boomslang photo shoot

photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey

Boomslang photo shoot at Busters

Boomslang photo shoot at Busters
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey

The Herald-Leader's great Mark Cornelison navigates snakes, swords,
hula hoops, and fashion to capture WRFL's Boomslang Festival for the
upcoming Weekender!

THIS is Burning Man.

Check out Brad Templeton's AMAZING panoramic images from Burning Man 2009!

Brad Templeton Burning Man 2009 Pano Photos

The ACEWeekly Gift Bag

A big big thanks to ACEWeekly readers who were exceedingly kind to me in this year's "Best of Lex" poll! I didn't do too bad, scoring Best Local Radio Show, Best Local Blog (non-corporate), Sexiest Radio Guy (2nd place), Best DJ (2nd place).

Um, wow!

Thanks so much to ACEWeekly readers for their fondness!

But the thing that everybody is REALLY wanting to know is: What was in that swag bag given to recipients of ACEWeekly readers poll "Best of Lex 2009?" at the swanky Awesome Inc fête during Gallery Hop?

Well, dear friends, as the recipient of the "Best Blog" award, it only seems appropriate that I should post about that very thing. So let's have a look.

The Contents of the ACEWeekly Swag Bag for "Best of Lex 2009"

• Iced cookie from Brown's Bakery (delicious — semi-consumed/stolen by wife Lucy. But I did get about three bites of it)
• Gourmet, baked dog treats from the Bluegrass Barkery (Oscar has consumed and pronounced barktastic)
• Mingua Brothers' award-winning beef jerky. (already a personal fave)
• Handy 4-port USB hub courtesy of McEwen Creative
• Cool little Third Street Stuff laptop sticker (love the laptop sticker concept)
• 2010 Jewel Case Calendar from Rose Street Design ("The cutest calendars on the planet!")
• A copy of Holly Goddard Jones' just-out story collection "Girl Trouble."
• Town & Country Bank change pouch.
• Invite to Cecil Carpenter's art opening "Designed Obsolescence" at J.Allen Studio (ahem — there's a robot. I'm totally there)
• Issue of Keeneland magazine (which happens to include some of my design work — very handy for the archives!)
• Eco-bag from Buster's, which I'm sure will find some real and regular use. (my next gym bag? Now I just have to actually go back to the gym)
• $50 GC from the renowned Vôce salon!
• Ring pop from Always Planned, planners of ACEWeekly's "Best of Lex" party
• Actual baseball from the Lexington Legends
• Strange piggy bank keychain from Old Kentucky Barbeque.
• Nice selection of stickers, pens, chewing gum, and business cards from the likes of Edward T. Jones investments, WRFL-FM, South Van events, and Peggy's Gifts.
  
• Kewl henry brown coffee cozy. Just what I've needed!
• Ball cap from TOBA. Mmm-kay!
• Little airline bottle of Blanton's "Connoisseur Sauce," which seems to be a bourbon-flavored barbeque sauce. No complaints, there…
• Rather iconic, squarish Buffalo Trace shot glass. (note: these people have been involved fairly intimately in my drinking and in my matrimony. Lucy and I got married at Buffalo Trace distillery.)

Thanks again, ACEWeekly readers for the accolades and local businesses for the swag!

If you want one more social media thing to do (two actually), follow me on twitter at mrtoastey or follow the radio show at trivialthursday!

Neverwas Haul

.:.
Originally uploaded by Mulling it Over

I don't know if anything astonishes quite as much as Mulling It Over's HDR Burning Man photos. Take a look at the set. (pictured: the breathtaking Neverwas Haul, one of the most amazing of the mostly amazing things at Burning Man 2009.

Part Victorian House, part train, part car… all Jules Verne. Just unbelievable to see.

http://www.neverwashaul.com/

)'( 09 : Gothic Raygun Rocketship

)'( 09 : Gothic Raygun Rocketship
Originally uploaded by moontrolling

Still curious about Burning Man 2009? The Flickr Burning Man pool is over 27,000 images strong and growing. Check it out!

Another great Burning Man 2009 video montage

It's great to see the Burn through the eyes of others.

Roots & Heritage Parade 2009

roots & heritage 2009
Originally uploaded by geoffandsherry

thanks to geoff maddox for this wonderful shot from surreal saturday — back from Burning Man less than 24 hours and playing THREE March Madness gigs. My life has its pluses.

