Trees, Trees, Trees.

Nathen Fullawka plants trees in the spring, and cuts them down in the fall.  He burns them in the winter, and puts them out in the summer.  But even with all that time he spends with them, it just isn't quite enough- so when he comes home- he climbs them.

It's been great relaxing for the last three months, but alas, the time has come.  No longer is there a need to send me hate-mail or aggravated statements on the scale of deprivation I have been putting your visual senses through, for posting has commenced.  ;)

                                    

Winkerbeans to Thrasherbalts and Hardcore at it's Finest:)

I have a great appreciation for most genres of music.... but metal is not one often found at the top of my playlist.  That being said, it's to Nihilate's credit when I say that my ear drums thoroughly enjoyed themselves during their show a few months back.  The Vancouver boys have been slavin away in the studio and have just released their new EP, Resistance.  Check em out at www.nihilate.com, and if your lookin for more tunes of the same breed and your in Vancouver, give Funky Winkerbeans, AKA Punky Thrasherbalts a peek here. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=108531205857133  Funkys has always hosted outstanding and upcoming hardcore bands but with Wendy13 now in the house, the tempo has picked up and shows are atacked every Thursday, Friday and Saturday with Evil Bastard Karaoke Monday-Wednesday.  GO.  By the time the weekend hits I guarantee you will have a new appreciation for the vocal talents on the stage;)

                         

Alleyway Harmonics

A recess in the graffiti'd alley walls is where he stood, "Come in, it's not so windy here" he said.    Between conversations he serenaded me with his harp, while I clicked away.  He asked for money.  I gave him money.  He asked for more.  I placed in his weathered palm the remainder of my proposed lunch.  Not willing to leave without offering something in return, he handed me his harmonica.  "No no, you need that.  Sharing your wonderful music was enough!"  But he reassured me, he'd just hustled enough to buy a new one.  ;)

Another Great Night at The Richshaw

Vancouvers Los Furios, rockin it out ska-style at the Rickshaw Theatre:)

Unfortunately, size does matter.  Unless we're talkin music.  Cause if we're talkin music, then Sarah Sin is here to demonstrate quite the opposite.  With a guitar twice the size of her torso,  The Creepshows leading lady has enough pizazz to shred any man-of any size- to psychobilly shame.

The only thing that will get these guys off the road is recording another album, so keep your heads up cause they're bound to tour their way across your path sooner than later.  Check 'em out at www.thecreepshow.ca.   "Sickboy" McNab on the double bass.

With Mexico in Mind...

It' kinda funny living at anchor.  You have a gigantic pool in place of a yard.  Instead of a bicycle or a car you have a dingy to get you across the salt water street to your neighbours to play with his cat.  You are at the liberty of weather and disconnected with the race against time that life on land seems to instil upon the majority of us.  Unless it's November, you still have a deck to clear, a galley to secure,  and 2000 miles ahead of you.  Then you are most definitely in a race against time.

This is Bill.  He is he owner and captain of OSPREY, the 60 foot ferro cement hulled schooner behind him, which he bought three years ago with the wealth of Mexico's warmth on his mind.  In his mid sixties, Bill has happily spent the greater part of his life on the water, but his years at sea are starting to take a toll on his body.   The Northern coastal temperatures settled into his arthritic joints have him on a ferris wheel of pain killers, and keep him restricted to the confines of the Osprey unless the water is ''flat ass calm.'' 

Bill is a cross between thrifty, hoarder and forgetful.  He can't turn down a good sale even when emergency stores for emergency stores are already on board, and he gets excited when someone tries to toss a section of shredded rope.   Three years of collecting mixed with his restrictions for bending over and moving around easily has every corner of the boat stacked high with layers of valuable and invaluable bits and pieces.  This is him trying to find the where his diner table ends and his bench begins...

The sails getting some light, just long enough to make sure the beams have enough clearance  over the newly built cabin.  

Osprey's cluttered deck on the calm waters in Bellingham, WA.  patiently awaiting the day her anchors can be pulled and her sails set- for more than just a minute:)

In the name of Punk, Folk-Punk, and Cider

Vancouver's Dreadnoughts dropped their pants and doused  their crowd with cider, cider aaaand more cider.  Both bass drum and fiddle found their way on top the crowd as their musicians surfed and serenaded simultaneously.  If talk of their stage shenanigans doesn't crave your attention, their potent mix of punk-folk, along with their devotion to cider should do the trick:)  Oh, and they really really like cider.  Incase that wasn't clear;)

The legendary Mr. Chi Pig of SNFU praising society with his middle fingers.  Open Your Mouth and Say Mr. Chi Pig is a new documentary out on the iconic punk figures life.  Give it a watch and you'll get a serious eye-opener on as to whats going on in his lyrics, and his life, obviously;)

Ken Chinn (Mr. Chi Pig) and his ever devoted fans.

SNFU drummer Jon Card.

            
        

Long live Camper-vaners and their rare bird camper vans:)  Attack of Danger Bay, Pender Harbour, BC. 

