Return from Viva, pt. 2

[clevermanka]

For the rockabillies here, my review of VLV (some of it copied from my post to the rockabilly Yahoo! list.

Stardevils: Great show. Phenomenal energy that complemented instead of competed with fantastic sound. Lotta bands have fun stage antics that seem to be an apology for lackluster musical or songwriting abilities. Not so these guys. Some fun, innovative songs and one of the best stage shows I've seen. Also great to see a range of ages on stage together. Note to Tom Ingram: Put These Guys On The Main Stage Next Year. They deserve it.

Go Cat Go tribute: Wonderful show. I have to hand it to Eddie Clendenning for just getting up there and doing what he was asked: Sing and Play. The show wasn't about him, but he put his heart into it. A perfect combination of confidence and respect. Good job.

Something has got to be done about the screwed up check in system. Why are the people who buy tickets early punished by being in the longest line and then faced with a woman who can't read the teeny print on the badly designed spreadsheets? Ridiculous system. Another note to Tom Ingram: While standing in line, my friends came up with about 57 ways to improve the checkin system. Email me if you want to hear them. I'll edit out the obscene bits.

Ronny Weiser deserves a medal for hosting the meet-n-greet on Wednesday. This is always a great time. However, after missing this party for twoyears in a row, I noticed that instead of an informal jam session, now it's more of a mini-lineup show. Honestly, I preferred the jam session. Maybe it's not as organized and there's some dead air time, but I love seeing folks getting up to play together on the fly. Not only is it entertaining, but I think it better shows the talent of people who can sound great with no rehearsal. Plus, I've paid to see most of these bands at some point in the weekender. I miss the unstructured jam session.

The Jiving Competition: I'm in awe. Wow. Don't know if any of the people who competed are on this list, but if you are, great job. I think the trio shoulda come in second, but I guess since he was dancing with two girls he couldn't show off any of his fancier moves.

Speaking of the Jiving Competition, did anyone get a video of the winners victory dance? I'd be happy to paypal you some bucks to mail me a video of that. Email me offlist, thanks.

Martí Brom was amazing, of course. When is she not amazing? And god, she looks so incredibly hot! That woman is a marvel. She did a lot of stuff off the new album (that I bought but forgot to have autographed) and I really liked it. I wish I could see her more often. She tours Japan but not the midwest. Sigh.

I feel kind of dumb saying "Deke was great!" because he always puts on one of the best shows of any weekender and that's not exactly news. Also, since he's a friend maybe I'm a little biased. But damn that man is talented! I really like the sparse, pared down lineup he's got right now: Jimmy Sutton on bass and Chris Sugarballs Sprague on drums. They sound great together and I'm happy to hear this is the lineup that'll be touring soon. (Locals: They'll be in KC later this month)



Now the non RAB stuff:

I finally got myself some cowboy boots! Found a pair of red, black, and white Dan Posts and a pair of black Tony Lamas with white embroidery (fancy!). The two pairs together rang up (with tax!) for waaaaay under $300. I was really happy! We saw the same pair of Dan Posts at another store for $170--about $50 more than what I paid. So yeah, I'm gloating a little. I forgot to buy toecaps, though, so now I'm afraid to wear them until I can get down to Vanderbilt's this weekend. I'm a notoriously bad scuffer. Also in the shoe department: Found some darling Naturalizer sandal wedges. They are a bit stiff and need some softening before I wear them with bare feet but oh they're cute! And of course I can't find a photo of the style online. Grr.

We hit some thrift stores with friends but didn't find a whole lot. I did come home with a light green cotton mandarin duster, a travel-size bonnet hair dryer (for henna sessions), and something else that I'm not at liberty to disclose until kijjohnson decides if she wants it or not.

I'm the worst at buying travel presents for friends, but a couple cute monkey item cried out to be brought home for stuology. The rest of you lost out. Sorry. I'm a bad friend.

Overall, I did better at this weekender than I ever have. I stayed up until about 2:00 or so every morning, and was up by 7:30 (yes, a.m.!) usually, with an hour or so nap in the afternoons. Not bad! Got a lot of stuff done that way, including some dance lessons from Miss Wolff. 0verdrive and I took the first jive class, then some of the local RAB gals took the stroll class. I was definitely not ready for the level 2 jive class on Saturday, but hopefully with some practice we'll be ready next year.

The big bummer of the weekend: 0verdrive really wanted to try out our new dance moves, but I forgot to pack my Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate tablets, so I was really hurting by Saturday. It figures that the one time the boy is feeling uninhibited and in a dancing mood, I'm stiff and in pain. That was a little disappointing. A lot disappointing. =(

It was really nice to see that VLV has turned into less of a nazi fashion show. People still dress up and look sharp, but there isn't that hostile "I'm so rockabilly" vibe that seemed to be so pervasive the first few years. Or maybe I'm just more comfortable in the scene and by this point I don't give a rat's ass if people know I bought my denim capris from Newport News.

A couple people mentioned that they'd heard negative reviews of the weekender, but I really enjoyed myself this year. I've discovered the trick for me is to pick three or four bands a day that I really want to see (always including a couple I've never heard before), and limit myself to that. Otherwise, I get burned out. Four bands a day is enough for me. I know some folks can run a rockabilly marathon but apparently I am not that Hardcore.


And finally, photos!

