Last Night DIY Celebration's topics - tribe.net

Last Night Afterglow

2007-01-10T04:38:07Z

Wow, we did it! Congratulations. That was something. And the street party was spectacular. I'm proud to have a small part in this large doings by all y'all.

No police interference, no problems. Unabashedly positive press afterward (even in the Sentinel: tinyurl.com/u97hl) Parade people blocked streets and redirected traffic. The parade cleaned up after itself, taking care of litter and debris. Thousands of people came out. Looked like people were 3 deep on the sidelines and the parade stretched through most of downtown.

Check out the photos on Indymedia (indybay.org/santacruz) or in the gallery on the Last Night website (lastnightdiy.org).

I'm thinking, next time, let's see if we can get more musical groups and performance and interactivity down for the street party. The drum circle thing was alright, but after an hour I was ready for some other action.

If we could recruit musical groups to play in all the nooks and crannies around Cooper Square, that'd be swell. Like the folk-punk band Blackbird Raum that played later in the evening, or the marimba band that played earlier. Imagine being able to wander over to the Octogon Building and hear an awesome Zydeco band rockin' it in that little courtyard and then down to the jewelry store by the coffee roasting company and catching a brilliant acapella group. What if the Brazen Squaredance Association blew into the square sweeping up people as it went along.

Just some thoughts. What are yours?

Rico

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 1 reply

Weird, wild and safe: Santa Cruz New Year’s Eve a unique celebration

2007-01-02T02:24:50Z

Weird, wild and safe: Santa Cruz New Year’s Eve a unique celebration
By Shanna McCord
Sentinel staff writer

SANTA CRUZ — Downtown Santa Cruz filled with community spirit Sunday night as a colorful group of about 300 marched from Laurel Street up Pacific Avenue, and several hundred others lined the sidewalks to watch and cheer.

For the second New Year’s Eve in a row, the group known as Last Night DIY — Do It Yourself — brought a wide range of people together to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a parade downtown without permission from city officials or permits from the city to close streets.

Check out all the sights and sounds of the Last Night parade in a Sentinel multimedia presentation.

Marchers filled the entire street as they walked up Pacific Avenue. Cars were forced to use side streets to maneuver around downtown.

Onlookers were bundled in heavy coats and hats to weather the chilly temperatures.

Last Night DIY was designed by community activists to replace the defunct First Night Santa Cruz, an event billed as family-friendly alcohol-free sponsored by the city that was canceled in 2005 because of budget problems.

"To me, this is the best part of what First Night used to be," said marcher Whitney Wilde, who wore pots and blinking lights on her chest. "We shouldn’t have to pay to get together. We’re keeping Santa Cruz weird."

Police said the parade, which wrapped up by 8 p.m., went off without any problems despite the fact that organizers did not get permits.

"The city is very quiet," police Deputy Chief Patty Sapone said. "We haven’t had any major problems."

Parade participants crossed the spectrum from people riding mountain bikes, a man juggling fire torches, four young girls impressing the crowd while riding unicycles and the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra, a group of people who banged on trash cans, lids, paint cans and even an old washing machine.

The parade included several families with children, and many parade participants wore costumes, including a group in Santa Claus suits.

"I’d be crushed if they didn’t have this parade," said Libby Anderson, a downtown resident standing on the sidewalk in front of Border’s Bookstore.

Others said the parade made them proud to call Santa Cruz home.

"We identify with the DIY culture," said Laura Nadel, a Seabright resident who watched the parade with her sister Deborah Nadel. "I identify with people being creative and not relying on someone else to do it for you."

Clay Ryon, the fire torch juggler, said the high spirits surrounding the parade solidified his decision to move to Santa Cruz in 2006 from Philadelphia.

"I love Santa Cruz," Ryon said. "I’m not leaving."

The city Parks and Recreation Department will host a countdown to midnight at the Town Clock with a fireworks display.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 1 reply

Last Night DIY New Year's Parade Returns in Full Force

2006-12-26T09:09:25Z

Following police spying, decentralized celebration refuses permission to bring spontaneous parade to Santa Cruz streets

Santa Cruz, CA, December 31st, 2006: Undaunted by civil rights violations last year by the Santa Cruz Police Department, this year's Last Night DIY Parade and Celebration returns in full force to take over the streets.

In your near future: a New Year’s eve parade crammed with jugglers, clowns, samba drums, pirates, bikes, and marching bands. The usual Santa Cruz city-sponsored New Year’s eve event? Hardly. This is Last Night Santa Cruz, a people’s parade, a do-it-yourself celebration that goes beyond the now-defunct First Night event, canceled two years ago due to money problems.

Last year, the celebration erupted into the national headlines when it was discovered that Santa Cruz Police had violated the civil liberties of organizers by spying on their meetings for three months and gathering information about the group and other unrelated activities.

This year, the celebration returns with an unabashedly defiant point-of-view. A manifesto published on the Last Night DIY website states, "Last Night is a decentralized, collective, spontaneous, open, public New Year's Eve celebration, a completely organic event, organized and put on at a grassroots-level." DIY stands for do-it-yourself and the parade boasts no city-sponsorship and no corporate donors.

The Last Night website states, "The parade is not merely a celebration, but a celebration of the power that we all have when we gather together to make something happen. Not just a street party, but a party to reclaim our streets."

This year on New Year's Eve, the celebration will meet at sunset near the Saturn Cafe parking lot on Pacific Ave.

A Brief History of Last Night

Last Night started in 2005 as a response to the implosion of the city-sponsored First Night celebration. Elsewhere that year, the government abandoned millions of poor people in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, and so Last Night was also a commemoration of the do-it-yourself spirit of those surviving communities.