The Lady Sassafras

The Lady Sassafras
Originally uploaded by grimmwire

This was a delightful mutant vehicle that I almost forgot about. Guy and Ashley and I had a splendid time tooling around on The Lady Sassafras

Cubatron L5

One of my most favorite visual delights at Burning Man 2009 was the Modular Cubatron, an amazing work of kinetic art by Mark Lottor. This was the biggest yet of Mark's Cubatron projects, partially funded by a Burning Man art grant. Read more about it at the link.

The Gypsy Queen

Fishing
Originally uploaded by ninjaonmoss

Ninjaonmoss has posted some of my favorite Burning Man 2009 photos thus far, including this one of the Gypsy Queen. Check out his whole set!

Black Rock City From Above

Black Rock City From Above
Originally uploaded by scottlondon

magnificent aerial of Black Rock City 2009

Burning Man 2009

Burning Man 2009
Originally uploaded by hilong2

Another amazing aerial of Burning Man 2009. You gotta understand: 45,000 people in a temporary city out in the desert for a week. It's all gone now.. Leave No Trace.

Bye to Truckee

Bye to Truckee
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey

And bye to our super disco hostesses Lizzie and Emma! You guys the
rockin-est!

Burning Man 2009 on Flickr

The Temple Burn
Originally uploaded by r_a_w

As photos and videos continue pouring onto the net from Burning Man 2009, the Flickr Burning Man pool is blowin' up!

Last check, over 25,000 images. Have a look for fond recollections or for a deeper sense of WTF.

Flickr: Burning Man 2009!

Kraft/Judas Priest Breakfast at The Lost Penguin

Most every day at Burning Man 2009, I would bike past The Lost Penguin which was on Esplanade, right before turning up 3 to our camp. I had a couple of delightful experiences here, and really just had a fond place for The Penguins.

One night, they hosted a Battle of the Bands type thingie and I stood around in total delight as Chicago's Environmental Encroachment got wild out front. It was one of many occasions where I would lose my mates. Sorry guys! One minute we're biking along, and the next, I've pulled over, realized that there's a jam-down in progress somewhere, and then tried to hustle down the road to catch Guy and Ash, only to decide that the only thing left to do is return to the jam. Which again, was The Lost Penguin.

After EE performed and I shared some bass drum admiration with them, I went to the bar to see what was what. There was a lavish tray of dark chocolate shards out (yum!) and I became acquainted with the barkeep-of-the-moment because of overhearing this:

"You should come by tomorrow morning. We're having a Kraft & Judas Priest breakfast!"

And that's just too silly not to interject upon, so that's how I met Hilary, the apparent architect of such silliness. If I remember correctly, Hilary is Canadian, but the point is that — where she's from — "Kraft" is short for "Macaroni & Cheese."

Don't ask me where the Judas Priest came from, but in the techno-dominated world of Black Rock City, the thought was refreshing. Plus? I LOVE JUDAS PRIEST.

So I made a pact with Hilary that I was gonna BE THERE in the AM, expecting to hear some Priest, eat some "Kraft" and that I would bring a couple of authentic Kentucky Fried Camp Fried Baloney sandwiches as an offering.

Fast forward to the next morning: I hit up our ardent chefs Travis and Jerry for a couple of sandwiches — which, when placed in a ziploc bag with catsup, looked a bit like bloody organs — and headed to The Lost Penguin, excited as always to be biking through the wonder, the abject WONDER, that is Black Rock City. (You do NOT want to miss the aerial shot that is linked there, buddy)

I arrived at The Lost Penguin, anticipating that signature Rob Halford squeal, those KK Downing/Glen Tipton guitars, and instead was greeted by the strains of … Michael McDonald? NFW. In fact? The Yacht Rock party was still two days away.

Unacceptable! Unacceptable!

I stormed through the Penguins, in feigned fury, demanding Judas Priest for breakfast, demanding Hilary, who had promised the Priest. I found her being Camp Cookie, slinging together "the kraft," and after handing over the fried baloney and some Priestly beratement, we were shortly rocking out to "Hell Bent for Leather," at which point I made the Penguin rounds once again, this time apologizing for harshing the Michael McDonald mellow. But it had to be done.

Favorite quip during Judas Priest and Kraft breakfast, to the strains of "The Ripper," and many clenched fists and air guitar solos:

(Rob Halford: "Oh hear my warning! Never turn your back! On the Ripper!")
Hilary, adamantly and with great counsel, in agreement: "Don't DO it!"

Hammock time in Truckee

Hammock time in Truckee
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey

5 am rise-and-shine to keep up with my EDT comrades? I earned this.

