Sunday, August 19, 2012

ALAK Block Party

Not every sketch is a gem. This was a rare case where I tried to do a watercolor in the rain. The ALAK Block Party invitation put the address as 715 N Thornton Ave. Bands on the play list included Attic, Surfin Serf, Permanent Nap and of course the California based headliners ALAK. When I arrived, I didn't notice any stage but I did see a food truck pulling into a parking lot.  That had to be where the event was. I parked down the block and hiked back. A musician was unpacking a drum set from the trunk of his car. It had just started to drizzle. He carried the drum set to the back of a small deserted alley. The La Espinada Food Truck didn't have a generator, so she backed the truck next to the alley and then she searched for a power outlet. A tenant on the second floor apartment let her run an extension chord up through his window, tapping one of his outlets for a small fee. I sketched as quirky cat banners were hung around the alley. This small alley was dubbed "Cloud 9" by the event organizer. A young crowd slowly gathered as the rain continued to lightly fall. I tried to salvage the sketch from the constant rain with no success. It became such a wet mess that I couldn't work on it anymore. I called Terry and we agreed to meet for dinner at Dandelion Communitea Cafe. I bumped into Julie Norris as I was about to order. She had been busy storing a whole bunch of restaurant furniture and cookware.  Ethos Vegan Kitchen had just moved into a new location in Winter Park and the new space was fully furnished so they donated their unneeded furniture and equipment to Julie. A win-win for the Orlando Vegan community. I ordered an all Garden of Eden themed dinner that tasted great.

After dinner, Terry and I walked back to the Block Party to see if it had been rained out. By now the rain had stopped and die hard hipsters were still partying. Terry wasn't impressed, so she headed home. I considered a second sketch, but I was still wet from the first sketch so I went home as well. I'm sure things heated up as it got dark.


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