BALANCE VECTOR NEWSLETTER # 3 – May '06
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Our third update and it’s great to be able to welcome aboard several new members of the Balance Vector team – Jesse Billauer from Santa Monica, Kristina Anglem from New Zealand and the crew from Talking House Productions in San Francisco.
You can read their full bios on the website but in brief Jesse is a former top surfer who was paralysed in a surfing accident 10 years ago. Since then he has become a motivational speaker and has established a foundation called Life Rolls On (www.liferollson.org) that amongst other things raises funds for research into spinal cord injury and also has a great program for taking disabled people surfing.
Kristina is currently an Adventure Racing World Champion (yeah – another one… I always feel so inadequate writing about you guys!) but she’s in the process of changing her focus from masochistic weeklong Adventure Racing events and is on a new mission to compete in sprint kayaking at the Beijing Olympics.
And the Talking House Productions crew are a multi-talented bunch of musicians and producers who are currently building a state-of-the-art recording studio in San Francisco. The THP crew work across a wide range of musical styles and media genres, producing critically acclaimed music that often has a socially and/or politically aware angle. You can check them out at www.thpro.com.
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| Still surfin’ - Jesse in the barrel at Fiji’s fearsome Cloudbreak |
Everyone else is cranking ahead on a variety of projects that you can read about below. Interestingly several of the team who have been full-time competitive athletes are making the transition to life after competition with some fantastic projects in the pipeline. It’s great to see you guys take the energy and dedication that made you successful in your athletic pursuits and apply these skills and attributes to your new endeavours.
The website is up and running and we’re still hoping to get the team together later this year.
Finally Kit DesLauriers and her husband Rob are once again adventuring as this goes to press – this time in Africa where Kit is planning on skiing Kilimanjaro. This will be the sixth of the fabled ‘7 Summits’ that Kit has managed to ski down (I have no doubt she’ll pull this one off). Thinking of you guys and hoping the trip goes well.
Aloha – Steve and Gus
BV Team News
Kristina Anglem
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| Kristina training hard |
Making the transition from a sport which saw her racing for up to a week, usually on just a few hours sleep, to a sport which sees her blasting down a short flat water kayaking course is Kristina’s current focus. A former member of World Champion Adventure Racers, Team Balance Vector (with Nathan Fa’avae), Kristina is about to head to Europe for the first big test in her quest to compete at the Olympics. She’ll be racing against some of the world’s best kayakers as she competes in the UK and Belgium. “I’m super stoked to be part of Balance Vector. This support has made it possible to have my coaches with me in Europe which will make a stack of difference to learning potential from the experience. I am still on track with regards to my progress line that sees me through to Gold, so while I am still miles away, I am encouraged.”
Jesse Billauer
Jesse is currently organising his summer speaking tour that will take him to schools, hospitals and organisations all over the US. For information on the tour check out the following link http://www.liferollson.org/site/pp.asp?c=egLLKTNJE&b=79282. In addition Jesse will be involved this summer with the regular They Will Surf Again program that his Life Rolls On foundation runs around the US. This program allows disabled people to experience the joy of surfing. “I’m super excited to get into the tour and get into the surf this summer and it is fantastic to have Balance Vector supporting Life Rolls On.”
Sandow Birk
Sandow’s epic ‘toy theatre’ film “Dante’s Inferno” has recently been completed. I’ve been lucky enough to see a rough cut and it is amazing both in it’s execution and in it’s merciless lampooning of many contemporary political figures who shall remain nameless – until you see it! The film is being entered in film festivals around the world and you can find out more about it at www.dantefilm.com. Sandow has also just had an exhibition of art works from his ‘Divine Comedy’ series in Corpus Christi, Texas and is working on a series of woodcuts for a forthcoming exhibition in San Francisco.
Cindy Mosey
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| Cindy at work in New Caledonia |
Also in a “transitional” year having retired from the world kiteboarding circuit last year, Cindy is currently working on her Cindy Mosey Island Odyssey (CMIO) project – a unique women’s kiteboarding event to be held in New Caledonia in November this year. The CMIO will feature the world’s top female kitesurfers racing from island to island amid the stunning beauty of the New Caledonian archipelago. For more information on the event see www.cindymoseyislandodyssey.com. Cindy recently made an honest man out of her partner Andy. The dynamic duo married earlier this year with another Balance Vector team-mate, Nathan (‘DJ Nate-Dawg’ Fa’avae mixing up a storm on the decks.
