On the bus...

[bluesbob]

Since I finally got my ticket today, I thought I would introduce myself.

The name is Blues Bob, a moniker I've had for over 20 years. No, I don't play the blues. I don't even play an instrument. But I am a blues aficionado, hence the name. (I also like bluegrass, real country, cajun, zydeco, rock & punk...but we never pick our nicknames)

Old Deadhead...but I shower and pay my own way. I also eat meat.

I live in Orange Co., Ca. Except for a couple of years in Auburn, and a couple in Arcata, it's been my home for most of my life. (Which has been awhile)

I was laid-off my job a year ago. But luckily I had returned to the local university to work on my degree. So I'm having fun being a student again. Like being a student really ever ends anyways.

I don't drink or do drugs, so this is going to be an adventure. Used to do both, even miss a few things at times, but I'll do it straight and enjoy myself. Others will enjoy me more also. Really, you will.

I've known about Burning Man for years, just never could make that commitment. But this year I decided to go ahead and do it. I'm going to miss the first week of classes, but I will email my instructors ahead of time and see what they say. It better be "Go and have fun!" because I'm going anyways.

The catalyst for my going was a break-up. Damn I loved her. Still do. Wish she were going, this is her kind of gig also. Oh well, she still follows me on Facebook, so she can choke on my adventure.

Hope to meet as many fellow burners as I can out there. I'm meeting some here already. It's great because I'm going alone.

See you all on the playa!

[LeChatNoir]

Welcome, Blues Bob. Do plenty of research and planning. The playa can be tough at times, but worth it. Getting your ticket is the first big step. Enjoy your planning and I hope you have a great first year.

[PavementBlues]

Howdy, Blues!

You'll have a great time at the Burn without substances - my first year I was sober almost the entire time because I was too busy trying to figure out just where in the HELL I was.

Also, quite interesting coming onto ePlaya for the first time in ages and seeing your post. We appear to have the same musical taste, I was raised in Auburn, and am now also living in Southern California (San Diego, though). Have you checked out the regional events down here? Elysium, Lightning in a Bottle, Alma Paradiso, and Fuente Eterno are all quite popular (San Diego also has a three-day Decompression after the Burn that's a load of fun).

See you in the dust!

[PavementBlues]

(Also, a reference to the Pranksters and the Dead in one post? I must be dreamin'!)

[Captain Goddammit]

Old Deadhead...but I shower and pay my own way. I also eat meat.

That says enough to rate you as a fine burner!

[Captain Goddammit]

Old Deadhead...but I shower and pay my own way. I also eat meat.

That says enough to rate you as a fine burner!

[bluesbob]

"PavementBlues": (Also, a reference to the Pranksters and the Dead in one post? I must be dreamin'!)

Years ago a friend and I were watching TV (History Channel) and the show mentioned that the Smithsonian was trying to acquire "Furthur". The program went on to say that Kesey didn't want to part with it.

My friend and I each emailed Kesey's website asking why they wouldn't give up the bus. Kesey himself wrote each of us back and explained why he wouldn't do so. Those emails started a a long friendship between us as we each wrote each other quite often before he passed away about a year and a half later.

[Elliot]

Hmmm.... So far as I know, the bus you saw (or discussed) around... maybe year 2000, was "Further number 2". It appeared in a documentary film where Kesey was interviewed at his home, filmed around that time. The story goes that the Smithsonian rejected it because it was not the original. (Rumor is, Kesey may have tried to pass it off as the original.)

More recently, efforts are reported to have been made to restore the original, but there is essentially nothing left of it.

I saw Further on I-5 less than two weeks ago. Could have been #2 with modifications, but more likely a third bus. Such a bus is known to be in use by Keseys old wrestling team.

[teardropper]

(Also, a reference to the Pranksters and the Dead in one post? I must be dreamin'!)

Yep. Furthur.

[bluesbob]

At the time of the interview, Furthur was sitting on Kesey's farm in Oregon. It wasn't a bus anymore, it was an extension of the forest. There was so much moss, lichens, and other things growing on it....there was only a shape left, the rest was just green.

Kesey told me he'd rather see it that way...returned to the Earth. It was where he wanted the memories to go, not into a museum.

[Elliot]

That sounds right -- I've seen a picture. That was the original.

In the film I mentioned above (some guy traveled the country in a VW microbus, interviewing famous people), Further #2 was sitting in the background, probably in a barn, looking spic-n-span.

