AUX 3

Hey...so, I'm just now posting photos and video from last Saturday's AUX 3 - EXPERIMENTAL ARTS FESTIVAL, which happened in downtown Athens at LITTLE KINGS and our local art house movie theater, CINE. Missy and I actually performed at the very first AUX event as THE FRENCH TOASTS, and then at AUX 2 we participated in their craft fair. This year we decided to just be spectators (especially since we missed seeing most of the bands last time) and shoppers. We spent the day picking and choosing which bands/films/performances (I think there was like, 30+ participants to choose from), running back and forth between home and running errands. The day started off nicely with a little craft fair in Little King's blacktop courtyard:





An abbreviated version of the band DARK MEAT kicked off the event, eventually leading everyone on a short parade over to Cine and the following event. It was fun to see the bewildered looks on motorists' faces as the procession crossed the intersection and made it's way down the street:


AUX 3 2436 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.



















(yup...there were people playing animal horns/antlers)


AUX3 2460 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

The Dark Meat parade segued into a performance by FLOORSPACE studio's YOUTH MOVEMENT WORKSHOP. This was one of my favorite moments of the festival because I thought about how peculiar it was...these little girls doing modern interpretive dance...and then I thought how cool it was to live in a town where something like this can happen and be celebrated:


AUX3 2463 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Later on that day we popped back into Cine to see KILLICK perform with his specially-made one-of-a-kind baritone guitar slash bass harp hybrid:




AUX3 2470 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

We ducked back in to Little Kings to see ELF POWER's Andrew Rieger and Eric Harris perform a noisy 15-minute jam with HOWLING JELLY, and then back to Cine to see OUR NEW SILENCE:






AUX3 2480 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

On into the evening we stopped into Cine to see Missy's friend (and former trapeze instructor) Julie perform with her band MAPS AND TRANSIT. They did a mult-media performance which incorporated live music, shadow projection, and aerial acrobatics:







Afterwards, we dashed over to a jam-packed Little Kings to witness the spectacle of BILL DOSS AND THE FLASH CARD ORCHESTRA. Bill (who is a member of OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL) conducted a gaggle of Athens musicians via the use of FLASH CARDS. He would show the cards to the band and the audience (who also participated in the performance) and they would improvise according to the directions or "moods" written on the cue cards:





Here, the audience and band are instructed to howl like wolves:


AUX3 2503 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

This was a command for everyone to stomp their feet, followed by a card that said "bubbles popping":


AUX3 2504 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.


Missy's editor at FLAGPOLE (who publish her weekly comic), Larry, played bass in the band BRAVE NEW CITIZEN, who were awesome, of course. By the end of their energetic performance, Missy and started to feel the effects of a long Friday and an even longer Saturday finally catch up to us...we left for home soon after Brave New Citizen, regrettably missing THE ICY DEMONS festival-closing set...




AUX3 2516 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.


AUX3 2517 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.