Patchwork Indie - Long Beach

Well, I survived my first Patchwork Indie Arts and Crafts Festival!!! It was a great experience, and I have so many things on my to-do list to accomplish before the Santa Ana one.

My day started with waking up to RAIN. RAIN RAIN RAIN. Luckily, I had packed the car up the night before, but I was still not looking forward to an entire day outside trying to sell soggy items to soggy people. My mom met me at my house and we drove to the store so I could get change and candy, and then we headed to the Marine Stadium! By that time puddles had formed, but the actual downpour had stopped, and never came back. We were setting up in a parkinglot right on the water, and there were big beautiful clouds and gusts of wind all day - the sky was blue, the sun was out, it was gorgeous.

Everything I have fits into my little Yaris (the advantages of selling earrings and not - you know, furniture or something) and so it didn't take my mom and I very long to get it out. Set up did take longer than I thought, mostly because I had never done this before and wasn't really sure how I wanted things. I was sharing a booth, like I'd mentioned before, with Wisalya Bath and Body, and so it took us a minute to figure out the joint set up. They were both super friendly and helpful though, and shared their expertise with me.

The event itself started at 11, and within a half hour I'd made my first sale. I have to say, I was incredibly nervous about whether or not I would make any money at this event. I didn't have a chance to leave my booth, really, and so I don't know what sort of other vendors were there, but several people mentioned that they had not seen anything like what I was selling. Phew!

Wisalya was doing constant business (her product really is amazing, buy it!!!) which meant that I got to talk to people all day long. My mom, dad and sister brought me a burrito from one of the many food trucks that was at the event, but that was really all the outside contact I had! haha. A few of my friends came by, and I ran into a few people I knew but didn't know would be at the show. My favorite moments were the times when little kids would come up and ask me about what I was doing (I was making earrings while I was sitting there) and I would get to teach them about crocheting.

By the time the event was done, I was pretty exhausted. I had a very unique sunburn on one shoulder, and I was ready to drink a gallon of water. Packing up didn't take that long, and I was out of there by 6. Like I said, I have a whole list of to-do's for the next show -

1. I'd like to make my table taller
2. I'd like to make a better Royaboya's sign
3. I'd like to get a short table to go on TOP of the current table so I have another level for ceramics
4. I need to find someone who can stay there the whole time with me (my mom had to leave at 12)
5. I need to make more stuff!

In the end, the event paid off and I was really glad I did it. I hope to continue to be invited to more and more events like this, because it was a blast, I loved meeting people and getting the experience. I hope folks who met me at the event do find me on facebook so I can keep in touch, because getting to talk to everyone throughout the day really was the highlight of the event for me.

THANK YOU to everyone who came out - special thanks to Sean and his family, Sea-Farin' Aaron, Bam Bam and Caitie, and my mom, dad, and Rosie. Thanks to my aunt and uncle Julie and Tim for letting me borrow their table, and thanks again to Wisalya Bath and Body for letting me share their spot!!!

Tango and Creme Brulee

Last night I could have written the most beautiful things about my very cool experience, but today I have drifted back into the mundane and am losing the feel of the magic. I'll describe it, though, as best as I can because I want to remember it - but - well, I lost something already.

There's this place called The Basement in downtown Long Beach - and if you don't know Long Beach, I can't help you. You need to live there to know it. I live on the outskirts, lived in Signal Hill for a minute, attended college in it, my cousins live in it and play in it and work in it, and I dated a guy who lived in it, and so I am allowed to know it but not belong to it. Long Beach is a culture unto itself. I could spend my life writing about Long Beach. I am fascinated. I love it. I walk carefully around the edges because when I let myself cross that border I don't want to leave.

Last night I dressed up in a black cocktail dress, wore my pearls and houndstooth coat, added extra mascara to my lashes, and headed to The Basement, my friend Kim in tow. It was a magical night - raining just enough so that the sidewalk looked gold from the streetlights. We found free parking - as if we needed proof that there was something special going on.

We headed down the stairs, gave our three dollars, "lbm" written in sharpie on the back of our hands, and met up with my cousin Alex and the folks he hangs with these days. We got the famous champagne in a can, complete with pink sippy straw, and lounged in the swankiest lounge in long beach (according to the website).

There's usually a poetry slam before the main event, though tonight there was a lack of participation, so it was limited to a 3 person open mic. I liked the idea of it more than the content of it - the first poet I don't remember at all. The second one was okay - indulgent. The third was ridiculously awful, a caricature of what bad beat poetry looks like today - with forced pauses in unnecessary places just to-be-a...poet, then talkingrealfast to - pause - switchit....uuuup? She did fake maniacal laughter at the end. I was not impressed. However, I was delighted by the whole damn experience, so it was okay. And honestly, I have heard many worse open mic nights.

Then, Derrick, the host of the evening started the real thing. It's called the Lightbulb Mouth Radio Hour - and it's an old fashioned variety show for radio - they podcast it - and it's just - quirky and eccentric and great. You feel a little bit like you are in a speakeasy - they encourage people dressing up, so they are in vests and hats and suits. They sang "on Broadway" but changed the lyrics so that it was "in Long Beach" - each radio hour they have 1 musician, 1 informationist, and 1 poet.

The musical guest was the band We Barbarians - thoroughly enjoyable. I was iffy (I'm always iffy) until the girl who was playing piano started doing background vocals. Then I bought in.

The informationalist was an Armenian guy who lived in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Interesting perspective.

The poet - though - my God, the poet - Brendan Constantine - was PHENOMENAL. He's bald, looked like gay Bruce Willis, and he twists his torso when he reads. After the reading, he was interviewed by Derrick - which I actually enjoyed even more than his poetry itself. He talked about poetry being a necessary tool for some people - an organizational system for them to figure out the world.

After that, the show was over.

I'll try to post more later - I've been writing this off and on all day and can't focus anymore.