wesjournal – Page 3 – world meets boy

2017: A Call to Hearts

January 3, 2017 · 8:04 pm

This originally appeared on the Lucidity Festivals blog.

Captured by Kaylie ‘Violet’ Starkey of Violet Visions

Alright you Lucid rainbow warriors. We got clobbered. Swept up. The world turned upside down and we lost our footing.

Now what? It’s a new year. It’s a new world. We’re back in the counter-culture. So let’s dig in. Let’s act like we have a message and we believe in it. Let’s organize and support one another in deeper, more meaningful ways.

I’ll tell you this, in 2016 at Lucidity, I didn’t talk about Trump once. He never came up. I even mentioned it on a panel and almost everyone in the audience had had the same experience. He didn’t exist.

It wasn’t even about whether it was a possible reality. It just didn’t change the reality we were creating together. He doesn’t. We weren’t afraid. And that’s all that needs to be said about it right now.

It just doesn’t change the reality we are creating together.

Did you know that in 2016, we bought land for the Lucid University initiative? And that there are founders of Lucidity Festival currently living together on land that we all bought right now?

(more…)

We Love You, Freaky Weirdos

January 2, 2016 · 1:10 pm

This article was originally published on the Lucidity Festivals blog

Beyond the party, after the substances lose their mystery, once our friends have disappeared into the aether of “see-you-at-the-next-one,” we finally arrive home. We put on some downtempo beats, step into that long, delicious post-festival shower, and eventually find our reflection, staring strangely back at us in the mirror.

The wristband, the speck of glitter, the costume piece we just don’t want to take off, they’re the subtle reminders of the freak flag flying inside of us. Our return to normal, the “decompression,” after a festival, is a stark and sometimes painful reminder that there are facets to our personalities longing to be openly expressed and accepted.

In 2011, I had to drive off site to pick up some thousand feet of extension cables for The Do Lab. I decided to keep my little pink pig ears on as I walked into the Home Depot. They fit so perfectly, the headband disappearing into my shaggy, wild hair. Upon asking the way to the bathroom, an employee pointed in the direction… And then turned to me with a smile and said, “Do you want to race there?”

(more…)

Lightning in a Bottle is On the Verge of Something Stunning

May 7, 2015 · 7:24 pm

The Do LaB’s Crown Jewel Sets its Sights on a Long-term Future

Note: this article originally appeared—edited with edges sanded down—in Fest300/EverFest, now defunct.

Kirtan and Prayer Hands. Lightning in a Bottle, 2014. Photo by Wesley Wolfbear Pinkham.

It was Monday evening as the sun began to set on the first day of strike after Lightning in a Bottle 2013. The Do LaB, the event production company behind the enigmatic Southern California festival, already in its 13th year, was wrapping up their first year at an untried venue in the sun-beaten Temecula valley.

The rumbling rumors about a flurry of undercover drug arrests were finally bubbling to the surface. There was an undercurrent of shock and sadness as the scope of a brutal, coordinated sting by the Riverside County Special Investigations Bureau came to light.

(more…)

Way Beyond the Lens: 7 Trends to Help Festival Media Last for 7 Generations

March 19, 2015 · 7:54 pm

Originally posted on the Lucidity Festivals blog, and reposted by FestivalFire.

Allura by Wesley Wolfbear Pinkham, released under Creative Commons 4.0 BY-SA — *Allura* by Wesley Wolfbear Pinkham, released under Creative Commons 4.0 BY-SA

You’ve seen the images. You know which ones I’m talking about. The Festie Look. The wide-eyed, glitter-adorned, silly-grinned portraiture that makes your heart burst out of your chest. The surreal, other dimensional art installations with strange humans illuminated by glowing LEDs. An incredible acroyoga pose, a Goddess Moment®, a cuddle puddle, or a deep emotional release in a workshop or on a dance floor.

For many of us, it was these pictures or videos that first drew us in. We felt a resonance in those expressions, drawing us deeper within ourselves and exposing a place of hurt and separation. There is an immediate desire to belong in that photograph, to be in that moment with a community that loves and understands us…

But why? Is it because the subject is so beautiful or the venue is so vibrant or the costuming is so exquisite? Partly, no doubt. But chances are, you’re viewing it through the lens of a tireless media professional, and the pixels in front of you are actually a copyrighted work and a representation of someone’s livelihood or goals. And it is their skill and talent, both technical and emotional, that have transported you to this place.

(more…)

Lucidicast Episode 1: Dream State

February 23, 2015 · 8:08 pm

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Welcome to Lucidicast, the Lucidity Festival Podcast. In our first episode, we take you back to Lucidity 2014’s Lucid Dreaming Panel at Lucidity University.

Featured guests on the panel are Richard Hilton, Laurel Lyons, Noah Crowe, and Nathaniel Solace. The panel is moderated by Jonah Haas, Dream Counselor and Marketing Director of Lucidity Festival, LLC.

(more…)