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.

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

How Weird Fundraising

Dylalien and I had a mini meeting for How Weird last night. The meeting went like this....

Me: "So.....can I have some of the How Weird money for the stage?"
Dylalien: "What How Weird money?"

Hmmmm.
...
...
...

Dont get me wrong. How Weird does provide a small amount of skrilla to each stage, but it is barely enough to cover the sound system and stage rental. The last couple of years, we sort of threw some cash together last minute, and build our stage design the day before. This year we actually have some time to put together something really special.
This year we are going back to a kind of inter-galactic spaceship of freaks inspired by Star Trek look. The concept is to built a "set", more like something you would see in a theater, with painted panels (8x4 ply sheets) as the background pieces. I also want to construct a Captains Chair, and some stations. I was sort of thinking of a two tier stage, with the DJ on the "lower deck" and a "upper deck" with star ship officers diligently working to plot our course. I also want to include interactive components that light up, beautiful costumes (the whole enchilada, if you will).

For this, we need to raise some money. I think that $500 will cover it.

But, alas, how to raise $500?

Some things that we are considering include: Il Pirata on a wed, happy camp, setting up an account that people can just donate to, going somewhere to sell something?

We still have a little time to decide.  So please, give me your input! I would love to hear it.

Oh....and as to the line up.....
we have something SO FUCKING INSANE in the works right now....I cant even think about it without wetting myself. Seriously. I am not just saying that. Once you hear the line up, you will scream. The orgasmic kind of scream.
For real yo.