Thursday, July 21, 2011

Amy Hendrickson and the Augustine Directive

onward to St Augustine.
(a pit stop in my old hometown)
where i discovered this mintuization feature on my camera that I would never turn off again. get used to it. Because I use it almost exclusively as the trip goes on.

In St Augustine, there are 2 kinds of people:
Tourists
and Professionals. Its a very simple 2 point economy/income structure.

This is a professional pirate/tour guide.


And his business partner.

For super serious.
St augustine is a magical place


My friend amy hendrickson is a professional musician, I love playing with her when I come into town. She is a true peer, we have so much in common and so much mutual respect for the other's music... and we can share it while getting paid and drinking great beer.

i love going to st augustine.
more of this guy to come.
great dancer.


you know how people's dogs ultimately look like their owner... Amy's dog is a freaky illustration of this phenomenon.





yeay pictures of sweet puppies!

hazah the misfits of st augustine!



but onward i must go.
onward to Orlando to see the Stevers
if you liked cute pictures of puppies and amazing small humans, get ready for

JADEXTRAVAGANZA!

but for now... this.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Michael Williamson: a photo shoot to vanity

Although at this time and date the epic journey of consciousness and learning has physically/geographically ended, the spiritual growth is just beginning.


And while I am already in my new home, near the San Francisco Bay with my new and old family, (which we'll get to later... a couple months of blogging later) because I am RESOLVED to finish what I set out to do, even if it takes me months.

Better late than never is a phrase I have to keep close at heart, because my projects, while ambitious and driven, get out of hand. But these 2 projects are super important, so they much be done.

1. Completely blog and document the 2 months I spent on the road By myself. Passing through so many cities, so many places, desolate deserts and metropolis(i). Visiting so many people that mean so much to me in so many ways. Many of which I hadn't seen in 1,3,7, even 16 years.

Revisiting people from your past, however small their role may have been, is vital to learning about who you were and ultimately who you are! But you knew that...



2. To finish writing all the letters to my kickstarter supporters. I have not even made a dent in either of these tasks, both much be done. I haven't been too hard on myself about getting the letters out because I didn't want to be rushed, I wanted them to be thoughtful, thorough, meaningful and individual, as well as aesthetically pleasing. So this will take some time. but they WILL get done.




But enough about that! What are these pictures and who is this handsome devil!?


This is Michael Williamson!

One of my most special people bestest friendest. Top Tier, cream of cream friends.

Currently he lives in this swampy part of south-central florida you'd never even think about unless you were retiring, hunting the last florida panther, or studying encephalitis.


If I had to chose a small handful of people to build a utopia with, or die on a desert island on with, or hike Mt Everest, or stay up all night telling stories with... Michael Williamson.


In our search for ice cream we came to a baseball park and caught the end of a thrilling little league game...

"GO ANDREW!! THROW THAT BALL! "

"OH... OKAY! IT'S ALRIGHT! YOU DID YOUR BEST... WE STILL LOVE YOU!... WALK IT OUT!!"

wow modern sports moms.





He has the BEST stories, via this strange energy/magnetism & proclivity to attract the strangest most random shit! Sometimes horrific, sometimes whimsical/mystical but always incredible and nearly unbelievable. And he's a great story teller.

He's also just one of those people, the most amazing kind hearted, straightforward, HILARIOUS, who's been through some ridiculous SHIT and is STILL smiling & laughing about the worst of it and carrying on to the next insane thing with high hopes, positivity, bright eyes and bushy tail.
I've known Michael since we were in 9th grade in health class. I have been to every one of his birthday parties since, even though his parents pulled him out of our high school the very next year and put him in Military school.



So my friendship with Michael has ALWAYS been catching up. but in this way, we have always known each other over time, like climate instead of weather. So we know this weird unchanging parts of our personality over day to day experience. its kind of weird, but that's my friend Michael. And I always make sure I see him if I'm within 100 miles of him.
These parts of ourselves, the 'climate' of who we are, that magical good intangible stuffs that make you who you are, that's the stuff that attracts/binds/& seals you to your most special friends, i'll use the term soul mates for illustration, but I wouldn't want you to think i'm getting all airy on a blog, especially one with black & white pictures. sheesh.

alls I knows is that there is a handful of people on this planet that just... way important to Renee. And whenever I see them, whether it be 10 minutes or 10 years, we just pick up where we left off and connect same as we ever did.




then we had a wonderful photoshoot to which I am now treating you. Mike likes having his picture taken almost as much as he likes taking pictures... he's not vain or anything.. its art god damnit. its all art. another reason why he & I have always gotten along, great taste in music, always making art. go micheal williamson... you are truly one of the coolest people i know, in no particular order, one of the top 5.


Other ultimate cool people of my life that you will see in the coming months include:

Kevin Stever & the Stevers (a family & family band)
Tina & the Bassetts!
Various Pensacolites and the Gulf herself
Various parts of my family Arozquetas (father) and (mother) Van Vleets, Akinas, Bullocks
Amanda & Josh Centauri, my new family...
Liv Free & Family
and of course, my very favorite mr. Chad Smishop.


From this southern most part of the tour (Sarasota Florida) i would venture back northward to St. Augustine to rendevouz with a lovable group of misfits.
For now I leave you with this golden nugget of MW.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Back track - ketchup - South Florida


Greetings and hello all and anyone who might still be following, I have concluded the tour, I am now in Missoula Montana visiting my dearest Chad Bishop before the next exciting chapter.

I'll be here for a couple weeks, so that should be enough time to bring you (and me) up to speed on everything I've seen and everywhere I've been! If you are still waiting for your care packages and letters from the kickstarter fundraiser, not to worry! They are on the top of my list of things to catch up on before I move forward with my life. This is a very tender stage, when was the last time you cleaned out your inbox? your outbox? your memory? the back of your van? or the back of your head?

Last time we left off I was in Macon Georgia, from there me and the Memphibians drove south to their home in Jacksonville. We slept a bunch, did some laundry and then parted ways for a weekend. I went further south to Tampa to play Thursday songwriters night at Tre Amici.








Here are some candid glimpses of my friends there. Rocco is the handsome one with the grey beard.. I hope he doesn't mind these sneak attack shots I took and put on the internet.


And the lady with the strawberries in her champagne is Kirsten Campbell. A lovely ukulele musician who headlined the show. We made plans to share a tour in January, but that may not be happening due to new changes and circumstances, mainly... because I'm a mere 2,622 miles from Tampa at the current moment, yep only 43 hours of straight driving. So give her a little listen if you have a moment. Musicians that make a connection are few and far between, she happens to be one of them.

mmmm, cuban food in gulfport.


So I spend a couple days in Gulfport/Tampa with my friends, but onward I must go, still on very important friend to see, one of my very favorites... MICHAEL WILLIAMSON!!