The Sights and Sounds (and Smells) of Busker Fest and the Replay ; We Say Goodbye to KU's "Bedazzler"

Scenesters hate Larryville's annual Busker Fest, probably because people have fun while attending, and it's family-friendly, and there's no beer on the streets. These are legitimate complaints, of course, but we enjoy seeing weird shit on the street, so we tend to observe a bit of it.

Last night we caught the last two songs of Truckstop Honeymoon on the new Busker stage at 10th and Mass (the ever-popular crowd sing-a-long about getting expelled from vacation Bible school plus the ever-sweet "Johnny and June."). Presumably it had occurred to no one that a Replay matinee would be occurring directly behind the buskers, creating what Truckstop's Mike West called a "sound collage." Also on the scene for the Truckstop gig: the busker-lovers from I Heart Local Music. Go here for their report plus a video of the Bible school tune.


Stepping inside the Replay, we were absolutely amazed that last week's vomit smell at the back bar still lingered nearly as strong as the week before. HOW did the torrential rainstorm of the previous night not wash away any lingering traces? And how do the employees work at that bar all night without puking themselves? Or IS the smell in fact caused by someone puking in the same place every day? So many questions are raised, but we're going to introduce the employees to a little invention called Fabreze next time we're there.

In better news, the evening's matinee sound for the F-Holes rockabilly barnburner of a set was pitch-perfect (perhaps because the substitute sound-man--from Up the Academy--had the novel idea of actually remaining near and closely monitoring the sound board all night: we were so pleased!). The F-Holes treated a bigger than usual crowd to rousing versions of Chuck Berry's "Maybeline," Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried," and hilarious tunes such as "Beans for Breakfast." Go see them tonight at the Jackpot, why don't you?

After such a set, the only thing to do was watch a woman rip a phone book in half, so we caught Mama Lou's late-evening performance at 9th and Mass and were quite pleased with a few masturbation references she tossed into her act. Here she is making a poor sap from the audience don an orange unitard.
















Chip: "Also, as I remind you all each year, remember to keep a close eye on your wallet during Busker Fest, as buskers are notorious pickpockets."

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Today's front-page LJ-World story is art-related: the "beloved" campus tree sculpture known as "The Bedazzler" has been removed after a two year stay on campus.

Let's see if the talkbackers agree with that designation of "beloved."

boothillbilly says: "Good riddance to bad rubbish. That thing was an eyesore."

Most of the talkback, however, is devoted to a discussion of whether or not the tree was dying prior to the sculpture being erected, even though the article CLEARLY states: "Artist Patrick Dougherty created the sculpture around a dying tree," which seems to prove our suspicion that talkbackers rarely read the article they are talking back to.

Read the piece here .

"Bedazzler," we will miss you! And despite the fact that the article also clearly states that all the artist's pieces are designed to be temporary, we will continue to believe that Governor Brownback ordered the execution of the Bedazzler, and will probably come for all of our trees soon, since he hates pretty things.