Good evening all, so glad you've perused my musings. Today I find myself in the small community of Bowser, BC. A sleepy little gaggle of houses and farms in the heart of Vancouver Island. About 5 months ago, I took off an an journey of epic proportions. My friend Miles Howe asked me to join him on a cross Canada trip. We played over forty shows in two months. Then the band came to an explosive end. Some highlights of the trip included the brilliant city of Winnipeg and sleeping on "old dump road". I kept a journal throughout the trip, so more details will come eventually.

For the last three months, I've been living in the small town of Parksville, BC. On my way to visit a friend on Gabriola Island, I came across a drunken hillbilly band called "Kin Fo", http://www.kinfo.20fr.com/. I performed with them that night and they asked me to join the band. After an incredible week on Gabriola, I moved to Parksville, Kin Fo's home base. The band has been in existence for over ten years, I became the 38th member of the 4 piece band. A highlight of thoes days is the concert at the frontiersmen pub in Coombs. The crowd was pumped and enthralled by our performance and by my special brand of naked break dance banjo playing. Eventually I veered away from kin fo, but I think I'll always be part of that hillbilly family. I understand they are booked to play Merit country music fest, I'll probably be joining them for that.

I've made many great friends in Parksville. There's an apartment called "the Wizemen's" or "the three wise men". It was named after the three tenants, two of which still live there. It's a hub for folks around 20. Lot's of couches, filled every night. Dumpster diving is a hobby I've aquired there. Behind ever supermarket lies a trove of fresh produce (though perhaps not pretty), packaged goods (with an exipred date) and morning fresh bread. We hop in, fill about four grocery bags at a time, then cook massive veagan meals. It's rewarding on many levels. 

There was a lot of down time from kin fo, and I picked up longboarding. A derivative of skateboarding, with a focus on crusing. The oversized boards allow for smoother travel at greater speeds. The downhill aspect is intense. With the help of GPS, my pals have been clocked at speeds of over 100km/h. A helmet is imperative and so are special sliding gloves. The gloves allow for two more points of balance, like a catamaran. I made my own pair by sawing apart old cutting boards, melting one side with a blow torch, then sticking them to a pair of work gloves. As the weight is shifted onto the hands, the spinning whells drift and slide in a controlled manner. Some good sliding clips, about 20 seconds in at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWEYA46sL_k

I hitchhiked to Dangerbay 8, the largest gathering of longboarders in the world. Four days of marvel. I played a lot of banjo, skated down hills while high on mushrooms, was beat into the longboard family and dropped acid. An incredible time over all. There a shot of me drinking beer our of my friend Darrell's 40 ounce bottle at 5:57 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV7wl6KrYBU

The community of longboarders is full of passion and love. It all started in this corner of the universe and has grown exponentially. The world wild family is tight nit group and it's a pleasure to spend time with them. Each month companies and riders expand their skills and products. I predict big things for this sport. One highlight of the weekend was bombing down hills while holding hands with a lovely girls. I became palls with the Peurto Rican team. They had been fund raising for months in order to pay for their flights. I asked a for a cool cuss word and they said "Cabron", it means quite a few things. I'd shout it out each time I saw them and the group would always holler it back with great big smiles.

The acid was pretty wild. The best part was when I climbed a pine tree and controlled it's various limbs with my own. I made it dance like a giant puppet to the cool bands that were playing.

The word "rabble" came up a lot that weekend. It's a way getting crowed riled up.

One month ago, my friend Anita invited me to hot yoga at the Hot and Cool yoga club. The experience was life altering. Through infrared lights and regular heat lamps, the mirrored studio becomes a den cleansing and growing. I sweated buckets was able to bend in new and different ways. Immediately after the class, I told the owner, Simon Daniels, that I intended to come every day and apprentice with him. Since then I've been averaging about 2.5 hours of yoga a day. I'm in a new state of mental and physical focus. Being able to touch my toes without bending my knees is a new bliss. My back pain has alleviated and my muscles are sculpted like never before. 

Simon and I have been playing music together and it's grown in to something big. Along with our friend Darrell, we've formed the Pirate Yogi Crew. Our style blends folk and rap, while spanning everything in between. We went to the Song City studio in Vancouver last week to begin recording, and  things are progressing nicely. While there, we recorded three songs and are in the process of editing them. Expect an EP release shortly. The studio is an expansive renovated warehouse. The two main studios are flanked by a maze of smaller, privatly rented rooms. The result is a brilliant community of musicians.  I was helping some fellows carry an apartment size piano up a flight of stairs, when lo and behold, next to me was Steve Bays, the singer from Hot Hot Heat. I also got to hang out with Red1 from the Rascalz and Kiprios from Sweatshop Union. All charming and warm dudes. I'm looking forward to running into them again. We stayed the night in a refurbished tour bus from the thirties and fantaizsed about our future music careers.

Two days ago Simon sold the studio and we're moving to Vancover tommorow. We'll be perfroming and recording as much as possible, making money and waves. After a month, we'll be heading down the west coast to California.

Canada day was a few days ago. As Chilluack was playing, we were dacing and bending and flipping and dipping behind the sound booth. The sightlines wern't great, so many people focused their attention on us. Applause roared around as we fed off the crowd's energy. So look out...

If anyone has any suggestion for spots of people to check out in Vancover, lemme know.

I guess that's all for now, more will come. Love you all,

-M