Grey Anne: The Sound of Moss at 4:30am

Here's my first Burning Man story —

I worked two delightful shifts for BMIR, Black Rock City's official radio station (props to the 20 pirate stations, btw), but by the end of shift two, I was feeling kind of frazzled. The very idea of operating computer and radio equipment in the insane Black Rock desert climates is nothing less than absurd. So it's no surprise that things break. In fact, the production machine had just imploded on me, about a half-hour before my shift (and the day) ended.

I was in this air-conditioned trailer (definitely a BRC luxury), scratching my head, wondering "how did I manage to get myself into a work-like frenzy at Burning Man?"

It was kind of bothering me.

I was stressed in a work way and, thus far, Burning Man had been a complete reversal of that daily condition.

I had a few things on my mind: The broken computer, the two people that were currently standing there, wanting me to record public service announcements for their camp's events or what-have-you, and the fact that I was missing the Sparkle Pony Corral's Yacht Rock cocktail party, an event that I had been anticipating so much as to have arrived at Burning Man with my very own "skipper" hat.

Into the dark trailer, through this mental haze comes Grey Anne, with the calm and tenacity of woodland vines. Calm, quiet, and self-assured, Anne introduced herself and said she wanted to record a PSA for her performance… tonight at 4:30am. Now — this is Burning Man, which never sleeps, but I still was thinking: "Huh?!" 4:30am??

Anyway, I wanted to help but couldn't. Equipment: busted. Mick's Mind: at Yacht Rock. And I had one of those "conversations" with Grey Anne that I hate being responsible for, the kind where the other person is saying perfectly reasonable things, engaging things, and I'm … not really there, glancing this way and that, headful of other things and replying with "uh-huh" and "sure" and wishing my brain was just bigger so I could multitask more, which is the problem in the first place.

Anne was persistent, and determined and I felt that I finally offered some semblence of help by sending her directly to the live on-air studio to make an announcement about her (4:30?!) show.

But I remembered something: This very night was the one where, with the devoted help of Miss Kakie and Mr. Manke, I was going to attempt to deliver my Live From Burning Man report to my radio show in Lexington. At, when? At 5:00 am. Therefore, I told Anne that I would come to her show, though — keep in mind — "It's Burning Man," as they say — which means, you just never really know what's going to happen next, and certainly not 12 hours later.

Eleven hours later, I found myself in Center Camp, the giant festival-like heartbeat of Burning Man, really pretty pooped but needing to stay up until 5am to do ("to attempt," is more like it) my call-in to the great WRFL-FM Lexington KY. And that's when I remembered it: Grey Anne. She should be performing any minute.

I wandered over to Center Stage, a place festooned with dusty couches and too often populated by mediocre poetry or "sad clowns," as Chris has coined. At 4:30am, the atmosphere was very weird and sonambulant. The couches were about 2/3 full, with mostly sleeping dust-covered BRC citizens of all makes and models. But about 2 dozen were awake, too.

And those of us with our eyes open were treated to a singular delight.

Grey Anne took the stage, with some loop pedals, a pint-sized guitar, some faery wings and a wisp of Tolkienian Elvenness, appearing to have possibly arrived recently from Rivendell.

And then? And then? Anne played our dreams to us.

At least that's what it sounded like to me. It was so very surreal. Her little wispy songs, looped with hypnotic taps, clips and claps.

I kept looking around, when I could tear my attention away from this dust-laden, surreal dream-thing. I heard facets of some of my lifelong faves — Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom — but those are just reference points for something that I cannot communicate with written words. I looked around to see if anybody else was catching this — and those that were awake were also mesmerized… and grinning dreamily.

For all these words, I can't describe Grey Anne. She sounds like a bent-wheeled bicycle covered in moss. Maybe you'll get it from the photo or from listening to a song. Seeing Grey Anne was one of my private delights of Burning Man 2009. I'm sorry you weren't there, but maybe I'm glad you weren't there, too. Of all the things at Burning Man, this was a treasured sonambulant reverie.

Grey Anne: MP3's at Amazon

Burning Man 2009 - Montage

Starting to see Burning Man 2009 videos pop up on the netz... Check it out!

Home in Truckee

Home in Truckee
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey

Chris and I have landed in Truckee CA after an astounding week at
Burning Man 2009. It'll be hard to let go of the Playa but I suspect a
shower will help. Manyore photos and recollections to come after I
focus on undigging Marge.