Joe Myers and his unicycle adventure

On Saturday, June 12, Joe Myers rode his unicycle from Bellingham Bay up to Mt. Baker and back, a total of 122 miles, in just under 13 and a half hours. The 53-year-old Myers, who at 15 climbed Mt. Rainier with his brother, began unicycling six years ago as a means to improve his health.

“It took a couple weeks, but I learned how,” he said, noting he turned to the unicycle after trying different forms of exercising. “I knew 15 minutes on the unicycle and I’d be tuckered out with sweat dripping down my face. When you first learn, you are fighting yourself constantly.”

Soon after hopping on the unicycle, Myers began commuting to work four miles each way to his job in the facilities management at Western Washington University (WWU). The following fall, acquaintance Dave Walker of KAFE radio announced he was going to ride the Seattle to Portland (STP) route the next summer. Myers thought he should go as well, but on a unicycle.

Myers trained the nine months leading up to STP, but didn’t fully understand training and what it was going to take to complete the challenge. “Made it 100 miles. I couldn’t walk legs shot, knees shot,” he said, adding he also suffered from blood in his urine.

Discouraged, he read an article on Charlie Heggem, the organizer of Ride 542 and eventually took one of his classes at Fairhaven Fitness. “He convinced me to do the Silver Lake Time trial.”

With Heggem’s new training techniques, Myers began riding the following summer from Glacier to the Upper Lodge at Mt. Baker clocking in at about four hours, a ride he did “four to six times.”

The next year, Myers did the STP in two days, completing it, while later riding Ride 542 in two hours and 30 minutes.

Myers had found his place on the unicycle.

In 2008, Myers was “training hard” and ended up on a unicycle team for Ride to Lobster, an 800-kilometer relay race held in Nova Scotia. On the third day, with 70 kilometers to go, Myers hit a railroad tie toppling him to the ground and badly breaking his leg. “They (doctors) didn’t know if I would ever walk again,” said Myers.

Myers and his wife, who had driven to Nova Scotia, decided they’d prefer to have their doctor perform the operation. The two, Myers with a severely broken leg, drove back in four days.

Unable to walk for 12 weeks, he was able to get back on the unicycle quickly legs don’t bare the weight, so walking was more difficult. While he worked through a year’s worth of physical therapy, Myers was back in top form for the summer of 2009 gaining the attention of not only other riders, but writer Jim Caple who compiled a story about Joe for his page two column on ESPN.com.

In the summer, Myers completed the STP (trying to finish in one day but stopping at about 156 miles, completing the rest the following day), and the Cougar Hill Climb while also performing a personal best of going 60 miles without stopping at all. “I road from our house to Lynden to Sumas, back to Lynden, then back to our house and around our house until I got to 60.”

This spring, Myers has ridden long distances most weekends, including; Bellingham to Winthrop via the North Cascades Highway in May, Cashmere to Index in early June, and the Mt. Baker Highway the following weekend.

Coming up is a ride from Enumclaw to Yakima via Chinook Pass and Ride 542, as well as the STP, where Myers hopes to become the first unicyclist to ever finish in one day.

While his training regiment is the most striking accomplishment, Myers prides himself on his every day use of the unicycle. “Before I broke my leg, I went through two and a half years without a car commute.” Even now, he’s only driven a couple of times to work in the last year, and that was part of his training regiment. “I usually put 5,000-7,000 miles a year on it.”

Though his health is better due to the exercise, Myers deals with the pain from his accident every day. “I haven’t had a pain free day yet – I just live with mild or very moderate pain walking.”

While Myers makes the trips, his wife follows along in a car as a spotter and filmographer. “Usually she’s real supportive. She drives the shag car. Other people are jealous that I have a wife that will go where I go,” though he added, “She worries a lot, she’s always worried I’m going to get hit by a car.”

Myers was hit by a car once. “It was both of ours fault. Only thing that got hurt was the unicycle got totaled. I just picked up my unicycle and walked the mile home,” he said.

For Myers, it’s not just the exercise, but the challenge pushing his body to see what he can accomplish. “It’s a challenge and see whether I can make it or not,” adding, “Charlie taught me not to fear hills.”

Patrons at Mallard’s Ice Cream place their trash, and food and paper waste into separate containers. Mallard’s is just one of many businesses reducing their waste. Photo by Melanie Merz

Alright, so which bin does this go in? To live in Bellingham and not have stood perplexed over three bins, with a grease stained paper plate in one hand and a waxed paper cup in the other, probably means that you haven’t been out of the house in a few years. By taking a moment to read the bin labels and figure out which one to toss your dinner scraps into, you’ve played a role in Sustainable Connection’s Toward Zero Waste (TZW) program.

Completely eliminating waste requires tremendous dedication; but reducing waste thrown into trashcans by 50-80 percent is actually relatively easy. The goal of TZW is “to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill, increase reuse and recycling of existing resources, and increase purchasing of recycled and environmentally preferable products.”

Since TZW kicked off three years ago, over 200 local businesses have signed on pledging to reduce their waste by at least 50 percent. Sustainable Connections’ partner in the TZW initiative is recycling and waste collection company Sanitation Services Company (SSC).

When a business commits to move towards zero waste, it receives a slew of informational guidelines and marketing materials from Sustainable Connections, and a “waste audit” conducted by SCC’s Rodd Pemble. The waste audit has been critical for measuring the success of the program by helping businesses understand the initial magnitude of their waste, and to see the results of their TZW participation.

“The first thing a business needs to know is where the opportunities for waste reduction are,” explains Pemble. The single largest stream of waste for most businesses is paper, even if there is already a recycling program in place. Second is compostables: food scraps, food soiled paper, and yard waste. Pemble says that people aversion to food composting is their fear of the yuck factor. “People imagine that they’re going to have a pig sty in their cafeteria when they have a food recycling bin, but the same materials have been going into the garbage can. The other thing is that most adults eat their food, leaving behind only the paper packaging. There’s not much of a yuck factor in coffee cups and paper plates. Elementary schools are another story.”

Tissue and paper towels can also go in the food bins, so many businesses use compostable bags to collect paper products in restrooms. Another recyclable that most people aren’t aware of is shrink wrap. The thin plastic packaging (always a hassle to break DVDs out of) is so light it generally doesn’t need to be hauled away, but can be dropped off at NW Recycling.

“It took us two tries to get it off the ground,” says Boundary Bay general manager Janet Lightner. Along with employee incredulousness, an early problem was the unavailability of compostable products like corn starch straws. “At first we had to pick out all the non-compostables. The tediousness of separating things when you are bussing tables while it’s busy was hard. Now that more products are available, it’s much simpler. Everything can go in one bin.” Lightner mentioned that as the idea of TZW gained momentum around town, employees were more open to it. “Employee training was tough, but now it’s entrenched.” Boundary can boast 100 employees committed to zero waste, and 56,000 pounds of waste composted in one year.

The types of businesses participating in TZW run the gamut of Whatcom County’s offerings: restaurants, architects, manufacturers, retail stores. As the TZW logo appears on more signs and windows, people are beginning to realize that significantly reducing waste is achievable. “This program has produced really big results. That success is driven by the members,” says Sustainable Connections’ April Claxton. “We have a couple workshops each year where people get together to ask questions. Peer-to-peer sharing is very useful.” Once the most obvious steps are taken, people seek other means to minimize waste, often working with their suppliers and clients. “It’s a ripple effect.”

Take a minute to picture how much trash you generate each week. Then imagine the scale of waste that a city accumulates. Now consider that, with just a little extra effort, all of that waste could be cut in half. Instead of piling up in landfills, our food scraps are composted and turned into soil for local farms and parks. It’s incredible, and absolutely worth taking those extra seconds in front of the bins to read the signs.

Towards Zero Waste @ home

Rodd Pemble’s No. 1 tip: head to a thrift store to pick up a simple stainless steel cooking pot. It will cost you a dollar. Toss in all your food scraps (clam shells, salmon bits, food soiled paper products the high volume composting can handle pretty much everything). It fills up in a couple of days, forcing you to dump it in the food recycling bin regularly, and has a lid so you don’t have to look at it. Metal pots also don’t soak up odor and are easy to wash out. If you drink milk out of a carton, you can use that to collect food recycling as well, and then toss the whole container in the food recycling bin.

Check out www.ssc-inc.com for complete lists of recyclables.

Car free Ski to Sea competitor Kyle Morris, of The Hub Community Bike Shop, works on a canoe/bike trailer. On race day, Morris will drop the canoe off in Everson then haul the canoeists‘ bikes to the mountain bike leg, which he will race. Photo by Jason Byal

Kyle Morris of The Hub Community Bike Shop

Kyle Morris of The Hub Community Bike Shop

Kyle Morris of The Hub Community Bike Shop

Kyle Morris of The Hub Community Bike Shop

The 440 teams competing in this year’s Ski to Sea will race 90 miles from the snowy slopes of Mt. Baker down to the finish line and festivities in Fairhaven’s Marine Park. The seven-leg relay is the largest of its kind in the Northwest, and the most well attended event in Whatcom County with 40,000 spectators flocking to the sidelines.

For many the race is the perfect opportunity to showcase our breathtaking landscape and engaged community, but for some the race has become the frustrating cause of overflowing trash cans and congested roads.

In 2009 one trailblazing team decided to compete car free. They wanted to participate in Whatcom’s iconic event without generating waste. Kyle Morris, of The Hub Community Bike Shop, built bike trailers and souped up xtracycles (extended bikes) so the team could pedal themselves and their gear all over the county.

Careful planning is critical, and the strength needed to haul their equipment 50 miles one way cannot be denied. The skiers and runner had to ride up the mountain before racing back down. One skier towed the runner’s bike so it wasn’t left at the start line. The canoe was pulled all the way out to Everson, and then the same trailer was used to bring the paddler’s bikes to the end of the canoe leg.

The car free effort is no easy feat.Whether they are in it for the good of the environment, or the bragging rights, there are four car free teams registered for the 2010 race.

“Last year I went to view the race as a spectator,” says Jason Byal, a new car free team recruit. “I had a hard time digesting the car-obstructed view as the competitors carved their way through the relay points of the course. I too was a contributor: burning gallons of fuel, dragging asbestos dust at the stop signs, and parking my car on the lawn with 400 other cars at a relay point. This year I’m going to make a difference and go for a bike ride up the mountain with some new acquired friends, haul a bunch of camp gear, a canoe, cook a nice meal, build a fire, maybe share a bottle of wine, take a nap, and race down the hill in the morning… how flipping romantic!”

Ski to Sea organizers are acutely aware of the race’s environmental impact. In 2006 the Ski to Sea Green Team was created to focus on ways to make the race more sustainable. Last year they implemented an optional $8 “Green Fee” for teams at registration, and had an uptake rate of 60 percent of the teams electing to pay the fee. The fee helps support recycling efforts at the race, as well as local organizations including the Whatcom Land Trust and ReSources.

“It’s basically a carbon offset,” explains Green Team Chair and volunteer Mariah Ross. “We factored in how many miles are driven by an average team on race day. The total gallons of gas used came out to be about 15,000.”

That number does not consider non-local teams that drove or flew in, or the many gallons of gas exhausted in pre-race training. The Green Team also made impressive strides reducing waste by 75 percent last year by stationing Girl Scouts at the garbage and recycling bins, encouraging people to throw their trash into the correct container.

Morris said going car free make sense. “We’re not going to win, ever. It’s all fun… In my mind it’s a community event. Car free is the real deal. If you can figure this all out logistically, and have the endurance to make it work, to me that’s more impressive than sitting around on your spinner waiting to go,” he said. “It makes it so much more fun, it makes a lot more sense, and it makes the party a lot more real.”

Ross encouraged Ski to Sea car free teams. “If you can get more people involved, and get 10 teams, then we can give you a category… Promoting people to do the race without vehicles ups the ante, and would really take Ski to Sea to the next level. Are you really up to the challenge? Do it without a car.”

Ski to Sea takes place Memorial Day Weekend. For details about the race and events, visit www.skitosea.com.

Rex Hall

Rex Hall

We all know that the era when rock stars were addicted to little red diet pills and died of massive coronary blockage on the toilet are gone, that nowadays it’s all about personal trainers, contractual sobriety, sexual harassment liability, organic fresh juice, and highly produced edgy Rolling Stone photo-ops in studios draped with rusty chains and spray-painted faux brick paneling. Or at least Rex Hall, the rock ‘n’ roll chef and the patron of the Railroad Avenue popsicle shop Little Shovels, knows a thing or two about this from his long experience cooking for the mavens of the music industry over the years.

But before I get into the details of Rex’s long and storied career, let’s briefly invoke The Myth of the Golden Brown Fluffernut (Elvis Presley’s famous peanut-butter marshmallow sandwiches), with the once and flaccid King bedecked in gold chains and cape sitting in his 25-screen TV room, punching the PB and Marshmallow key on his room-service intercom button. Who fed him, who WOULD feed him, that notorious sandwich that would be a small part of his coronary decoronation. Probably not Mama Gladys. Rex (no relation to the King) will tell you all about those more glitzy, trashy times from his many tours with such rock royalty as Lynyrd Skynard, Jethro Tull, the Stones, and the Crue. Hall has served butter and bacon sandwiches (Mic’s personal favorite) and gravy drenched poutine (Nickleback hates vegetables) and raw banana-yam-blueberry shakes (“babyfood” is how he summarizes Sigur Ros’s diet). The touring outfits of the contemporary rock industry are cleaner, healthier, lower budget, and more contractually bound than they were in those days when a big part of what the industry was selling was the image of regal decadence, southern fried style.

Hall was attracted to the bright flame of rock ‘n’ roll like so many other youths in the classic era of rock, moving from Pittsburgh to San Francisco during the height of the hippy rock scene. After getting to town, he loitered in the lines of Bill Graham’s famous Winterland for weeks asking about work, before somebody finally threw him a mop: “Start tonight.” Before long he was living in an apartment in the bowels of the classic old vaudeville, hocking t-shirts and other merch, witnessing some of the most legendary concerts of 70s rock lore from Peter Frampton’s live album recording to The Band’s closer the Last Waltz, with Dylan and Neil Diamond sitting in. Later he toured the merch job around.

“When I was on tour with Skynyrd, during the Torture Tour,” Hall remembers, of the notorious 80-day tour, “the hotel would tell them when they were leaving that they had $30,000 in damages to pay from all the broken windows and burnt up stuff. And they would just pay. That’s the way they were in those days.”

Hall recalls how in the earlier days, a tour was more of a party, an expression of a certain kind of lifestyle, than a money-making venture. Money came and went freely. “They just spent whatever they wanted.” According to Hall, Lynyrd Skynyrd, typical of the era, lived more like royalty than job-men, without any concern for budgets or common law.

Another extension of this royal attitude was a personal distance between band and crew. Hall remembers how Skynyrd rode in their own planes, like the one Van Zandt eventually died in, while the crew and the backing band rode along behind. Backstage, the caste system held. “The stage sometimes was locked down, and we couldn’t come in.” The exclusivity led to Skynyrd’s original drummer Bob Burns getting locked off stage one night, along side Rex, throwing up his hands and leaving the tour for the airport right then and there. He never came back.

Hall sat-out some of the 80s, working in the restaurant industry, and helping launch a popular vegan restaurant in San Francisco. By the time he returned, the industry had changed, taken over by the ever-litigating bottom-line culture of the 80s. A new mold was set.

“It’s way more of a business nowadays. There’s a couple of those old bands still out on tour that try to be rock stars like they used to be, but to be honest, they’re has-beens. “Touring recently with the resuscitated version of Motley Crue, he was struck by their limited means. “They want all the luxuries, the catering, but then they hand you a $900 budget, and are like OK, go get us all the things we want.” (Contrast that to the $40,000 dollar a day food budget of the lone living tour dinosaur from this era, the Rolling Stones.) The way Hall describes this frayed decadence; it’s mostly about maintaining a trademark image. Tommy Lee, on tour, would use his status to attract girls, whose boyfriends would encourage them to go backstage to party with him, while they waited in the wings. The newer model for the epic-scale touring rock act, is the Dave Matthews Band, with a conservatively managed and fairly tame road show, mostly bound to the routine of the tour-bus schedule and the Hyatt-Regency happy hours. Hall has gone on upward of 10 tours with the band and has become, over the years, a sort of unofficial social secretary, organizing night-outings, scouting after-hours spots, and arranging for an occasional adventure for Dave.

“One time I took him to a rave. He’d never been to one before. He though it was pretty cool.”

The over all picture of the late-model rock star, in the Matthews mold, is a good steward of his own financial portfolio and upstanding image. “The crew rides on the same bus between stops, and stays where the band stays, Hyatt-Regency. And after the show everybody just ends up at the lobby bar.”

If anything, the crew member has more perks than the band, and Hall always makes a point of scouting out every new tour-stop, finding the good restaurants (check), record stores (check) and bars (check). Hall applied the same method of appraisal to Bellingham on his first encounter in 2001, and it passed with high marks. While the town for him, is essentially a long tour-stop between many other destinations, he’s made it his home and a new source of livelihood with his Little Shovels popsicle stand. The store, which will be re-opening in May, itself has become both a testament to his own rock ‘n’ roll nomadicism, showcasing a mobile popsicle cart from South America and soon a popsicle delivery bicycle, and also a place beloved by the local music scene.

“It’s like I’m feeding their addictions” he said about workers from the nearby downtown clubs. “Oh, you need your daily fix of chili-lime-cucumber or orange cream or rosemary lemonade popsicle, here ya go!”

“Baked” was released in 1990 and features the original members of Mt. Baker Hard Core. Courtesy images

“Baked” was released in 1990 and features the original members of Mt. Baker Hard Core. Courtesy images

In 1990, Bob Ridgley (owner of Binary Recording Studio and local filmmaker) got together with some friends and made one of the first independent snowboarding videos, called “Baked.” Following their passion, Bob and the snowboarders that comprised the group known as Mt. Baker Hard Core revolutionized snowboarding and snowboard videos. Some 20 years later, the film is being recognized at an event celebrating snowboarding history and culture that will take place during the same time as the Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

Bob’s involvement in “Baked” began when he was approached by the original MBHC group Jeff Fulton, Carter Turck, Eric Janko, and David Wallace. The four lived on Lake Samish (in the aptly called “Lake House”) and, according to Bob, lived, ate and breathed snowboarding. At the time, Bob had a record label and had just built his recording studio. He liked the idea and went about filming the foursome, along with another eight or so riders all who were part of the Baker scene while riding.

At the time, snowboarders were viewed as punks and the scene was just beginning. Mt. Baker was the epicenter for snowboarding, according to Bob, in part because of its terrain, quality and quantity of snowfall at Mt. Baker and the people. “Us Northwesterns are a little different than other people around,” he said with a laugh.

He added, “We wanted to do this thing – we believed in it. ”

During the film, Bob went through several cameras the moisture would destroy them, but he was able to catch the riders in top form, riding the hill and capturing the true essence of the MBHC. “They were just living it,” he said of the riders, “It’s like the surfers, it’s all you did it was a lifestyle.” He added, “What we were doing back then was pretty cutting edge compared to the rest of the country – We were doing rail grinds and picnic table jumps.”

Initially, the film was panned by reviewers there weren’t enough pros it in, they said but that didn’t stop the public from renting and buying the film. Within the first week of its release, Bob and the crew had sold 5,000 copies. “It showed the level of proficiency in snowboarding that was done at Mt. Baker,” Bob stated.

Soon, Bob and the guys of MBHC realized they had started something tricks they had filmed were being seen in other videos. More independent films were being released, as the market was no longer just Warren Miller and Burton films.

“It turned the industry around accepting it and making Mt. Baker part of it,” he continued. “It opened a lot of eyes – they were people who had come to the area because of the film.”

In 2010, the film is being celebrated as part of a snowboarding timeline exhibit at the Board Shop in Vancouver, in cooperation with the Olympics. The exhibit is being organized by Trevor Graves, a world-class photographer who was instrumental during the beginning wave of snowboarding. “He’s the guy that made Craig Kelly look so great,” Bob said.

When he was initially asked, Bob didn’t think much about it. “I get hit up all the time,” he said. “I’m thinking, I hear stuff all the time. But, after he researched and found out who Graves was, Bob realized he was “the real thing.”

As the Olympics begin this month, Bob is thrilled at the opportunity to be part of it. “I’m kinda stoked about it because it does mean something,” he said. “It’s amazing to me that someone cares about something we did that far back. We just did it because we loved it.” He added with a smile, “We didn’t have good cameras we just shot with what we could.”

While he’s excited about the event, Bob isn’t sitting back, basking in the glory of his past accomplishments he’s working on several new films, including the potential of a “Baked II.” “I’ve been asked to do it again and I’d love to do it, I’d do it more of a narrative. Like what happened to the surf movies more of a narrative story and all the great action,” he stated. “I actually have a script, but it’s not there yet.”

Aside from the recording studio, Bob spends his time working on “Faces of Change,” a civil rights documentary about the Oklahoma sit-ins in 1958 when 13 children ages 6 to 15 years old went into segregated white restaurants and sat at lunch counters. “Because of them,” said Bob, “they changed the laws of the country.” The demonstration occurred weekly and lasted more than five years the long peaceful demonstration in United States history. “They turned the Jim Crowe laws around.”

Bob, along with Julia Crawford and a crew, traveled to meet the participants 50 years later. (One of the kids at the time was musical artist Kanye West’s mother, but she passed before the interview).

The film will be released locally this spring, then move onto the festival circuit before, hopefully, wider distribution.

For Bob, it’s an important film for the youth of today. “The message behind the film is that we want young people to realize that they can make a change,” adding with a sense of passion and urgency, “These kids actually made a major change.”

The land, formerly owned by Crown Pacific, was part of an approximately 25-acre parcel auctioned off in November. Whatcom County resident Joe King purchased the site unaware the homegrown skate park was on site included and shortly after was informed by the Whatcom County Planning Department of county code violations due to the park’s construction.

Construction of the skate park began in 2005, according to lead organizer Jeremy Miller, a lifelong skateboarder and Glacier resident since 1997. While hanging out in a friend’s garage, Miller who said he would often go to a makeshift skate park in Portland, Oregon decided Glacier should have the same do-it-yourself type of park. New obstacles were being placed at the coal pads just south of Glacier along Coal Creek Road, already a popular place for locals to skate. As the obstacles went up, barriers were moved to make corners, and “it just kind of evolved from there.”

“I’d go to the coal pad and know that people would be there to skate. It’s kind of like the meeting spot,” Miller stated. “We’d show up daily and try to work.”

Miller said a lot of the work and upkeep has been done by skaters, but said the community supported the efforts as well. “When we needed money, all we had to do was ask and we had our concrete paid for. We were pouring yards and yards of concrete and no one said anything, but ‘Wow! Really cool.’”

