Space Brothers & Sisters,

There have been a few changes in the Galactus Celebration 2009 lineup later tonight. The live music will start earlier, commencing in the wee hours of August 12, as the Perseid Meteor Shower lights up the sky. Performances will take place at the Roswell Stage of Offworld’s Andromeda Station. As you all know, or should know by now, we are located at the 12,000-ft. level of White Mountain, outside of Bishop, California.

Here is the full lineup:

Midnight-6am:
-Tom Jones* with Phish*
-Area 51 Glee Club
-Celine Dion* with Lucid Screaming
-William Shatner* with the Ayahuasca Shamanic Choir of Toronto
-Susan Boyle*

6am
RE-VO and Bela Ray, debuting the “XII” album, joined by 700 Flying Canadian Elvises

7:30am
Cosmos Morning Service, led by Baba Ed

*Just kidding....

**For those who are still earthbound, Offworld is the world's first space-based religion. We believe that the universe and all beings in it are sacred…We worship galaxies, the stars, the planets, asteroids, and all the inhabitants across 13.7 billion years of time-space. We believe life came to earth riding a comet or meteor, or perhaps in the form of a cosmic spore. During the eons, there were "interventions" by extraterrestrials that helped guide Earth's evolution. We are headquartered at Andromeda Station and invite you to come worship the cosmos.

***Offworld & Baba Ed are described in the book The Big God Network

Dear Space Sisters & Brothers,

Praise the cosmos!

The Galactus Celebration commences at 6pm on August 12, at Andromeda
Station, at the 12,000-foot elevation of White Mountain, California.
The festivities coincide with the Perseid meteor shower, which occurs
annually in August and is usually the year's most impressive display of
shooting stars. The Perseids will peak this year before dawn, the
morning of August 13.

We have a celestial lineup this year providing entertainment and enlightenment at Offworld.

GALACTUS CELEBRATION OFFICIAL SCHEDULE (Night of Aug. 12/13):

August 12, 6pm-7:30pm: Second public display of Roswell UFO crash wreckage, courtesy of Area 51 and New American Air Force (the first display was at last year's Galactus event)

7:30pm-8:30pm:
Entheogen cocktails served on the Venutian heated patio outside
geodesic Events Hall, to watch the sunset over the Sierra Nevada to the
West.

8:30pm-10pm: Meet-and-greet with delegations of blue and
grey aliens (whose crafts are parked in the Extremophile Zone above the
Quonset huts). Carbon and silicon-based snacks available. Perseids
visible through Exoplanet Events Hall sky windows.

10pm-11:30pm:
Hobnobbing with Cyberati, astrotheologists, immersionists, SETI alumni,
exobiologists, abduction veterans, and guests from Pacifica, New
America, Dinee Nation, RE-VOX, New England, Canada, and other Gaian
nations.

11:30pm - 1:30am: speeches in Exoplanet Hall.

Main speakers and topics:
Guru Baba Ed (keynote speech).
Arwin of Gaia (astrotheology & Gaia).
Sally Simkin (interplanetary love).
Owinda of Goleta (the Goddess & the Universe).
Antonio da Silva of the Network (ayahuasca, shamans & aliens).
Io and Callisto (history of the Perseids).

1:30am – 3:30am: Meteor Watching outside on Venutian patio.

3:30am – 5:30am. Concert on outdoor stage:

Opening acts: Bob Dylan, Phish, Ofra Haza, Celine Dion, Capt. Beefheart, the Chieftains, Tom Jones, Afro-Celt Sound System, Ry Cooder, Shakira, Lenine, and Peter Gabriel.

Celestial headliner: RE-VO*, the Canadian "mad prophet"
of rock, accompanied by guitar legend Bela Ray, poetess Ly-Ra Ki, and
drummer Manny (Io says: "think Keith Moon on ahayuasca"). *for special
guests & effects, please consult RE-VO (at MySpace).

*Seven hundred Canadian Elvis impersonators will parachute into Andromeda Station during performance of RE-VO "Worldview" song.

5:30-6:30am. Sunrise Service honoring the Cosmos, led by guru Baba Ed.

**For those who are still earthbound, Offworld is the world's first
space-based religion. We believe that the universe and all beings in it
are sacred…We worship galaxies, the stars, the planets, asteroids, and
all the inhabitants across 13.7 billion years of time-space. We believe
life came to earth riding a comet or meteor, or perhaps in the form of
a cosmic spore. During the eons, there were "interventions" by
extraterrestrials that helped guide Earth's evolution. We were founded
by Baba Ed Sanders and are headquartered at Andromeda Station. We
invite you to come worship the cosmos.

