BR33ZZYY

March 2021

Well, br33zzyy, we are now living in the Corona history book lesson, one of the weirdest times of life (but it’s all been weird, hasn’t it?). Professor James at Hult has asked you to write a note to yourself for one year from now that you will read. You wanted to go to London and rotate to Dubai and Shanghai (then move to Thailand) sooo badly, but when getting to London hated it and wanted to go back to the sunny, care-free festival and party times of LA. Finally, after a few months, you got used to it, loved it even, made friends in uni and outside in your music scene, felt focused and unstoppable, and BAMMMMMM CORONA. Just to remember to live in the present and be careful what you wish for. After working on a start-up for 2 years (that you’re now in debt because of), you decided to say no mas due to your team. It’s hard to know when to leave/stay sometimes, but this was probably for the best.

The future is uncertain, and is hard to get clear in the moment. You have always had a hard time being certain because of how free you are and open to new experiences. In the future you could work for the EPA and help with climate change, be a sustainability consultant for events in Dubai, create digital content around the world through your Youtube budget travel blog, teach English and DJ in Thailand, launch your thrifted festival fashion start-up, who knows? The opportunities are really endless. However, through the trial and tribulation you know you have always loved music and live experiences, and their ability to move people. With the passion and love for that, you will jet-set your music career and actually be able to profit from it by this time next year.

You have just created your website for Satnam, your start-up dedicated to thrifted/vintage festival fashion that will donate money to charities of the buyers’ choice, could be issues of minority or environmental rights. At this time it’s hard to put into practice since everything is on LOCKDOWN, however in the future it will be easier. This just makes you even more certain of the necessity to be one thing you already are- a resilient digital nomad who can work remotely. You have lived in 4 countries in the last 4 years, over 6 cities, and you can be planted and thrive everywhere. You have worked over 50 festivals in CX, performance, and media. You released your first album and music video. In quarantine, you have finished a song that you think will be your best of all time.

In this time next year, you will be continuing this legacy and making an income through private music production, DJing/live shows, Satnam, and many other projects you are taking to learn this time such as Forex trading. Who knows, maybe one of Hult’s alumni referrals will land you a job at Google or Facebook after Hult has taught you to be the most confident and educated you have ever been. Hult has given you the gift of knowing people from all over the world, and truly believing in the ability to improve it.

LIB Lifts 2019

The LIB sign in front of attendees flocking to the cool lake

Almost no one could have predicted what began as a small birthday party for friends and family in Santa Barbara in 1999 with 1,200 people to balloon into one of California’s, and the world’s, most loved music and art festivals. It wasn’t until 2004 that people paid to attend, and more DJs and artists were recruited. The founders (the production company known now as The Do Lab) grew up going to Burning Man, and have been greatly influenced by that and their work with Coachella to mesh the corporate and off-the-grid worlds into a creative and like minded community.

Co-stage builder Alina poses in front of the Woogie stage

As co-founder Jesse Flemming said, “We now have a younger crowd, a Coachella college crowd, and that’s great, but we have to show them the way and address some of the issues of the world. That’s what sets LIB apart from other festivals. We have a 6 Ways of LIB code of conduct that we really push to teach people the ways that we wish to see and interact with the world. One of our major goals is to respect the land, and use sustainable workshops so that people can take this back to their everyday life after they leave the festival. We only allow 5% of our food vendors to sell meat to really highlight how big sustainability and climate change are for us. That’s the goal, for people to come here and have a reset from everyday life, to get away from their anxiety and politics and keep this energy as alive as possible throughout their lives.”

A sustainable food vendor hands out free Acai bowls that benefit an organization that fights climate change

Indeed, LIB boasts some of the largest amounts of workshops of any festival in the U.S. besides Burning Man, covering everything from physical Kundalini yoga and breathwork to energy healing and massage; dietary classes such as plant-based Keto and others in the Learning Kitchen; ArtClave art classes, and many others. This is what makes LIB a ‘Transformative’ festival, as it’s more than just partying- rather it’s about growing your limitless potential and focusing on what you want to for yourself with the help of and connection to others.

