On fethtivals...

I forgot to mention in my last post that I loathe the word festival, at least in relation to anything that's happened or will happen during my lifetime. Rennaissance Fairs, Film Fests, and some pagan rituals are generally excluded but I think that the word gets thrown around a bit much. There aren't very many fun, or interesting words that describe a bunch of people getting together because of a common, specialized interest to eat, drink, and buy or look at crap and other like-minded freaks. Convention-Boring, with negative conotations. Conference-Boring, and more boring. Happening-doesn't really apply usually. I'm getting drowsy just thinking about it. I think it' s best to stick with fairly vague titles that roll off the tongue at least when applied to these events relating to pop culture. Names like CAVESTOMP, THE PONDEROSA STOMP( I'm sensing a theme here), FRY STREET FAIR(not real relevant but I'm making a point), and MONSTER'S DAY OUT seem to work. Names like THE DALLAS FANTASY FAIR, THE SCI-FI EXPO, and WIZARDS ARE FOXY don't and they make me ashamed for everyone.

We actually did a big event about 5 years ago at Exposition Park called FRINGE MEDIA 2000. Yes, the name is cheesy but it's not so much about what is says as what it doesn't. There were vendor tables and mostly obscure independent/underground movies, and beer during the day and at night there were bands and a lot more beer-drinking. It would have been an even greater success if we didn't screw up in scheduling it on the opening day of the state fair of Texas. Parking was at a premium and the area get's very crowded. We did have Lloyd Kaufman, of Troma Films there, and he was a lot of fun. Other guests of note included Austin cartoonist Mack White, infamous film-maker Joe Christ and we had a no-show in the case of B-movie starlet Debbie Rochon. Bands included The Staggers, The Cockouts, and The Necrotonz. The Deadites were supposed to play but they got in fight amongst themselves just before hitting the stage. One of the guys hit his buddy in the head with a tire iron or something which got him a ride in an ambulance. Despite the large investment we actually made a profit. This was put back into our next event.

The following links provide a buttload of information about Outsider Music. The second one is just about Daniel Johnston, who is one of the more high-profile Outsider Artists/Musicians: http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id757/pg1/

http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/article/id2098/pg1/

...Believe it or not I do read more stuff than just Disinfo, it's just coincidental.