Some final shots of the Stencil Nation June Tour: Fun at Camas Books, with a final ferry shot of Victoria, BC

Woah. Was I in Victoria, BC just four days ago? Looking for stencils and only finding one? Riding bikes down to the touristy downtown area and then being totally exhausted after all the biking on the trip? Looking for a pint at a pub and finding the pubs full up with Canada Day holiday goers? Did Camas really roll out the red carpet for me and Chris, giving us a great event, buying our books, and then letting me hang out the next day doing stencils (thanks for the cans PESTO. I’m glad Vic has a few more stencils now!)? Man, Peter was nothing but nice as our host, telling stories about Reclaim the Streets in the 1990s, pulling out a 1990s stencils, and feeding us/biking us around.

Then Chris and I drove drove drove. We had to take the 7:30 ferry out of Victoria to Port Angeles, WA, USA. And TSA had to sic the dogs on us, go through all our bags, and ask us stupid questions.  We left them without our fruit, the only thing they could find that wasn’t kosher at the border. I drove until about 3 am to Salem, OR and then we crashed hard. Got up the next day and Chris drove all the way to SF. Mt. Shasta looked odd in the forest fire smoke haze. SF looked odd as we crossed the Bay Bridge. Completely covered in a brown fog while we were sunny on the bridge.

No rest for the vagabonds. I spent the next day unpacking from that trip and packing for Colorado. Running errands, setting up things for later in July, and then finally taking down the stencil exhibit at Revolution Cafe.  Glad that the artists were cool with getting their art back after my CO trip.

Jonathan told me that he’d pick me up July 2 at 9 am. He showed up after 10. We then drove around running errands, finally ending up at the Gamelan X space to pack the van. More errands got done as Tom and Jon packed the van. It all fit! We were going to take a fat tour bus that Julia Butterfly has offered to SLR, but the cost of fuel led us to an extended diesel van. But everything fit! Four carny games, a pile of easy-ups, boxes, cases, bags, etc etc.

Jonathan goofs around beside the very full van; and Northstar near Truckee gave us a tank of B10 blend

The sun started to set and were were still in Oakland. Had to pick up print jobs, buy easy-ups, go grocery shopping, fill the tires with air, and many other things, but finally left the Bay Area and headed towards Reno. Tom took a turn at driving a large vehicle for the first time. Then we all took turns, all the way to Winnemucca, NV, stopping by Northstar Resort (Truckee, CA) to fill up with a B10 diesel mix. Got a hotel super late and all crashed around 4 am with a 9 am wake up.

We had a cereal breakfast (yes, more cereal believers) and then I drove us all to Elko to register the van. The DMV wouldn’t take the paperwork because the van is registered in a different county and needs a smog test. Elko doesn’t smog test! So we hit the freeway and kept heading east. Super hot in the dessert the whole way. We landed into the Salt Flat outside Salt Lake City hot and sweaty. Stopped in SLC to pick up another print job (I figured out how to Bluetooth it from one computer to another and then it got emailed out this morning). Had printing problems so it took an hour to work out. I went for a walk, enjoyed the open creek by the Kinkos, and people watched the crowds that were finding space for a fireworks show.

Self-portrait, hot as hell in the Salt Flats, UT; Shot of the Ruby Mountains outside Salt Lake City; Proud of USA-made bio-diesel; WTF!?? FoxNews on the gas pump’s monitor!

We had no time to watch pretty lights, so headed up the hill towards the mountains to fill up the tank with a B50 diesel blend. (Um, why the hell was FoxNews on the screen at the pump? Seriously, we had to suffer through that crappy news station while the tank was filling!) We’re trying our best to source bio-diesel, and thanks to Nearbio.com, we have a list of places that serve up the many blends of the green stuff.  We did have to fill up with straight dino-diesel, but we had no choice. Timing and location is important too: we had to pass up a fill up of B100 via Moab, UT due to needing to get on down the road. Wish we had time to find out what the source of the bio-diesel is too, but things move fast on the open road.

So we hit the road out of SLC just after sunset today and kept booking it East towards Copper Mountain. Jonathan’s goal was to get to Grand Junction, CO and we hit that city around 2 am on July 4. Happy Inter-Dependence Day! God, we’re tired. We wasted time looking for a place to camp (ah, the stars are so clear here in CO) before hitting GJ and finally finding an affordable hotel to crash for a few hours.

Now… well, we’re all at our Zombie Apple machines, catching up on the interweb world. Hello digital peeples! Do you appreciate your freedom and dependence…. from stuff like oil? Black gold…..

Ahhh, so sleepy. More driving tomorrow to Copper Mountain, and then we set up the games. I sleep after that too!

Friday arrived sunny and warm, making our last day here another spectacular opportunity to soak in Vancouver. Chris had been talking about riding around Stanley Park since we arrived, so we biked out there soon after eating breakfast here on 20th Ave. We chose to stay south of False Creek scooting along 10th Avenue  and then biked over the Granville Street Bridge. We easily found a bike lane leading us straight through the downtown. The lane took us down to the beginning of the Stanley Park path.

We planned to ride the one-way path around the whole perimeter of the peninsula. Before we hit that path, we stopped by the totem poles. Many tourists snapped photos of the poles before they hopped back on their buses. Paying a visit to this amazing native art started the ride off right. We had a great time with sunny paths, great views and beautiful people to share it with. We rode under the Lion’s Gate Bridge, and then drove to the edge of Davie St. to have lunch at a local hamburger shack.

After a stroll to find sweets to eat, we headed back to Stanley Park for one last hour of wandering before heading to the Artgallery for the Critical Mass meet up. We didn’t travel far into the center of the park and still found a forested area full of chirping birds and buzzing insects.

When we first entered Stanley Park, I saw two crows harassing a bald eagle. I’ve had odd animal encounters on this trip. First, the deer crossing the street in Yreka. I then almost ran over a cat while bombing down a hill in Portland. Last night, while visiting an odd UFO structure on False Creek’s shore, a rat ran out of the tall grass and bared its teeth at me. I’ll have the rat story to tell when spinning yarns about the night I went biking with Gary Fisher, Chris Carlsson, Carl, and Amy!

Stopped by the washroom (Canadians call toilets washrooms) in the park before heading to the Artgallery Critical Mass meet up. Two signs let me know quickly that Big Brother is straight, not into public sex, and watching me take a legally sanctioned leak at the urinal. Odd that I don’t see many security cameras here in Vancouver. Guess there were some in this washroom!

We to to the Artgallery at 5 PM, so had an hour to wait before hitting the road. June Mass in Vancouver is the year’s largest. June is also bike month here, so events have been ongoing so far. A bike shorts show played last night. The monthly Midnight Mass rolled by Chris and I on Commercial Street last night. We caught up and went a ways with them before peeling off for the crash pad. This ride is the last Thursday of the month, and about 75 people were clustered for the good times.

The crowd started arriving around 5:30, so I climbed the steps of the Vancouver Artgallery (VAG for you potty mouths) and snapped a photo of the plaza. About fifteen minutes later, many more people had arrived. I climbed the steps again and took another photo of the plaza. The before and after shots looked great, so Chris climbed the steps one last time to shoot the mass of riders around 6 PM.

As 6:20 rolled up, a hippie walked through the crowd chanting “One mass, keep it together!” Some people chanted along but it soon died out. Amy told us that last month’s mass ended up broken apart, so she hoped that this month would keep it together. A man had been giving flyers out during the past hour. (My favorite tip on the list was No. 07: “Compliment someone on their bike or accessories!” I also liked “when you are tired of riding you can leave anytime….”) He now had a bullhorn and stood at the bottom of the Argallery’s stairs and spoke to a section of the bikers. We couldn’t hear anything he was saying but realized that the people were repeating what he was saying a la major street protests.

That group must’ve started the ride because it left with their section at the head. I can’t remember the route of the Critical Mass because Chris and I ended up riding with the group for three hours before limping home with sore body parts. We rode over three bridges, well, two and a half. We stopped in the middle of the Lion’s Gate Bridge and partied a bit before turning around and heading back into Vancouver. We also crossed by the Artgallery a few times and hit many spots that Chris and I had already discovered (Gastown, Pigeon Park, etc.).

Thousands of people came out for the event. Huge groups of bikers corked the streets and turned the intersections into festivals. I saw hula hooping, juggling, concertina playing, banjo playing, and good times coming from the corkers. I started giving away high fives and yelling “Aw, yeah. Corkie stylie!” while most people kept thanking the corkers. Many people kept thanking the car drivers too. Many times, I saw car drivers chilling out as the party rolled by. One couple had wine out on their roof. Another man napped on his hood. It was a good vibe.

I saw some skaters bombing with us down long hill as we left Stanley Park. Earlier, I had seen a few peds with thumbs out, trying to hitch a ride form a bike. Many many costumed and sexy-dressed people biked along. One woman had a sign on her back basket that said “put the fun between your legs.” Several people rode unicycles, even bombing the hills on them. One person pulled a tailer with a woman in a wheelchair strapped onto it. Another person had a container full of bread with “Free Fuel” written on it. Still another tandem rider played three drums on the back section of the bike.

The remnants of the thousands of people finally stopped at a club on 8th Avenue around 9:30 PM. Chris and I were wiped. Nonstop biking since we arrived here, hell, since before we arrived here, had maxxed out our energy. I was cramping up in my shoulders, and Chris’s wrist was worn out from playing his bike bell. We pushed our bikes up to 10th Avenue and then biked over to Commercial St. for a great Indian dinner. Then scooted over to our pad for the last night of sleep before Victoria.

To the ferry!

There were no problems at the border, but Chris and I hit our first traffic jam at the tunnel going into Vancouver. While we were stuck in traffic, I mimicked the Canadian accents via CBC’s programming. The weather was amazing during the bottleneck. We were antsy about getting out our bikes and into the city. We zig zagged northeast to our crash pad on 20th Ave and met all the roomies except Devon, our hostess.  They gave us bike path maps and advice on going for a ride to enjoy the amazing summer day.

Chris was in contact via a mutual friend with Collin,  who wanted to meet up. Collin rides a pedicab in Vancouver and has also traveled extensively on the west coast. Like me, Collin’s life changed when he rode his first Critical Mass. So Chris and I hit bike streets (you can tell they’re for bikes because they have bikes on the street signs and bike crossing buttons to push to change the lights) over to False Creek at 1st Ave. There’s a Bucky ball there, so we met Collin near that and then rode on the south shore west towards sunset from Kitsilano Beach.

After splurging on a great view, and tasty appetizers at a touristy restaurant, we crossed Burrard Bridge into downtown Vancouver. Collin showed us the Law Court, the Art Gallery (VAG), the Main Library building, and other landmarks. We ended up on Hastings Street and then cruised down into Gastown. Many many stencils appeared on the walls and down the alleys during this ride. Chris and I realized that we’d been biking around for about five hours. It was 11PM and we had to set up camp in Devon’s front room. And meet Devon. So we biked home.

I began to run out of things this morning. Chris and I ran out of cereal so I had to eat fruit salad with yogurt. We ran out of bananas, peaches, and coffee too. I also ran out of tooth paste, deodorant, and shampoo. One of Devon’s roomies directed us to Commercial St. for cheap produce, so we shopped and bought cheap berries and chocolate. Not so cheap milk. Blew back to the pad, dropped off the goods, and then biked into Vancouver. We took a different route into downtown and I continued to find stencils.

I wanted to go to Gastown to look for more stencils and Chris wanted to buy some new shoes to replace his faded pair. We biked the north shore of False Creek and then cut over just before Stanley Park. Chris bought his shoes while I rode through un-named alleys and photographed stencils. Then we went down to Gastown and ran into People’s Pigeon Park. I was drawn to it’s art wall, but when I walked over to it, I noticed the needles more than the few stencils I came across. Hard core park, with a soup line in the middle and all types of people looking for their fix.