Photos of the weekender
Photos of the dresses I made

I'm going to leave it up to 0verdrive to post pictures of the cars since it took me two hours to get these downloaded, resized, and then uploaded again to our server.

Comments

[blndbmbshltr.livejournal.com]

I am in love with the first dress you posted. *drool* The others are extraordinary as well. I must say I'm jealous of your sewing abilities.

I'm sad that I missed Ronny's party. He emailed me and asked me if I was going but due to school and other ($$) reasons I couldn't make it. We hung out alot when I lived in Vegas and he is one of the craziest guys I have ever met.

I'm glad you had a great time and *score* on those boots. YeeHaw!

Yola and I were talking about going to GreenBay next year along with Barbe. Are you gonna go?

[http://users.livejournal.com/kai_/]

On behalf of your Clueless readers [me]:
What is Rockabilly?

[stimps.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockabilly

It now encompasses a lot of interesting genres like Psychobilly (the Cramps, for example). Yay!

Ms. Chernobyl: you look GORGEOUS. Wonderful dresses. =)

Nice.

[arian1.livejournal.com]

Nice pics. You do realize you are a shoe whore right? :)

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

What a great time! I wanna go next time.
You look fabulous, as always, and Dean's face fuzz is cute.

Pics of cars? *drool*
Stroll classes? *whimper*
and damn the body for knocking you out of the dance fun. Bah!

Geez, what a rompin' time.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

ps...
where's part 1? or is that the bit that lj ate?

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the compliments! That green one does look smashing, I must say. The pattern is super easy and I didn't do a single alteration to the size 14.

I was really waffling on the Green Bay thing, but If you, Yola, and Barbe are going, I will definitely be there! Let's keep in touch about this!

Rockabilly on, Raver

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mac_/]

Wow! Sounds like a great time. And being another reader clueless about rockabilly I can still say just from the reviews the bands sounds really great. Your also right about Marti looking pretty hot.

The dresses are awesome I liked the McCalls 4301 a lot , but I think my fave is the cherry print 3584. However they are all very impressive as far as being made.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

What is rockabilly? (http://www.rockabillyhall.com/WhatIsRockabilly.html) as explained by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You can see why I am still a bit unsure about knitting: Those dresses, all done in four days. Knitting? Not so fast. =)

Re: Nice.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I used to have a tee shirt that said so!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Cool! We'd love to have you along next year!

I'll let folks know when the car pics are up. And Dianne and I would be happy to (try to) teach you the basic stroll. We didn't feel up to the "Sex Kitten Stroll" class. Maybe next year. =)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Oh, Pt. 1 was very short.

Here! (http://www.livejournal.com/users/chernobylred/68489.html)

Re: Rockabilly on, Raver

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Thanks! A couple of us posted websites with definitions. Check 'em out!

[blndbmbshltr.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the deleted post. I had so many damn typos on it I decided to rewrite it. We will definitely keep in touch with you for GreenBay. Lord knows I need someone to help me drive the girls around town.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

We'll drive there (it's only about 9 hours--only!) so that'll be an additional vehicle, anyways.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

well, shut ma mouth!
You mean I've been a rockabilly lover all these years and never knew it?
All that music is what my folks fell in love to, and then still played when I was a teensy tot.
That's so cool.
Dad gave me the appreciation for Johnny Cash,, but I found Roy Orbison all on my lonesome ;)
I seem to recall Mum teaching me how to do the stroll when I was little, but can't remember much other than sort of sashaying across the living room with our hands behind our backs. She had the 45 of the song "Let's Go Strolling"

[http://users.livejournal.com/kai_/]

Ooh, hey. I like this stuff. Yeah. At least, the stuff I know.

I think I met Conway Twitty when I was a kid. My dad was working for some radio company, and did marketing for them. So we got to meet all sorts of folks, including CW McCall and Loretta Lynn. Not that I remember any of this, I was all of 3 years old. (This would have been late 70's.)

On a different note, I also got to meet John Denver too. I do sorta vaguely remember this, as he'd done some appearances on The Muppet Show, which I watched, so kept asking him, "Are you friends with Kermit? Is he coming to visit too?" Which of course, just tickled him all to pieces. Gosh, those kids can sure be cute. Somewhere my folks have a pic of me sitting on John's lap...

[cherryjane.livejournal.com]

That stroll and this stroll aren't the same thing, if you're thinking about the same kind of stroll they did in American Graffiti. This stroll is more like line dancing to the untrained eye. ;)

[cherryjane.livejournal.com]

We're not sure if we're going to be able to go, both financially and not knowing where I'll be, job-wise, but we're excited about the event and already have "dibs" on a bed in our friends' room in the Radisson. We had a BLAST the first year and hope to get the chance to go again. This time we'll probably day trip to Milwaukee and to areas north of GB that we didn't hit the first time.

[bellanorth.livejournal.com]

I love 3584! And it seems I'll soon have to tackle 4444 if I don't want to be left totally behind. But they look great, and you do too.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

3584 seems to be the leading favorite. Interesting, since it's by far the simplest, design-wise. I might actually wear that tonight out dancing! It's very comfortable, although I'm not real sure about boogie-ing with no bra...hmmm.

[bellanorth.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the men will love it! What time are you heading over?

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Probably leave our house at 9:30 or so. The band is supposed to start at 10.