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- The Cosmic Circle: July 23rd
The Cosmic Circle
Reporting to you live from both coasts, where our team is out in the field of Elrow NYC and Shambhala festival in British Columbia. More to come, we’ve endured places and spaces full of magic and visionaries. The most rewarding experience of them all is sharing the inspiration and insight we’ve gathered to enhance the collective community conversation. Today, I share several accounts and conversations that might make you think a tad deeper as you dive into the new week. Learn more to live more. 😉
Aside from our current live experiences, we are welcoming several new Festies as content creators and contributors. If you or someone you know is interested, check out our site to learn more about how to get involved. Looking forward to the expansion of the festival genius. Cheers! - Rachel
Typically, we would share our acknowledgements and admiration for our artist community, but the homie, Andrew Sax, wrote such a powerful account of his journey, what better way to learn than from the artist himself:
I started Some Saxy Art during the Fall of 2020, mid-pandemic. It began as an Instagram page to share my exploratory iPad drawings with friends. I didn’t really have an end goal for any of it. I was in school at the University of Vermont at the time and graduated the following year with a degree in Spanish and Public Communications. I would say my interest in art has always been present. Initial inspirations would be cartoons. and then trippy late-night Adult Swim type of psychedelic videos/music videos. I was always a classroom doodler. I used drawing as an escape, but I guess I internalized it as something non-serious and not worth pursuing. I realize now that a large number of those discouraging voices in my life originated from educational institutions. I grew increasingly disillusioned with school and systems of power and control in general.
During the summer of 2020, the George Floyd protests were raging across the country. I felt I could raise some money by making a pin with Chief Wiggum from the Simpsons as a pink pig. I did the whole thing with a trackpad on my computer and raised about a thousand dollars, which was then matched and donated to the NAACP. Basically I had my first taste of being able to speak louder with my art than with my voice, whatever that meant. I got the iPad so I could digitize things with more ease and learned that I just enjoyed the whole process better on the iPad. Over the next year I went to more and more Dead shows, a tradition I come by honestly from my father, though I had never payed close attention to what was happening on Shakedown Street when I was younger. Inspired by the community & the music, and an interest in affording more shows, I began to create art to sell on Shakedown. The responses I received to my art and the community experience I felt in my first summer on Shakedown was overwhelming. Through the Dead and jam scene, I connected with younger bands like Dogs in a Pile and Eggy music. Almost all my initial connections were made in person, metaphorically shoving my foot in doors and literally sometimes chasing down leads. I specifically shout-out Helen Kennedy @zazzcorp for being an incredibly welcoming and encouraging friend and inspiration. As a Shakedown artist and also a poster artist, Helen essentially provided me with a blueprint of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to do it.
Once I had a good first round of poster work for some younger/smaller bands in the scene, I was able to gain some traction and visibility from larger names. Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and Morgan at The Merch Collective also both took a huge chance on me.
Now, here we are almost 3 years into Some Saxy Art. The ride has taken more wild turns than I would have ever expected, but I can say with humility that most of those turns have been for the best. I wake up grateful each day that I’ve made this into my life. And I’ve learned to never settle, keep pushing myself to be better. I never could have imagined what I’d be creating now 2-3 years ago, so I have confidence I’ll be better in 2-3 years than I am now.
Some of my favorite moments from the journey:
✨ Giving myself permission to be an artist
✨ My first corporate commission (proof that someone would actually pay me for something I made)
✨ Helen Kennedy telling me to go for it, I can totally be a poster artist.
✨ My first commission for Dogs in a Pile (represented my switch to gig posters/music industry)
✨ My first screen-printed poster (big switch in quality of work put out, for the better I think)
✨ My first commissions for Pigeons Playing Ping Pong > Goose > Les Claypool > Dirty Heads > Trey Anastasio. (Holy f**k, holy f**k, holy f**k, these are big boys, and personal inspirations of mine. What am I even doing? Existential crises activating…)
Last weekend in Brooklyn was an important moment for challenging modern-day festival structures. “Young World stayed committed to the sense of togetherness it was created to protected,” writer Dylan Green wrote in the review. Between sponsorships from local and nationwide gems, local Black-owned artist vendors, and street carts for F and B, Young World took an inclusive and anti-capitalist approach to sharing the joys of the festival experience without the absurd ticket and taxing rates.
The success of the Bed-Stuy festival worked because of several reasons. It was easily accessible to the greater city, where people from any background could participate and share their passions and experiences. MIKE also surprised the crowd with Earl Sweatshirt, a hip hop and NYC favorite. On the lineup was also Noname, who is notable for her protest against the capitalist music regime, resulting in her absence of live performances and focus on grass root orgs. But the Young World opportunity enabled fans to finally see her, to hear upcoming unreleased music, and understand the kind of environment Noname wants us to conceptualize.
All said, it’s important to recognize the different and possible paths that are able to happen within the festival space. It’s about giving people what they want with strategy, psychology, and utilizing community as the center motive of live music experiences.
Other stories to check this week:
This past weekend was an eventful one on both coasts, as I mentioned earlier. Starting in the East, after a successful ticket giveaway and lots of project planning, some of our team members hit Elrow NYC at the Brooklyn Mirage. The sunset to sunrise event was filled with vibrant sounds, colors and people. It’s rare that the international music collective makes its way to the U.S., so New Yorkers were more energetic than I’ve experienced in a long time.
After 12 hours at the Brooklyn Mirage, Corey is currently rallying over to Queens’ Knockdown Center for Soulection. Joe Kay, co-founder of Soulection radio, is bringing his digital project to life at a fantastic boiler room-esque space. Electronic and hip hop lovers will join forces to sweat, dance and enjoy the shared passion of music collectives.
On the other end over in the west coast, not in the U.S. but British Columbia, was Shambhala festival. Both Festie community and team members attended on separate occasions, gaining new insight and inspiration from all over the map.
Stay tuned for some fun edits and interviews.
If you have any upcoming festival or music event plans, submit your photos and videos so we can highlight your experience!
Courtenay Pollock’s RAD blanket
This week we’re giving love to not just a rad product at Rumpl, but the Rumpl Artist Division.
“The Rumpl Artist Division (RAD) is a collaborative program that showcases the work of accomplished an upcoming artists who use diverse mediums to inspire creativity in impassioned communities around the world.” See some similarities? 🙃
They’ve got over 30 artists on hand using their puffy blankets as a canvas of wonder. Everything from Aaron Kai and his Hawaii vibes to Courtenay Pollock, a Grateful Dead tie dye artist. Covering all corners of the globe, these artists and their visuals are something to behold. Whether it’s at your camp, or something to sit on to watch a Super Jam, check out their website to see the collection.
Besides our resident artist YOUNG & SICK, which artists would you like to see work on new canvases and mediums? Reply, let us know.
If you haven’t yet made your way over to our Spotify, we’re here to make sure you don’t miss out. The best way to introduce our team is to share some of their sonic muse. Check out last week’s playlist from Rachel, our Content and Community Engagement Coordinator:
