Back on my Grind

I didn’t want to write a lot because we all have full days, and I hadn’t ridden my bike in about 3 weeks.  I realized the only way to do that is to write as I go along instead of procrastinating until the end of the trip.  Well, there’s always next time.  If you make it through the text congratulations, you have a lot of spare time too.  

Passengers and the roles they played:

Moses Uvere:  Rapper and all around Dr. Phil for his friends at home.  He has an album called, From Worse to Better.  If you like rap and a dirty south sound you will like this.  The line, “Tight like a Cosby sweater.” alone is worth the purchase.  Challenge!

Braulio Eddie:  A B-Boy (AKA dancing fool for the hood challenged) from Dallas.  Eddie grew up in the country surrounded by livestock.  Which goes to show that we are not always products of our environment.  So long as we’re bold enough to go where we feel led.  One day Eddie will be a surfer.

Me (Joe Funk):  Question: “What do you call someone who hangs out with professionals?”  Answer:  “Cameraman.”

DJ Promote:  The Talent

On the road

We drove to Nashville, TN the first day.  About 13 hours total of which I drove 0.  Yeeah.  I didn’t drive much the whole trip and met my goal of driving as little as possible.  Of course I couldn’t sleep either.  Apparently,  I have a lot of unresolved control issues when other people are driving.  So instead I edited, watched movies, created playlists, and stayed awake to make sure we didn’t die.  Which seemed like a great plan until someone (coughEddiecough) fell asleep and bounced off the median wall at 70+ mph.  I was totally focused on my winter playlist, Enough Hip-Hop to Make you Ill, when a jolt, loud crunch, and the unbuckled body of Moses Uvere filled the air.  Carlos jumped into action and I may have said a bad word, but it wasn’t anything you won’t hear on TV after 9.  However, all that was on the way to Tampa from Nashville which means I’m getting ahead of myself.

Nashville, CZ, Monique, and a dirty little gnome.

My first impression of Nashville is that everyone looks like they are about to go on stage or have their headshots taken.  The people we were around have a lot of talent, but more importantly they have a lot of experience which did two things for me.  Opened my eyes to the industry.  Assured me that the industry is not snowboarding or riding my bike and is in fact, a lot of work.  Thus making media a definite hobby for me.  I do not have the “chones” to do what these guys do on a daily basis.  Props to the creative minds that give us all pretty things to look at.  We have no idea how hard they work at it.

Our hosts in Nashvegas were CZ and Monique.  Two very accommodating people that let us move their couch to the opposite wall so we could play x-box on the projector.  We also ate all their cheesecake, and drank all their water.  We got to meet and hang out with Verbs for a few days which was a real treat.  Meeting this guy was inspiring to say the least.  He works really hard and has an ability to follow through on the goals he sets.  I hope he can pass on to his students what he passed on to me.

Two more people I want to mention are Reggie who made sure we didn’t go soundless, and Joe who let us invade his classroom.

Thank you Nashville.  If you could say to this mountain, “Get up and move over there.”  I’d move with it.  Assuming you could also say to the snow, “Fall.”

On the road again

Then Eddie nearly killed us all.  We prayed about crash, thanked God for medians, and within a few miles we found a place that realigned the steering immediately for $60.  I would give them a plug, but I can’t remember the name too well.  Reine’s Alignment I think.  Not that my booming audience will meet the same fate, but it seems like the nice thing to do.  The Xterra became the Xterror and we were back in action.  Props to Nissan by the way.  I used to think plastic on the sides of the Xterra was really ugly until I found out how cheap it is to replace.  Amazingly that was all that took damage on the vehicle.  Well, that and cheese gratered rims.

Breakfast of champions

Tampa

Flavor Fest ’08 was the main excuse for our trip.  In the mornings there were a variety of round table discussions and panels, and in the evenings there were two stages of music.  A few people painted some murals and there was a B-Boy contest.

I listened to Fred Lynch talk about “Holy Tension” and our response to it.  Some of my notes read, “Do we dream of a day when it won’t be so hard?”  “He constantly keeps me in tension, and leaves me a little hungry for greater things.”  “John 17″  “We don’t need greater programs we need greater men and women.”  “You can live good, but can you die good?”  Take what you will.  I liked him a lot.

I also got to meet Manchild and Dust of whom I’ve been a fan for awhile.  Dust showed us some videos he’s working on and we talked about cameras for a bit.  I was going to ask him if he needed an intern, or a follower, but thankfully didn’t.  Maybe when the season is done.

Other hi-lights included:  shooting Kaboose, listening to Syntax owners Tim and Steve be witty, Jahaziel, Mars Ill, Odd Thomas, Propaganda, and meeting Rapzilla’s Philip Rood.

