New Post, Old Pictures

Oye There! Bout a git nip of a col comin on ya say? S'that? EH? GoDDAMIT I love kiwi's. E's are I's, every time. Wait a second... Oh, hello everyone. Well, seeing as how I left my cram down at the Riverton Environmental Centre (that's right, centre) I'll take this opportunity to use a few old photos from days gone by. Wouldn't want these to go to waste. The represent the America I will miss the most, and indeed, am sure I will see again in the ghostly reflections of these whale laden waters (wha!?!?!).

Ok, ok. First and foremost, I will miss this. I got used to seeing this so much in the states that I didn't even notice it missing until I was. . .




ENOUGH!

Another thing I really miss is my dags, my sweet, blunder hounts, the "dogs of hell", the dogs of the ghetto. We used to pop corn around 50 gallon drum fires, stoking the flames with pimp canes and keeping the embers hot with our mean mugs and empty Andy Capps hot fries bags. . .



Dogs of Hell ("Slow down son, I'm not gonna hit you. THE HELL I'M NOT!).

While we're on the subject, look at Fire Breathing Chicken and Dora Phraserton running their lucrative South End Urban-Lazy-Lady-Boot-Camp. Applicable phrase from Dora Phraserton (the Pincherman) "The got a hard swath to mow, Mom."



And then there was the real deal dog stuff, when it got brutal and nasty. These are the days I will miss most: hiding behind a blind, giving off the stink of fear, wearing Chacos. . .



Yes, times were had. Now I sit on the edge/end of the world and look out at an estuary, I think the first estuary I've ever seen in my life. If I've seen an estuary before this, I just don't remember. If you saw an estuary with me, would you please e mail me? But this one. . . is beautiful. Now, there is a down side. It's being pumped full of poison every year because New Zealand is being turned into the breast of the world. Quote me. And the dairy farmers are using a chemical to grow grass for the cows to eat for the world to drink, and the chemical goes into the estuary. My idea for a solution? Stop it. I am here to strike fire into the hearts of Kiwi's and remind them that it's a-ok to keep your milk for your family. Farmageddon is right around the corner. . . http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Also, a SYNCRO report. I wrote a song a few years ago called, "Mawson's Will: The Greatest Adventure Story Ever Told" based on the book "Mawson's Will: The Greatest Adventure Story Ever Told" that tells the story of Mawson, a 1911 clad Kiwi who tried to be the first to reach the South Pole but ended up killing his friends and eating their dogs. Well, take a look at the performance taking place in Riverton this Monday August the 9th (http://www.radarswebsite.com/). Hmm, guess who god likes? A lot. Yip. Me.

Forward Motion

New Zealand is 13 hours away by flight (if youre thru the security already and in LA). Its 57 if you actually have to go every step of the way. I listened to No Country for Old Men on book on tape on the flight over. It came in handy for dealing with the scene seen above. An old English bloke looked at me and said, "'v been over this o'shin 28 times now and this is the biggest mess I've ever seen." I replied, "If it ain't, It'll do til the mess gets here." His wife wasn't so sure to make of the good ol' country boy in the customs line. Neither was customs. Word to the wise, keep your passports in good shape.

After clouds and crackouts and being told to go to the "Chickin Disk" (Check-In Desk) I finally made it to the southern most tip of the south island of Kiwiland. JEEZ, talk about beautiful. The little propeller plane floated low over small houses, spread out, tin roofs and sheep and cattle. The airport was smaller than Constar. I asked a ride off the girl, Sarah Love, that I had been chattin with on the plane and she and her fam had no problem dropping me off at Sparky's hostel, which is actually closed due to a fight with city hall over something that I could never really wrap my head around, but I still slept there with the odd cast of characters that operates out of that joint. All I'm saying is, well, Sparky looked at me and said, "You're living in the now, aren't you?" Crackily, I replied, "You are too."

Ah the crack outs. So far NZ is more of a food desert than the east side of the Jar. No joke. Non nutritional seems to be the soup du jour. On my way on a migrant bus today to look at an organic food co-op near here and talk with a guy whose obsessed with permaculture and tree grafting. Perfect.

Oh, and Tim O'Donnell died. He was a 28 year old warrior in the Kiwi army who was training potential police forces (the same folks that the Pakastani PM is saying we haven't won and who Matt was saying we could only rent) in a northern Afghanistan provence. He was a Guard of Honer at Sir Ed's funeral. He was not a dumb jock. Makes me think that he was a target. New Zealand seems to be not so shocked, but I'm cracked, that the first Kiwi to die in the war on Tear Her did in the now. It is a lot to deal with if you think about what it means. I'll leave that up to you.

What? With 24 Days and All

World? Are you listening? To the outcry of the pitiful? To the tops of the lungs of the miners and the Marines? This dude I knew named Noah Pier died in Afghanistan. I didn't watch him get buried because it was at Arlington National and it was not a good weekend for me and I was busy and there were other things going on and this and that and chitty chat chat; (Kurt Vonnegut suggested that semi-colons are the hermaphrodites of the English language). . . I saw Robby Burns lay in the same room, J.T., Elizabeth, Kathleen, and Mike Robertson, all friends dead at an age younger I now know to be appropriate for death. I'm talking 15 to 18. Noah was 25, I guess. I stood in line with Bill Fehr and we viewed the body and the family and the family viewed us and we smiled and we cried and Bill and I jedi'd the Marines and we felt the heat of an IED burn us and we knew it meant that Noah's younger brothers would one day fight against these here evil doer's and all.

The North American Hand-Built BIke Toon Festival