YES, you MUST wear a costume. NO, you can NOT get by with a red shirt and Santa hat. It’s about the FUR!! (See in the picture of us from last year? Fur! White Fur! Lots of it!)
BE CREATIVE, ya lazy bum! Jeans, in particular BLUE jeans, will be removed and destroyed without warning. Don’t tempt us. Red jeans might make the grade.
Bring innocent toys to hand out to kids and naughty toys to give to adults.
IT IS YOUR CIVIC DUTY TO MAKE PEOPLE WONDER WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON.
Santa doesn’t get arrested. Always remember the four F’n rules of Santarchy:
(1) Don’t f* with kids.
(2) Don’t f* with cops.
(3) Don’t f* with security.
(4) DON’T F* WITH SANTA!*
VENTUCKY SANTARCHY 101
SAVE SANTA FFARTRIDE Fri. Dec. 4
4:45 MEET at Ventura College, Day & Telegraph
5pm RIDE to the Transit Center at the Pacific View Mall
5:15pm Santas Ride Pacific View Mall
5:30-6pm MEET Aloha/Fountain/Artists Union,
Ventura Beach Promenade, CA St & the sea
6pm RIDE to art galleries: Bell Arts, Laurel St. CSUCI & more
745pm MEET Ventura Visitors Center for LIBATIONS!
Beer from Anacapa, Food from Milanos $5-15 suggested donation
9:45pm SANTACON Pub Crawl Downtown Ventura
Last December, in advance of our first Santacon, I posted lots of information to prepare Santa for the Santacon:
In particular, I’d like to call your attention to “Santa’s Code of Conduct” excerpts below:THIS SANTA CON is for cyclists! THEN it’s a pub crawl!
This is an ALL AGES Santa event!! Until the PUB CRAWL. Download and bring your own copy of the Santacon Carol Book here: http://santarchy.com/other/santacon-carol-book.pdf
T0 prepare, consider doing a few practice runs of some of your favorites! One of mine is “Georgie Baby”; here are the lyrics and here’s Earth Kitt version “Santa Baby”.
Read the rules again! You MUST wear a costume to participate, half ass Santa hats, Christmas shirts, and the like are not enough! DO NOT show up without a costume even if you just want to observe. If you are not in appropriate attire do not expect to hang with the Santa pack. If you want to roll with Santa you must be dressed as Santa!
Santarchy takes place in major cities all over the world involving tens of thousands of Santa’s. It is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious, non-sensical celebration of holiday cheer, goodwill, and fun. There is no good reason to dress up in cheap Santa suits, run around town, sing songs, have strangers sit on our laps and decide who’s naughty or nice…but it’s a lot fun…so Santa does it anyway. Everyone loves Santa and Santa loves everyone!
These Rules and Reminders were taken and adapted from other cities. Please read them so you are not the idiot Santa who gets kicked to the curb.
Can’t afford a Santa costume? Make one! Red sweats, faux fur and a glue gun will get you in the club!! here is a link to instructions: www.knowledgehound.com/khhow2s/make_santa_suit.html
Stick with the pack and you shouldn’t get lost or hurt too badly. If you see more than one pack, stick with the biggest one. Or not. It’s Santarchy, not follow-the-effing- leader. Santa is welcome pretty much anywhere he enters.
BRING YOUR OWN CUP!
Bring a cup for a friend!
Santa contributes cash (not trash)
and combats climate change.
What would the North Pole be like without snow?
Bring money for public transit, alcohol, food, donations, taxi fare. Pay your own tab, donate, and tip the staff like Santa would. read more…
Santacon 2009 is coming up soon–time to wake up and get your Santa on! Watch some of the antics of LA’s Midnight Ridazz Santa Con Dec. 6, 2008 then click here to find a Santa Con near you!
For those of you living near Art Predator, you’re in luck–Santa and Ms Claus are leading a merry band of Santas around town on bicycles this Friday Dec. 4! The ride leaves Ventura College at 5pm, then joins the regular ArtRide which will leave the Artists Union Gallery by 6pm.
If you go to a Santa Con, you gotta wear a suit! Here’s how to make one. 
To consider how antics such as these fit into a global picture of change, subversion of the dominant paradigm and more, buy yourself a copy of Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant Lot Gardeners Are Inventing the Future Today by Chris Carlsson (AK Press 2008). Visit Nowtopia on the web at www.nowtopia.org
For stories, pics and other details about Santa Cons here, there, and everywhere, search this site or check this site out which offers a collection of Santa Con carols including my favorite, Georgie Baby. If you need to remember the tune, or just want to see a wonderful version with Eartha Kitt, it’s here.
Did you notice it’s snowing in the Black Rock Desert in my Burning Man header and across these words? While it may indeed be snowing right now in Nevada, and in fact I have been to the Black Rock desert when the playa is covered in snow–a lovely sight indeed– this time it is the elves at WordPress bringing the snow for the holidays once again.
Thanks WordPress for the early gift! Read about it here on the WordPress.com blog.
WRAP-UP What a month November was! Even though I didn’t put up the most posts (that record belongs to August with 47 posts) or get the most hits (only 9,459–the record is September 2009 with 16,701) I did reach the milestone of 160,000 page views this month and I must say that
November was certainly my most amazing month as a blogger. Not only was it my two year bloggoversary and I hit 150,000 page views, but I spent my bloggoversary in Portugal!
I mean–how many bloggers can say they went to PORTUGAL on an all expense paid trip to WINE BLOG?? Not too many. I know for a fact that I am the only one that Enoforum Wines took on an exclusive tour of the Alentejo wine region.