On Sunday the rest of the guys went to the beach while I slept.  I wish I had gone for this one picture.  Promote throwing french fries at Moses.  Which in and of itself isn’t that funny.  Unless you know how nuts seagulls are about french fries.  My mental image of Moses screaming amidst a white flurry of birds is probably better than the real thing, but that would have been a good one to see live.

And more road

Then we left for Tulsa, Ok.  Actually we left for Nashville.  We left at 4am so we could get Johnny Carinos for CZ and Monique.  Apparently there isn’t a Carinos in the whole of Tennessee and Promote thought it would be nice to pick them up some.  It was nice.  It was also really really early, and my inability to sleep on the road worsened after, “The Incident”.  So needless to say I wasn’t sleeping in the car when it was my turn to sleep.  At one point we discovered we were ahead of schedule by three hours, and I’d like to thank Promote for being a good sport about being strangled.  We all enjoyed eating CZ’s Chicken Tetrawhatever, I had my grumpy selfish moment, and knocked out for the night.

Tulsa, Ok and Oral Roberts

I don’t know what to say about Tulsa yet because it made me think about a lot of things that could be easily misunderstood.  So that’s the cliffhanger called Tulsa.

Provision

The trip is finished and the overwhelming theme for me was provision and guidance.  People used to tell me God closes the door and opens a window.  I used to think it was so you can jump out, but that  wasn’t the case here.  We were cancelled on a few times, and on a side note, if you are a church, a youth group, whatever, and you organize an event, but find you can’t pay for it.  Call the people you asked to perform and let them know.  We only found out we were cancelled because we called them.  I guess we are supposed to show up, be informed of the situation, and then be expected to do the show out the goodness of our own hearts.  Which in most cases these guys performed for free anyway, so it’s not a matter of getting paid.  Come on, bait and switch ministry?  People don’t like feeling tricked.  They don’t like going for one thing and receiving another.  If you’re really anointed then people will want what you have anyway.  As far as our situation goes, don’t trap people to perform out of guilt.  

Okay, deep breath.  God opened windows and provided for us wherever we went.  We hardly paid for meals and when we ate, we ate well.  God provided nice places for us to stay so we didn’t have to worry about our stuff getting jacked from the unlocked cargo bin on top of the Xterror.  Everyone had gifts and they invested those gifts into a lot of people along the way.  Before we began the trip we prayed we wouldn’t come back in the hole.  The hole was not only filled, but there was dirt to spare.  That’s always good.  

As far as guidance goes.  “Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  -Philippians  4: 5-7  There wasn’t a situation we prayed about that wasn’t met with an answer.  So I hope this can be an encouragement to all you guys to call on God and go where you’re called.  Know that you’ll be provided for and your needs will be met.  However crazy or mundane the job seems, God will fill your heart and that will touch others.  Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Various photos from the trip

And here is a bit of video from the trip.

Okay, so Texas is still hot and my Mom’s house is still a meat locker.  Meat makes me think of BBQ and I went to one where a man collected colored lawn chairs among other things.  It was fascinating.

Rode the park a bit, but not near enough.  Can we ever do what we enjoy so much enough?  So pensive it hurts kid.

Went to the armpit of Texas AKA Houston* to shoot the All Eyes On Me hip-hop awards which was a new experience for me.  Industry, bling, and red carpets.. oh my.  Highlights were meeting Tim and Steve at Syntax, Bushwick Bill, Tre 9, Sean Slaughter, DJ Ovadose, and DJ Primo.  I went with DJ Promote which was hilarious as usual.  Fun was had.

*I’m talking about the humidity, heat, and the occasional odor.  Not the awesome people I know there.

Upon returning, House of Faith asked me to shoot their camps, and I was glad to.  Camp was awesome. They had coffee on tap.  A kid was blobbed about 15ft to belly flop.  The speaker CZ was on point.  The hulk showed up.  Coffee on tap.  Reckless golf cart drive-bys and angry looks from the staff.  Tortilla misuse, and coffee abuse.

Wanna buy a ranch?  My cousins and I hung out at the ranch a bit getting it ready for sale.  It was a growing experience to say the least and that is saying the least.  They’ll know what I’m talking about.  We’ve got matching ulcers to prove it.  I’m glad they are on the case, and wouldn’t change it for the world.  My family rules by the way.

A lot of coffee, a 36 hour run, and over 300 DVDs and CDs later the coolest thing of the summer happened.

One of the things that I love about South America is the disorganization.  You can sign a contract to rent a car, show up to the parking space, and find a boat.  Everything is 30 minutes late, or days.  There is a saying called “The South American tomorrow”; for example, “Your hot water will be back on tomorrow.”  But I love it because everything is unexpected and expectations are responsible for some of my biggest letdowns.  It’s kind of fun not to have any sometimes.

