The guy in the center is our awesome Loose Change dancers/directors Elliott and Owen’s dad. Yes, dad! I see where you got your cool moves guys!

My favorite picture! Sabine in her all deep red outfit in contrast with the scenic ocre, grey and blue.

In this slide show you will see parts of Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lake Almanor, Clear Lake and roads in between. Such a nice little getaway we had!

I got to see program A of SF Hip Hop Fest last night. Well, it was mind blowing!!!! and really bad at the same time. Why bad? Well because the pressure’s on for us to be as good for tonight’s show as all these outstanding companies! Yikes!

Hip Hop seems to be evolving (or going back) to a light, fun, narrative or conceptual direction. Very little dances were just dancing with formation changes and tricks. If formation changes and tricks there were, it was within a clear concept or idea that lead the whole piece. I could write and talk about that show all day long… but I’ll try to sum it up and tell you what and who stood out. Quite frankly, I can’t tell which is my favorite.

DS Players from San Jose

Man these guys are smooth! In their long tuxes, and old school style, they captivate and don’t let you go!

Over The Influence from Vancouver

They rocked the house! With their janitor concept, in working overalls, using brooms, rolling planks, handkerchiefs, they were light, funny, so refreshing. I didn’t want them to stop!

Mind Over Matter from San Francisco

If Allan Frias can do something, it’s sexy! Prison scene, with rolling wire fences brilliantly dividing up the stage using transparency. With girls dancing dominatrix style and boys hooking up (very graphically) at a bench press, this piece kept your jaw dropped and at the edge of your seat the whole time. I was a bit in shock of its R rated staging, but after all… why not! All of it was beautifully executed.

Funk Beyond Control (FBC) from San Francisco

I think they have the best dancing kids ever!!! Awesome concept portraying entertainment for a king and his royal surroundings. They used all sorts of styles including Belly Dancing. Their costumes were an ancient royal/hip hop mix. It totally worked and was a great way to manage a huge group of dancers. Loved it!

Mop Top from New York

OK. Check out this video:

Imagine this b-girl, in a Dorothee outfit, with red booty shorts doing the same thing. Yeah, she kicked ass! The rest of the group was very cool too, especially the tin man. It was the Wizzle to the Izzle!

Neopolitan from Oakland

Mix of Afro and Hip Hop. I’ve rarely seen such a clean dance going so fast with movements that can easily look mushy. I was hypnotized the whole time!

FootworKINGz from Chicago

So what do you think their forte is? That’s right, footwork, man! Their little feet went so fast that my eyeballs couldn’t keep up. The most impressive part? When all their little feet went crazy and in sync!! It’s like insane tap, but hip hop style. Man, amazing!

Can’t wait to see what’s in Program B!

I will probably not be blogging much this week as Loose Change is preparing our performance at this year’s SF Hip Hop Dance Fest. We’ve been rehearsing intensely for the past few weeks, all last weekend and every night this week. But it’s totally worth it! Our piece is awesome, I love it! And most of all, it’s going to be very different from everybody else’s style.

Come check us out if you’re in the city. We’re in Program B, performing this Saturday and Sunday night at the Palace of Fine Arts.

Getcha groove on!

So, I was going to blog about something completely different… a dead rat I found on the street yesterday. But when I saved the rat pictures in my “miscellaneous” picture folder, I rediscovered this other picture I’ve always found interesting. Not because of the quality of, but because of the subject and the story behind it.

A few years ago, I was eating fries. French fries, made at home, probably not from scratch. Me and my roommates were chatting and munching. I pour some ketchup on the side of the plate. More talking, more munching, mmm. I love my fries with ketchup.
I look down to my plate to see how I’m doing on the ketchup level, and holly shit what do I see?

A face! I drew face! I drew a face in ketchup with fries! Not looking! Not intending to!

Immediately I grabbed my camera and tried to take a few shots. Given the low light and my shakiness, the shots didn’t turn out very good, which is why I turned it into a more dramatic black and white version.

Looking at it more, I think it looks like a Native American, almost smiling. Hmm, but it could also look like a TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). I don’t know… what does it look like to you?

Oh and by the way, this is the photo I was originally going to post. Poor rat. It was pretty cute.

Yes, this is my helmet! YES, I rode over the Golden Gate Bridge this morning with it on!!

Pictures in action to come!

UPDATE: More Pics and a video!!!

MORE UPDATES: The real story unveilled…

As Bri commented, I failed to mention that this was NOT my Vespa, it was Justin’s. Mine is baby blue, and super hot, but not for a witch! However still, I titled the post saying “ride my Vespa”… Well, I suppose that I was such in character and needing so much black that it very much felt like my own for a minute (and it’s the same power, same model (LX150), just slightly newer…essentially the same to ride).

We wanted to dress Justin as a fairy or a princess riding my baby blue Vespa, but never got to making a costume for that. Maybe next year… as I think this one will be my recurring Vespa costume for all eternity. Why? Because I haven’t sewn this much in a verrry long time and I don’t intend to do so in a verrrry long time!

That’s right, to make the helmet wig secure, it took a lot of work. I actually wish I took photos of the step by step process because man, it was a PROCESS!

~ First, I was given a black t-shirt I could just cut and tear. This was for the base of the masterpiece. I put it over the helmet made sure it could go through the visor and under into the inside of the helmet.
~ Then I put the wig over it and stretched it tight. I sewed (by hand!!!) the entire circonference of the tightened wig onto the t-shirt.
~ Then, I took a piece of bright orange felt and figured out how to make a cone,…by trial and error. I secured it with safety pins and sewed the entire circonference of the cone hat and the seem up to its tip.
~Last, I found a jack-o-lantern witch pattern online, which I cut out into black felt and glued it on the side of the hat.
~When I was ready to ride, I left enough fabric to stay inside the helmet, so my head would act as a safety pin, but I also safety pinned it at 6 various spots on the helmet foam.

When you ride with that thing at 55mph, it definitely gives resistance and you don’t want anything to fly away or distract you from the road.
Mission accomplished!