What a crime. Rocco's used to be so cool until recent changes in management and employee attitude. I know, I'd been going to Rocco's for over a year. When I first moved to Portland in July of '08, Rocco's was one of the first things I bragged about. The pizza isn't the greatest of quality, but that was quickly made up for by how nice and friendly the staff was to me. Within only a handful of visits I came to know almost the entire staff by first name and they always greeted me warmly. I began to make Rocco's a daily habit of pizza and beer, and anytime I needed to meet someone downtown it would be at Rocco's. I considered listing Rocco's as a sponsor of RovingFestival.com and began having all my business meetings there; inviting upwards of 5 or 6 clients at a time, all paying customers of course. I've celebrated several birthdays there, including my own. We'd buy beer all night long some nights, just hanging out and having fun.

Until Recently.

Just a few days ago I remarked to a friend that I don't meet as many cool people at Rocco's anymore. They just don't come around. Most of the type of people I see now are tourists who have never been there before nor will probably ever go there again. Or simply just the Mom-n-Dad types with their kids. No more artists, musicians, scenesters, skaters, hippies, punks, or any other genre for that matter. At the same time, I'd also noticed those friendly faces behind the counter being replaced by scowly, frowny, pimply faces of the less-than-friendly type who definitely aren't interested in knowing my name. And now Rocco's wants to be a bar, applying for it's liquor license after which everything on the menu went up by 25 to 50 cents.

Then it happened.

Yesterday I walked in to Rocco's to order a pizza and beer as usual. As I stepped up to the counter and placed my order, one of these not-so-friendly types steps up next to the guy taking my order and says "I know you come here a lot, but we can't have you sitting at the tables without buying something more." When I asked what he meant he explained that if I want to sit at Rocco's tables for prolonged periods of time I must buy something more than my original order; in other words I must continue to buy stuff in order to continue hanging out. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Not only is he wrong for the most part, I normally do continue to buy things, but I told him that that was a rather disrespectful thing to say to such a faithfully returning customer who has spent well over a thousand dollars of his hard earned money at this establishment. He just laughed and said he doubted it (pizza + beer = $5 to $20 times 300+ days: you do the math). I said if that's how he feels I'll just take my business elsewhere and he agreed that would be best. As I walked out I spat on the front door quid pro quo.

The Gentrification Bandwagon.

Gentrification is usually something that happens to slum neighborhoods by wealthy landowners who are interested in increasing the value of their land or property. It usually comes with a price as the ever increasing property values tend to drive out less successful businesses, despite whatever cultural value those businesses might have. Or, as it seems, if you're Rocco's, you go along with the gentrification program, increase prices, and kick out the lower class so the middle to upper middle class aren't offended (gentrification literally means to make suitable for gentlemen i.e. the wealthy). You do this first by eliminating troublesome employees (the ones friendly to the lower class), then eliminating the troublesome clients (the artists, musicians, etc.). The problem is this: Rocco's isn't having problems making rent; Rocco's isn't dealing with external gentrification. In fact, they're expanding, adding a bar to an otherwise bar-less block of the city. On that same block we have a coffee shop (plenty of artists there) two artsy and independent book stores (yup, artists there too), and a place called the Independent Publishers Resource Center (you guessed it; artists). Down the street you have New Avenues For Youth, a resource program for wayward teens seeking to get away from drugs and alcohol, Whole Foods (you can guess what types shop there) and a place called Living Room Theater, showing independent and artsy films. Not to mention Powell's Books, the largest used book retailer in the world is across the street.

The point is:

I used to tell people that if you are going to visit Portland, or even move there, you haven't seen Portland until you've been to Rocco's; an epicenter of the city's culture. Now, I'll be sure to tell everyone I know to steer far away from Rocco's lest they get a bad impression of this otherwise very cool and very artsy town. And to those who own Rocco's, perhaps someday you'll realize what you had and maybe by then it won't be too late.

Well, I've arrived back in portland about a week ago and already an amazing plethora of excitment has already unfolded before me. After being greeted by my friends at the train station, I was whisked away for pizza and beer at rocco's (somewhat of a tradition now) then lead on an adventure to the zoo and then to karaoke at a bar called "Gypsy" (how appropriate).

I've made a new guerilla urban camp in Washington Park, and it's definitely one of my better camps. There is plenty of head room, and the hammock keeps me off the wet ground. It's been raining a lot here in Portland, but I've actually found myself wishing it would rain harder so I can see my camp taken to its limits. There's no better feeling of satisfaction then to build your own temporary home then kick back inside it and watch it protect you from the elements.

I've also made quite a bit of head-way getting the Artopium Art Troupe up and running. I now have keen brochures that explain the function of the Troupe and I will be setting up meetings for the Troupe soon. There are already a few contenders for troupe positions, and it looks like I may be able to have a decent groupe together, at least for booth vending around the city, within a few weeks.