Across the street I saw an alley that I thought would  have stencil art, so Chris and I biked into it. Civilization in all its horrorshow glory popped out in that alley. It was the skid row shooting gallery, so in five minutes of piss-smelling infamy, I got schooled on the miseries of heroin and crack. It seemed like every second or third person was getting high on the hard stuff. Many types of people, from the worn out to the disabled were in those two blocks of alley, sticking needles into their skin or smoking dirty pipes. I got a bit sick to my stomach and peeled out of there quickly. Chris had never seen anything like that in all of his travels over the decades. He was shaken as well.

We found a cafe and had lunch, trying to push the experience out of our current memory. The women at Momentum Magazine quickly calmed our jitters with warm greetings and questions. Stencil Nation was listed in the latest issue of their mag, thanks to Janet Attard in Toronto. They all knew Janet and had just met her at her studio. And looked at the book there. They eventually had to go back to work so Chris rode out to 1st Ave with me and found a great stencil that Amy from Momentum had tipped off. Chris turned around to go back to meet them for after-work food and I rode back to the pad to pack the bags for the Spartacus event.

Rode over to E. Hastings Street and found the book store an hour before the event started. I helped move the book shelves and set up the screen and projector for the gig. It went well. About 8 people attended and I finally felt good about the content of the presentation. I even played a video of The Cans Festival at the end of the slides. Amy from Momentum asked great questions and made me hmm and haw through the answers. I sold some art and a few books. Chris and I then rode on an adventure with outlaw cyclist Karl, funded in part by Mark and his crazy canuck bucks. All I can say is: “Logger Club. Now Accepting Members. 18+”

We ended up biking close to the crash pad to the front yard of Tanya, Mia, and Gwendal. Karl told stories about ancient coder days and Gwendal discussed map making and other things. Amy kept asking the big questions and her father told funny stories about relevant topics. At the end of the night, two neighbors stopped by. Reece and Sara had been in another ‘hood passing out flyers about their lost kitty Peep. Seems like Peep “hitched a ride to” another neighborhood via “a tradesman’s tuck by accident”. Poor Peep. She must’ve wanted to go on an adventure.

Vancouver seems like a diverse city. Earlier today, I watched people walk by as Chris shopped for shoes. All colors. All races. Even in the shooting gallery alley ways all nations were represented. I was stuck seeing a normal looking Asian woman watch people shoot up in Pigeon Park as she jonesed for the fix. And I couldn’t stop staring at Sara, genuinely concerned about Peep while staring at her eyes and wondering what planet she was from.  She had striking features that didn’t fit any ethnicity I could think of, so I looked deeply at her features and wondered about the infinite physical beauties of humanity. Such rich genetic diversity in this part or the world.

Back at the pad, unpacking all my stuff from the event, I couldn’t find my camera. I am hoping that I left it in the front yard of the house I visited. I am hoping that it didn’t bounce out of my bag. If that happened, and it could (I lost my gloves and lip balm in Portland because I left it on the back of my bike), I’ve lost several dozen stencil photos, and a damn good digital camera. Let’s hope they found it in their yard!

UPDATE: They found my camera. I went back and picked it up from Gwendal.

We were going to meet up with Kim/SOULE at Pike’s Market, but went down the hill to check in at Elliott Bay, and leave my bags. Chris decided to stay in the cafe and catch up on computer time. I took a free bus back up the hill and met up with Kim.

The last time I was in Seattle was for the 1999 WTO protests. I didn’t do much touring around then because my time was filled with protests and organizing for more protests. Pod and I ended up marching with Chris and the Committee for Full Enjoyment on the big N30 actions against the first day of the WTO conference. We met up at Pike’s Market early that wet and cold November morning and then snake-marched to the Convention Center and shut the WTO down. Today, tourists thronged the Market, watching the workers toss fish. It was tourist bedlam, worse than Fisherman’s Wharf. I had to call Kim to find her in the masses.

Kim works at a gallery downstairs from the main market, so we stopped by and checked things out. Her work was up as was local artist Greg Boudreau’s stencil works. We walked through Poster Alley to look at the art and then Kim took me to a gallery that had larger works from Boudreau. We grabbed lunch and showed up to Elliott Bay for the 2 PM slide presentation. The turn out was a paltry six people, but I gave the presentation and sold a bit of art. Guess there’s other better things to do on a humid, summer day in Seattle. Maybe my audience had done the nude Solstice parade early in the morning and was too drunk and body-painted to attend. Either way, I still enjoyed sharing the stencil love.

Ruth came to the presentation and insisted on taking Chris and I to meet an artist that she knew. We enjoyed meeting him and seeing his work. Up the hill on 1st Avenue, the Underground Events Center was getting a stencil wall going before my presentation even started (maybe that’s where my audience was), so we left the studio and headed to the space. I chatted with Josh, the curator of the space, and he has an agreement with the landlord that is similar to CELLspace’s former Mission Market agreement. There’s a nonprofit developer who needs to raise funds to build low-income housing on the UEC property. Until then, they had a basement that was unrentable, so gave it to Josh to use as a community center. It’s a large space and has a squatter charm to it, and the stencil wall was going up in the adjacent parking lot. I told him that he should encourage artists to paint murals in the lot and explained the Precita Eyes mural project at the Mission Market. He was jazzed on the idea and hoped that the stencil wall would be the beginning of this. Josh also has a Punk Rock Flea Market at the UEC space and it will be in the parking lot this summer.
 

From L-R: Kim’s part of the collab wall; Chris cutting his Full Enjoyment stencil; Ruth looking fresh and painting her comment; Kim assists Lars and another painter with a larger stencil

We stayed there a good four hours and painted the wall. Kim knocked out a part of the wall and Josh had made a large rat stencil as well as a large Mona Lisa with-a-mustache stencil. Josh had tables set up with xacto knives, cardboard, plastic, and pencils, so people were showing up to make stencils. One woman made a bat piece while another made a cartoonish face stencil. Chris got into it and made two text stencils. Ruth even had something to say and made a serious stencil of text that fit in nicely with the “Abu Mickey” stencils. I threw up the globe stencil as well as some bikes. Kim and I also made filler stencils to flesh out the wall and connect all the disparate images. Towards the end of our stay, Ruth got us some pizza from across the street. Soon after, our pizza box was cut out and used for an iconic mural on another wall. Then stenciling started to go up the steps to the sidewalk on 1st Avenue.

