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Wed May 28 00:36:05 PDT 2008

354 5th Street @ Harrison


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<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div>Hello Friendly Person: <br><br>(Long preamble this morning, so if you're impatient, skip down for info
about Mog appearances at Mighty Breaks tomorrow, the Serpent Mother
fundraiser on the 27th, and other goodness.)<br>
<br>
Seemed like a good idea at the time. I wish I knew who came up with
that phrase, and I'll bet whoever it was wishes they'd copyrighted the
bugger. Think how often it comes up -- after Gavin hooked up with his
buddy's wife, right after Chris Daly opens his mouth to says anything,
whenever Iraq is mentioned in the White House, and if there's a God I'm
sure he says it whenever he thinks of us. Seemed Like a Good Idea at
the Time is the only way to explain things like pet rocks, the country
meets techno anthem "Cotton-eye Joe", taking another pill because
you're not "feeling" anything from the first one yet, or any kind of
trance ;)<br>
<br>
Space Cowboys have done a lot of lame things in our time, and I promise
you all of them seemed like a good idea at the time. It's hard to
single out any one moment or act, because they're all so gloriously
lame in their lame, Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, way. But with
Burningman so close, and with discussion in our group turning towards
art projects, there is one treasured story that I think is worth
sharing. The story of Space Cowboy Byron's swing. This was somewhere
between 98 and 01, the years are all a blur at this point, so let's
just say the theme was The Seven Nebulous Wheels of the Body. Space
Cowboy Byron (who has long since retreated into matrimonial seclusion,
where his brain cells will be fortunate enough to live out their
remaining days and die a natural death) decided that, while our camp
had a barter bar, DJs, hot chicks and dangerous playa vehicles, it was
missing one thing: a really big swing. So, he went to work. Now, swings
have a fairly uniform structure -- a couple of supports with something
across the top that the swing hangs from is what most of us are
familiar with, but Space Cowboy Byron was what you might call a
non-conformist. No paired support structures for him, his swing would
be a feat of axioms, paradigms and mathematics, or something. He
envisioned what ended up looking like a long, narrow upside down V --
where the two top tips of the letter were rooted into the ground at an
upward angle, that shot the point of convergence up in the air about 30
feet or so, and the swing hung down on a long rope from the apex. He
built the whole thing with thick metal pipes, but since he couldn't
find single pieces long enough to achieve the height he was going for,
he coupled several together with some sort of threaded joiner. Remember
that, because it's the important part. The swing went up early in the
week, and all agreed that he was right -- the camp did need a damn
swing after all, and for the next few days many of us lazied away the
days swaying on what we would later learn was a giant death trap. Flash
forward to the Hoe Down. We were having a party, people were dancing,
other people were doing weird Burningman shit, customers were trading
random crap for dusty booze at the barter bar, and a dozen yards or so
away from the dance floor, a couple of hyper-active burner dudes had
the bright idea to try red-lining the swing. They'd take running starts
at it, they'd stand on the seat upright, they'd flex and grunt, and
kick, and keep the swing further and further up. They were doing such a
good job at it that soon, they had a small crowd cheering them on. That
just encouraged them to push harder, which must've seemed like a good
idea at the time. But on their most triumphant lurch upward there was
an audible crack, and as they hung in mid-air, segments of the pipes
separated everything began to plummet. The two guys, having just
reached the crest of their swinging, were shot forward from where the
80lbs or so of metal came crashing down, but they still hit the ground
hard, and for a moment nothing moved but the cloud of dust that
accident kicked up. Because the guys had been swinging so wildly, the
crowd had been standing back a respectable distance, so no one else was
in what would've been the decapitation zone when the metal came down.
Space Cowboy Byron and some others jetted over to see if anyone was
hurt, particularly the two nummyheads who'd been on the swing, but as
soon as they were able two stand they raced off into the night,
apparently fearing some sort of retribution for causing the swing's
collapse. A quick investigation into the disaster uncovered that the
ends of the pipe, which had been threaded, were now nearly perfectly
smooth -- the stress caused by the Xtreme-swingers, which was a
scenarios not considered in the design's calculus, had completely
stripped the pipes' threading. And that was the final ride of the Space
Cowboy's Swing-of-Death, which definitely seemed like a good idea at
the time. <br>
<br>
xo,<br>
8ball at spacecowboys.org<br>
<br>
<br>
++ UPCOMING EVENTS ++<br>
<br>
FRIDAY (TOMORROW) - 7/20 - Mighty Breaks presents SHOW YOUR COLORS <br>
<br>
Mighty Breaks is hosting a field day/pep rally that brings together
your favorite Burning Man crews, each with their own color and DJ.<br>
<br>
Join us for a musical battle royale as the crews challenge each other
to "walk offs," arm wrestling, dancing competitions and, of course,
drinking games. But know this: there are no sanctioned events, so
anything is fair game. Burning Man's loudest cheerleader, The Space
Cowboy's Unimog, will be bringing it on outside all night.<br>
<br>
SPACE COWBOYS - ORANGE - 8ball, rrrus, Mancub &amp; Brad Robinson on the Unimog<br>
<br>
SEISMIC - RED - Murphstar<br>
HOUSE OF LOTUS - BLUE - Beth Murphy<br>
THE FRINGE - PURPLE - Mopo &amp; friends<br>
DEEP END - PINK - Zach Moore<br>
OPULENT TEMPLE - WHITE - Syd Gris, Zach Moore, GARAGE MAJAL - GREEN - Jive<br>
<br>
<br>
++<br>
<br>
Saturday, July 21<br>
Day Party/Fundraiser at Pier 23<br>
You are invited to an afternoon/evening of dancing in the sunshine (or
fog) to celebrate Mango's soon-to-be bundle of joy!&nbsp; Get your groove on
to DJ's :<br>
Ellen Ferrato<br>
Brad Robinson<br>
Zack Darling<br>
Joy Glasier<br>
<br>
Pier 23, San Francisco<br>
1pm-8pm, $10 donation requested<br>
<br>
++<br>
<br>
Saturday July 28th - SERPENT MOTHER FUNDRAISER presented by Flaming Lotus Girls<br>
We're bring the Mog to Flaming Lotus Girls' party to help raise funds
for the Serpent Mother World Tour. The day kicks off with our favorite
carbon-belligerent activity, BBQing followed by several hours of
dancing and libation!<br>
With Space Cowboy DJs Brad Robinson, Mancub, 8ball, Kapt'n Kirk, Aaron Jae, and Pure Evil<br>
Also with DJs ShOOey (Deep End), Murphstar (Seismic), Shissla (House of Lotus), and Majitope (Lowpro). <br>