Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

**** Roadie Ritual Segment ****

The intracasies and mechanics involved in trying to understand The Universe machine that encompasses the lives we lead, are quite captivating. In my observation, for every creation there seems to exist a subcurrent of anti-creation, evolution, metamorphasis or perhaps deterioration, depending on what it is and how you choose to percieve it. Regardless of whether the world we live in is a creation, a rammification or just a natural progression, the one thing that always remains constant is change. Change can be seen in all things if you expand the time frame of observation wide enough and at some point one could propose that wherever you look and see something, there was a time in the past that that something was not there. Extremist practitioners of roadie-ism are so enamored by the 'something is, where nothing was' aspect of the Universe that they have created a ritual that demonstrates thier appreciation for it and it is called 'Secret Wall Tattooing.' This financially percarious and not so ancient rite is perfomed by a sercret roadie society whose identities are never revealed.

Secret Wall Tattoo practitioners follow a very strict set guidlines and though I am not privy to the exact rules, I have heard a few things I believe to be true.

1) SWT are to be original works of art created in hotel rooms

2) The art is typically a permanant alteration

3) Any surface may be used as long as the completed work of art is invisible when the room is re assembled.

4) The most common location for the SWT is on wall area located behind a removable picture or mirror. Other areas include the wall behind a removed toilet, the back of sliding closet doors, the underside of chairs and under the bed and on a desk under a bolted down phone. It is even rumored that one ritual involved removing a wall portion between adjoing rooms that was concealed by mirrors on each side. Accordian dropping wall paper is another known technique. Of course it is imperitive to travel with the proper tools including small vaccums, special keys to remove hotel pictures and assorted art supplies.

5) Though destructive, the purpose of the SWT is not to destroy but to add a hidden layer of charater to an otherwise sterile human rental habitat called a hotel room. It is to invoke an unseen change.

Being the curious roadies we are and also knowing which hotels are most frequented by roadies and much to our glee, one of our roadies has located an SWT at one of our hotels!

and

If you are cuious and want to see other SWT's you may want to check out

http://www.secretwalltattoos.com/getFiles.php

Also if this underground guerilla style art intrigues you then you may enjoy http://www.woostercollective.com/ and in paricular maybe explore one of my favorites http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/index.html . Oh, I forgot to mention that the 'maid sweeping' Banksy painting is right near the Roundhouse in London. If you ever are over there, be sure to check it out.

**** End Roadie Ritual Segment ****

Roadies are curious and roadies love to play. A gas station is the next best thing to a roadie playground!

Check out the gas prices whoa!

Let's figure that out in US dollars. 1.085 Euros would equal about 1.41 US dollars and there are 3.78 liters to a gallon so that is a bargain at only five dollars and thirty three cents a gallon!

A cool looking water can

Here we can see roadie Neal has located some delicious and tasty food. Yummy yumm yumm!

And my favorite juice

And these crafty Vienese has come up with the brilliant idea of using super slick concrete in a fuel station. Not that great for cars starting or stopping, but who would bring a car in here anyway. The upside is that it is excellent for service station surfing

The wondering if that was poison ivy we hiked through in the nearby woods,

Dave Rat