The mural revolution had begun for the Underground Events Center!

Chris and I left to go on a bike ride and then realized that it was almost 9 PM. The solstice daylight at night had once again messed our clocks up. We had to go grocery shopping before the stores closed so hit many hills to get to a Trader Joe’s Ruth told us about. One block down from TJ’s was a local coop. We decided to shop there and Chris predicted the exact price of all our groceries (under three bag’s worth): $110. We didn’t get a prize for the exact guess……

Taking the groceries back to Ruth’s we continued to hit many hills. Hard schlogging in Seattle. After ups home, , with a few downhills to bomb, we hit one last climb right before getting to our crash pad. Whew…. Chris had a local in-studio radio interview early the next morning so crashed early Saturday night. Ruth and I stayed up late chatting and becoming friends. We figured that we’d get along since we’re both friends with Mark. And we where right.

I then fielded some questions, one of which had to do with stencil graffiti animation. I mentioned the amazing Blu video that was making the rounds and only one person had seen it. So Chris found it online and we watched it. Afterwards, Kim decided that she wanted an artifact of her own mural on the back wall. We went back there and all of my stencils had been gone over (sunshine at 9 PM? great time to spray graff on the free wall!). Kim got the box cutter and made the woman cut another piece out for her. Another gold tooth went up as well, while the artist D-FENS was ditching his job to hang out with us.

I ran back inside to pack up my stuff and then came back around about 10 minutes later. Kim had left, and about three other people, including D-FENS, had a piece of Kim’s mural. A person was using their hands to pull off a piece as I said thanks and goodbye to them. Texted Kim about the final destructions and we both had a goog lol moment over it.

Chris lost energy after filling up with gas, so I drove into Seattle. We hit the city center around 10 PM, and dark blue strands of sunset still remained on this long summer day. Behind us stood the brief moments of time spent in Olympia. Where folks now hung drying mural pieces on their walls as a souvenir of the “stencil guy’s” visit. A summer night passed while hanging out in an alley.  And I learned a lesson: people had other plans that night, so the crowd was small. Chris gave this event a 2 out of 10 rating because no one showed up for him. It became the lowest-rated event of his tour. I wasn’t too upset. I’m still living my dream on the road, making new friends, and making stencils. Maybe Elliott Bay in Seattle will better on Saturday.

Thursday morning was filled with getting stuff together for Friday’s departure. Did some laundry, made some phone calls, checked email, packed some things up, refilled my markers with ink, and didn’t drink a morning coffee for the first time in a week. Also chilled a bit and tried to stay cool during a hot day.

Klutch came by around 1 PM and picked me and my bike up. He was in a great mood because he had just sold some art to a Texan. Klutch could now pay up some bills and catch up a bit on being behind. We drove downtown and had a great Indian meal (a huge bowl of rice and veggies for about $7) out of a food cart on Yamhill.

We then walked over to Powell’s City of Books and hooked up one last time with Kevin. We worked out a time to take the window display down and Kevin also gave me the buttons that were in the display. Klutch looked for a book and ended up in a conversation with an employee about the hardcore punk days. I pulled him out of that situation and ended up on an adventure wandering through the store while trying to find Derrick Jensen’s As the World Burns comic book.

I’ve started reading it and must say that fun is not a word Derrick Jensen uses. He speaks the truth, but only the darkest, grimmest truth. Hurts to hear it, and he’s probably right, but if there’s humor in this comic book, I haven’t found it yet. Well, I guess the fact that the aliens who want to eat the planet shit gold and pay the government off with their feces is actually funny. But looking at cute, child-like drawings of little girls saying that the sky is falling is not a message that people will buy into. But it is happening, and Jensen does cut to the chase by blaming greedy people and reminding us that we aren’t really putting out energy on fixing things into the proper channels. Jensen’s main channel that he’d like to see collective energy focused is in ending the current version of civilization. Guess his audience are the folks who want to violently take down governments and corporations. And where the hell are they right now?! Derrick Jensen has some intense shit to tell you!

Klutch and I then rolled over to see his work at the ADIDAS store across from Powell’s. Love his stuff. His new style is dark but well-drawn and crafted. We stood at the front door looking at the display of sad people puking. “I love seeing them puking at the entrance to the ADIDAS store,” Klutch commented. We then went to his studio over on the East side near 12th and Oak. Saw some stencils in this hood, but the most memorable discovery was the skate bowl in the warehouse across the street from his studio. There’s another bowl in another warehouse nearby too. Met his neighbors, cool guys who make t-shirts. Also went by Diesel Fuel and I checked out their cool store while Klutch chatted with the guy there.

We walked around and checked out the stencil art. Klutch feels like this is the last bastion of ungentrified inner Portland. Thought he took me to a vegan cafe (blasting death metal) that was next to a vegan tattoo parlor in the hood, there was no sign of condos, Starbucks, or expensive food/clothes. Called Creature to meet up with him at his new warehouse space, and then had to postpone a visit with Tiago way up north until Friday. Klutch and I wrote and drew some stickers for a spell before we said goodbye. On the way to see Creature, I passed by the Red and Black Cafe. It’s a coop with an anarchist flag hanging at the entrance. I took a note of its location, hoping to return on Friday.

Creature’s new warehouse was just north of Burnside, where Mississippi and another parallel street met just above the industrial wastelands on the riverside. When I rode up on my bike, I saw three entrances. One entrance was open, and people were fencing in that space. Nick came around and then showed me the work in progress.  At the far end of the building, demolition was taking place so that a cafe could get set up in that area. The fencing area was where the bar is, and Creature also has warehouse space down where the industrial wastelands are (for storage mostly).

I think Creature is the hardest working man in the circus business. He busts his ass all the time trying to get the arts happening in Portland (last year during my Portland visit, he was trying to get a different warehouse space). We walked around the neighborhood to check things out (found a stencil down there), and he took a call about buying the house he’s living in right now (right off of Mississippi’s happening section and around the corner from a huge six story condo that’s getting built right now).

