Event Location

Goa Gil's Birthday Bash will be held on October 5, 2013 at 

Stone Bear River Campgrounds

We are super excited about this location!

It is amazing and beautiful! 

A lot of people have been asking...

NO, you can not rent a cabin. Cabins are for event staff only. 

This venue is a LEAVE NO TRACE venue. 

There will be firewood for sale.

DO NOT gather ANY wood from the sacred forest yourself. 

You may purchase firewood from the venue, and have a campfire ONLY IN PRE EXISTING FIRE PITS.

YOU MUST MONITOR THE FIRE. 

YOU CAN NOT LEAVE WHILE THERE IS A FIRE GOING. 

Seriously leave no trace.

DO NOT throw cigarette butts on the ground.

DO NOT put empty bottles on the altar or on the deco.

The Goa Gil Birthday Bash Video!

Party Babas have put together, for your enjoyment and entertainment, this brief video describing the awesomeness that is.

CLICK ON THIS MADNESS

  PS. Are you leaving for Symbiosis soon? Do you want to hand out or put up some Gil flyers while there? Email me and come by to pick some up!
OR
EVEN BETTER
Make your very own Gil Flyer to pass out! Punk Rock it out and hand draw that shit. The important info should be: October 5th, Goa Gil, www.oomplop.com

If you make your own flyer, or other form of Gil promo take a picture and send it in! You might win a prize!

Listen. Pause. Playback. Repeat.

Hey Everyone!

Gil is getting closer and closer....and we are getting more and more excited~ YAY!

I dont really know how many more times, and different mediums I could use to spread this message, but seriously, the Goa Gil Birthday Bash, and the venue are LEAVE NO TRACE.
This is not just good sense.

We will be off of highway 80, in the mountains. Not hills. MOUNTAINS.
You know who else likes to spend time in the mountains? BEARS!
Yes, BEARS.
Not Dancing Bears.
Not a Bear Hug.
I am talking about real life, fuck you up, bears.

The Venue where we will be holding the event is very conscious about their environmental impact on the land, AND on the territory and natural migratory patterns of the local bear population. In order to create a safe space for us AND the bears, the Venue has a very strict LEAVE NO TRACE policy.
This is the only way to keep this beautiful location Bear Free.
I am not kidding.
Bears pass through this beautiful land. Then they LEAVE because there is nothing for them to eat.
DO NOT BE THE PERSON THAT CHANGES ALL THAT.
RESPECT THE LAND. RESPECT THE ANIMALS.

LEAVE. NO. TRACE.


I know that when you show up and check out the space, you will feel like you are in a super nice resort where you dont have to worry about this kind of thing. But seriously. You do. LEAVE NO TRACE.

TAKE YOUR TRASH HOME WITH YOU.
When you are walking around...taking a hike...swimming in the river...and you bring snacks, bring a TRASH BAG for your trash. YES, I mean food scraps as well. DO NOT THROW FOOD SCRAPS ON THE GROUND. 

Also....

It will likely be pretty damn cold at night, and super nice during the day. 
There are some fire pits on site and we will inquire as to whether or not we can use them.
However...there are like 11 fires burning through California right now, so I am going to lean towards a NO.
NEVER leave a fire or camp stove unattended.
NEVER throw a cigarette butt on the ground.
ALWAYS keep all camp stoves elevated.


Hopefully I will post a little map of the location site soon.
A lot of people are wondering what the layout is.

Well....Once you drive in you will be greeted by the Welcome Committee and Gate Crew.
Please have your paypal receipt ready! All you need is a print out.

IF you reserved a car camping/RV spot, YOU MUST PRINT out your receipt and bring it with you as well. THERE WILL BE NO "EXTRA" CAR CAMPING SPOTS. YOU MUST RESERVE A SPOT AND PAY IN ADVANCE.

IF YOU SHOW UP IN AN RV (without letting me know) you will be paying $25, AND you will NOT be in the car camping area. You will be in general parking. I bet you wont be too happy about that. Best to just email me and get your space reserved now!

It seems like every gathering I have to make some exception for a large vehicle full of people.
Guess what...I will NOT be making any exceptions. Lucky for us there is TONS AND TONS of parking space. So if you show up without a car camping pass, and you cant camp without your car you will be camping in the parking lot. End of story. Avoid this tragic situation by EMAILING ME at gilnessisgoodness at gmail dot com

And now something to be really excited about....
There is drinking water on site! It is amazing ancient drinking water from aquifers deep in our planet. Enjoy! 

Location! It's Beautiful!

 

 Hiking around on the trails

 

Going down the canyon to the river

By The River, Ancient Beautiful Trees

 

Near the Dancefloor Edge

 

 The Dancefloor from the Back looking Front

 

Center of DanceFloor

 

The All Seeing Above the Dancefloor Couch

I love a good quickie.

Here is a quicky for all of you.
Go to www.oomplop.com to get your goa gil birthday bash ticket.
First 100 tickets will be $50.
Next 100 will be $60. And at the gate, entry will be $70.
Entry on Sunday after noon is $40.
Email me for car camping, which will be $10.

Location is about 3 hours north east of San Francisco.

Pictures and more info coming soon.

October 5, 2013

Party Babas are rested and refueled. 

Now we are awakening from our Winter (aka SF Summer) Nap.

And not a moment too soon.

How is it mid August already? 

As we begin our Birthday preparations...

I will be keeping you informed and up to date. 

As always, Party Babas are all about creating a community experience. 

So email, comment, call...whichever! Get in touch!
It's a little early to sign up to volunteer, BUT  it is the perfect time to contact me if you would like to offer a service, have a booth, or teach a class. 

Technically speaking, we are in the heavy planning stages.
Currently we are searching for an amazing location where we can BLAST the sound. 

We have two locations in mind, both new. We will be driving up to check out at least one of these locations this week.  Both of these locations are North of San Francisco, although one of them is kind of more North-East.

We hope to get our locations dialed in before Burning Man.
I will post pictures of the possible locations, and more information as it comes in.

In the meantime, we are open to suggestions.
Do you own some remotely located land? Do you want to host us? Do you have any other recommendations? 

That's all for now kids.....more to come soon....

 

Just a little sexy...

Blatant self promotion!

Party Babas are all about spreading joy and happiness. So is my friend Bubicorn. Bubicorn is visiting from a nearby star system. Planet Intittity, to be exact. Bubicorn is pretty much getting to know Earth, and sharing insight into the universal ways of light and mysticism. Bubicorn is also all about establishing a guerrilla presence in the subconscious minds of all of us. 

Please help me get Bubicorn to the playa this year. 

Check out the Bubicorn kickstarter!

Thanks! 

We got interviews coming up soon!

Party Babas on the party go!

PartyBabas recently visited berlin, Germany, to find out a bit about the psy-trance scene, and to see how parties are organized as well.

The first event we visited is the Antaris Festival, whose motto is "laugh and dance."  In its 19th summer, Antaris is the largest psytrance festival in Germany, with 21,000 attendees, as well as three stages.  The main stage is a custom built, eight point surround system, with killer sound.  The alternative stage was a five point surround stage, with very decent sound (we had fun finding the "sweet spot" which could be elusive.)
Antaris' music program balances many of the diverse tastes in the large Germany psy-trance scene.  Many dancers commented that Antaris was the big meet up for the extended psytrance family, and the age range of the festival reflects that.  
Dj Shore-Bar Axel has an eye for the big picture when creating a line-up, with traditional european trance in the daytime, and music that is psychedelic at night. 
The main stage was very well organized, with two tables for artists to set up, and the monitor speakers were moved back and forth, between sets.  
The weather was hot (32C), and the dance floor energy was impacted, as this is unseasonably warm for this area during July.  
The music starts at 9pm each night, and ends at 8 pm the next night, with an hour break.  
Many artists outside the mainstream were playing at Antaris, and with the positive reaction on the dance floor, its rumored that Antaris will continue to incorporate music which is not easily definable.  

This is a video of the fractal cowboys set http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sj01Rs-65-M&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dsj01Rs-65-M

After Antaris, we went to Berlin for a few days.  Berlin is an amazing city, which feels instantly like the cultural center of Europe that it is.  With great conversations, and a laid back bohemian government, which is in some ways reminiscent of san francisco (and in many ways much free'er than anything that can exist in the states) Berlin is a late night city where you can easily stay up until sunrise every night, without really "partying".
For instance, you can openly drink anywhere, and all shops and bars can stay open any time they want.  There are young people, everywhere, and easily a ton of babies, unlike san francisco, which is baron less like a crone.  Rent is around 600eu a month, but with more and more people move into town, the freak density (how many freaks/normal person) is slowly decreasing, according to locals, but this certainly is not noticeable from an outsider's perspective.    Synchronistically, or randomly, we were in two documentary movies while in Berlin, and ate amazing food (including lots of veggie options).  Any one with the ability and desire to visit amazing places on Earth, go directly to Berlin.

After an amazing few days in Berlin, it was time to head to Psycrowdelica.  This is the 4th Psycrowdelica in 5 years, with the crew skipping a year last summer. This festival is the biggest "dark" music festival in the world, with the artists playing the "craziest" music there is.  There was night time psychedlic, high tech, and daytime crazy music.  Starting with a 3 hour set, at 8 am on friday, was Electrypnose, followed by Parasense, and then Quasar. By the time we went on at 2pm, the dancefloor was smoking, and so where the temperatures (35C).  
Psycrowdelica uses a long throw Funktion 1 system, which is getting rare for german parties, due to neighbors and noise complaints.  
There are many amazing performances that I saw, and i was left with the impression, where is all the "dark" music?  No babies crying, no chalk on the ears sound, everyone was smiling.  When Alex Audiopathik (a kick ass producer from Mexico) was asked about the term " dark trance", he notes, "no one asked us for our input when naming this genre, so its not surprising that the name does not match up to the energy on the dancefloor, or the dj's and artists' intentions."
I found it interesting to be at a European party, where some of the music was "too much".  In contrast to the "not enough" feeling i get from mainstream psy-trance festivals, I found it more entertaining to be faced with something something faster and crazier than I am used to, than the norm, which is music that is a bit slower and sometimes predictive.  One set was easily above 200 bpm, and it was too fast for me, but I found it entertaining to try to find the beat. 
In many ways, the scene in Antaris Project is very much like the scene in Los Angeles, just as Psycrowdelica is akin to the san francisco scene.  Except they get thousands and thousands to their parties. 
It makes me want to plea with passion to American organizers to do a better job bringing freaks together, because the alternative is being a lone freak.  and thats an unhappy freak.  

PartyBabas report
Berlin, July 2013

Dylalien

*Yawn* Good Morning

Greeting!

Good Morning.

Party Babas are just waking up from their post Memorial Meltdown nap. 

We needed a nice long one after such a fantastic effort! 

Want to know what we have been up to?

Here it is...

We made multiple trips up to Middletown for take down. 

And guess what? 

We are gonna make one more trip to take down the shamiana frame and the headquarters shade. 

I hear Chillits had a nice time borrowing those items for shade a few weekends ago.

Sharing is caring. 

We have also decided to stick with oomplops.com as our permanent website. 

So make sure you got that bookmarked. Your party specific info will be posted there. 

Another great way that you can receive event specific communications, as well as random tidbits of happiness is by joining our brand spanking new mailing list

partybabas at oomplop dot com 

Send an email to that address to join the list. 

Then check you spam folder. 

Now that all the housecleaning is out of the way, we are happy to announce

GOA GIL BIRTHDAY BASH

OCTOBER 5th 2013 

Northern California 

We all enjoyed Middletown, but now Party Babas is on the hunt for an October location. 