CLICK MY SHARE BUTTON!!


I've totally discovered this rad new way of getting the word out and I'd like to share it with every one of you. Have an AddThis button too? Let's swap sharing, shall we? You click my button I'll click yours, that sort of thing, you know. Anyway, If you'd be so kind, I'd love it if I could rally enough support to the Artopium Guide to Promoting Your Works Online, or the RovingFestival.com website. Go find your favorite page and add it / share it with Digg, Mixx, StumbleUpon, Yahoo Bookmarks, Myspace, Facebook, Google, Kaboodle, FeedMeLinks, ThisNext, Stylehive, and way too many more to mention, but they're all cool. Come back, let me know you did it, and I'll come tickle your button too!

I'm incredibly excited to bring to you the news that Artopium.com has gone through some wonderful and innovating changes, granting more freedom and flexibility for you, the artist to sell your Creative Works online. It's been a long journey, but I think you'll be impressed by all the new features. Here's an almost complete list of what I'm calling Artopium 5.0.

New Features

For everyone...

1) Artopium has a new, sleak yet simple look, helping to present your work in the best way possible.
2) Every single written article has been updated with the latest information.
3) The "Art, Music, Fashion, Video & Book" drop down menus have been fixed so that work in most versions of IE
4) You may now sign up for Artopium's Newsletter once again. Just add your name and email to the feature at the bottom of the home page. It shouldn't be too long before a new newsletter comes out.
5) Artopium now has a new and improved privacy policy, protecting your sensitive information.
6) The Artopium forums have been removed. Nobody was using it anyway. I'm looking into new forums or blogs or something to take it's place, however, I'm not putting much effort into it until I see a need for it.

For Standard Artist Members...

7) All reviews posted by Artopium onlookers are now secured by captcha (people must solve a simple code to post). Only a very few people were being harrassed by spam, but not anymore!
8) "Buy Now" pages are now a lot more appealing to buyers. By presenting more information to buyers in a nicely formatted design they will be more enticed to buy. Also, buy now pages are much easier to be indexed by google and other search engines.
9) All Artist profile pages as well as buy now pages contain a "Link to this page" box, enabling people to copy and paste HTML links from their blogs, websites, forums, myspace pages, etc. to your art work.
10) You can now add google and youtube videos to your Creative Works by simply pasting the video embed code into the appropriate box when you "add a video clip". This feature only applies to Video Creative Works.
11) Totals for the amount of money either Pending, Verifying, Cancelled, Refunded, Completed and Paid Orders are now presented at the top of the Orders page.
12) You can now change the order in which your Creative Works are presented on your profile page, as well as the number of works per page.
13) The Shipping Center has been completely renovated and upgraded into a full fledged and fully functional shipping preferences settings page which enables you to set shipping costs (and insurance for original works) for your Works.

For Premium Artist Members... (Beta)

14) Artists who choose to upgrade their accounts for a small subscription will get a host of more features including:
15) The ability to instantly add your Creative Works to eBay! Just pick a category and your Creative Work is immediately available for bidding!
16) 80 MB more disk space (a total of 100 MB) for uploading music, video and images to Artopium.
17) A higher base rating for every Creative Work listed, pushing them all higher in the Artopium search results as well as causing them to appear on the Artopium home page more often.
18) Longer ranging statistics. Your stats will be saved for two years instead of only one.
19) Premium account holders will be charged nearly half the commission for sales of their works on Artopium. In essence this is the best feature, as if you are a high volume selller you can instantly increase your earnings. In accordance to these new changes a fees chart has been created.
20) There's probably more that I'm just forgetting to mention, but do you really want to sit there and keep reading about it, or are you going to go check out the new site at Artopium.com now?

OK Folks, the next festival you've all been waiting for is now in the beginning stages. I've definitely decided that it will be in Portland (bet you didn't see that one coming). I have a few ideas about the location, but I won't say exactly where at this stage in the planning. Let's just say I'm shooting for downtown somewhere.

And this one's going to be big! No joke. I've got a great theme in mind and I hope to bring in a lot of different, very cool organizations to help put on something truly grand. If space and funding are available there will be two stages, and a very large area for booths. I'm currently writing up the budget for all of this, so if you, or anyone you know, can give me good estimates for stage, sound and lighting, as well as promotional ad space, it would be appreciated.

It would be nice to think that I can put together the festival I see in my mind by the end of this summer, but for the next Artopium Roving Festival to really be on the next level I'm thinking I may go ahead and set the date for 2010. I know this is really far ahead for most artists to book, so I'm going to wait a little while longer before opening the festival sign up.

As always, the festival is for Artopium.com Artist Members, so if you want to participate in the next festival be sure to sign up and create your Artopium profile page. It's free to join and it's easy to use! To get booked just add your Artopium profie URL to your message when you contact us.

In any case, I'll be heading back to Portland within a month or so and once there I'll begin talking with the city council and various departments to wee what is possible. Once I get the green light We'll all have a lot of work to do, but it's going to be fun! If you are interested in volunteering to help or even to join the Artopium Art Troupe, we are always looking to increase our forces. Just check out RovingFestival.com for more info.

Yup. I've managed to come full circle to Austin, Texas, where the Roving Festival had it's first 5 festivals and helped with numerous other events such as Art Outside in the Enchanted Forest. A few things have changed since I've been away and a whole lot hasn't. In a sense, this town has become increasingly stagnant and apathetic. My once favorite coffee shop, Epoch, is now an empty shell of the boisterous and fun place I remember it, and most the people there seem solemn and miserable. Downtown has lost even more traditional hot spots and bars to the onslaught of gentrification, and despite the fact that the weather has been beautiful, no one can been seen walking around.

The very first Roving Festival was held in the parking lot of Epoch Coffee Shop with music from noon until 10PM and around 15 vendor artists, including bands such as Lila's Medicine as well as Dana Falconberry, and the artists Frank Suchomel and Chrystal Webb. I've asked if Epoch has had any other evens in it's parking lot since Artopium's first festival and the answer was that nobody has done anything similar anywhere in town, let alone Epoch.

One definite plus to being in Austin right now is hanging out with my good friend Freeman from The Freeman Perspective, a radio and television show whose content is based on occultism in the government. Currently, Freeman is focused on airing his newly found Internet radio show called "The Freezone", broadcast by the Oracle Network. Last night Freeman decided to do a theme called "Be the Host" and had people calling in from as far away as the UK and Netherlands vying to ask him questions. Hopefully I'll have chance to get some pictures of Freeman and I up soon.

But Freeman aside, I would have to say that Austin is dying culturally. I can't necessarily blame the city for the downward turn it has taken, nor can I say that this is an isolated incident, with a lot of other cities like Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, Orlando, etc. falling prey to gentrification and police terrorism. However it is to me a great tragedy for a city that I would once have called one of the great cultural epicenters of the U.S. and the "Music Capital of the World".

Hey folks, I've gone home for the holidays.

My last few weeks in Portland were wet and a bit dreary, but I managed to stay dry by squatting in what I must say is the finest and most pristine squat I have ever had the privilege to squat in. About 8 of us were sleeping in a 5 bedroom, 4 story (including basement) mini-mansion that someone found as an abandoned foreclosure right near the PSU campus. Besides, my tent is on it's way out.

For Thanksgiving I traveled to Seattle with a very good friend, then left Portland via Amtrak to Glenwood. I'll be in Glenwood for a while, then Denver, then hopefully to Austin, Texas for a bit. I'll then be heading back towards Glenwood, then to Portland by sometime near March. Anyway, that's the plan.

It's been snowing a lot here since I've arrived. A good friend told me it snowed in Portland just recently, but I'll bet it's not much compared to the consistent flow of the white fluffy stuff here in Glenwood.

Well, I'm still here in Portland. Things have slowed down a bit in the jewelry department. I attribute this to the change in the season as the plentiful North Western rain not only drives out a lot of the tourists but creates a different, and possibly macabre mindset in the locals. That isn't to say I haven't been having fun. Some of those whom I've met that have lived in Portland for a while have told me that you're not a real Portlander unless you get wet. I personally love the rain, so it isn't getting me down.

For Halloween I had the distinct pleasure of partying with a group of some brilliant musicians and beautiful gypsies that form three of Portland's finer bands; NIAYH (Stands for: Now Is All You Have, check out their music video), Def Kids, and Shelter Kids. They performed at Reed College which is supposedly known for "rich hippies", whatever that means.

Also, in the time since my last entry, I've been hard at work building a more permanent urban camping shelter as packing up all of my gear every morning has become a nuisance. It would be nice to have a place where I could store my belongings instead of carrying them around with me all day. So I've moved out of Washington Park and into the much larger Forest Park. After doing several survey trips through Forest Park, each trip taking two or more days, I found a nice secluded place at the very top of the hill. To give you an idea of what this means, you really need to visit Forest Park as it is almost entirely comprised of hills that would make San Fransico jealous. My entire effort to survey the park was to merely find a flat spot that could hold several people through the night, away from the mainstream trails. Since everything to either side of any trail through the park is at a 45 degree incline or more, the only spot I could find was at the very top. This, however, means a 6 mile hike up one of Portlands highest and steepest hills to find it, with 100 foot drops-to-your-death along most of the trail. You can also get there by car and about a 1 mile hike, so getting supplies and people to the camp isn't necessarily hard. Only if you are coming by bus or streetcar. I hope to get more people up there soon. It's very peaceful and a bit exciting at the same time. It isn't completely city noise free as I can still hear the freight boats loading an unloading cargo along the Willamete River, and a few nights ago a pack of coyote came near my camp and began howling!

Hello all! I just returned from the Oregon regional rainbow gathering held this year in the Ochoco National Forest just outside of Prineville. I got there near the end of the gathering and there were maybe 60 or 70 brothers and sisters present. It was nice, as it created a real sense of intimacy and closeness. I have to admit that there were no elders there and that there was a bit more drinking than you would normally see at a rainbow gathering, but it was made up for by the mad pirate "space bag" play on the last day, and the family vibe that was felt by everyone.

At the end of the gathering, we spent a day cleaning up the campgrounds, then 19 of us carrying our own packs packed up on to a blue bus (also referred to as the blue pirate bus) and headed back into Portland. When we arrived, there were many brothers who had never been to Portland before and I offered to give them a tour of the city and show them a kosher place to sleep. After terrorizing Old Town / Chinatown with our crazy hippie ways and meandering through Pioneer Square, we rode the MAX to Washington Park and slept in the bushes. It was great having family with me in Wash. Park, sharing food and good times.

The next morning was Saturday, so naturally we went to Saturday Market at the Skidmore Fountain MAX stop. Our group split up as a brother and myself stayed in the market to sell jewelry on the sidewalk and the rest went to go check out the city. We agreed to meet back at Pioneer Square at 5 PM. However, it wasn't long before this brother and I found ourselves on another journey entirely, say, through the looking glass, as a very kind brother in the market traded some l for one of my pendants. I packed up my jewelry and decided to see the City of Roses in a new light. I have been here a while. Why not follow this new brother through the city and see it through his eyes? So I did. And we both wandered through downtown, a bit aimlessly, as I was following him, you see? And our trip through downtown led us right to Pioneer Square, and just as we arrive, there's everyone else from camp, standing at the MAX stop, yelling at us to hurry over to them. As we dash up to the stop, MAX tickets are thrust into our hands, a MAX train arrives, and we tossed onto the train, almost all in one motion.

We're told "You're going to a party," although I'm still reeling from the fact that if we hadn't arrived precisely when we did we would not have seen anyone this evening, so it was meant to be that we should be going. An hour and a half MAX-plus-bus ride later we arrived in Forrest Grove to find ourselves at the McMenamins Grand Lodge. This has to be the grandest, largest, manor of an estate-mansion I have ever seen. It's three stories tall and hundreds of rooms big with an east and west wing, and sits on a many acre garden. As we begin to walk through we quickly notice the tent areas for the stage and band and all of the incredibly rich looking white folk everywhere. Then someone points out to me the compass the square and the G symbol over the main entrance and I quickly realize this is a Freemasonic lodge, a Freemasonic party. And here we are, standing on the outskirts of this very rich place and very rich party looking very dire, tired, dirty, worn down and very hippie. I mean, we just cam back from the regional, slept in the park, wandered downtown, and now we're here.

However, when the blue bus finally arrived, it was explained to me that the lodge used to be a Freemasonic "old people's home", but is now leased by the McMenamins as a hotel of sorts, with a spa, hot-tub area, and a bar called "The Doctors Office" in the basement hall.
Also in the basement were a series of restrooms with showers in them, so some of us naturally jumped in and got clean, and although our garb didn't fit in with the slacks and collard shirts of most of the others at the party, we quickly fixed that by stripping to our undies and sitting in the hot tub singing gypsy songs. We danced and rocked out to the band playing, and although I was a bit apprehensive about the type of people at the party, I found everyone to be accepting and kind.

Speaking of Freemasonic buildings, the Mcmenamins Grand Lodge isn't the only Freemasonic building near Portland no longer used by the Freemasons. A few blocks away from the Central Public Library is the largest Masonic Temple in Portland, built in 1921 as a recreation of King Soloman's Temple and for the purposed of housing all the branches of Freemasonry, including the Eastern Star, Kinghts Templer, et. al. it is now called the Mark Building and is used as the Portland Art Museum administrative offices. Noticing that Portland has many curiously no-longer-used freemasonic buildings, and that the predominant symbol of the city is the rose, I began to think of another secret society I know of that uses the rose as it's symbol: the Rosicrucians. Hmmmm.

I just spent the last week in Seattle, Washington. The first weekend of which I spent at Hempfest, an amazingly huge festival of music, art and products for the purpose of marijuana anti-prohibition, and pro-legalization. I would have to say at least 30 to 40 thousand people attended throughout the day and witnessed the 3 stages of great, live bands, and the many booth vendors along the Seattle beach a few blocks down from Pike's Market.

To get to Seattle, my friends and I caught a ride using Craig's List ride-share category. We arrived at 2am and caught up with some friends who were dancing at a club party in Pioneer Square. Yes, both Seattle and Portland have a Pioneer Square, but they are quite different places to visit. We followed our friends directions, but alas we couldn't tell if anyone was home, so after crashing on the sidewalk in front of a "friend of a friend's" place, with a mild hangover the lot of us made our way to the festival.

Synchronistically, at the festival, I ran into several rainbow brothers and sisters whom I worked with at Milliways Kitchen during the Rainbow National, one of which let me stay in her backyard. Expecting to only stay for the weekend of the festival I missed my rideshare back to Portland and ended up staying an entire week. Luckily my friend Paul was there on business and let me stay in his hotel room. I'm lucky because Seattle is not as comfortable of a place to do urban camping as Portland. There aren't convenient parks to camp in, and even if there were the police don't seem as friendly about the idea.

One very cool place to go if you're ever in Seattle is Ballard. If there is anywhere I would try to urban camp in Seattle it would be the Ballard district, although I never did have to urban camp in Ballard as I met many people who were willing to let me stay at their place on their couch. You can meet lots of cool people at the Bergen Triangle Plaza at the center of Ballard, or at Mr. Spot's Chai House right next to the Triangle.

I've been doing very well selling my necklaces, bracelets, anklets, earrings, etc. at the many fairs, festivals and markets available throughout the city. Every Saturday and Sunday is "Saturday Market", situated at the Skidmore Fountain MAX stop. This market is huge, with over a hundred painters, sculptors, buskers, from all over the world. Although it is an official city art market, it has a real renegade, "gypsy" feel.

However, on the last Thursday of every month, on Alberta Street (that's on the East side of the river), there is a great and wonderful thing, simply called "Last Thursday". This is truly where the renegade, "blanket" vendors and gypsies go to set up all along Alberta Street's sidewalks and nearly three to five thousand people flow through the streets to peruse and make purchases. There is also "First Thrusday" which is a gallery crawl throughout downtown, but it doesn't lend nearly as much attraction as Last Thursday.

There are also four (count them, four!) Farmer's Markets throughout the week in various places downtown, the two most prominent being in the South Park Blocks and PSU campus.

Not to mention the nearly weekly waterfront festivals two of which were the Oregon's Brewers Festival and A Bite of Oregon.

With so much going on there are plenty of places to set up and sell "on the sidelines". And if all else fails, there are a few spots near Pioneer Square where you can throw down a blanket on "off" days.

So far, it's been a very interesting "mixed bag" of experiences trying to urban camp in downtown Portland. First, let me say that for all of the cities I could try and do this in, Portland is setup for it like an urban camping paradise. There are numerous parks to sleep in, and certain doorways seem to be acceptable sleeping places, although the idea of sleeping directly on the sidewalk seems silly in lieu of the fact that Washington Park is just a train ride away. At Washington Park, if you go far enough in, and it is indeed a large park, you will find many others who have zipped up into their sleeping bags and taken up a nice, quiet, and mostly peaceful plot of park to sleep in. My first several days in this town have been camping out with other rainbow brothers and sisters in the park. The weather has been very nice and temperate throughout the day, but it does get a bit chilly at night and I would recommend a sleeping bag rated to at least 30. It rains a bit in the spring and a lot through the fall and winter, but in the summer it's not anything you couldn't handle with a tarp, so I haven't need to pitch a tent yet.

The people in Portland are amazingly friendly and actually, quite a few of them are travelers from many other places. It is a port town, I guess. But, just about everywhere you go downtown you will see others with travelers packs, walking around, taking in the culture, being the culture.

There are so many free meal programs throughout the city that no one could possibly go hungry in this town. Going to them kind of makes me feel like I'm at Rainbow again, walking from kitchen to kitchen around the meadow. The biggest differences being that at rainbow I got fed wonderful, nutritious, vegan food that gave me much energy, even if I didn't eat very much, and Portland's free meal programs make me feel like I've been poisoned. Not to mention the fact that most of the free meal programs are visited by the mentally disabled or drug (heroin) addicts. Well, OK, so are rainbow kitchens, but at rainbow there's so much more love and consciousness present, and definitely no heroin, or most other powders. And alcohol is discouraged greatly.

I've been traveling with my new friend Heather through the metro areas of downtown Portland, Oregon, and I must say this town rocks! The town is setup neatly and is easy to understand how to get around once you understand the light rail (called the MAX) and the position of the Willamette and Columbia rivers.

So far, one of my favorite places to hang out is at Pioneer Courthouse Square, located at the center of Portland's downtown. All the MAX trains intersect at what Portland calls it's "living room", where they show movies on a giant inflatable screen in the evenings and have something called Noon Tunes during the day where awesome bands play live.

My other favorite place to hang out is at Rocco's Pizza, located right across the street from Powell's Books at the intersection of Burnside and 10th, this local pizza pub has been around for a while. There's a very eclectic crowd of students, homeless, white collar workers, bike enthusiasts, etc. that hang out front, who come for the gigantic slices of pizza and cheap beer.

I left Austin, Texas with a purpose: to "rove". The festival had become stagnant and I knew that in order for me to achieve my purposes with it I needed to rove. So I teamed up with the one and only Freeman from the Freeman Perspective along with two close friends and headed out for this year's National Rainbow Gathering in the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. On our way there we stopped in Colorado to visit the Garden of the Gods, near Colorado Springs and to stay and visit with some fantastic glass blowing brothers.

When I reached the National Forest I was promptly welcomed home, and after spending one night in the parking lot, we made the 4 to 5 mile hike into "Main Meadow". Mostly we "plugged in" to Milliway's kitchen, "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" where "Tea starts wars!" There I met so many numerous, wonderfully lovely brothers and sisters and we worked hard to feed the masses with so many varieties of pizza and zoo-zoos.

On the 4th of July all 20,000 of those naked hippies in the forest remained totally silent in contemplation of world peace. This has got to be one of the most profound experiences of my life. To think of this many peace loving brothers and sisters coming together in the middle of one of the most scenic and aesthetically beautiful forests I've ever seen to remain totally silent through an entire morning, contemplating. Of course everybody still meandered, looking for breakfast or that morning bowl, but without saying a word.

At noon, the children from Kiddie Village paraded down to the peace pole in the middle of Main Meadow while all 20,000 present held hands and ohm'ed at the perimeter of the meadow. Once all the children reached the pole, everyone at the gathering broke their silence in an eruption of cheers. And the party went on all through the night.

I've since met a beautiful rainbow sister who has encouraged my friend and I to come visit the Great Northwest. So I'm in Portland, Oregon. I've already been whisked away to Siuslaw National Forest to see the beautiful Oregon coast line and to somewhere near Hood River to venture into a rock-built hot springs on the Washington side of the border. It's amazing to me already that I've gone from about 8,000 ft in elevation in the Wyoming mountians to be at the Oregon coastline three days later.

And the light and life of the Rainbow Gathering continues as I've run into many brothers and sisters from the gathering here in Portland, and the general attitude of the town seems to be of the same spirit. I think I'm going to check this place out for a while.

Hey, I just finished making an artopium page for my hemp and beaded jewelry which I intend to sell while on the road. I've marked all my prices down in an attempt to try to earn money to get tot he rainbow gathering this month.

You can check out my jewelry here:

artopium.com/mikesjewelry

I know you'll find something you like!

So, I've been on the edge of being on the road for a while now. I'm glad to say that a semblance of an Artopium Art Troupe is beginning to emerge and it is good.

an interesting thing to note, however, is that two members of our troupe are new to this lifestyle and have mentioned to me an seperate occasions the "withdrawls" they have experienced from letting go of their previously preconditioned lives. For instance, television, showers every day, air conditioning, a kitchen with a level counter top, but most of all, clothes, accesories, gidgets, gizmos, and such.

We are all together camping in several friends backyards right now in austin TX getting ready to go to the rainbow gathering at the end of the month. Even though we haven't actually started travelling yet, we have been moving enough through various backyards that it feels like it. This is good because our new art friends are getting a chance to realize how much they are carrying with them that isn't actually important. Something that is much better to realize near home than far abroad.

I've even gone so far as to say that after traveling for long enough, coming back to the "mundane" world you will realize that you never really needed any of that anyway.

So, I've reached a point in the roving festival in which I must make a decision. To use the old line, should I stay or should I go? I have an opportunity to do reconnaissance in Europe before I actually take the festival there. The only problem is, I'm not sure I'm ready. Should I put my faith in the universe, let go, and take this trip? Or should I buckle down a little more, refine the festival by throwing a few more events here in Austin? I'm leaning towards reconnaissance. :)

And last (but first for you), an article i wrote and finished yesterday on guerilla urban camping...



</font>Written
by Michael Betthauser, Owner, May 2008



Camping.



I've always loved camping. I joined the Boy Scouts when I was 12 and our scout troop would go camping at least once a month in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. I learned during this time that if you have the right equipment, a camping experience can be just as comfortable as being at home.
With an air mattress and pump, the right temperature sleeping
bag, comfortable clothing, a good camp stove and tent, life
in the wilderness is both relaxing and
rewarding. The actual amount of work involved in setting
up and breaking down camp is no more than any other list
of house chores, and the thrill of seeing and experiencing
things I would never otherwise see at home or on the TV
more than makes up for any other hardship I might endure.



Guerilla Urban Camping.



I found a good spot to pitch my tent near a creek, but high
up on a hill, away
from housing and other people. I also found several other
people who let me stay in their backyards. Some of them
I found on a website called CouchSurfing.com
(you
can see my personal CS profile here), others were just
cool people I knew. CouchSurfing.com is actually a very
cool site and I plan on using it extensively to find other
grassy areas to pitch my tent while travelling abroad. However,
at least in Austin, if there isn't a backyard for me to
use, there are plenty of spots where a well camouflaged
tent will not be bothered through the night.