As the park itself has grown, so has its reputation, as skaters have come from all over Whatcom County, as well as the Seattle area. Miller is most excited, though, about the kids who come with their parents. “It’s really cool having new parents show up with their kids,” he said, adding word about the park has made it into local schools, and they are seeing more youth from other towns in Whatcom County.

Miller said those who built and used the site were unaware of any land owner and didn’t believe the land was “owned” by anyone. “It was a total shock when we found out the land was foreclosed and [Mr. King] bought it,” he said.

Out of compliance

When Whatcom County resident Joe King became the new owner of the land on Nov. 20, he said he was aware the property came with coal pads, but had no idea a skate park was included. After a visit to the planning department on an unrelated matter, King said he was informed of the park and the fact it is out of compliance with Whatcom County code. He declined to elaborate about the property.

According to Senior Planner Suzanne Bosman, of Whatcom County Planning and Development, the department was unaware of the park’s existence until a fire inspector visiting Glacier went up Coal Creek Road to turn around and then saw the structures.

Bosman later investigated the skate park herself, saying, “This isn’t good,” upon arrival. She added, “I was impressed in the sense that it was clean. There weren’t broken bottles and they had notes up there to clean up after yourself.”

The Planning Department recently issued a letter to King, who has until the middle of January to submit a letter of intent regarding his plans for the property. According to Bosman, the two options are to dismantle the park or go through the necessary permit process to keep it.

Bosman noted the department is tentatively looking at a spring timeline before any action is taken giving King and the skate park organizers time to potentially work out an agreement. “Right now, we’re going to give them enough time to work through the situation,” she stated. “We understand that it’s important to the community the kids are doing something fun and productive.”

Should King and the skate park organizers work out an agreement, a conditional use permit is needed to maintain the skate park. The process concludes in front of a hearing examiner who determines if the permit should be issued. If and when granted, stated Bosman, organizers will potentially need a building permit to bring the park up to code.

If a resolution is not worked out and the structure is torn apart, Miller said it will not be easy. “We’ve been putting lots of metal in the concrete,” he stated, “so if they do rip it out, it’s going to be really hard.”

Plans to form non-profit

Following recent communication with King, Miller said he and other organizers are forming a non-profit group in order to make the skate park legitimate. The group, which will include Glacier residents Gary Graham, Joseph Garcia, Paul Engel and Anne Baker on the board, is in the process of organizing the paperwork and has begun working with a Bellingham-based lawyer.

According to Miller, the idea of a non-profit had been discussed when they learned of King’s purchase. While King has given the group the go-ahead to form a non-profit, the parties are not sure how or if the site will be transferred. “Who will own the land has not been addressed,” Miller stated.

In the mean time, the group will begin fundraising. Organizers are also working on potential sponsorships and soliciting advice from skate park experts, including a Bellingham resident who is a project manager for the Seattle-based Grindline Skate Parks and one of the organizers of the Marginal Way DIY Skate Park, also of Seattle.

As the park issue has become publicized, some have criticized park organizers for building on land they did not outright own.

“We knew very well the consequences of building our spot on land we did not own, which is why it was very small for the first few years,” organizers posted on their blog (http://thecoalpaddiyskatespot.blogspot.com). “But it was a DUMP on logging land zoned forestry. We only had the best intentions and were trying to clean up and make use of the spot by turning an unsightly trash heap into something we need. Glacier is a secluded mountain town, there is a real need for this project. We were always aware of the fact that we could get shut down. We are only hoping for the best, we didn’t mean to disrespect property rights…”

Meeting coming up

A meeting regarding the future of the Glacier DIY Skate Park will be held on Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. in the Glacier Chamber of Commerce office. The meeting will include a video, discussion and comments on the skate park. Information is available through the group’s blog at http://thecoalpaddiyskatespot.blogspot.com and Facebook page.

January 2010 Cover by Bradley Lockhart

"Painted Backs" by Shelly Browder for "supporting artistry through community"

Well hello, there, boys and girls. Happy New Year! How are you this year? I’ve gotta say, aside from the birth of my darling Ruby, 2009 was a challenging one. So we’re looking forward to a new year and welcome 2010.

And to start the year off we launched a new look to What’s Up! Magazine. Not many folks know this, but my initial idea for the magazine (during its conception) was to publish in a tabloid format. At the time, though, it didn’t work out, so we went with something different. Almost 12 years later, I’m very, very excited to have the new look, it’s what it was supposed to be in the first place.

We are not doing a massive overhaul of the mag’s feel we love the magazine, just needed to implement it into a tabloid feel. This change is more affordable for us (which helps keep us in business!) and allows us to publish more content! This issue, for example, we added the feature “Off Beat,” which looks at a news story that may be of interest to music lovers, as well as “What We’re Listening to,” a rundown of some of the great music (from all over the globe) that local folks are listening to.