That year, thousands of people came out to participate in the people’s parade that marched raucously up Pacific Avenue. The parade included the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra, martial arts displays, firedancers, the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Indonesian music, drum circles, floats, and the Opera Lady. The parade was high-energy and peaceful. There were no conflicts with police who’s light presence remained far on the periphery. The parade and it’s organizers represented a broad cross-section of the community.

In a typical overreaction of authority to the threat of people taking responsibility in their own lives, the Santa Cruz Police Department deployed undercover officers to infiltrate parade planning meetings for three months. Records released after the spying scandal came to light, revealed a pattern of abuses, including monitoring unrelated groups and other first amendment activities and compiling police dossiers of organizers. The city's own police auditor determined that police had violated the civil rights of parade organizers. After six months of effort, community, activist, and ACLU involvement, the city put in place a weak policy to curb some of the abuses of police power.

A Decentralized Community Event

Organizers, or "un-organizers" as they prefer to be called, issued a manifesto to make clear the intentions of the Last Night parade, online at the Last Night DIY website at www.lastnightdiy.org. The site also offers history, news, discussion, and press info about the Last Night DIY Celebration.

It is a people's parade and everyone is invited: parents with kids, wayward youth, the homeless, Mexican workers, students, retired people. Get your friends together and bring your creativity to the parade. Build a float or puppets. Bring your friends dressed as clowns. Make music and performance art. Show off your art car. Form a bike gang. Bring your political message because unlike First Night, free speech is encouraged.

The celebration is decentralized -- no one person or group is making it happen. No one is in charge, but those involved in the parade claim they are all leaders. Decisions about tactical matters are made collectively by those willing to step up and make it happen. The paraders are not asking for permits and permission, nor are there any limits on participation. No one is in a position to restrict who can participate or in what way. People simply show up prepared to take part in a city-wide celebration.

Not Seeking Permits

Beyond the impossible barrier of the city's arduous and prohibitively expensive special event permit, the permit process itself is a racket. It is the process through which the city seeks to charge us for the privilege of exercising our rights to free speech and free assembly. Accepting a permit puts someone in the position of having to take responsibility and liability for the actions of others. Parade organizers reject that way of thinking.

The focus is on self-reliance. One of the most important aspects of the Last Night celebration is that people take responsibility for themselves and for their community. As such, parade "un-organizers" take pains to address issues such as security, traffic control, sanitation, clean-up, and police liaison.

The Last Night DIY Parade is not seeking permits from the city. Last Night organizers reason, "When we ask permission to live our lives, to celebrate, to come together, to express dissent, we legitimate the power of institutions over us. We give up our power to make our own choices. We refuse to ask permission to be free."

The Last Night manifesto states, "We want to live in a world full of play and celebration, where self-expression is a matter of course. A world full of surprises, in which relationships are authentic and open-ended. A world in which we share a direct connection to the world around us. Where one does not have to ask permission of authorities to realize one’s dreams of adventure and possibility."

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Anyone want to make giant bird puppets?

2006-12-19T17:05:14Z

I have a vision, a vision of a flock of giant flapping bird puppets flying through the parade, decked out in colorful feathers. I will be gathering materials and making at least one of these creatures a reality at my house on December 23rd (This Saturday!) and more on the 30th (Next Saturday!) come at noon, and bring paint, cloth, feathers, colored paper, glitter, wood, wire and anything else you want.

come talk to me or message if you want my adress or more information.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

New Last Night Website

2006-12-14T05:52:24Z

http://www.lastnightdiy.org

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

A Last Night Manifesto

2006-12-14T05:51:24Z

A L A S T N I G H T M A N I F E S T O

Last Night is a decentralized, collective, spontaneous, open, public New Year's Eve celebration in Santa Cruz, California. Last Night is a completely organic event, organized and put on at a grassroots-level. No city-sponsorship. No corporate donors. It’s a do-it-yourself (D.I.Y.) parade and celebration.

We write this manifesto in the spirit of understanding, in an attempt to communicate our intentions. The parade is not merely a celebration, but a celebration of the power that we all have when we gather together to make something happen. Not just a street party, but a party to reclaim our streets.

Last Night started in 2005 as a response to the implosion of the city-sponsored First Night celebration. Elsewhere that year, the government abandoned millions of poor people in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. Last Night was also a commemoration of the do-it-yourself spirit of those surviving communities.

That year, thousands of people came out to participate in the people’s parade that marched raucously up Pacific Avenue. The parade included the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra, martial arts displays, firedancers, the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Indonesian music, drum circles, floats, and the Opera Lady. The parade was high-energy and peaceful. There were no conflicts with police who’s light presence remained far on the periphery. The parade and it’s organizers represented a broad cross-section of the community.

In a typical overreaction of authority to the threat of people taking responsibility in their own lives, the Santa Cruz Police Department deployed undercover officers to infiltrate parade planning meetings for three months. Records released after the spying scandal came to light, revealed a pattern of abuses, including monitoring unrelated groups and other first amendment activities and compiling police dossiers of organizers. The city's own police auditor determined that police had violated the civil rights of parade organizers. After six months of effort, community, activist, and ACLU involvement, the city put in place a weak policy to curb some of the abuses of police power.

The celebration is decentralized -- no one person or group is making it happen. There is no central committee nor board of directors. No one is in charge, but we are all leaders. Decisions about route and timing and other tactical matters are made collectively by those willing to step up and make it happen. Collective simply means we all do it together.

The celebration is spontaneous -- we are not asking for permits and permission, nor are there any limits on participation. No one is in a position to restrict who can participate or in what way. People simply show up prepared to take part in a city-wide celebration. Our entire community is invited to participate and celebrate together.

