I want to thank whoever called the Park Police on Techno in the Park on Pride weekend of all times. Thank you for reminding me how special this community powered event really is. It started small, and grew over the last 3 years, but it was never about the size of the crowd, but about the quality, about who was willing to go someplace new. Queer, trans, straight, black, white, young, old, babies, dogs, family, friends. If only 10 people came, we’d still be there dancing in front of the Dante statue, or laying on a blanket on the grassy hill. Sometimes strangers happened to walk through, in awe of how different the energy was than on a normal night in Malcolm X Park. One person asked, “Is this a planned event, or is it people just coming together?” I smiled and responded, “I guess it’s both!”

There is so much trust when we gather there. Trust in @krispritch and I to show up with the sound. Trust in the DJ to carry us through the evening. Trust in mother nature to give us clear skies. Trust in not just the familiar faces, but strangers we didn’t know. Trust to be kind to each other, to watch out for each other, and to keep our little secret heaven safe from the hell of the outer world.

So I hope you can understand my anger, when I saw those three police officers, with their guns, and their tasers, and their commanding voices, telling us, you can’t do this. Turn it off. Break it down. Take it out of the park. Or we’ll do it for you. Making us feel so wrong for being so good.

I want to thank everyone who stayed as I was on the mic being “funny” with the police. I didn’t have guns, so I used my wit. I didn’t have a taser, so I used my sarcasm. I picked up one of our bluetooth speakers and blasted the “SAFEWORD IS DECOLONIZE” song running around the park, daring them to stop me. It felt just as silly as all of the barriers that keep the community from coming together, peacefully. I want to thank the people who came up to me and said they were ready to have my back if they attacked.

I returned a few days later, with that same speaker and recorded a song, “Sadness Acceptance Gratitude Release Hope”.

Don’t y’all worry, we will be back.

Dedicated to Mary & Don Pritchard.

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF BEARPUS & OCTOBEAR

Sadness Acceptance Gratitude Release Hope

B_X_R_N_X_R_D is my decolonized musical identity in a post-technological singularity world. Each time I jack into my drum machines, I dig deeper into my ancestral energy while subversively embracing technology to slowly cut all shackles to european notions of music. I create visceral drum music that is rooted in our past, liberates us in the present, and opens portals into an alternate future.

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