A body paint artist works their magic 🙂

Speaking of connection with others, the entire vibe of the festival is a family one, and what it takes to run a festival often asks of people to give more than they have- this is how the Do Lab gets everything done so quickly between Coachella and LIB. Everyone works together to give their all, and even the founder’s parents help at LIB every year. “We have so many babies that are LIB babies- whose parents met at LIB through a magical connection. These are the types of stories that keep us going even in the chaos of creating a festival,” said Flemming.

Expert Kundalini teacher Jai Dev Sing teaches his ways

This year the festival was held at a new venue in Buena Vista Lake and also incorporated a new stage, which always poses challenges, but the team pulled it off gracefully. For many, this was their first LIB and they didn’t notice much of a difference, but others missed key LIB monuments from the past such as Meditation Mountain. Regardless, there was still a magical energy of play, as this new venue is typically a thriving park used by mostly families. Music headliners such as Flying Lotus, who used immersive 3D experiences during his set, in conjunction with the art and magic abound, made it an elevating weekend!

Psy Trance DJ Khromata on the right breaks in the new Stacks stage

Welcome to the Jungle: Envision

International Bamboo Bass: how Rodriguez has cultivated the Costa Rican techno scene through travel

One of the two gorgeous stages featured at Bamboo Bass:)

A Canadian artist showcasing his live painting at Bamboo Bass

Performers who accompanied musical acts with dancing, fire spinning, arial work, and more!

Bamboo Bass: a collective of artists and performers from all over the world celebrating bass and techhouse music in the paradise of Jaco, Costa Rica, located about 30 minutes inland in the heart of the jungle. From Canadian and Costa Rican production and artists to those from all over, this was a beautiful celebration in the jungle.

DJs Kevin York and Newball under Puchero records

One artist and her record label in particular caught our eye. Meli Rodriguez is a Costa Rican native, and the founder of Puchero Records, which works with not only Costa Rican artists, but those from all over the world. Not only is she an amazing DJ and advocate for women’s rights, but she is also a huge fan of traveling, filmmaker, producer, promoter, and web designer. Having lived in other countries such as Austria, Chile, and Spain, she experienced the techno scenes in these places and brought them back to create her own techno and electronic music scene in Costa Rica.

Meli Rodriguez bearing the symbol of her record label, a Pineapple 🙂

When living in Spain, she met her husband, and she came back to Costa Rica, and began to throw “formal” parties, and market towards a young audience, but soon she brought everyone into the mix. Soon enough, Puchero records has taken a stronghold in Costa Rica. Rodriguez recognizes the importance that music and art cultivates in people from different cultures and countries appreciating each other. In light of international women’s day, she says it is of upmost importance to “empower each other as much as possible”.

To DirtyBird or to Dirtybird?

I have been to many, many festivals in my life, but DirtyBird Campout is something unique- it’s fun for adults! I haven’t been to a festival that has so many games- and DJs host different games to interact with fans! This makes the entire environment inclusive and friendly. Between water balloon tosses, sac races with DB Producer Claude VonStroke (“The Claudefather”) and yoga with Omnom, there is always a wide array of activities going on during the day, along with delicious food (I was so happy to see a vegan BBQ menu alongside a traditional meaty BBQ!) . During the nighttime, amazing techno and house DJs take over the stage, with everything from dark techno to funky house mixed with hip-hop to trancey house. Camping with a group of amazing Canadians, it was awesome to see that they had traveled outside of their country because they enjoyed DBC so much the last two years! It’s this kind of energy that keeps this festival going, bringing back fans annually. I met a lot of people who have been to every DBC, which is unusual and says a lot.

Burning Man 2018: The Desert of Connection

People can say what they want about Burning Man- that it causes immense carbon emissions (which goes against its principles), and has been sold-out and popularized into the corporate world, etc., and these things are true. But the point people are missing, and haven’t felt is this community open to adaptation and change, coupled with acceptance, to combat the hypocrisy of the global world in which we live. This acceptance encompasses the bad which comes from good, and good which comes from bad. We cannot glorify nature and condemn technology, or glorify technology and condemn nature; we must realize we live in a world where they are now, in large part, very dependent on each other. Technology must be, in many ways, modeled after nature, and the survival of natural resources against pollution and other human activities is largely dependent on our ability to find the technology to undo the problems we have caused with technology. It is in this madness that we find ourselves living everyday life in the United States and much of the world, uncertain of the facts we are given by news and the media, and still feeling as though the structures around us protect us from harm when we know that they often cause it.