He had also just walked all of Mississippi with his mother and approached anybody who’d talk to chat about starting a business and being part of the neighborhood. Most of our talk was about his ideas, his plans, his struggles, and his hopes. Much of his hope was based on the fact that the new mayor might actually make Portland a great place for artists to live and make a living. I had heard Klutch mention the new mayor’s potential for supporting the arts. Chris had also heard of the hope of the new administration.

We went to his house to pick up his mom and had dinner at a Thai place on Alberta. The pre-solstice sun has played tricks with me during the trip. I have lost track of time all week, and so last night we showed up to the restaurant around 9 PM, with the sun just setting, for a late dinner. Things seem to close around then in Portland. Back at his place, we said our goodbyes and I biked home at a reasonable hour. Compared to the times prior.

Friday morning, I begin to pack things up for the drive to Seattle. Had breakfast with Chris and Katie, and then went on one last bike ride with Chris. We headed to the Red and Black Cafe, had a tea, and I photographed stencils on their inside wals. We then rode over to 33rd and checked out a few City Repair building projects. Cut over a hill to get back to NE, packed up, said goodbye to Katie and her dog, and then drove to North Portland to have a quick visit with Tiago and Adriane. Got to see Tiago’s yurt studio, look at his original works, and pick up a sexy piece of stencil art from him. Chris and I saw traffic on I-5 so stayed on surface roads as long as possible and avoided the mess for a clean ride North to Olympia, WA.

from left to right: Great shot of Mt. Hood out of the car; Don’t blink or you’ll miss BZ Corners, WA; Yep, Pucker Huddle does exist; Mt. Hood from Michael’s Mom’s backyard; Chris sips lemonade and chills on Michael’s mom’s porch

Michael told the story that Pucker Huddle got its name from the settlers who wintered huddled under tents with nothing but pickles to eat. His mom told him his story was a lie and told a different one where a settler decided to have a party in his small house one night. The party got big and a man was overheard by a local newspaperman saying “there isn’t any room to pucker or huddle in there!” When the settlers were trying to find a name of the small village, Pucker Huddle stuck.

Back in Portland for the evening where I crossed bridge number three on a bike (the Hawthorne) and met up with the Pedalpalooza Sprockettes bike ride. About 100 of us met up and then rode back down to the Steel Bridge and crossed it to end up near the buffed stencil area (the locals call it Thunderdome). Got to see the B C Clettes do a dance bit, and then the Sprockettes showed a new number.

Met up with Tiago and his wife Adrianne after that and about 8 of us rode back into SW Portland to grab some sushi at the famous Takahachi. Portland loves to mix things up so Takahachi was a grungy, cheap sushi joint with a train instead of boats of sushi. Black Sabbath played over the PA as we ordered $1.25 plates of sushi. Wednesday night was cheap sushi night so I ended up eating way too much (and the chefs thought my ones were twos so made even more for me.) We wandered over to Voodoo Donuts and I got to try a blunt and a voodoo doll pastry. Tiago ate the blunt: a cone-shaped donut with red sprinkles on a bulbus end. Adrianne ate a voodoo doll: a person donut with a pretzel stuck in its heart. Eat the heart area and red-berry filling goos out. After that, we set off in search of a pitcher of beer. We ended up SE and dranks to watery well liquor along with a tasty pitcher of beer.

Adrianne continued to give me the schooling on the zoobombing culture. COCOC is something you yell before you bomb. It means Cockout Cockout Crew. If you hear it yelled, you pull it out and let it hang. PDC is the Pants Down Crew. When you hear that yelled, you drop em! Tiago had just done a Zoobomb Century. That’s when you go as long as it takes to do 100 miles of zoobombing in a Sunday session. Took Tiago 10 hours to do it and he was the third person to finish 100 miles that night. Going up the hill on Max trains doesn’t count towards the distance but riding between stops does. “You can get a mile added on while waiting on the Max.” You must do the century on a kid’s bike. A Dick Taster is a person who thinks they’re in charge of zoobombing. It is a pun on dictator if you can’t tell.

Portland’s Steel Bridge seen from the SE Esplanade

The first spot was still up, but the second spot had been exposed, called in, and almost completely buffed.

Here is the Secret Hideout for stencilpalooza… now exposed and almost completely buffed in under 24 hours

If not for a homeless encampment last night, the two remaining stencils (out of maybe three dozen) would have been buffed too. Backtracked to the Steel Bridge and snapped stencil flicks while heading west towards downtown.

Props to Wanda for a great tip on VooDoo Donuts. I stopped by and bought a dozen to bring to Chris’s table “for conversation.” Gothic music played while I asked the employee what was up. I ended up buying three vegan plains and three vegan chocolate covered. I bought three old fashioned donuts and then got crazy. The last three were two blueberries and one vanilla topped with rice krispies. I decided not to eat the maple covered bacon or the ones with captain crunch and froot loops sprinkled on top.

Had to photograph the box after I opened it and ate an amazing blueberry donut. The vegan treats are under the paper.

Arrived to the free day at Carfree Conference and pretty much missed everything. But everyone was so nice. I fell into great conversations with many people and gave Chris a break so he could go hear the keynote speaker. Chatted away with visitors, neighbors, and showed Stencil Nation and talked about Nowtopia. The party then shifted about six blocks down the street from PSU, to a free beer/food/art part at City Hall.

Had a great time at Portland’s City Hall. Went straight to the vegan sandwiches and then got a great local beer. Kept having great meet ups with people. Some of them were local and so amazed that they were drinking beer INSIDE City Hall. Looked at the art, mostly postcards, but also great collages as well as other art. Outside, bands played on stage, Tiago laid down some really good chalk stencils, and the Sprockettes did some amazing choreographed mini-bike burlesque (with cheerleading thrown in). I sat on the front row and took photos for one of the Agents (didn’t catch her crew name) so have none of my own to share.

I did watch a young girl take a few whacks at a car pinata. Tiago then took the stick and took down the car in a fury of busted paper mache. shoestrings went flying….