Sadly the Dry Creek Road/Middletown spot is no longer an option. 

Prior to the Memorial Meltdown we had a very nice visit from the Fire Department, Police Department, Board of Supervisors and Zoning. 

All Middletown officials were compassionate, kind, and open to our vision.

It was nice to know that our fire safety plan was excellent and approved. 

However...there are a ton of neighbors that have been dealing with us for the past two years, and they need a break! Middletown is generally very open to events, camp outs, and retreats, but they want us to go through the proper procedures to get a permit. The thing is...the really easy to get available festival permits don't allow all night amplified sound. We could get a specific land use permit, but this process requires a 30 day time period for the community to weigh in. 

We know that we have a lot of support from some of the Middletown community.

Others...not so much. 

It is my honest opinion that if we did decide to get a permit, we would succeed. But at the same time, I dont think that it would feel right. I can only assume that the nice Dry Creek Road neighbors moved out there to get a little peace and quiet. 

We want to respect the community.

And we want to blast our sound system full power. 

So on to new locations we go! 

That means we want to hear from YOU!

What are YOUR favorite party spots?
Comment and let us know!

Gil Retirement (repost)

Hey Everyone 

A lot of people were like 

freaking out about the post earlier about Gil retiring 

So maybe I thought that I would delete it and reclarify 

Party Babas organizes the Northern Cali Gil parties. 

Usually, we plan the gatherings way in advance and like, know when they are happening 

We know for sure that there will be a Gil gathering in October 

It will be Gil's birthday and we all look forward to seeing you.

There have been many rumors of retirement 

but we all hope these parties all go on forever

and we all know that each party might be the last party we all get to take part in this experience together

After October, we will all get together to see what is possible.

 

 

THANK YOU

THANK YOU ALL! 

Party Babas had a really amazing time, and we hope you did as well! 

Four group of people left trash. We know who you are.

Prepare for spankings. 

Send us your pictures and video! We would love to post it!

gilnessisgoodness at gmail dot com 

We are, of course, VERY sad to say goodbye to this beautiful land!

The creek! The moss! All the wildlife!

It really is one of the most beautiful locations to have a gathering. 

We did kind of burn it out though. 

And I think that this is an important lesson for other party organizers as well.

 Obviously there are neighbors. 

This was our fourth event at this location.

The first one...they had no idea what was going on, so there was almost no response.

Second one....we contacted a bunch of the neighbors, put them up in hotels, spoke with the police department to manage sound complaints, ect. 

Third one...a lot more neighbors complained. Cops came out like....a lot. Maybe five or six times at night and during the day as well. 

And this last one....oh boy....

on Friday

a bunch of hot hot firefighters came by to say hello

(and mostly to check for fire safety) 

along with the Sheriff, District Supervisor, and Zoning Board 

I guess there was some regular PTA meeting or something, and one of the parents heard about "the rave in the woods" and was wondering "where their teenagers are gonna be" 

To me, this is pretty interesting. 

Overall, it demonstrates how, even though we spoke with all the neighbors, and put a bunch of them up in hotels, ect.....the word of the event spread far beyond where it could be heard. It became an issue for the Middletown community.

Now...once all our Visitors saw how beautifully we had been caretaking the land, and ALL the work we put in weed waking to prevent fire danger, as well as our professional nice set up, it dispelled any negative notions about us and what we do.

With a more "underground" style event, we usually dont worry about these kinds of concerns.

but Goa Gil is not so underground anymore I think...

so this is an issue we must consider. 

I tried to address some of these issues on our website, oomplops.com, and I know that the neighbors that did read it were grateful to learn more about us. 

By the end of the event...

We got a few offers from other locals who live in a more remote location 

and we heard about a lot of amazing properties for sale

so who knows...

maybe we will be back in Middletown in the fall

(just not the exact same spot!) 

Look for our next blog post..

about Gil retiring...

 

Directions

IT IS SUPER DUPER DRY

BRING A PORTABLE ASHRAY 

NO BBQs NO FIRE TOYS NO OPEN FLAMES

ELEVATE ALL CAMPING STOVES  

 Think about bringing a tool to help you clear the dry grass from your camping area

Here are the directions.

Please don't forget....

Drive slowly once you pull off the highway

Always obey all speed limits. 

At the end of the directions, you will turn right to cross a bridge on my way road

The party will be a little bit up from there on the left

Please do NOT drive fast and be patient

Also, remember

YOU WILL BE WALKING IN YOUR STUFF.

BRING A WAGON OR A METAL SHOPPING CART

TO HELP YOU CARRY YOUR STUFF

ITS ABOUT 1/2 MILE WALK

From SF (avoid this route if it takes you thru Santa Rosa during rush hour)
- take the 101 N for about 55 miles to River Rd towards Calistoga,
- follow the signs to Calistoga,
- turn right on Mark Springs West rd,
- go 5.3 miles then continue onto Porter Creek road,
- go another 4.7 miles and turn left on Petrified Forest Rd,
- go 4 miles and turn left onto the 128,
- go 0.8 miles and turn right onto Tubbs Ln,
- go 1.3 miles and turn left onto the 29 towards Lakeport, go 15 miles to Middletown.
- After going up the mountain on the 29, the road flattens out, you will see a casino. 0.3 miles past the casino veer left at Dry Creek Cutoff then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
- go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
- go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way"  party will be .2 miles on the left J
- Cross a bridge

   
   

·        

·         From East Bay:
- take the 80 E to the 37 west at Vallejo,
- go 2 miles and take the 29 N towards Napa.
-Take the 29 for ~55 miles to Middletown, passing through Napa and Calistoga.
- After going up the mountain on the 29, the road flattens out, you will see a casino. - 0.3 miles past the casino veer left at Dry Creek Cutoff then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
- go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
- go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way"  party will be .2 miles on the left J
- Cross a bridge

    From Mendocino county and Humboldt
   
    Head south on US-101 S/Redwood Hwy toward Branscomb Rd
     Take exit 555B to merge onto CA-20 E toward Upper Lake/Williams (go 19.5 miles)
    Turn right onto CA-29 S  (go 30.8 miles)
    Turn right to stay on CA-29 S  (go 15.8 miles)
    Turn right onto Co Rd 113/Dry Creek Cutoff and then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
    - go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
    - go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way" party will be .2 miles on the left J
    - Cross a bridge
   
     From Oregon
   
    Head south on I-5, go into california    
    From So Cal - 5 north
    Enter California…
    Continue south for 219 miles
    Turn right on ca-20w (and go 36.7 miles)
    Turn left onto CA-53 S (signs for California 53) go 7.4 miles
    Continue straight onto CA-29 S (for 15.8 miles)
    Turn right onto Co Rd 113/Dry Creek Cutoff and then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
    - go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
    - go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way" party will be .2 miles on the left J
    - Cross a bridge
   
   
    From So Cal - 5 north

    One way is to take 5 to the 580 N to the 680 N to the 780 W to the 80 E o the 37 west at Vallejo,
    - go 2 miles and take the 29 N towards Napa.
    -Take the 29 for ~55 miles to Middletown, passing through Napa and Calistoga.
    - After going up the mountain on the 29, the road flattens out, you will see a casino. 0.3 miles past the casino veer left at Dry Creek Cutoff then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
    - go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
    - go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way" party will be .2 miles on the left J
    - Cross a bridge
    ,
    Alternatively from So Cal, you can take the scenic route, avoiding the bay area all together:
    - go past Sacramento,
    - go west on the 20 in Williams for 37 miles,
    - go south on the 53 for 7.4 miles,
    - go south on the 29 at Lower Lake for 14 miles to Middletown.
    - go past the 175 in Middletown for ~1.3 miles
    - go right at Dry Creek Cutoff just before a casino
    - take an immediate right to remain on that road .
    - go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
    - go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way"  party will be .2 miles on the left J
    - Cross a bridge

The Gil Pre Weekend

Greetings!

Party Babas went up to Middletown to check on the land. 

Wow! The land is soo amazing in the spring! There is so much life everywhere.

We even found this butterfly cocoon ready to burst open! It was wiggling around!


But it was also fairly dry....

See? Look at all that yellow grass!!!!

This means 

HIGH FIRE DANGER ALERT 

NO FIRES!

NO FIRE TOYS!

NO BBQs!

ALL CAMPING STOVES MUST BE ELEVATED. 

PLEASE BRING YOUR PERSONAL POCKET ASHTRAYS WITH YOU.

Party Babas did a bit of work while up on the land.

We brought a truck full of stuff that got unloaded. 

We cut a bunch of legs for our stage. 

We set up a little chill out area, in the shade. 

We also cleaned up our staging area from October. 

Surprisingly, everything was in fairly good condition! 

The shamiyana (Gil's Indian Tent thing) frame only got bent a little bit, and the top of the DJ table was a bit warped. Both are easy fixes, so yay for that. 

Car Camping

With all that going on, I did not get a chance to count out the car camping spots. 

Assuming everyone who reserved car camping uses their space efficiently, I think we might be able to have room for a few more cars. 

however

we wont really know until the gathering 

If you really want to car camp, but you did not reserve a car camping spot, you can give yourself better odds of getting one by arriving when the gate opens, at 3pm on Saturday! 

If there is extra car camping, it will be given away on a first come first serve basis.

Weather

It looks like the weather should be amazing.
Low is 48.
High is 78.
Make sure to pack plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated.

Goa Gil less than one week away!!!

SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!

Pre-Gil Madness Baby!

Will someone please explain how it is Thursday already? 

This whole week has been flying by....with so very much going on....

Security and Gate 

We have once again decided to go with High Rock Security  .

We used HRS back in October, to run the gate from Midnight til Gil ended. 

This was awesome for Party Babas, because everyone who has organized a gathering knows how difficult it is to staff the Gate after midnight. Also, at this particular location the Gate is a bit far from the sound, so it is not very much fun in the wee hours of the night all alone to be out there.

Also, using HRS gives us the peace of mind of knowing that there is always someone at the gate, at night, and on Sunday. 

Generally, as a Party Babas policy, we don't staff the gate on Sunday after the party breaks even. This is just...you know...your belief that everyone should enjoy the event as much as possible, and our favorite time to play is Sunday day time. 

The issue is, this location is just too close to civilization for that. There are neighbors that can stop by, as well as random people passing by. 

HRS are Professionals. 

They are amazing at what they do.

Please follow all of their instructions. 

Oh also, when you hire HRS, you have pay for additional walkie talkies, which are like, the Super Pro kind. you can hear someone talking to you from the gate, even on the dance-floor. 

We are for sure getting some extra ones. 

Walkies will be carried by: the front gate, the medic, the sound, HQ, and HQ back up. 

First Aid

We are also having HRS provide us with Medics. 

I am pretty sure everyone at this point knows our awesome Cosmic Care and first aid provider Dave. 

He has been with us through some of the doozies, providing you with the best possible attention and care in your sensitive state. 

This time we decided to go with HRS, mostly because the price is good, and we wanted to try them out. 

So....you know....be prepared to give us your comments post Gil!  

AdAstra Sound

We are super duper excited to have AdAstra Sound (Valik and Eric) provide the sound system.

They will be bringing Adamson tops with well hung Danley subwoofers.

Deco 

We are very happy to have Alex and Olya creating some custom deco pieces for us~ : ) 

You all know we love us some dance floor shade. 

We got these very useful tarpy type things for shade, that work super well. 

But they are sort of not that cute. 

So Alex and Olya have taken on the huge task of making the shade pretty!!!

