mugz Issue 1
Editor’s Notes
This is the first edition of mugz. It is dedicated to all the free thinkers and bold individuals of the Byron Bay Shire. It is dedicated to its beauty, vigour, residents, visitors and majestic landscape. - Carly Settree and Megz Noel
Cont 07
Tsun
09
Markets
13
Zenith
ents 17
Andy
25
Mandy
33
KIng Bros
39
June
47
Varij
TIMELESS ELECTRIC
= psychedelic It was the morning of my resolution, my reality finally became clear. No longer was I shadowed by the doubt that once consumed me. I finally fled, free. Aware of all that had been and all that will come. I felt that what I was filling my head and my heart with were all the wrong things. There was a small comfort in the unknown, the comfort of being able to blame a failure on something other than myself, but in my resolution I saw that there was never a failure, nor was there even a self. It took many low cold and troublesome winters. I fought more wild and strange creatures than names can give. Beasts like addiction that have no face, they are
shape shifting monsters that adapt to your ever evolving weaknesses by blinding you from your strengths. Then there are the beasts that no-one ever sees you fight, the ones you never speak about, the haunting memories and feelings from long long ago. Usually the same beasts that trick you into finding peace with addiction, even if that peace is temporary and it is always temporary. It takes good days to feel the bad, the bad days to know the worst, the worst days to feel your best and the best days to feel alive. Don’t be cheated by what you hear, every day you’re alive is your best, and your best is still to come. - Jared Franzen (Tsun)
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Markets Monthly Markets Byron Bay - Butler St Reserve - 1st Sunday The Channon - The Channon via Lismore - 2nd Sunday Bangalow - Bangalow Sowground - 4th Sunday Farmer’s Markets Byron Bay - Butler St Reserve - Every Thursday Mullumbimby - Mullum Showgrounds - Every Friday
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As a Deathwalker, I walk that journey with people to die well as well as the people they leave behind to bereave well.
DEATH Love
IS omnipresent Death I’m big on the D word - Death, Dying and Disposal. People would say things like “They’re not doing very well.” I would say, “Do you mean they’re dying?” I think it’s just easier to say it as it is especially when you explain it to children. Caskets Cardboard boxes are much better than timber caskets especially when you’re big into sustainability. You wouldn’t want to spend outrageous amounts of money on something just to be buried in. You can also consider being buried in a shroud. Euthanasia I think the word euthanasia has passed its
usefulness. It’s like the term gay marriage, it turned into same sex marriage and now it’s marriage equality as people realised that it’s not about anything special, it’s just about being equal. I think the term that is more useful is the term “Assisted Dying”. I believe people have the right to choose how to live their life and have the right to choose their own death and the time of their death when they are dying. The people who are left behind or are affected, it is up to them how they deal with that situation as well as they can. No one should have to stay alive if they don’t want to, just to make someone else feel better. 13 mugz.
Life After Death Some people believe that the body is organic and when the person dies, that’s it but most people take comfort in the belief that something leaves the body. I am now in the opinion of that too. It’s a bit like a balloon. You pop the balloon and the balloon doesn’t exist anymore but the air that was in it is indistinguishable from the
air around it. So it’s not like that section of air carries on. It just becomes part of everything. It is the same with water and I think it is the same with energy. Never assume that when someone dies that everyone is going to be sad or grieve about that. A lot of people think that grief is the response to loss but there are a lot
of other responses and other people feel those but they sometimes feel bad that they feel ok or happy. It’s really good to be open and let them dictate what their story is. So if someone’s mum or dad just dies, instead of saying “Oh that must be terrible.” You might want to say something like “How is that for you?” and not put your overlay on it.
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I heard that reggae is the closest speed to a stable human heart. So when you hear it you automatically relax.
