Festival photos

At Chris's request, here's some selected photos from the last few days:


More photos are in my flickr set. Floyd Baker has posted some as well.

Wednesday...in short

Hydroplaning home after the last show: I'm deconstructing this evening, and deciding it doesn't get more prototypically ideal than this.

Started off as planned; dropping the kid off to czar at Allentown Music. Ben Joe was playing to an audience of passers-by due to a snafu in the brochure. Headed down to Allendale to catch Configuration Dance Theatre. I've seen them perform before; professional, classically trained, spend a lot of time en pointe, but not "tutu foo-foo", if you know what I mean. Superb combination of athleticism and abstraction. I was particularily moved (to tears) by "Deportation" which was choreographed by Joseph Cipolla (artistic director), and danced to music by Sigur Ros. Gorgeous.

This show ran over, so I was too late for Michele Costa's "Box"across the street at Rust Belt. Swung by Allentown Music again in time to see Eleven80's packing up their gear,
and half a set by Crappy Stick. That was intriguing and enjoyable.

Blah, blah at home, then over to Squeaky Wheel to see "The Voidologists" whom I had missed at the Noise Fest on Monday. I HAD to go see this act, which was described as a footnote on their promotional material as sounding "like a robot orgy in hell...gone wrong". I thought they deserved an audience just for their marketing acumen. "They" is a misnomer; "The Voidologists" are essentially one techy guy named Dave that puts it all together in his basement, backed by a video his sister made. That last sentence makes it sound like kid stuff; au contraire; this was the audiovisual equivalent of being run over by a tank, and enjoying the experience. I was thrilled. For those with an acquired taste, NOT to be missed. At Squeaky Wheel at 6pm on Saturday.

Continued over to Nietszche's to see "Peanut Brittle Sattelite" who allegedly had been compared to the Mahavishnu Orchestra. That's starting to traipse on messin'-with-my-religion territory, so I was skeptical. (Case in point; first time I walked into my college boyfriend's dorm room, and saw 'Birds of Fire' on his turntable, I thought I was mated for life.) I was delighted to discover they were not as far off the mark as I would have thought (that's a big compliment). TWO drummers, bass, guitar, violin, keyboards. Sorta jammy(read:improvisational), but not in a bad way.

Then home. Tomorrow.............

Film Photographers of Greater Buffalo Exhibit @ El Museo

The Film Photographers of Greater Buffalo are currently exhibiting at El Museo. El Museo is located at 91 Allen St.

The opening reception took place on Friday July 25th. The turnout was incredible! Folks who stopped out for the opening were treated to a spectacular display of photographs. The photographs represent a diverse range of subjects and styles. Many of the photos are hand developed and printed by the artists.

Thanks to everyone that attended the reception on Friday and anyone else that has visited El Museo since the opening. We'd like to also sincerely thank the Infringement staff, volunteers, and El Museo Staff for their assistance and putting together an awesome festival!

The exhibit runs through August 3rd, please stop by and check it out!!!

What did I miss? What SHOULDN'T I miss? Etc.

The fates scheduled an out-of-town trip for me that made me miss the first 5 days of the festival, and left me too tired to venture out on Night 6. Now I'm stuck catching up with work and will surely miss even more. Still, I want to hear from folks about:
•great shows I missed completely (guess I'm a masochist)
•great stuff you've seen that is coming back later in the festival
and maybe even
•things I should be glad I didn't see.

The posts from Curt R and Chris and Vendetta have given me some sense of all of the above, but I want to hear more more more, especially from those of you who haven't spoken up thus far. I can at least experience the festival highlights vicariously, after all.

the 10 % that isnt working or still a couple of disasters

couple things went wrong. the eleven 80's got screwed due to no soundguy at diablo. aron cole didn't have power outside laginappes. lara buckey was a no show at buffalo barfly. staples double booked the room thus providing stress (despite a vailiant effort by richie and i to eliminatite confusion) causing mr. hakim to leave, bwt to not show and on top of that dick whiskey's drummer bailed on him. shut eyes was a no show there last night. the wynne band blew off their show. also attendance is poor at nietzsche's and soundlab.
on the theater front i heard connelly's plays was a bust, and a waste of time for rust belt. apparently connelly didnt have a play.

