Well we held it, and they came. We had over twenty people in attendance at the Town Hall meeting at Frog Song last night. First we talked about the Caravansary art theme for this year. Basically we decided it is a glampy truck stop for camels with a sub-theme of carpool. So what is at a marketplace where nothing is for sale?

The first idea pitched was a Trojan Camel. We had a great time riffing off Patricia’s concept, everyone really got excited about what would be inside. Would you be drawn in by a stark exterior only to stuff your head up its ass and find an oasis of fluffy bunnies inside? If you jerked off the camel would you get ice cold water to drink? How big of a camel are we talking about here? Well bigger than a bread box, and too big to fit inside a souk. There is still time to apply for an Honorarium Art Grant, the deadline is February 15th.

If we did do a CORE proposal what about our region would we want to represent? Other than wine, weed and glass blowing we got apples from Katrina, who also liked a Bedouin tent idea, and also mermaids and driftwood. Aileen had some great ideas about tinker toys or lincoln logs that you could keep building into new shapes. Also a flaming car. A portal. A pedal cab to nowhere. You get inside the portal and you “disappear” and reappear near the trash fence. or you go through it and are transformed into something else.

I liked a three part process portal idea. You go through, something happens to you. Then you get to watch it happen to others so you understand how it works. After you understand it you can choose to be a part of making it happen. I’m not sure what the “it” is. Isaac liked having a piano in whatever it is so people can play it. Patricia liked that idea and is going to work it into a new proposal. Someone proposed a Badouin Advice booth for bad advice. Ass-trological readings were also thrown out there, like palm reading, only you have to see the Heiney Hygiene guy first LOL

We also came up with the idea of a photo op vista where you get to stand in front of a backdrop that you need several people to change around. You can have your picture taken in three different North Bay locations…the rocky coastline, the huge redwoods or ? I don’t know. Something else related to Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Humboldt counties. Agriculture perhaps? 😀 Well industry anyways. It could be something like the Kinetic Sculpture Race or another regional original. You tell me.

Basically we decided to do a CORE proposal for a retro, f’cko object that we can stage in your face encounter performance art around. We are not sure where we are going to build it, what it will be, or who is going to be involved but we want to toss our hat into the ring for CORE 2014. It sounds like there is at least one more local project, maybe two, that will happen this year in the Santa Rosa area. Our plan is to get our materials together for a proposal, and when I hear details about CORE I will let you all know what the parameters will be for the souk. People are gung ho fired up to do art. I woke up all excited about the possibilities.

I have a list of eleven folks who are serious about putting their skills to use on a North Bay CORE project. If you would like to get on that list email me at northbay (at) burningman (dot) com and we will get you in the mix. We have a welder and a woodworker, what can you do? The meeting for the project proposal may happen before the next Salon, (which will be at Fred’s place in Santa Rosa on Saturday, February 15th at 7pm near the SRJC). Get on this email list if you want to know about the meeting and the build and the proposal and all that CORE stuff.

Deborah is working on the Resticles for this year. With its two twenty four foot tramps it is also too big to fit inside the marketplace. This is a local build which is definitely happening and people are invited to help out. If you enjoyed the oasis the Breast Stop provided the last two years then you want to help this one happen – it’s a bigger, badder, hairier version with more lighting! You can contact Deborah at deborahcolotti (at) gmail (dot) com to find out more.

We also talked about the Mendo Burners plan to do a three day camp out in the Willits area the weekend of May 2nd – 5th and there were several people very excited to hear more about that. If you want to get involved, bring your theme camp, art project or just test your shade structure setup then contact Jeremy at northbay (at) burningman (dot) com to find out more!

Things are percolating North Bay. Be a part of the art!