BEARDED VEGAN
REGGAE STAR The hair wrap beard I got bored. I don’t like things being always the same. I had a long beard and I had it for awhile. I was looking at it one day and I thought, “There can be an opportunity for something weird to go on there.” I started with one and then one wasn’t enough anymore. Reggae Music in Australia I think everyone gets it. It’s a really accessible kinda vibe. It’s the happiest kind of music. If you’re Aussie or from anywhere around the world, even if they didn’t understand the lyrics, everyone can understand the vibe. As soon as you play
reggae music, you can see how people change. Reggae and Punk At the time that reggae music was coming out, it was picked up by the punk movement in Europe and then the punks incorporate ska and reggae into their music. At base level it is similar music. They’re both freedom fighting music and rebel music. In that way they are intertwined and I like mixing them in that way. I like the energy of punk and I like the vibration of reggae and merging it all together into a kind of ska punk reggae. 17 mugz.
Highlights of being an artist When you meet really good musicians and you can get inspired or influenced by them. It’s harder and rarer than you can imagine to find people that get where you’re really going and understand where your vibe is and want to go the same direction. You have to follow what is truly in your soul and I think that could take a while to figure out. I like making films, making music videos and drawing. Expression through whatever medium that you take at the time. Everything is transient. One day you might wanna pick up a paintbrush, another day you might wanna pick up a guitar and the next day even a welder. In some way you’ll feel at that time the way you want to express yourself. If you don’t feel it, it’s not real art. Politics and Reggae In Reggae there is an ongoing theme, Jamaicans will talk a lot about Babylon which is a reference to cities - basically
the pollution of cities, the concrete jungle. That’s what they talk about a lot. Getting people aware of getting back to nature, their roots and getting free again. The system is always trying to trap us, they think we should be slaves. I don’t believe in working 9 - 5. I don’t believe that’s a human construct. No tribe works 9 - 5. We’ve just been tricked into thinking that’s normal. Why would you waste your whole day working for something you don’t believe in, when you’re just working so you can survive. They are making you pay for land when you are born on this earth. The fact that you have to pay for something that is your human right. I also believe if you want to help the earth, becoming vegan is the number one best thing that you can do for the planet and your own health. Right now there are so many crazy statistics on the damage that meat and dairy consumption is doing to the planet but it’s not being talked about by charities or other large organisations.
It’s completely unsustainable. 51% of greenhouse emissions are caused by cattle. If we can reduce meat consumption we can potentially save the planet.There is a documentary I recommend called Cowspiracy that exposes the truth of the industry. If you don’t live for something, you die for nothing. Legalising weed I think that weed only becomes a problem because it’s illegal. Like in Amsterdam, a lot of people don’t smoke. If they do, it’s in a social way and they enjoy it like they would a coffee. They’re educated on it but they’re not that interested in it because things become more interesting when they’re illegal. I think it’s a really, really great plant, you can make so many things using hemp. It’s medicinal. Used in the right way, you can smoke it, eat it, it can really open your mind and help you reflect. Like everything in moderation, take it easy.
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DRUMMING circle
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FUNNY MUMMY On Malcom Turnball I’m not a huge fan of Malcom, just because his name is Malcom. I don’t trust him. He’ll do what it takes to be popular. He was the person behind doing some of the huge cuts at the ABC. I reserve my judgment. I’m not jumping camps to say he’s great at this point. I have a real problem with party politics. I think as soon as people align themselves with a party you lose a sense of what their voice or vision is because they become shut down. Actually I really liked Julia Gillard but I think she was really shut down by the party. She got a lot of really great stuff through, stuff that made her really unpopular like the carbon tax. She got through some really hard and important
QUEEN of comedy reforms really quickly in the parliament, which was virtually impossible. So I was impressed with that. Occasionally I’m really impressed by someone that is visionary, like Bob Brown when he was in. I like people who are prepared to stand up and speak out along the way. That doesn’t include Pauline Hanson! On Social Media Well, the YouTube thing is great. I think because of my age too, I’m 47, if I was 27 I would get a better hit in the stuff that I do. You just never know what’s going to pick up, it’s weird. If you show a bit of boob that always gets hits. I think there was one YouTube video I was bending over
cleaning a car and a bit of my tit fell out and I got a lot more hits and I thought, “I’m an old 45 year old woman, like are you that desperate? I’ll get them both out next time!” Social media is just another avenue. Like Facebook, I use it if I have a joke that I want to run with or any ideas and I’ll just make a post. You get a comment train of sometimes like 200 and it’s quite useful when I’m writing because it’s like brainstorming. If you throw something out there and you get 10 hits you can see that it doesn’t have legs. Top 3 life lessons 1. Don’t settle for less. For women, and men too I guess, but women are generally quite used to ‘Oh well that will do’ at the
same time, you need to stick to things and make a go of it. 2. Don’t give up. I love what I do. I love my life and where I live. I think when you’re a creative person you’re told to aim for this very unrealistic idea of success. If you’re really happy and love what you do, that’s the measure of success. 3. I think you should always put back; be of service. I’m a big believer of putting back into your community and that means doing stuff for nothing. I do soup kitchen once a month. I do heaps of fundraisers. Only because I think that’s what everyone should do. If we all made an effort to actually put back into our community we’d get a lot more community social 25 mugz.