Also....I hear there is a generous soul who will be donating some Luke Brown tapestries/prints. 

CAR CAMPING 

Yes yes I know, you are very sad that you did not get a car camping pass. 

Party Babas are going up to the land this Sunday to do a real good job of counting out car camping spots. 

IF we can fit more cars in this limited space, I will post a car camping link on MONDAY on this blog. 

This will be the ONLY place where the link will be posted, if at all. 

THANK YOU ALL

CANT WAIT TO DANCE WITH YOU SOON

Great Work Team! (Neighbor Responds)

GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!

 I really appreciate everyone's comments in response to the Email from Neighbor. 

And guess what? 

Neighbor appreciates our responses too. 

Here is an bit from our latest communication from Neighbor: 

"When I said I was open to reassuring words I meant it and I do feel reassured. I appreciate you guys going above and beyond to address not only my concerns but reaching out to the community to ask for feedback on others concerns.   I have sent your contact info to the other locals so hopefully they will open communication with you  if they still feel the need."

So Really, here is the Dilly. 

Other neighbor concerns include people getting lost and accidentally trespassing on their property. This mostly occurs when people drive past the entrance to the gathering. I think that we will try to combat this by putting up more signs on the road leading into the party. 

Another concern that I know was expressed last year was reckless driving. Mind you.....we did not actually have reports of people driving recklessly, but it is always a concern. Especially because there are a lot of horsies and other animals on the roads......so please obey all signs and drive SLOW once you pull off the freeway. 

In regard to the ecological concerns: 

1) Every time we have done an event here, my personal main concern is keeping as many cars OFF of the land as possible. This is why we have a limited number of "car camping spots" available on site. I said "car camping" because sometimes people just want to pay the $10 to get their car closer, but don't actually camp next to it, which is fine. 

As always, car camping is in the last large field on the right before the potties. 

There are a total of 35 car camping spots available. 

But about half of those have already been purchased.

So if you want to car camp/have your car closer, buy a car camping pass TODAY. 

   

2) The Creek. We will be posting some signs around the creek, asking people to not recklessly wander around. There will be an "approved creek space"....for splashing and playing and enjoying. 

3) Trash. This is a Leave No Trace event. So...leave no trace. In fact, try to leave your camp site better than how you found it. 

If....it is the end of the party and you have no room for your trash....here are some tips: 

• Lots of trash usually means you have eaten all your food and drank all your beers. Therefore, open up your cooler, make sure its empty, and put your trash inside. 
• Tie your trash down to the top of your car. Borrow some rope from the crew if you don't have any. Since we are less than 10 minutes away from Middletown, this is a great solution. Just stop by town to unload your trash and dispose of it properly before heading for home. 
• Ask the people camping next to you if they have room.
• Find someone with a flat bed truck. Ask that person if they have room. 
• As a last resort, come talk to a Party Baba. 

As you can see, there are many options, NONE of which include just leaving your trash at the campsite. 

We are also always open to more suggestions about how to improve everyone's experience!

Location, Location, Location

The rumor mill has been HOT HOT HOT lately.

So many good things to gossips abouts.....where to start?

When we all first saw the Middletown spot, we fell in love with it. To us, it was perfection.
True there were MAJOR downfalls, like trash everywhere. So so so much trash.
Over the last few years, we spend hundreds of dollars cleaning it all up, and we arent even finished yet!

We had big plans for this year! One of our fellow Babas was thinking about purchasing a property interest in this land. We all worked super hard on beautification, thinking that we would soon have a location we could use freely.

First things First
DONT WORRY.
Gil will happen in Middletown in May.

But that will probably be the last electronic music event on this space.

In a nutshell, we received an email from Neighbor. Neighbor had some concerns. I wont re-post the whole email because it is really long, but here are some highlights:

" I want to express my concerns regarding the rave's ecologic impact to our beloved creek... There are hundreds of tadpoles, newts, salamanders, snakes, birds, bugs and frogs.  We also see egg sacks with hundreds of little lives yet to happen.  This wildlife lives in the shallow waters of the creek, easily trampled by human feet.  Just *one* person walking through the river could easily kill hundreds by stepping on one egg sack. * Hundreds* of people converging all at once will have a devastating impact.....

Money may let somebody legally own a piece of land.  But, we live here and we love this land. We know the nooks and crannies and the names of the trees and the calls of the animals and the bends in the river.  We don't want outsiders who don't understand to intrude and do damage to our beloved anymore than the native americans wanted the white man to come in.........."

Neighbor hasnt really met us before. But Neighbor is open to understanding, and meeting us, and learning more. I seriously mean that. So lets see this as an opportunity to share what we do with someone new, who obvously deeply cares about this special location

So please, write Neighbor an email response!
Send me it to me gilnessisgoodness at gmail dot com
I will make sure Neighbor gets it. 

But really, it is responses like this which make having an event anywhere near civilization so difficult, not only for us, but for the landowners who have a long term relationship with their neighbors. The particular Awesome Person who owns the Middletown spot feels this way as well.

So Middletown will still be around and available for smaller gatherings of chill out music.
Maaaaaayyyyybeeee something small here and there.

(and yes, this means that the Mubali and Guiseppe party will not be in Middletown < --- that's a rumor solved)


So what can you expect for the location of the Gil party in October?
Well, right now we are looking at a real down southern cali spot.
Or
We will go way up north.

But either way....expect to be driving MUCH further away! 

Polling

(UPDATED SCROLL DOWN FOR CAR CAMPING LINK) 

Hey all.

We love you.

We want you to have the most amazing time ever at Goa Gil this year.

I mean....Gil is 62 after all! 

Lets enjoy every Gil moment to the max together~

To accomplish this Goal, please take a minute to answer some questions below.

How do you feel about the Middletown spot?
	Its awesome~ : )
	Its okay.
	I dont like it.
pollcode.com free polls

Pick One.
	Middletown spot is the perfect distance away.
	It is too close to civilization, I want to be more remote!
	It is too far away.
pollcode.com free polls

Please add any additional comments you have regarding the location to the comments section.
Also, if you have negative feedback, it would be great to know why!
Supplement your poll taking with an anonymous comment or a private message to me!

ALSO

There might be a Goa Gil Interview soon comprised of questions sent in by YOU!
Don't be shy!
If you have a question for Gil, post it in the comments!
 

Tickets at oomplop.com
(okay so...I realize that if you want to buy just a car camping pass its not possible to do so right now. I will fix this issue later today)



Party Babas was at Mindshare all weekend! We had a blast! Our Mindshare Party Review is coming soon!



...
***
Now that you have obviously taken the Poll's above
( no more pre oomplops)

Goa Gil Pre-Sale Ticket Link

Greetings! 

Please allow me to make your life easier. 

WHAT: Goa Gil

WHEN: Memorial Day Weekend

WHERE: near Middletown, CA. 

WHY: Because it is Love.
WANT to get involved? We are having a production meeting on Friday May 10th. Contact me, or comment on this post if you are interested in attending. Our meetings are always open! 

You might be wondering...what is a Production Meeting anyway? 

Pretty simple actually....this is when we decide all the important aspects of how to put the party together. 

The bigger and more interesting questions are...

(please comment freely) 

What sound system should we use?

Should we hire a deco person (Neil Gibsons' art will be around, and its pretty special)? 

What about vending? (obviously, we love us Ultra Crepes, but we have also had some interest from Lydia's Organics). 

Will we be hiring High Rock Security again? (um...the answer is HELL YES because it makes my life easier. HOWEVER, we did have complaints about people's interaction with High Rock. PLEASE PLEASE tell me about your experience so we can make an educated decision)

What about Cosmic Care? We generally hire someone really amazing to do Cosmic Care, but we have been thinking about just getting a High Rock medic. Should we do that? Should we try to swing both? 

Well......that is a summary of some of the things that I have been pondering lately.....

get your pre-sales below.

(haha just kidding. pre oomplop activation is finished)

Goa Gil Spring Time Shazaaam!

Goa Gil

Spring Time Shazaam! 

Get your oomplops together.

What is an oomplop anyway? 

Oomplops are very very special forms of currency.

Oomlops are deposited under your name, in the Akashik records. 

You can earn oomplops by doing good deeds.

For example, helping your elderly neighbors grocery shop, or giving a stranger a ride to the party...

Of course, the more "out of your way" you have to go to help another person

the more oomplops you get! 

and of course, the BEST way to earn oomplops is to help create a beautiful, open, psychedelic space for people to come enjoy the freedom of their minds to delicious musics. 

Once you have a pile of oomplops, you can spend them!

Spending oomplops is soooo fun! 

Because you can use oomplops to gently bend the laws of physics! 

Are those scary looking rain clouds about to pass over our dance floor? 

No! Use those oomplops! Move those clouds! 

Forgot a critical piece of wood for the DJ table?

That's OK! Use your oomplops to help it stand on three legs!

Now get ready...set....and......

MAKE IT RAIN OOMPLOPS!!!!!

(i.e. cheaper pre-sales are available til Thursday evening)

THANK YOU HOW WEIRD!!!!!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!

We had such a blast on Sunday!

Thank you to everyone who helped us make our stage such a success!!!

Marik, Valentine, Eric, Dima, Justas, Puski, Yariv, Mickey, Ralph, Leohawk, Gabby, Anna, Quasar, Noah, Rachel, Mike, Sean, Nikki and Swami, Alex and Olya, Nikon, Jason, and everyone else who contributed to make it such a success (sorry it was a good party so I don't remember everyone's names)!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

And of course, BIG BIG THANKS to all our amazing DJs

Sour, Xipil, Liam Shy, Leohawk, Amber, Fractal Cowboys, Dog of Tears, Parus, Bodhi, and KDD!!!!

and a big big big big biiiiig

THAAAANK YOU TO ALL THE DANCERS!!!

WE LOVE YOU

oh

....

was that not enough for you? 

do you require

...

...

more?

Okay then. 

oomplop.com

How Wierd Line up!!!!!

Picture Credit: Star Trek and Picard memes 

ATTENTION COMMUNITY

An Intergalactic Federation Star Ship has been monitoring our activities and communications.

And even though we live in a pre time warp society.......they are prepared to MAKE CONTACT! 

Set your clocks to 12pm April 28th! How Weird is where it will all go down! The Ship will open, and out will pour inter galactic melodies so pleasant and mind tingling they will compel you to bring it aaaalllll the way down to the ground and pop that shit back up!!! Uhhhh!!

Clickie on the links to hear awesome music from our artists.
I realize that not everyone has a link yet.....so check back soon!
I hear Parus is in the process of making a brand spanking new soundcloud page!  

12:00 Sour

12:45 Dog of Tears

1:30 Xipil

2:15 Liam Shy

3:00 LeoHawk

3:45 Amber

4:30 Fractal Cowboys   

5:20 Parus

6:10 Bodhi

6:55 KINDZAZA!!!!

How Weirding

We had an awesome work session today!

We figured out a way to attach our plexiglass to the plywood!

And...we cut out all the pieces necessary to put that together.

That was pretty much it actually.
Oh yeah, we also drank some mango mimosas and listened to good music.
It was good times all around.

Next weekend, we are making out final cuts, and having a mock assembly!
Hopefully after next weekend the only thing left to do will be painting!

Much love and Thanks!

 The weather was super awesome for Weirding <3

 See here: some measuring going down.

Base Coat paint layer on the background pieces.

the Rumor Mill!!!!!!

And today I bring you "The Rumor Mill"
addressing the most relevant and pressing rumors in the California psytrance scene...

1) Will there be a Red Marines Festival this Summer?

