So far it’s been a fairly busy week, so I haven’t written. The ‘cool’ thing I was working on was another Twin Cities time-lapse and, although it’s done, it isn’t quite like I like it. I plan on getting more footage and making it more interesting.

Also, tomorrow morning I’ll be shooting some photos for the Twin Cities annual “Bike Walk Week“. I’ll first be in south Minneapolis to get some of the Commuter Convoys, then I’ll head back to St. Paul to grab some shots of the Rich Wieber’s Bicycle Stunt Show. If you’re curious as to just what goes on at a bicycle stunt show, you’re in luck, there’s an over-exposed video below which highlights what it is.

Hope to see you out there!

It’s that time of the year again, when the Solstice Film Festival descends upon downtown St. Paul, turning the Fitzgerald theater and the surrounding area into a hub of entertainment, showcasing films from the up and coming film makers from all over the world!

And, even more importantly, it’s a great time to drink! Yes, I missed it last year but I won’t this - it’s the 2nd annual SFF pub crawl and look-a-like contest! Starting Saturday, June 14th, 5:00pm at Moose Country Press and ending… well, who knows - it’s bound to be the most incredible evening you won’t remember. A lowly $30 buys you an SFF All Access Pass, transportation to all the pubs and specials on the drinks!

The only bad part? It’s limited to 180 spots. So hurry up and sign up for it, come see me, Mishka and friends get stupid drunk and talk about films! Click on the Google calendar link to be whisked away to a GCal event all filled out and ready for you to click ‘Save’ - it couldn’t be easier!

Well, the Bent Festival is over. It was an amazing event, I met a lot of awesome talented people, and took a metric ton of pictures - over 1700 in all. Here are some of my favorites, starting with my absolute fave!

Albino Ghost Monkey from Rice Lake, WI

Tim Kaiser from Duluth, MN plays his homemade instruments

The custom hacked and bent keyboard played by Albino Ghost Monkey

Closeup of one of the hacked synthesizers connected to a stationary bicycle

Hacked Nintendo, used to display odd visuals of classic games

DJ Tendraw from England gives us his hardcore renditions

Memory Selector from Chicago/Minneapolis plays a chill set

Creme De Menthia of Illinois waxes his bending skills

Mike Rosenthal of “The Tank” cooks for the group at the Bent BBQ

Datura 1.0 and Tim Kaiser discuss their art over Bratwurst

Ronald Schleper teaches a drum machine bending workshop

Beatrix*JAR pumps up the audience at the end of day 1

There really are to many good pictures - it’s hard to choose. If you’re feeling brave, feel free to look at the over 750 shots at my Flickr set.

Really looking forward to next year! And thanks to Wired’s GeekDad for asking me to shoot it!

There’s a lot of neat things going down in the TC this weekend, and here are some choice ones to check out!

The Bent Festival - Happening yesterday until Saturday, the 5th annual Bent Festival makes it’s last leg stop here in Minneapolis. Check them out at Intermedia Arts, on 28th and Lyndale. You’ll meet & greet and listen to some of the most interesting music in the world of DIY circuit bending. From soft soothing melodies to a brash jarring cacophony of sounds - you can find it there. At $10 per concert, it’s your best choice for 6 solid hours of music, and on Saturday there is a wealth of workshops to show you how to do it yourself and a barbecue to help you keep going! Please Note: They don’t like credit cards, so bring cash. And some of the workshops have a fee, so keep that in mind.

Studio Bricolage’s First Friday - A lot of people know about Leonardo’s Basement, an organization that helps boys and girls from 6 - 16 expand their minds with the help of music, art, robotics and more. But did you also know they hold an event every First Friday of the month at Studio Bricolage? Studio Bricolage is the adult oriented version of Leonardo’s Basement. For only $10, this month’s session will teach you how to melt plastic toys into bowls, crochet plastic bags together, create your own inflatables and a whole lot more. We’ve been here a few times, and it’s always a great time¹

Black Dog Exhibit Opener - If you’re not doing anything at all tonight and you’re in the St. Paul area, check out the Black Dog Coffee & Wine Bar for the opening night of their “Limitless Energy” exhibit - showing the energy that resides within the artist. Cost is free, and you can see some of my stuff! And maybe, even, buy it!² And remember, my art comes JACC approved, for that extra goodness!

And now for a few shots from last night’s Bent concert

1. Really looking forward to their Arduino workshops in June! [↩]
2. Yes, I’m a shameless whore. I’m learning that’s just the artist’s way [↩]

Just a quick remind, the 5th annual (2nd annual in MN) Ben Festival starts tonight, 7pm @ Intermedia Arts. If you’d like more information, check out my post earlier this week about it. It’s sure to be a blast, and I will see you there!

The 2008 Bent Festival will be making it’s final stop here in Minneapolis from May 1st - 3rd at Intermedia Arts¹. This is it’s 5th year, and it’s 2nd in Minneapolis - let’s show ‘em some love!

What is it? The Bent Festival is an annual art and music festival celebrating DIY electronics, hardware hacking, and circuit bending. Each year they invite artists from across the country and around the globe to perform music with their home-made or circuit bent instruments, teach workshops to adults and children alike, create beautiful art installations and to generally come together, face to face, and showcase the state of the art in DIY electronics and circuit bending culture.

If you’re the type that took your toys apart growing up, then this event is definitely for you! Like to learn more? Check out the Bent Festival on Flickr or YouTube, add them to your MySpace or Facebook, look at the workshops or check out the complete schedule. The 3 concerts are $10 each, and some of the workshops have a small charge for parts. Buy individual tickets, or a 3 day pass for only $25.

Local artists performing this year are: Datura 1.0, Caly McMorrow, Beatrix*JAR and Memory Selector.

1. Google Map to Intermedia Arts [↩]

Well another Story Slam goes off without a hitch. And they are seriously getting better and better with every iteration. The audience is larger and louder, the orators are more confident and the lines get delivered at the right time. It was absolutely great! This was seriously the best one to date, and gets me salivating when I think about when the next one will be. Talked to some of the regulars, met some amazing new Slammers and possibly made a connection that could get me into an underground I’ve been trying to get into for years - as a photographer of course.

If you aren’t coming to this thing, what in the hell is wrong with you? It’s awesome! I better see you at the next one; eat, drink, laugh, cry and have your fill of some of the best¹ slammers the TC has to offer!

And speaking of art and what not - starting Friday and going on all weekend it’s the St. Paul Art Crawl!! Hundreds of artists located throughout lowertown St. Paul will be swinging open their doors and letting you in to peek at their wares - and liberate you of any extra Franklins you might be carrying around. So go ahead and print out the map and start marking off where you’d like to go. And if you plan on stopping by the Rossmor building², be sure to let me know. We can have a few beers and play Super Smash Brothers on the Wii. I might throw out a few things this time, but it’s doubtful - both my neighbors are photographers and both of them are also exhibiting. Too many cooks and all that jazz. Besides, my website isn’t fully done yet and I’m busy getting right for a gallery exhibition I have all next month at the Black Dog.

Hoping to see you there! (Or here, even)

1. And, yes, some of the not-so-best [↩]
2. Link doesn’t go to the real website, because for some reason it isn’t coming up for me. WTF? [↩]

This Saturday I had the… pleasure, I guess, of going to an armory in Cottage Grove to watch MCW. MCW stands for Minnesota Championship Wrestling.

Yes, it really is as bad as it sounds - and I haven’t even begun to describe it.

Think WWF circa 1988 with worse actors and a shoddy production value.

Think of ‘wrestlers’ with names like Johnny Riddlin, Tommy “Spiderbaby” Saturday, Little Tiger and Lover Kid.

My betrothed works with some people who go to this bi-monthly event religiously and as such, she was asked to go - and then I was asked. I went, of course, because I love her dearly and had nothing else to do.

We drove from her place of employment to the armory. It took about a half hour. We passed what I think was one of the largest liquor stores I’ve seen - inside of what was an old Byerlys¹. There was also a Family Dollar inside of said store - so you could pickup a case of “Old Grandad” and gifts for the kids and spend less then $20. Apparently the people of Cottage Grove like to drink. And buy items for a dollar or less. So it goes.

We slide on past there and hit the armory - upon walking in we’re immediately hit with the strong odor of testosterone, stale sweat and something close to nachos. We wait in line. Yes, there was a little line. After a few minutes, they open up and we pay for our ticket. Our $10 a piece netted us a stamp that lists us as “#1″. At least they had that right.

It started around 7, we got there at 6:30, and had more then enough time on our hands to watch what was going on as we waited for her friends. People mulled in in groups of 2 or 3. I had never seen so many mullets in one place. The parking lot was awash in IROC Z28s. It truly was an amazing starter.

Oh, and the girl who checks us out at our local Target was also the one who took our money. How did we know? The obnoxious pointless tattoo she has and the style of dress - she’s one of those “I’m not fat at all, look at all the skin tight clothes I’m wearing - I’m so hot” girls. Granted, we’re a chubby pair ourselves, but we don’t attempt to shove ourselves into items picked up in the ‘junior’ section of Target. To put it another way, she is impossible to not remember.²³.

Anyway, her friends show up, we go - there’s a table where they are selling DVDs, clothing and sloppy joes. We pick a row thats far enough back and wait for… well, I had no fucking clue what I was waiting for. So we wait and eventually a gentleman in a ’suit’⁴ comes out with a mic, hops into the ring, and starts talking.

Sadly, he’s talking into a camera that is inexplicably pointed away from the entire audience and so we don’t really hear anything but a 10 minute mumble. Then a match begins. I can’t quite describe, except to say it’s a lot like you used to see in the WWF, only it is even more comical then you could imagine. After the second match we left, even though there was another 2 hours left to go.

I do have to admit, I did like it a little bit. You got to talk shit to the ‘wrestlers’. And I love to talk shit. Though I was trying to be humorous in a high brow way with insults such as “Improperly file his taxes for him, prompting an audit - that will show him!” and “That move was as original as your tattoo”⁵

Anyway - I don’t think I’ll be back again.

This is a clip of video I took. Stupid camera phone, I forget I need to orient it in a weird way to have a normal looking video.

1. Which was a ‘top shelf’ grocery store [↩]
2. Not to you, checker girl: It’s called style, please find some. [↩]
3. Oh, and no matter how hard you try, a pushup bra is not an elastic miracle, and will not create boobs out of nothing, stop trying [↩]
4. Whatever passes for a $30 suit these days [↩]
5. Said tattoo being of Jesus on the cross. [↩]

It’s time for the Pavleck.Com Weekend edition. A lot is going on and I’ll make you privy to it all!

First up, it’s that time once again - the St. Paul Art Crawl kicks off tonight at 6pm. I’ll be walking around my building checking out (and buying) some of the art the incredibly talented people in Twin Town can put together - will I see you there? I’m really hoping to!
See if you can find me or my work called “All my exes live on canvas” (A play on an old country song). It may or may not be there. The fun is figuring it out!

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It was a busy weekend! As soon as work ended on Friday we packed up and headed out to see Mishka’s friend Dubya outside of Milwaukee. Heading east the entire time, we got to see a beautiful sunset in our rear-view window - we also got to see a large RV pulling a boat, with the words ‘Noise Pollution’ proudly written across the rear of both. Pulling alongside to pass this behemoth of steel and noise the likes of which H.G. Wells could only dream of, I couldn’t help but notice the side of the bus was adorned with multiple advertisements for BangBus.Com - which makes me think this had to be the bang bus! It was like bumping into a celebrity to me, I was quite shocked! For those not in the know, BangBus.Com is a decidedly not safe for work (NSFW - which is why I didn’t create a direct link) website where young men lure young women into a bus, have sex with them, then ditch them somewhere (I’m fairly certain its all scripted - I doubt you could find that many naive woman around!). I tried to explain what an epic event this was to Mishka, as if we found an elusive, almost extinct creature, that just happens to video tape itself having sex with girls - but surprisingly she wasn’t very amused and didn’t quite share my enthusiasm.

We drove on, passing about 37 police cars - it being labor day weekend and all - before finally getting to Kenosha. After accidentally giving her a little sight-seeing tour (I used to live there long ago) we finally managed to hit a Super 8… But it was booked solid, no room at the inn for us. So we continued on to the next stop, the Value Inn.

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