The focus is on self-reliance. One of the most important aspects of the Last Night celebration is that people take responsibility for themselves and for their community. As such, parade "un-organizers" take pains to address issues such as security, traffic control, sanitation, clean-up, and police liaison.

Beyond the impossible barrier of the city's arduous and prohibitively expensive special event permit, the permit process itself is a racket. It is the process through which the city seeks to charge us for the privilege of exercising our rights to free speech and free assembly. Accepting a permit puts one person or group in the position of having to put controls on other people, lest someone damage their good standing with the authorities. Additionally, that person or group takes responsibility and liability for the actions of others. We don't want to be in that position, nor do we want someone to have that responsibility for us.

We want to live in a world full of play and celebration, where self-expression is a matter of course. A world full of surprises, in which relationships are authentic and open-ended. A world in which we share a direct connection to the world around us. Where one does not have to ask permission of authorities to realize one’s dreams of adventure and possibility.

Part of creating a new world is resistance to the old one, to the relentless commodification and control of everything, including celebration and the way we relate to each other.

When we ask permission to live our lives, to celebrate, to come together, to express dissent, we legitimate the power of institutions over us. We give up our power to make our own choices and become subject to the decisions of others who may or may not be acting in our interests.

Therefore, we are not seeking permits from the city. We refuse to ask permission to be free.

Love and Celebration,

Last Night Santa Cruz

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Second Planning Meeting For '06!

2006-12-05T04:36:26Z

The first meeting rocked. Here comes the second!

Allright, folks. Here's info for the second un-planning meeting!
7PM, december 11th
My house
132 Kennan St.

Off of Ocean St, between Water St. and 17.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

POLICE SPYING ON PARADE ORGANIZERS

2006-01-13T17:34:04Z

Undercover officers rile New Year's Eve parade planners
santa cruz sentinel
SANTA CRUZ — Planners of a downtown New Year's Eve parade say two undercover Santa Cruz police officers "infiltrated" public planning meetings for the grass-roots event...
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/December/31/local/stories/02local.htm

City residents, ACLU demand answers about police surveillance
Santa Cruz Sentinel
SANTA CRUZ — A crowd of outraged residents poured into the City Council chamber Tuesday to demand more information about undercover police surveillance of planning meetings for a grassroots New Year's Eve parade.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/January/11/local/stories/01local.htm

Santa Cruz New Year’s Parade Organizing Infiltrated by Police
Pacific Radio News
Recent revelations that plainclothes police officers infiltrated planning meetings for a New Year's parade, has citizens in Santa Cruz, CA infuriated. As FSRN’s Vinny Lombardo reports, nearly one hundred people turned out last night at the Santa Cruz City Council meeting to express their outrage.
http://www.pacifica.org/programs/fsrn/fsrn_060111.html

Group Accuses Santa Cruz Police Of Spying
Internal Police Investigation Launched
KSBW Channel 8 TV News
http://www.theksbwchannel.com/news/6004442/detail.html

Photos: "Just Us" Action Against SCPD Spying
Santa Cruz Indymedia
Around 100 Santa Cruzans showed up at the City Council today to demand a denouncement and investigation into the Santa Cruz Police Department's infiltration of a local group's organizing meetings.
http://santacruz.indymedia.org/newswire/display/19313/index.php

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Sandy & Indi's Wedding!!

2006-01-07T07:04:08Z

Sandy & Indi's Wedding!!

When: January 22nd at 3:00 p.m.
(Sunday afternoon, rain or shine!)
Where: Capitola Village Esplanade Park
(110 Monterey Av, Capitola)
Cost: Free
Info: tribes.tribe.net/sandyandindiswedding

Fairies, pirates, stiltwalkers, firedancers, hot dogs, kazoos, conga drums, and more! Come join Sandy and Indi in the celebration of their love. These two have been the best of friends for eight years and are finally ready to tie the knot and start a family (beyond their dogs and cats and birds and fish and lizards!) Festivities begin in the Capitola Village Esplanade Park and continue in a love-parade up to the party at 4830-B Capitola Road. It will be an art-wedding, free-form and fun. Costumes encouraged - anything goes! Everyone’s invited, come one, come all! Bring your kids and pets, and food and drink and musical instruments, too!

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

wrap-up: An Open Letter to All y'all

2006-01-06T23:59:30Z

We did it. What a beautiful celebration. What an amazing group of people.

Thousands of people came out New Year's Eve to participate in the people’s parade that marched raucously up Pacific Avenue and spanned many blocks. The parade included the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra, martial arts displays, firedancers, the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, peace marchers, Indonesian music, drum circles, floats, the Opera Lady, the Man in Black, zombies, and much much more. I was thrilled to see spectators on the sidelines plunge in to the parade and become participants. The parade was high-energy and peaceful. There were no conflicts with police who’s light presence remained far on the periphery.

I woke up on January 1st (in my bed, not in the hoosegow, I was happy to note) and thought "This is our year." This is the people's year to do exactly what needs doing. No one can stop us.

I had the good fortune to be a tourist in Oaxaca City, Mexico years ago when the Zapatista delegation was making its historic trek to Mexico City to make their demands to the Mexican government. I'll never forget a rally in the central plaza with thousands of people chanting "¡El pueblo, unido, jamás será vencido!" Roughly, "the people united, will never be defeated!" Indeed.

That's how it felt on Saturday night. Joyous. Defiant. Victorious. Heartwarming. Thrilling. All those things and more, a swirl of emotions. The magic and mystery of the unknown, the unplanned, the unscripted.