Robio Fabio

This is Rob.  He's a bad-ass, just escaped from the pen... haha, just kidding.  But he did a darn good job of trying to look bad-ass here considering his face is usually shining with a full forced smile.    Rob is one of the most helpful and motivated people I've met during my time in the DTES.   Always eager to give me a hand when I was on my giving footsoaks, and always stopped by storage to give me a hug and have a chat whenever he was passing by.  Rob just celebrated his birthday in Rio de Janeiro where he and 7 other members of the DTES had a chance to showcase their soccer skills at the Homeless World Cup! (  http://www.homelessworldcup.org/news/day-4-hungary-6-1-canada )
Team Canada may have lost out on the score board, but they certainly won in spirit, which is all that truly matters;)  

The ATTACK of DANGER BAY

Ok, so this may be old news already, but what can I say!  Sorry about the delay!  I live on a boat!

          

Justin Ortiz, still chuggin back his high quality bottle of h2o, but this time on the cover of Concrete                Wave.  :)

Taken during a weekend of epic slides and downhill carnage, intense mosh pits inspired by some seriously talented musicans as well as a healthy dose of liquor.....  The Attack of Danger Bay, in it's 9th year running, is one action-packed weekend worth checking out! 

"Whoa, why do you have so many boards?" 

"Cuz I gotta take em up to my campsite"

"Are they all yours?"

He looks down at the five boards in his hand. 

"just three of them."

                                                  Two racers holdin' it steady through Carnage Corner.  

Hoodie jumps onto the race track before the final heats begin to take twoonie bets on who take the win!

Pushin pushin pushin.

Downhill winner  Zak Maytum getting props from his bros.

A bus ride bumpin with banjo tunes brought us from the race back to the campsite. 

Where smiles and celebrations continued!

Dylan Quarry absolutely destroying the drums on another epic night at the camp grounds. 

Nothing quite like a game of hockey to top off the weekend...

 The Longboarding Hockey League All Star Game, it's a thriller!

Our up-and-comers.  :)

Shambhala Shitter

Inside Shambhala they have state of the art plastic sani-houses that are cleaned daily and smell better than half the happy hippies dancing their days away.  Ramble of the populated path a bit and the loo's get a little more rustic... and with rusticity comes character.  :)

TC at B3 Extreme- the raddest skate shop you'll ever have the pleasure of walking into...

Street Dogs

Singer Michael McColgan reaches out to interact with his listeners during Street Dogs performance at Warped Tour- a punk festival that travels through North America each summer.   McColgan, former singer of the well known Boston Punk band Dropkick Murphies rocks the stage like no other old man you've seen before!  ;)

We've all heard of Batman- the self trained, self disciplined superhero who flies off into the night, fighting crime at the call of a light in the sky.  It seems clear to me that this is the pigeon version of him,off to save the world after downing a few rejuvenating bread crumbs fed to him by his Alfred Pennyworth.... ;)  

                                                                      

Nelson, BC.

Mr. Rock

Peter Rock, settling down to burn a rumpled up joint on the rocks at Crab Park, the only beach on the North side of Vancouver, and right near the heart of the DTES.

Caveman rockin from the soul:)

Rodney- also known as Caveman- rockin out on the guitar outside of First United, the refuge I work at in the DTES in Vancouver.  All he asked for was just 2 minutes!  2 minutes of your life to be quiet and listen to him play!  Because of his skills he totally got like 200 minutes...

              A tera reader meditates in the relaxing atmosphere of the water tent.  Shambhala 2010 :)

Love

I I I was supposed to meet up with Terry and Helen more than a couple times this summer to take their portrait, but it just never seemed to happen... until i caught them!  Sitting outside the church as the sun set  sharing their love for one another as usual:)

Hello all!  Although I have full intensions of posting everyday- I seem to go into the bush and away from all sources of comunication just a little too often to be able to do that!  So here's a few to make up for the days missed.... :)






ZOMBIES, ZOMbies zoooommmmbies.....

I had the privilege of taking part in my first Zombie Walk last week!  Hundreds of Zombies lurched and crawled their way from The Vancouver Art Gallery down to the beach, stopping traffic and scaring the bejesus out of small asian people trying to take pictures of the strange and compelling site before them.  It was awesome.

Zombie's Skateboarding.

                                                          Zombie bride on the beach.

Zombie Wayne resting.       

                                              Crazy spitting and snarling, asian-scaring Zombie.

Olympic mission...

During the Olympics John had a gigantic canadian flag he took absolutely everywhere he went.  He collected signatures from locals and visitors, athletes and spectators, and even the odd politician or two.  After being completely plastered with signatures from people around the world, the flag was stollen from John, who turned around, bought another one, and went right back to work.  :)  

FAF Madness

The amazing Tayo of Five Alarm Funk rock it in style at Shambhala 2010.  If you haven't seen these guys yet your seriously missing out.  They're an 11 piece Funk band and the self-proclaimed kings a Rock and Roll!

Highway Shenanigans

Uh OH...

After almost missing a surgery, nearly missing our flights, and completely missing the only family wedding left to be had on our fathers side, we (yes, both dirt bike and car) broke down in the exact same spot, 10 kms out of town just in time for Nathan to miss his bands gig. 

What do you do?  Throw on some tunes, crack a beer, grab the sk8s and start shootin! 

.... and make friends with the cops....