We're baaaaaack...

After several months of much-needed hibernation, this newly redesigned blog is back in action. And so is the spirit of Infringement! We've been meeting off and on since March to plan this year's Buffalo Infringement Festival, which runs from Thursday, July 26 to Sunday, August 5, 2007 and things are really starting to heat up. Here's a little of what has happened so far:

*we held our first fundraiser of the year on April 28 at Nietzsche's, featuring the Skiffle Minstrels, Jax Deluca, Z. Mann Zilla, Gentlemen Callerz, Acoustic Therapy and Buffalo Soundpainting Ensemble. Many thanks to all of 'em for helping out!

*proposals for this year's festival have been pouring in; we should have a tentative schedule in the next few weeks, but it already sounds like we're going to have a great mix of artists from past festivals and newcomers.

*the festival was awarded a Certificate of Excellence at the 2007 Arties, the annual theater awards sponsored by Artvoice, for "supporting a breadth of new performance and independent production in Buffalo." Aw, shucks!

And here's what's coming next:

*look for our table in the Allen West festival (ie, the fun part of the Allentown Art Festival) this weekend, June 9-10. There you'll get your first glimpse at our spiffy new postcard designed by the one and only Mr. Paul Szp.

*attend our second fundraiser, "BIZARRE BAZAAR," at Soundlab (110 Pearl,here in Buffalo) on Saturday, June 16 from 8 p.m. until the wee hours. It's a concert! It's a screening! It's a night of wild live performances! It's a chance to buy cheap stuff at an indoor garage sale/Chinese auction! Read all about it (at least until the event itself) here.

*audition to be in someone's show! A bunch of festival directors will be sitting in the back room of Rust Belt Books, 242 Allen Street, on Saturday, June 23, 2007, from noon to 3 p.m. Actors of all ages, ethnicities, and genders are asked to prepare a 2-5-minute monologue of their choice. To schedule a specific audition time, contact Matthew LaChiusa at 716-884-4858 or MORPHINEHEART@msn.com with your name and the time you would like to come in--or just drop by on a first-come, first-served basis.

We also hope you will get even more directly involved in making this year's festival a reality by joining our volunteer organizers. Meetings are fun, funny, and relatively short. The next one will take place Tuesday, June 19, at 6:30 p.m. in the back room of Staples, a.k.a. the bar at "Spirits of Allentown" (near the corner of Allen and Wadsworth).

There's waaaaay more to be said than that; your best bet for keeping informed about the festival is this page on our main site devoted to announcements, meetings, events, and other news.