Feel the Byrnes

Worth the Wait

Tricia Byrnes — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:07:51 +0000

Generally speaking, I’m kind of impatient and slightly jaded. So, when it takes the season until January 21st to snow a few feet, I’m about ready to throw the towel in, move somewhere tropical and sip umbrella drinks with my toes in the sand . I mean I’ve had loads of epic powder days, blustery and bluebird and everything in between(not braggin just sayin) and so the thought of lining up with the rest of the powder starved people on a Sunday morning is not that inspiring. But what I forgot was, that riding powder is fun…so much fun and if that means getting up an hour before the lift opens to stand around with a bunch of uber agro mountain types chomping at the bit, scheming and planning their “epic routes” down “dipsy doodle and devil’s alley” well, fine, I’ll do it. And I’ll even stand around in a huge ass line up the next day, with all the crusty mountain men who don’t have real jobs and hike up Highland’s bowl for a few epic slashes in the trees with my friends because snowboarding is fun and these are the kind of days that renew your spirit and remind you why winter is fun and stuff.Highland’s bowl untracked.

So yeah, maybe I’m not that jaded after all and for the record a good powder day with friends is worth the wait…

xoxo t

Flaming Lips

Tricia Byrnes — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:59:08 +0000

My ears are ringing and I’m still pulling bits and pieces of colorful confetti out of my hair from last night’s Flaming Lips show. Somehow the boys from Oklahoma City managed to squeeze their explosive theatrical arena rock experience into Aspen’s cozy little Belly Up, turning the 400 person venue into a blown out amphitheater event complete with costume clad party goers and 20 somethings tripping their faces off. From the moment Wayne and the crew stepped on stage and a barrage of sensory explosions were unleashed. Within the first five minutes of the show Wayne inflated a giant, plastic space bubble and proceeded to walk/crawl/bounce over the crowd, confetti canons blew up in our faces and massive confetti filled balloons bounced and popped on top of us…and then there was the music. Aside from the solid poppy/psychedelic standards you’d expect from the Lips (She Don’t Use Jelly, Do You Realize etc.) they played a slew of Beatles songs, warming up for their NYE show with Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, including a 20 minute jam on A Day In The Life which was about as trippy as I’d imagine the Beatles might have been in their Srgt. Pepper Days.laser beam hands…And, yeah….the confetti. Honestly, after two and a half hours of creative antics and constant confetti, it never got old. Which is kind of amazing, especially considering the fact that I was probably the only person in the joint who wasn’t on some mind altering, medicinal, chocolate type thing. Although, by the end of it I did feel a wee bit out there…So yeah, a big thanks to the positive, playful energy of the Flaming Lips and for giving us more reasons to be blasted in the face with confetti canons.

xoxo t

Hear Me Now…

Tricia Byrnes — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:04:26 +0000

So here’s the deal….I’m not a feminist. I mean, yeah, I took the obligatory mind melting Fem Studies class in college and tend to get all irate about inequality, female or otherwise, but I kinda like to think we’re all looking out for each other…man, woman, dog, cat, yeti etc. But lately it has come to my attention that in our little community of shred things aren’t quite as equal as they used to be.Tina B getting her late 80′s tweak on….photo courtesy of Chantry.

A long, long time ago, when I started snowboarding (yup, I’m all old and stuff) there was no such thing as women’s boards, boots, bindings etc. or women’s events or equal prize money or any of that stuff we tend to take for granted these days. So, the small group of women’s snowboarding pioneers banded together slathered everything in pink (gag) and made some big stuff happen; we started creating our own products and events and demanding equal prize money. Now, women’s snowboarding is more progressive and popular than ever with arguably the best rivalries in the sport and it seems we’re taking a step back.

Gretchen and Kelly will not be Dewin the Dew…

The Dew Tour cut the women’s events from the Killington, VT stop, X Games trimmed down the women’s field to 8 riders and TTR has events of the roster that don’t have equal prize money. Maybe this is more a commentary on the state of affairs of the world (see economic crisis a la Greece, Italy etc.) or what happens when we whore out our sport for made for TV events that are more interested in time slots and commercial holds than good ol’ fashion shredding… I dunno. lights, camera, shred…

All I do know is that like good little girls we’re politely sitting back and waiting for someone else to open up the door. Not that we need to beat down the TV stations, burn our bras and beg for them to take us back but maybe just a little teeny, tiny, peep from the snowboarding community saying “hey, it aint cool”. So, here’s my peep and ya know what, it aint cool and as much as I love me some good primetime carnage and snowboardy drama we’re better than that and maybe we should show a little move love to the events that have been supporting snowboarding all along and didn’t just sign up when we got all hot and skinny and stuff…

kisses… t

PS. While we’re on the topic, chivalry better not die on my watch. I like having the door held open for me and having a fancy drink sent my way every now and again…yup, that’s right, I wanna have my cake and eat it too.

