This is a going away party for Andrew Bones Simpson, Mridul Mikey Mall and a "I'm coming to South Philly" Party for Me, Peter.

It will be at the 818 Alter St Space/Studio Free drinks and some snacks, some mixed music Live and DJ and maybe, just maybe some shit will be set on fire!

:)

Peter Parker


-----------------------------

Date: Friday, March 21st, 2008
Time: Around 8:00pm, maybe?
Place: 818 Alter St, Philadelphia, PA
Contact: Peter Parker (610.613.8484) or Andrew Simpson (267.207.7922)
(mostly just voicemail at this #, try Peter first)






Invitation from Andrew ---->

Hey, I'd just like to extend an invitation to all of you to my RAGING KEGGER:



We're gonna be projecting the movie "King Lines," starring Chris
Sharma, on to the wall. If you haven't seen it, or even if you have,
you should come over...it's possibly the best climbing movie ever
made. It's even safe for non-climbers. Check out the trailer here:
reelrocktour.com/trailers/index.html

So come over...it's gonna be a fun night of good movie watching,
drinking, and reminiscing about past times of drinking when I had a
little too much and got out of control. I'm sure we all have stories
like that to share. And hopefully this will be one more night to add
to the collection.

Yeah...I'm going away for a while so anything who knows me should make
it out. This night will divide my "friends" from my true friends.
Yup. Let me know if you can go.

=================

I also just wanted to let you guys know that I've canceled my cell
phone in anticipation of my sudden drop off the face of the earth,
which is happening at the end of this month. I also canceled my Go
Vertical membership and my Facebook account...so I just wanted to send
this out in case people were wondering where I went or how they could
get in touch with me. I think a lot of people have been trying to call
my old number, wondering what happened. I've haven't been helping the
problem by encouraging rumors generally involving the abuse of
household inhalants, the trafficking of immigrant sex workers, and
various disreputable locales, such as Tiajuana and Chinatown.

The plan right now is to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail starting in
Georgia on March 30th, then travel in Asia for a year starting in
India and ending in South Korea. When I get back in late 2009 I won't
be moving back to Philadelphia.

So here's my contact info:

Email: asimpson83@gmail.com (obviously)
Voicemail: 267.207.7922
Online journal: trailjournals.com/andrewbones (nothing here
yet, but soon, keep checking...especially as the end of March gets
closer)

=====




--
Peter Parker Brodhead
Parkerism.com
610.613.8484
Philadelphia

This Saturday there will be a showing of the biggest conspiracy film ever. We'll be showing it on projection screen in the grass at Rittenhouse Square 7:00 on This Saturday's evening of the 15th of March.

That be great to see you out there, bring a blanket or chair to make yourself comfortable. Psychedelic Visuals/downtempo set before and after the film to wrap things up.

:)
Peter Parker

I’m talking about urban climbing, about the endless possibilities of this urban landscape. I’m talking about not settling for a substitution. I realize that I’m spoiled, having climbed in British Columbia and Thailand and that my adrenaline addiction is not easily fixed, but I refuse to step backwards. I refuse to suppress my dissatisfaction and become complacent. I refuse to allow the gym to define my limits as a gridlocked climber.

I’d better confess right now that not only do I have a membership to the climbing gym, but I’ve also built a climbing wall in my home. But this is the fine line that defines our progressive lifestyle: the artificial wall should be used as a tool to open our skills to more possibilities, not delimit our horizons. The minute plywood and plastic are used as a defining meter and not as a form of preparation, the grander idea of exploring the unknown, which drives the climbing spirit, is lost.

This climbing spirit has always lied in crusades into the unknown and the proving wrong of people with skeptical eyes. We owe what climbing is today to the pioneers that forged its history: Ernest Shackleton’s 1909 expedition to the South Pole; Sir Edmond Mallory’s 1953 ascent of Mount Everest; Lynn Hill freeing The Nose and John Gill ascending the twenty-foot Thimble. Each one of these legends has slain enormous monsters, proven countless skeptics wrong and defined the course of climbing’s evolution. What is intriguing about this ongoing evolution is that the scope has always been narrowing in size: from continents to mountains to cliffs to twenty-foot boulders.

Today, in our urban climbing communities, the scope of some never sees the light of day. The modernization of climbing has become so introverted that many of us have locked ourselves in converted warehouses filled with different variations of chin-up bars, chasing numbers like V5 and 5.12. These numbers being the only remnants that reflect the ferocity of those legendary monsters that had to die to make rock climbing what it is today.
The blood trail has found its way to Philadelphia with echoes of The Declaration Of Independence. Training by day, trying not to succumb to the dull mindset of indoor climbing, then dressing in black and assaulting the city by night, our numbers are growing. But, how did it start? Who are these self-proclaimed-revolutionary-climbers that often brandish superhero names? It’s the students; it’s the crazy country kids that learned to trad climb on stone barns and are now enrolled at the University of the Arts, Drexel, Temple, The Art Institute (not so much Upenn — those kids aren’t really from here). Philadelphia is full of privileged white kids from the ‘burbs, soaking up the liberal ambience of the city.

I am one of thousands of students in Philly being educated in the mechanics of our societal system. Inevitably we assess everything around us. Since my particular enthusiasm lies with the climbing community, I, along with others, have reassessed our surroundings. No longer is City Hall just a tomb for courtroom filings, its French Renaissance architecture has been reborn into the most fantastic second coming of Christ… err… bouldering in Center City, Philadelphia.

To you they might just be plastic holds coiling their way up the walls of indoor climbing gyms, like the DNA of some yet-to-be-born creature. But to me that creature is a monster, and it’s already here.

Since the revolution of the indoor climbing gym a whole class of climbers has been raised in this controlled environment, happily filling out insurance waivers. It’s something new, something the climbing community has never had to face before. The reality of climbers truly feeling fulfilled with this contrived climbing experience saddens me, like seeing ancient forests logged away from helpless natives.

So, in these changing times we have to ask ourselves: What will our climbing futures be? Do we accept this endless circulation of plastic climbing holds? Is that really the experience we’re after? The spirituality? Or do we take it to the streets?