Nathan Fa'avae
Having retired from professional sport at the end of 2005 with a win in the Adventure Racing World Championships, Nathan is calling 2006 his “year of transition”. He ran the adventure-training component of Eco Seagate, a large corporate event that sees Seagate Technology bring 200 employees to NZ for 5 days of adventure-based team building. Nathan is also working on several ideas for other ‘adventure mission events’, including a multi-day adventure race in Samoa which he hopes will also help raise funds for several Samoan charities that require assistance. And with a third child due soon, idea for an Eco School project forming and still fitting in time for keeping fit and competing in local races “for fun” there’s no danger of Nathan getting bored.
Kit DesLauriers
At the time of our last update, Kit was in Antarctica with her husband Rob. They successfully climbed and skied off the highest peak in Antarctica, Vinson Massif. Kit then went on to South America where she climbed that continent’s highest peak, skiing off the summit of Acongagua on Christmas Day making a first ski descent of the Polish Glacier route in the process. Since then Kit has been in Jackson Hole training hard for her bid to climb and ski Mt Everest. For those of you who haven’t met Kit, training involves things like running up Wyoming’s 14,000’ Grand Teton and skiing off the top! Unstoppable is the word that comes to mind.
pc munoz
pc has been hard out in the studio producing work for other artists and for various film projects. He’s also been performing his Twenty Haiku project with improvising musicians in California museums. Coming up pc is working on a set of new collaborative songs which will be released as digital 45s later this year and as a producer with Talking House pc has been producing new recordings with San Francisco rock band Bray.
Shaun Murphy
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| Shaun (and Sparky) on their Electric Hog in Arizona in a scene from ‘Coolfuel Roadtrip’ |
Shaun has almost completed work on the Coolfuel Roadtrip project. The series is still airing on Viacom’s UPN network (see www.coolfuelroadtrip.com for station listings and times). It has also sold to 11 other countries internationally and recently screened on Discovery’s Science Channel. “We’ve also developed a partnership with Discovery Channel’s Education wing which we hope will be a fantastic opportunity to get the Coolfuel series into schools. With gas prices rising to record highs all over the world the timing for the series and the message we’re trying to get out there couldn’t be better.” Shaun is also involved with Gus on a new feature documentary project on the gangs of LA with well-known documentary maker Stacy Peralta (of ‘Dogtown and Z Boys’ and ‘Riding Giants’ fame). Shaun and Gus are also pitching to get new Coolfuel adventures and other series up and running on international television
Gus Roxburgh
Gus’ 6 part documentary series ‘Human Potential’ recently aired on Television New Zealand to excellent ratings and reviews. Meanwhile Gus was in Japan (writing travel stories and skiing powder), Italy (directing a film crew at the Torino Winter Olympics) and the US (working on the ‘Gangs of LA’ project and skiing some more powder!). Gus and Shaun continue to work closely together and Gus has also been working with some of the other Balance Vector team members – helping Cindy with plans to film her Island Odyssey project, pitching a documentary on Kit’s 7 Summits project, and working with Jesse to organise his summer speaking tour. And he’s also enjoying some rare time at home in New Zealand after spending much of the last 6 months on the road on filming projects.
Bryan Wiley
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| A shot from Bryan’s ‘In Search of the African Continuum’ series |
Bryan’s photographic exhibition ‘In Search of the African Continuum’ premiered in Bahia, Brazil, in January and work is nearing completion of the book of the same project. In the meantime Bryan is making the transition to digital photography and is working with the Talking House Productions crew on documenting some of the jazz legends they have been recording with.
Talking House Productions
The big project for Talking House right now is completing their new recording studio in San Francisco. When completed the studio is set to be one of the most advanced in the US. In the meantime the team of 6 experienced producers, through their own independent recording label, is producing a wide variety of musical artists (including Grammy winners). Other projects include scoring films and television series, providing music for commercials and working for a range of clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to non-profit organisations.