With this issue, we had some things pop up after the holidays that kept us from being able to include everything we’d have liked to (or allow us to get out on time – we apologize for the delay). But stay tuned over the next few months, as we’ll be adding and expanding our music content, including more columns and special features, diversifying and providing you with lots more local goodies to read. I would tell ya about them, but then it wouldn’t be a surprise.

In other What’s Up! news, it’s that time again! The 9th Annual What’s Up! Awards Show is being held on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Wild Buffalo and will feature Femme Uke, Pan Pan, Dog Shredder, Acorn Project and the All Nighters along with sets by the Dirty Bird Cabaret. Poops will again MC the night, while DJ Postal will be spinning at the breaks. Plus, all the glorious awards, which will be amazing. there are some incredible surprises this year. Cost is five bucks. FIVE BUCKS! Ya know, I really can’t believe the show is in its ninth year blows my mind.

And don’t forget, on the night before the awards show we’re going to host the 2nd Annual Pre-Awards Show at the Viking Union and Underground Coffeehouse. Things will kick off at the UCH with Council of Lions and Bellingham Free Choir, then followed at the Viking Union by Rooftops, Sugar Sugar Sugar, Yogoman Burning Band and Idiot Pilot. The UCH show will be free, however the Viking Union show will cost $7 for general admission and $6 for students with a WWU ID.

Over the two nights, you’ve got 11 of the best bands in town, all playing music for your listening pleasure. Come check it out, should be a hell of a weekend! Thanks to everyone involved and supporting the show.

We’d like to welcome aboard the contributions of photographer Matthew Curtis. He’s begun taking photos for the magazine, including this month’s Pan Pan and Jessica Lohafer are courtesy of Matt.

Finally, before we get to the music, we have one last bit of news… What’s Up! is again working to update the local band database. Yeah, I know I’ve said this before, but this time around we have someone specifically working on it. And this someone is not just an overworked dad (me) trying to fit in the time. So, if yer in a band, send over your information (band name, members, contacts, etc.) to editor@whatsup-magazine or send us a message via MySpace or Facebook.

COMINGS AND GOINGS

The big news, of course, is the opening of the Plan B Saloon in the old Factory space. Opened up by Bucketz and crew, they kicked things off with epic show on New Year’s Eve with the Cheeps, Sugar Sugar Sugar, The All Nighters and Boss Rhino. They are working hard to get the month booked up, and one thing that is for sure (if early reports are accurate) is that Wednesday evening open mic is damn good. You can look for the club to be similar to the Rogue, but better, because it’ll also mix some of the Factory vibe (R.I.P). I expect this to be an incredible addition to the local music scene. Go and down and support them. We wish you the best you guys!

Speaking of the Cheeps, they are a band again. As Lupe from Sugar Sugar Sugar said to me, “thank f@#!ng God.” Agreed.

Chris Gusta (aka Deer Seeking Headlight) has teamed up with Bill Anker from the Whiskey Wailers as well as Jess Manley and AJ formerly of Octagon Control to make Scum Eating. They played their first show in early December and will hopefully be playing live more in the upcoming months. And hopefully changing their name, because Scum Eating freaks me out.

I’ve really been digging Dylan Morrison lately. He’s another guy that’s been a bit under the radar, but is very cool. Good folky stuff, check him out if you’ve got the chance. He left town for awhile, but is back in the fold.

Queen Amena are either on a long hiatus or have called it a day. I got the impression it was just a long hiatus, but ya never know with these things.

Another band that’s flying under the radar a bit is Hoot Hoot, featuring Alex Niedzialkowski from Cumulus as well as Sonja Prins and Cora Glass. They haven’t played a whole bunch, but I really love the couple songs on their MySpace site.

GOOD TIMES

Micah Knapp, one of the many badass movie guys in town, has a couple projects in the works. First off is a little movie called Fantastic Stan Goes to Hell, which includes none other than David Stray Ney playing the devil (don’t say anything), as well as a cool documentary on the Cliff House, which he’s been working on for a couple of years. There’s also rumors of a video for Jenni Potts. Gotta love a busy movie man.

I rarely, rarely ever talk about shows happening in Seattle, but there’s a fantastic band playing on Jan. 24 called White Denim. They’re from Austin and one of the best bands I’ve heard in the last decade. They’ve got nothing to do with Bellingham (other than we hope they’ll swing through our neck of the woods on their next tour), but thought I should give ya’ll a heads up anyhow.

