[Show] G33k Art Show

A while back in November, I saw a note from Miroki Tong on the Nanowrimo boards:

This December, I am creating a showcase and sale called The G33K Art Show. The primary focus is to present artists and craftsmen who create work in sequential/comic, sci-fi, fantasy, animation and other alternative and unique genres. I am hoping that this show will give some exposure to artists who are sometimes missed in the mainstream industry and also struggle for government funding. But I hope that this also brings in the main “geek/nerd” audience and introduce them to their indie artist community. I want to create a bridge between the industries, and make both sides accessible to one another. (www.jacques-trades.com)

Now, I can’t remember what exactly drew me to this, but Negasi also pointed it to me and I thought, “Oh what the heck. We don’t have any gigs in December, even though I’m completely burned out from November”. After checking to see if Debs was free (which she was) I  submitted our application for

Now this was off in Kitchener, at a place called the The Kaufman Arts Studio. I checked the schedule and found out we were playing for 2 and a half hours of music! Crazy! And it was background music, which is better. Why? Because then I care even less what I say into the mic because I don’t even think people are listening to me! I sing silly songs, I start pulling out material from Geek Love Songs, it’s awesome! I love being background music. 😀

And then I found out James P Sheridan (You know him from the comic) was able to come! That means a ROADIE! HUZZAH! I am all for other people helping me love stuff. Debs only has to worry about a guitar, a uke and her stand. Now of course, she’s a small little thing and that’s a lot of stuff, but I have an amp and a keyboard. Heavy.

Anyway, Debs slept in the car while I talked to James P Sheridan. It’s great, because Debs is trained to tune me out. But not James P Sheridan! I talked at him for the whole ride to Kitchener. Captive audience! It was great!

We arrived a few hours early because I’m anal like that, and I found a parking space! Huzzah!

Being early, we met the musician before us, Cecile Monique. Sadly, she wasn’t playing live! That would have been cool. She did give us a cool CD! Of course, that made us feel guilty about us not having our CD’s out, but I digress.

Anyway, we went and perused the tables. They were cool. Comic book artists, craft artists, other artists. You can check out Miroki’s post about it if you want to know who all was there. Debs wanted to buy a plant, so she took money from me. I don’t know if she paid me back yet. *laugh*

We were situated outside of the trade floor, and the only person out there was Miroki’s brother, Michael. He was great because he didn’t give us too many sour looks after us playing our material for almost two hours straight. And then, I sang a song about him. It was all awesome. He left when the song started playing. He looked bored and I thought he would like a song! Poor guy.

We actually don’t know how long we would play for if we don’t do our ‘act’. See, with our act, it adds another 2 minutes per song (because Debs is so argumentative! Me? I’m a cherub!) However, since we aren’t talking too much between sets (although, we still did bicker), we didn’t know how long we would be! Normally, a 9 set song could take us 40 minutes to get through.

I was starting to pull out normal songs by the end of it though. I was running low on material. Someone requested Christmas songs, and I left my book at home. I was even planning on bringing it just in case, but then decided not too. I was stupid.

In the end, Gerima Harvey joined us on a few songs. He was playing a Djemba of sorts (sorry for the misspelling) and it was all sorts of awesome! It was great to have a percussionist, because my timing sucks. I should have asked him to join me on “I Love You But I’m Ugly” because I can’t seem to do the timing on that properly.

In the end, we had a great time! Thanks Miroki! Now we know how long we can go for before we run out of material. I guess we could have repeated some songs, but where’s the fun in that?

I hope Debs has more stuff to add to this blog entry, I can’t remember that far back. 😀