Abbie Fest 25. You want to grasp it, to hold it, to keep it
near to your heart. You don’t want to let it go, but you must, it’s over. You
couldn’t see it all. You couldn’t take it all in. You couldn’t be there for
every hour, every show. This year the fest was hosted at the Den. It was a seething,
multi-headed beast. There were three stages, so you had to make
decisions, in the moment. Our Abbie Fest was significantly different than
everyone else’s Abbie Fest.
Yesterday, the last day, Sunday, we arrived late afternoon,
not really sure what we wanted to see, we just wanted to be there and discover
whatever could be discovered.
Two of the highlights for us:
We watched a man eat fire, insert a nail into his head (via
his nostril), light a florescent tube by shooting 120,000 volts through his
body and walking on a pile of freshly chopped up glass. Our lovely companion
was selected from the audience to stand on this same man’s head as he placed
his face firmly in the mountain of glass. She nearly passed out at the thought,
and then she placed her feet on his head and she stood. That was probably a
once in a lifetime experience.
We also saw One Wing Low, all-girl band on the Music stage
2B. They made me think of Sleater-Kinney, one of our friends thought, Bikini
Kill. Cool, elegant, wonderful, edgy, rock & roll. They played a very
engaging, exciting set of songs.
Very inspiring.
We saw lots of other cool acts – theater, music, etc. We
also spent lots of time hanging out out in the lobby talking to actors,
writers, directors, musicians, inspiring and engaged people from all walks of
life. Can’t really convey the beauty of it all. We didn’t want it to end. We
didn’t want to leave. But finally we did. Yes. Abbie 25. We were there… yes.
