I sat down heavily on the bench. Bollocks! Half an hour until the next bus at this time of the evening! I hate it when I miss it by only a few seconds...
"Oy! Hey you! Jump on!"
"Who me?" I asked the lady bus driver who had just pulled up in front of me.
"Come on - we'll catch them at the next stop," she said, as she radioed through to the driver of my bus to make sure she waited for me.
At the next stop I jumped off bus #2 and onto bus #1. Hooray! In 15 minutes I was home.
Thanks Mrs Lady Bus Driver!
Technorati tags: bus, Wellington, bus stop, running for the bus, missing the bus, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Running for the bus
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Canaan Downs revisited
It's all about the timing sometimes, isn't it?
I joined Facebook very recently, for the simple (and very silly) reason that I thought it would be cute to create a page for each of my cats, so that they could have some online friends. Heh. I am SO losing the plot...
Anyway, I have noticed that my little group of Facebook friends is made up almost entirely of two completely wonderful and very different sub-groups - the Shifties and the Dance Party People (or, more precisely, The Gathering Crew).
A couple of weeks ago I got a message on Facebook from the very wonderful Simon K, one of the original Gathering crew, and one of my very favourite people. I haven't seen Simon in such a long time, but I often get to read his musings on the Obscure weekly updates mailing list. You always know when it's Simon doing the writing... he has such a unique and lovely way with words.
Simon wanted to tell me about the Canaan Downs Festival, which is being held over New Year at - you've guessed it - the only place one should ever spend NYE - Canaan Downs.
God I miss Canaan Downs. I miss dancing in a field with a great stupid grin on my face. I miss rushing around organising stuff and setting things up and making things happen and being part of an incredible group of people making magic on top of a mountain. I miss doing the impossible. I miss creating moments of power (in a good way!). I miss woohooing through the beech forest.
I miss the moments of calm before the perfect storm (hah! Memories of G2000 come flooding back!). I miss opening my eyes on the dance floor and meeting the eyes of a fellow traveller dancing nearby. I miss sharing the big smile that inevitably follows. I miss being part of The Gathering crew. Did I mention I miss dancing in a field with a great stupid grin on my face? God help me, occasionally I even miss the stress, the angst and the trauma. OK, I don't miss those last three things very much - but you get the idea...
Tonight I had dinner with the lovely Matthew A, who's working with Simon K on a special little something at Canaan Downs called the 3rd resistance. "And what is this 3rd resistance of which you speak?" I hear you cry...
Let me explain in a roundabout way, because that seems to be how my words are crystallising tonight...
I'm pretty sure it was Simon who wrote the following on the Obscure mailing list a couple of weeks ago - hopefully he won't mind me borrowing it:
Generation DanceHas anyone read the 'The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test' by Tom Wolfe.
When I first read this book I was heavily into raving. I identified myself as a Raver and I thought I was involved in the most cutting edge activity ever know to man! Little did I know.
That was years ago now, but the book opened my mind to a generation before us who had travelled the same path. Telling a story about people who looked down the rabbit hole to see what was there. Some of the things that I read about like the 'Merry Pranksters' and the ideas of 'subjective reality' are still inspiring me and influencing my ideas of dance music and culture.
Part of me is upset that WE did not discover raving and all those freaky little things that happen when you dance all night to a pulsating beat. A bigger part of me is actually relived that rave, dance, trance and all the processes of social reality that surrounds dance culture is not something new at all.
It's old, like really old. As old as time itself. And it is a relief to know this because it means that no matter what people do to the dance, like: sponsor it with multi national corporations, or shove it into little boxes and intensify it, or attempt to bleed it dry of anything good. You just can't change the fundamentals.
I think it's important to remember in this day and age when our dance culture has settled into a sustained period of commercial activity that dancing to rhythm does not belong to anyone. There is no correct way to do it or to implement it.
Headline acts, sponsors, posters, promotion, hype does not guarantee anything. It's the people that dance to the music that plays. And when the time is right the people know where to go and know what to do.
To me, having talked at length with Matthew tonight, this is what 3rd resistance - and to a greater extent the Canaan Downs Festival - is all about.
As the Merry Pranksters used to say, "You're either on the bus... or off the bus."
Matthew and Simon are literally revisiting some of the mind-bending technology-type stuff that the Pranksters used to do - both at the acid tests and on their bus, Further, when they were doing their road trip across the country...
...and the party itself - well I think it's about getting out there and remembering why we all started doing The Gathering in the first place. All that stuff about "be nice humans" that I believed in wholeheartedly then, and believe in wholeheartedly now.
As Simon says on the Facebook Canaan Downs Festival group:
I think its all the best bits from parties combined with all the hardest learned lessons.
It's actually an amazing collection of people involved. Representing most of the old school south island dance collectives once again.
To name a few crews there a people from :Stardust
Visions
Gathering
Alpine Unity
Destinations
Unity
Massive
Eudeamony
Clear Light
plus lots of smaller crews, sound systems and party promoters.. There is Psy Trance group bringing a whole zone .. not sure of their name.
