LOLAfest

Two weekends ago, here in London, we had a ripping good time in the form of London Ontario Live Arts festival. If you weren't there, you truly missed out, but you can come next year:) It was a delightful blend of visual art, sculpture, various forms of instrumental and vocal music, and all of these combined. What's great is it was all free, since they had a corporate sponsor as well.


In case you can't tell, I loved every minute of it!

I volunteered to show the art, and also at the info booth, and the rest of the time just enjoyed the shows and the people mingling around the stages. Some friends of mine that I get my organic produce from had a table there, and I visited them from time to time as well.

The first night kicked off with a show featuring Jamie Lidell and also Zeus. I love love love Jamie Lidell and find him to be a musical genius- you should check out his myspace. That man has style! A style all his own.

Throughout the weekend, I attended the shows of Leaf Bird, Land of Talk, Caribou, My Brightest Diamond, and others which I am not remembering at the moment. I felt very alive, standing there, alternately freezing and being really warm (on the different nights), surrounded by a crowd of hipsters in skinny jeans, toques, and plaid. Many were students, many had bicycles. There was a tremendous sense of energy in the crowd that warmed me up in spite of the evening chill, and even though I couldn't see the stage all the time, it was great to be there with friends old and new, and meet people who are so creative and artistic- it was inspiring overall.

I guess that's what I'm trying to say- rather than just be a great music festival that you look back on with fondness, it does so much to promote the arts in an ongoing sense, inspiring those involved to create, themselves. I went home and wrote some poems afterward, and still have some simmering under the surface that I need to flesh out.

The fun thing was I have a friend who played a huge role in the whole shebang and it was neat to hear about it ahead of time and then see what came to fruition after a ton of effort and hard work. And may I say, the committee has great taste:)

Well, that's enough of my ramblings...Photos to follow...