...don't jump...

                                  Cape Foulweather, Summer 2007

I thought I better give a quick zine update. We got the proofs for Foulweather #2 last Friday and I mailed off my life savings to get it printed on Tuesday. Its now all in the hands of the fine printers at 1984. What's done is done.  At this point I think we are going to sell it for $5 a copy.

Other than that I'm working on Foulweather #3 and already have a couple of potential contributors lined up.

The new Wend Magazine is out and I have short piece on the hazardous nature of plastic (PETs), its recycling potential and how the outdoor recreation world is responding to it. 

Meanwhile, I'm dreaming or Iceland, Morocco, Oman and Newfoundland... or perhaps never leaving my bark garden ever again... more to follow...

Infiltration

When I first started making zines, I decided that if I expected anyone to buy mine then I should probably support other people's. So I started picking up random publications. One of the stand out zines I stumbled upon was Infiltration: The Zine about going places you're not supposed to go.

The zine was put out by Jeff Chapman aka Ninjalicious, and compiled all sorts of accounts of modern day urban exploration. It was published in a simple black and white, photocopied and stapled, usually with three or four stories an issue. In 2005, Chapman died but a compilation book was published entitled Access All Areas. Over the last couple of years, I've been writing a fair amount about reinterpretation and subversion of the urban environment (most notably with my stores about skateboarding and Parkour in Wend Magazine) and Infiltration, in part, inspired that.

Consequently, Foulweather #3 will be all about just that, the re-interpretation and subversion of urban public (and not so public) space. What does that mean? It means re-defining what you are supposed to be doing in public i.e. commerce, consumerism or on your way to engage in one of those things. It means, stepping out of the grid system. It means re-discovering the wild that lies meters deep below the concrete. Why? Because shit like this is simply intolerable. And because it is my feeling, that when people choose to make art, voice a controversial opinion, climb a random building to check out the lunar eclipse from the roof, they are making the city more livable and exciting for all of us.

So, this is what I will be working on for 2008 and I'm actively seeking submission ideas with the goal of getting out Foulweather #3 at the end of the year. From architecture to graffiti art, public protest to parkour and skateboarding to Situationism... stay posted and get in touch with your ideas.

Off the grid

I just spent a few sodden wet days with my mate Stiv and his trusty pup, Pork Chop tucked away in a remote(ish) pocket in the above image. We got to hang out with a special family who managed to live off the grid for over twenty years. They created a life on an idyllic beach, centered around family, living off the land, craft and surfing. Eventually, they were evicted from the land and within three years, the father died of cancer, three of the eleven children died in separate car accidents (within the same six months) and another of the children began to suffer from serious mental illness.

We were lucky enough to tuck into some of the great waves that the family had to themselves for a long time. Beautiful reefy peaks on the edge of lush rain forest. We camped out by the local reservation and chatted with some of the real natives about having their traditional beliefs and languages beaten out of them by Christians when they were children. And the pride they now had in being able to re-discover their culture. One man named Alfred, beamed with excitement as he told me about having his father build him a canoe and paddling it to Washington, having native communities feed him along the way. Bald eagles and whales. Rain and... more rain....

As I sat there drenched to my bone marrow in the relentless rain, I understood that I'm not ready for the existence that I've fantasized about for a considerable time. But I also began to understand that leaping off the grid is a lot easier than tapping back into it.

La beauté est dans la rue

I am working on a thesis, that goes a little something like this. For most of human existence we have lived in the wild. It is only the last 1% of our history that we have settled, domesticated and civilized ourselves but do we really we think we can suppress our wild instincts? We have turned forests into deserts and have paved over vast expanses of nature but do we really think we can smother it in concrete and it will never break through? 

Nature will always win.

Wild wolves now roam the streets of Pripyat (once devastated by the Chernobyl meltdown). The wild will have the last laugh but there is no reason for us to fight it. On the contrary, our very sanity depends on us remembering how wild we once were. There are obvious ways to do this. You can climb a mountain or go surfing. You can drop out, live off the grid and off the land. But how do you tune into your wild heritage, perhaps where it is most crucial, deep in the urban realm? Some of us use a skateboard to redefine the urban landscape and to slowly chip away at the tonnes of concrete and tarmac. Others, spray graffiti and use the city as a giant canvas. Traceurs, use the city as a training ground for elegant escape techniques. Some people insist on breaking into and exploring off limit locations deep in the urban underbelly.

 Photo by Scott Pommier on Murray Siple's website.

And then there is a group of homeless can collectors in North Vancouver. I have high hopes that Carts Of Darkness will bridge the gap between social commentary, fly-on-the-wall/reality-docu-drama and 'eXtreme Sports' film.

Beauty is in the streets.

So I got an email today...

...that began, 

"I was supposed to send you some art months ago for your publication, and life sort of got in the way..."

Yeah life can do that but it is a shame, as I probably would have used these. Cheers anyway Mike. I'd love to put them to use in a future project.

Northwest Surf Scenes by Mike Lorenzini.

                                  Beach Break

                                                   Sasquatch
                                                   

                                                   Locals

Vortex

Oakland Portland  Oxford

Busy schedules, time differences, international phone calls, lack of internet access, last minute details...

Hang tight.