These guys were amazing! I couldn’t stop my feet from moving. They were called Four Star Brass Band.
These guys played at Ravenswood Art Walk toward the end of the day on Sunday. I took a bunch of pictures of them in my Flickr stream. They are called Four Star Brass Band and they rocked. If you want to feel like you are celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orléans, check these guys out. I thought they were particularly photogenic, too ; )
It is 5:30 am (yes, 5:30 am) and I’ve already eaten breakfast. Breakfast of Champions: Two eggs, scrambled (Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm, where eggs actually have color in them), and Victor’s favorite bread (not mine but it makes good toast), Beefsteak soft seedless rye bread. I mean, what’s the point of rye bread without the seeds or the dark color? But when that’s what your 5 year old reliably eats, then hey, that’s what you eat with your eggs, ’cause we just don’t eat more than one loaf of bread a week around here. But I digress. Coffee, with goat milk and a drop of honey. My favorite, although the chiropractor just admonished me for my coffee intake, so I only had one cup. Coffee, good. Migraines, very bad.
My art is neatly packed and ready to go into the car and has been for a week, but my clothes for crashing at Rose’s tonight (she lives in Ravenswood) are in a heap on my bed. I’m not the fashion maven, I’m good at picking outfits for other people but can’t seem to pick a decent outfit for myself. I’d love to wear one of the necklaces I made but they are all packed away already, so I’ll go sans jewelry. Yeah, the jewelry maker wears no jewelry. I guess I’ll stick with the basic black dress and pack some different layers for changing temps throughout the day.
Speaking of weather, it couldn’t be more perfect this weekend! So everyone should come out and join the fun at the Ravenswood Artwalk. Besides art there will be food, drink, music and general merriment.
RAW is a pretty big event; nearly a mile of arts and entertainment in one of my favorite Chicago neighborhoods. Actually, it is tied with my current Chicago neighborhood, Galewood, as my favorite place in Chicago to live. The thing is, this is probably the largest arts event I’ve ever participated in. That thought just occurred to me this morning, as in “Hey, this is a pretty big event I’m participating in. There might be lots of people there. Does my butt look big in this black dress? Well, there’s only so much the color black can do for you.” When in fact, hopefully all they are really looking at is the art, which I am actually pretty pleased with!
I don’t know how musicians and performers do it, when your art IS your body, your movement, your voice. It is hard enough to put your work out there when you can wear black and stand off to the side while people look at what you’ve made. Speaking of RAW, displaying your work to the public can be a somewhat raw feeling, with layers of emotional facade peeled away. But then raw food is supposed to be good for you, and I’m guessing that fresh, raw art is too. We should all make and share our raw art with the world, I think we’d all be healthier and happier for it!
I know I’m always feeling a little bit shy right at the beginning when my art goes up on display, but once those initial jitters go away there are few things more fun to me than getting the chance to connect and hang out with so many creative types, the people who make art and the people who love art. I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to do so for a whole weekend!
I know this has been a long rambling blog post, but that’s what you get when a night owl tries to write coherently at 5:30 am. 5:30 am!!!
semenza 