LIB Returns

Only a Southern California dance, art, and music festival can feature Daedelus and downward facing dog, but that???s exactly what the fifth annual Do LaB ???Lightning in a Bottle??? music and arts festival will offer when it takes over 100+ acres of Irvine???s Oak Canyon Ranch over Memorial Day weekend.

The four-day, three-night festival bills itself as ???equal parts music, art and green workshops.??? Accordingly, those drawn to bone-crunching bass and funky rhythms can choose from over 90 artists including Booka Shade, The Album Leaf, The Glitch Mob, The Very Best, Daedelus, Daddy Kev, and Nosaj Thing.

Lightning in a Bottle will also feature a set from Krystee, the winner of the festival???s mix-tape contest that found DJ???s from across America looking for a chance to perform by submitting tapes using only Lightning in a Bottle acts.

Attendees can also explore other options, via green-living workshops that offer ???practical, do-it-yourself lessons on creating a healthy, low-cost, sustainable lifestyle.??? The workshops included ???Small Space Container Gardening,??? ???How to Make Raw Chocolate??? and ???Growing & Using Medicinal Herbs.??? Those looking to loosen up after three nights in a sleeping bag can increase their elasticity via an array of yoga courses taking place throughout the day.

The artistically inclined may find solace in the festival???s art gallery, installation pieces or its Lightning in a Paintcan Project, during which local artists will transform oversized mural panels into paintings using recycled paint. The finished pieces will be sold in a silent auction, with proceeds going to Sonic Muze, a nonprofit group that provides underfunded schools with music instruments and art supplies. With three-day passes available for $190 (including camping), the festival figures to bring enough stimulation so that everyone will need to say Savasana by Monday night.

Ticket info on the Lightning in a Bottle website

a

I always support Kevin Booth’s efforts to raise awareness and exposing the ridiculous and dangerous draconian drug laws in the USA. I first learned about Kevin Booth many years ago, by being a huge fan of the late great comedian/satirist Bill Hicks. Kevin and Bill had been childhood friends. I feel that part of Bill’s long-silenced voice is still heard through he works of his friends such as Kevin Booth.

Free Preview Screening
Venice Beach, Feb. 13

On Saturday February 13th at 8:00PM, the new feature length documentary from Sacred Cow Productions, ???How Weed Won the West??? will be screened at the Organica dispensary in Venice Beach (13456 Washington Blvd.), the site of the LAPD raid from last year as shown in the film.

“How Weed Won the West??? is the story of the people who probably would not die if you took their weed away. People who feel it is their right to smoke a dried flower instead of ingesting dangerous pharmaceuticals for medicine, or alcohol and cigarettes to simply catch a buzz.

a

October 1-4, 2009
Joshua Tree, California

Water Woman Festival
October 1-4, 2009
Joshua Tree, California

Environmental Art ??? Permaculture Design ??? Natural Building ???
Sustainable Living ??? Site Revitalization ??? Be Showered With
Possibilities!

4 FULL Days & 3 Nights?? Including Tent Camping!?? ONLY $75!
Single Day Tickets available NOW on website – ONLY $25

Please pass this on to everyone!
Warmest Water Woman Wishes!

Fusing Art and Ecological Design; Inspiring the Future
Check out the NEW images of Ecological Designs, Eco Art, Water Woman
and Our Eco-Tribes!
www.waterwomanfestival.com

* Note – Kids under 12 are FREE accompanied by parents.
We will BUILD and Leave a Trace!?? Play in the Mud – Play in the Spray!

The Water Woman Festival is an interactive art and ecological
experience featuring TOP artists, architects, natural builders,
permaculture designers, speakers, teachers, musicians, and
Inspirational Visionaries!

This is an URGENT Event!

• * Mingle with Extreme Green Artists
• * Experience Dark Green Technologies
• * Help Build Beautifully – Re-birth the Site!
• * Honor The Goddess of Life!
• * Support the Development of Eco Settlements
• * Have FUN Dancing the Patterns of Nature!

Imagine, Create and Be Showered With Possibilities!

NEW Confirmed speakers/workshops and special guests include:

• * SunRay Kelley~Elemental Force in Natural Building
• * Jonah Reyolds~Earthship Biotecture
• * Marilyn Crenshaw~The Green Architect
• * Art Ludwig~Ecological Systems Designer and Grey Water Champion
• * Lori Grace~Living Mandala
• * Laura Fox~Visionary Culture Radio “Anchor the Dream”
• * Patricia Watts “Eco Arts Curator”
• * Ray Cirino~Extreme Green Artist
• * Mother Nature
• * Earthen Artists & Natural Builders, including: Kata Polano, Miguel Elliot, Michael Blaha, Bruce Thauburn, Scott Howard, many more!
• * Performing artists and musical guests: Wayward Monks, Scott Huckabay~Musical Alchemyst, Maetar, Fontain’s MUSE, Singing Bear, Riki
• Hendrix Band, unclejack..?? drum circle, rituals and MUCH more to follow!