So coming back I made a decision to not know what I would be doing and to rely on God to set things up.  I had delivered the last of the HOF DVDs when I received a call from a guy named Kelly.

Before the HOF camps I had met Kelly at church and he told me how he and his wife had started an organization called Esperanza por los Amazones.  They were wanting to not only provide relief, but discipleship and tools to help people in Iquitos, Peru.  It all sounded pretty effective and I wanted to go and shoot a promo so they could have something to help share their vision with others.  I was doing the HOF camps however, and would miss the deadlines and fundraising events.

He mentioned that he was going to Santiago and was wondering if I could recommend a church.  I couldn’t remember the name of the church I visited, but made it a point to ask him where he went when he returned.  Of course it was the same one I had found when I was there.  The name is… uh… Iglesia.. Trinidad something or something Trinidad on Rosario Norte… i think..dang.  So anyway, I felt a connection to this guy and I was bummed that I wouldn’t be able to document their 1st trip.  

Back to the phone call.  He told me that someone had dropped out of the trip and a spot that had opened up.  To which I replied, “Are you kidding?”

A week later I was in Peru.  Which was amazing.  I should be editing the footage right now, but realized how far behind I was in my blogging and decided I would take a day off to catch everyone up.  Thanks to Sean Blumenhein for the photos

Other than that I did a wedding the other night where the girl had waited till that night to have her first kiss.  Are you kidding?  You ask.  No.  I think her parents locked her in a nice cage at age 13.  That’s all I can think of anyway.  Actually she is an awesome girl and he is an amazing guy.  I’m picky about what weddings I shoot.  I shot a lot of sketchy weddings in the past and became pretty cynical about them for awhile.  Not to mention the recent events that jaded me as well.  Heheh.

What’s next?  In November Promote and I are heading to Flavor Fest in Florida and shooting the whole way.  So that should be interesting.  Until then, who knows?

Enjoy the photos and video links, and as always, thanks for reading.

A:  I spent the whole trip collecting pictures of certain things i.e. architecture.

B:  Some things happened near the end of the trip.

C:  I didn’t want to worry my mom.

There are descriptions for some of the sections while others are just collections of photos.  As always, click on the pictures to see more.

Chile metro:  Santiago has had one of the largest public transit overhauls in the world.  Cars are a luxury and most families share a vehicle if they have one at all.  Some families have two or more, but it’s not like Dallas where every person in the family is driving.

I arrived in Santiago in the Summer, when most Chileans leave the city for summer vacations or to follow the spending of those that do.  As their summer ended, I began to see a lot of news reports about the transportation problems that they have had in the past.  There were a lot of pictures and video clips of busses completely full, and people hanging out of the doors because they were so packed.  Whenever I would meet with Jaime he would ask, “Have you ridden the subway when it’s crowded yet?” and I hadn’t.  So I made it a point to visit the metro during one of it’s peak moments before I left.

I made my way with the herd onto the platform and wound up in the last car where I was pushed into the back corner.  I had my pack with me and I couldn’t bring myself to push through all the people to get out at my regular stop.  So I rode it to the end of the line, and took pictures on the way.

These are pictures of various people, places, and things in Chile.

Earthquake:  On the night of St. Patrick’s Day I was going to sleep when I heard a loud boom and felt my bed shake.  Immediately I thought it was an earthquake because somewhere I had read that the region was prone to them.  I figured that after the quake something large had fallen over.  Then I heard sirens and realized that the boom had happened before the shake.  So I grabbed my cameras, said good-bye to the doorman, and headed out.  After the crowds cleared two men approached me and asked me for my press pass.  During the past few weeks when security approached me for riding my bike in an unauthorized area, playing the dumb american had often gotten me off the hook quickly and easily.  However these guys wanted to know, “How long have you been in the area?”   ”Are you alone?”   ”What’s in your bag?”   ”Do you have an alibi?”

I have to say, it’s amazing what being a suspect will do to your spanish.  My teachers would have been proud as I explained where I was when the bomb went off and most importantly that I had said good-bye to the doorman when I left.  After the bomb went off.

I returned to my apartment, photos intact, and after the excitement wound down I began to feel kind of sad.  I sort of felt like the only one because there was not a lot of coverage in the news, and people didn’t really seem to be affected.  This being my only experience with a bomb, I decided to speak to a friend about it later that week.  He told me that there may be less bombings in the U.S., but when a bomb does goes off in Chile it’s rare that people die.  When a bomb goes off in the states though, it’s pretty much assured that people will die.

Actually, according to Robert Pelton Chile is a color shade safer than the U.S.

