wanna' know something funny? i've realized that, for me and leff anyway, the lure of the festival isn't the music (although there are some great bands playing). it's the art and the roller derby.
yesterday, we arrived when the gates opened (11 am) so we could take our time at the vendor booths. the craft section this year was sponsored by readymade, urban craft uprising and i heart rummage, a trio of things and people that i love. this, of course, meant that there were NO FUCKING RAINSTICKS! which made me really, really fucking happy.
but on to the craft!
ex libris anonymous had a wonderful, wonderful booth. i luuuuuuuuurve their sketchbooks so much that i bought leff this book of knowledge.
the great thing about arriving so early in the morning is that we were able to talk to jacob (one of the awesome half of ex libris) for a while. and he's just as cool as i thought he would be.
have i mentioned that their sketchbooks are awesome/superb/all around fantastical? if you're looking for a sketchbook or, hell, even a blank book, i'd highly recommend dropping by their site. they have some FANTASTIC books! (i own the "sexy, sexy bicycle" in grey.)
we were also able to chat with some of the readymade crew for a while even though they were busy setting up their iron on demo. (leff and i have been subscribers since issue two so it was fun for us to meet some of the readymade crew in person. (even if they didn't have free schwag other than magazines. heh heh.))
there was another booth of local artists (argh! i didn't get their card! i'll make sure to fix that later today!) whose work i'd been admiring since an art walk in ballard. we talked for a bit and found out that one of the ladies had lived in baltimore for a while! so, yeah, east coast represent! (she and leff both lived in fells point. i, never one to quite fit in, lived in butcher's hill, a neighborhood next to fell's point. ich bin eine outsider.)
i'll be returning to their booth today to buy some silkscreened vinyl. (i was afraid to carry it around yesterday what with the crowd and the possibility of breakage and all.)
another big draw for leffstar and me was flatstock, an exhibit of silkscreen artists and their wares. and, oh, baby, did we score some bumberloot!
leff bought tiny media empire's "doctor doctor, this citys sick. its got a cold cold heart and such shakey lips."
and this photo doesn't do it justice. it's a six color silkscreen and is beeeautiful!
i picked up diana sudyka's snowy owl print
which i fell in love with at first sight.
and i also snagged michael budai's (who doesn't have a web address that i know of! AAAARGH!) "lousy".
it was *really* hard to decide on a print at his booth. (too much fantastic stuff!) i heart "lousy" though, so, imho, it was a fantastic choice. (thanks for the help, leff.)
believe it or not, we did see one band. awesome played a pared down version of "no signal" and they were, of course, awesome. in more than one sense of the word.
i'm *very* glad that we were able to see the show since we missed two performances of "no signal" at both the mirabeau room and on the boards earlier this year.
after awesome? ROLLER DERBY!! the bumberbout, to be precise! all star teams from around the country duking it out on a flat track! in a word, heaven!
seriously, we watched HOURS of roller derby. i can't even tell you how long we were at the key. but enough of my yammering, here are some photos!
i. love. roller derby!!! (the texas rollergirls were the bumberbout champs, btw.)
today we're doing the rest of the visual art thing ("pixel dolls, meatspace, and everything all at once" and "softly threatening: artwork of the modern domestic"), a little bit of the 1 reel film festival thing, a quick stop at a few booths, another swing by bluebottle's section and a return visit to flatstock to pick up a few more prints.
we might even see a band or two if we have time.
3 comments:
I bought Diana's Rogue Wave/Nada Surf poster. You were lucky to get the owl, it had sold out by the end of the second day!
that was a nice poster too!
hitting flatstock on day one has its perks. ;D i had a feeling that the owl would sell out so i snagged it fast!
it was FANTASTIC, hurt!! thanks so much to the rat city rollergirls for hosting bumberbout!!
also thanks for clarifying who the other team was!
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