Submit your art for the Highly Sustainable Functional Art Challenge! Set up a Permaculture Guild Campsite/Demonstration

Water Woman Art Challenge: As a group of eco-artists it is our goal to set new standards in sustainable art forms to provide energy, food, shelter, and water systems. By coming together as community, artists, permaculturalists, performers, musicians, natural builders, and motivated students, our structured plan is to go beyond our society’s definition of sustainability so we can be self reliant and educate others back home.

Produced by: The Water Woman Foundation 415-939-5848
Water Woman Project + Festival
waterwomanfest@gmail.com

In association with the Morongo Basin Art Guild, the Joshua Tree
Chamber of Commerce, Desert Springs Chamber of Commerce, Natural
Science Collaborative, Boulder Community Gardens, and more!

–
The Water Woman Festival is @
Joshua Tree Lake Campground
2601 Sunfair Road – Joshua Tree, California 92252
Phone (760) 366-1213
http://www.jtlake.com
http://www.jtlake.com/Travel.htm

The Water Woman Project
Fusing Art & Ecological Design – Inspiring the Future
http://www.waterwomanproject.org

a

I received a message from the Drug Policy Alliance with a request that I compose and send a note to President-elect Barak Obama to help guide him in who he will choose to be his drug czar.

Based on suggestions provided by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), I wrote the following letter to Obama. Feel free to copy it, change it, enhance or use it in some way to create a custom letter of your own to the new President of the United States. Once you compose your message you can send it to Barak Obama via his new website: www.change.gov. The process is quick and simple. And well worth the small effort.

Don’t be fooled. You make a difference. You make an impact. The more proactive you are, the larger your impact. It only takes a moment to compose and send a letter like the one I wrote below:

Drug Reform Message to Barak Obama

Dear President-elect Obama,

Please choose a drug czar who will champion drug policy reform in the USA. This is a very important step in delivering the change you and I and a majority of our great nation and the world so obviously desire… and need!

It’s easy to understand why you are considering to nominate Republican Congressman James Ramstad to be your “drug czar”. Rep. Ramstad is in recovery from alcohol abuse and has a track record in support of increasing access to drug treatment. However, Ramstad is still mostly married to the failed punitive drug war policies of the last 30 thirty years. This is a no-brainer: These policies don’t work. Never have. Never will.

These failed policies need to change. More importantly, we need to do something different. Just as you had so boldly stated: “Doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity”, WE MUST do things differently in drug reform in order for profound change to occur. I figure that you already know this somewhere deep inside your obviously good heart. Please step into it, and we will support you.

Ramstad has voted against medical marijuana five times. He has voted against making sterile syringes more available to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS three times. Even though his colleagues are increasingly supporting sentencing reform, including eliminating the crack/powder sentencing disparity, he hasn’t stood up on the issue. Perhaps Ramstad is not the right choice.

Our nation’s next drug czar should be chosen based on the following criteria:

1. Are they committed to enacting and supporting evidence-based policies? ONDCP should make decisions based on science, not politics or ideology.
2. Are they committed to reducing the harms associated with both drugs and punitive drug laws? We need a new bottom line for U.S. drug policy.
3. Do they think drug use should be treated as a health issue not a criminal justice issue? To paraphrase former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, we need a surgeon general not a military general or police officer.
4. Do they welcome and encourage debate and research? We need a drug czar who is open-minded and willing to consider every alternative.
5. Are they committed to reducing the number of nonviolent offenders behind bars? Our country’s next drug czar should be fully committed to major sentencing reform.

President-elect Obama, who you choose as your drug czar will affect everyone. Please nominate a drug czar who supports marijuana law reform, syringe availability and treatment instead of incarceration.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Best regards and best of luck,

Your Name

Where to Send Your Drug Reform Letter

Once your message is ready don’t forget to send it to www.change.gov.

a

Sunday, June 1, 2008, 2pm to 5pm
VIP Reception, 1pm

We look forward to seeing you this Sunday, June 1st, from 2-5 pm at Bergamot Station for fabulous food and stunning art. Please see the invitation below for links to our website where you can preview the contributed artwork at this year???s auction.

CLARE Foundation