That’s right–it was me and Jo Diaz, their US publicist, climbing all over castles, interogating winemakers, tasting wine from barrels and bottles, and sampling the amazing Alentejo cuisine read more…
Eco-Pirates Present Eco-Fest: A DIY Day of Action Dec. 3 & Save Santa ArtRide Dec. 4
On Thursday December 3, the Ventura College Eco-Pirates (a/k/a students in Gwendolyn
Alley’s English 1A & 2 classes) invite you:
The Ventura College Eco-Fest:
a Do It Yourself Day of Action
Thursday December 3,
8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in the quad
RIDE YOUR BIKE to SCHOOL
& get a free bagel from Noah’s
& get it looked over by a mechanic
& get your winter riding lights on!
BRING YOUR COFFEE CUP to the quad
& get a free cup of coffee from Starbuck’s!
Learn why you should ride your bike
Learn how to grow a salad
Learn about DIY & self empowerment
Learn about the threat of plastics to local ocean ecosystems
Listen to music, watch films & more:
Gifts & crafts by local artists
Tables with info from local environmental organizations including VCCool & City of Ventura
Environmental Services
Friday, December 4, Save Santa ArtRide:
What will happen to Santa if the North Pole melts?
Calling all Santas, elves, polar bears & reindeer!
4:45 p.m. Meet at the corner of Day Rd & Telegraph
5:00 p.m. Ride down Telegraph to Main
5:30-6:00 p.m. Meet at the Artists Union Gallery
6:00 p.m. Ride to art galleries and studios
7:45 p.m. Socialize: Meet at the Ventura Visitors Center, 101 S. CA St at Santa Clara
for food from Milanos & beverages
$5-$15 donation for all you care to eat & drink
For more information, see Wednesday’s article in the Venture Breeze by Tim Pompey or my guest column at the Ventura County Star: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/nov/29/wheels-of-change-turning-in-ventura/
Thankful for the Ventura Bicycle Union & Coop: learn how to fix a drivetrain Dec. 1!
The date is actually Dec. 1 (changed from Dec. 3 which is the Black Tie Ride in Santa Barbara).
We didn’t make it to the Critical Mass ride in San Francisco as planned. A snow storm on I-80 made chains required, traffic awful, and rain likely for SF–a combination of factors which encouraged us to pull off I-80 at Highway 267 to check out Northstar as the traffic slowed near Truckee.
My iPhone had already shown us that traffic was not great for I-80 going West and the traffic looked mostly stopped heading East toward Tahoe from Sacramento. Sitting in that kind of a traffic jam didn’t seem like much of a vacation no matter how much we wanted to ride with the Critical Mass today.
So instead, we’re staying here at the Village at Northstar (stay and play deal got us a f=room in the village with 2 “free” lift tickets!) It’s been snowing steadily all afternoon and evening. I couldn’t tell you officially how many inches of snow fell, but informally, in places it came up to the small boy’s knees.
This was his first time to experience snowfall, read more…
Thankful for bike rides: SF Critical Mass Takes Streets Last Friday, First Friday ArtRide Saves Santa Dec. 4
This Thanksgiving, Art Predator and family hope to hit the slopes at Lake Tahoe then the following day, drive to the SF Bay Area in time to join the Critical Mass ride. Meet up with us at the end of Market Street at 6pm–that’s where they meet every last Friday of the month.
I’ll be the one dressed as Mrs. Claus on a hot pink bikergo!
Join Us For First Friday ArtRides
Unlike Critical Mass rides in SF and cities around the world, ArtRide’s obey laws. We generate goodwill not ill will toward cyclists. With our costumes and lights, we make people smile rather than make mayhem. We show how much fun it is to ride bikes with friends new and old. And we get people out of their cars and to see art.
Meet 5:30pm Artists Union Gallery, CA St & Ventura Promenade
Ride 6pm To galleries & art studios around town
Socialize 8pm-10pm Ventura Visitor Center 101 So. CA St.
First Friday ArtRiders Thank Anacapa Brewery
for Frequently Donating Refreshments
More information: http://bikergogal.wordpress.com or here at http://artpredator.wordpress.com
Calling all Santas, Elves & Polar Bears: Save Santa Ride Dec. 4
starts 5pm Ventura College Telegraph & Day Rd,
travels Telegraph to Main,
arrives at the Artists Union before 6pm.
pdf here I hope… Santacon2(4)
Early skiing in California is tricky. This is the first year in seven years that most of the resorts around Lake Tahoe had been open at all at Thanksgiving. Anything before Christmas is gravy. Even if a resort is open, how many lifts? How many runs? How much are they charging for limited skiing/
After our mixed experience the previous day at Boreal, we debated where to go next: Squaw Valley? Northstar? or somewhere else on the North side of Lake Tahoe? read more…
We left Ventucky just before midnight and drove north all night, switching off between sleeping in the back of the van with the small boy and taking the wheel. At dawn, I pulled off and slept for an hour and the small boy read books and played. Then we were back on I-80 marveling at the fall color and more and more snow as we climbed higher into the Sierra.
We neared Donner Pass and Boreal Ridge ski area just before 9am. We pulled off to check it out and decide where to go to ski for the day. The parking attendant convinced us with a report of $39 for lift tickets but it turned out they’d upped the price to $49 for adults, and $15 for kids.
Even at $49 for a lift ticket–cheap by Tahoe standards, I doubt if I’ll ever return to Boreal Ridge. It was the first time I’d ever been skiing when I wished desperately for a helmet. read more…