There has been a rumor that there is NO RM Festival this summer. I can confirm for you today that this is correct!
But it is nothing to be sad about. In fact, rejoice!!!!!! We will be welcoming a beautiful Trancer Baby into our fold this summer! The Parents, who are crucial to the RM organizing, will be taking some time off to welcome their Little One into the world!
However, there WILL be an outdoor festival put on by Red Marines in September of 2013. So we all have that to look forward to.
Also Red Marines Festival will likely be back in the Summer of 2014.

but do not fear! there will be an event held this year on the beautiful Red Marines Land. I am of course, speaking about Mindshare brought to us by the beautiful Shady Ladies! See Facebook or the Official Website for more information.

2) Will Amber rock it out at How Weird?
YES! SHE WILL BE!!! REJOICE!!!!!

3) Who is the Special International Guest?

I bet you all can guess this one.
Place your guess in the Comments!



and Coming later today.......pictures from our HW work session today!

How Weird line up and Goa Gil Musings

Greetings all!
Sorry for the delay in posting! Things have been insane over here at the Party Babas HQ!
First off....Fractal Cowboys out in Germany in early May, rocking it out for all the Germans.
The promo for the parties out there was amazing!
How amazing is this flyer design? It kind of reminds me of a Star Wars x Wild Wild West x Independence Day.

We also rocked it out hard at Xexify: an amazing Mohave experience brought to us by Dog of Tears, and at the Kindzaza party two weekends after. The two Mohave events were great, and really highlighted the the idea that the music/line should be determined based on location! location! location!!!

Alien Mental started around 3 am, as did KDD.
For Xexify, it was cold, but not "where are my nipples? did they run away?" kind of cold. Alien Mental played fast, but easy to dance to music. It kept the energy up, and the people moving.
KDD also started at 3 am, but the weather was sooo different. It was freezing, and windy. Like playa style winds the whole night. His set was also very good, very methodical and technical, very.....thought inducing over all, I would say. I actually saw KDD the weekend before indoors in SF and I found his outdoor set to be a little more difficult to dance to. I think that it was the combination of the cold, the wind, the music, and the fact that it was 3 am.Or...maybe its just that I am not that tough? and I should toughen up? and BRAVE the cold! and the wind! and the dust! and...and.....well whatever. I'm not doing that.
I am very interested to hear from people that went to both (or either) Mohave parties. How did you all feel about the flow of the line ups, and what are your thoughts about weather affecting the dancefloor/line up?  

Anyway...soo all of these parties are fresh in my mind as we try to figure out our How Weird line up.
Things I am thinking about: day time, sunny then shady, lots of diverse people out and about.......The last two years we had a "tag team" theme, where every DJ had to tag team. It was like...super fun.
So....for our possibilities, it looks like :
A Super Special international guest (who we are in the process of getting some plane tickets for so...you know...more on that in a bit)
The wonderful, amazing, and brilliant Amber will be vising from Portland for the HW weekend. She is going to DJ the night before at Mer-Ka-Ba and we are hoping that we can kidnap her! (We will be kidnapping LeoHawk and Sour, already).
Fractal Cowboys  , fresh off of their German Adventures, will be playing a WestPsy set, which is really something to look forward to! It will be a phat mix of trance and old school west coast style beats and samples.
An the ever popular Liam Shy will be joining us! We are excited to work with Liam and the Tantra folks. It really has been a while since we had done something all together.
And of course, we will have Parus! I heard a little rumor....that there will be NO red marines festival in 2013. If you go the Red Marines Website  , the event listed is Mindshare (May 3-5 bitches!!!), which is a Shady Lady Products event, being supported by the Red Marines crew. So think about that people!!!! YOU NEED to get your fix of Parus this year, so come and geeetttt ittttttt.
On that note....I kind of REALLY REALLY want to hear a Parus vs Liam Shy set!
We are also super excited to feature Bodhi ! Bodhi is like....a force of mother fucking nature!!!!!!! Not only did he orchestrate Kindzaza's entry into the US, he helped organize and inspire individuals to gather and hear KDD play all over the US (as well as the fabulous previously mentioned Mohave party)!
We will also hear from one of my besties, Dog of Tears . If you havent heard his recent tracks, you are in for a mind blowing treat. the perfect mash up sound of experimental, dirty, and psychedelic. 



We cant wait to see you all out there!
If you want to help out, just contact me! We will be hustling and bustling on the stage this weekend.










And if you are interested in tickets to Goa Gil, get your VERY limited edition Pre Sale Tickets by clicking HERE
Also....please note now.....
The parking lot is like...less than a mile from the camping area. BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO WALK IT AND HIKE IN YOUR STUFF.
Last year we provided some wheelbarrows/carts/whatever for people...but guess what......
you all would take them and then not return them.
and then it got dark and no one could find them anymore.
SO. We will put some fucking lights on the Transportation Assistance Devices.
Please return them to the FRONT GATE when finished with use. Yes, all the way back to the front gate.
If you dont want to do that you can
1) arrive early. before dark. This is a SAFETY issue. The road into the party from that gate is only wide enough for ONE car. Therefore, if you want to DRIVE YOUR CAR past the gate, get in before dark.
2) buy yourself a car parking pass. These will be $10. and they WILL run out. We have tried, in the past, to have a first come first serve kind of a deal with parking on site, but it really doesnt work. Having all these cars drive on our little dirt road really impacts the land. It creates potholes, and people run over all of our little lights, and smash into nature....and all those things cost time and money to clean up. Note that you will have an ASSIGNED parking location, so if you want to park on site and camp with your friends...maybe drop me an email and let me know.
3) If you have a disability, and need to be close to the dancefloor, PLEASE EMAIL ME EARLY to let me know. Even the on site parking is a short walk from the dancefloor. We will give SPECIAL permission for those individuals who have limited mobility to drive closer in, accompanied by a Party Volunteer. But you have to contact me in advance. I'm serious. I wont be able to do much when I get an email on May 22nd asking about special accommodations.
4) if you have a big ass fucking car, you will have to buy a car parking pass. Like, no matter where you park. By big ass fucking car I guess I mean an RV, or.......a really big truck. you know who I am talking about. the guy with like...the REALLY REALLY big truck. you gotta buy a parking pass pal!

Okay! I am out! More updates this weekend!  

Production Meeting Memoires

We had a nice production meeting the other day. 
So certain things are "for real". 

Intergalactic Prophylactic Krewe
"Saving the Universe since Planck Time"

Will be piloting the Starship "(insert name)"  on an intergalactic journey of the mind. Come play. 


Ran Droid, Q, Dylalien and I spent some time working out the design for our starship. Q even took meeting minutes...just because we are all pro like that and all. 

What you see below is a markup of the design. The DJ table will be on the ground. Behind the DJ table we are constructing an elevated stage (with steps on either side...safety third or something...) 
We think that this sort of a stage layout design is fun and unique. 

   
We will also be constructing a Captains Chair and a work station complete with a view screen. The background of the stage will be painted sets. And of course, there are all the details that make it worth it, like railings, the right accessorizing, ect....Overall, we are pretty excited and eager to get to work. 

Our plan is to have two background pieces painted, and the dj table and captains chair constructed by the end of March. 

We are also looking for people to donate a few items: long pieces of red fabric, blue fabric, any white, blue, or red house paint, black stretchy fabric, spray paint in any colors especially gold and silver, LED lights (especially singles), old flat screen monitors (preferably barely working but broken is okay too). 

Anyone who wants to help with construction can email gilnessisgoodness at gmail dot com. 

Aaand anyone who wants to attend a painting party, held either March 9th or 10th can pretty much do the same thing...email me! 

Anyone who would like to kindly donate some monies to make our dreams come true for you, just PayPal it to travainholland at yahoo dot com. 

And speaking of money....
We are in the process of working out dates for Saturday or Sunday daytime fundraiser on treasure island. More on that in the next few days....

Stage Design

There are many different aspects of putting together a great stage. A stellar line up, a great sound system/engineer, reliable source of power and a smoothly flowing crew are essential. That is kind of like party throwing 101.

What about deco? 
In my mind....deco should serve a specific purpose.

But really.....overall....there are three main ways that deco can be used. 
1) to camouflage or conceal. example "wow, this warehouse is really ugly. There are bullet holes in the walls. Lets cover them up with some tapestries" Note that you can throw a party in a really ugly warehouse, and turn it into the inside of a magical palace with enough time and energy. Sometimes you dont want to do that though. Sometimes you just want to have a party, without dealing with a particular eye sore. 
A really good example of this is our SF semi-weekly get together at Il Pirata, which is a two room bar. The smaller room which contains the bar is left as is. The other, slightly larger room is where the DJ plays and people dance. It looks like a bar/restaurant in there. Buuut....generally we still put up some tapestries, cover as many of the advertisements as we can, just.....to make it a little less fug. Really, we arent transforming the space, or fooling anyone. It still feels like  bar.....albeit a slightly more trance-y one. 

2)  to enhance, inspire, and make beautiful:  Someone once told me that a good make up artist can alter a persons face so much it looks like they went out and got plastic surgery. A little shadow here, a little highlight there, and voila! A new face! This is how I think about deco....as something that can transform. I can rant about this for a long time, but I will save it for another post. 

3) to tell a story: This is deco that conveys a very particular idea, or thought. "theme deco" if you will. While #2 enhances a space for the purpose of beauty or enlightenment, #3 conveys a specific idea. Boom you are underwater. Boom you are in a Victorian saloon. 

Our Goa Gil deco usually focuses on #2. In a nutshell, we try to make it more pretty. We try to create moments with how the deco is arranged. We try to have an interactive aspect to it, at least in some minimal way. 

How Weird, for us, is all about telling a story. So far, we have had mixed results with our efforts. Our previous Star Trek stage was really fun, but we severely underestimated the time it would take to put it together. In the end, I felt like there was more that I wanted to do. The extreme highlight was a platform that we built, giving the stage two levels. People could dance on the second level and take great pictures with the stage.
Last year we did like a time machine type of a theme....our concept went something like this : create a box with a false back, so a dj could go into the time machine, sneak out the back, put on a period costume, and come back out the front like they time traveled during their set. 
The time machine came out really awesome, with a spinning clock, and lights, and electronics sticking out of it. That was awesome. 
However.....logistically.....we didnt have a great place to put it. so....it ended up kind of being background....and not all the DJs brought a second costume so...yeah. TOO COMPLICATED.

This year we are taking the best elements of both ideas and combining them. 
We are doing an intergalactic spaceship theme, heavily based off of Star Trek Enterprise (the original series) and Voyager. 

Please enjoy my sketch and some notes. 

So...on the ground we will have the DJ table (see bottom right of sketch), which will look like the Navigation station. In front of that will likely be an altar. The "ground stage area" will be framed by some triangle fabric pieces. 

Then we will rent some stage pieces (6, I am thinking). for the second level. The second level will have two painted 8x4 sheets of ply, that will have stations coming off of them. Probably.

Its either two stations facing the back of the stage, or two stations facing the front. Still deciding that one....

and of course, the captains chair will be in the middle. 

Think....

                                             (i stole this picture from the internet)

My last count on the wood it would take to construct this is (9) 8x4 sheets of ply, and (9) 12foot long 2x4's plus paint and fabric. 

As mentioned previously, we will do some sort of a fundraiser BUT in the meantime......
If you want to make our dream a reality please kindly and generously donate using paypal to travainholland@yahoo.com.

An of course....we will have stage crafting parties that will be more or less open to the public. I will blog the dates and anyone that wants an invite can message me! 

Til Then, 
in the words of a dear friend
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP