this weekend has been a swell one so far and it's not even over yet...
on friday morning, i finished hanging my first personally curated art show @ a popular women's clothing & jewelry store on haight street -- X GENERATION :))))
featuring 6 local bay area artists, all artwork involves animals, bright colors, and nature. i decided to title the show ANIMISM -- the idea that animals possess souls and consciousness.
a dear friend of mine, hooked me up with the store owner, a while back, and kept telling me that i needed to get my artwork up on her store's walls. we finally met about this matter in person and hana told me that the best selling clothing articles these days involves designs with animals, nature, and feathers. she wanted my colorful animal art up on the walls. X Generation is a decent sized store, so i mentioned that it would be better for me to get a collection of artists to show work, rather than just me, hanging my own. she agreed, and a week later, after some successful artist networking, i came to the store with my art car full of pieces to hang.
the show features work by myself, jenny harp, maggie hurley, rick kitagawa, jon hrabko, and basic lee.
after i was done hanging all of the pieces in a meticulous array, i was searching the store for some awesome outfits to wear to this weekend's sf annual hardly strictly bluegrass festival. about once a week, i work at great american music hall (sister venues with slim's), who organizes and books the fest, so i have friends & family passes to attend. i ran outside to take a phone call after i was done trying things on, and upon my return into the store, hana sweetly put all of my items into a bag and handed them to me as a gift. completely stoked on life, i thanked her and went home to put on one of the dresses to rush off to the good times.
check the outfit:
a part of this story that's also worth mentioning -- same friend mentioned above, -- works at a lovely little restaurant in the mission district, called flour + water, and gave me the underground word that the indie band, broken social scene, would be djing @ the restaurant that night, and eating dinner. i made a decision in my mind at that very moment that i had to be there, and planned accordingly.
after enjoying the crazy clusterfuck of hardly strictly, listening to some amazing music in the setting sunshine of sf in golden gate park, shmoozing with music lovers, finagling some free drinks, and sharing some sacred moments with a beautiful acid drenched sf boy, we headed off to share more incredible moments, and then to flour + water hours later. grabbing some wine, and spotting some of the band members, merely based on their creative looking vibes, without actually knowing what any of them looked like, i went to say hi.
i took a particular liking to sam goldberg, a guitarist of bss, wearing a black suit jacket and slacks, equipped with a white button up shirt, and no tie. he was the first member of the band that i approached and was unbelievably kind and appreciative of my music envy. i asked if they were looking forward to playing the next day at the hardly strictly festival, but he then informed me that they also had a show to play the same night at the fillmore. apparently this would be one of their best and last performances as a band for the next 3-5 years. unaware of this fact, i questioned the reasoning behind it. as it turns out, all members of the band have several side projects that they'll all be splitting apart to focus on. i inquired about the fillmore show, wondering if the bluegrass fest would be better to see during the day or if the night show was going to be the epic performance. the show at the fillmore was his preference, and he offered me with two guest passes. handing him a doreykronick.com sticker, i told sam i'd love to attend. i spoke with some of the other bss members before leaving the restaurant, and exchanged some kind words.
i made it out to their show at the fillmore the next night, after receiving an e-mail confirmation from sammy, who contacted me through my website. running into a bunch of friends at the show, i made it to the front of the stage and rocked out pretty hard with the crowd. the show lasted 3 hours, featuring some song performances with the lead man of modest mouse, stars, and the smiths. absolutely uh-mazing set.
i lucked out with some after party, backstage passes, met up with some of the members of the band afterwards, and gifted sam with a custom dk mixed media screenprint.... one that looked almost like this, (although the one i gave him is an original, and i actually don't have it photographed). he was very appreciative, thanked me several times, and in exchange i, of course, thanked him for the incredible experience. the rest is history.
aside from all this goodness, now i'm obsessed with the song, sweetest kill by bss. what a sweet life this is.