In September, I wrote: "This is our town, our celebration, our night. Let's do our own parade. A Last Night celebration. A last night of waiting for governments, institutions, or anyone else to entertain us, satisfy us, bring us security, freedom, or joy. We reclaim our streets and usher in the new year with our own celebration."

Throughout this year, I want to keep that in mind. This is our town. We make it happen. We make up our community and we are what makes this town vital and full of life. This is our year. If we want to see something happen, we make it happen.

If there's a war on that we need to stop, let's stop it. If there is injustice, let's right it. If there is suffering, let's put an end to it. If we need to celebrate, let's do it.

That was our last night, of waiting and seeing.

Love and celebration,

Rico Thunder

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 2 replies

How did it all go?

2006-01-02T05:18:09Z

I was out of the country, how did the parade go?

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 2 replies

CRITICAL NEEEDS

2005-12-22T18:50:34Z

Is there still a chance to get involved?

Absolutely. There is a lot that still needs to be done. And we need lots of help. Here is a quick list of critical Last Night needs. Email us as soon as possible if you can help.

1. Art&Revolution's Giant Puppets needs fifteen people to operate them.

2. The Trash Orchestra has more instruments than people to play them. We need ten more trash orchestra players (no previous percussion marching band experience necessary).

3. We need your help along with a half dozen people making Last Night banners

4. We need a dozen people in the parade's Sweeping Tail to clean up after the parade.

5. We need two experienced people to serve as police liaison

6. We need an experienced group for safety and security

7. We need lawyers and legal support

8. If you are an experienced videographer, we need you to document the parade

9. We need still photographers to document the parade

Check out this list of 7 ways you can get involved.

Rico

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 4 replies

PUPPETS, anyone?

2005-12-22T18:41:10Z

Hey, all. I've been pretty inactive on this project so far due to current time constraints, but I'm really interested in doing some puppetry for the evening. Yeah, yeah, I'm a psycho who lives in John Malcovich's brain, tee-hee, etc., etc.! ;-D

Seriously, I have some small marionettes that would be fine for a a very low-scale, sidewalk thing, but would not allow a whole lot of viewers due to their small size. Does anyone have a portable stage? I'm most interested in doing some human-sized puppets, which would be more visible and would solve the stage problem. I love the concept of Mummenschanz and I'm open to ideas.

I'll be free to put a lot of time into this starting around the 9th. Are there any Frank Ozs dying to join me?

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 9 replies

Photo Gallery and Website Updates

2005-12-19T16:37:08Z

Check out the new photo gallery. http://www.lastnightdiy.org/gallery/

(Warning to those with slow dial-up connections: These are very large files. But they are partially provided so media outlets can pick them up at their leisure. And print media needs large hi-res photos.)

Also, take a look at other updated sections of the website: About, Join, Action, Download, and Gallery sections. And check out the growing list of people and groups participating.

http://www.lastnightdiy.org

Rico

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Here's what you missed

2005-12-19T10:43:23Z

Here are just some of the things that have come out of the several Last Night un-planning meetings since September.

Why are we here?

We all came with different but similar hopes for Last Night. Here are some of the broad variety of reasons we are involved in this do-it-yourself event:

* self-reliance
* new exciting experience
* fun and a good time
* free-expression
* empowerment
* blowing minds
* revolution
* political involvement
* developing alternative community
* showing the power of the people
* seeing more whimsy in our town
* developing DIY culture
* community
* great music
* bone-shaking percussion
* and a rollicking good time

Are we really going to do this?

We asked ourselves this question early on at the first meeting. Talking about whether we wanted to have a do-it-yourself Last Night parade and hoohaw, the vibe was less like, "Sure, okay," and more like "Yo, hell, yeah." The enthusiasm was inspiring.

The number of groups who've told us they were committed to participating in the parade has steadily grown. And as we get closer to the date, the pace has increased. The event has a life of its own beyond the few original un-organizers. And that is as it should be. http://www.lastnightdiy.org/who.html

Starting out

After some discussion, we arrived at a staging place and time:

Meet 5pm New Year's Eve at the Saturn Cafe Lot

We chose to make the parade early in the evening (rather than closer to midnight) for several reasons: 1) Shortly after sunset is the traditional time of the First Night procession, 2) lower ratio of drunks to the rest of us, 3) lower ratio of law enforcement to civilians, and 4) it gives parade participants a chance to make other plans later in the evening.

Self-reliance and responsibility

We've talked a lot about security and safety. To that end we are still seeking an experienced group to help with that. We were interested in contacting several volunteer groups that some un-organizers know from other events.

Additionally, safety is a concern for the stilters and firedancers within the parade. We want to make sure there is an adequate perimeter for spectators and other parade participants.

We were concerned about any litter or mess that the parade might leave behind. So we planned to create a Sweeping Tail that cleans up after the parade. We still need people to help organize and participate in this.

We are not asking the city for extra sanitation support, so we ask parade participants and spectators to not burden downtown businesses and take care of their business before they leave home if you can. After all, we each want to take responsibility for ourselves, ya?

How about outreach to other folks in the community?

We want to target our recruiting efforts to groups doing awesome stuff (bicycle folx, drum bands, political groups, clowns, pirates, street theater performers).

There are still segments of the community we feel are not represented. Where are our Samba bands? Political groups? Marching bands? Art cars? Zombies? Wacky fashion designers? Pirates? People of color? Kids? Where are the children?

We'd still like to see a coalition of the homeless marching proudly. Here is an important part of our town that is invisible most of the time -- how about at least one day of the year our homeless citizens can march proudly as members of our community.

People with connections to different groups are encouraged to talk to the people they know and see if they can get a commitment to participating in the parade. Also, people can make (and have made) fliers and handbills tailored for groups they'd like to see in the parade. Check out the Last Night fliers and handbills in our download section. Feel free to print and distribute them. http://www.lastnightdiy.org/download/

How about the drum-dance thing?

After some discussion, we have potential sites (and alternates) for the all-live acoustic hoedown after the parade. This will be a central location near the heart of downtown and should be a fun way to end our first Last Night DIY new years celebration. The parade will lead us all to the secret location of the drum-dance celebration.
Is there still a chance to get involved?

There is a lot that still needs to be done. And we need lots of help. Here is a quick list of critical Last Night needs. Email us as soon as possible if you can help. info(at)lastnightdiy.org

* people for the parade's Sweeping Tail that cleans up after us
* experienced group for safety and security
* lawyers and legal support (you know, just in case)
* an experienced videographer to document the parade
* still photographers to document
* people to play in the Trash Orchestra (no previous percussion marching band experience necessary)
* Last Night banners

Check out this list of 7 ways you can get involved. http://www.lastnightdiy.org/join.html

You can post to the email list and keep the discussion going. Or you can hop on the tribe.net Last Night discussion right here.

The Last Night Un-Planning Meetings: A Recap

The un-planning meetings we've had so far have been exciting. Great to meet all the un-organizers of Last Night, ordinary people who've decided that we want to make this happen.

First Last Night Un-Planning Meeting: Discussed (Oct 29): intros, publicity, what this is, stuff happening, developing plans, after celebration, a sweeping tail, giveaways, what if the city hosts their own procession? police liaison.

Second Last Night Un-Planning Meeting: (Nov 19) Discussed: intros/check-in, next steps, outreach, safety and security, police/city liaison, documentation

Third Last Night Un-Planning Meeting: (Dec 5) Discussed: intros/check-in, starting/staging point, starting time, who else is in? outreach, revised media guidelines, legal support, safety, police/city liaison, documentation

Forth Last Night Un-Planning Meeting: (Dec 17) Discussed: intros/check-in, what's happened so far, updates, who's in, outreach, safety and security, documentation, legal support, and next steps

Fifth and last Last Night Un-Planning Meeting: Thu Dec 29 at 6pm, location TBD.

Trash Orchestra Build and Practice Days

The Trash Orchestra Build and Practice Days have been great! We've built our instruments and practiced a good bit. We now have more trash orchestra instruments than people to play them. So there are openings in the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra.

At first, we found that we were good at making noise, less good at making it sound pleasant or interesting. But with a little practice and some planning, we are sounding great. Or at least, great for a bunch of amateurs pounding on trash!

We'll be having one big practice the day before New Year's on Friday the 30th of December. 6pm to 8pm at the fish in front of the Cooper House and Cinema 9. Be there at 6pm sharp. Join us and bring a friend! This is your last chance to practice before the Last Night parade. We have a trash percussion instrument for you.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Who knows Samba Drummers?

2005-12-19T01:59:44Z

Can we get them involved in Last Night?

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 7 replies

NEW MEMBERS

2005-12-19T01:57:44Z

Hey-oh. What were you thinking? Did you want to play together? Post your thoughts on making a do-it-yourself new year. Or at the very least, introduce yourself, right here in this discussion.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 14 replies

Last Night in the Sentinel

2005-12-17T00:40:57Z

Wallace Baine, Baine Street: Filling the void left by First Night

First Night Santa Cruz is kaput. But that doesn't mean New Year's Eve on Pacific Avenue is going to look like a Tuesday night in February.

Say hello to "Last Night Santa Cruz."

There is at least one small part of First Night that will live on, despite the fact that the First Night event itself has abandoned Santa Cruz. That's the famous First Night processional, which took place shortly after sunset.

This year, a group of local artists are going to revive the processional, re-christened the "Last Night" parade not the only event using the "Last Night" moniker; see below for details. And they're doing things in a very different way.

Unlike First Night, which tightly controlled who could participate in the processional, Last Night will take all comers. All you have to do is show up.

"First Night was a franchised organization imported from Boston," said gadfly artist RICO THUNDER, one of the Last Night processional participants. "And, as a result, politics, for instance, was discouraged. We feel that politics, and not just progressive politics, is part of the discourse of this community."

Thunder is calling the event a "DIY parade," meaning "do it yourself." He even wants to make clear that he or anyone else is not assuming any kind of "organizer" role. Whoever shows up at dusk on Pacific Avenue can join in with a parade that will feature many of the elements that locals will remember from the First Night Processional without the tightly controlled visual themes.

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"It's simply a lot of people getting together to celebrate," said LAURIE STEIN, another eager participant, "just like people used to do back in the 1970s, throwing a block party, before everything got all expensive and complicated."

The parade will end with the "Opera Lady," the singer who belted out Wagnerian arias at end of First Night parades. Also participating will be stilt-walkers, village drumming circles, the theatrical activist group Art & Revolution, and the newly formed Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra, who Thunder calls a "recycled percussion band."

Those interested in participating in the Last Night parade are invited to come to an "unorganizing meeting" at 6 p.m. Saturday at 742 N. Branciforte Ave., Santa Cruz aka the Big Yellow House.

Both Laurie Stein and Rico Thunder are veterans of Burning Man and hope to bring that famous event's gift-economy ethic to the processional. Stein has even contacted the Black Rock City Rangers, Burning Man's volunteer security force, to show up to serve as security for the event.

"It's a do-it-yourself parade," said Thunder, who said he would welcome the city's support, but won't go through the permit process to get that support. "We're hoping that lots of folks show up, and we do something positive and fabulous."