This past Burn, there was a light show of 600 Drones (above), created by Studio Drift, a couple from Amsterdam, who modeled the design after the migratory flocking of birds. Here, we can see how technology can not only mimic nature perfectly, but also do so in a way that shows the peaceful side of technology, with an immense capacity for creating interactive art and live art installations. Ironically, as many issues posed by climate change drive bird species to extinction, this Drone show may well be a way for people of the future to see how birds once migrated. Interestingly, the Playa (the desert landscape of Burning Man) doesn’t hold any life (no plants can grow there, nor animals live there), but there is a different energy of liveliness created by a collective consciousness created by the human visitors who come onto the playa with intentions for their week there, artists who have been tirelessly working on their installations for months, and workers who have been creating the structures (both physical and institutional) so that Black Rock City (the formal city which hosts Burning Man) is created.

In fact, the creator of Burning Man Mr. Larry Harvey said, “The essence of the desert, is that you are free to create your own world, your own visionary reality”, so that there is a ”deep parallel between desert and cyberspace”; “‘Both Burning Man and the Internet make it possible to regather the tribe of mankind.” Where there is chaos, there is room for endless possibilities. However, Harvey also hinted that the desert and Burning Man also reveal the limits of technology by showing the spirituality which can be shared by collective living beings, which no technology can emulate. In many religious contexts, the desert is a place for reflection on our relationship with God, and reminds us of our vulnerability by stripping us of most resources under harsh conditions.as we are challenged both physically and mentally.

As MARÍA GONZÁLEZ DE LEÓN said,

“The desert reveals the paradox between simplicity and complexity. Both visually and symbolically, it exalts clarity, honesty and cleanliness in all its manifestations. It is maximum freedom and at the same time the impenetrable maze. The void that it projects works as a complete mirror that shows us, reflected, as a synthesis of what we are. In the desert, the exterior void obliges us to look inwardly, making it plain what poets, philosophers and scholars have been saying for centuries: that which is outside of us reflects us.”

Thus, the location and nature of Burning Man brings us to the human paradox, of endless submissiveness to nature, the elements, and God, while simultaneously wired for adaptation and creation as influenced by our outside world, and how we interpret it.

While technology moves us forward in many ways, we can also see how it contributes to our access but not necessarily sustainably, especially with Art Cars (below). Although not sustainable in use of gas, these are another form of art themselves, and fuse music with movement, which encourages dance and brings people together in amazing ways. It is seen within all forms of life, animals, plants, everything, the need to create. We build nests, we raise young, we make art installations and music and artcars, we tell stories of our experiences and those which we imagine and dream of, much in the same ways that octupi can build their own homes with coral decorations. We are all united by this thread of the need to create, and adapt to the changing world around us. What we create is destroyed at some point by nature and other forces, or else lives on through time. In this way, the world has always been shaped by innovation, and the ability to create new and adapt to circumstances which change.

The Dragonami from Colorado

Flower Power Art Installation

The Wynwood Art Murals on New Year’s Eve

A mural in the Wynwood Walls by popular artist Obey.

The Wynwood Walls in Miami are the brain child of Tony Goldman, and were created in 2009. Blocks and blocks of old warehouses and building spaces have been transformed into canvases for street and graffiti artists from all around the world.

Goldman references his friend Jeffery Deitch in calling this project a “Museum of the Streets”. The Wynwood Walls Program has seen over 50 artists representing over 16 countries.

Even outside of the designated project area, murals have become extremely popular, and make up a large portion of this area of Miami. They serve as a representation to Miami’s diverse culture and artistic prevalence.

VEVO Halloweekend 10.28

Julia Michaels, Jessie Reyez, SZA, Amine, and Khalid performed at this VEVO Halloweekend show- amazingly beautiful and humble energy shared by all!

Diwali

When moving to San Francisco a couple months back, I was a little apprehensive because I had no where to live at first. But, after looking on the SF State FB page, I found some wonderful people and now share space with them. Most people couldn’t share a living room with others, but I love it because it means that everyday I am opened to new experiences and learn about myself and them.

I am grateful for the time that we have shared, especially celebrating Diwali last night together. Diwali is a Hindu holiday which celebrates the triumph of good, and light, over dark and evil. Dancing, food, and fire crackers are staples, and we managed to pull (almost) all of these off in our apartment. YEaa!!