massive synergy happening out there

One thing I've noticed out there is that there is some major seeds being planted out and about. The whole Gateway Gallery experience this weekend was incredible. Between the photo shoot and music and art in one place through out the day. Steven Meyers should be given a medal. Buffalo Barfly HQ had a quaint backyard session with Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Jim has been so hospitable and it's awesome to see that non-traditional venue work. He put up a banner we can decorate during the fest. Burnwood and Bon Vivant really taking off as premiere venues with wonderful success. These venues are sure to infringe year round. Tonight at Stillwater 112 people came to see Shapes of States followed by Laginappes' own Alex Kelly sing with Amungus in a beautiful space that truly is a work of art. The staff there was amazingly awesome. Great relationships are being formed across the spectrum city wide as we speak. I'd say 90% of the fest is going smoothly (at least the music portion). I hope everything is going well on the theater front.

Niagara Noise Fest @ Burnwood

No, this wasn't just an excuse to head over to Burnwood; I had some business at hand. That, plus I actually am a bit of a noise fan.
I arrived about 2 hours late, midway through the set of Black Bloc. This was a single performer with a hardcore attitude; lots of angry vocals and slamming metal. My irreverent eye did note that a few of the cans that were being sheared apart to full effect had previously housed some green tea, which seemed a bit incongrous.
Next band (whose name I failed to obtain) was much more subtle. Perhaps too much so; my favorite part of their performance was when the lone dog in attendance raised his head and yawned, and it was AUDIBLE!!
The Lazlo/Rozler noise project was next, and much more listenable. It was interesting to watch what devices were applied to more traditional instruments to produce atypical sounds. Most curious was a brandy snifter laden with what looked like nipple clamps sliding up and down the strings of a horizontal guitar (?).
Axis of Evil finished up the night. I had seen them before at an Infringement fundraiser a few months back, and had been impressed by their home-made instruments, sense of humor, and musical ability (not always evident with noise bands). Had to split early, but not because I didn't want to hear more.

kick ass shows at bon vivant!!

hey all you fellow infringers! mc vendetta here to let you know that my new venue, Bon Vivant (1862 Hertel Ave) is off to an AMAZING start. First of all, we had Extreme Exhibition! hosted by 29 Cent Productions (Josh Smith, the Rated-R Rockstar). I was featured playing my folksy guitar songs, then we had Chris Gullo, very funny new comedian, and then Anne Huiner bringing it home with her amazing poetry. All in all, the first show was a huge success, we broke the Extreme Exhibition record for donations to the artists, so we must've done something right. :) There is another Extreme Exhibition! show tomorrow (monday) night at 7pm. After the show, I warmed up the crowd for Breezee One, white-chick rapper from Detroit (if you saw her you're lucky, she's fun!). I loved her song that included "LTC! LICK THE CLIT, Lalala Lick the clit!" AWESOME!

The next night we had "Woman, Sister, Mother-A Celebration of Life and Love" which is a play from Entertaining Angels-a multi-talented group of women who sing, dance, read poetry and act out the different types of relationships that women have. I really enjoyed the performance, they have costume changes and everything! I loved the singing most of all because it seriously gave me goosebumps. It was very spiritual and not in the pushy way, which was good. This is a great show to see, also good family event. They have three more performances at Bon Vivant during the festival.

After the play we tried to host an open mic night but Saturday night is just not the right night for that. I'm hoping that the word will have spread more by next saturday and that our next open space will pick up. I decided that I would just play for our 5 audience members (most of whom were my friends or were related to me) so I busted out my guitar and played a few tunes. Then my roommate yells out "WE WANNA HEAR YOU RAP!" Not one to turn down requests, I jumped head first into my alternate persona and her extensive reportior. Towards the end of my set there were a whole bunch of young kids (probably 15 of them, about 8th or 9th grade) hanging around the door, peeking in. I told them to come in, and they asked if they were allowed to play too. I handed over the guitar and our drum kit to two kids who really rocked a cover of RHCP's Californication. They were really good for kids in 8th grade. Hopefully they will come back and rock out some more. Aah, infringement, you never know when a 13 year old might steal your show from you! haha.

