Sendero al Fitz Roy

Crossing Rio Torre via tyrolean traverse

Today marks one full month in South America. We´ve been able to cook for ourselves more than on the first leg of the trip and, thankfully, there´s plenty of quality produce and potable water here, a luxury we missed sorely in India and Southeast Asia. Four months without a salad is just plain wrong!


Poincenot-Fitz Roy reflections from Lago de los tres

Anyhow, I´ve been dreaming about Patagonia since I was little. I had pictures of Torres del Paine (´Towers of Pain´) up on my wall and read everything I could get my hands on to learn about the area. I wanted to know the terrain and mindstate needed to cope in a place at so intensely beautiful and at the same time forboding.

In 1968 a group of ´fun hogs´ loaded up their Econoline van and surfed their way down the length of Chile. Then they put up a new route on Fitz Roy. They suffered through a soggy month in a snow cave and their clothing -- state of the art wool and leather -- basically eroded off of them. The suffer-fest continued and they summitted, not that anyone was around to congratulate them. For climbers, that adventure has become the archetypal Patagonia experience.

Below are some images from the land of gargantuan sky, unfathomably strong wind, and really really cute guanacos.


Mighty Cerro Torre with Torre Egger and Standhardt to the right


Madres de los desaparecidos graffiti


Cuevas de las manos




Along with 500 km of this...


...comes a bit of this


The choique (right) looks amazingly calm


If you lived here, you´d be home now

Aloha! (Z--being from Hawi´i--isn´t amused by the cold)


Undeniable radness


Who knew my hair was so delicious?

Howard Zinn: 1922-2010

Heroes aren´t something people my age seem to have anymore. Maybe it´s because, up close, the dents in the armor cut the person down to something less than what we´ve created in our heads. Zinn´s writing and life story, though, made him different.

I don´t know what to say, but the world is a little colder with his passing.

He probably had no idea about Masshysteri, but I have a feeling that he´d have appreciated the message of this film:

Masshysteri - Tvivel from vanskrot on Vimeo.

Forever Compilation: Video Redux

Few records stand out in my mind as the index of a time or a feeling or a sound as much as the Forever comp. When I want to explain to someone what hardcore punk is to me, invariably these bands come to mind. I'm dating myself now, but for years I had songs by each of them on cassettes that I literally played off the reels, driving around in my beater '81 pickup. At home, I nearly wore out the vinyl.

Each band was unique and each band was complex. Unfortunately, the mix on the comp hardly stands the test of time. "Checkmate" sounds downright hollow and "Decay" doesn't have the punch that it should. The more I think about it, I love this record for what it represents, not what it sounds like.

Anyhow, I skulked around the inter-tent and pulled together a set of videos for each band as well as a few write-ups by other enthusiasts. Enjoy.

Turning Point




Born Against




Rorschach

Burn

Citizens Arrest


"Pressure's On" at ABC No Rio...I couldn't find anything else

7inchcrust review
Oral history of Turning Point

Daryl Kahan interviewed

Old cXa stuff (also tons of ABC No Rio history)

"Fuck Rock" from Dear Jesus by Sam McPheeters

Burn interview, mainly about the reunion

Charles Maggio interview about the reunions

More Hardcore Punk Ephemera

CAMPAIgN, on the floor at Scripps College


Burt Hashiguchi, YWCA Berkeley


Poppin' Fresh in '87, suckas


Juggler/Fire-eater/Trial member at Inside Out reunion, summer 1993


Mountain Monthly (sticky dessert recipe and 'Victory for hate' commentary)


Honeywell at Scripps. Yes, that's Justin from Struggle looking at the camera.


Zack de la Rocha at Inside Out reunion, 1993






CAMPAIgN


Aaron Kenyon, MITB, at The Jabberjaw


Butch at Submission Hold House, Vancouver


Jake Hockel preparing for tour


Carrie Crawford, Former Members of Alfonsin


Henry Barnes, MITB


AFC studio


Zach Hydar (?) photo


Jos, Seein Red in Portland


Snapcase at the Glass House




Chris Smith and Dave Thurston, Brookhurst




Alex Frixione (former Members of Alfonsin) and Chuck Shakleford (Bread and Circuits) in Portland


The show that changed the complexion of punk in Santa Cruz


Elliot Smith played on an amp on this tour


A great show that never happened. Note the original name of Yaphet Kotto


Jen Thorpe, Submission Hold


You could date this photo to the minute...






Fugazi in Hamburg, Germany, summer 92


Gentry, Iceburn

Straight No Chaser Issue #1

Artwork I did for the AFC "Phoenix" 7" that was never properly released but incorporated into the "Thorny Path" LP on Vermiform

Fuck Rock

El futuro no esta escrito

Before and Beyond Year Zero: Cambodia

An apsara at Angkor Wat

When I was seven, a family of Cambodian refugees came to live with my family. A special arrangement had been made with a few key businesses that made it possible for refugees to relocate, and my parents felt a responsibility, as people of conscience and opponents of the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia, to assist in any way they could. For about a year the Chau family lived with us and did their best to adapt and adjust to life in Northern Utah.