It's quite amazing getting involved and discovering all the connections again. Find the people who are still there/here !!
Suffice to say it is the majority of heart'core dance people helping with this event.
When I say heart'core I mean people who have a real affinity for dance culture beyond the uber-rave phenomenon. All the dance crews mentioned expose a similar thread, a logical ethos of being open and aware, conscious people who love to be creative and interactive.
There is an active sense of 'creating a vibe' when putting on parties, of pooling collective energy for a shared experience. Participation is universal.
Some people call it hippy, but I think it is more evolved than that now. Most crews have been dancing for over 10 years. So it is defiantly a lifestyle, a focused activity, a developed social ritual that has lots of history and tradition.
It will be a very NZ festival. Which is what will make it unique.
I know where I'm going to spend this New Year. It'll be 10 years since my first Gathering. I'm 10 years older, 10 years wrinklier, 10 years wiser (haha!) and I still think dancing in a field with like-minded people is one of the best experiences in the world.
Anyone else feel like joining me?
Technorati tags: Canaan Downs, Canaan Downs Festival, The Gathering, dance party, Takaka Hill, New Zealand, dance culture, dance, rave, Facebook, Simon Kong, Matthew Ayton, 3rd resistance, Stardust, Visions, Gathering, Alpine Unity, Destinations, Unity, Massive, Eudeamony, Clear Light, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
World to APEC - hope is not enough!
On September 8-9, leaders of 21 nations - responsible for half the world's greenhouse gases - meet at the APEC summit in Sydney, Australia. Some leaders support binding global targets which experts agree are needed to avert climate catastrophe. Others are campaigning for a weak voluntary alternative: hot air and hope.
Avaaz has already put together the world's biggest global climate petition, but they need more signatures to win over waverers and save the next Kyoto Protocol - please, add your name today!
Over 400,000 people have already signed, and on Friday Avaaz is launching a massive 144-square metre floating canvas "target" at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach where it will be taken out to sea by surfers. Next stop, Saturday, swimmers will float this banner over the Great Barrier Reef - which current predictions suggest will be killed off by climate change before 2030. Thousands of Avaaz members from every continent have joined in by uploading climate target pictures of their own. At the summit, Avaaz will present the petition and photos from around the world to leaders and negotiators. We will be heard.
Petition To World Leaders: Climate change is the greatest threat facing our world today - and we are almost out of time to stop it. You must tackle this problem now, decisively and together. Start working toward a new global agreement this year. Set binding global targets for emissions to avert catastrophic climate change. Take bold action immediately - and we will join our efforts with yours.
Sign the petition here
Upload your 'target' photo here
About Avaaz
As major new challenges like climate change and escalating religious conflict threaten our common future, people from around the world are coming together to take global politics into their own hands. Avaaz.org (Our name means "Voice" or "Song" in several languages including Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Nepalese, Dari, Turkish, and Bosnian) is a community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world today. Our aim is to ensure that the views and values of the world's people -- and not just political elites and unaccountable corporations -- shape global decisions. Avaaz.org members are taking action for a more just and peaceful world and a vision of globalization with a human face.
In our inter-connected world, the actions of political leaders and corporations are having a profound impact on all of us. To match the power and reach of global leaders and borderless corporations, Avaaz.org members are building a powerful movement of citizens without borders. As citizens without borders, we might not have the resources of governments, corporations or the media, but working together we can bring together millions of people around the world and make global public opinion really count on major global issues like poverty, climate change, human rights and global security.
Using the latest technology, Avaaz.org empowers ordinary people from every corner of the globe to directly contact key global decision-makers, corporations and the media. By signing up to receive updates from Avaaz.org, members receive emails and text messages alerting them to new campaigns and opportunities to act online and offline, and to make a real difference on pressing global issues.
Technorati tags: APEC, Sydney, climate change, global warming, Avaaz, petition, Kyoto, Australia, target, globalisation, globalization, world leaders, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
Go home Bush, you are not welcome here
When a city goes into TOTAL lockdown mode, like is happening in Sydney this week, you'd think that someone might just get the idea that they are really not welcome there...
When the government is so afraid that the people will dare to indulge in legitimate protest, that they enclose the entire CBD in an iron cage, you might wonder if that government has lost touch with the people they are supposed to represent...
When a majority of Australians think you're the Worst US President Ever - and a majority of them also have no intention of ever voting again for your best buddy John Howard - mightn't you get the hint that you're both heading down the wrong path...
This is where you both deserve to be, you warmongering bastards. Now fuck off home Georgie, and take your ridiculous entourage with you. We don't want you polluting our part of this beautiful planet. You are not welcome here.
Technorati tags: APEC, Howard, Bush, Sydney, Australia, war, Iraq, war crimes, warmonger, worst president, impeach, American politics, international politics, anti-war protest, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