So tonight, Sugar City Showcase rocked the socks off of about 50 different beats and hippies and punks and skater kids. There was an awesome creative vibe pumping throughout the space, from all the visual art they brought and displayed, to the videos they showed, music they played, poetry they read, funny commentaries they performed and the random questions that they answered. All in all, we had over 50 people at the show which was FUCKING AMAZING!! Everyone was respectful to the performers and the art and there was a lot of idea generation and inspiration flying around the room. It was also a great networking event for local artsy folks. I can only hope that their next show is equally amazing. They really brought down the house. Definitely check out their other showcase on Friday at Bon Vivant. The art is on display throughout the festival if you would like to stop by and see it.

Thanks so much to everyone who participates in this festival to make it the rollercoaster of sweetness that it is.

Enjoy!

Bon Vivant!

love,
vendetta

Lone Ranger summarizes the last few.....

Sunday night and I'm dog-tired but GUILTY because this is the first legit entry I've made on the blog for BiF '08.

Taking a slightly different perspective this year because of my other responsibilities with the 'fest, you'll (I hope) see me doing some reviews of the venues I've been in while happily enjoying the role of CONSUMER.

Going back to Friday, comments must be made about Christina Wos Donnely's reading of
" The Largely Unexpurgated History of Scheherezade". I was acting as venue czar @ the Nina Freudenheim gallery on North, and was thus obligated to be there. Fortunate to be there as well....wonderful poem: moving story, gorgeous language, evocative delivery. The performance and the spare, elegant setting were absolutely complementary.

Christina confessed that she was led to this poem by her interest in harems, from a feminist perspective.

Thrilled with the experience, I purchased "Venus Afflicted", a collection of her poems that have me equally impressed. Not an easy thing to do; I find poetry a difficult medium.

Then shot west to Burnwood, which is the space I've been vibing on being spectacular while planning for this thing. The instincts were correct. A massive red stone warehouse on the far west side, this venue has a (recently) roughed out gallery in one room, and a cavernous performance space with stage and open sound booth in another. Bryan Lohr and two friends have been residing there for about a year-and-a-half (with very few of the usual amenities), getting rid of the inventory of antiques that came with the building, and getting it in shape for events such as this one, plus studios. Artspace, beware!

Qualia was playing while I was there. This has to be the half-dozenth time I've seen them play; always professional, always enjoyable. (see review from '07)

Yesterday I described in a lazy comment under Ron's latest narrative. Today; oops, garden walk and sprucing up my new home. Tomorrow I'm back on track. And you?

Now it begins... AGAIN!

Lordy, can the 2008 festival REALLY be less than 48 hours away? Here's your chance to post your thoughts on:
•shows you want to see
•shows you're part of
•the festival itself as it enters Year Four
•and anything else you want to say about Infringement '08.

If you're not a registered post-er on the blog, just hit the "Comments" link and type away.
If you want to BECOME a regular post-er here, email lynnlasota (at) gmail.com and let her know.

See you on the streets of Allentown--and beyond!

Just a Sample...

Ya gotta love this: Colin D. of the Buffalo News interviewing "Nobody" (aka Paul Painkiller) after the latter's presentation at our now-annual "Samples at Sample" press event as a photographer looks on. This intimate affair ("Samples," that is, not their tete-a-tete) features one-minute pitches for acts in the upcoming festival on a first-come, first-served basis. It's mainly for the benefit of the media, but it also gives the rest of us our first glimpse at what we're in for.

Many thanks to Jennifer Goetz and everyone else at Sample (that's the restaurant/bar that specializes in bite-sized goodies and cocktails you won't find anywhere else) for a terrific evening.

PS. If you want to see the end result of Colin's labors, check out the cover story on the festival in last week's Gusto (at least as long as it's online for free, that is) and his accompanying video segment, shot at "Samples at Sample".