We’ve been pretty psyched at the little tidbits of support that we’re getting all over the place about our new little community for dirtbag adventuring.  We started sending some emails and little phone calls here and there and it’s funny, because “dirtbag” either connects or doesn’t.  And that’s fine, hey you’re either sorta a stinky musty dirtbag, or not, and that’s OK.   But those who ‘dirtbag’ connects with seem really psyched on the idea, as if our little idea of a community is a long lost destination; a place where people with soul can come together and spew misc phrases of primarily BS…

And the good news is we’re pretty impressed with the ‘dirtbags’ that have come out of the woodwork to start participating here, we only have about 46 members so far but since our launch we’ve gotten over 20,000 page loads (that’s right — over 20,000 page loads!), and that’s killer…  So people are definitely checking us out.  The next step for us, I believe, is starting to create some really killer content, aka unbelievable trip reports…   If you’re one of the dirtbags community members (or you’re looking to be) I’m hoping I can talk you into starting to post some of your own off the wall trip reports…

I’ve started by posting some old, great stories,  until I come up with the time to start writing up some of the recent adventures I’ve taken this spring including visiting the Beemerchef, which was awesome…  These photos are: 1) The first night after an epic 12 hour trip through central Utah on dirt roads, finally meeting Ara Guregian aka The Beemerchef, 2) His unreal location and my ratty old Toyota pickup towing a new old 1966 Military Trailer I’d built up into a little mobile camping unit, and finally 3) Ara’s setup which is his ‘96 1100cc BMW with a sidecar that his dog rides in… Complete with “doggles” and all…

Related to our support, I’ve gotten some killer emails from Bruce Kirby and Kevin Shepit, who together run the Dirtbag Film and Photo Fest previously mentioned in earlier posts…  I don’t know much about Kevin other than he’s up in British Columbia.  Bruce hosts a TV show on Canadian Broadcasting Company called No Opportunity Wasted which is sorta about the dirtbag lifestyle.  Here’s the tidbit on it:

NOW is more than a TV show. It is a philosophy and way of approaching life. NOW means living each day as if it were your last. What would you do if nothing held you back; no fears, excuses, routine, habit, lack of time? Think of the wonderous experiences wait outside your door. NOW is about ditching the excuses, reaching out to friends, helping others, and along the way, fronting up to the things that scare you most. And finally move past them, once and for all.

I’m pretty pumped as these guys have been really supportive.  Bruce, in typical adventure fashion, is away on expeditions nearly all summer. ((Surfing June 5 – 18; Solo sea kayak June 19 – July 11th, Raft guiding in Yukon July 12th – Aug 1st, France mid Aug – mid Sept.))…   We’re pretty pumped because he’ll be joining our emerging blogger community when he gets back!

Here is an email from Kevin talking all about the ‘08 Festival and the sweetness of increasing dirtbagacity….   Awesome…

It’s really great to see the Dirtbag culture keeping alive…

Yah, we’re really stoked that a festival named “Dirtbag Fest” has really taken off despite much negative warnings.  Here’s some behind the scenes pix from last year’s fest.  What started out as us hoping to get 100 folks to come ended up as two nights sold to capacity (517) and people trying to sneak in, and that’s just in our town of 6500 people!  Something to be said about people wanting to chase time instead of money I think!

(the mascot is our town mascot, the German, leiderhosen wearing, beer drinking, accordion playing, mustache toting fella named “Happy Hans.”) Cheers,

Kevin

On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 9:04 PM, Andre Shoumatoff <andre@shoumatoffmedia.com> wrote:

Great, thanks Kevin.  Looking forward to getting it up and integrating it
permanently into the site!  It does such a good job of what a dirtbag is,
it’s almost necessary to our growth.  Thank you so much!

