Evolve 2012: Mind spasms, hurricanes and the end of festival season
Evolve 2012 was an exercise in patience and adaptability this year. We pulled in at about 8 in the morning or so on Friday, after driving all night from Virginia with periodic stops to rest along the way.
We weren’t greeted by anyone in particular as we were one of the few vendors there at that point and people were far from entering the gates, which opened at noon anyway.
We dropped anchor and got everything out of the car, then it was off to Lowe’s for ‘canvas’ and to AC Moore for art supplies. I think I felt a bit overconfident after the rousing success of Phanphest, Floydfest and Some Kind of Jam 3. This translated into me spending more than usual on art supplies, which I’m not unhappy about, really. Art supplies are always an investment and I regard them as such. I’m never *spending* per se, but *investing* which seems like a better way to look at an exorbitantly pricey way of life.
Back on site, I looked for an appropriate place to construct an 8×8 foot mural. Having been told prior to the event that I’d have an area ready for me, I was a bit chagrined to realize that no such space existed next to the stage, and no good way to anchor and secure such a weighty endeavor. So I did what I always do in situations like the aforementioned.
I made shit happen.
With canvas assembled, Mark, an amazing tye-dye maker, helped me cart the plywood beneath a tree that was caddy-corner to the field venue. A quick conversation with Chris Pedersen (former member of the Breadbox Band, now on the kit with the Roy Hobbs Agenda) and a leafing through the symbol book yielded the pith of the weekend’s creation. A symbol that represents human consciousness.
And we were off. I added some strange alien faces below three knots of the plywood…grey race aliens, I think. People commented on these figures a lot throughout the weekend.
We layid down the foundation during Roy Hobbs and a few other bands that I was unfamiliar with. Because we couldn’t get a light source on the canvas, we ended up having to drag the 8′x8′ mural back to our vending site, where we propped it up and kept working. Our neighbors, Mike and co., tagged the left side a little. After a quick painting session with the NY Funk Exchange (who raged it despite having a sparse crowd), Julia and I called it a day, exhausted after traveling, setting up and dragging around heavy objects. I really wanted to stay up for Jeff Bujak, a personal friend and great musician, but I couldn’t rally on this particular evening.
Cleansing of the City Mind Through a Funky Exchange: painted live to NY Funk Exchange
We arose on Saturday to potential rains. We’d hoped and wished for a clear day, but it seemed like the string of hurricanes had other plans. We had some interested parties stop by the booth and inquire about prints and framed work and lots of niceties were spread about the works. We then hopped on over to the Livestock Pavilion to paint for good friends Buzz Universe. Unbeknownst to me, Kelly Hill of the New Jersey Herald was taking photos of me during this little live painting collaboration and I ended up in the Sunday edition of the paper! Thanks Kelly!!!
You can check out the photos she took here.
Big thanks to Buzz U as always…we really love you guys and are looking forward to the Manhattan cruise on the 25th!!
And then came the rain. I walked out of the Pavilion to find it coming down a little harder than a sprinkle. I got to the merch tent and pulled all the damageables inside, though we lost a few prints to the rain nonetheless.
I got the car packed faster than a hummingbird on speed. That is, if a hummingbird had hands and wanted to take a bunch of paintings off of a jerry-rigged wall in the rain. It might. It might.
Paintings, prints and merch in the car, I drove over to one of the large shelters that Dave Bryson, coordinator of Evolve 2012 and all around good guy, told us we could set up shop in. I also got a hand from some passersby (thank you humbly and from the heart) and we moved the mural beneath the large shelter, with plenty of time to spend painting before Natural Breakdown came on. Because of the massive, dumping rains, the show had been slowed up a bit for safety. Thus, Natty B, perhaps my favorite band in a LONG time, was pushed back as well, which was perfect for me. A later slot for Natty?? Never a bad thing, especially if it’s at 10:30 om and they have time to stretch out.
During the interim, I scribbled and scrawled to the other bands rocking out the Pavilion. It was the first time I felt really settled all weekend and I knew the weekend would be good from here on out. At this point, I thought, “Finally! We don’t have to move anymore!!” This was not a correct assessment. But that comes later.
Julia slept through most of this. When she finally roused herself and came over, she informed me that the great Godhand had descended and crushed our EZ-Up. I would confirm this the next day and then take out my frustration by bending the poles off of each other one by one and throwing them in the garbage until I couldn’t break anymore. It was constructively destructive. Ah paradoxes.
But it didn’t matter. Things happen. We settled in with our neighbors, Matty and Jen, her son Malachi and everyone else. Thanks to Laura who works for a local farm and allowed us to festoon their table of veggies with artwork. We love you guys and always appreciate seeing you with the Hive.
A work in progress…eight feet by eight feet!!!
Full view of the progress on the second day
Julia out of the rain, trying to get dry
And finally, it was time for Natty…we’ll post of the pics soon in the photo section so check back soon. I’ve been dedicating a lot more time to updating all of the sites I maintain, so media is coming.
The Natural Breakdown is really doing it. When they play, I get the Phishy feeling, but augmented, heightened and focused. By Phishy feeling, I mean that wonderful soul spot tickle that used to happen to me at shows during jams, certain songs, segues and teases…Natural Breakdown IS that band.
They deftly begin original tunes, tweak them out from the last time played, traipse on the edge of a Dead tune only to tickle the ivories of a Phishflanged piano, all the way chanting Om Shanti Shanti.
Gene from Natty B with a work I created inspired by their music
Dan Farella, bringing the Spirit Train
They keep getting better. If you have a chance to see them, DO IT. You will NOT be disappointed.
After Natty B, we painted. All night. Sean Dobson, the Helping Hippie kept us company all night and read us some amazing literature, which was inspiring to say the least. I guess that was my first live painting experience to read philosophy.
Sunday brought an absolutely beautiful day and yet another move of all of our stuff. At this point, I was getting a little worried because I still hadn’t figured out how we were going to get the plywood back home, because it was really too big to carry with all of our things (Sean eventually helped us out and transported it back to PA…we’ll be picking it up soon).
We got the canvas back underneath the tree we had started it under and finished out the day to some more great music. Turtle Soup, Juggling Suns, Roots of Creation…we love you!!! We even got to hear Sean Dobson rock out before Juggling, which was nice as I knew he’d been working on his skillz for awhile now.
So we finished out the day, eventually driving the car over and using the headlights to illuminate the canvas. Thanks to the helpers we had, and to Julia who added some final touches as well (both Julias).
Again, we’ll have all of the photos up soon!!! Take care and please contact me at crazyredbeard@crazyredbeard.com if you’d like to be on the mailing list.
Photo courtesy of Mike!
We wish you nothing but peace. We wish you nothing but love. We wish you to have a clear mind and open heart. We wish your life to be filled with all things good.
And we wish you a good night.
Love+Art+Music+Peace=LIGHT!!!