capital going across the board and you can make a change, you actually do.
bloody money is going to Sea Shepherd or someone.”
Funniest Person My fourteen-year-old son. Sometimes the funniest people you know aren’t on the stage or anything; they’re the people in your life. I think it’s a really personal thing; it’ s what actually really makes you laugh.
Kids’ effect on her humour I think having 5 kids made me funnier in the end. It’s given me anxiety. It’s like being a logistics organizer for this massive team of people and then trying to run my own career, which is fractured anyway. Like I do so many different things. I think it creates a constant sense of pissedoffness in me. That’s the right attitude for comedy.
I went out the other night to see Russell Brand and I find him really funny. He started talking about, ‘Oh you know it’s time to let go of yourself, move past yourself.’ Then he kept showing videos of himself. He’s so narcissistic. He kept showing videos of himself after saying, ‘It’s all about the death of Self.’ It didn’t connect with him though. It was like ‘it’s all about the death of self except me.’ He didn’t get the irony. That lost it for me. When you go on about capitalism which is all well and good, but then you charge $150 a ticket in a 5,000 seat arena doing a show that you’ve hardly put any work into. I’m like, “HELLO, I hope half of this
What I Would Do If I Were You I got a great response from mothers about my book because they were like “Oh my God, you make me feel really normal.” I think it’s when you reveal your own inadequacies that make people feel really normal. I mean I don’t mind sharing all that stuff but you just forget how much people spend most of their lives feeling bad or pretending everything is ok. My job is to make jokes out of it, so it normalises people’s experiences. I wrote for all the other women that felt like outsiders.
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Night life
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KINGS OF THE I’m Rasmus King and I’m 10 years old. I like skating a lot but I love surfing.
OCEAN I’m Kyuss King and I’m 15 years old. My favourite surfers are Dane Reynolds, Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning.
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RASMUS Do you have any other hobbies apart from surfing or skating? Yes I have lots. I love Muay Thai boxing, Jiu Jitsu, skating, playing drums, movies, swimming and having fun with my friends. How did you get the nickname The Ras-muscle? I was born very strong so my brother made up the name. Who’s your favourite superhero? I like lots of them. I like Thor. He’s from the nordic mythology and I’m a viking or half viking because my mum is Danish. I would like to be able to fly. Surfing feels a bit like you’re flying. I also like Rocky Balboa. He’s not a standard superhero but I’m a really big fan.
Having an older brother who is already pretty famous, do you think that adds pressure on you? No my brother just helps me, he is the best older brother. It’s awesome to have a brother who is so good at surfing. He is five years older than me so we are not competing but he better watch out cause I’m good! What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a surfer and be in a band. Do you have any funny jokes or a story that you want to share? Mnnn I have a funny story my dad told me. Once he super glued sultanas to the neck of his friend while he was asleep. His mate went to work with them on and didn’t realise till halfway through the day.That sounds so funny. I wanna try to do that to my brother one day.
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KYUSS What inspires you to train even when you’re not really in the mood for it or the conditions aren’t ideal? I just always try to mix it up and do different things to keep it fun when I do strength training. I do gym a few times a week and then Muay Thai boxing as well as lots of stretching. I never get bored of surfing because that’s my passion. People have dubbed you to be the next Mick Fanning, what do you think about that? Wow! Well I think that’s amazing if people say so, Mick is an amazing surfer, an athlete and a good friend too! If I can be as successful as he is with what I love to do, I’ll be stoked! What’s your favourite country that you’ve been to and why? I love travelling and I love home. Having grown up in Byron is pretty amazing and such a magical place.
I go to California a lot and love it there so much. Its very different to Byron and that makes it fun and I have so many friends there with the same passion as me which is another bonus. I love going to magical islands too and unspoilt communities. That’s one of the most awesome things you get to experience as a surfer. Seeing remote places with great waves. I’m going to Brazil soon to a small island that’s meant to be amazing. I can’t wait for that. What’s your favourite subject? My favourite school subject is history. I think it’s interesting to learn about. I love to draw and do art and music/guitar is another passion.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Happy, travelling and surfing on the world tour winning world titles. Do people stop you on the street for autographs now? It’s happened a few times. It feels amazing that people like what I do. It’s very humbling. It makes me feel very lucky and grateful. Do you have any funny jokes or a story that you want to share? I have a very funny story about my brother Rasmus. Not long ago we went to Sumbawa in Indonesia. Rasmus got food poisoning really bad and was sick all night.
to check on Ras, but as we look to the side there he is. Rasmus had chartered his own boat. Which was so hard to do even for the adults and non of the boat drivers spoke English. So he’s coming out by himself on the boat with his surfboard, heading out to big waves (he loves big waves) but pale white as and he is still sick as a dog. We all laughed so hard. This is typical Ras-muscle style. My dad got him straight back home and into bed.
The next day the waves were pumping out the front of our cabins, so my dad and I and the rest of the team all went for a surf. Rasmus had to stay in bed and relax, so he could regain his energy. About half an hour goes by and we are out there surfing rad waves having a blast. My dad says he’s going back
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What I want to do with my art is to bring people and the environment love, energy and wisdom through the symbols of sacred geometry that show life.
SPIRIT SURFER Brazil to Byron Bay I grew up in San Paulo, Brazil. It’s like a big city and everybody lives within the system. So it’s pretty hard for people there to believe that art is a career for someone. I studied marketing at university because of that up bringing. I always wanted to come to Australia, since I started to surf when I was fifteen. I discovered Byron because of my surf idol. His name is David
SACRED GEOS Rastovich. I started to research things about him. So last year I just decided to come and embrace the water and go for an adventure. So I just came here without knowing any English. The only thing that I knew was ‘One Love and Get Up Stand Up’ by Bob Marley. The only thing I came here with is a dream. Meeting Dave Rastovich When I got to Byron I met an Italian guy and the first thing he asked me is, ‘Why did you choose Byron Bay?’ I explained that my surf idol David Rastovich inspired me to and that I would love to meet him some day. The guy started to laugh. He said, “I
know him, I just met him last night, I had Christmas dinner in his house and I will introduce you.” At this time I had a few artworks with me. I took him to my car and I got him to pick whatever he wanted as a gift. This guy was my angel. The next day the Italian guy sent me a message saying, “ I spoke with Dave and he asked me to give you his number.” I was very excited. I spent the next 10 days painting a surfboard for Rastovich by the grass at Broken Head. I finally met him January this year (2015) and gave Rastovich the 39 mugz.
surfboard. We met at the Pass. We surfed together and I also gave some little art pieces to his mother, father and girlfriend. It was a really nice experience. Art heals the world When I decided to do art I was thinking about what I can do that is good for the world. I started to do more research on sacred geometry. My mother used to teach me spiritual things. I also studied about Shamanic stuff. It’s really nice to find in nature parts of yourself. You can find what your powerful animal is; what your powerful element is; what is best for you in that moment. So sometimes you can harness energy from fire. When you want movement, you use the air. When you want to purify, we use the water. When you want to grow, we use the earth.
When you connect with nature, many people think you are crazy. In Brazil, when I was going to work there were lots of buildings; cars; traffic; I only saw one tree. I would touch it like a High Five. I think that when we connect and get energy from nature we don’t have to do what other people do - that is to steal energy from other people. Yeah, it’s because these days people fight all the time. Some people when they need energy from you they act as a victim.Surfing helps me to get energy to share, to share through my art, to share through my words, to share through my thoughts. I’m a very active person, I find it very difficult to sit. I need to move! And when I’m doing art I am completely calm, quiet. Sometimes I listen to music, sometimes just silence.
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the good life
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STARS SIGNS Spiritual Name Varij is the spiritual name chosen for me. I got that name on January 17th, 1988 and that was given by the psychics at the Purna Ashram. The formal title is Anand Varij. Anand means bliss and Varij means lotus. So a lotus of bliss or a blissful lotus is the spiritual vibration I’m supposedly emanating if I was in my spiritual planitude. Training I spent a lot of time in India doing various types of trainings. One training I did was called Experiential Astrology. That’s when you actually embody the energies of the
AND PHILOSOPHY astrological chart. Rather than just talking about your signs, you tune in and embody your Venus and Taurus, your Mars and Leo. It’s a much more powerful way; it’s more like psychotherapy. Astrology crosses boundaries especially how I do it, it’s got therapeutic, psychological and philosophical dimensions. There are also many versions of astrology. I was a philosopher before I was an astrologer. So I’m a psycho-philosophical type astrologer. In India, astrology is taken far more seriously. For example it’s very common that a child’s chart is brought up at birth.
That’s called Vedic Astrology and it’s a different system that the west use. It’s based on Sidereal Astrology which is star based and constellation based, whereas the west use the zodiac which is based on the seasons. I’m a western astrologer informed with an eastern philosophical background. Astrology and Science Before the so called scientific enlightenment, the greatest minds were into astrology like Newton. He’s more famous for being a scientist but Isaac Newton wrote far more on esoteric
subjects. Although mainstream intelligent people say that astrology is bullshit, expressions like “The stars have aligned” still come into the popular culture. Here’s a classic quote by Shakespeare, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” So that’s a poetic interpretation but we all know there’s a rhythm of life. So we have to battle the widespread
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perception that astrology is bullhit but that’s usually said by people that have made no study at the subject at all. Getting a reading I don’t claim to be psychic. I’m clairvoyant which means clear seeing. So through the lens of the chart I can see clearly into the person, it’s like the journey of their soul. That doesn’t mean that next week I’m going to predict that you’re gonna meet a guy who is five foot, five inches tall. It means they can see clearly like a mirror. I endeavour to be a mirror and mirror back to the person who they are and who they were born to be. Many people I do find, they want to get psychic readings in a sense where they want to be told what’s gonna happen.
The prime relationship we have is the relationship we have of ourselves. So the way I prefer to do a reading is that I’d like to have a dialogue. What we’re dealing with are symbols and there are many ways of interpreting symbols. If we have a discussion, we can outline possibilities and potentialities. When you get a reading, it can affirm who you know yourself to be - greater self acceptance, greater self knowledge. Astrology can be both a telescope and a microscope. The telescope gives you the big picture of your life. It opens up the big questions like “Who am I? Where am I going? Who am I going with?” They are universal questions. The microscope can analyse specific issues that come up. Let’s say what’s going on with your relationship.
One thing in common to every relationship is ourselves and most people have patterns. Often women go for the same kind of guy or the complete opposite. Astrology reveals patterns. As there are planetary patterns, you can relate that with what’s happening at birth. Yes, it’s in the sky but it is also within. “As above, so below, as within, so without.” I don’t think people necessarily change their patterns but it is how people can relate to patterns can change. When we become more aware and more conscious of our patterns we have a choice whether to fall into it or not. I like to use the analogy of astrology to reading a map. You’re going to have to climb the mountain regardless, but with a map you can make better decisions and be better prepared.
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salute the sun
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