The gathering solstice

[randy_byers]

It seemed to me that a lot more people had already staked out places along the parade route as I made my way to Roxy's Diner this morning at 8am than had done so by the same time last year. The guys who had hauled six couches down to the curbside looked like they had camped on the couches overnight. Yes, it's time for the annual Fremont Solstice Parade (NSFW). An air of happy anticipation is building in the neighborhood. One guy I passed gave me the Hawai'ian shaka sign and said, "Aloha!" Roxy's was already humming with business, and I told the waitresses that I would pray for them. It's going to be a crazy day there at the heart of the storm.

Meanwhile, I'm printing the cover for AmaZed and CorfluZed #4, the Corflu Zed regress report. The plan is to mail paper copies to every member of the convention, including supporting and one-day members. Once the paper is mailed out, the PDF will go up on efanzines.com. I'm really pleased with the zine, which is a good memorial to the convention. I'll post a notice here when the PDF goes up.

It rained hard yesterday evening, but the sun is peeking out now. Maybe it won't rain on the solstice parade. Time to pick some raspberries!

Update: Drums in the distance. The natives are restless.

Comments

[mlamprey.livejournal.com]

We stopped going to these...so much traffic, impossible to park, and the final straw was that the DOT always choose this weekend to close the 520 Bridge...it's like a deliberate deterrent for Eastsiders. One year we headed over in our parade attire, left late, found the bridge detour would have added an hour to our lateness, and ended up at Home Depot instead.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's getting mighty crowded lately. For us, living in Fremont, it means a weekend of not daring drive away from the house.

[mlamprey.livejournal.com]

When we first moved here it was pretty awesome and worth the trip with little kids. One highlight was a Mothra musical float. Then all the little kids along the curb got mooned/flashed by the Utilikilt gang. My daughter came right home and drew some anatomically correct pictures of the event.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

There were more nude bicyclists than ever this year -- maybe a hundred. Many small children were exposed to the full range of anatomical parts. As we watched one plump guy wearing a chicken head, a few feathers, and not much else hugging some friends along the way, with the friends' five-year-old daughter watching from behind her mom, we concluded that as an adult the girl will feel an inexplicable urge to ask her boyfriends to dress as chickens before they have sex.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, but there's still local variation. We had a month of rainless days that just ended the day before yesterday. Tied a record, I believe. And typically July, August, and September are dry as well.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we're more of a wet season/dry season climate, although we did get a lot of snow (for us) last winter. And the wet season is definitely much longer than the dry season. This past month was very unusual.

[kim-huett.livejournal.com]

Which reminds me, were all the copies of the Corflu Zed anthologies posted out? Have been meaning to ask because to date I've not received mine.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Let me check on that. We definitely had a packet o' stuph for you.

[trinfaneb.livejournal.com]

I found some interesting pics on google image search. Didn't realize that nude body art parades had spread to Rain City. I'm guessing that you heard Queen's "Fat bottomed Girls/Bicycle Race" at some point? :)

Does anyone make a big deal about the nudity in the parade? I remember the uproar caused after a radio station dj on River Street encouraged girls to take off their tops in exchange for tee-shirts on a St. Patrick's Day in Savannah in the early 80s. I haven't been to that parade in almost two decades, but from what I hear the city still keeps a reasonably tight light on things like that, that could potentially upset conservative tourist types.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

A few years ago, when the parade had gotten big enough to attract wider attention, the city threatened to crack down on the nude bicyclers, but nothing much came of it. Nowadays they don't seem to care, although I believe it is still against the law. This year there was more nude bicyclists in the parade than ever -- both male and female, all kinds of body shapes.

Just yesterday as I was walking home from work I saw some scantily clad folks (again, both male and female) along the bike trail advertising a nude bicycling event next month. Not sure if they'll get busted for that or not.