*Stopped at Rust Belt to deliver the Self-Infringement box which Brian Milbrand and I have filled with a fresh batch of audience instructions/scripts. (On my laptop I still had most of Brian's contributions from last year, so I started by creating "remixes" of all of them--tweaking his ideas in subtle or drastic ways--and then came up with some wholly new ideas.)
*While at Rust Belt I ran into several people who had headed to Lafayette Square for the Neko Case/Jason Lytle show that got rained out. I felt perversely relieved about this, because it was the first show I've really wanted to see at TATS in at least 3 years, but the weather scared me off, and I was feeling guilty about wimping out. Come back again soon, Neko!
*Quick bite to eat, which gave me time to start studying the beautiful job that Artvoice did with the thankless task of laying out the complete festival schedule. This is the first year I didn't end up proofreading that beast, which may add to my joy and surprise at its final form.
*Next up, a stop at Nietzsche's for the annual kickoff party, which was a chance to catch up with a lot of the current organizers. (Here's a badly lit photo of one of them, Josh Smith, involved in some sort of Mad Libs activity with the emcee between sets:)
Since I am not really among their numbers anymore, I can say without any hint of back-patting that these organizer dudes and dudettes look like they're doing a phenomenal job with an undertaking that keeps growing exponentially; I was truly impressed at how smoothly the party seemed to be going. I walked in on the middle of a lengthy instrumental by Rochester's X-Planet Id, a jammy jazz-fusion-y trio:
Not normally my cup of tea, but I soon found myself really liking them and ready to recommend them to a friend who really goes in for rock/jazz hybrids. I wasn't as fond of the vocal numbers that followed, but they seemed like an ideal First Festival Act for moi. (They were not the first act to play, mind you--that honor went to Pat O'Keefe, whom I've only seen in action during the annual "Samples @ Sample" press preview. I gotta catch a set of his this year!) I wanted to stay longer but had bill-paying work waiting at home, plus I felt like I needed to start mapping out my weekend, pronto. Forgive me, MC Vendetta, for missing what I have no doubt was yet another stellar performance of yours. (There were lots of other acts, too, and for all I know, one of them is still playing at this very minute, but I have an appointment with a mattress and pillow now.)
*On my way back to my car, I noticed that the video projection screen filling the window of Space 224 was now active. (Full disclosure: I thought it was incredibly beautiful earlier in the evening, when it was showing nothing but bright blue light, which I originally assumed was the piece, and I was perfectly happy with that.) Took me a few seconds to realize that what I was seeing was not a slideshow but video, and then to marvel at the elegance of the (slowly changing) image, and then to read the accompanying text (highly recommended if you want to get what's going on), and finally to realize that the creators of this work are none other than my friends and collaborators Dave Pape and Josephine Anstey. The installation is called Mrs. Squandertime--love the title, love the premise, and I look forward to visiting the window at 224 Allen many more times during the festival to see what Mrs. S is up to next.
Speaking of squandering time, it's looking like I will be attending little if any of the festival on Day Two, so I am counting on you, dear reader, to fill me in on what I missed.
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