At Central High school today.

Spizerinctum!!

One incredible and unexplainable phenomenon about tour: One day feels like years. Although this epistemic particular does not correspond with the parameters of the contingent universe in which we currently live. The road changes things, even physics.

I am finding that life on the road is honest, humble, egalitarian, and incredibly valuable. Despite long hours, loved teammates leaving, loading and unloading boxes; the road fosters community and births independence.

I am amazed that people, by the thousands, care. I am convinced, that humanity has a longing for justice and is searching for her.

Man is knocking, we are answering.


On a slightly lesser level than a Cameron rant, Bethany with Jeff Foxworthy.

they've got you covered.

Oh..hey there fellow roadies. Nada from Cal/Veg, just stumbled across these briefs and thought I'd share with you all. Paul Frank has fashioned a pair of underpants specifically for all of you, should you read the fine print, it requires no wash, smells fresh and is reusable for the exact period of your time on the road- they expire November. 14th, then they magically transform into a bouquet of flowers. I'm not even kidding. They're glorious. Now if we all only had $22 to spare... 

Love from team SoCal

-CA- Nada.

Not a goodbye...

So, I’ve basically spent the past couple hours searching through quotes and lyrics, trying to come up with something inspiring and thoughtful to say. Something that I thought would make my decisions seem more profound. But, honestly, there is not much that I can find to say.
I am going home not because I am scared, or I don’t get along with my team, or even because I don’t like the job. All of those things couldn’t be further from the truth. In the past month and a half, Invisible Children has come to be such a big part of my life, and has come to occupy a very special place in my heart. The job is more than rewarding, and the people that I met while on tour were some of the most incredible people that I could ever hope to meet. And what’s even better is that all of these people that I have come into contact in the past 6 weeks all have a heart and a mind for the exact same thing. All of you, and all of the people that I met on the road, hope that the best in people can and will be revealed, especially when working for peace and justice.
I could ramble for hours. I am leaving because it has become more than clear that I need to be at home right now, and there is nothing else that I can do than adhere to that need. Please, feel free to talk to me more about this. I hope that I don’t sound shady or secretive. I simply don’t want to ramble on.
What I want to say most, is that I will miss you all. I will miss the adventure, and the people on the road. I will miss our spastic van, “The Lady”, our Australian GPS Karen, all of the ants back at the Roadie house, and my fake “coffee-house-like” office in the middle of a warehouse. I will miss Wallis Watkins, Cameron Woodward, and Bethany Bylsma. But, I feel as though they know that. I feel like we became friends in the first few minutes of knowing each other, and I can only hope that our friendship wont end here. And, I hope the same for all of you too. I understand that it may seem strange or awkward to try and keep in touch right now, but I truly hope that we will all find a way to do so. I’ve added my contact info, so you better use it.
Stay safe on the road, and never forget to enjoy your time there. Take risks, keep eating Taco Bell, and keep changing the world. I love you all more than you could ever imagine.

Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends. ~Richard Bach

Sorry, I can’t resist quotations. I really like this one.
Deep Peace,
Webb

Jonathan Webb
721 Fairview Street
Jackson, MS 39212
731-616-8137
Webbjr1@gmail.com

Hurricane on the Bayou!

This is how dirty our tour is.

Gulf Coast

P.S. We have more coming.

Gap Kids? I think not.

You know, some people might say we were "treadin' on thin ice" with this one, but I disagree.

Enjoy this guerilla tactic.

Peace,

Team Texas.