Since that time, I've been intrigued by Khmer culture, the splendors of Angkor architecture, and the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime. Just as the Vietnam War left an indelible mark on my parents' generation, I've grown up feeling affected, confused, and moved by Cambodia. It was high time to visit.

Z and I made our way to Siem Reap after a wonderful week in Luang Prabang, Laos, and met up with her parents (both linguists) who were visiting for an academic conference. Below are some images from our time in both Siem Reap and Phnom Phen as well as some thoughts on our time there.

Buddha engulfed by a tree at Ta Prohm

Nature bats last...

Shadow puppetry retelling of an episode from the Ramayana

Dancing apsara at Angkor Wat

Scary lung cancer awareness poster

Vendor with wares outside our bus

Traditional ciclo (pedal rickshaw)

Typical transportation just miles outside Siem Reap

A woman gives birth...


as men ride to war.

Mixed Buddhist-Hindu imagery at Angkor Wat

Massive benevolent heads at Bayon

Intense sales pressure

Kompong Phluk village on the mighty Tonle Sap Lake

Leading up to our time in Cambodia I kept thinking I´d be clever and title a blog post ¨Holiday in Cambodia.¨Right up until we arrived in Phnom Phen I thought that´d be clever. Then we visited The genocide museum at Tuol Sleng and even the slightest poke at humor or punk-rock cleverness seemed offensive.

Tuol Sleng is really the high school that was turned into Pol Pot´s secret prison named ¨S-21¨, the site where tens of thousands of Cambodians were tortured and killed. It´s a haunting, fascinating, but ultimately disturbing monument to a time that must not be forgotten. One wing is a series of bare rooms with a bed and a photograph showing the violence that took place there. Another series of rooms hold meticulously documented--and beautifully shot--photographs of both victims and their torturers. T

More than once I was sickened as I recognized images from old ¨power violence¨ records, but the experience of visiting such a visceral place is important. Remembering and memorializing this time is important. Facing this history--really one group´s political, social, and economic effort to erase history and start again--needs to be done.

Art exhibit mixing archival images and the reflection of enlarged photos as well as the viewer in the same space

Eery hallways between holding cells

Young comrades who carried out the torture at Tuol Sleng

Online resources:
Timeline of the Khmer Rouge, the genocide, and information on the tribunal
Cambodian Genocide Program at Yale
Documenting ¨Year Zero¨ (POV interview)
Kaing Guek Eav, aka ¨Duch¨, on trial (from the Guardian online)

Books worth reading:
First They Killed My Father
Brother Number One
Children of the River

In Rice We Survive: December in Laos and Thailand

Buddha assembly line, Savannakhet, Laos

In comparison to India, travel in Laos and Thailand was simple and hassle-free. Thailand is well developed and the transportation is reliable while Laos is charmingly mellow.

We crossed from Lao-Bao outside of Hue, Vietnam and rode smoothly back into Laos. Savannaket was like any number of sleepy Central Valley (CA) towns. Dogs wandered purposefully. Still warm air hung well into the night. Not much seemed to be going on.

Downtown Savannakhet, Laos


Laotian dinosaur

Salt farm


Fading light outside Nom Lung Lake, Laos


Women making reed torches


Bag insignia for the grain of strength


The last thing you want to come across while hiking

Laotian critical mass

From Savannakhet we bussed back to Bangkok, stayed the night in the red-light district of Sukhumvit, then arranged another day's worth of bus and boat rides that would get us to the island of Koh Chang. I'm not much of a water person but beaches in Thailand will relax the shoes right off you.

Young Thai cliff divers at Nam Tok Klong Plu waterfall


Z at our wee cottage (Apple Bungalows, Koh Chang)


Thousand-armed sand dollar


Posing down


Sun down

Z enjoying a rambutan

Insanely clear water makes for great snorkeling

Back in Bangkok we ate our fill of amazing curries and sticky rice and even tried a durian before boarding a plane back to Oahu where we decompressed a bit before heading to Southern California.

Awesome street-food, Banglamphu Market...


and in Sukhumvit...Bangkok


Youth procession, Banglamphu Market


Typical Bangkok skyline

More travel notes over at other-climes.

On Water, Over Land: Vietnam

Night lights in Hoi An, textile capitol of Vietnam

Z and I had no idea we were going to spend a lot of time in and on the water while in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam. While not normally a water person--actually, I have a healthy distrust of waves and rivers--I quickly adapted and enjoyed our time there. Here are a few images from late November and early December.


Canal travel outside Hue


Slim fishing boats


Cà phê sữa nóng


Can you believe this only cost $10?!!!


Floating village, Halong Bay




Inside Sung Sot ("surprise") Cave, Bon Hon Island




Norweigan and SF friends, Halong Bay


Way less than psyched...


Ancient Cham ruins




Tau hu xao xa o (lemongrass tofu with chilis)--I'd go back for this alone!