Like it or not, the Shadow Art Fair, is just about 10 days away now. It’ll be good. You should come. As always, there will be tarot card reading, female circumcision, and a petting zoo for the kids… I’m not sure what I’ll be doing yet, but I think I’ll be there, talking about the Cycle Powered Cinema project I’ve been working on. Or, I may be euthanizing pets. It depends on how I feel when I get up that morning… Here, for those of you who want actual facts instead of my late-night ramblings, is the real scoop.
The Shadow Art Fair is coming up! It’s 10 days away, on Saturday, July 18, noon — midnight at the Corner Brewery (720 Norris Street) in Ypsilanti. Check out our website to see the full list of artists that will be presenting their work. Also available will be Shadow Art Fair posters and t-shirts featuring this round’s winning design, all printed up by one of our sponsors, VGKids.Admission to the event is 2¢. Per the Corner Brewery, if you are under 21, you must be accompanied by a parent to be admitted.
You can help spread the word about the event by posting flyers, or graphics on your website.
More of the day’s highlights are below. Get in touch with us if you have any questions.
Hope to see you there!
Love,
Your MIDMI pals
Mark, Jennifer, Molly, Tim & MelissaPERFORMANCE LINEUP
Performances will happen throughout the day in the beer garden beginning at 2pm. Here’s the lineup:
Anti-Fanfare by the Shadow Art Trumpet Pentacle (James Cornish/Andrew Fenlon/Ross Huff/MC Trashpedal/Joey the Wanderer)
Live DJ set by blk_out (Bryan Dulaney)
Live DJ set by N8IGW (Bil Jax/Charles Tillinghast)
Poetry/Noise fusion by Adapt Collective featuring Kevin Morris
Comedy by BLOOD CLUB (Forest Juziuk/Brian Hunter)
Plus 5 Experiments in Noise/Folk fusion:
Dave Richards vs. MC Trashpedal
Secret Twins vs. Almus Magnus and Racecardriver
Chris Bathgate vs. Better Late than Pregnant
Annie Palmer vs. Andrea Steves and Matt Endahl
Matt Jones vs. Pink Octopus (Voss/Fulcher) wsg Ronen GoldsteinAnd 2 curious bands from Ypsilanti:
Manhole
Patrick Elkins & the Family Shadow BandAlso 2 short films:
“The Burning Stable” by Ted Kennedy
“Gathering Noise” by AIRPORTEnding with 1 shadow puppet show:
“Antarctina” by Carrie Morris2009 SHADOW ARTS GRANT WINNER: Dreamland Theater
The Dreamland Theater (also one of this summer’s vendors) is the recipient for this year’s Shadow Arts Grant. They will use the money to fund their History of Ypsilanti puppet show project, which will tour schools and other community locations in the area. Need funds for your great idea? Get more info on our Arts Grant — we’ll have another round of funding to give away in 2010.SHADOW BREW
Brewed with earth berries, heaven berries, radish in the mash, and a cherry on top. Soured by a 30-hour mash rest, this edition’s Shadow Brew is a tart and sour Belgian ale featuring a fruity nose, complex malt backbone and an under-the-covers finish (10% ABV). The Shadow Brew goes on tap around 6pm and part of the sales help fund our above-mentioned arts grant. As always, big thanks to volunteer brewers Ryan, Logan & Hollis!HANG OUT WITH US ON THE INTERNETZ
Check us out on Flickr (feel free to post your photos), Facebook and Myspace.OUR SPONSORS
The Shadow Art Fair would like to thank the following organizations for their support and assistance in pulling off the event:
The Corner Brewery, for hosting us
VGKids, for printing the posters and tees
Zingerman’s, for providing lunch for our vendors
Ann Arbor Audio, for providing us with quality sound equipment for the outdoor performances
Sounds good, right?
23 Comments
I have had to work through the last two Shadow art fairs. I got to go for about an hour over the winter. I am so looking forward to this!
i’m super psyched about dreamland theater’s grant and project– sounds awesome!
Oh, as for the bands, I should add that we’re using the term “noise” somewhat liberally, as the volume won’t be terribly high. For the most part it’s been described to me as “ambient noise.” At any rate, I wanted to mention that, in case anyone came out expecting ear-splitting noise in a more traditional sense.
I give up. Is it a dried up slice of pizza on life support?
Can’t wait! :) It’s been way too long since I’ve been in Ypsi during the Shadow art fair!
Shadow Art Fair is a great time and well worth a visit and a beer for those who haven’t been. I might spend $35 bucks including a nice buzz and always come back with some fun stuff in my shopping back.
This will be the first year that I’ll miss it. Bummer.
At what point will the community put their heads together and admit that Patrick Elkins really sucks? The joke was never funny to begin with and just gets worse.
Bob, you know what they say about opinions… Is Pat a musical savant? No. Does he go out and give it all for his art in every performance? With out a doubt.
So…I can’t call Brian “public sub-servant” Robb mean names, but someone can insult Patrick Elkins, and call his musicianship a joke? Mark, where are your facsist,bullshit pandering comments now? Aren’t you going to come and save the day, like you did for you friend Brian? Hey pot…the kettle called…you’re black. Freedom isn’t free, son. It costs the same for you and me. But if it makes you feel better my ladyfriend, I won’t use the f-word.
Ok, so Andy, you agree that Elkins is basically a hack but we should tolerate his terrible performance art because he gives it his all? I just don’t agree. No one expects a performer or artist to be great at the start. They should be given room to grow and develop. My point is the guy has been at it for years and it just gets more obnoxious and awful as time goes on. He was included alongside legitimate talents like Jon Langford at the Ypsi songwriters event last year to the horror of many. It’s become kind of a running joke among local singer/songwriter types. I don’t have a personal vendetta against the guy or anything-though I have found him to be kind of a jerk when I’ve dealt with him. I guess I’m just offended by his terribleness.
I would distance myself from Ypsitucky Headhunters remarks though. I have no idea what that rant is about.
We should start a Mark Maynard . com fantasy wrestling league, where all the fake bad guys can talk all the smack they want, then settle it in the ring.
People have said much worse about me and my bands. It’s a badge of honor not to be liked by random douches. No offense, Bob. You may be a nice guy, with swell taste in music. And I’ll admit that an appreciation for Patrick’s work takes some time. I happen to appreciate what he does, though. I’d hate to live in a world where all there was was American Idol. I may not be terribly objective, though, as I’m a friend of Jad Fair’s.
I did two SAF interviews in the last few days. One will air on WEMU this Wednesday. The other will run on WCBN Thursday, during Mike Perini’s show “Pandora’s Lunch Box.”
If there’s any room for more DJs, I’d be honored to play this event. I missed the call for artists I guess…
Mark,
Jad Fair is Otis Redding compared to Elkins. Calling him out is hardly grounds for likening anyones taste to American Idol. I’ll put my knowledge of outsider music up against you or anyone else (ok, maybe not Irwin Chusid)…I find it hard to believe you really think his act is anything but a sideshow goof for smug hipsters. I guess I’ll take you at your word though. Monkey Power Trio sounds like Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys (the Flatt & Scruggs version) compared to Patrick Elkins.
Bob, do you play music? If so, do you go out and play in public? Or do you just like to go out and insult bands/artist you don’t like? And no, I did not agree with you in any way shape or form. If you don’t like Pat, skip that part of SAF, go to A2, and watch the pan flute band for a couple hours at that art fair and chill out. Sorry Pat’s music offends you. But, in music, much like in local politic, if we stopped any thing someone dislikes, we’d be left with a whole lot of nothing. I think lots of local (and national) bands suck. That doesn’t mean I don’t think they should not be allowed to play, or that I go onto web forums about a venue they are playing and trash them in public. Kind of looks like you’re jealous. Are you a frustrated singer/songwriter who can’t get a gig?
BA,
If you come up with a way to score the fantasy wresteling league, I’m in. As long as we all get to wear mexican wrester hoods.
I am NOT a frustrated musician looking for a gig. I am happy to play music for my own enjoyment without having any desire to inflict my own mediocrity on others. I wish more folks with limited talent would do the same. There is just way too much half-assed music out these days. I have worked in virtually every aspect of the music business from radio to retail to promotion and booking of shows. I’m just offended by bad performance art and novelty hacks. That was really my only point to begin with. I just can’t understand why anyone would book and promote something that is so obviously terrible. Yeah, taste is subjective…blah, blah, blah. I’m not passing myself off as the final judge of what is good or bad. But some shit is just shit. Why are people so offended by taking a stand on anything these days?
Everyone is so uptight and afraid of offending anyone. Believe it or not, I really don’t spend much time thinking about Pat Elkins’ music. It was just an observation I’ve had for years and when I saw his named listed…yet again, I took a few seconds to voice that observation. I’m gonna go back to avoiding back art now.
I meant BAD art. Back art and ball shaving is Marks department.
You can’t “inflict” your music on others, unless you lock someone in a room and force them to listen. If someone doesn’t like your music, they can leave the venue. So go out and play, have fun, and screw what the critics have to say. Just don’t take yourself too seriously…
Here’s the latest on the entertainment lineup:
RE: Pat Elkins
People said the same things about Captain Beefheart, and Ornette Coleman. Just because you can’t dig someone’s alkaloid stylings doesn’t mean they don’t have talent. Some people choose to play in a comfortable idiom that people are familiar with, which is fine… a lot of people like white zinfandel and Budweiser. However, this is not creativity, it’s just repetition, familiarity. There are others who value novelty– and by that I mean things that are new and unknown, not things that are a “gimmick.” They’re in the minority, I’ll admit, but these are the people I think the likes of Elkins and Coleman are trying to reach.
I wish I had seen this thread a few weeks ago. I have two huge issues with your comments, Bob.
First, I don’t care if you do not like Patrick Elkins’s music. If you are content to stay at home and play your own music to yourself as you say, then perhaps you should just stay home, period.
A Patrick show is an experience – the sum of which equal far more than the songs themselves. I’m sorry you don’t think his performances are very fun; but I do, and so do other people who go to his shows in Ypsilanti. So your “observations” insult us, as well.
Secondly, it is very bad form to go drag a person’s name around in the mud, as you have done. You may not understand an artist’s work, but speaking poorly of them on the internet hurts that person’s reputation. I fail to see how it benefits yourself, in fact. It’s probably good thinking on your part to not include your last name.
There are folks around whose music I really don’t like, either. But, I would rather just go have a beer during their set and wait it out until someone I like plays, rather than drag their name around in the mud.
Seeing that you have gotten some significant backlash from your initial observation, hopefully you have learned something about being mature next time and keeping your comments to yourself.