420 Party at Stafford Lake. 1997. FREE

4 05 2009

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This was one of the first big free massives at Stafford Lake. Sunset would later put the spot to good use by throwing their equinox parties there, throwing sometimes up to three parties per season up by the lake. It’s really amazing that we’ve been able to use this spot for 12+ years now. Not only have we not been kicked out yet but we’re actually on good terms with some of the park rangers and locals.

I discovered this flyer while digitizing another shoebox of old flyers and realized that the Stafford Lake debut party was also the day after this free party in Golden Gate Park.

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What an epic line up and great era from free parties in the Bay Area.





Ozomatli live in Stern Grove, San Francisco. 2006. FREE

1 05 2009

Ozomatli puts on a great live show and is famous for working their way out into the audience to jam during their encore. I was about 10 feet to the left of them during this moment from 3 years ago. Super fun times.

The Stern Grove 2009 line up. was just released today. The July 19th show with Sergent Garcia and the July 26th show with Lyrics Born look promising. I live for free outdoor parties during the summertime.





The Temple of Poi 2009 Fire Dancing Expo. Union Square, San Francisco. FREE

28 04 2009

These are some of the videos I took from the Fire Dancing Expo this weekend.

I love it when people have a sense of humor about their music and don’t take themselves too seriously.

This kid from Japan was probably my favorite. Great showmanship.





The Really Really FREE Market. Last Saturday of The Month in Dolores Park.

28 04 2009

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I wanted to check out The Really Really Free Market more for the experience than for actually grabbing things. I really don’t need anymore material possessions. I have waaaay too many things as it is and really need to have a garage sale and scale back before I start to feel like a hoarder. But I was surprised to see that they were also giving away free food.

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I managed to score a beans and rice burrito, a veggie tofu burrito, some chocolate soy milk, and a Power to the Peaceful DVD.

How granola is that?





Hippy Hill on 420. FREE

21 04 2009

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It was a gorgeous low-90s heat-wave day yesterday and the entire teenage wasteland nation was scrambling for shade, like Burning Man at high noon.

There was this great dog that was sitting down next to me. Every now and then it would lift its head, close its eyes, and just sniff out whatever smoke trail was drifting within its vicinity. I was watching him do that for a few minutes before going over and talking to the dog’s owner.

“I just wanted to say you’ve got a great dog. I don’t know if you noticed, but she’s doing this cute thing where she closes her eyes, lifts her head up, and is able to sniff any smoke trail that comes next to her.”

And the dog’s owner said “Oh, that’s because she’s blind.”

And I felt like the biggest dick in the park.

But her owner was super nice and explained that she came down with glycomia when she was two and now five years later she’s still doing fine. She’s been able to survive in the city just relying on her other senses. That’s amazing. There’s such an onslaught of audio overload in the city, even on blocks where there isn’t any construction. And then you can go from that to secluded park life where it’s quiet and peaceful, then turn the corner and you’re on 19th Ave, which is basically a freeway with stoplights and bus stops. Being able to survive without your sight in this city is amazing.

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Nice meeting you, Daredevil Dog.

You are by far the most unique soul that I met on 420.





Bring Your Own Big Wheel. San Francisco. 2009. FREE

14 04 2009

2009 was on like Donkey Kong!
Although this was the last year as a renegade event. Next year the promoters will have to cough up $10,000 (ouch!) for permits and paperwork. But for now it was on.

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These guys were awesome. I was talking to Super Mario and was all

“That game is a classic! I just bought Super Mario on the Nintendo 64 for my girlfriend’s daughter. She had it as a kid and lost it so I picked up a copy on Ebay and that game is going for up to $50. People still love and aggressively bid on those old Super Mario 64 cartridges.”

And Super Mario was all “Yeah, Ebay is weird.”

The Princess did the entire race in character and with the dress. That’s what I love about this event; it’s not a sausage fest. There are a lot of girls and kids that race.

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I biked all the way from The Outer Sunset through Dolores Park and over to Potrero Hill in under an hour and a half. I rule. It’s pretty essential to get to BYOBW early to get a good spot. I was at the bottom of the hill at the second to the last curve. It was a bit shady, but there was a small wall to stand on that was perfect protection from all the carnage.

I stuck around for an hour and then biked back over to Market and Noe where The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were having a free block party. Chances are, if you have a free party with a sound system in this city I will be there to rock the house.

Hey, Mike! You wanna go get annihilated and rock out with a bunch of queens and bears?

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The streets of San Francisco were very kind to me this Easter Sunday.

Thank you.





Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race. San Francisco. 2008. FREE

10 04 2009

I really like this video a lot.

First off, check out that street! Good Lord, welcome to San Francisco.

It does a great job of capturing people just flying down that hill and destroying their big wheels in the process, just a wave of human flesh and plastic that’s been eaten alive as they skid down that pavement. I think my favorite are the kids in the trashcan and compost bins. Imagine those guys slamming into you from behind.

I also like that it’s not a sausage fest. There are lots of girls that are in the race too.

Now check out this video, from a slightly higher vantage point and with far more carnage.

From this angle it feels like everyone is just falling off the edge of the world as they exit stage right. And check out the guy dressed as Frogger who is jumping through the race and fucking with everyone at 2:02.

Last year was the first year BYOBW was at Vermont Street and it was super fun for me. I thought it was the perfect ratio of participants vs spectators. You could get there early to take pictures and get a good spot and not feel like it was a mob scene. It was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, since the pillow fight on Valentine’s Day cost the city $30,000 to clean up that god ugly fountain at Embarcadero Plaza, the city has been cracking down on non-permitted flash mob like events. I’d like to think that we can keep this party going. We’ll see what happens on Easter Sunday.

http://www.jonbrumit.com/byobw.html

PEOPLE!! BEHAVE!!
THE EVENT IS AT A CRITICAL MOMENT … and REQUIRES YOUR RESPONSIBILITY and GOOD WILL!! 