It wasn't until just recently, however, that I found out
that there was a name for camping like this. A friend sent
me a link to this article on weburbanist.com about "Urban Camping", and how many people throughout the U.S. (and probabaly even more so in Europe) are finding the nomadic, tent-form
of travel to be an exciting alternative to flying and staying
in hotels or hostels. The article goes on to mention new
forms of tents and other nomadic, urban camping equipment
being created by savvy, modern inventors.


There are a lot of other websites on urban camping, guerilla
urban camping and also refered to as stealth camping. You
can check out some of them here:


http://www.urbanscout.org


http://guerrillacamping.blogspot.com


http://urbancamp.blogspot.com


"Micro Villages and Urban Camping" by the Buckminster Fuller Institute


Cosmo Girl Magazine article "Go Urban Camping Tonight!"


It makes sense. First, it's thrifty. Everyone I've met on
CouchSurfing.com so far
has been very nice and not asked me for a dime to use their
backyard. I think this can be attributed to the fact that
CS'ers can lend a couch or use a couch, so it all goes around
like couch-karma. I pay back my karma by taking my hosts
out for a night or two of pizza and beer. Not to mention
I have most certainly done my share of couch lending. Second,
it's exciting. I'm constantly meeting new people, seeing
new things, and living in new places. The people who graciously
host my tent are always friendly and social, introducing
me to all kinds
of new things. I wake up in the morning hearing the birds
sing, and I like feeling close to nature. I like having
the freedom to go where I want while not having to worry
about what I'm leaving behind; because I have it all with
me.


Home-full.



"Urban camping" isn't exactly new to me. Around the age of 18 I became homeless
in Berkeley California. Due to unfortunate circumstances,
a friend and I had a falling out and I found myself sleeping
in a park, unable to get home to Colorado. There was definitely
a moment when I broke down and cried because of the stress,
and when I lost my job shortly after that I thought I was
going to lose it. I found myself one morning sitting on
the sidewalk with no money, nowhere to go, and hungry. It
was terrible. My dignity was in shambles and I was very
depressed. I had grown up in the suburbs, and had only lived
in a city once before, so I wasn't mentally prepared
for this. But I sucked it up and started asking people walking
by for money. I barely made five dollars in three hours
and I cried for two more after that, just because I couldn't
believe what I was doing. But I ate.



I cannot consider my current lifestyle to be "homeless"
(or as George Carlin says "houseless") as urban camping in this context is very different from being homeless. First
of all, I'm not asking people walking by on the sidewalk
for money. There's nothing wrong with asking
for money, non-profits do it all the time. But I'm not
"spare changing" to get by. I'm also a lot more
confident in what I'm doing. I feel there is a greater sense
of legitimacy and purpose, and I am living a lot healthier.
Whereas in Berkeley I had no choice, today I could easily
get another programming job and a house, but instead I choose
to live a simpler, more humble life. And I'm much better
prepared. I have a lot of camping gear with me (and plan
on getting more) all of which enables me to enjoy the same
comforts any "housed" individual might enjoy;
like taking a shower or cooking a meal. Really, the only
difference between living in a tent and living in a house
is that I cannot lay on a couch and watch TV (darn).


Austin.



Before I start my journey
throwing art festivals, roving on a bicycle
and urban camping through Europe, I have decided to prepare
and "train" in Austin, Texas. I have already lived
in Austin for a while, and contrary to popular belief I
have not always lived in a tent. I moved to Austin because
it is a large art and music town, has a large bike community,
temperate weather, and is otherwise
a simply perfect place for starting Artopium's Roving Festival.



It's a big concept.



The idea of living like this is a hard pill for some to
swallow. A basic reaction I get from some people is pity.
These people are constantly offering me food, shelter, and
their apologies. Another reaction is resentment. Or I've
even been insulted with words such as "loser"
or "bum". There is a lot of positive reaction
too. There are some people that I know that are very fascinated
and intrigued with my lifestyle, and some have even said
they admire me for my daring-ness and social courage.



It is a definite social stigma in this country to be an
individual that lives in a portable structure, or to live
a nomadic lifestyle. By this society's definitions, these
people are somehow desperate, ineffectual, or incapable
of taking care of themselves. Just taking a look at the
laws of most states you will find in there an anti-homless
law or two. I guess I can understand why. There are definitely
some people who are desperate and incapable of
fending for themselves. And quite frankly, I, too, am also
perturbed by an invidual that smells like their own urine;
that's mumbling some drunken excuse at me for money. However,
I think it's important to note that there are actually many
different subclasses and subcultures within the nomadic
"homeless" class. I would even go so far as to
say that one of these subclasses provides a much needed
spiritual role for society at large.



The Shamanic Class.



"And what shamans are, I believe, are people who have
been able to decondition themselves from the community's
instinctual distrust of the mystery, and to go into it..."



