FREAKS BALLXI

as i sit here watching some crappy tv show about a creative-young-fake-red-headed lady trying to make it in new york city, i figured i would write this blog instead of fighting off flashbacks of my post grad years...so here we go...

my latest project that showed at Brooklyn Bowl this past Friday was inspired by two very dedicated music followers and their mongers, the Freaks.  Aaron Stein and JR Hevron have, for 11 consecutive years, put on a night of kickass music that has withstood snowstorms and venues changes while always promising to be a drunken night full of laughter, fun and dancing.

I started attending Freaks Ball a year after I became a permanent NYC resident, and I remember actually flying in from San Fran, just in time to make the Freaks Ball VIII at Southpaw.  I actually was running late, naturally and recall running into rock photog Ted Wong on the subway as i was hauling my luggage to Union Square to store it at my wateringhole at the time...ok the whole point of this story was I get out to Southpaw and the fuckers sold out, the line is around the block to get in...and i finagle my way in by helping the bartender hold a parking spot...i get inside just as the American Babies are leaving the stage and I recall giving Tommy shit about not waiting for me, i told him to replay Swimming At Night...needless to say, that didnt happen...ok...Bustle in your Hedgerow was the headliner that year, and i just remember standing there holding a beer watching these people go nutsballz over this music, and i knew that i immediately was in the company of people who took this shit really seriously.  and i really liked that.

So, I have attended every year since, and every Freaks Ball since has had an amazing memory.  Nine was the first time I saw RANA.  Ten was held in Sullivan Hall and my Freddies were on display and this year, Eleven, proved to be extroidonary..and this is how that happened.

The Freaks List has been very supportive of my art-rock projects since the launch of JessMessin, and i thought it would be really kick-ass to thank them by creating something for this years event.

So after some chitchats I sketched up an idea that I thought would work, and lucked out that the first thing i sent, they were into...and considering i had 2 weeks to complete the 25 foot piece, that was a relief.

so, i sent them this sketch:

and the guys approved it, and SIXPOINT Brewery jumped on board and the deal was done, so i got to work, and purchased the plastic vinyl and built the drop in my studyo!, 9 ft by 25 feet.

then drew out the design on a massive scale and got to painting...

 

i made 2 adjustments to the sketch, adding the Sixpoint brewery to the left side and Brooklyn Bowl to the right, to make the piece event and year specific.

then, once it was painted i thought it looked like a box of crayola crayons and it wasnt badass enough.  so i sgot in touch with RELIX Magazine, and they sent me a bunch of issues, which I then neon spray painted and collaged ontop of the flat paint.

then i printed the Sixpoint Stars and Brooklyn Bowl logo on 3M sticker paper, cut them out and stuck them to the drop.



then i still thought it needed more, so i set out on an adventure to find as many mirrors as i need to make the letters glisten, which ended up to be only at one amazing place called Hobby Lobby, where they happen to be on sale, so i bought 1200 of them.

then i individually placed each one, in a very scientific OCD pattern, which ended up not fucking mattering for shit, this is me going back around and gluing them down...

my manager Jay came the night it was finished with really classy champagne...here we are, laying on the drop, this is the 12th straight day of work, so im totally losing it by this point...

by 3am the drop was finished after loading it up with glitter, extra rhinestones and glitter spray...i very happily rolled it up and put it in my car.

so my pal ray and i hung it on a chain link fense and took photos of it, heres a shot from the shoot...



then he edited it, created one full image, which i sent off to Sixpoint to be made into posters...

so i packed it up, got it on the train thanks to a red cap, and arrived in beautiful manhattan on Friday, February 4th.  Took it to Brooklyn Bowl for load in where my friend Max and I installed it, while Some Cat From Japan soundchecked.

i ran back to my buddies place threw on my dress and made it back to the Bowl in time to snack on some Salmon and sign/number 150 posters. 

after that it was party time! heres some pictures taken by Kathleen Donnelly and Jen Berstein throughout the evening.

JR Hevron, Myself and Aaron Stein

 me taking a bow while Aaron says "for everyone asking this is who did this, talk to her!!"

With headliners, El Ten Eleven

 and friends, Some Cat From Japan

this past weekend was by far one of the most fun i have ever had.  i highly recommend downing some SIXPOINT SWEET ACTION beer, visiting BROOKLYN BOWL, listening to WOLF! (Scott Metzger, John Shaw and Taylor Floreth), SOME CAT FROM JAPAN (on this particular evening: Will Bernard, Ron Johnson, Scott Metzger, Tony Mason, Jason Crosby and Corey Glover), and El Ten Eleven (Kristian Dunn, Tim Fogarty) and asking to join the NYC FREAKS LIST, its a yahoo group...if you can figure out how to do it, you deserve to be there....and if not, FREAKS BALL is always in FEBRUARY in or around NEW YORK CITY, so if you want to become apart of the group...keep an eye out for the party.

Love, Jess!