so Red Bull's got this promotional tour going right now that involves competitions in six US cities in which contestants attempt to fly homemade vessels over a body of water. participants are judged on three categories: distance, creativity, and showmanship, and the winning team gets something like $7,500.
sort of the bay-to-breakers meets fleet week with a touch of escape from alcatraz and a pinch of burning man.
anyway, the tour rolled through san fran last weekend, and the event was held at pier 38 with the participants launching over (and into) the bay.
once you accept the fact that the whole gig is one big commercial for Red Bull playing off of its "It Gives You Wings" tagline, the event is actually a farging blast.
turns out one particular craft was being piloted by a friend of Bojon, Huey Lewis. check out comrade Lewis piloting Puff The Magic Dragon off of the pier [VIDEO].
totally outrageous.
here are some other shots from the day:
more puff...
the magik carpet...
the funky chicken...
the red bull...
the oregon wagon...
bugjuice...
snowy...
and the eventual champion, a catapult called el toro guapo...
needless to say, the Kingdom of Bojon loves halloween...
as all hallow's eve approaches, we pay tribute to a killer concept that first crossed our radar screen a few years back: the great Lay-Z-Boy. full-on ambient love seat that even reclines. outright chick magnet.
first generation (flanked by shellzam and a hottie french maid):
second generation...Lay-Z-Boy seattle:
and third generation, straight off the playa, a motorized version of Lay-Z-Boy [VIDEO]
check out Bojon correspondent, johnny dangerous, making his presence felt over in munich at this year's Oktoberfest
ein madchen...
zwei fraulein...
machen wir ein Lowenbrau nacht...
Bojon's mill valley correspondent, the Countess of Monte Crista, galavanted down to texas a few weeks back to check out the Austin City Limits Music Festival. the Countess successfully submersed herself in the scene and, upon return, filed the following report:
Day 1 - I missed out on the welcoming line-up including Steve Earle & the Dukes and The Charlie Hunter Trio. Had to make a tough decision between the Mavericks and Galactic, caught the tail-end of Leftover Salmon, Spoon and all of Robert Earl Keen’s yeehaw. Missed Mavis Staples and Al Green – bummer – to satisfy TexMex cravings at Maudie’s. Friends Jeremy (aka "Strongbad") and Jim hit Lazona Rosa late night for Robert Randolph and the Mississippi All-Stars and couldn’t stop talking about him over the next couple of days…we didn’t know we were in for treats from Robert Randolph down the road.
Day 2 – Less sunshine and scattered rain cooling us down. We jumpstarted the day with a full hour of the Old 97’s – all us girls swooning over Rhett Miller in his bright orange pants. Afterwards, we sauntered, Lonestars in hand, from stage to stage to catch bits of the Dandy Warhols, Drive-By-Truckers and Jay Farrar. Everyone at the festival seemed to show for Roseanne Cash’s hour – her absence in the wake of Daddy’s death was fittingly filled by a tribute to the Man in Black. Speechless. His “Hurt” video played prelude to one solid hour of phat melancholy. Tift Merritt, a North Carolina gal, was a new find playing both Johnny and Roseanne in her two-song tribute.
Afterwards, some of us headed out to see Patty Griffin, who writes and sings with the best of earthly angels. Patty sang off her third album with a few new songs to be released next year. Others in the group hit Robert Randolph & the Family Band. We regrouped – both reeling from what we had heard and experienced. More music, rain, LoneStars and queso filled in Day 2 blanks.
Day 3 – G. Love & Special Sauce rocked, Jack Johnson (more girls swooning), Lucinda Williams (a little haggard), Reckless Kelly (knee stompers), O.A.R (tight background music for festival wandering). We caught Polyphonic Spree (see picture) – everybody was talking about them – 20 people wearing white robes on stage with a backdrop resembling a Dali creation. 60’s sunshine – mixed feelings on these. For those who had seen them before, all smiles. For those of us who hadn’t, intrigue, awe and a little wonder if Jim Jones was soon to appear with a festival-sized serving of Kool-Aid.
REM and Ween were playing later in the day, but our team, having lost some to airport departure, decided to make Ben Harper our last act – which topped the whole weekend. He had it going on, singing off his new album as well as “Burn One Down” and “Hey Mister” off Fight for your Mind. Best of all, Robert Randolph joined him onstage and they both fired up the slide. Amen.