RECORDS AND RELEASES

Four Players are releasing their debut CD, Four Score, with a pair of CD release shows on Saturday, Jan. 16 at Cap’s with guests Go Slowpoke, and also on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 5 p.m. at Everyday Music. The band includes members of the Roaming Moanies as well as Shea from the Sweaty Sweaters. Very cool music from a band that’s floated under the radar a bit.

Months ago, I mentioned in le Beat how much I love the Holy Tailfeathers. Well, the four-piece have finally released their debut CD (which I’ve had a version of for a while) and I’m ready for the town to fall in love with it as well. I’ve heard from more people that think they are, by far, the most underappreciated band in town, and I couldn’t agree more. They are absolutely fantastic, an incredible band with a fantastic vocalist in Leatherpants. It’s time you all discovered them.

The boys in Caparza have a new demo out and some shows coming up, so check ‘em out. Lance and the boys like to rock… err… RAWK (wow, I went old school on that one).

The Low Country Thieves have finished up their latest, The Nickajack EP. The bands been working on the album off and on for six months, so they’re excited it’s finally all wrapped up. You can buy the disc at CD Baby or at one of their local shows.

Vantage have just returned from a sweet little tour down to San Diego and back up to Bellingham, hitting some good hot spots in between. You can read more about how it went in this month’s Tales From the Road (page 33). This month, they’ll be at Two Sticks, the studio owned by Jason McGerr of Death Cab for Cutie fame (who, incidentally, has moved back to town) recording with Jackson Long. Looking forward to hearing the boys after they’ve been Jacksoned.

Another band at Two Sticks is the Love Lights, who are taking their first real break from playing live shows while they record their new album. No idea on when the disc will be released, but they’ll also be Jacksoned, so we’re sure it’ll sound good.

The Lumpkins, one of Bellingham’s gifts to country music, is just about done with their debut recording, Another Wasted Day. I’ve been told by head Lumpkin, David Stray Ney, that the band is incredibly excited how the recordings turned out. Initially the disc will be released on digital format only, then followed by 12″ vinyl. Good stuff. Also look for a story on them in the February issue of What’s Up!

Even though he’s got an album just out, Daniel Anderson is already working again on the new Ghost and the Grace CD… while he’s also working on the new Idiot Pilot CD. Both of which, from what he’s said to me, are above and beyond anything he’s ever done. Resident genius? Possibly. Hell, I’d give it a damn, damn good chance.

Yogoman Burning Band are working on a February tour, with details to be out soon. Jordan has also been down in Killion Sound in LA working on finishing up the new album. Fantastic.

Baltic Cousins have recently been in the studio, recording with John Brooks from Brunette Sweat. You can look for a story on the band next month in this very magazine. Ya know why? ‘Cuz they are GOOOOOOOOODDDD.

ON THE ROAD

Hitting the road in the spring is Sugar Sugar Sugar, who are playing a huge tour across much of the country. Obviously, ya know how much I absolutely love this band, they are the real deal and incredibly special. I’m looking forward to them spreading the Sugar gospel all over the U.S.!

Looks like Candysound will be hitting the road again this spring, down to California and back. No word on exact dates, but any time these guys hit the road, good things happen. They also recently went into the studio, though no official word from the band as to what happened with those recordings.

SHOWS

A couple of local bands are playing this year’s Sound Off! 2010 at the EMP Skychurch on Feb. 13. Candysound along with Pan Pan and Cozy Kitchen will be playing this huge show. Good luck!

On Jan. 21, Boogie Universal will make their triumphant return with a show at the Wild Buffalo. The Official Pre-Party and Fundraiser will include sets by Michael Manahan and Rob Noble as well as special guests. The show is a precursor to the big event, which will happen on Feb. 27 at the Majestic Hall and include Super Geek League, March Fourth Marching Band and over 100 performers. This will be one of the most incredible shows this town has ever scene!

The Winter Commission is getting organized for another event in the second week of February. Honestly, I don’t know much more than that but the news of another Winter Commission is really exciting.

Finally, as many of you know, a terrible tragedy stemming from domestic violence took place in the Kendall area. If you are in a domestic violence situation, please seek help. There are many, many different organizations that are out there to help including Womencare Shelter and Domestic Violence Services (734-3438) and Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services (715-1563). For help with alcohol abuse, seek out your local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous for resources and help. Sadly, since 2003, I have known someone who has passed because of a situation stemming from alcohol or drugs. I’m not trying to end the column on a somber note, I just want to urge you to stay safe. Life, no matter how painful it may sometimes get, is absolutely worth living. If you need help, please seek it out, tell someone you love.

Thanks for all of your support in 2009, and we wish you a happy, healthy 2010 full of good times. See you next issue.

-Brent Cole
editor@whatsup-magazine.com