Christmas Cheer

Tricia Byrnes — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:29:39 +0000

GB, me and Kelly with the world’s unhappiest elf..

Two years running, Gretchen, Kelly, Chris and I have hosted a little holiday ho ho hoedown in Breck. Last year we rallied the troops in a Christmas cookie making extravaganza and this year we held a good ol’ fashion ugly sweater party. Luckily, Summit County has enough ugly sweaters to outfit the entire world of shred in hideous turtlenecks, sweater vests and holiday get ups and we served enough eggnog and mulled wine to convince 20 of your favorite shredders that banging on neighbor’s doors singing out of tune Christmas carols at the top of their lungs at 10PM on a Wednesday night was a good idea. Santa’s helpers. Enni, Cilka and Linn. Our creepy Christmas dudes in their Christmas duds. Matching sweaters matching phones. Moto and Soko.

Happy Holidays…

xoxo t

PS. Extra special holiday thanks to Dave Lehl for setting up his snazzy photo booth and snapping the night away. Be sure to check out his shred photos and hire him for all sorts of awesome jobs too…

Glass House

Tricia Byrnes — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:20:37 +0000

Once upon a time I lived in New Canaan, CT…weird, I know. To me it always seemed like a sea of cashmere cardigans, pearl necklaces, loafers and gas guzzling SUVs. But apparently way back when in the 40′s, 50′s and 60′s it was a hot spot for the modern design movement with its lax building codes, proximity to NYC and woodys landscape. So, a bunch of Harvard architect dudes, dubbed the Harvard 5, moved out there and built a ton of experimental and influential houses, Philip Johnson and his legendary glass house being one of them.Philip Johnson by Andy Warhol

For years, I lived on the same road as Johnson’s New Canaan compound occasionally seeing the aging architect strolling the hood but I never really knew about him or what lived behind his art deco gates. Friday, I finally toured the 47 acre estate and got a glimpse of a different kind of New Canaan, one with a thriving artist community pushing the boundaries of design and umm, well parties. Andy Warhol, the Velvet Underground and all sorts of other movers and shakers from the last 50 years were all about the wild life in New Canaan. Who knew? But then again, I guess you never really know what your neighbors are up to.

looking out Da Monsta at the librarypainting gallery…or tomb.rotating painting collection complete with Warhols, Rauschenberg, and Stellasthe sculpture gallery.

So yeah, if you find yourself in the wilds of Connecticut check out the Glass House and the other 11 or so influential buildings on the compound and see where all your IKEA furniture got its inspiration…seriously, it’s hard to remember that this stuff was ground breaking at the time when half the stuff is on sale at West Elm. Anyway, ask for Ms. Laura Einstein to show you the around, she knows her stuff on Philip Johnson, modern architecture and New Canaan happenings.

xoxo t

Beirut

Tricia Byrnes — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:36:08 +0000

Beirut… making the boys at band camp seem cool.

Last week I watched Beirut rock Philly’s Electric Factory with their awesome little brass ensemble, accordion sounds and nerdy school boy hair dos. I was never all that into the boys from band camp but there is something so awesome about the real live sounds of trumpets and tubas and trombones mixed with electric guitars and drums and a good ol’ fashion egg shake that makes jazz band boys seem cool… or maybe it was just their shaggy hairdos, I’ve always been a sucker for those.

But yeah, the music…I’d heard a little bit of Beirut prior to show and all that but live music has that magical sort of way of bringing together the hallowness of recorded sound and well, umm, making it alive while simultaneously changing your experience with the original recording. Maybe it’s just me but after seeing the show and the constant swapping of instruments and sounds I can suddenly hear the tuba and the accordion and can see Zach Condon strumming his teeny tiny ukelele singing “The Penalty” which is all sorts of cool in my book.

Anyway….yay for live music and the boys in band.

xoxo t

Philly

Tricia Byrnes — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:47:52 +0000

city hall…occupied and smelling like stale piss.