Cheers,

Andre

Andre Shoumatoff
(435) 631-0021 Cell

> Thanks Andre,
> Stoked to see what you are up to.  Just got back from a road trip.  I’ll
> try
> to get the original DB trailer (longer version) up on youtube in the next
> month or so as a catch up with things around here.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Kevin
>
> On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 12:21 PM, Andre Shoumatoff <
> andre@shoumatoffmedia.com> wrote:
>
>>  Thank you again Bruce…
>>
>> Kevin,
>> What I am looking for is a copy of the 3+ minute trailer that is online
>> at
>> www.dirtbagfest.com – we want to embed this on our site
>> www.hazardassembly.com which can be either through Youtube (which is an
>> excellent avenue) or you can email it to me directly.
>>
>> I’ve tried to pull it off the site but because of flash restrictions it
>> won’t load.
>>
>> Thank you!  Andre
>>
>>
>> Andre Shoumatoff
>> (435) 631-0021 Cell
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  ——————————
>> *From:* Bruce Kirkby [mailto:bruce@brucekirkby.com]
>> *Sent:* Friday, June 12, 2009 4:10 PM
>> *To:* Andre Shoumatoff
>> *Cc:* Kevin Shepit
>> *Subject:* Re: Dirtbag Film Fest – Possible Partnership
>>
>>
>> Hey Andre – awesome, all good, thanks for comments.  I am off on 25 day
>> solo sea kayak, then a Alsek river trip in Yukon, so will be out of
>> touch
>> till Aug… re vids, can you get in touch with Kevin Shepit, the other
>> coordinator of our fest (cc’d on here) and send him the Youtube link of
>> the
>> vid you are referencing… at first I thought you meant the Abba one,
>> which
>> was 2008, but perhaps you are talking about one from 2007 where there
>> are a
>> few interview clisps… either way, he can probably direct you to full
>> length one on line, or send you a file if he has it handy… if you can
>> download it from my site go to town…. will rap more soon, Best, Bruce
>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 12:16 PM, Andre Shoumatoff <
>> andre@shoumatoffmedia.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Awesome, wonderful Bruce!  It’s our pleasure as well and thank you!
>>>
>>> Right now I’m looking on youtube for the same video that plays as a
>>> trailer on your site and doesn’t look like it’s there but a
>>> shortened/condensed version of about 30 seconds, that looks like it was
>>> a
>>> promo for 2008.  Perhaps I could talk you into uploading the full
>>> version
>>> at some point to youtube?  In the mean time I think I’ll just run the
>>> condensed version.  The full is so good that I’m sort of hoping to
>>> perhaps
>>> permanently embed it in the “about” section of the site, where we’re
>>> sorta
>>> using some words and even a little Led Zepplin to get the point across
>>> of
>>> what a dirtbag is.  I love the clips on youtube, also!
>>>
>>> I look forward to your comments and input!  As far as the feel and
>>> possibly the long terms goals of the time, I’m actually pretty flexible
>>> (and not easily offended) really just trying my best to determine and
>>> build what I think a “dirtbag adventuring community” would look like!
>>> I
>>> feel we’ve done a pretty good job (the whole site based off an old New
>>> Mexico license plate, and we’re real community oriented) so I feel like
>>> we’ve done a pretty good job but definitely open to suggestions no
>>> matter
>>> how large or small…
>>>
>>> The idea with the blog side of the site is we’re going to try to get a
>>> pretty stacked group of bloggers with real adventuring and possibly
>>> writing credentials to add real credibility (and some good, solid,
>>> diverse
>>> voices).  But we also have a community powered by Internet forums in
>>> the
>>> site as well, doing trip reports etc and they really are going to be
>>> the
>>> soul of the site, so some of the bloggers I have a feeling will also be
>>> just solid community members (but with clear writing or story telling
>>> skills) looking to participate or even advance their own careers or
>>> something like that, who put up some of the really killer stuff that
>>> will
>>> hopefully be happening in the community.  The adventures of the little
>>> guy…
>>>
>>> For the Festival, I hear you man!  Always a lot of work and I could
>>> imagine so many big and little things.  If you need any help or if
>>> there
>>> is anything I can do let me know.  Also we’re here in Park City Utah
>>> where
>>> Sundance is and I’ve been active with several films in addition to the
>>> whole festival as a whole, and also X-Dance, which is the extreme
>>> sports
>>> festival during Sundance mostly from some of my buddies who used to
>>> work
>>> at Teton Gravity Research in Jackson.
>>>
>>> Thank you Bruce and enjoy your trip!  I look forward to collaborating