How many replicas there may be, such as the one I saw on the road the other day, may never be determined!

Sorry if I sound a bit too fascinated by this. But I own a newer school bus, and I'm getting ready to paint it. Some of this painting may be done on the Playa -- dust and all.

[ygmir]

one of our own eplayans, is a super bus painter........

[Elderberry]

Hey there, welcome to eplaya!

JK

[Elliot]

one of our own eplayans, is a super bus painter........

Well, Kamp Apokiliptika's Kernul Killbuck seems to be eager to go at it, and he is certainly more-than-well qualified. And there are others in that bunch.

We have a WORLD-class professional muralist in my Kinetic Sculpture Racing gang, and he will be on the Playa again this year, but I cannot afford him, and he is never on this forum.

Who do you have in mind?

[ygmir]

LittleFlower is a superb artist..........she's done some beautiful work on Looneytunes bus........

[bluesbob]

But the original Furthur wasn't painted by "professionals"...it was just painted by a bunch of crazy friends.

[Elliot]

But the original Furthur wasn't painted by "professionals"...it was just painted by a bunch of crazy friends.

Quite so. But have you ever tried to deliberately repeat something wondermuss that originally happened spontaneously? Such as, just for example, an ass-over-applecart love affair? Lightning strikes are notoriously difficult to duplicate.

I should probably divide "Millicent" into several sections. My camp-mates (and visitors) in Apokiliptika will definitely have lots of space to play with.
A good friend near Seattle paints and would like a shot at a section of bus.
A muralist closer to home just volunteered.
Ygmir, I gather you are in contact with LittleFlower. I don't even know where she lives -- but of course I see her posts here.

Edit: Can you point me towards a picture of LittleFlower's bus work?

[LeChatNoir]

Yeah!!! Get a bunch of folks together for a painting day! In the fridge there's some orange juice, just don't drink it all at once. Oh wait... on second thought that might be how it turned out the way it did.

[Elliot]

You mean paint-brushes and "screw-drivers"? Oh, wait... yeah... Kesey -- LSD, of course.

The main idea is to have a Painting Week, when we are all in BRC. Obviously, there are drawbacks to this, but it would guarandarnedteed great fun.

But I am definitely open to getting some of it done beforehand. While I am happy to give skilled artists like Kernul Killbuck carte blanche, it might be a good idea to "set the tone" of the bus for the eager amateurs.

[FaeTora]

ooh can i paint on it? please!

[littleflower]

me too!!!! but at the burn .... i'm too far away in defaultia ...

it definitely helps to have a basic plan, or a concept. and pre-painting would definitely help, even for non-amateurs ... you know, like too many cooks spoil the soup!

and yg is being silly, i just drew the figures, looneytunes had the concept and plans and paints. buses are so cool .... can't wait to see it, elliot ...!

[Elliot]

This sounds fabulous all around!

I have received similar advice from a muralist I know: Put "safe" outlines on the bus -- except for some "free-for-all" areas that I am prepared to paint over if need be.

My friend suggested getting the backgrounds done, and then she can do the Kinetic Vehicles in the foreground.

[ygmir]

don't let LF be humble.............
Looneytune has not posted any of the bus pics, or, even emailed them so I can.....dang.
but, it is so cool.......Looneytune characters up and down the sides.........

I, on the other hand, would be quite adept at putting your name and birthdate on it..........

[FaeTora]

give me a picture and i can distort or mimic it. 6 years of art class.

[Elliot]

Oh.... Hey, BluesBob: Sorry to highjack your intro thread! But you are learning something important from this: Threads drift off in different directions all the time around here!

[bluesbob]

Hey...no problem...it makes me feel like I'm already part of something.

[Elliot]

You are. And there is no way out. You know too much.

[AntiM]

That sounds right -- I've seen a picture. That was the original.

In the film I mentioned above (some guy traveled the country in a VW microbus, interviewing famous people), Further #2 was sitting in the background, probably in a barn, looking spic-n-span.

How many replicas there may be, such as the one I saw on the road the other day, may never be determined!

Sorry if I sound a bit too fascinated by this. But I own a newer school bus, and I'm getting ready to paint it. Some of this painting may be done on the Playa -- dust and all.

And once you have Millie painted, I can finish my little bus. I've not touched it in nearly a year, I've not been inspired. My biggest problem would be how to display it and not have it trashed by overtly-enthusiastic folks fiddling with it.