As the stars will have it!

Greetings scifi fans, UFO seekers, curious souls and kindred spirits,

We invite you to browse chapters from the science-fiction novel "The Big God Network," in which Offworld plays a prominent role. Here is a description: "J.C. McGowan's science-fiction debut The Big God Network blends the wry humor of Kurt Vonnegut with the cosmic scope of Carl Sagan and the edgy near-future scenarios of William Gibson. The novel explores the clash of culture and religion in cyberspace and post-America; the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and higher powers; and the socio-cultural impact of virtual life on our existence, as it takes us on an imaginative, breathless ride through Bali, Tokyo, California, and exotic virtual worlds that range from the fantasy realm of Nigh Errant to the erotic Yabyum Palace to the evangelical Church of the Good Citizen."

Excerpts are here:The Big God Network (Excerpts)

And, should you wish to immerse further, the book's time-space coordinates are here:

The Big God Network at Amazon.com

The Big God Network (at Amazon U.K.)

The Big God Network (at Amazon Canada)

As the stars will have it,
Baba Ed, Katia, Kuiper John, Sally Simkin
(Offworld)

Here is a corner of Amazon to find Space Exploration, Astronomy and Cosmology books, DVDs and other gifts (including telescopes and software):

The Universe at Amazon.com

For those of you stuck in the year 2008 who can't make it to the Galactus Celebration, check out this blog:

The Perseids are coming the night of August 11 and early morning of August 12. Take your coffee or tea or power drink and stay up late. It's the best meteor shower of the year. Here are details:

August 11: The Night of Shooting Stars (Huffington Post blog)

Offworld has created a group for its ravishing star sister, Sally Simkin:

Sally Simkin Admiration Society

Greetings!

As most of you know, or have figured out, Offworld is a space-based religion from my science-fiction novel "The Big God Network." It exists only in the imagination at present, although I have had many people emailing me from all over the world expressing interest in joining!

Early reviews of The Big God Network have been posted at Amazon, and I invite all those interested in Offworld, astrotheology, SETI, and UFOs, as well as post-America, VR evangelists, Christian theocracies, and New-Age cults to come take a look!

Amazon Reviews of the science-fiction novel The Big God Network

Here are chapter excerpts: The Big God Network (Excerpts)

As the stars will have it,
author J.C. McGowan

Dear Space Sisters & Brothers,

We are happy to confirm that Canadian cosmic rock musician-philosopher RE-VO will perform at Offworld's annual Galactus Celebration, which will take place this year the night of August 11 and the early morning of August 12, at the peak of the spectacular Perseid meteor showers. The event takes place at Andromeda Station, the Offworld base located at the 12,000-foot elevation of White Mountain.

RE-VO is an expensive act, and we will be paying him enough Euros, Reagans and Woz to form a ring of money halfway around Ganymede. Fortunately, the "mad prophet of rock" is sympathetic to Offworld's beliefs and has reduced his usual performance fee according to an arcane numerological fraction suggested by his manager, RJ Ramjet.

If the stars will have it, guitar legend Bela Ray will also be in attendance. Apparently, he is insisting that the two of us perform as go-go dancers. Sorry, Bela! Cosplay yes, Go-Go no! Er, well....maybe for you.

Net celebs, astrophysics superstars, the SETI crowd, exobiology luminaries, abductee support groups, and the UFO press, plus the same Hollywood luminaries visible at Lakers or Knicks games, will be joining Baba Ed, Sally Simkin, Offworlders, and yours truly (Io & Callisto) for Galactus, our High Holy Day.

Pacificans, New Americans, Dinee Nation and New Englanders are all welcome. Offworld accepts all, regardless of which side they took before the Great Split and formation of post-America.

Praise the cosmos!

Io and Callisto,
Galactus Celebration coordinators
Offworld

What is Astrotheology?

According to the old definition, astrotheology is "theology founded on observation or knowledge of the celestial bodies."

According to a new definition, practiced by Arwin the Gaian, and others, astrotheology is "the worship of the stars and cosmos." Think of it as a mixture of world religions, Carl Sagan and Joseph Campbell.

Offworld is a space-based religion that practices astrotheology and believes in panspermia, the theory that life on Earth originated off-planet, arriving via comet or meteor or other delivery system.