PLEASE – NO COWBOYS – NO RAMPS – NO HATE MAIL

…
BE NICE! 
and NO MATTER WHAT – DO NOT RETURN TO LOMBARD STREET for a BYOBW type thing – NO!!



ALERTS!!
RIDE or PARTICIPATE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

SF POLICE HAVE PROMISED TO SHOW UP AND TICKET EVERYONE RIDING OR RACING

SFPD TACTICAL vs BYOBW? yes – this could be the case!

Tickets could be for anything like jaywalking, obstruction of traffic or other things (?!) and could be for as much as $100 or so



THINGS TO REMEMBER – EVENT or NO EVENT!!
THIS IS A FAMILY FRIENDLY EVENT – please .. NO BOOZE, open containers or the like … for your own sake do you need another ticket!?

please use the porta-potties
please be nice to the neighbors and 
HELP CLEAN UP DURING AND AFTERWARDS



OTHER NEWS or REQUESTS!!

DON’T DO IT!

stay home and obey the law you heathens!!!
don’t make me come over there – i do not want to miss my gma’s bday in kzoo!!





Saint Stupid’s Day Parade. 2009. FREE

8 04 2009

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I checked out The First Church of the Last Laugh’s 31st (!) annual Saint Stupid’s Day Parade last week. Wow, they’ve been doing this for a while now. Every April Fools Day they do a march downtown. On weekends they march through North Beach and on weekdays they march through the Finical District. Since I don’t have a job I spent my Wednesday afternoon marching with my people through the Finical District

John Law bought out his Doggie Dinner heads.

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This was the second stop at The Tomb of Saint Stupid. Perfect spot to rock out.

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The Doggie Diner heads followed us to Battery Street.

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Wavy Gravy gonna go get mellow y’all.

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This was the third stop at the statue of the bare butt mechanics.
I loved the guy getting all Braveheart at the top of the statue.

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LOTS of photographers with their power lenses.

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That’s very much a Burning Man thing that I had forgotten about. I would be standing around and people would get naked next to me and then instantly there’s a swarm of paparazzi type activity that makes me not want to be a photographer anymore.

I love this montage. Say hello to contestant #1. Let’s hope he has a sense of humor.

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Say hello to contestant #2. Looking sharp and looking for love.

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And here’s contestant # 3.
That looks like a yummy salad there, buddy. Smile for the Internet.

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What’s funny is that even though the couple at the end got it, contestant # 1 still looks oblivious. Let’s hope he has a sense of humor.

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And this was a scene straight out of Animal House. The parade is led down this dead end. Notice the mini-van that is trying to back out.

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Yep. This looks like a perfect place to jam. Let’s rock out!

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Waive goodbye to the mini-van as it backs up through the parade.

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Love the Free Bernie Madoff sign.

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I worked in the Finical District about 10 years ago. Amazing how timeless this area is. During the weekday it’s packed with stressed out people and all that collective road rage energy. Then on the weekends it’s a ghost town. The Finical District is like San Francisco’s Bermuda Triangle, or at least it has the same weird and haunted energy to it.

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This is stop # 7 at the Banker’s Heart.

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I just now noticed that the guy in the white with the flagpole is not only wearing the exact same tennis shoes as I am, but he built his entire look around those shoes. Nice one, brother.

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Bringing it back home to Embarcadero Plaza.

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It was kind of a goofy, fun, stupid parade in the great tradition of most eccentric San Francisco fringe type gatherings, but really it’s no more absurd than what goes on every single weekday in the Finical District with people dressing up in their suits and ties and wasting their lives away in cubicles while out economy has been run into the ground by organized crime derivatives bandits.

Go put that run-on sentence in your pipe and smoke it.





Sunset Season Opener at Stafford Lake. 2009. FREE

7 04 2009

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Matty B passed away earlier this year. I didn’t know him very well but I used to see him all the time when he worked at Housewares. He was always super fucking cool to me, especially considering I never bought any records at Housewares but was in there once a week because I collect flyers. We were also both extras in that corny raver movie, Groove. Sunset had an alter for him on Sunday.

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I brought up a Guan Yin for good luck.

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Peace be with you, Matty B.

***

Related Posts –

Sunset. FREE Party on Treasure Island





Sunset Season Opener at Stafford Lake. 2006 – 2007. FREE

2 04 2009

I remember when these parties used to happen all the time at Richmond ’s Point Molate or Berkley Marina. We’ve long since worn out our welcome in those locations so it’s kind of amazing that a decade later we’ve been able to hold onto Stafford Lake, a hidden gem just 30 minutes north of San Francisco. Before youtube and before all the social networking sites that exists today, 800- 1,000 people would descend on this tiny suburb based on just word of mouth and a phone number for the first Sunset park party of the year. And we would rock the fuck out on their lake!

This was one of the first Sunset videos to go viral. It’s a great 8-minute static shot that does a perfect job of capturing all the insanity that goes on right by the decks. Yo! Waldo! I found your future ex-wife at 6:25. She’s smoking hot.

Here’s another great static shot video from 2007.

It does a perfect job of showing just how large Stafford Lake is. You can trek out to the bathrooms and by the time you’re ready to head back there’s a small army of people and their gear between you and your camp. You can spend the entire day bugging out and making a spectacle of yourself and still not cross paths with half the people there. It’s pretty epic.

Here’s another 2007 video from luxvibes. I like his work

The opening shot from across the lake at the party’s peak was an excellent idea. I can’t believe I never thought of that before. And the closing shot with the Come-Unity sign made me smile. Sunset parties at Stafford Lake are pretty unique and special. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep this party going a while longer.