On the Road

Broken vans, sleepless nights, and miles upon miles driven are just a few of the adventures or misfortunes that we have lived through as roadies. All in all it is worth it and the memories that these days leave behind are priceless. So here's a small glimpse of road live TEXAS STYLE!!





peace- Texaaass!!

hammer time

So the Gulf Coast team is finally back on the road doing screenings and keeping ourselves busy...and boy does it feel good. For those of you who don't know we were out of commission for about a week due to hurricanes Gustav and Ike, but we are now back and running full force. During our week of taking refuge from the winds, water, and back to back to back to back to back cancellations, we had the privilege of being housed by two very special people, Ms. Ann and Mr. Perrin Watkins (some of you may know them as Desiree and Wallis' mom and dad). Not only did they take us into their home for a week, we were never short on food or love. We would not have made it through this rough patch without their encouragement and help. We now know that whenever we're in the Baton Rouge area who we can turn to. They truly did make us feel like we were at home. Our deepest thanks go out to them and we can never repay them for how they helped our team start this tour. This blog post goes out to them and their generosity. We love you, Ms. Ann and Mr. Perrin and we'll miss you on the rest of our journey, keep in touch!

Love,
Gulf Coast (Nick "Mad Dog" Stenson, Cory "the leprechaun" Briscoe , Jenni "Princess Dianne" Goguen, and Nat-attack)

p.s.
Thanks to all of our new friends in the Baton Rouge/LSU area, you know who you are.

Gotta Love Fridays

Hey everyone! This is my first time ever blogging. And by ever I mean ever. So here’s a little insight as to what East Coast has been up to lately. Check it…

It was an IC textbook picture perfect day. Screening in the morning. Merch table at lunch. Classroom visits. Volleyball and football games at night. We even played rock band in the counselor’s office after school followed by Sarah and I taking naps on the school lawn. At one point I opened my eyes and I swear this older couple walking by thought we were homeless. We woke up from our nap so refreshed and when we thought the day couldn’t get any better, we ended up in a penthouse apartment in Rochester, NY with a bunch of teachers from the school. If you want to know what teachers are like on the weekend, Beast Coast experienced it first hand. Lots of alcohol (don’t worry, we had water), crude language and late night pizza. We all went to bed that night wondering what just happened.

P.S. I have to note that as I am writing this there are three extremely drunk sorority girls who are locked out of their room in the dorm we are staying in tonight. What is my life? I should probably go help them.... Peace out for now.

If you have like 40 minutes and a good internet connection...

...this will blow your face off:
http://www.drhorrible.com/mushortio.html

Saint Christopher

Our Lady is still sick...

She is not getting better.

Say a prayer for the Deep South Van, we can't be late to a screening.

Yep. Happy Birthday to this guy.
And welcome back from Uganda to this guy....

(ok...so they just happened to be in the same picture...but we're killing 2 birds with one stone here)

Adventures in Atlanta...

Deep South
Atlanta, GA
Captains Log 2x937=w

The Lady of Shallott continues her highway stalling...but has valiantly brought us on time to every screening we've had. I cleaned her out yesterday and I think she's feeling much better about life in general.

Had the greatest and weirdest food the world has ever seen this weekend. I introduced the team to the grandest food of all on Friday night - Ethiopian. For real times people....when we get back to Sandy-eggo...we gotta go. It's the rankest looking stuff...but will change your life...and the rest of the deep southers were troopers.

Last night we rocked ($2000+) a screening at a Korean church and were treated like Rock Stars. It was straight up weird. But the Korean food that came with the evening...also weird and wonderful...heavy on the weird....but free right? At this point...we aren't turning down ANY free food.

We've stayed the last 3 nights at a brothel. Ok...
Brothel turned B&B turned International Hostel....and its been great...a few minutes of down time without contacts...a space to revolutionize our merch...thanks to our good friend Nicole from Louisiana who came to visit....

And yes...
next week....we'll all find out if we're smarter than a 5th grader.

We're staying with Jeff Foxworthy.

Peace and love from Hot-lanta.

knock knock...

anybody out there?

make your own animated gifs!

hurray!!!!
now you can make your own WEB-CAM-STOP-MOTION-THING!





your turn!
http://www.piterwilson-toys.com/wcsmt/maker.html

Announcement

Good evening everyone.

Cory Briscoe's favorite food... is Spam.

The Streamer Eater

After livin it up in LA for the weekend (bringing CalPac merch), we've made it down to our first stop in Tucson, AZ. Loved hearing from everyone - you guys are rockin it - and we're feeling confident and prepared for our first set of screenings tomorrow. Tucson, get ready to make a difference.

But before any of this, before we could even make it 50 feet out of the parking lot for crying out loud, another story...

Suck it, Trebek.

Mountain West

MIDDLE AMERICA

Hey guys! I just thought you might enjoy watching this video. Just a fun way for us to pass the time driving on our way to Oklahoma. Enjoy!!!

like taking candy from a baby

We (gulf coast and tejas) had our Austin premier tonight and it was killer!!! Just a little background on this screening, the original venue canceled on us two days before so we went to Dominican Joes (coffee shop) and asked if we could host a screening and they agreed.

We set up the screening and after the first one demand was so high we played GO again!! There were a total of 145 people and we sold $2000 dollars of goods. I hate to toot our own horn, but it was baller.

We had awesome stories too, there were two people who were just there to drink coffee, stayed and said "I want every DVD you have!" There were countless stories like this.

Anyfart, we all are ridiculously stoked about tour and meeting more amazing people.

Best Story So Far - "GO! made me feel just like I did after the Rough Cut"

Gulf Coast/Tejas

night of the sentinels

i spent my final hour of the evening watching cartoons.

while watching them, i couldn't help but be reminded of draft board raids during the latter part of the vietnam war in the 70's (when most americans had grown very weary of a war that had no tangible purpose or foreseeable end...sound familiar?).

a draft board raid was the sabotage of united states draft office. the purpose was to interrupt the process through which tens of thousands of young american men were being drafted and sent to fight in vietnam. it was also held quite a bit of symbolism, as many of them were public.

they were carried out by activists who not only believed that the united states draft was unjust, but also that it perpetuated injustice. they held the belief (as i do) that when a law perpetuates injustice, it is necessary to break that law. these thoughts never crossed my mind when i was 9 years old.

i wont go into full detail, but watch these cartoons and then rent the camden 28.
food for thought


episode 1, part 1


episode 1, part 2


episode 1, part 3


episode 2, part 1


episode 2, part 2


episode 2, part 3


did you know very few episodes have been released on DVD, and according to TVShowsOnDVD.com, X-Men is the ninth most requested unreleased television show and the second most requested animated television show behind MTV's Daria. regardless, there are no plans for an official release of season box sets. also, disney has no interest in releasing any of the marvel animation projects.

youtube will have to do for now.

Awesome Screening, awesome contact, Mel is ours

So we are off to a great start cashing in at about $750 dollars at our first screening. The kids loved it, were very interested, and asked some pretty loaded questions about the war and the situation over there. I want to give a shout out to PNW for providing moral support and helping us work the merch table.

On top of this we are staying with hands down the raddest contact ever. Jakob is for real, legit. Putting us up in a guest house, entertaining us with full seasons of Hannah Montana, and making us some great pasta he definately is kickstarting our tour.

Oh and Cal Pacific. . . . we know all know which half of So Cal is really bringin home the bread this tour. That being said, Mel is rightfully ours.

Cal Vegas

Hap hap happy

Janet! Our Sista from anotha Mista!

Happy Happy Happy Birthday!
It was just yesterday, we held you in our arms as a tiny baby. And what a beautiful young woman you have grown to be.
We remember the 9 months waiting for you to arrive...and the first time we saw your precious face, we knew life would never be the same.

Although you are far away from us today, you are near to our hearts. Sell that merch. Change the world. We know....you already have.

Happy Birthday.
and godspeed.

Love, Deep South

Updation

Short and sweet:

- Stayed over at Tyler's parents' last night. Didn't get to meet his dad bc we rolled in at 2 am and he left before we awoke at 8:30, but his mom is superb. Very superb.

- Totally used the "We're doing a 5 month unpaid internship for a non-profit that helps rebuild northern Ugandan communities" to get out of a ticket last night at 1:40 am. HA.