Wine tasting in Chile:  One of my last nights here was spent with Jaime, Nani, Jaime’s parents, and Jaime’s uncle.  I don’t think I know much more about wine than I did before, but the experience was a lot of fun.  I got to be “that guy” * with the camera and they had to explain all my picture taking at the chocolate and wine session.  It was a good way to say good-bye to some awesome friends and I had a great conversation with the uncle (who is a doctor) about adolescence.  Thank you guys for looking after my needs and inviting me to be a part of things.

*See the movie PCU.

Last night in Chile:  Hopefully these guys know how much they mean to me, and the growth they helped initiate while while I was there.  If you ever see me make a conscious effort to sit or stand up straight you can thank Toia (sitting to my left).  Thanks guys for treating me like family.

Other than that I want to thank the people in Santiago for all the help, good riding, food, and parties.  I’ll try to keep up what spanish I’ve learned and get back soon.  Take care.

Last weekend I went to the marathon because some of my friends were participating.  I hung out with Alonso who had been training to run the full marathon, but three days before the event, he was hit by a car.  While training!  Fortunately, he wasn’t damaged severely and will be able to run events in the near future.  I also met a guy who runs Super Amazing Extreme Marathons that are about 96k to the ski resort and back.  Up the mountain and back.  About 90 minutes in a car. I was told the last one cost him about three weeks recovery time.  Dang.  I also saw the coolest bike ever.  Supposedly there was a man that completed the whole thing at the age of 103, but I translate things with a monkey codec (aka my brain) at times.  Then I look at Mimi and it doesn’t seem so far off anymore.

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Last weekend was also Vicente’s birthday.  At one point I was cornered by a couple of guys who wanted to talk politics.  Luckily, I didn’t have much sauce and was able to talk issues without damage.  We stayed up till 7am and I helped Vicente clean house.  The food was great and there were a lot of laughs, but these people will bury you in pisco if you let them.  Yay self control.

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That’s all for now.  I’ve been acquiring other footage, but like I said, it doesn’t have a story yet.  Enjoy!

Yvonne and Joerg are retired and pretty much adopted all of us.  We have a place to stay in Switzerland now if anyone wants to go.  Because I do.  Angelique has just quit her job as a florist in Canada and is traveling north to help plant trees.  You can visit her blog, where there are some amazing photographs of the landscape, here.  Renata is in marketing and she and her friends want to dance, travel, and have a good time.  All the time.  And they want you to dance also.  The whole night.  Our teacher gave us historical and cultural perspectives which helped me to understand the region better.  She was a fiction writer at one point in her life, and if I understood “Triple X” correctly, she used to write erotica.  And I’ll end with Lara, who is 15 and learning her sixth language.  When I asked her what she wanted to do she replied, “Make a lot of money quickly and without working hard.”  Then we both laughed.  Later she said she would like to take over the world.  Sorry Scott, I think House of Faith may have some competition.

So with my newfound language abilities I’ve been striking up all sorts of conversations and talking up a storm.  Actually, once I get past the small talk, most people ask me to just speak english.

Tomorrow I begin private lessons.

Coco invited me and Ian to stay with him in Vina del Mar to shoot photos at a dirt comp.  It was a great time to say the least.

We hung out with a guy named Fonc who is by far the most ADD person I’ve met next to Cody. Not only is his spanish more rapid and mumbled than the norm; his insect sized attention span limits his ability to remember what he just said when you ask “Puede repetirlo mas lento por favor?” (Could you repeat that slow please?)

Ariel gave us an awesome room to stay in and made sure we had places to go at night.  Ian and I decided that he is the Mack, and I am a bad dancer.

Click the course to see lots of photos. 

Today I was on my balcony and overheard a man say, “Donde vai?”  which is “Where are you going?”.  A lady replied and the man said something else that I didn’t catch.  I looked over the rail to see him taking her grocery bags for her.  It was an awesome moment.

Saturday night there was a street competition in Barrio Indepencia.  About 40 of us met at Parque Bustemante and rode from there.  We took up two lanes, yelled at everything, had a lot of dogs chasing us, and stopped oncoming traffic at every red light.  At one point we were on a narrow street with nightclubs on both sides.  There were crowds of people lined up against the walls all yelling things at us.  Me and another American, named Ian, thought it was all fun.  Then the first bottle flew by.  Then it was sort of a gauntlet.  Later, a kid told me they were Peruvian and that they don’t like Chileans because of the Pacific War.  Which was awhile ago to say the least.   

The competition was just as crazy.  It was in a plaza, it was unofficial, it was better than the pictures turned out.  And I only shot the warm-ups.  Everything wound down around 3am.  Then Ian and I went back to his house for a Birthday BBQ and I took some photos of sunrise.  It was a good night.  I met a lot of people and made some friends.  Definitely a good ending to a very craptacular week.

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It is Valentines,

I thought about it awhile.

Then I rode my bike.  

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