"What shamans have to do is act as exemplars, by making
this cosmic journey to the domain of the Gaian ideas, and
then bringing them back in the form of art [for] the struggle
to save the world."



- Terence McKenna





Please don't misinterpret these quotes in that I'm trying
to say I'm a Shama. Nor am I a guru or a spiritual leader.
But I will say I'm definitely spiritual, and it
is for that reason that I agree with Terence.
I think there is a sorely needed and unfulfilled role in
this country (and in a large part of the "civilized"
world) for the shamanic class. It is for this very reason
that there is a sort of anti-structure / anti-civilization
rebellious-ness that is rising, as witnessed by the many
pictures on this page of "ordinary" people taking to the sidewalks with their tents, raves
being thrown in the streets, human rewilding projects, etc. I also agree with Terence in that the goal of this "uprising" isn't to overthrow
the government, but to bring art and enlightment to the
world. The real revolution refered to in Artopium's "Come
be the revolution", is a revolution of the mind, of
the ability to decondition society's standards and walk
into the mystery. To let go of your prior paradigm, see
the new one, and come back to the world and share your new
insights through art and music.





Sponsor Mike.



Your camping equipment company will receive a lot of attention
as Mike and his Artopium Art Troupe rove through Europe and the U.S. throwing festivals. Could
Mike be using your company's tents and sleeping bags, talking
about your company, putting your logo on a large banner
at the festivals, and placing your logo on all of the Artopium
related websites? Could the story on this page be about
your brand equipment or camping equipment store? Let us know what you think! 

A little explanation of what Artopium Roving Festival does for artists and why. I just finished writing this yesterday...



Written
by Michael Betthauser, Owner, May 2008





When I originally came up with the idea to create Artopium
as a website, my vision was to connect artists and musicians
to buyers from around the world. I know how hard it is to
make a decent wage for one's artistic work, having tried
to produce and sell several of my own albums, and I wanted
to create a way for an artist to be able to easily connect
and sell to anyone. Of course, once the website was up and
running, the next step was to find all those artists.



The Roving Festival was born from the need to connect Artopium,
the website, and all the artists who represent the content
of Artopium, with the real world for people to see first
hand. By putting the Artopium member bands and performers
on a real stage, the artists and vendors in real booths,
with real fashion shows and real film screenings, Artopium
can not only help those artists gain exposure, but can provide
an immediate artistic outlet outside of the Internet.



The Roving Festival event locations are most often places
not usually associated with art and music (such as parking
lots, co-ops, theaters, etc.) inso providing artists with
new locations and venues to perform and display their work.
I am very fond of the idea of creating new "temporary
art niches" within the community and thus increasing
the amount of creative activity in that area.



The Roving Festival is it's own promotion vehicle, and spends
the required amount of time, energy and money to promote
it's shows. Fliers are printed for the artists and performers
to hand out, but we also make sure a large number are distributed
ourselves. We also hang posters, place newspaper and magazine
ads, and if possible try to get local TV and radio news
spots. So long as artists contact us for booking within
a reasonable amount of time before the show, we try to make
sure that all their names
appear in as much of the advertising as possible.



The Roving Festival tries to be as egalitarian as possible.
Although,
sometimes Artopium will book a more well known act as a
headliner, most of the performance slots and all of the
art booth spots are on a first come first serve basis. We
will never hold an elitist attitude toward your art or music;
all is welcome!



The Roving Festival is a mixed media show, involving any
mixture of theater, music, dance, visual art, installation
art, video, fashion, poetry or any other art form you can
imagine. By giving the event a theme, these different art
forms can come together for one evening to have a connected
meaning. Although, not all Artopium events may have a theme;
in such a case, the art and music speaks for itself.



Read the next
article in this series "Why the festival roves and
where we roving to".


Sponsor
Mike.



Your art or music related company will receive a lot of
attention as Mike and his Artopium
Art Troupe rove through Europe and the U.S. throwing
festivals. Could Mike be promoting your company's products
to Artopium member artists, putting your logo on a large
banner at the festivals, and placing your logo on all of
the Artopium related websites? Could the story on this page
be about how your company helped Artopium member artists?
Let us know what you think!
Or, check out these ready-made sponsorship
packages that you can order online right now.

For my first entry, let me say that I'm using this Live Journal account to document my journies while traveling with and as "Artopium's Roving Festival". I am the owner of the website and company Artopium.com, and as way to help promote the business, and to take an exciting adventure to find new art and music from around the world, I will be getting on my bicycle and utilizing my skills at urban camping to venture through parts of the U.S. and Europe.

also, let me say that although I have much ad copy (it's hard to get away from) i'd like this journal to be more raw and personal. for those who are interested in my day to day struggles and achievements with the festival, you will find a detailed accounting here. at least as detailed an accounting as i can give. i would also like this to be a place where i can be a little more raw, where don't have to edit my self, or worry so much about grammer and such.

anyway, thanks for reading my journal!