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ROADBURN 2016 Trip Pt. 9: Homegoings and Transitions

iceland

04.18.16 – 13:05 – In air, en route to Reykjavik

Same thing as last year, minor tweak in the execution. I rolled over at 08:50 for an 08:00 alarm, immediate mental brutality. It was six when I went to sleep – same as the night before, and while the alarm was set, it just didn’t happen. I was showered, packed and out the door by 09:10 and that felt pretty good, considering. Like I said, same as last year.

At this point, it feels almost like a part of the Roadburn tradition that I have some snag getting to the airport. After hightailing it to the train station as fast as my sore feet could carry me, I bought my ticket and waited 20 minutes – the Zwolle had just left, the Utrech Centraal would take me to den Bosch, where I’d change to the airport – for it to show up. It did, and though I was stressing the whole time about missing the flight and sent The Patient Mrs. her annual “I’m not gonna make it this time” text message, I got to the airport, through check-in and security with about three minutes to spare before they closed the gate. Made it. A splash of water on the face and neck, a relatively smooth flight, and I’ll connect in Reykjavik before going on to Boston. Back to work tomorrow.

Which seems cruel in hindsight.

A few things to wrap up the Roadburn 2016 coverage. First, the names of these posts come from various song titles worth recognizing. Some were obvious picks, some less so. If you’re unfamiliar, they are:

1. “Hover,” by Spotlights
2. “Dawn” by Elephant Tree
3. No song title
4. “Eternal Waltz” by Beelzefuzz
5. “Cosmic Truth” by Hexvessel
6. “Living with the Dead” by With the Dead
7. “Times of Grace” by Neurosis
8. “Black Magick Boogieland” by Death Alley
9. “Homegoings and Transitions” by Floor

I was falling asleep all night last night at the laptop screen and though it’s the early afternoon, I find right now is no different. Still, before I land and have to find my gate and all that flying-deathtrap nonsense that is, to the shame of our entire species, still allegedly the best way of traveling around the planet, I have a few thank yous to get out. Including but not at all limited to:

Walter Roadburn, whose ceaseless passion and efforts are an inspiration both this weekend and all around the year. The work he’s done and the community he’s built felt more than ever like coming home, even with the changes to the venue, and it was through Walter’s grace and the grace of the 013 staff that it was able to happen.

Thank you to my family for their unending support. If you follow me on Thee Facebooks at all, you probably saw my mother commenting on photos from Instagram. I love that.

Lee Edwards for sleeping (shaman-esque, you might say) through my nighttime typing and for the most excellent work he put into the Weirdo Canyon Dispatch, writing and layout. As well as for the friendship and good chats in the 013 office on those tired mornings for the folding ritual. Seeing Lee was one of the aspects of Roadburn 2016 to which I was most looking forward.

Thanks as well to the Weirdo Canyon Dispatch staff this year – Alex Mysteerie, Andreas Kohl, Ben Handelman, Becky Laverty, Dom Lawson, Guido Segers, Jamie Ludwig, José Carlos Santos, Kim Kelly, Paul Robertson, Sander van den Driesche, photographer Paul Verhagen, the guys from Drawn too Late, Wendy Wright, Gijs Garenfeld, and Cavum, without whose art, the thing simply would not have been the same. All of the above did tremendous work, whether it was writing or other, and the ‘zine wouldn’t have happened were it not for them.

I met Tad Doyle this weekend. That was awesome. Some people I wasn’t brave enough to introduce myself to: photographer Ester Segarra, anyone from Neurosis, Sanford Parker.

Thanks as well to Tim Bugbee, Jon Freeman, Jurgen van den Brand, Rolf from Stickman and Torgeir from Crispin Glover, Ole from Tombstones, Frank Huang, Esther de Rooij, Sanne Reiniers, Miranda, Falk-Hagen Bernshausen, Stefan Raduta, and many more I will add to the list over the next couple days.

To read all of The Obelisk’s Roadburn 2016 coverage, click here.

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