By Captain Comannokers
The genius and appeal of Boomslang at its core is that it can be what you want it to be. The tagline for the three-year old festival is “a celebration of sound and art,” but it should be called “a celebration of whatever YOU want to celebrate.” It really is that simple.
The proof is in what has happened already in the first two years and what the third year schedule has in store.
Say, you have kids, and don’t think kid’s music gets enough love or support. OK, well, what are you gonna do about it? If you’re someone like Amberly Warnke you start a radio show that features kid’s music of all kinds. And then, you throw together kid-centric concerts as part of Boomslang.
Or, music is cool and all–but you’re really into fashion. Then throw together an outdoor runway show that is circus-themed for good measure. But then don’t be satisfied, and build off of that and get local businesses and UK Sustainability into the fold to keep pushing the boundary of what fashion can mean.
What’s that? Film is your thing? Then find a film or a filmmaker that you want the rest of Lexington to see and tie that to Boomslang.
See the pattern here? If you are passionate about something and want to bring it to a wider-audience, then you have this vehicle in which to do so. This is not hyperbole.
Boomslang is not just a bunch of 20-somethings listening to “weird” music. Although, sure, I will concede that that will happen during the weekend of September 23-25, but you live in a big college town – that happens EVERY weekend! This year’s Boomslang includes former Kentucky poet laureate Jane Gentry Vance at one of the literary events–and that’s not an abnormality, that’s just part of what happens at Boomslang.
Do you want to show people how to build accordions out of household goods and follow it up with a spirited polka hoedown later that night?–hell, you’re already in for Boomslang 2012!
Are you into the comics scene and tired of all the half-baked movies that Hollywood keeps pushing out? You want instead to direct a theatric opera based on a comic you wrote about a Super Kangaroo that slays villains with a didgeridoo that it then plays victoriously–damn son, where have you been all of our lives?
Or maybe you just like rocks, or Legos, or those miniature dogs, or–I don’t know? Do something with it though. Do something badass that other people will be like “I saw a miniature dog build a replica of Stonehenge out of Legos at Boomslang–blew my freaking mind.”
Full-disclosure–in 2009 I performed at Boomslang with the Rainjunkies at CD Central (amazingly with Wussy which, ummmm, ruled!) I also melted a crapload of crayons in the Buster’s parking lot and called it art. In 2010 I played trombome, drums and an iPad and called that art too–in a project called Pointless Triangle with my friend Noah (who really in an amazing artist)! In 2011 I will just chill out and let my brain and body enjoy all that Boomslang has to offer this town. More Boomslang coverage is inside.
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