I spent the last couple of days wandering around Philly doing all sorts of nothing-esque activities; café chillin, chai drinking, people watching, architecture scoping and what not. Maybe it was the balmy t-shirt weather in mid November or the general awesomeness of feeling like you’re discovering a new place that’s been right next door the whole time…but either way, Philly is pretty much my new favorite spot. With its historic buildings and bells and statues and its cute little neighborhood spots Philly’s got a lot to love. Not to mention a way chiller pace of life compared to the hustley bustleyness of its nearby cities…I mean, New York, you’re great, I heart you, but waiting 30minutes to be seated at a wiggley woggley table crammed in between a couple other wiggley woggley tables shouting over the commotion of breakfast chaos while dealing with an ambivalent waitstaff day after day gets a little old….just sayin.

So yeah, put Philly on your new urban spots to meander about and be on the look out for all things Ben Franklin…he’s kind of like a big deal in those parts. PS….that’s George Washington, tricorne hat and all but I swear Ben’s on every other street corner.

xoxo t

NYC Marathoning

Tricia Byrnes — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:25:23 +0000

I’m in….and officially stressing. A few days from today (Sunday to be exact), I’ll be running or more likely doing some crawl/stagger thing through the big apple with about 40,000 or so other wing nuts who’ve sign up to run the New York City Marathon. Now, I’m no marathon runner or runner at all for that matter but some how some way I got myself into this mess. Good cause, good friends, good exercise or what have you. But with one week to go this suddenly doesn’t seem like such a good idea. I mean 26.2 miles is a long ass way to go on foot or in a car for that matter and as the story goes the first guy who ran the marathon (from Marathon to Athens) collapsed and died upon arrival. NBD.

But…I’m in and I’ve been pounding the pavement, icing, stretching (kind of) and doing all sorts of other nerdy athlete stuff I swore I’d never do (ie; goo shots, power gels, heart rate monitors, training plans) to get ready for this daunting little adventure. So let the games…err and stress begin and let’s hope I don’t collapse on arrival.

If you’re in town or have nothing better to do on Sunday you can follow me as I creep my way through all 5 boroughs on this fancy app http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ing-new-york-city-marathon/id468522480 I’m bib 53-133 and check out our good cause at www.stokedmentoring.org

xoxo t

Santa Cruz

Tricia Byrnes — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:00:19 +0000

Steamer Lane.

I just spent a week in Santa Cruz watching whales breach, sea otters frolic and tattoo clad cali dude bros with pit bulls and bad tattoos stroll the point. It seems that bad lower leg tattoos, flat brims, exposed biceps and pit bulls are kind of a package deal in those parts just like surf contests and 2ft waves. Not that I’m an expert on surf or waves or much for that matter but Greeny and I were down there producing the O’neill Cold Water Classic surf event at Steamer Lane, a spot notorious for big barreling waves but come contest time there was hardly a ripple. wave watching.

We spent most days staring at the horizon with the rest of the O’neill peeps looking for waves or ripples or any sort of wave like movement from the ocean while trying to predict future. Hemming and hawing over scenarios, shuttling ourselves up and down the coast and back again chasing mini waves and eventually conceding to the fact that the epic spot wasn’t so epic at high tide with no waves unless of course you came for the whales…which I did. Seriously, I don’t think I’ll ever tire of seeing those massive mysterious creatures bob along the coast line. Anyway, after all that speculating and chart reading and swell guessing we ended up at Waddell’s little beach break watching some pretty talented dudes make mushy white wash look good and the internet worked so everybody won.boardwalk.

xoxo t

Conundrum

Tricia Byrnes — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:18:39 +0000

It’s fall in these parts or in actuality it might be the beginning of winter. The sky is filled with threatening snow clouds and that cold damp air filled with the smell of decaying leaves has settled in for good. So, Tess and I decided to make one more long journey into the woods before the leaves fall off and winter drops in. We hiked the 8 or so miles up to Conundrum hot springs, one of those perfect little hot springs nestled in a majestic basin of mountainy peaks….you know the one you always imagine having to yourself but when you roll up to it after 3 hours of hiking to soak your weary legs it’s inevitably filled with a bunch of dirty backpackers and that token naked dude and the awkward “so, where are you from?” conversation begins…a moment of solitude between dirty backpackers and naked dudes.Aspens & Pines

golden leaves and tess.

After an hour or so of getting our soak on we decided to head back before those daunting looking clouds did something daunting…like rain or snow. Which, of course, they did about a mile in. So, we walked the rest of those 8 miles home in the rain, six of which we felt all noble and peaceful and stuff admiring the sound of rain and then spent the last two soaking wet, covered in mud, in near silence trying to guess which meandering meadow we parked near….aaah the great outdoors.foliage.

xoxo t