rachel’s birthday and new fun at no fun; the brightness of vaalora; hell yeah finds it’s mojo | capitalART

the big announcement in troy

there’s 2 things about the capital region that impress me.

the first is how everyone knows each other, the smallbany effect. vaalora, for example, had no idea that i’d taught a class on her work previously. when i sit down on facetime with rachel and her crew, i had not connected the dots that she was a member of apple pie, alongside my friend taz.

in the vein of that, it’s always impressive who people don’t know. ships pass in the night and we can see both, but they’re blind to each other. it’s odd, for example, that many of my now friends are people who were at shows i was at years ago, on other sides of the venue. the central points of one circle tend to extend only to the outer points of another.

but, every now and then, something comes out that is decisively Big News.

on march 30th, no fun announced the completion of the purchase of the venue by a collective of promoters and vendors actively working there. carp, from the wizard burger, joins shane from super dark, hey greasy, bryan garcia of irrelevant expression, and, of course, rachel freeman from byrdhouse in taking over the venue.

early rumblings of this take over began last year, when previous ownership sought to close down shop. benefactors stepped in to allow the collective of promoters to transition more smoothly with august from dive upstate playing the hero. while this prolonged shift has added stress, i could sense, even remotely, a calmness about it from rachel.

flanked on call by ella of mall goth and diego of wcdb, rachel assures that nothing much will change: “we’re still going to be running it how we have been, only with more freedom now.”

the process of splitting a venue could be difficult, but it seems the team of owners are all of similar enough passion and communicative enough nature. shows are booked through a collective calendar, with few to no fighting over dates. the multiple collectives tend to interact without much overlap, it seems, relaxing potential stress. without the looming issue of ownership, the bands are free to roam.

the four of us on call talk passionately about the local music scene, which is always what i’m looking to see. no fun isn’t a frequent fly for me because i’m off in my own corners, dealing with djs and emcees more than bands. but the soul of the capital region stays the same: it’s about playing, passionately, and with the community.

“i had venue ownership on the 10 year bingo card not the this year bingo card,” rachel says of her aspirations. this isn’t a lofty goal, it was a necessary reality for her as an integral part of the local scene. in 6 years, byrdhouse has been and become a key production facilitating the growth of local bands alongside the regional, and occasionally national, acts that the team brings in. they look forward to more bookings ahead, throwing around names they might look towards.

i ask the team which local bands they’d recommend and get a slew of answers. mall goth and apple pie, of course, but also halobite, everybody that loves you, cheesy snacks, and many others who i wrote down illegibly in my notes. (and many more who the byrdhouse crew are struggling to remember exact names of, who they don’t want to feel slighted by their exclusion.)

i ask them if there’s anything else they feel should be included in the article, and rachel and ella combine to say: “tell your audience: get to the gig!”

if you’re looking to do some to getting, consider rachel’s birthday show happening this saturday, 04/19, at no fun. there will be a marble race, local vendors, and, of course, local bands – in this case, playing covers of songs by other bands. “i thought it would be a fun way for everyone to show appreciation.”

and go follow rachel on instagram if you don’t already.

the vibrant world of vaalora

i’m not the most obviously excitable person. my poker face is too good. but when i saw that vaalora was selling prints on etsy i barked out “art!” like a seal.

i’ve known aila, vaalora’s sister, for just under two years. aila and i were nearly instantly friends and, trust me, there will be more on her to follow. i’m an unabashed stan. it was a wonderful surprise to me then when, after her mfa exhibition at ualbany last year, i discovered the relationship between vaalora and aila.

especially because i had just finished, publicly, gushing over her work. i was an assistant alongside mary valentis for a class on literature and film and we took the class in its final weeks to see the exhibit. because i didn’t want to be caught off guard, i had gone by the previous day with my then maybe-girlfriend and now current girlfriend, alex, on what we should probably consider an early date of ours. in both instances, i found myself having to be literally peeled away from vaalora’s pieces. (i would end up going in a third time and being chastised because i had wandered in with such focus i had an open coffee in hand.)

as you can see from the images shared here, vaalora’s work is textural, vibrant, and soothing. i find in it a dual sense of wonder; first, the keith haring-esque simplistic and colorful figure work that strips a person of their rigid form and then, second, the sort of overwhelming and direct color work and detailing of the background. these works are isolated in their own passion, the sort of feeling i imagine a person has when stoned on a trampoline with nothing else to do in the late hours of the early summer.

when the etsy store opened, i immediately bought more than was financially responsible (joke) but less than i wanted to (not joke.)

i also immediately reached out to vaalora for an interview.

we end with some information that i’ll begin with now. vaalora, 25, is an mfa graduate of ualbany from latham, with an eye on moving. we talk about the city, as all artists do, and how prohibitively expensive it is, as all artists do. “i want to create and not have to worry about rent.”

the process of getting the mfa, of course, had its ups and downs. it taught lora new methods, more sketching and better critiquing, but was also somewhat limiting to her creativity. she cites alex grey as a primary influence – most evident to my eye in composition and to hers in the sense of depth – and otherwise looks towards musicians. she’s done some herself and is excited to have more time to explore the medium.

lora’s process is the kind one needs to create art of the soul like this, similar to many great artists who’ve gone on record about it. she sits with a canvas, golden palette paints, or whatever other tools of the day are at hand and plays music – tame impala is the first that comes to mind, she adds that she loves everything with a flute because of her background in it (a flautist, top 10 words all time) – seeking to get lost in the process and relieve her feelings in the art. i’ve asked her to share a playlist that went along with one of her pieces; you can find that here.

“i’m really trying to draw out the spirit, the essence, of myself and my feelings,” she says.

she’s been making art for as long as she can remember, “since 1.” naturally expressive, she would sit with the tools of a child and scribble and draw as much as she could. this, i imagine, is close to that essence she’s looking to draw out.

art grows increasingly complex with time, another byproduct of an mfa. vaalora has been featured in a few exhibitions since then and aspires to do more, and is now trying to figure out what life as an artist could mean. the etsy store is an obvious step in that way. “i’ve sold at some markets before and really enjoyed it, and it’s fun to package everything up and sell it.”

her enthusiasm and craft is evident in the result, by the way. when my package arrived earlier today, i found it wrapped in a bright lavender outer wrap, each piece carefully tucked inside, with a warm thank you note on the outside. i’m happy and hopeful to return the gratitude in kind.

for many people, this complexity and uncertainty can get in the way of the creative process. at times i’m sure it does for vaalora, although she seems capable of handling it. the essence she seeks is first in the joy of creating and then deep in the soul. as a writer, i often find myself frustrated with the rigid traditionalism that seems to overtake young authors around the early teen years – as though formality makes it acceptable for them to write. in music, even the most integral artists tend to bend towards commercialism at some point.

vaalora embodies art as a communicative tool, a way for one soul to see through bodies and societal accoutrements and directly to each other. these are the works that inspire me and that i most enthusiastically pass to friends. if you have the opportunity to see them live, i implore you to. if you have the opportunity to help others see them live, i beg you to. and, if you have a few minutes, poke around vaalora’s etsy and prepare to find a piece you love.

vaalora adds, “feel good, look good, and do great things.”

and go do your affirmations. follow vaaloraaart on instagram for updates. buy some prints, too.

events coming up

check out rachel’s birthday show on 04/19 and also look out for:

• the pickle’s local thursday series, this week with big lettuce and young alfredo live.

• reckless barb’s “now i am my life” at context collective on friday the 18th.

• sanctum friday at washington tavern.

• more volitechtonics shows, fucking christ, and more this week on the moon and hayden beck’s album release next week.

• jb!!! and shiloh and mundy at desperate annies 04/28 and the moon 05/01

• and don’t forget to pop out to poetry night on the moon 04/24 where we feature local poet shelby hafener for poetry month!

speaking of:

a hell yeah announcement and an editorial note

there’s a lot going on in the hell yeah verse, but chief among them is that i can now officially announce that we’ve found a new home for brushes and pens. starting 05/23, we’ll be at mojo’s cafe on 4th street in troy, enjoying the best coffee in the region, reading poems, and musicing music.

this will mean a few changes. first, the cards will get tighter. this was always going to have to happen. second, we will start charging a non-obligated cover. this also always had to happen and now is as good a time as any to allow it to. none of the cover fee will go to me or to hell yeah, but will be split between the artists to support their work and allow them to continue to thrive.

what will not change is the mission of the shows: to allow capital region artists space to spread their wings and collaborate with local organizations to do good for the community. we haven’t confirmed artists or orgs quite yet, but as it stands we’re looking to center around environmental consciousness (on an earth day delay) and support organizations which look to keep nature part of our community moving into the bleak and black, white, silver color way future.

it will be good!

the format of this newsletter is also set to change even more in a way i don’t want to fully announce. video interviews return next time and much, much cooler than before.

now i’m going to vamp for a moment: we call this newsletter capital ART and you will hear me refer often to the capital region. i don’t know what exactly that region is, but we’re in it, i know that. but i hate referring to an area by a phone code (personally, no diss to those who do) and i’m getting tired of “upstate.” no one knows where the fuck it is because all upstate means is “not NYC.”

an underlying part of my mission is to continue to develop and bring to light the identity of the capital region, as separate from comparison the many other metropolitan areas of the formerly united states of america. there is a beauty here that needn’t be defined by standards it couldn’t meet for a variety of historical reasons.

the vision will be brought to the community.

thanks and hell yeah.

subscribe to see more of this, buy my book so i can do more of this, love you, and much more coming down the pipeline.