>>> in
>>> the near future!
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Andre Shoumatoff
>>>
>>> (435) 631-0021 Cell
>>>
>>> > Hey Andre,
>>> > Thanks for the message, I will check out your sites soon (just doing
>>> a
>>> quick
>>> > email check between waves on a surf getaway with family right now)
>>> but
>>> they
>>> > sound awesome.  I’d love to read more, and yeah, I’d be stoked to
>>> join
>>> your
>>> > blog community.  Let me poke through the sites in the next week or
>>> so,
>>> then
>>> > send you a few ideas.  I am basically away all summer on trips, but
>>> will
>>> have a few minutes between things to send something in.  An honour you
>>> asked
>>> > me, so thanks a ton.
>>> > We are very close to having a new website for Dirtbag Fest launched,
>>> and
>>> were ploughing towards a full 2009 schedule (with 4 nights and LOADS of
>>> cool
>>> > stuff) but hit a snag, and the other co founder and I are kinda
>>> toying
>>> around with the idea of taking one year off.  Not sure right now, but
>>> there
>>> > will for sure be something in 2009 or 2010.
>>> > And yes, please feel free to use our clip, you can embed from YouTube
>>> if
>>> that works for you.
>>> > Will write more when I am at a good connection, cheers for now,
>>> looking
>>> forward to chatting more soon, Bruce
>>> >
>>> > On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 9:29 AM, Andre Shoumatoff
>>> > <andre@shoumatoffmedia.com
>>>  >> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> Hi Bruce,
>>> >> I hope this email finds you well.
>>> >> I have been developing something called “Hazard Assembly – The
>>> Community
>>> >> for Dirtbag Adventuring.”   Dirtbag Adventuring is something I have
>>> been
>>> >> doing for years, and it’s pretty awesome to run into other people
>>> with
>>> the
>>> >> same interest and mind set!  I’m principally on MTB, a telemark
>>> skier,
>>> and
>>> >> I also explore heavily around the Utah desert in mostly my old
>>> Toyota
>>> pickup as we have so much terrain here.  We are very environment
>>> focused
>>> >> though, of course, and I have been working with biodiesel fuel for a
>>> long
>>> >> time as well to make these adventures super environmentally friendly
>>> if
>>> possible.  I also love film and your trailer is particularly awesome!
>>> www.hazardassembly.com and the community itself lives at
>>> >> www.hazardassembly.com/forums .  I’m working pretty hard to develop
>>> it
>>> (it
>>> >> just launched officially launched just this morning!) and we’re sort
>>> of
>>> expecting a pretty solid group of dirtbag adventurers bantering around,
>>> with luck about 6000-8000 regular members in a year or two!   We
>>> already
>>> >> have about 30 members just from the last few days.
>>> >> Questions, 1) is we have a pretty good emerging list of bloggers on
>>> the
>>> site, one of which is (hemhem) my dad, but he was a founding editor of
>>> Outside and is now a senior editor for Vanity Fair on environmental
>>> issues.  He was actually just up in your neck of the woods for an
>>> article
>>> >> on Tar Sands, and manages the site
>>> >> www.dispatchesfromthevanishingworld.com
>>> >> .   The other is an adventuring female who is published in Outside
>>> and
>>> Conde Nast Traveller, etc, occasionally…
>>> >> I’m not sure if you are looking for any emerging blog outlets to
>>> occasionally let your feelings be heard!  We would love to have you
>>> added
>>> >> to the list, and contribute as much as possible but even if that is
>>> perhaps even once a month.
>>> >> And 2)  I *love* your trailer for the festival and it really
>>> captures
>>> the
>>> >> soul of what we’re sort of about as well.  The biggest thing I was
>>> hoping
>>> >> for, if anything, was to see if I could possibly use your trailer on
>>> our
>>> >> site to sort of help explain what a “dirtbag” is, which as you know
>>> is
>>> always a challenge!  What we would do is credit and link back to your
>>> site, promote your film festival (hopefully there is one for 2009 or
>>> 2010?), and help drive traffic to your web site as well.
>>> >> Thank you!
>>> >> Andre
>>> >> Andre Shoumatoff
>>> >> (435) 631-0021 Cell
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > –
>>> > _______________________________________
>>> >
>>> > Bruce Kirkby
>>> > 718 5th Avenue, Kimberley, BC, V1A 2T4
>>> > ph. 250 427 4765
>>> > fax 250 427 4750
>>> > www.brucekirkby.com
>>> > ______________________________________
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> –
>> _______________________________________
>>
>> Bruce Kirkby
>> 718 5th Avenue, Kimberley, BC, V1A 2T4
>> ph. 250 427 4765
>> fax 250 427 4750
>> www.brucekirkby.com
>> ______________________________________
>>
>

Kevin