S P A C E C O W B O Y S

Big thanks to all of you who came out to SnowFest! It was perhaps the best yet. The Mog sounded (and looked) great and so did all of our DJs! Oh, you looked great too! Did I look great? Probably more like exhausted, cause I was, having just too much fun. I think the only time I sat down was on a chairlift. It was great riding with you all and seeing so many smiling faces. It even snowed on our parade, and it only made it better! The only negative experience I had was being forced to pull the plug on Saturday afternoon (....bitches), but y’all quickly resumed the mayhem Saturday night. Mad props all around. Friday night was the biggest (and perhaps craziest) night the Plaza Bar had ever seen (more on that some other time) no small part due to Rrrus, Brad Robinson and Tamo (w/ help from Viajay). Outside at the Lakeside was equally ridiculous (w/ djs J9, Bassben, Rrrus and Brad), especially when you factor in the temperature. The dance-floor inside just didn’t quit either (w/ Aaron Jae, ShOOey, Mancub Shissla and Kapt’n Kirk on the ones and twos).

Thanks to all of our RIPE friends, both non-djs and djs alike who gave a hand one way or another throughout the course of the weekend.

Most importantly, I want to give a special shout out to all the non-DJ Space Cowboys, who rarely get any love, but really deserve a big chunk of the credit. Next time you see them, tell them how much you loved their set, err I mean contribution, and let them know you realize it just couldn’t happen without them. They are the true rock-stars.

I’ve got to go get a massage now, but we’ll see y’all soon!

-pk.

ps. loose a Camelback? Send an e-mail to pk at spacecowboys.org

After 5 months, it was a heartwarming site to finally lay eyes on our dear Unimog. She broke down on the way out of Burning Man, just past Empire. Luckily for us their is a Unimog service center (Expedition Motors in Vallejo) that specializes in repair, parts and general Unimog upkeep and love. The Mog was towed there after the playa and has been there since. We are frequent flyers at Expedition and have been bringing our Mog there for several years and they always are amazed at the conditions that our poor truck has to face almost every year.

This past visit wasn’t so amazing. We needed to replace the recently replaced transmission. The parts were held up in customs, and add to that the entire staff of Expedition Motors was attending the international Mogfest convention in Germany. Unfortunately our truck repair lasted much longer than we anticipated, with several of those months being stored out doors in their work yard.

We brought the Mog back to her new home on Treasure Island this past February. The dome was not attached during her stay in Vallejo, so there was a large 6’x4’ hole in her back roof. Ooof! As we opened the door there were several questions that we had been asking ourselves for the past few months. Look! There is our flight case for the Rane Mixer!! Stored upside down in a puddle. And the FM transmitter! And its is wrapped in a moldy black cloth. Mancub’s boxing gloves faired much better. The MDX wood on the subwoofers expanded and required a forklift and heavy sanding to get them out. Just imagine all the post playa dust of a week in the desert, 3 months of the wettest winter the bay area has seen in years, and a 30 year old truck with thousands of dollars of modifications….Such was the moldy mood on the few Space Cowboys who were facing the inevitable “will it sill work??” question.

So we began cleaning. Deep cleaning. Amps were removed, plugs unplugged. We pulled out gear that had not been removed in almost five years since we revamped Mog 2.0 in the summer of 2005. Lots of hours of love from Burke @ Pro Audio. Diagnosis? Amps looked good. Some moisture, but not destroyed. Our mixer would survive, but the jury is still out on the transmitter. Now that we removed all this shit, it took an expert to come back and re-install and test the amps. Our resident expert is newly transformed dad-in-residence Brad Robinson. It had been several years since he/we had spent tweeked mog time together.

All the hydraulic lifts still worked. Speakers stood tall and proud and we reconnected the High and Mid amps. We had to borrow a janky mixer from the Brass Tax crew (thanks JoeJoe!) and turned everything on. SOUND! Hooray! But there was a strange look on Brad’s face. He paced around the speakers on the truck and analyzed the output, then went back to the amps. He messed with a few cables and came back around to the front of the Mog. “Does it sound any different?” he asked, as he went back and plugged then unplugged a few cords at the back of the amps. I thought it sounded the same. When I asked what cable it was that we was plugging and unplugging, he informed me that is was the stereo input.

