decompression
decompression is my other top favorite event in san francisco. it’s a great opportunity to dust off the playawear and reconvene with some of the peeps from burning man in full regalia, to tap back into some of that playa flavor. nothing like shaking your ass with that crowd. having it a short drive away from a shower makes it particularly nice.
this year was special on two counts. the first was that it was my lady’s birthday. we’d had a birthday eve bash in the city with a gaggle of cool friends the night before. i crawled into bed late with every intention of getting as much sleep as possible. but, alas, insomnia decided to plague me for a bit- partially performance jitters, no doubt. when we finally showed up to decompression, i was working on about four hours of nervous sleep, excited, trying to make the day special for my lady, slightly hung-over, and nervous. all that pervaded by happiness that decom was finally here.
the second thing that made the day special was the city debut of firish with my fire troupe, solar flare. we’d reconvened practices post-playa to be ready to do an improved version of an irish jig for our flame-thirsty burner family.
as is my habit, i did a bit of hooping around; hooped with a bunch of paiNers and bah peeps. considered it a warm up for the evening. in the past i’ve blown out all of my energy during the day. since i was working on depleted resources already, i tried to strike a relaxed balance between hooping and socializing.
photo by colleen sullivan, 2008.
we knew going in that the stage would be a considerably smaller space than we were used to. we’d practiced in a mock-up of the space at the studio and seen that we were going to have to be collectively on our game not to collide and/or burn eachother. tough to fit six moving people with a variety of fire toys on such a small platform.
my other adventures for this gig included making a last minute kilt and dealing with a minor injury. i was assisted in the last-minute kilt challenge by participating in my friend’s creative coven gathering, where we all worked on costumes for decom. i then worked my ass off on the thing. i was so pressed for time with all of the birthday preparations on top of my other decom prep that i was still sewing in the car en route.
but, i did it. i’m proud. the thing that i am most enamored with is that i made the kilt out of duvetyn (what we use to put out flaming firetools). yep, a fireproof kilt. to a pyro like me that’s the shiznit.
the injury bit had to do with my knees. i do so much groundwork when i hoop that knee pads have become my habit. for the dress rehearsal in studio on friday, wearing the kilt-in-progress, i took the knee pads off. i thought the dance floor would be more forgiving. the practice went fine until, of course, i realized i had badly skinned both knees over the course of the evening. then they started to hurt a lot. i looked like a little boy who’d gotten all scraped up playing outside. in my fireproof kilt.
when solar flare convened pre-show, everyone was amped. always makes me happy to see these people. but, decom never seems to come without some drama. point in fact, my partner in firecrime lost her firetool for a few stressful hours. also, new fire marshal pressures were also putting everybody a little more on edge. but once the fire shows began, all that stuff started to drop away. we were preceded by several talented fire troupes, all rocking their stuff. a surprise birthday cake off to the side of the stage seemed to further cheer everyone up. in no time at all, firish was costumed, warmed up, dipped, and watching the rest of solar flare put on a great show.
then our music with it’s dramatic build up pumping through the speakers. our trio of graceful fans, karen, eimile and krista, posing then moving on stage. dave, pixie and i waiting in the wings. then dave is up with his fire fiddle and the crowd explodes. pixie and i follow. we all turn it on full blast. all that practice coming together in those few minutes of cool night.
the stage was indeed tight. fortunately there were no major accidents; just a couple of bumped tools, here and there. i know i had a few more bobbles in some transitions than usual because of the lack of space. but, we brought it. for sure. a pretty strong performance overall. with a great reception.
here is video of the performance:-)
here are links to some pix:
after the show, i finally started to relax at a friend’s houseparty. i realized en route that both of my knees had been opened up during the performance; i was noticeably bleeding from my right knee. will have to figure out a good solution to that dilemma for the future. we enjoyed some great company for a spell, as my post-performance exhaustion began to hit. then, getting everyone to cars/home safely and to bed to pass out.
i think the upcoming sanctuary weekend is actually going to be more of a real “decompression” for me. a few days camping with friends, firespinning and great music. just what this boy needs.
