Sunday eve we left the beautiful redwoods and headed back to the Vulcan in Oakland. I thought I'd spend the nite and head back south in the morning. Next thing I remember, it's days later and I'm still there. We had nice dinners with lotz of kool friends, , went into SF to Golden Gate Park spin jam, , and afterwards went out for another fun dinner down Haight St somewhere and non stop spin play day and nite. Huge thanx to Prisna and Sean for offering up their incredibly awesome place for Sage and I to crash. HUGE THANX as well to all the Vulcan posse for turning it into a spin hostel for the week. Then slowly people began to head out. Some flew down and a few of us loaded into a mini van and headed down for the post gathering workshops in LA.

I got back to 603 emails which took me days to go thru. Had to restrain myself from checkin in here cause I knew I'd be another day reading and responding to a gazillion posts. But finally I made it thru the emails and now thru all the many wonderful threads. I've never read so many words that have made me smile and sometimes even cry with happiness.

This was the first time I've left feeling we have finally grown to be what I'd always hoped and envisioned FireDrums to be. I have never been a part of so much wonderful selfless giving and sharing. There were so many who volunteered and shared their time, knowledge and experience, and never were there any egos flyin. We had workshops the weekend prior at the Vulcan and in SF, then the gathering and today we're just finishing up the last of the LA workshops. One of the most amazing facets of all has been to see how so many have been inspired by others. Watching world renowned artists so eager to learn from others and share without any hesitance were the most beautiful moments ever.

And there were so many who volunteered to make it all flow relatively smoothly thru out the weekend. Some who didn't even make it, but still supported with their time and energy regardless. MIKE had other plans but still spent time drawing and up loading us a much better map and helped find us a firewood supplier, and PAULA was still organizing the first aid "Booboo Booth" from out at sea, knowing she wouldn't be able to attend. Howzat for dedication!!!!!!

There are so many I want to thank, and while I'm hesitant to start for worry I'll leave someone out, I still have to give those that my fried brain can remember at the moment a shout. I'll 'try' to be brief, but there are so many;

NOEL YEE !!!!!!!!!!! Most of you guyz have no idea how hard hard he (and not forgetting SILENCE as well) worked to organize all those workshops. Noel and I have been communicating many hours every week for the past months to try to make this everything it could possibly be. And on top of all that, he wrangled dozens of people from airports and organized workshops pre gathering as well. The Vulcan was buzzin like NASA headquarters just before a space shuttle flight. One morning I woke early and looked down from the kitchen to see a floor full of sleeping bodies who had been up spinning all nite. It was an endless flowing of intense concentration and smiling faces. Soooo beautiful to have witnessed!!!!!

ANKE !!!!!!!! How kool is our web site?!?!?!?!?! It took months of emails and phone calls and communication with many others to create a really professional site. We were slow to get some things up, but we were starting from scratch and wanted to make it right. We'll still be adding more in the future and it will get even better. But for now, I could not be happier to have this truly professional site. www.firedrums.org

ELECTOBOMB !!!!!!! Elecktra was all over it months ahead, coordinating all the greeters and checking everyone in at the gathering and (along with PAULA and SHIHO helped wrangle a kick ass Ranger crew. Really can't offer enough thanx for you energy Elecktra!

speakin of Rangers,,
FLINT and ALL THE RANGERS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys rocked!!!!!!!!!! Everywhere I went (and I was everywhere as much as I had energy to be) there you guys were. Constantly lookin out for everyone. PAULA, ELECKTRA and SHIHO get atta girrrlzzzzzz for givin a shout out and helping wrangle us the most awesome Ranger posse ever FLINT and crew worked all the way till the end cleaning up the kitchen, play area and fire pits and makin moop sweaps everywhere.

RACHEL, GREG, SEAN, SONYA !!!!!!!!! These guys were constantly cruizin around watchin over the play area and workin to keep it safe. And great job with the fuel depot and spin out area. That's always an obvious point of concern and these guys had a big job to keep it safe. Much respect and appreciation!!1

PAULA, REAL GIRL, STEVE, HOWARD, KOYOTE, SPECIAL, and too many more who's names I'm spacin on at the moment, !!!!!!!!!!!!!! All yall were so amazing to hang out and be sure we were always ready with first aid when needed. And thankfully we didn't need much. The sayin "could not be happier" could not be more apropos!

P, PAUL, REID, MICHAEL, DUB and ALL the DRUMMERS !!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for keeping it pumpin. We know it can be a lot of work, and there were times when you guyz were beat, but kept up tha beats for everyone to keep spinnin and dancin to.
We will have a dedicated dance floor right in front of you guyz next year.

TERRA, PAUL, AILEEN, FIRE GROOVE, ALISDAIR, KC and everyone who jumped on the community meals, thanx for keeping us fed, fat n happy. I know this was a challenge and not well organized, but you guyz made it happen and helped us stay well nourished.

ZAN, WALDEMAR, FIRE GROOVE and everyone who helped document the weekend, I know that was a lot of work and we're gonna have a lot of really awesome videos and photos to remember this epic weekend forever.

TRICK CONCEPTS , and all the VENDORS !!!!!!!! "SCORCH" did a kick ass job coordinating vendors and JAZ jumped in to set up and help make Vendors Village a huge success. So many people got to see and try gear that they'd otherwise have very limited exposure to.

ADAM and STACIA, the chill area and decor was beautiful. It was so kool to look back thru a sea of fires and drums and see the uber awesome back drop you guys arranged.

LEAH and DnA, thanks for lending the music. It was really appreciated by many.

And special thanx to AMBER, SIZZLE, KRISPY, SAGE, PRISNA, MARIA (and many others I'll think of once I hit the send tab) for helping and supporting this and in the past.

As I said, I'm still tryin to remember what went down when and where and who was there helping out. There were many, , too many to remember and I know I wasn't always there to witness everyone who helped. But I am very thankful and feel very blessed to have spent this weekend with all of you.
YOU ROCK MY WORLD, MY LIFE, MY SOUL!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !