Self Portrait

I started a new blog, http://ibelieveyourshit.info
It’s something that covers my daily thoughts with breaking news. I’ve also been updating my UFO Blog,
http://amufon.blogspot.com

Lastly, I made a new bike guitar. Here is what it sounded like when I played the Blue Moon Tavern in Seattle this week. The clicking noises are the wheel turning. http://mkultra.podbean.com/2009/03/19/bike-guitar-the-blue-moon-tavern/

Click on the link to learn more–I am broke. Had car trouble. Need to sell my guitar to pay bills.

Watch the video here.

http://www.thecheers.org/The-Orbit/article_2870_The-Post-Traumatic-Vodka-Diet.html

Department of Public Works. One night only.

Come see my art.

$5 for a PBR and a shot of Whiskey.

When: Tuesday, 23 September 2008, 7 pm
Where: The Gerlach Club
GERLACH CLUB. 385 MAIN ST. GERLACH, NV 89412

Here is a sample of the story I am selling. Need to sell four more copies to get my phone turned on an pay rent this month. If you like this and want more, please paypal me at caleb.schaber at gmail.com and I will send you a signed, numbered copy of this limited edition publication for $10 (that includes first class postage).
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The C-17 Globemaster III had only the crew and one other person on it. My deportation was at least going to be one where I could stretch my legs out. The plane had some equipment stacked up in the middle, but it was mostly empty. The regular airplane seats were not installed, so we sat on the fold down seats off the wall. I always look for a seat next to the wall plug because the battery on my laptop is usually dead.

Since I already tried to escape from Qatar once and was stopped, I felt like a double detainee, who was now a freed prisoner–detained (because of some bizarre misunderstanding between the US Army, the US Air Force and the government of Qatar. But I knew being on plane didn’t mean shit until that bird was in the the air and my boots were off the ground.

I put on my IPOD and started listening to a Whitley Striber book about an alien being kept in a bunker under a suburban house. I got the recorded version of the book from the Gerlach library before I left in February.

. I sat across from the door on the other side of the plane. The best way to describe the inside of a C-17 that is empty is to compare it to the inside of a whale, more like a fictional whale people might ride in, than a real one. This whale was lined with myriad wires and
supports, and apparently something was amok inside it all.

They hadn’t closed the door. Everything looked and sounded like we would take off, but the damn door was hanging open. The crew chief was messing with some laptop, and it looked like I was fucked again when someone came up the ladder into the plane and pulled out another laptop, connecting it to the plane, looking like they were diagnosing something.

They didn’t ask me to get off the plane, so I sat their listening to this story about an alien, held hostage by the Air Force and studied by scientists. The bunker under the house it was stored in caught fire, and the alien escaped early in the book.

After being detained by the Air Force and refused even a bed, I started really empathizing with the alien. Eventually, like the alien, I made my escape.

Now, I had get my luggage.

The pilots asked me if I wanted to go to Afghanistan. I sure as hell did. But I had to pass on that adventure and get off the plane in Kuwait. I doubt many people want to get to Baghdad as bad as I did, with all burning cars, random explosions and a steady drizzle of indirect fire. The only reason I needed to get to Baghdad was to get two big green bags and a foot locker I left at the airport, unattended a week ago.

I wasn’t really supposed to be in Baghdad. My embed was over. But I had orders that allowed me travel in and out of Iraq. I told my point of contact, Major Russo, whom I had not met or spoken except via email, what I had to do. As far as my chain of command went, I was authorized. Of course, I was authorized to fly to Qatar as well and that didn’t help for shit.

I had already missed the deadline to hang out with my friend Durgy, from Burning Man, who landed a job as lawyer in Kuwait City. Now I was pressed for time on my embed in Kuwait. All this trouble getting to Baghdad was ironic. My next mission was driving into Iraq from Kuwait with a National Guard unit.

(This is just a teaser. Their is nine more pages).

Hello from Austin,

I’ve been looking through my hard drives and found some writings from the war, as well as art and pictures that are not out there in cyberspace. Personally, I enjoy things on paper. I know it’s bad for trees, but there is still something I appreciate about the printed page over the glow of a computer screen. I made zines for years and have contemplated making one again.

I’ll be presenting a limited edition of 25 copies of these writings, pictures and art from the last four years. Also, I will sign them. For $10, I will mail a copy to you in the next 7 to 10 days.

I’m still doing some odd jobs, and selling plasma to get by, but I would rather pull in a little cash doing something creative. Also, this printing will include the chapter sample for my book (the one my agent didn’t like). Only three people have seen that.

Please paypal $10.00 to caleb.schaber at gmail.com with your mailing address and you will receive a signed copy of this limited edition printing. Thanks for your support!

Caleb Schaber

PS this is a portrait of Obama I did (it’s for sale if you are interested)

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Greetings,

Things have been up and down in my world—I lost a friend last weekend, Tyler Monteleone in a vehicle related accident; another friend of mine, Molotov, lost his wife two days ago in a shooting accident. I had not met Felicity, but she was killed on the day they were coming to visit. Both of them worked as a performers. Here is a video of them

http://fractalvideo.com/HTML/Molotov&FelicityFV.html

I suppose working in the war the past four years has made me more jaded. But I still don’t like people dying.

But the show goes on.

So far I have raised $75 to go to Iraq. With gas prices, many of my supporters have lost they frequent flier miles. Fortunately, the Texas economy is not doing so bad and I have found some supporters here that are interested in financing a trip to Afghanistan to make a documentary. It will be a few more weeks until all the details are hammered out. I will keep you posted.

Currently, I am trying to get my hands on Pinnacle Studio 11 for video editing. http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+Family/

I had two copies, but lost the CD somewhere in the war and lost the back up when my computer hard drive failed last year. If anyone has a copy that they can spare, please let me know. Otherwise, I am saving my pennies to get the full version for $129

I did a video for the Lifesize Mousetrap last month. I was out in San Francisco with the crew. For those of you that are not familiar with the Lifesize Mousetrap, it is a human sized version of the board game Mousetrap. Here is my video I made to promote their show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9WpTw8hS6w

The big shows they did were at the Maker Faire in San Mateo. The Maker Faire is a like a big science fair type show with all sorts of neat stuff. I got in the best of the Maker Faire 2008 video with my bicycle guitar (I am about three minutes into the video)

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/05/the_best_of_maker_faire_2.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

here is more of me playing the guitar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JucqMysAinM

Anyway, it may be a few months until I get back to the Middle East. Currently, I am working on a movie script about the time I was in Afghanistan and also a book about my last four years in and out of the war.

As usual, I need support to continue with these projects. Donations of $5 and $10 help out a lot. Please paypal editor at nvnewswire.com

More later. It looks like I am leaving Austin and relocating to Nevada in a few weeks. The Northern Nevada News Wire may be opening an office there. The NV News Wire is my news company. We are talking about offering internships to local students in Gerlach, Nevada. With the office, we will be teaching students about video editing, pod casts and writing. I haven’t put much on the site lately, but here it is. http://nvnewswire.com

Thanks for your support,

Caleb

–
http://calebschaber.com
http://nvnewswire.com
http://mkultra.bz
Fax: 928-396-4064