The other 'Last Night'

Not to be confused with the processional through downtown will be another "Last Night" event, this one a benefit for the venerable old Louden Nelson Center. Board members of the Kids On Broadway theater troupe are putting on the benefit to help the center refurbish and repair the community center on the corner of Center and Laurel streets in Santa Cruz.

The event will feature performances designed for family audiences, including selections from several KOB productions and the party band EXTRA LARGE, all in an effort to replace what was lost when First Night folded up its circus tent.

The event begins on Dec. 31 at 4 p.m. at Louden Nelson. The dance party gets started at 8 p.m. and a candlelight procession — again, keep your parades straight — takes place at 10 p.m. in the park adjacent to the center.

Tickets are $10 for adults; $5 for children. We'll have more on this event as we get closer.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 1 reply

LAST NIGHT UN-PLANNING MEETINGS

2005-12-13T19:08:55Z

Next one:

This Saturday December 17th
6pm to 8pm
Big Yellow House
742 N. Branciforte Ave
Santa Cruz

http://sanfrancisco.tribe.net/event/Last-Night-Un-Planning-Meeting/santa-cruz-ca-95062/367ff05b-007b-4d73-a24c-ad02741ed7c4?nextpage=http%3A%2F%2Fsanfrancisco.tribe.net%2Fhome

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Trash Orchestra Build Day, Sat Nov 19th at Noon

2005-12-06T07:23:19Z

Come, join and help build

The Santa Cruz
Trash Orchestra
build day and practice

Big Yellow House, 742 N. Branciforte Ave

Saturday, November 19th and December 17th
Noon-4pm

We'll create a marching trash orchestra in preparation for the Last Night parade. Percussion on tuned cans, hubcaps, barrels. We'll create our own homemade instruments and then practice making music together.

We dream of marching in a bone-shaking trash percussion orchestra a hundred people strong in the Last Night Parade and Celebration.

Bring materials for making instruments: PVC pipe, bits of resonant metal, copper and steel pipe, bamboo, wire, rope, barrels, buckets, and whatever else speaks to you. And bring several friends who like to bang on trash.

A Free Skool Santa Cruz class with Kris and Wes

408-218-2782
info@lastnightdiy.org

(And later, at 6pm come to the Last Night planning meeting also at the BYH.)

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 2 replies

More Interesting Ideas

2005-12-06T07:20:21Z

I'm still in Thailand doing some bicycle activism, but I'm like to be part of the meeting, so here's my bits...

1. Since it's not a permitted parade..let's hand out stuff, toss candy or flyers to the crowds, since we're NOT allowed to do this on any of the 15 official parades we've been in over the past 10 years.

2. I always like the parades that invite the spectators to join in...So a marchnig band consisting of a shopping art full of instruments, being pushed my a band master, but no one to play them, so she keeps inviting people to play and slowly pickes up steam as people join.

3. Cheer leaders with absurdist new year's cheers., stopping and getting people to chant. We did this for an number of years for Art and Rev..Folks watching love to hollar.

4. Big Banner "Sponsored by the Down-Town Association NOT!" IN fact an absurdist banner with all kinds or words on it, advertizements for air, clean water, etc. As you may know all words on banners were banned in past. QED.

5. Moving performance from the dance studios.

6. a contingent of tourists in the parade from San Jose, just walking and gawking. (cause 50% of the folks there are going to be from outta town).

OK so it looks like I'll be home with Jet lag on the 30th of december..so count me in and tired.

Wasabi

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Un-Planning Meeting - jump in! 5 Dec 6pm

2005-12-01T17:46:15Z

Okay, enough hemming and hawing. It's time you sprung into action. Stop yer waitin' and seein'. The world's gonna pass you by and you'll be bummed.

You are invited to the next Last Night Un-planning Meeting. This coming Monday.

Monday December 5th
6pm to 8pm
Lulu Carpenters

This is a meetup to get to know each other, to laugh some, to brag about what we've already done, to boast about what we're just about to do, to figure out who else we're gonna rope into this crazy scheme, and to plan what we're creating together this New Year's Eve. (The parade, by the way, will be starting at around 5pm, so it will leave you the rest of the evening to play.)

Our biggest challenge is outreach. People already know about it all over town (and beyond), but it would be swell to see a mess of diverse groups excited about it and preparing to make this celebration theirs.

This time we didn't put the meetup smack on a Saturday night, but on a Monday evening when you didn't have anything else planned. We did this just for you, so you could come and join us.

If you came to a previous meeting, call up a couple friends right now and tell them they are coming to help plan their New Year's Eve fun. If you haven't come to a meeting, but are kinda sitting back waiting to see what develops, ahem. Time you came down to see what up.

See you there.

Rico
408.218.2782

Want more info? We hear someone's conveniently put up a website for us: www.lastnightdiy.org

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Last Night Un-Planning Meetings This Saturday!

2005-11-16T04:51:26Z

You are invited to the second Last Night general planning meeting.

This Saturday November 19th 6-8pm.
Big Yellow House. 742 N. Branciforte Ave

Don't forget to tell two people and bring them to this meeting (particularly the sparkplugy people you know). We all come with different but similar hopes for Last Night - blowing minds, revolution, political involvement, DIY culture, community, self-reliance, great music, bone-shaking percussion, and a rollicking good time.

Bring snacks, alcohol, other treats, if you can.

Come with ideas for targeting our recruiting efforts to groups doing awesome stuff (bicycle folx, drum bands, political groups, clowns, pirates, street theater folx). So far committed to Last Night: firedancers, samba, the opera lady, village drum circles, the man in black, stiltwalkers, the tiny instrument band, bicycles!, clowns, pirates, spies, and street theater

If you can, print some handbills off the site and pass them out before the meeting: www.lastnightdiy.org/download If you print the handbills double sided, and cut into quarters, it will make perfect little double-sided handbills.

Bring ideas. Bring a friend or two. Inspire. Be inspired. Scheme. Conspire. Plan.

See you there.

Rico
408.218.2782

P.S. Seen the site lately? Noam has been updating it. http://www.lastnightdiy.org

(And don't forget that the same day at noon also at the BYH is the Trash Orchestra Build Day!)

WHAT IS LAST NIGHT SANTA CRUZ?

A New Year's Eve parade of freaks, clowns, gamelan, politics, fire, samba drums, punks, pirates, art, bikes, hippies, art cars, zombies, marching bands, moms, dads, kids, and music. And afterward, a rollicking drum-dance party -- an all-live Brazilian, Indonesian, mariachi, funk, trash orchestra hoedown at a surprise location.

It’s a do-it-yourself parade and celebration. That means we make it happen together. No city-sponsorship. No corporate donors. We reclaim our streets and usher in the new year with our own celebration.

This summer left us feeling like, What the hell? These are the people we depend on to tell us what we can and can't do? Are we crazy? Our institutions can barely manage their own affairs. And now, First Night, our little city-sponsored humdrum New Year's safe-and-sane event, has finally imploded. It has never been clearer that we can’t rely on anyone but ourselves.

But after all, we make this city. And we create communities. Us. We are the force that has always made our communities connected and vital and full of life.

Who’s Going To Be a Part of It? So far, folks who’ve said they want to take part in Last Night include the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra, fire dancers, Santa Cruz Art & Revolution, Village Music Circles, stiltwalkers, The Opera Lady, and many more. And you, of course.

Get a group of friends together. Start a band. Make some music, or build a float or puppets, create a contingent of pseudo-official marchers (the ministry of silly walks, ninjas for peace, whatever), spin fire, create a bike gang, anything and everything.

A Call to Action: This is our town, our celebration, our night. Let's do our own parade. A Last Night celebration. A last night of waiting for governments, institutions, or anyone else to entertain us, satisfy us, bring us security, freedom, or joy. The Last Night we wait and see. We reclaim our streets and usher in the new year with our own celebration.

More information, upcoming planning meetings, discussion, downloads at http://www.lastnightdiy.org

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Last Night Un-Planning Meeting Recap

2005-10-31T06:56:44Z

Exciting meeting y'all on Saturday evening. More than a dozen people were there. We resolved to each tell two people and bring them to the next meeting, (particularly the sparkplugy people we know).

Talking about whether we wanted to have a do-it-yourself Last Night parade and woohaw, the vibe was less like, "Sure, okay," and more like "Yo, fuck, yeah."

Stuff that I think came out of the meeting that was inspirational, just off the top of my head:

* We all came with different but similar hopes for Last Night - blowing minds, revolution, political involvement, DIY culture, community, self-reliance, great music, bone-shaking percussion, and a rollicking good time
* We had a great list of people and activities who were committed or were at least interested - firedancers, samba, the opera lady, village drum circles, the man in black, stiltwalkers, the tiny instrument band, bicycles!, clowns, pirates, spies, and street theater (we'll update the bottom of the website's Join page soon)
* Much excitement for Trash Orchestra!
* We talked about creating a Sweeping Tail that cleans up after the parade
* We want giveaways for kids and grown-ups along the parade route (candy? propaganda? perplexing gifts?)
* We want to target our recruiting efforts to groups doing awesome stuff (bicycle folx, drum bands, political groups, clowns, pirates, street theater folx)
* We have potential sites (and alternates) for the all-live acoustic hoedown after the parade

So we have meetings coming up Nov 19th, Dec 17th at the Big Yellow House 6pm-8pm, but there was a lot of support for a few meetings sooner (like in two weeks), ya?

If you can, print some handbills off the site and pass them out tomorrow and beyond: www.lastnightdiy.org/download If you print the handbills double sided, and cut into quarters, it will make perfect little double-sided handbills.

You can post to this list and keep the discussion going. Or you can hop on the tribe.net Last Night discussion: tribes.tribe.net/lastnightdiy

Rico

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Fucking Awesome Music

2005-10-26T22:32:04Z

Which awesome local band is down for this? In my fantasies Samba Da or Suco or Goddesses of Funk or all three play the Last Night Parade. And the UCSC gamelan orchestra whose name I can never pronounce. And of course the Trash Marching Orchestra as well.

Who do you know who'd be into it?

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 4 replies

with love from first night

2005-10-26T22:18:48Z

i contacted blake from first night to see if there was any way we could pool our resources.

i must say, i'm not wild about his attitude. but he did throw out a couple pieces of info to consider:

The city is already aware of the plans for fire dancing on Pacific (which I've tried for years to approve). They're putting together a task force with the Fire Dept to put a stop to it. I've been told they will immediately arrest anyone playing with fire. (I love firedancing - the only place the SCFD will allow it is in the Pit on Pacific Ave (1547?), but you have to clear all the weeds out completely, and get Ron Lau's written
permission - he's the property owner.) A parking lot might work too.

Just assorted items: you need permits for everything you're talking about. DJs require sound permits; There aren't enough public toilets downtown to accomodate a thousand people, let alone 5,000 which is the usual parade
attendance. That many people also create a ton of trash, so Sanitation has to be involved otherwise you're talking about creating piles of trash in the streets. Not cool. Street sweeping services must be paid for. You also can't
just set up stages ad hoc. There are fire and police requirements, etc. Even closing the street for the parade requires posting signs 72 hours ahead, working with Traffic, Police, and Fire to re-route buses, etc. Plus, this
kind of thing needs event insurance - you could help responsible if something happened anywhere downtown. It's a large area. Are you willing to risk your home, car, etc.? You could be held personally liable.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 12 replies

Last Night General Planning Meeting

2005-10-26T05:53:12Z

You are invited to the first Last Night general planning meeting this Saturday:

This Saturday October 29th 6-8pm.
Big Yellow House. 742 N. Branciforte Ave

Before you go downtown and join the Freaker's Ball and the general Halloween mayhem, come to the first Last Night meeting and scheme with others.

