#entsintents

[yishaireno]

Last Week

I went to see Duffrey, Art of Fact, Oneness, and Jellyfyst play in Eugene, which was made possible by my friend Peder (Jellyfyst) who gave me a ride and the homie Don DuPont who let me crash at his place in Eugene. It was a good show, with an energetic crowd and great sets from everyone (particularly Oneness). It was a treat to see the whole Danktronics crew out in full force, and Trevor even had new tall tees printed with a new Danktronics logo design so we could all rep the squad :)

Luckily I only needed to get to Portland from there, so I caught a ride with Art of Fact (who lives in Portland) and then got picked up by my friend Finn so we could go to his show out near Hood River. I was blown away by his production value, as he’d been spending the last year investing in equipment and growing the brand of his production company Magnetworks. I got to see many old friends from the area who came out to support Finn’s show, and met his dedicated crew who whipped up some complimentary food for the attendees. By all measures, it was a stellar production.

When I returned to Seattle from this excursion I was invited to participate in a meeting for Cascadia, and was formally instituted as one of two people in charge of DPW (Department of Public Works), otherwise known as the people who tell you to pick up your own damn trash! I’m excited at the prospect of future collaboration with this festival, so I feel quite lucky to be participating at such a high level already, and I hope to do such an exemplary job that I’m recognized as a valuable member of the community. Special thanks to Crystal Cheairs for helping me realize this opportunity; if you read this ever, please know my love for you in this moment is immense

Finally, I returned to work for EntsinTents, who were having some trouble selling tickets to their own Duffrey show, despite adding famously reclusive artist Ion Driver to the lineup. I added key members of the community to the guestlist because I wanted to be sure that we showed these artists a good time (especially Duffrey, as it was his birthday), and as a result there were enough people at the show that passerby were intrigued enough to buy tickets. In the end, we did well enough off door sales for the event to make sense, so I guess I'm also a fairly successful promoter now!

[yishaireno]

Recent Activity

Another casual update as to what’s going on in my general purview!

To start it’s likely worth mentioning that I have just gotten to work (for my first time) with Rob Noble’s show series Manifest and (for my second time) with Michael Manahan’s Cascadia Festival on their recent collaboration show, The Hive. We used the hexagons with lycra fabric and netting from Bass Bees and Frequencies as decoration, and a ridiculously strong projector to make them pop. Sadly, the event seemed a little mismanaged, and there were enough flubs to make me uninterested in working at another Manifest unless I had a more influential role and could guide the shows into a more successful pattern. Rob did mention that the collaborative effort left something to be desired in terms of communication between the two of them, so I’ll see how his next Manifest goes before making a judgement call on his work ethic. At the very least, he had the common decency to compensate me fairly well, so I’ve no real complaints, just see many ways it could have been made better. Mr. C was the headlining act, but I didn’t particularly feel anything particularly brilliant from him. My friend Jellyfyst played a great set, tho! (https://soundcloud.com/jellyfyst)

I also happened upon work with a brand new talent agency, Calypsa, that’s been building contacts and a talent base for the last 3 years. I saw Kiki DeVille, the self-proclaimed “plug” for the talent, while she was getting started as a dancer back in my early days of clubbing post-college, around 2013. We never interacted, but as I made more professional female friends it became clearer who the main source for new women performers in our local scene was. One of these friends (Jellyfyst’s girlfriend Luma from Luma Fire and Flow) invited me to participate in Calypsa’s premier event, Drum and Lace, which ended up being a lot of fun and a great professional growth opportunity. Plus I got to see Dubtek, so that was pretty cool.

My old friends in Olympia, Cobb and Jobi, have been making big moves with Paragon Productions moving into their new venue space called The Studio, which they now hold two events in every month, along with renting it out to yoga teachers, bands, and other event promoters. I held down the door for a while at their latest iteration of Reboot, featuring my good friend Ovoid as the headlining act and local homies Pilz Beats and Shermgerm back from their west coast tour (repping ShadowTrix Music). It was a magical evening, promoting the well-being of a culture that has been cultivated successfully after many years of struggle. I’m so proud of all of the artist who performed and organized that night, it means so much that everyone was local and the show still broke even.

Finally, I dipped back into EntsinTents to see what was up, and they welcomed me back into the fold with open arms. Their new venue space, Terrarium, looks amazing, with a fancy cyclo wall and a turbo/funktion system in place for future parties. They’re only looking to lease for the month of May right now, but it could become something much bigger. The intention is to try to hold onto the relationship with the venue owner until at least September, when the big artists from the Eclipse gathering in Oregon will be looking to perform in the US before returning home. For now, they’ve put up DRRTYWULVZ, Somatoast, and Detox Unit, so they’re doing a pretty good job by my estimation. No flyer art though, shame!