An attempted Oakland Embassy recap
It was great.
BK's pictures tell the story a lot better than words, so I'll leave the in-depth analysis up to the
photes and your personal deduction skills.
Extra special thanks and an incredible amount of respect goes to the following people:
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Babbletron: If you like the rapping, and I know you do, the bottom line ensues: This group is fucking great and you need to pick up their 4-song EP immediately. They also lugged all their stuff from Brooklyn to Manhattan at very short notice and played for nothing. Almost everyone who caught their set stood their and stared with their jaws dropped open. It was very very very good, and I am very very very grateful.
- Russ Greenspan: Russ's alternate persona, Mr. G, kicked off the music program nicely with some head-bobbing selections from the
22grooves project. He also played some great new stuff. Russ took care of the sound the whole night, from ordering the equipment to making 4 different bands -- with 4 different sounds – all sound like frickin magic. He also played a ghost in a film about PacMan, and necked with his lovely wife Rachel on camera. Russ may very well have been the MVP of the night.
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Ben Peyser: Ben spent a good chunk of the night in the A/V control room, pointing his video camera at a laptop screen. Due to an unforeseen hardware gaffe, the right cables weren't on hand to hook up Andre Karpov's laptop to the projector so's we could show animation. Low-tech solution to high-tech problem? Point Ben's trusty Canon XL-1 at the laptop screen and run a live feed to the projector. Due to his A/V room antics, Ben didn't even get to see the crowd's reaction to his film Layme Boys, which has now baffled minds on both coasts. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Ben. His name should be Champp.
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The Hint: They packed up a van, drove from D.C. to NYC, unpacked the van, plugged in and rocked faces to a greater extent than was even promised. They undoubtedly made a bunch of new fans in the process. Many thanks to Joe, Denis, Peter and the posse of goodtime funpeeps that joined them on the NYC trek.
- Brian Kulak: Character actor. Film enthusiast. Promotions coordinator. Time-traveler. Photographer. Archivist. Music fan. Donator of all the fine 8mm movies everyone saw that night and seemed to enjoy immensely. Is there anything this man cannot do? The milk keeps getting fresher.
- Rob Thomson: "Golden Skate!", Rob’s documentary about roller-skating dancers in Golden Gate Park, was a huge hit. Furthermore, Rob added to the festive atmosphere of the evening by enticing a good 15-20 members of the Central Park Roller Skating Club to come along and enjoy the night’s antics. Kudos, Rob.
- The
Alan Thompson Sideshow: I've seen Alan play 3 times – each time with a different arrangement of instruments and incredibly talented musicians – and it gets better every time. Thanks to Alan, Renne, Chris and Tal for a great set, and here's hoping they will put out a CD real quick-like.
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Andre Karpov: The animator extrordinaire was patient and festive, even when the technical difficulties started piling up. Check out his
site for some hot anima-frames.
- Jesse and the rest of the
vOID staff: Thanks for such a great venue and your help and hospitality throughout the night. I'm very grateful for all your help, and we couldn't have pulled anything off without all of you. When I think of vOID, I shall think of it fondly. Then I will take another sip of brandy from my snifter.
- Bryan and Hilarie: Thanks for being terrific hosts and making my first extended trip to NYC such a memorable one. Y'all is great, and I promise to do it up real nice when you crazies visit the Bay Area. Believe dat.
- Alyse Moynihan: Hells yeah, that's my wife. She designed the postcards, laid out the official FunBook and put up with my neurotic shit for about a month or two before the event. She's perfected the art of being awesome, and I love her.