Noooooooo. Could it be true? For the past couple of Burning Mans, Love Parades, Howeird and one or two Decompressions we have all been listening to the Unimog in..in..Mono??? Sure enough. All in mono. Unimog 3.0 bitches. Now in Stereo.

In addition to the new world of stereo sound, we also have some beautiful new bullet-fancy ports thanks to the guys at Neo-Drive. We have also replaced the ripped cone that was blasted out at Burning Man during the Braindrop party. Repaired subs, new ports, cleaned out amps, changed oil, 2nd transmission in two years and now in fucking stereo.

See you on the mountain tops!

xx Andrea

UPCOMING EVENTS ###

Friday, March 5 to Saturday, March 6th – SNOWFEST

Everybody goes to Tahoe, right? And who’s to say what weekend is better than another all things being equal (snow, roads, holidays)? The Space Cowboys! That’s who. You want your winter recreation served to you by seasoned veterans who aren’t afraid to put it all on the line in the name of steaming up your goggles with get-down goodness.

The Olympics are over so get your vicarious ass off the sofa and shake it in front of the rolling avalanche hazard we call the UNIMOG. Daytime, nighttime, follow the locals, follow the funk to Snowfest. Tire chains optional, party skills required.

Friday March 5th 11am-8pm at the Olympic Deck, 8pm-2am in the Plaza Bar, Squaw Valley USA

Starting at 11am the UNIMOG will be on the Olympic Deck at Squaw providing the soundtrack for your day on the hill. Once the sun sets the torch light skiers, lasers & fireworks light up the mountain for the official Snowfest Opening Ceremonies right at the base of KT-22. The festivities continue until 2am with the Cowboy DJ’s inside, including rrrus, Brad Robinson & Tamo, at the official after party right there in the Plaza Bar.

Saturday, March 6th
11am-5:30pm at Olympic Plaza, Squaw Valley USA

The UNIMOG will again be rocking the Olympic Plaza deck all day at Squaw and provide the tunes for an excellent happy hour on the deck.

8pm-2:00am at the Lakeside in Tahoe City

After the lifts close, come join us at 8pm for an Apres Skis San Francisco Style. We’ll be heading down into Tahoe City for our annual SnowDown, again this year at the Lakeside (on the lake right behind Safeway). There is a an outdoor deck with a killer view of the lake, not to mention the Unimog, pizza and entrees, and the Space Cowboy’s DJs and friends throwing down groovin’ break beat and hearth warming house music all night long.

8pm-2am, $10, $5 before 10pm
The Lakeside is located at:
850 North Lake Blvd. Tahoe City, CA, 96145 (behind Safeway)

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Friday, March 5th – FUNKY FRIDAY Happy Hour (1st Fridays) at Mars Bar

The whoreable DJ 8Ball spins new and old school funk and other formats at Mars Bar during happy hour on the first Fridays of every month. Drink specials, pool table, and outdoor patio.

Mars Bar 798 Brannan Street (at 7th), SF 5 – 9pm FREE

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Thursday, March 25 – Space Cowboy DJ 8Ball joins Twestival SF

Twestival is a globally held event brought together by the twitter community to raise money for charity. San Francisco’s goal is to help bring awareness to Concern World Wide (@concern) on March 25, 2009. Helping educate children who are in need, helping educate teachers, and build schools where needed.

Sponsors include: Paypal, LIVE105, Tap11, Eye-Fi, PopChips, and more! Full Details of our event can be seen at http://www.twestivalsf.com

If you have any questions please email us at info@twestivalsf.com Follow @twestivalsf on Twitter or reach out to @krystyl (SF Coordinator) directly.

Horizon Lounge 498 Broadway Street, SF

Tickets are available at: http://www.amiando.com/Twestival2010_Sanfrancisco.html

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Saturday, April 3rd
Putting on the RITZ: Dress up and get down!
With support from the Space Cowboys, Brass Tax, False Profit, The Deep End, Swag, Strategik, SEISMIC and Angels of Bass, our spring formal is taking on EPIC proportions! In addition to what you’d expect musically from such a far reaching collection of San Francisco dance music crews, we’re having a fashion show by Style Division (featuring Miranda Caroligne, Tamo, Silver Lucy, Alexandra von Brommsen, Gelareh, and Miss Velvet Cream), a can-can routine by the Cheesepuffs dance troupe, and Peter Hudson’s stroboscopic marvel, Sisyphish! It’s gonna be one for the history books, folks, and it’s all for a great cause.
A group of us from different camps teamed up to do the AIDS ride this year. It’s a 545 mile bike ride from SF to LA to raise money for the SF AIDS Foundation. Please show us your support by coming out and having a great time!