Festival sightings – pink skies clearing committed rain clouds, perpetual view of downtown, Austin’s famous transvestite Leslie pulling off the same outfit over 3 days - pink thong and matching sleeveless top, lots of “Keep Austin Weird” energy and happy people. Do yourself a favor and plan to experience next year.
oh bartman, poor bartman.
say a prayer for this kid's psyche because his interaction with a foul ball in Game 6 of the NLCS helped turn the Cubs' fortunes sour and assured his ignominious place in the annals of baseball history.
and, in typical internet fashion, it didn't take long for the Masters of the Web Universe to display their lack of compassion for boy blunder...
two amazing tiger tales hit the news recently...
first, straight outta harlem came news of a man who was keeping a 400-pound Bengal tiger as a pet in a housing project.
authorities were tipped off to the existence of this overgrown urban feline when the cat's owner was hospitalized with suspicious bites on his arm and leg. the would-be tiger trainer claimed that the bites came from a pit bull, but doctors quickly ruled out the possibility of a canine perpetrator. no, those bites came from something larger than a dog, they postulated.
when the police descended on the man's fifth-floor harlem apartment they indeed found more than snoopy. the cops drilled a hole through the door, inserted a portable camera and saw a tiger "pacing the floor like he was in an Exxon commercial."
nyc's finest finally subdued the urban kitty by shooting it with a tranquilizer, but not before it belched out a series of loud roars that could be heard for two city blocks. word has it, the puddy is now chilling the most at a sanctuary in ohio.
then, equally as bizarre and unsettling came the news from sin city that illusionist roy horn of siegfried & roy fame had been attacked by a tiger while on-stage in the middle of a show at the mirage.
apparently, roy told the tiger, a 7-year-old male named montecore, to lie down. when the feline refused, roy tapped the cat on the nose with a microphone to get its attention. the animal took exception and grabbed at horn's arm, causing the entertainer to stumble.
the tiger, which weighs about 600 pounds, then lunged at roy and dragged him off the stage by the neck. the latest word is that roy is in critical but stable condition. reportedly, the first couple of days after the attack were touch and go, but now it seems that roy will pull through.
clearly nothing funny about this incident...except perhaps for this quintessentially tasteless re-enactment that is circulating the web...
[this entry comes straight from Bojon's huntington beach correspondent, The Grand Jordanian]
Here are a few shots and commentary from this year’s US Open of Surfing:
Each year the world’s top professional surfers make a mid-summer stop in Huntington Beach, CA for the annual U.S. Open of Surfing.
Sandwiched between wealthier Newport Beach to the south and more urban Long Beach to the north, HB has a reputation as a blue collar town with consistent, but crowded, surf conditions. Writer Kem Nunn summed up the undercurrent of the place pretty well in his 1984 book Tapping the Source:
While the city has cleaned up a bit over the last twenty years, HB can still be characterized as a gritty surf town where tatoos and pick-up trucks are standard issue.
The surf contest itself has managed to survive relatively intact. This year’s installment – the event’s 45th year - included over 160 surfers competing in 100s of heats during 10 days in early August.
Competitors in the main event included current world champ Andy Irons, past world champs Kelly Slater, Sunny Garcia, and Tom Curren, and two-time US Open winner Rob “the Mob” Machado.
The surf was a disappointing 1-3’ for the first 5 days of the event but picked up to a clean, consistent 3-5’ plus south swell for the final weekend that included a fierce south to north shallow water current that washed many competitors through the pier. Despite 85 degree air temps, the ocean remained a chilly 58 degrees throughout most of the contest, leaving all but the longboarders to bust out their full suits.
Spectators showed up in force - estimated to have reached 80,000 for the final weekend - but whether due to the heavy police presence, the calming presence of the Reef girls, the reggae / ska / hiphop / punk tunes pumped non-stop from behind the bleachers, or the clear blue skies, the onlookers generally managed to behave themselves without incident (unlike 1986 when a full blown riot ensued when a planned concert was shut down early).
The men’s final included Andy Irons (Kauai), Cory Lopez (Florida), Bobby Martinez (Ventura) and a tour rookie from Kauai who’s name I can’t remember.
The surf picked up to a solid 4-6’ and Cory Lopez took the trophy with a series of big-time, crowd-pleasing floaters that had the fans in the bleachers and on the pier hooting like a bunch of NASCAR fans in Fontana. It was appropriate that Lopez took the title, considering his boardshort sponsor had a 15’ x 30’ picture of him hanging from the pier (triple overhead Teahupoo tube ride).
Until next year….
Yours truly,
Hound Adams
the groove was ON this past saturday in the Kingdom of Bojon. a big thanks to all who made it out for the Bojon Funk-A-Delic Ball. a most excellent time!!!
here is a gallery of photos from the festivities (pictures courtesy of an event photography company called OvaHere).
be on the watch for future Bojon events coming down the line...