“Do you own a car?” she was asked. “Yes,” she replied. “Do you drive your car?” the MC asked her. “No,” the young girl said before whacking away at the car pinata.

Got an invite to dinner so ended up at the Blossoming Lotus for a tasty, reasonably-priced bowl of beans and rice with spicy peanut sauce. Then the sidewalks rolled up and I headed back to Katie’s. I ended up helping her install a wireless router so am now blogging away on her House of Fun network…..

We threw the bikes on the back of the Nissan and went to Mississippi St. to a bike shop and a cafe. We got bike maps of Portland at the shop, which made me extremely happy since I didn’t really know my way around this city via bike. Unfortunately, the bike map doesn’t name streets other than the ones that bikes frequent. I’d have to use a two map system.

After a quick office visit (checking emails, updating the blog, etc.) I split the cafe and headed over to Williams Street for a lot depaving event. Chris had to go buy a new cell phone and register for the Carfree Conference. The Carfree Conference was at the depaving event so Chris met me there.

Volunteers ripping up the parking lot for an upcoming garden planting

I found out tonight that Depave.org is part of City Repair here in Portland. The event today was all about tearing the asphalt out of a parking lot and then eventually planting a public/community garden there. I rode up to the lot while about three dozen people tossed big chunks of asphalt into wheelbarrows and then threw them into big dumpster bins. I assume that there would be a reuse for the debris. Shovels and rakes then started swinging to take the loss gravel and make a huge pile out of it. There was also the need to take the tiny pieces of asphalt and concrete out of the gravel and put it in its respective piles.

Giving asphalt the middle finger! More gardens, less roads….

I love manual labor, especially when it is community/acton dag style of labor. And this was a demolishing job, so the skill level was minimal. I signed the volunteer waiver, borrowed a pair of gloves out of a bin, and jumped right into the fray. I started off by picking up the larger piles of asphalt and doing some wheelbarrow trips. I then picked through the gravel and pulled out smaller pieces of asphalt. Finally, I raked gravel into small piles for shovels to dump into wheelbarrows. Ended up with a big blister on my right hand thanks to my frantic raking.

Met great people along the way, ate some Food Not Bombs style beans and rice on a tortilla, and checked out the rendering of what the garden will look like once they plant it. If anything could’ve been better, the music could have been faster and jumpier for the proper workingman’s need. I even heard my stencil reading get promoted over the PA when someone read off the Pedalpalooza schedule for the day.

After the depaving of the lot, I rode back to Katie’s place, stopping along the way to photograph a few stencils. I got back just when Chris was arriving. His bike only had a busted tire, so he paid very little to have it repaired. His rim was fine; his handlebars OK. Very little damage to him and his bike from the curb crash. I started repacking bags for the slide presentation at Powell’s Downtown while trying to call Kim and Tiago and Klutch to coordinate a potential dinner and meet up.

Michael Med-O showed up to pick Chris up and go to his talk at the Hawthorne Powell’s. Good to see him outside of the SF arts/activist ghetto. My dinner idea didn’t work out with the artists, so I went to the Tin Roof with Michael, Chris, and Katie. We caught happy hour, which meant cheaper food as well as beer. I had a great dish called Cherry Garcia and an OK salad. Then I had to split for Downtown. Wanted to get to Powell’s early to meet Kim and maybe see Klutch’s art at the Adidas Store.

I realized at the Tin Room that my two map system had failed. I had left the maps, as well as my camera and water bottle, at Katie’s place. Had no time to backtrack to get it so went to Powell’s with no map to guide me. I made it no problem and my set up quickly turned into a good deal of work. Kevin from Powell’s was great, extremely helpful, as well as the other employees that I interacted with.

The slide pres. was going to take place in a gallery area on the third floor. I had to figure out how I was going to present the pres. as well as set up a table for art and book signing (Tiago and Kim wanted to sign the book along with me). Kevin and I worked it all out just in time. The crowd started showing up about 15 minutes early. Tiago arrive and it was good to see him and his wife. Actually, it’s nice to finally get to meet all these great artists after sometimes years of online conversations.

Tiago’s Pedalpalooza tie-in was an amazing coup. Kevin told me afterwards that at least 100 people attended the event. He had to put out extra chairs to seat the standing crowd. Seeing all the people warmed my heart and got my stencil geek juices flowing. I asked the audience how many people where there for the Pedalpalooza event. About 40 people raised their hands. I promised them that I’d be as short as possible and that we’d go on our stencil bike ride very soon. I asked the audience how many had never made a stencil, and over a dozen raised their hands.

I read very little during this second run of the slide pres. I did read the introduction section via the online notes, but basically used the notes as reference for the rest of the pres. It was 54 minutes long in Eugene and 50 minutes long at Powell’s. I am starting to figure out things to say for the slides, so am beginning to get the bit together as the carnies say. Or am getting the spiel in order. The Q and A was short, but there were some good questions. One about gallery work making street work more legit pretty much stumped me. I couldn’t quite figure out what to say in response to that question.

Powell’s may have sold over 15 books tonight. I think I signed that many. It was great to have Kim and Tiago sitting with me and signing books too. Made it feel like a collaborative effort. Kevin was breaking things down as we signed so I quickly packed my things so that I could make Tiago’s stencil bike ride. I was the last one down but had my three bags ready to go. Unlocked my bike and then about 30 of us headed out.

I was hating the fact that I didn’t have my good camera because we were about to head into some nice stencil spots. ahhh!

Tiago took us to a park and explained to us what the ride was about. Using a theme I have from the slide pres., he informed us that this ride could be participatory if anyone wanted to be. So we had to look out for each other and no photography unless you ask for permission. That said, we headed to the west esplanade on the Willamette River and then crossed under the Steel Bridge. We stopped to check out some stencil work.

The scent of aerosol soon started wafting through the mass of bikers. Tiago started again and we stopped on the East side of the Steel Bridge and checked out some stencil work up above us. More stencils started appearing from the riders and that area got hit up as well. We headed south to the Eastbank Riverside Park. Here, it seemed like everyone was painting stencils. I kept walking around and seeing new work go up.