The Bently Reserve
301 Battery St.
San Francisco, CA
8PM till Late
(Come early for hors d’oeuvres and prize giveaways!)

$25 Donation
Limited discount presale tickets available on Eventbrite

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Thursday April 8, 2010
Space Cowboys host
NIGHTLIFE at the CA Academy of Sciences
http://www.calacademy.org/events/nightlife/
55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park

Join the UNIMOG and Space Cowboy DJs along with Robogames guys are going to take over the academy! It looks like this will be the official kick off to Yuri’s Night 2010, and what better way to prepare than to get our science geek on and pull out the Unimog to blast you out of the park. Look for the Mog to be parked out front, rain or shine, but be sure to buy your presales to come inside and get DOWN in the aquarium. We can’t wait for this amazing opportunity.
and afterward…
NIGHT LIVES The official after party of Nightlife MILK
www.milksf.com
1840 Haight Street

All of the space cowboy DJs and of course our Unimog will be cruising over to MILK afterwards. All FREE! Hope to keep getting geeky with you until 2AM.

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Space Cowboy’s RIPECAST is now live on iTunes

ALL of the sets from BOC were recorded!!! We will be releasing them via our own RIPECAST podcast. We have several podcasts up and running, but there are another 20+ hours of BOC coming your way. You can get this music into your own iTunes in two ways:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=350074808 (this link will only work if you have iTunes)

or by searching for “RIPECAST” at the Apple iTunes Store

Happy RIPEcasting!!

We have been working tirelessly the past month on reviving the soaked sound system on the Unimog. We have our skis sharpened, snowboards waxed and our BASS booming!

With some help from our friends at Neo-Drive (the guys who brought you Robot Heart’s rig) and the triumphant return of Brad Robinson, there are some improvements to the Mog’s subs, and have re-polished, re-tuned and re-cleaned the truck through and through for it’s first outing since the playa! Unimog 3.0 is up and running and now, wait for it, IN STEREO!!!

We hope to see you on Friday at Squaw! Even if you can’t take the day off, be sure to join us that evening for the fireworks, Miss Snowfest Crowning, torch light skiers, laser mountain spectacular and then a Robinson rockout time in the Plaza Bar (We’re throwing down till 1:30 AM!).

And remember this year’s SnowDown is at the Lakeside in Tahoe City on Saturday night. The action starts early, 8pm! And it’s only $5 before 10pm.

See the link below for all the details!

SnowFest!
@ Squaw Valley USA & the Lakeside in Tahoe City

Hey Cowpokes,

The latest episode of the Space Cowboys RIPEcast, ‘Zach Moore Live from BoC 2010’, is now available.

There are two ways you can get this mix:

1) By subscribing to The RIPEcast (for free) at the Apple iTunes store. The link below will take you to the RIPEcast page in iTunes where you can subscribe with a mere click of your mouse. :)

Click here to subscribe from iTunes

2) Or if you don’t use iTunes, you can get Zach’s BoC set right away (along with all the other RIPEcast sets we’ve released to date) using this link

A few words from Zach on his BoC experience:

In more ways than one the 2010 renewal of Breakfast of Champions was very special for me. I made my DJ debut with The Space Cowboys after three fruitful and rewarding years with my good friends at The Deep End. Like the other 3,000 plus who packed Mission Rock, I indulged in the magical vibe and world-class debauchery that make BoC the greatest party of the year in San Francisco. And the whole experience was further-enriched by the fact that many of the people who helped make that day possible for me as a DJ, either through their years of support and encouragement (Piper, Darren, Sh00ey, Bali to name a few) or their influence in our community (Andrea, Clarkie, Kramer and PK to name a few more), were there celebrating the New Year along with me.