BEAT BACK BUSH IN THE SAND

August 27, 2006 marked a very special day. Not only was it my (Kira’s) birthday, Beat Back Bush was decked out for a LIVE PERFORMANCE AT VENICE BEACH!

In sunglasses, workout shorts and high spirits, we arrived at Venice Beach armed with a boom box, dvds and a clipboard of voter registration forms. Walking towards the graffiti park, we noticed a higher concentration of people than usual lying on grassy mounds. Jurassic 5 had beat us to it! A live concert was organized for the same spot! We began to feel defeated by the high tech speakers, presence of police everywhere, and confusion as to where to go and what to do. We considered leaving and going to a special beach Jo knew about, open to performing should a more ideal situation present itself. But luckily! Our friends arrived and insisted we perform, at least for them, because they came specifically to see our live performances.

Okayyyyy we decided. Let’s do it!
Between sets, we ran off the grassy hill and stood in the sand before the lazing concert goers.

“When I say beat back, you say bush!” shouted Jo. “Beat Back-“
“BUSH!” they answered, the chant growing in volume each time.

We turned on the boom box and performed Down Bush, calling out the words as we moved through the sand in unison. People were laughing and beginning to pay attention. We shouted out our greeting introduction, and continued on to Don’t Buy It, with Miyo leading a rousing workout. Bikers stopped to watch and the laughing crowd grew. We performed Down Bush one last time, to a more attentive audience, and then began to register people to vote and answer questions in the crowd. Miyo and Kira performed an improvised version of Fight Back, and we left them with everybody’s favorite, Makin’ a Noise.

We finished just as J-5 came onstage, gathering our milk crates and headed for the Santa Monica Pier in high spirits. We had lunch at Jo’s family’s restaurant, the Surf Shack, eating delicious fried fish, onion rings and the soft served icecream that reminded us of (but far exceeded!) our college meal plan cafeteria.

We spent the afternoon at a beautiful beach, El Matador, swimming, sunning, and dancing. We held a ceremony to celebrate the life, the tour, and to honor our friend Luis Pagan, who passed in January 2006, and reminded us all of the importance of loving and living in love.

In the evening we celebrated our successes with a victory gala. Gone were the sweat suits and tank tops, this was a night to remember. We toasted our victorious summer and pledged to keep on BEATING BACK BUSH!!!