Post by DeEtte on Sept 18, 2008 8:20:04 GMT -5
The Music is Art Festival may have finally found its home.
Two years after it parted ways with the Allentown Art Festival under less than friendly terms and a year after a stint at America’s Fair, the five-year-old music and arts event created by Goo Goo Doll bassist-vocalist Robby Takac took over the grounds of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery on Saturday.
A crazy cacophony of rock, electronica and hip-hop permeated the gray, misty air as music fans of all ages wandered from stage to stage. Three music stages were set up among the art gallery’s colorful outdoor sculptures. Local visual artists exhibited their work at little booths that lined the rolling slopes outside the world-famous museum.
“I think this is a pretty cool place for this,” said Takac, as he took in the sights and sounds of his festival.
Takac said he was sad to have to move his event out of Allentown. And while he was grateful to the America’s Fair organizers for letting him bring Music is Art to the fairgrounds, he said it ultimately didn’t seem to work.
“Although the folks at the fair were incredibly nice and there were a lot of good things about it, the truth is there’s an edge to this event. The edge wasn’t there. The edge is here in the city.”
Takac was thrilled when Albright- Knox director Louis Grachos offered to let him bring Music Is Art to the gallery grounds.
“It’s amazing,” Takac said. Festivalgoers agreed. “When it moved out of Allentown,
the festival just wasn’t the same,” said Nicole Petroof, 33, a Buffalo yoga instructor.
“But this is the perfect venue,” said her friend, Yumalla Sara, 37. “Plus, it gets people to the art gallery.”
Kori Loder, 16, of Grand Island, and her friends Hayley Metro and Kait Affuso, who came to see two favorite local bands, Inlite and Sleepless City, were excited to be at the event, despite the threat of rain.
“It’s really cool,” Kori said. “There are a lot of different people here. It’s good people-watching here.”
Among the artists participating was Jax Deluca, 26, an off-and- on performance artist from Buffalo.
Deluca was an “Answer Princess” Saturday, donning a white Marie Antoinette wig and a gown made of white and off-white drapes. She was answering any yes or no question anyone asked her on Saturday.
A man asked her whether Ralph Nader would win the election. Deluca asked the man to pick out a piece of paper from her answer bag. “Yes,” the paper said.
“This thing is never wrong,” she insisted.
Deluca performed with a band at last year’s Music is Art at the fairgrounds.
“It was all squished all the way in the back [of the fair],” Deluca recalled. “A lot of people didn’t know about it. . . . I’m totally happy to see it here.”
Priti Bangia of Amherst brought her twin daughters, Sonya and Serena, to the Kid Village, where the girls made maracas from paper plates and decorated them with glitter and stickers.
“I think it’s great for the community and a great way to bring people down to the Albright- Knox,” she said.
Angie Carroll, 68, who has a roofing business on the West Side, said she found herself excited and inspired by the festival.
“I have never seen anything like this,” she said, beaming. “This is the perfect venue. . . . This place is beautiful. I called everybody I know to get down here today. There’s a little bit of everything.”
www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/438787.html
Two years after it parted ways with the Allentown Art Festival under less than friendly terms and a year after a stint at America’s Fair, the five-year-old music and arts event created by Goo Goo Doll bassist-vocalist Robby Takac took over the grounds of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery on Saturday.
A crazy cacophony of rock, electronica and hip-hop permeated the gray, misty air as music fans of all ages wandered from stage to stage. Three music stages were set up among the art gallery’s colorful outdoor sculptures. Local visual artists exhibited their work at little booths that lined the rolling slopes outside the world-famous museum.
“I think this is a pretty cool place for this,” said Takac, as he took in the sights and sounds of his festival.
Takac said he was sad to have to move his event out of Allentown. And while he was grateful to the America’s Fair organizers for letting him bring Music is Art to the fairgrounds, he said it ultimately didn’t seem to work.
“Although the folks at the fair were incredibly nice and there were a lot of good things about it, the truth is there’s an edge to this event. The edge wasn’t there. The edge is here in the city.”
Takac was thrilled when Albright- Knox director Louis Grachos offered to let him bring Music Is Art to the gallery grounds.
“It’s amazing,” Takac said. Festivalgoers agreed. “When it moved out of Allentown,
the festival just wasn’t the same,” said Nicole Petroof, 33, a Buffalo yoga instructor.
“But this is the perfect venue,” said her friend, Yumalla Sara, 37. “Plus, it gets people to the art gallery.”
Kori Loder, 16, of Grand Island, and her friends Hayley Metro and Kait Affuso, who came to see two favorite local bands, Inlite and Sleepless City, were excited to be at the event, despite the threat of rain.
“It’s really cool,” Kori said. “There are a lot of different people here. It’s good people-watching here.”
Among the artists participating was Jax Deluca, 26, an off-and- on performance artist from Buffalo.
Deluca was an “Answer Princess” Saturday, donning a white Marie Antoinette wig and a gown made of white and off-white drapes. She was answering any yes or no question anyone asked her on Saturday.
A man asked her whether Ralph Nader would win the election. Deluca asked the man to pick out a piece of paper from her answer bag. “Yes,” the paper said.
“This thing is never wrong,” she insisted.
Deluca performed with a band at last year’s Music is Art at the fairgrounds.
“It was all squished all the way in the back [of the fair],” Deluca recalled. “A lot of people didn’t know about it. . . . I’m totally happy to see it here.”
Priti Bangia of Amherst brought her twin daughters, Sonya and Serena, to the Kid Village, where the girls made maracas from paper plates and decorated them with glitter and stickers.
“I think it’s great for the community and a great way to bring people down to the Albright- Knox,” she said.
Angie Carroll, 68, who has a roofing business on the West Side, said she found herself excited and inspired by the festival.
“I have never seen anything like this,” she said, beaming. “This is the perfect venue. . . . This place is beautiful. I called everybody I know to get down here today. There’s a little bit of everything.”
www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/438787.html
