jenkstars

[jenkstars]

Thru the red curtain @donaldglaude. ♦️♣️ #nocturnalwonderland #jenkstars #insomniacevents #queenscastle

[jenkstars]

Royal. ♠️♥️♣️♦️ #jenkstars #nocturnalwonderland #insomniacevents #queenscastle #trashmagic

[jenkstars]

Turns out, it pays to reclaim! After #nocturnalwonderland we sold all the pallets we sourced for a buck a piece to these guys! And the cycle continues... Pretty sweet indeed. 🔃🔃🔃 #trashmagic #jenkstars #insomniacevents @insomniacevents @pasqualerotella

[jenkstars]

@djbadboybill spun an epic set with the JENKSTAR lights aglow! #jenkstar #insomniac #nocturnalwonderland #nw14

[jenkstars]

The entrance to the Queens Castle! 🏰🏰🏰 Made out of an old white picket fence, reused cement foundation plywood, and a thrift shop chandelier! #trashmagic #jenkstar #insomniacevents #nocturnalwonderland #nw14 #queenscastle #upsidedoenroom

[jenkstars]

People were going bananas at our installation stage at #nocturnalwonderland! 🍌🍌🍌. #jenkstar #insomniac #nw14

[jenkstars]

Only memories remain. 🎶 #NocturnalWonderland #jenkstar #queenscastle #upsidedoenroom #insomniacevents #insomniac #nw14

[jenkstars]

And that's a wrap! Thank you Nocturnal Wonderland for all the good times! 🏰 Thank you @insomniacevents for the opportunity 🎼 And thank you to all who made it happen!! #WEAREALLJENKSTARS @gceventpros #jenkstar #nocturnalwonderland #nw14 #upsidedoenroom

[jenkstars]

Or upside down!!?? #jenkstars #nocturnalwonderland @pasqualerotella : regram

[jenkstars]

Is it right side up?

[jenkstars]

It's been 3 weeks of sourcing 100% reclaimed materials from the streets, back alleys, and lost lots of LA and were almost there! Thanks to our trusty crew of Jenkies! #nocturnalwonderland #jenkstars #insomniacevents @pasqualerotella : regram

[jenkstars]

Epic sneak peek regram from the Queens balcony of our latest build at #nocturnalwonderland #insomniacevents @pasqualerotella #jenkstars the build is done, let the games begin!

[jenkstars]

We're taking the Jenk to all new heights at #Nocturnalwonderland!! #insomniac @pasqualerotella

[jenkstars]

A day in the life of a Jenkstar

The other day was the kind that made me remember why it is we do the things we do. The Jenkstars have been out for the last two weeks in search of recycled material for their latest build project, Nocturnal Wonderland. We called posts on craigslist, local businesses, lumber yards, and all other outlets we usually go to…with little success. It got to a point where we began to get nervous, and even committed the cardinal sin of walking through the doors of a Home Depot.

Walking around the lumber section was a new experience. The smell and look of new wood was something we were unaccustomed to. We found what we were looking for, but something was off. This wasn’t our style. It felt like we were “giving up.” We turned around and walked out of there, opting to keep to our tradition and find our wood as we always have.

It was less than an hour after that when we got the call. “Bring a truck and a trailer,” an excited Zach exclaimed “we got all the fence wood we need.” We hurried down to discover what he said was true, a huge yard filled with 10 foot high stacks of the exact type of fence wood we were looking for. The owner was stoked that we were clearing it all out, it saved him money on a dump truck and the hassle of coordinating one. It was already a good sight to see the trailer getting higher, and knowing we now had something to work with but then we were provided with the “cherry on top.” The owner of a cementing company next door noticed us taking away his neighbors old wood, so he approached us, “Hey, you guys recycling wood?” He asked, to which we nodded our heads yes. “Oh, I don’t know if you need it. But I have a bunch of brand new plywood that I’m throwing out. And I just hate seeing it go to waste.” 

BINGO! Plywood? That was what we had gone to the Home Depot in search of in the first place. It’s probably one of the most difficult items to find when sourcing wood, and here it was…enough of it for the entire project. And it was all minutes away from being driven to the dumpster, because it was cut a few inches too short. The smile on our faces turned to joyous laughter as we accepted his gracious offer. This cement company owner, Justin, had once toured with the Grateful Dead in the 80s so he was glad he could contribute to the arts, and was thrilled when we showed him pictures of what we were doing with the wood. 

Another day of living the cliche of “one man’s trash…” 

I love my job. 

-Kirill Simenchik

[jenkstars]

Our Friends at The Grand Artique Release The Official Electric Forest Mayoral Acceptance speech of Super Tall Paul the new mayor of the Sherwood!

[jenkstars]

Since there was lighting in the last event and rain the one before that, it was only appropriate that the forces combined and created some electricity…in the form of Electric Forest. It was our third year in the Sherwood, and the Jenkstars came out this year with our biggest installation to date, and still always built with trash…The Globe Theater. 

The Globe was a homage to the vaudeville era, a flashback to the late 19th and early 20th century days of traveling theater performance. It was, technically, only the center of three structures as the Sollun and La Femme were set up on either side of it. This allowed for patrons the ability to watch a show on stage, grab a casual drink at the bar, or lounge out and take a photo in our photo booth (yes, it actually worked!) without feeling too cramped, and always creating a constant flow. 

And if you looked hard enough (most people did), you found a little ‘hobbit’-door in the corner of La Femme, which led to what seemed like a dead-end room made of palettes…except one of the palette walls opened up into a hallway, which lead to another door. Can you guess what was behind that one? If you said Speakeasy, you nailed it! All weekend long people who were observant enough, would find their way back to the speakeasy and were treated with joke-telling bartenders, riled-up poker players, and various other forms of entertainment in our “secret’ room. 

The main pull of the weekend was the energy that all the amazingly talented musicians provided on stage. SuperTall Paul, Talia Keys, Robbie Fitzsimmons, Mouth Dakota, and Happy Happy James rocked the stage, each having their own individual style of looping madness…and they played EVERY NIGHT! We were an unofficial stage, though, so how were you to know who was playing at a given time? Well, the marquee of course! The marque would display all kinds of signs, ranging from the artists name, “welcome to the forest”, “Election today”…and pretty much whatever else we thought was funny to put up there. Other notable acts who were seen on the stage of the Globe: the Fungineers, Honeycomb, Andy Frasco, Emma Nation, and others. 

It was an amazing weekend, and the Jenkstars had a lot of fun pulling a variety of their own shenanigans. This year, we had a new mayoral candidate running for office. His name was Tim Burr and his plan was to chop down the forest to make way for new cabins that the people could sleep in next year. Turns out, people weren’t interested in that…nor were they interested in the conservative, hardworking, sweat-of-your-brow policies our neighbor WC Thornbush of Frontierville had to offer. Seems their heavy campaigning against each other turned the people to another source of hope. A tall ray of smiley sunshine, who is a man of the people, for the people, and by the people. That man, ladies and gentleman is none other than SuperTall Paul himself. In the great words of Sherwood’s new mayor “If you want to be something in this world all you gotta do is make a sign that says so, stand next to it and you are.” Well, Mr. SuperTall Paul, next year your sign will read “Mayor Tall Paul.”

Thank you to all the people who showed up in the space and enjoyed themselves. You all contributed in making this one for the memory books. Excited to see what next year brings. Jenkstar out.

-Kirill Simenchik

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Jenkstar photo booth out now on Facebook!! Check out this sweet slideshow! Facebook.com/jenkstars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #electricforest #sherwoodforest #globetheatre #lafemme #sollun #jenkstars #jenkstarphotoboth #photobooth #ef2014 #electricforestfestival #elevatormisic