An SUV went up with two people playing volleyball over it. Some squid went up as did other animals. George Bush went up, holding a gas nozzle. Another stencil went up: a mushroom cloud with the phrase “Bomb Black Rock” under it. Anti-Burningman? Yes, the painter answered.

We continued to head south, meandering through Brooklyn, having Hot Peppers (police with sirens blasting) blow by us. We passed the Ross Island bridge and continued to bike along the Springwater Trail. Eventually, Tiago took us a short way down a dirt trail to the remains of a bridge that went over to Ross Island. More stencils went up and merriment was had by all.

I had great conversation along the stencil bike ride. Met people from Toronto who knew Tino (he’s in the book). Chatted with stencil artist or three, joked with the locals, and continued to get schooled about Zoo Bombing. “You bombed on your big bike?” one person asked. “You seriously get respect if you bomb with a thrift-store kid’s bike with wheels under 15 inches in diameter.”

I started getting cold and worrying about my mapless trip back to the NE, so I asked a local how to do it. He simply yelled out “Who’s going Northeast?” and a group raised their hand. I ended up tagging along and was given the nickname “SF” when they spoke to me. We had to ride by the Steel Bridge stencil work, so stopped and photographed the images. It took about 45 minutes to get back home, but the company was great and the ride was entertaining.

I do think that I’m going to have that bike messenger funk smell due to riding around this spread out city all day. Guess a Carfree Conference, and a Pedalpalooza crowd can take the funk. Hopefully, they’ll take it to the bridge (sorry, easy joke here in a city with at least 11 bridges).

Saturday ended up being a full day. Chris got up early to call the mechanic to fix the Nissan in Yreka. They were open and on top of things from the beginning. They ran tests on the starter systems of the car and it was the starter itself that needed replacing. They had the part in town so we were on the road around noon.

Rolled into Eugene in time for Chris’s talk at Tsunami Books. Grabbed pizza beforehand across the street (a gourmet pizza place right beside a Domino’s???) and then I went to hear Chris’s talk. About ten people showed up, all middle aged white men except for a young male teacher and a woman. The woman spoke the most at the discussion part of the talk and she was an amazing activist working in many interesting projects.

Stencil Nation presents at Eugene’s DIVA center

I ran across the street to use a cafe’s wifi and call Peat to buy tickets to Melbourne for July. We went online in our respective towns (Peat’s in St. Louis) and bought tickets for the same flight from LAX to MEL. “I’m afraid,” Peat said when we started talking about logistics. “That’s a good sign,” I told him. Just got an email from him stating that prices have gone up $250 since our Saturday purchase. Glad a travel agent tipped us off to this price hike!

Meanwhile, Chris had met Kathy, the talkative reading attendee, and she had coupons for free soup at a local chain called Yumm! She insisted on having us for a bowl, so we once again fell into the kindness of a stranger. When Chris mentioned our needed to get a motel room, Kathy made a call to Sue, who wasn’t sure if she could host us at first. She had a change of heart on the second call, so we all drove to Sue’s house to drop off our car gear, meet her, and then go get soup.

Kathy was a character. Talked a mile a minute as they say in SC. Sue actually had a grounding ceremony to make us feel “our feet grow roots into the earth” and calm Kathy down a bit. They both have advanced degrees, kind hearts, and critical thinking processes. Though Kathy did admit that “she only reads conspiracy books” and Sue did all her reading when she got her two advanced degrees, we all fell into an easy rapport.

We finally made it to Yumm! (Chis and I biked) which had just closed. So we went to a Thai place instead and had a decent meal while amazing Asian fusion rock played over the house PA. Sue expressed her discouragement early on in the evening and that vein of discussion continued, mostly directed towards Chris, through dinner. She asked us how we continued to think positively about the way the world was going. “I tell myself every day what an amazing time I’m living in,” I told her. “Here I am in my life, with a choice to make about saving the planet of going off the edge with the rest of the lot.”

I also told her that Chris’s epistemological shift, which he mentions in his talk with regards to the book, is real and I’m an example of it. “When I was a child, I recycled bottles and turned off lights. I conserved water. And I didn’t know anyone else that did it. Here on the West Coast, today, I know many people like you and Chris, and we have amazing conversations like this.” Yes, 1968 isn’t really on the radar for today’s youth, but it did shift things. And I felt that shift in a tiny town in SC.

Sue walked us to a nearby co-housing community, named Maitrea, Sunday morning. Gardens grew everywhere, chickens were cooped up, and many cob structures were on the property. There was a dome village consisting of small domes formerly made from cardboard. They were reused plastic sign material now. Back at Sue’s house, she interviewed Chris while I spoke to my parents.

Then Chris and I said our goodbyes, just as a nearby Baptist church ended service. A bag dropped out of a back door and a bottle of Chris’s good wine broke. Cleaned up the mess and finally drove to DIVA (Downtown Initiative for Visual Arts) with plenty of time to set up my first slide presentation. Eric was there to set us up, so it was good to finally meet him after talking with him over the past few months. DIVA’s gallery space had just been redone and looked great. The projector and screen were top notch.

About 16 people showed up for the presentation. Several came early and several were artists who worked with stencils. The presentation went well. Chris gave me great notes and advice. Less words and more photos he said. Don’t read when there isn’t a photo on the screen to look at. Highlighting something form a larger quote on screen worked. You did a good job! Sold three books, which Chris also said was a good percentage. Didn’t sell any art.

Several people told us to check out the graffiti wall near the train station, so Chris and I biked out there. We hung out while Genuis painted four three-color stencils of their State Rep. Peter DeFazio (looked like Frank Oz to me). Pochoir Fille was hanging out too and bummed that her huge Megatron stencil wasn’t ready to paint while I was in town. The buff is on in Eugene due to the Olympic Trials for Team USA in a week or so. DIVA’s art show was about the Olympics. I noticed buffed walls the night before and Genuis said it was all because of the trials.

