(no subject)
Friday (June 3rd) Conrad and I drove up to Grand Rapids and on our travels up here we hit a baby sasquatch (actually are REALLY large raccoon) and we didn't think anything of it at the time, but about 20 mins later while at a stop light in Grand Rapids a very strange odor and smoke was coming from the car - the radiator had been crack, ripped, bend, all to shit - we went back to Ken's and I just partied with my friends who were in from Pittsburgh and called Jay and Kurt the next day for them to repair - $425.00 later and a lot of luck with finding it so fast - I had a need radiator installed in the car by Saturday evening.
On Saturday we had our butoh performance for Festivle in Grand Rapids….. there was actually a little article wrote up about us in the Grand Rapids Free press….
X-treme response
"It's not often a Festival crowd is disappointed, but that's what happened when police shut down a street presentation by X Performance Group Saturday afternoon. The group of about a dozen local artists was performing Butoh, a form of Japanese dancing, in a crowded section of Ottawa Avenue. The curious but appreciative audience gave the group cheers of encouragement as several officers from the Grand Rapids Police Department stopped the performance and told the group to take its act elsewhere, since it was not arranged in accordance with Festival rules. X Performance's musical director, Corey Ruffin, 29, said the artists have performed at previous Festivals, both on the street and on stages, and hasn't gotten in trouble before. After the performance was shut down, the group migrated to Pearl Street, just past the Festival perimeter, where it continued to perform to a large crowd."
The rest of the performance went very well lots and lots of fun - by the end I was exhausted and heat stroke a little bit - when I got back to Ken's to shower and clean all the white and red makeup off - my hands and body was shaking of dehydration - and a need for food.
During our performance we got many different responses from the crowds of people - most were positive - some were scared - some just didn't have an opinion - but all in all it went well - other then the man that screamed in my ear "Jesus died for your sins, do you know this? So you could be free!" I just thought…. If you only knew what the fuck you were talking about - I so wanted to break character and have a bitch slap right there but I was a good butoid. Other's got yelled at by angry father's who went into "flight or fight" mode and said "get away from those kids, you're scaring them!" when really the children were laughing and playing and just thought he was some funny clown. AH…. Grand Rapids…..
I'm very much looking for to the next performance for gay pride in Grand Rapids, June 18th…. I think it's going to be later in the day which is way cool by me, because hopefully it will be a little less intense heat.
Now I'm in Big Rapids and have clients tomorrow - a busy and full day - then off to Holland to pick up Con-bon bon, and then off to Ann Arbor for the week - I really don't mind going to Ann Arbor for the week, I just want to have a chance to relax after this weekend, and right now I'm not feeling like I can for some reason - in the very place that I normally seek solitude - very odd…. I'm sure more will come of that later on.
I'm also looking forward to being able to post some pictures of this last performance, hopefully soon :)