Bring your crazy ideas for this crazy event. Bring a friend or two. Inspire.Be inspired. Scheme. Conspire. Plan.

See you there.

WHAT IS LAST NIGHT SANTA CRUZ?'

A New Year's Eve parade of freaks, clowns, gamelan, politics, fire, samba drums, punks, pirates, art, bikes, hippies, art cars, zombies, marching bands, moms, dads, kids, and music. And afterward, a rollicking drum-dance party -- an all-live Brazilian, Indonesian, mariachi, funk, trash orchestra hoedown at a surprise location.

It’s a do-it-yourself parade and celebration. That means we make it happen together. No city-sponsorship. No corporate donors. We reclaim our streets and usher in the new year with our own celebration.

This summer left us feeling like, What the hell? These are the people we depend on to tell us what we can and can't do? Are we crazy? Our institutions can barely manage their own affairs. And now, First Night, our little city-sponsored humdrum New Year's safe-and-sane event, has finally imploded. It has never been clearer that we can’t rely on anyone but ourselves.

But after all, we make this city. And we create communities. Us. We are the force that has always made our communities connected and vital and full of life.

Who’s Going To Be a Part of It? So far, folks who’ve said they want to take part in Last Night include the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra, fire dancers, Santa Cruz Art & Revolution, Village Music Circles, stiltwalkers, The Opera Lady, and many more. And you, of course.

Get a group of friends together. Start a band. Make some music, or build a float or puppets, create a contingent of pseudo-official marchers (the ministry of silly walks, ninjas for peace, whatever), spin fire, create a bike gang, anything and everything.

A Call to Action: This is our town, our celebration, our night. Let's do our own parade. A Last Night celebration. A last night of waiting for governments, institutions, or anyone else to entertain us, satisfy us, bring us security, freedom, or joy. The Last Night we wait and see. We reclaim our streets and usher in the new year with our own celebration.

More information, upcoming planning meetings, discussion, downloads at http://www.lastnightdiy.org

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Last Night Handbill & General Meeting

2005-10-18T19:57:46Z

I am just posting a Last Night handbill on the website for you to print and pass off to friends. It is under the "download" section. http://www.lastnightdiy.org/download/

It also includes a call for a general planning meeting, which you should know about and try to come to:

Saturday Oct 29th, Nov 19th & Dec 17th. 6-8pm.
Big Yellow House. 742 N. Branciforte Ave

The meetings are right after our Free Skool class, getting together to build and play instruments for the Trash Marching Orchestra, also at the BYH. So it'll be a day of Last Night prep.

The handbill is double-sided. Copy the page onto two sides of a sheet and cut into quarters. Voila! Magically, you have handbills. If anyone can print a shitload of these off (at work on the sly, maybe?) and get them back to us, that'd be great!

(The handbill is in PDF form, so if you can't read it, go here to download adobe reader.)

Rico

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Help Fliering

2005-10-13T05:45:31Z

Anyone want to help with fliering around town for Last Night? Also distributing handbills at Farmer's Market and other events is great. Anyone have an hour on their hands?

We could also do it together just for the flock of it.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 5 replies

The Trash Marching Orchestra

2005-09-30T20:06:16Z

For years, I've wanted to have a percussion band made of trash. Cans and barrels and piping and what have you.

I'm gonna recreate an instrument I made years ago called the Canstrument. It's an array of 16 tuned (uh, semi-tuned at best) cans played with chopsticks.

What are you making?

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 1 reply

involvement

2005-09-25T08:10:39Z

i think it'd be a great idea to get local groups and various ppl who already throw parties, involved.

they might also have ideas re permits.

anyone have any ideas?

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 14 replies

first night resources

2005-09-16T23:28:01Z

i tried concacting first night to see if we could pool any resources.

i e-mailed and also tried to leave a voice mail but haven't heard back.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 1 reply

Announcement List

2005-09-14T15:13:14Z

Send email to lastnightdiy-subscribe@lists.riseup.net to get announcements, updates, and news.

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

Website Up

2005-09-14T08:36:19Z

http://www.lastnightdiy.org/

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies

The Idea

2005-09-12T19:27:42Z

Who wants to have a DIY New Year's Eve parade of freaks, clowns, gamelan, politics, fire, samba drums, punks, art cars, hippies, marching bands, moms, dads, kids, and music?

After several years of city-sponsored mediocrity, First Night officially goes belly-up. "Lack of donations douse First Night Santa Cruz" says the Senile: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/September/07/local/stories/01local.htm

Fuck city-sponsored anything anyway. Let's do our own parade. A sorta Reclaim the Streets and New Year's celebration.

We're not asking for permits or permission. We're just gonna do it. We meet somewhere at one end and just march down Pacific. Extra bonus points if we can pull off a swell dance party to rollicking live music on the other end. Who's in?

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 1 reply

After Party

2005-09-12T17:52:05Z

What I was hoping for something akin to taking over some public space with Brazilian Drums and crazy trash percussion for a long drawn out hippy-punk dance jam. But I'm open to wahtever.

So what what? Think we can get some good thing going? Take over some central public space? Give our town some interesting entertainment on the last night of the year?

posted in Last Night DIY Celebration - 0 replies