Genuis shows his repetitive stenciling skillz on Eugene’s free wall

After the stencil goodness, Chris and I biked over to the river park and rode a big loop via bike trails and bridges. We ended up back at the same Yumm! to use the coupons we still had from the night before (thanks Cathy). Then we biked back to the car and hit the freeway for Portland. Did great time and arrived to our Portland hostess Katie’s house. Klutch came over to welcome us to the city and Chris and Katie quickly whipped up a dinner of grilled sausage, salad, and mozzarella.

Then Chris and I hit the road to go to Oak and 10th for a night of Zoo Bombing. We left Katie’s at 9 pm and slowly made it to the meet up spot (the Pyle). At the river, Chris led us down some amazing hills which curved through hardcore industrial landscapes of mills and warehouses, through the freeway, to the Broadway Bridge. At Oak and 10th, Chris walked up to some kids and asked them if they were Zoo Bombing. “Hell yeah!” some of them said. “We don’t know what to do,” Chris admitted. “We’ll take you up there and tell you all about it!” this three guys emphatically replied.

We got the complete download from them. They Zoo Bomb all the time. Weekdays, daytime, whenever they feel like it. Other people do too. There are many different Zoo Bomb routes down the hills of Portland. 48 I think one of them told us. You don’t have to pay to hop on the train to get up there, but it is $2 if you want to pay. “You’ll get a warning the first time since you’re from out of town.” Some people Zoo Bomb all night. “You’ll see them at 11 am getting on the trains to go up the hill to Bomb down again. All night of doing it.” You don’t need to do it on a tiny kid’s bike “but you get respect if you do.” One of the guys had a kid’s bike. You can do it safely, but it is dangerous.

One of the kids was proud to be a pot dealer. “It’s the only drug I do. Well, except for mushrooms, and acid. And alcohol.” But he respected the herb he told us. The other informed us that Portland cops have other things to worry about so don’t bust people for pot. “I know a few cops who have told me this,” he said. We got off at a stop, took an elevator up (with a car full of bikes and one skateboarder) and hopped on our bikes to ride up hill a bit. Then the guys started walking. I rode a bit further and then it got too steep to ride. I got off to walk.

“This is where you ride,” one told us and they all hopped on their bikes and rode a bit. “This is where you go up the steps,” one then said. I ran my bike up the side of the steps and got a good work out humping that steep incline. There were many bikers doing the same schlep. Then we hopped back on the bikes, just in time to mass at the top of the hill with about 100 other riders. A countdown started and then everyone yelled “Zoo Bomb!” and the ride began.

Free wheeling down major hills, with riders of all types, and a few bad-ass skaters thrown in the mix, I went with the flow of the group. Curves wound around and down, and I was soon leaning into the turns. We slowed when we rode into dark patches of the road, but the almost-full moon kept the street lit when lights couldn’t. I quit riding my brakes at certain points and pedaled to go faster downhill. True Zoo Bombing. People on tiny bikes zoomed by of slowed behind. The skater from the elevator was taking every turn with wild abandon but keeping it together and having a major ride. Chris was a bit tweaked by the skater’s riding. “But he hit every turn” I reminded him.

People corked cars along the route, communication was done well when someone ahead yelled “Car!” and then the call was sent back through the ride. The ride suddenly stopped, so we stopped too. Chris and I had no idea where we were, and had lost our pals, so we kept close to the mass of riders. We left when one said he was doing the Yamhill route and it was their “last chance” to go with him. A small bit down the hill and we grouped up again at the top of Yamhill. “Who hasn’t done this route,” he asked? At least a dozen people raised their hands or made verbal no’s. So the guy explained the route to us, noting a light to make and two sharp turns to watch out for. When the light below turned red, there was a 4-count-down and then we yelled “Zoo Bomb!” and hit the hill.

Fast and straight, we hit the light just when it turned green. Zoomed down some more and took the sharp right. Zoomed through the light where a biker stood and yelled “clear!” at us as we hit the intersection. And then it abruptly ended at a train stop that would take the Bombers back up the hill for another go. Chris and I were done with the exhilarating ride and headed out. We saw our pals at the train stop, with about 100 other bikers, so said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed down the bike trail towards the Broadway Bridge.

About ten minutes later, On a bike path with a strange curve in it’s lay out, Chris missed the little ramp entrance going into the curve and took a curb head on and at full speed. I saw a local rider hit the ramp before Chris, and my brain took a few beats to see that Chris wasn’t doing what the other biker had done. I managed to yell stop once before I yelled stop a second time just as Chris hit the curb head on.

He went down, and from my perspective behind him he had gone into the concrete face first. I didn’t know what to think when I rode up to check on him. In a matter of seconds, Chris was up on his knees and was then standing. He wasn’t dizzy, in too much pain, or badly bleeding. He skinned his elbows and cut a finger, but was fine for the most part! Amazing how that works out sometimes. His bike faired OK too. We think that Chris’s front tire took the impact of the curb, popped the tube, and slowed things down a bit for the fall. Chris’s handlebars protected his body from the concrete, and he didn’t skid much at all (so no pizza burns).

With the busted tire, Chris had to walk the bike back to Katie’s place far far away on NE 25th Ave. We weren’t even over the bridge yet and had a good walk to even get to the bridge. I chose to walk with Chris, because that’s what friends do, and that was the safe thing to do. We’d have to brave the long walk together, so the suffering wouldn’t be as bad. And walk we did. A long way. Many blocks. At the bridge, we tried to call for a taxi, but the wait was too long for a van that could fit two bikes. So we kept walking.

I’m usually in a car in Portland, so have never had a good sense of the city’s layout. It is also spread out a good bit, and the bridges have always kept me confused about where I am. But walking slowed things down. So much vegetation here in Portland. We saw gardens, edible lawns, wild things on the curbside. Many many roses in bloom. All types of houses with Victorian flair and porches. And I got a better sense of distance and direction here in Portland. We’re staying a ways out from downtown, where I need to be for the Powell’s gig tomorrow.

But we finally got back here, after about two hours of walking. Must sleep now because things move early here (Katie is an art teacher). Katie doesn’t have wifi so I hope to find a connection nearby so that I can plug in, post this, and stay connected with the world. Got to start working on the Australia trip. November gigs in the Bay Area. Fun times….