- Check the other roadie blog for the last story about dogs and drugs.

Middle America.

"Here were the children of the American bop night."

Persons versed in thirteenth or nineteenth century literature shall be pleased to heed the following: Our team, The Deepest South, by way of providence and good fortune have christened our van The ‘Lady’ of Shalott.

Excerpt from, Lord Alfred Tennyson – The Lady of Shalott – Inspired by thirteenth-century Italian novella entitled Donna di Scalotta.

There she weaves by night and day,

And moving through a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot;
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls
Pass onward from Shalott.

On the Road

For many, forcing sales makes way to a lack of travel preparations. This was the case for the Deep South team and our first night of tour. After hours of pleasant and peaceful travels, we found rest at Arizona mile marker 316 and made shelter in The Lady. I found rest in the space between the bench and two front seats, Webb took the bench, and Wallis and Bethany spooned. To my surprise, I found great comfort in the small, confined, womb like characteristics of my sleeping arrangement. Webb comments, “It was too small” (That’s what she said) and when asked to describe the girls sleeping arrangements, Bethany commented with a frightening onomatopoeia “blughgreeghb” which sounded much like a gag reflex and stated, “I am claustrophobic to epic proportions, its gonna get ugly.” Wallis suggested that “shortness of breath” captured the experience entirely, to which Bethany concluded sounded much too sexual and should be excluded from this document.

On the Road, Again

After sleeping inside The Lady, we emerged and prepared for our departure. Mile marker 316 in the cool morning was a luxury, Arizona landscape is beautiful. We hit the road and made our way to a store, ate some bagels, and began our day with what we thought to be a steady ride, and then… Wilcox Arizona population 3769*

It turns out, The Lady is a tramp. We found ourselves talking with Jared and Brian ‘Buddyz Auto Repairs’ mechanics. Brian was born in Chicago,

his uncle taught him how to fix cars and it was either, “The drugs or fixin' shit.” As for Jared, he once worked for Exxon and now manages Buddyz. Jared drove The Lady around, heard the problem and told us he could do nothing. The Lady is deceptive, she showed absolutely no problems on the GMC computer and the transmission specialist said that he could not find any problems. According to Jared, “You’re here until Tuesday, or your just gonna have to ride it out.”

On the Road…Again

Peddle to the medal. Out of Arizona. Into New Mexico. New Mexico is weird. Look what we found. Get us the hell out of here.

To be more specific, every time our car hits 60 – 70 mph, anguish. Bumpy, stalling, grinding, calamity.

Stuck in Texas.

Every time our car hits 60 – 70 mph, anguish. Bumpy, stalling, grinding, calamity.

• Update 4:00pm - We are on the road, and The Lady of Shalott is running. Well... speed walking.
• Update 12:00am- Texas Highway Patrol issued The Lady a warning for "speeding." Guess the speed... 67 in a 65, yep seriously.
  

Love,

Cameron, Deep South, & The Lady

* According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates

training in van

this is how i roll

Thanks Marcus

We just want to say thanks for sacrificing sleep so we could have computers!

kick the tires and light the fires

hey, friends. i wrote alot of love notes in high school and got very few in return, as a result i'm exhausted and heart broken. so i'll just say thanks for all that you do. there's no one group of people that i would trust more to do what you're doing.

i've set this blog up so all of you can post to it while you're on the road.
this was available for the last group of roadies (you can still read their posts) and only 35 posts were made. thats not even one post per roadie! can you believe it?

why blog? herman melville said, "We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results."

so share yourselves. share your lives!

here's what you should post:

• stories
• photos
• quotes
• comments
• poems
• drawings
  
• videos
• jokes
• news
• everything!
  

i sent you all an invitation to begin posting on here, but if you're having trouble, shoot me an e.mail and i'll walk you through how to set yourself up to make posts.

i also included some news feeds (to the right). let me know if there are any others you'd like me to include.

The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you.

thank you. i love you all.

(don't forget to leave comments for each other!)